Chapter 9: Playing Card – 9 of Hearts

Rover looked at the test tube in his hand, feeling a surge of excitement. Although the chance of awakening an Anomalistic ability was only 20 percent, at least he could upgrade the item.

The problem was… he had no idea what it would turn into after upgrading. Would it become a Serum of Awakening, or an even more terrifying enhanced Zombie toxin?

’What a pity. If only I could see the upgraded information beforehand.’ Rover thought silently.

Still, things were already very good for him right now.

He checked his magazine. Only 6 bullets left. But then he noticed a new line of information beside the gun.

[Ammo: 6/25 (Price: 5 points per bullet)]

’5 points…’ Rover sighed inwardly. ’Reclaiming one zombie only gives me 3 points, yet one bullet costs 5.’

Of course, Rover knew he wasn’t meant to rely solely on zombie corpses. His main income source was sleep… and women.

’The best method is still sleep and collecting women.’

Sleeping with Nanoe once gave him 82.5 Omni Points. Although it only worked once per day, combined with sleeping on the [Shabby Bed], he could earn up to 138.5 points daily.

And that wasn’t counting the toilet. Every time it processed 5 liters of waste, it granted 20 additional Omni Points.

Rover thought for a moment, then decided to restock his ammunition.

[You have successfully purchased 8 bullets. Current Omni Points: 9.]

[Ammo: 14/25 (Price: 5 points per bullet)]

Having a gun in hand always made him feel safer. The weapon wasn’t only useful against zombies… its real value was in intimidating other Survivors.

In this situation, danger came not only from zombies, but also from the humans around him.

If it weren’t for the Tenant rule, which forced obedience to the Room Owner and prevented harm toward him, Rover would have been wary of Nanoe as well.

No matter how kind she used to be, no matter if she once liked him, that belonged to their normal world.

Now, faced with danger everywhere, human nature was the first thing to rot.

Clutching the gun tightly, Rover looked through his invisible viewing slot.

He saw countless people running across this floor, zombies chasing closely behind.

He also saw people coming down from above, dragging hordes of zombies with them and gathering on this floor.

’There are zombies upstairs too?’ Rover felt confused. ’This place has no windows, no holes. The only entrance is the stairwell. So… are the zombies appearing out of thin air?’

If that was true, it was extremely dangerous. But fortunately, only about 5 to 7 zombies seemed to appear in the hallway at a time.

Suddenly, a man ran down from the upper floors. His shoulder was drenched in blood, his face twisted in despair and panic as he banged on doors.

“Open the door! Open it for me!”

BAM! BAM!

“Damn it! Open up! You bastards!”

He cried and screamed in terror, but then something snapped inside him. He began shouting at the top of his lungs.

“You bastards! Even if I die, I’m dragging all of you with me!”

“AGH!!!”

“AGH!!!”

“That bastard…” Rover watched the man run toward the stairwell and instantly understood his intention. “He wants to die, but he doesn’t want to die alone.”

Noise attracted zombies. That man knew he wouldn’t survive, so he wanted to take everyone else with him.

The zombies heard the screams and immediately swarmed, like sharks smelling blood.

“Hahahaha! You bastards! I’m not dying alone!” The man laughed madly as he staggered down the hall, his bloody hand smearing a deep red print along the wall.

The zombies surged toward him, and he did not resist. Even in his final moments, he wore a twisted smile of insanity.

After finishing him off, the zombies turned their attention to the remaining rooms on this floor.

However…

BAM! BAM!

The door of the young man whose legs Rover had shot earlier was smashed open easily, likely because it had already reached its limit.

Since it was only a shabby wooden door, without upgrading or repairing it, it could hold back zombies for only about 5 to 10 minutes.

“AGH! Help!”

“No! Don’t come here!”

The young man’s cries and screams echoed through the hallway, but only a few seconds later, everything went silent.

’That means only six rooms on this floor still have survivors, including mine.’ Rover thought.

“Hm?!” Rover’s eyes widened when he noticed several items appearing beside the dead young man’s body lying in the hallway.

There was a small scroll and some silver coins. A reckless idea suddenly surfaced in his mind.

He tightened his grip on the gun and glanced at the zombies scattered through the corridor.

“Rover, are you going out again?”

Nanoe asked worriedly.

Rover nodded. “Staying in the room forever is not the correct choice.”

Hearing that, Nanoe hesitated, then spoke softly, “I… can I help you with anything?”

He glanced at her and smirked. “Right now, you just need to stay quietly inside.”

Nanoe lowered her head and obediently sat on the bed.

Rover continued observing the hallway. This time, there were only four zombies.

He took a deep breath and then…

Crack!

The door opened. Rover dashed toward the young man’s corpse.

GA!!!

A zombie suddenly roared and lunged from behind. However, Rover didn’t fire immediately. He focused on reaching the young man’s body first.

Fortunately, the corpse was quite close to Rover’s room, only about four meters away. Just a few steps.

Gruu!!

Seeing the distance was enough, Rover raised his gun, aimed at the zombie, and…

DANG!

The gunshot echoed. This time his aim was precise. The bullet struck the zombie’s head, killing it instantly.

Ga! Gruu!

Ah! Ga!

The gunshot once again drew the attention of the remaining three zombies. But since they were still far away, Rover was not too worried.

He quickly grabbed the items next to the corpse. Then his eyes shifted toward the room that had been overrun earlier.

Rover didn’t stop for even a second. He rushed toward that room.

GAH!!

A zombie inside burst out with its mouth wide open, but…

DANG!

Rover fired. The bullet blew its mouth apart.

Ga!

The zombie collapsed, convulsing on the ground. Rover did not hesitate and sent another bullet into it.

DANG!

He then aimed at another zombie devouring the man he had previously shot and fired again.

DANG!

Another shot. At such close range, one bullet was enough to blow its head apart.

Rover looked around. This room was just as empty as his own, with only a single bed in the center.

However, next to the bed was a small information panel.

[Shabby Bed]

[Owner: Deceased.]

[Reclaim: Obtain 10 units of wood, 20 silver coins.]

Seeing this, Rover sighed. He had hoped he could exploit a bug and sleep twice a day.

His own bed only allowed him to sleep once per day, for a maximum of eight hours.

What if he had two beds?

But apparently the system did not allow such an exploit.

Rover chose [Reclaim].

[Reclaim successful. You have obtained 10 units of wood, 20 silver coins.]

The wood appeared in his backpack as thumb-sized wooden beads.

He checked the room thoroughly but found the victim was extremely poor. No money, no food.

Even after his death, no additional items dropped. Rover felt disappointed.

He moved into the bathroom to take a look, but something glowing faintly on the floor caught his eye.

“That is…” When he looked closer, he found a card enveloped in a faint white aura.

Rover picked it up and frowned. It looked exactly like a 9 of hearts from a deck of playing cards.

[Playing Card – 9 of Hearts]

[Cannot be upgraded]

[Description: If you gather enough of them, perhaps you will unlock something very interesting. Kekeke…]

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