Chapter 4: Bizarre Zombies
Alex strapped the cloth bag to his body and then picked up the machete, swinging it a couple of times. It was a bit strenuous, but manageable. Alex estimated he could swing it about a dozen times without issue, but any more than that would likely exhaust his strength.
Touching his somewhat empty stomach, Alex felt a sense of urgency. He needed to find a way to collect corpses and food now!
"Open the gate!" Alex shouted at the city gate, and the heavy iron door slowly opened. Several student zombies wandering outside were startled by the sound of the gate and howled as they rushed toward the inside of Alex's city.
Holding the machete, Alex held his breath and silently counted.
"One... Two... Three... Four..." Only after four zombies had charged in did Alex order the gate to be closed. These zombies were of the lowest, walking dead stage, driven only by their instinctive craving for flesh and blood, moving at a pace similar to a normal person.
As the four zombies approached, Alex let out a loud yell and swung his machete fiercely...
In less than five minutes, Alex had slain all four zombies. Although he sustained some minor injuries, they were not serious.
Looking at the bodies lying on the ground, Alex felt as if he was in a different world. These people, just days ago, were his classmates, but now, they were corpses under his blade.
Dragging a zombie's body to the edge of the crypt, Alex tossed it into the seemingly bottomless pit.
On the tombstone of the crypt, a line of red numbers suddenly appeared.
[Zombie burial in progress...]
[Estimated time: 1 hour...]
Does it take an hour to bury a zombie?
Looking at the text on the tombstone, Alex frowned and walked back into the rest room to lie down. The fight had drained much of his strength, and he had two injuries on his body. While the zombies were being buried, it was a good opportunity to rest and recover in the rest room.
Time swiftly passed, and the wounds on Alex's arm and back had healed. The system's notification sound echoed in his mind:
"Ding-dong! Burial of the corpse completed!"
"3 Apocalypse Coins added."
"2 points added to physical constitution attribute."
"The Basic Crypt is now empty, please bury again."
As the synthetic electronic voice ended, Alex felt a scorching heat flow through his body, as if every bone, meridian, and cell was being nourished. Even the world he saw with his eyes seemed a bit clearer, but this sensation was fleeting, and Alex soon returned to normal.
Is this what an increase in physical constitution feels like?
Alex stood up, went out, and threw another zombie into the crypt.
After repeating this process for four hours, he finally buried all four zombies.
Feeling the changes in his body, Alex thought to himself, "System, display my physical attributes."
[City of Darkness (Basic) City Lord's Name: Alex]
[Gender: Male]
[Physical Constitution: 72]
[Mental: 60]
[Strength: 68]
[Endurance: 63]
[Agility: 62]
(Average value for an adult male human is 60)
[Skills: None]
[Items: Sinful Blade (Basic), Spatial Bag (Basic)]
[Apocalypse Coins: 14]
"My physical constitution and strength have both improved. My current condition should be comparable to a national level three athlete. But in this apocalypse, it's still far from enough!"
Alex stood up and glanced at the sky.
It was now midday, and the intense sun made the zombies much more lethargic. Most of them began to move towards shady areas, and there were not many zombies left on the playground.
Taking advantage of this, he could cross the playground to the small store opposite and grab some food and water.
Now that he owns City of Darkness, his safety within the city is naturally assured, but food and water are urgently needed supplies.
Hunger and thirst were causing Alex to feel waves of dizziness.
"Open the gate!" Alex called out in a low voice. As the city gate opened, he rushed towards the small store opposite.
Inside the store, there were only three zombies aimlessly wandering. One of them Alex recognized; it was the petty owner of the store, and the other two appeared to have been students in their previous lives.
Alex charged into the store and, before the three zombies could react, he fiercely swung his Sinful Blade, killing all three of them.
Ignoring the zombie corpses on the ground, Alex hurriedly opened his spatial bag and stuffed it with snacks and water from the shelves.
The noise attracted the attention of several wandering zombies nearby, who began to slowly move towards the store.
Alex frowned slightly, storing the three zombie corpses on the ground into his spatial bag. Just as he was preparing to head back, he noticed a bizarre zombie had suddenly appeared at the gate of City of Darkness.
This zombie was different from the others; it was much more muscular, and it was continuously trying to ram into the gate of City of Darkness.