After clearing out the zombie horde at the basketball court, Mu Shan took a detour to the fitness equipment area. This time, a small stream separated them, and since zombies could not swim, she did not even bother finding cover.
She watched as those elderly zombies that resembled skeletons threw themselves into the water one after another, bobbing up and down amid the waves and water weeds. Mu Shan ruthlessly raised her gun and fired.
After a few minutes of chaotic fighting, many corpses were stranded on the embankment by the stream. She harvested another 15 gold coins.
‘The zombies in the park should now be thoroughly cleared out,’ Mu Shan thought, feeling reassured. She no longer had to worry about some ghostly thing lurking at her doorstep in the middle of the night.
On her way back with the supplies, she passed by another player’s safe house again.
【Liu Zhuhua’s Safe House】
The owner had not died yet, and the sunroom still stood there intact, but the situation was clearly different from three days ago.
Mu Shan keenly noticed that Liu Zhuhua’s small sunroom had lost its previous tidiness. Debris piled up at the entrance.
Dirty, tattered schoolbags, dismantled cardboard boxes, leftover packaging bags from eaten food, and rotting food scraps.
A gust of wind blew, and a plastic bag fluttered onto the roof.
Mu Shan could not help but wonder if this player had run into some trouble and fallen into dire straits.
Under normal circumstances, people had basic standards for their living environment—it was instinct, like how dogs did not defecate in their own dens.
When someone stopped clearing trash from their living space, it often indicated that their mental state or material conditions had reached a critical point.
She glanced again at the garbage scattered around the sunroom: it had piled up for at least two days.
After some thought, Mu Shan decided not to approach rashly.
On the way back, she spotted another zombie wandering on a forest path and decisively chopped it down with her axe.
【Player autonomously explored safe house surroundings.
Achieved: No threats within 500 meters.
Basic respiratory system upgraded to—Filtration Respiratory System】
Mu Shan rejoiced and quickened her pace back to the basement. Sure enough, the air inside felt much fresher.
The original respiratory system was just a rectangular ventilation shaft in one corner of the ceiling. After the upgrade, an inner layer of wire mesh appeared, with a faint glimpse of a filter device, like an air conditioner filter.
With the filter in place, the persistent earthy smell that used to linger in the air dissipated. Mu Shan felt like her nose had finally been saved.
She happily replanted the peashooter in the soil, carefully watered it, and waited for it to automatically replenish its moisture.
She still needed to find a proper flowerpot when she had time.
The drinks she had brought back from the vending machine had not been sorted yet. Mu Shan patiently separated the juices, milk teas, and tea beverages—these she planned to keep for herself.
Though few, they contained trace elements and nutrients that could make up for her body’s losses.
Her home was now saturated with mineral water, leaving about 25 bottles of carbonated drinks and bottled water. She planned to trade these for essential supplies.
However, while clearing out her stockpile, Mu Shan discovered mold spots in the area under the stairs due to the damp darkness. It was just a small patch, black and fuzzy.
But if the dampness persisted long-term, it would affect the food and clothes at home.
With no other choice, Mu Shan decisively spent 50 gold coins to upgrade the safe house walls in the system mall.
【Mud walls upgraded to—Waterproof Paint Walls】
The painted surface was light blue, without any patterns. Compared to the original mud walls, the interior suddenly looked brighter and neater. And Mu Shan no longer had to worry about dampness wetting her bedding.
She recalled hearing from videos that in some foreign doomsday bunkers, owners built entire walls from steel plates and buried them underground. Such iron bunkers could withstand cannon fire, designed to shelter from world-war-level apocalypses.
Out of curiosity, Mu Shan searched the system mall and found the exact model.
[All-Steel Integrated Bunker (Three Bedrooms, Two Living Rooms) 50,000 Gold Coins]
Forget it.
It was a price she could only dream of.
With that in mind, Mu Shan began considering her safe house’s self-defense capabilities.
The iron entry door had no lock, but other players lacked permission to enter unless they forcibly broke it.
A door of that hardness and thickness would take time to chop through with an axe, and its 100 durability points could hold out for a long while.
After some thought, Mu Shan spent 27 gold coins in the mall to exchange for a visual peephole. She checked her balance—still 171 gold coins, quite sufficient.
【Player obtained: High-Quality Peephole x1】
The accessories provided by the system were like those on ordinary household doors—a small round hole that clearly showed the situation two meters to the left and right of the entrance, with some magnifying effect on objects.
Moreover, Mu Shan specially climbed out to check, and from outside, the peephole was undetectable! It was a one-way viewing device.
This solved the problem of her being unable to sense the outside situation while inside.
Mu Shan stood in the middle with hands on hips, looking at her increasingly improved home. A sense of satisfaction welled up in her heart.
Her watch showed it was past 10 a.m. Mu Shan first washed the coral fleece loungewear clean and hung it in the bathroom to drip-dry before taking it out to sun.
She put on gloves and began sorting and packing the supplies she planned to take for trading.
Unsure where the trading center was, she asked the Old Driver in the system.
He was apparently busy with something and had not replied yet.
