I Became a Game Character in the Apocalypse

Chapter 5 –
The stone steps caught my eye.
I had arrived.
But I had no idea what might be up ahead, so I gripped the metal pipe with both hands and
climbed the stairs, eyes wide open.
As I reached the top, the fog was so thick I couldn’t see a thing.
I knew I was in a dormitory complex with open surroundings, but I couldn’t figure out which
direction to go.
It felt like drifting aimlessly in the vast ocean without a compass.
Grrraaaagh!!
Behind me, the deafening sound of metal doors crashing echoed, followed by the eerie cries
of zombies.
At the almost desperate wail, I swallowed dryly and took a deep breath.
Focus.
Don’t look too far ahead. Right now, my only goal was to get out of here.
With every step, I placed my life in the grooves of the sidewalk tiles and moved forward.
Had the sun already set?
The fog seemed to thicken, becoming denser by the moment.
With my vision blocked, my hearing, smell, and touch grew unnaturally sharp.
A ringing alarm echoed in my mind, and the buzzing in my ears caused the world around me
to blur and tilt.
Every time this happened, I would blink rapidly and shake my head violently to regain my
senses.
I needed to stay focused.
I tightened my grip on the metal pipe.
Plop…
Suddenly, the ground felt soft under my feet. I looked down.
Mud?
Narrowing my eyes, I scanned the ground and faintly saw the outline of a pond ahead.
A pond?
The dormitory complex was built in a circular layout around a large central pond, with a total
of seven buildings surrounding it.
I thought I was taking a path far from the main area, but I had unknowingly crossed straight
through the center of the dormitory complex.
They say ignorance is bliss.
But seeing the pond meant that if I just kept going for another 300 meters, I could escape the
dormitory complex.
Grrrraaagh! Cough!
But zombies weren’t going to let me go so easily. The cries of the undead began to echo from
all directions.
Were there zombies outside the buildings?
Thud-thud-thud… Thud-thud-thud…
The sound of multiple footsteps came from nearby.
Given the volume of the noise, it was clear that before I could make it those 300 meters, I
would be surrounded.
With the sunset already upon me, reaching the clubroom tonight was out of the question.
I needed to hide in a nearby building and survive until tomorrow morning.
The building closest to the pond was…
Grrraaagh!
At that moment, a sharp roar from the left pierced my eardrums, and a blurry figure appeared
in my line of sight.
The zombie was less than 10 meters away.
Splash! Splash!
The zombies, unable to distinguish between the ground and the pond, started falling into the
water one by one.
If the pond hadn’t been here, I would’ve been caught without even being able to resist.
Before the zombies could climb out of the water, I ran as fast as I could toward the nearest
building.
The splashing sounds echoed more than ten times.
Even though I had a metal pipe, I was no match for that many zombies.
If they caught me, it would be over.
After running through the fog for a while, I could faintly see the dark outline of a building in
the distance.
Graaah!
As I approached the building, a zombie’s growl echoed from the right.
I quickly turned my head to the right and saw the zombie’s outstretched hand emerging from
the fog.
I twisted my body to dodge its grasp and swung the metal pipe using the momentum from my
movement.
Thwack!
Due to my awkward posture, the blow didn’t land squarely on its face, but I hit the zombie’s
chest instead.
I clearly heard the sound of breaking ribs, but the zombie lunged forward, showing no signs
of injury, and bared its teeth at me.
Its yellowed teeth came dangerously close to my face.
Realizing I couldn’t dodge, I twisted my body, falling on my backside while thrusting the
monkey wrench I had in my left hand at the zombie’s mouth.
Cough!
The wrench pierced the zombie’s mouth, but it didn’t seem to die, even though the wrench
was stuck deep in its jaws. It chewed on it, grinding the metal.
I could feel the weight of the wrench in my hand, vibrating.
My left arm trembled as I kicked the zombie’s lower abdomen.
The wrench fell out of its mouth as blood sprayed from its wound.
The sight of the zombie’s blood splattering on my face made my heart thud painfully in my
chest.
The blood was… hot.
In a flash, fear overwhelmed me, and I lost all rational thought.
They say when a person panics, they either freeze or instinctively react.
I was the latter.
Kicking off the ground, I rose quickly and slammed the metal pipe into the zombie’s face.
The sharp, jolting impact and the sound of my muscles straining brought my survival
instincts back to life.
Survival instinct.
If I didn’t kill it, I would be the one to die.
Grrrraaagh!!
The zombies’ cries and the wet sound of their footsteps grew closer.
Had the zombies who fell into the pond already gotten out?
They were charging toward me.
I didn’t even stop to breathe as I ran for the building.
Unlike my dorm, the doors here were open.
So that’s how the zombies got outside…
It seemed that the zombies had been able to wander outside because the building doors were
left open.
I rushed inside and immediately ran up the stairs.
In the midst of the swirling chaos in my mind, only one thought circled my brain.
I had to get out of the fog.
Running madly up the stairs, I saw the number “4F” on the wall.
Somehow, I had made it out of the fog, and a long corridor stretched before me.
Creeeak…
A zombie, hearing my footsteps, turned its head toward me from the corridor.
As soon as I spotted the zombie, my body reacted instinctively.
I rushed at the zombie and slammed the metal pipe into its face.
Die, die, die.
I repeated it in my mind, my eyes wide open.
I had just escaped the fog, but if this zombie screamed out loud, others nearby would soon
swarm over.
Thud-thud-thud! Crash!
Graaagh!
The deafening scream made my spine tingle.
With all my senses heightened, I could gauge the zombie’s distance just by hearing its cry.
