Save Dave

Xinglong Mall was Binhai City's largest Commercial Center. Even though today was not a holiday, the crowds here remained endless.

After getting off the Bus, Bai Zhi, wearing an earbud, strolled into the mall with an easy gait.

On the Virtual Screen before him, visible only to him, lines of small text constantly refreshed.

[Player has entered the Game activation range]

[Please select a suitable location to enter the Game]

[Current Game Walkthrough Progress: 0.1%]

[Current number of Players entering the Game: 152]

[Time remaining until the Game ends: 2:32:54]

"Nearly half an hour had passed since the Game appeared, and more than a hundred Players had entered, yet the Walkthrough Progress was only 0.1%?"

Raising a brow, Bai Zhi glanced around the enormous mall, casually found an empty Restroom, walked in, and chose to enter the Game.

A faint white light flickered, and his figure vanished from the Restroom. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in a separate Blank Room.

Before he could inspect the room, a character customization interface thoughtfully popped up before him.

"A novice benefit for Players entering the Game for the first time? If I wanted to change my appearance after entering the Game in the future, one face customization would cost 100 Game Coins... What a rip-off."

He skimmed through the pop-up introduction at a glance. With no intention of wasting too much time on this, Bai Zhi casually made himself a face.

Once he finished, the Blank Room swiftly took shape, changing from a completely empty space into an ordinary living room. Then, an introduction to the Game appeared before him.

[Game Name: Save Dave]

[Game Type: Casual Puzzle]

[Game Description: The Zombies' best friend, Dave, has been imprisoned in the house by you. Therefore, they will use every possible method to invade the house. Take up your weapons and plants, and defend your house.]

[Level Completion Reward: Random Plant Fragment ×1, 100 Experience Points × number of cleared Levels, 100 Game Coins × number of cleared Levels]

[Level Failure Penalty: Permanently reduce a random attribute by two points]

[Personal Walkthrough Progress: 0.00%]

[Total Walkthrough Progress: 0.02%]

[Walkthrough Goal: Unlock all plants]

"Uh... This Game looks awfully familiar..."

Bai Zhi's expression became rather strange as he looked at the Game-related information before him.

Just then, two flashes of white light appeared, followed by three more figures materializing in the room.

[Player Night Owl has joined the team]

[Player Nine-Tailed Fox has joined the team]

[Player Beard Guy has joined the team]

"Well, well, familiar faces?"

Before Bai Zhi could speak, Beard Guy, who had customized himself into a weathered middle-aged man, immediately grinned at the other three figures in the room.

Although appearances could be changed, Player IDs could not. Unless a Player died, a Player ID was something that followed them for life. The Store did not sell name-change cards.

So, although the other two looked different from when they had undertaken the Novice Quest, Beard Guy recognized them at a glance.

[Beard Guy Lv2]

[Night Owl Lv2]

[Nine-Tailed Fox Lv4]

[Black&White Lv3]

Among the four, the highest-Level Player was actually Nine-Tailed Fox, a male Player. He looked refined and somewhat shy, but aside from his highest Level, the ID Nine-Tailed Fox—one clearly more likely to be chosen by a female Player—was enough to draw attention on its own.

"Uh... Do you all really have to look at me like that?"

Nine-Tailed Fox scratched his head and spoke somewhat sheepishly.

"There are male Nine-Tailed Foxes too—"

"No male Moms, no male Princesses, and definitely no male Foxes."

Bai Zhi's face was utterly cold.

"Uh..."

"Alright, alright. Our goal right now is to clear the Game, isn't it? This was probably a small puzzle-clearing Game. Although the penalty for Game Over was relatively light, surely none of you wanted to lose two attribute points for no reason, right?"

Seeing that things were about to reach another deadlock, Beard Guy, who had experienced Black&White's personality during the previous Novice Quest, had no choice but to smile wryly and smooth things over. After giving Nine-Tailed Fox a reassuring look, he turned his gaze toward Bai Zhi.

"This time, we'll all follow your arrangements. Is that alright?"

Although Black&White's personality was a little peculiar, if not for him during the last Novice Quest, they might truly have been wiped out.

Coworkers?

Keenly noticing the little exchanges between Beard Guy and Nine-Tailed Fox, Bai Zhi had that thought flash through his mind before nodding without ceremony.

"If that's the case, then that's settled."

After speaking, Bai Zhi gave Night Owl a slightly puzzled look. For some reason, she had been staring at him since earlier, her brows faintly furrowed as if she were thinking about something. He then took the lead in stepping outside.

However, after sweeping his gaze across the living room outside, Bai Zhi's expression became slightly strange. He retreated back inside, took a pair of Glasses from his Inventory, and handed them to Night Owl.

"Oh, right. You'd better wear these."

"Glasses? I'm not nearsighted. Why should I wear—wait, once I put them on, I can't see anything farther away at all!!"

After taking the Glasses in slight confusion and trying them on, Night Owl ripped them off even faster than she had put them on.

"There's a corpse in the living room that'll definitely give you Nightmare if you see it. I don't want to lose a Teammate to non-combat reasons right at the start."

After casually replying, Bai Zhi walked out again. During the time he had gone out and returned, Beard Guy and Nine-Tailed Fox had already entered the living room. They had both seen the horrifying corpse slumped behind the Sofa, its flesh mangled, its scalp peeled back, its brain exposed, and its death unimaginably gruesome.

Beard Guy looked fairly alright, but Nine-Tailed Fox was clearly unable to hold himself together. His face was deathly pale, and judging by the stains on his sleeve, he had probably just Vomited.

"Mm..."

Bai Zhi walked over to the corpse, folded his arms, and examined it from top to bottom. Then he nodded thoughtfully.

"What is it? Did you find something?"

Forcing himself not to look at the savage corpse, Beard Guy walked over to Bai Zhi and asked.

He had considerable faith in the other man's deductive abilities.

There were still fifteen minutes before the first wave began, so they had more than enough time to thoroughly investigate the house.

"I suddenly remembered that I was busy Moving House this morning and didn't eat breakfast. Now I'm a little hungry."

Bai Zhi turned toward Beard Guy beside him and nodded with a serious expression.

"I kind of want some Tofu Pudding, with a little chili oil and—"

"Bleurgh!!"

Before Bai Zhi could finish, Nine-Tailed Fox finally could not hold it in any longer. Bracing himself against the Sofa, he began violently vomiting...

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