Mu Shan first laid out the 19 electric kettles she had looted from the hotel in a pile on the ground. Then came about 50 pieces of mixed men’s and women’s clothing—these were her main trading items.
A bag of nail clippers from the bank, totaling 50. An extra hairdryer from the hotel front desk, the iron wire baseball bat from the gacha, the baijiu and cigarettes from Yellow Hair, plus the 25 bottles of drinks and water she had just harvested today.
All these could fit into her virtual backpack, but Mu Shan did not want others to know her backpack had extra slots.
So she emptied some cardboard boxes and a large schoolbag, stuffed part of the items inside, and prepared to disguise them in the car.
After simply eating two biscuits to fill her stomach, Mu Shan meticulously packed her gear. Besides the essential peashooter and axe, she tucked a kitchen knife at her waist, covered by a loose assault jacket that hid it well.
Bandages, iodine, and band-aids were must-haves; lighter and umbrella for emergencies.
In case there was no food outside, she also carried a pack of biscuits and a bottle of drink.
By the time she finished packing, it was about 10:30 a.m., and she received the Old Driver’s reply.
[Feng Wei (Old Driver)]: Citizen Service Center hall is in the southern suburbs. Main roads around it have been cleared by players—no zombies.
[Feng Wei (Old Driver)]: Map [Click to view details]
Mu Shan expressed her thanks.
After carefully checking the map, she saw the journey was at least 6 km, but her car’s gasoline should hold out.
She drove to the parking spot outside the park from last time. In just three short days, leaves and debris had accumulated on the car hood and roof. Mu Shan cleared them casually, then tossed the two large cardboard boxes and backpack onto the back seat.
The route to the trading hall was indeed as peaceful as the Old Driver described. Piles of grayish corpse chunks lined the roadside, as if shoveled together and burned deliberately.
As she passed a certain road sign, she saw “Player Gathering Point →” scrawled on it in red paint.
Fellow living humans held extraordinary appeal in this monster-filled instance.
Emerging from an underpass, Mu Shan spotted the grand Citizen Service Center building from afar.
The outer parking lot had several dirty, crookedly parked vehicles, much like hers, covered in zombie blood and flesh remnants.
She saw the Old Driver’s figure. Feng Wei squatted in front of an off-road vehicle tinkering with a tire, surrounded by several people. Mu Shan did not approach.
She parked in an empty spot and noticed at least four or five other cars had been modified: crash bars, wire meshes, roof racks—some had even removed the back seats entirely.
Seeing a tank here would not be surprising.
Many people milled about outside the trading hall.
A tall, burly man shouted loudly, “Need a bodyguard? Meals provided for three times a day. Melee class, can crush zombie skulls barehanded—guarantee your survival!”
Mu Shan glanced at him a couple more times. His profession showed: [Fitness Instructor]. His arms were thicker than her legs, with knotted muscles suggesting at least 30 strength.
Sure enough, a skinny woman immediately went over to negotiate hiring terms.
Inside the hall, the former row of service windows had been repurposed, each occupied by someone categorizing their area.
Mu Shan saw a middle-aged man at what used to be the property certificate window, waving an A4 paper that read “Forming Team” in big letters.
“Forming team! Fixed team for clearing residential buildings—veteran members, very reliable! Two melee, one support, need ranged or assassin!”
Most others were in similar states.
As Mu Shan curiously walked over, a middle-aged woman grabbed her: “Little sister, you a healer? Our team needs a healer.”
Mu Shan shook her head firmly. “I’m a support.”
Yes, a squishy support wielding an axe and handgun.
In the center of the Citizen Service Center hall, the four or five rows of iron chairs for public rest had been cleared away by players, turning the space into a makeshift trading market on the floor. Some spread out plastic sheets and started selling.
Mu Shan walked over, momentarily suspecting she had returned to the normal society of the 21st century.
The players’ wares were dazzling: from food and drinks to weapons and emergency items—even props.
“Little sister, take a look. Need anything? Prices negotiable.” An old man huddled under a wine-red poncho smiled, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth.
This was the only stall selling props, but mostly people gathered to watch.
Aside from her own card and peashooter, it was Mu Shan’s first time seeing other props.
【Clow Card (Defense Type)
Quality: Bootleg
Description: Product of player [Doraemon]’s skill
Usage: Shout “Magical Girl Seal Release!”
Note: Full set of 52 cards; this is Card 13. Summon: “Shield”】
She vaguely remembered that this “Shield” had causality-defying defense against everything—a very powerful defensive item.
But seeing the expressions around her, Mu Shan felt a bucket of cold water poured over her head.
“How much?”
The old man chuckled. “If you like it, gold coins or bartering works.”
A nearby man dressed like a worker snorted. “Don’t even think about it. He’s asking 500 gold for one card—who can afford that?”
Mu Shan’s budding interest immediately fizzled. Her entire fortune was just 171 gold, which she needed to save for emergencies.
The old man glared at the worker. “Nobody takes you for mute if you don’t speak. If no gold coins, meds, food, or props of equal value work too.”
Mu Shan did not think her supplies were enough to trade for something worth 500 gold.