Without even glancing, I twisted my body and swung the metal pipe, and I saw the zombie
charging toward me get hit in the chin, crashing to the side.
Had it been in the bathroom?
At the same time, I spotted a naked zombie at the end of the hallway.
Perhaps it had been bitten while showering; its intestines were spilling out from its side.
The naked zombie spotted me and began limping toward me, dragging one leg.
I sprang to my feet and raised the metal pipe, aiming for its skull like a guillotine.
With the force of gravity against him, the zombie’s skull caved in under the strike.
But I didn’t stop. I relentlessly hammered the fallen zombies without hesitation.
Like a mad killer caught in a frenzy, I swung the pipe with abandon.
Although there were no more zombies walking down the hall, my senses were still too sharp
to calm down.
These things could be like cockroaches, lurking and grabbing my ankle at any moment.
Clank, thud, clank.
The dormitory door on the 4th floor started rattling.
It seemed the zombies locked inside could sense my presence.
This was the dormitory building located at the entrance of the complex.
If I remembered correctly… this building was made up of double rooms.
Even if zombies were inside each room, there would only be two per room.
I headed for Room 401, where the rattling was the loudest, and looked through the small
window at the top of the door. I could see the faces of two zombies peering through.
I needed a place to hide, so I had to clear at least one room.
I stepped back from the door and smashed the top window with the metal pipe.
Clang!
As the glass shattered, the zombies trapped inside began trying to push their faces through the
opening.
Even as their faces were torn by the glass shards, they kept pushing forward relentlessly.
They were like rabid animals, infected with madness.
I shoved the monkey wrench I had into one zombie’s eye socket, and it thrashed wildly,
shaking its head.
Some glass shards embedded themselves in my left hand during the struggle, but I didn’t feel
the pain.
My mind was consumed by an obsession with survival, and the pain couldn’t reach me.
After piercing the zombie’s eye, I pushed the door open with all my strength and entered the
room.
The zombies that hadn’t died yet were sprawled on the floor, still writhing.
It made me sick, like looking at overturned cockroaches.
I gripped the metal pipe tighter and, without hesitation, struck their faces again.
Their skulls caved in, but even after the brain was damaged, the zombies’ finger muscles
twitched continuously.
Not yet.
I still couldn’t rest.
Dragging the two corpses, I headed back into the hallway.
I stacked them near the stairwell to alleviate the smell, then entered the room and pulled out
the newspapers from my bag.
I covered the broken glass with the newspapers and used packing tape to seal every gap
tightly.
Finally, I used the shoe rack to block the door from opening, sat down, and took a few deep
breaths.
I hadn’t realized it in the heat of the moment, but my heart and lungs had already surpassed
their limits.
I could taste iron in my throat, and my irregular breathing showed no signs of improving.
A dizzying vertigo swept over me, and my body trembled as the strength drained away.
As reason returned to my body, the bones and muscles began to scream in pain.
Creeeak… Cough…
The sound of zombies growling came from the neighboring room.
With no strength left to resist, I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to ignore the sounds of their
cries.
Please… let them give up on hunting me.
After about 10 minutes, the zombie noises faded into silence.
I had no idea how much time had passed.
I remembered eating two chocolate bars from my pocket and then falling into a deep sleep,
but when I woke, the morning light was already streaming through the window.
I had slept for over 10 hours, soaked in exhaustion.
Slowly sitting up, a groan escaped me without thinking.
My whole body ached.
I had lost a lot of weight, and my muscle strength wasn’t what it used to be.
If only I had eaten better…
The only things I had eaten recently were snacks and chocolate bars.
I slapped my cheeks with both hands to shake off the grogginess, massaged my stiff
shoulders, and then checked my player information.
• Character Name: Adam White
• Abilities: Enhancement
• Stats:
o Strength: 5
o Endurance: 5
o Reflexes: 5
o Motion Detection: 5
o Mental Strength: 10
• Objective: Kill zombies to earn points.
• Zombies Killed: 10/20
• Remaining Points: 0
Had I really killed 10 already?
While it was good to have taken down some zombies, I needed to avoid situations like
yesterday’s surprise ambush as much as possible.
I needed a more detailed plan.
Looking around, I noticed a notebook and pen on the desk.
For now… I needed to clean up.
Sitting in front of the desk, I began to slowly jot down the things I had experienced yesterday.
I had to organize the current abilities of the zombies so I could quickly assess any changes as
they evolved.
The zombies’ hearing wasn’t as good as I thought. The commotion on the 4th floor hadn’t
caused the zombies on the 3rd floor to react.
Their sense of smell only worked in the fog, so as long as I avoided being spotted, I would be
safe.
When I played Last Ark, I never paid attention to these little details.
I just grabbed a rifle and shot without hesitation once I had it.
From what I learned in the game, one thing was certain: zombies evolve as each episode
progresses.
There’s still time, so for now, I should focus on survival and enhancing my abilities.
The club room is about 1 km from the dormitory to the new student union building.
Before I go out, I want to finish off 20 zombies to get enough points for an enhancement, but
is there any good way to do that?
Suddenly, my eyes landed on the makeshift window covering I had created with the
newspapers.
Right, this is a dorm with only double rooms, and if I handle the zombies like I did
yesterday—using the glass at the top of the door—it should be a safe and reliable method.
Clearing my thoughts, I grabbed the metal pipe from the floor.
It might seem reckless, but if I hesitate now, I won’t have a chance to grow stronger.
Didn’t I realize this after 128 deaths in Last Ark?
In the first episode, where Adam is at his weakest, the zombies are also at their weakest
which means, now is actually the best opportunity to make him stronger.