Infinite Days

When Li Ke woke up in the morning, he looked at Erina, who had buried her head in his chest, and couldn't help stroking her shoulder. Erina woke up, blushing as she moved her hand away from somewhere.

"Mm, good morning."

Li Ke greeted Erina with a smile, and she responded with a flushed face.

"Morning... mmph..."

Erina's good morning was cut off instantly, followed by a series of muffled whimpers. By the time Li Ke was grilling meat outside, Erina, who had washed herself with the hot water boiled yesterday, blushed as she threw Li Ke's jacket at his back.

"You bastard! Look what time it is! Hurry up and finish the food! We need to make up for lost progress today!"

She was furious, because Li Ke had gone way too far!

Li Ke chuckled as he put on his clothes. After eating, the two of them set off for the mine they had visited before.

They followed the same routine as yesterday, splitting up to dig while converting the iron ore they excavated into Robot Turret Ammo through their inventories.

For certain reasons, the two of them moved rather slowly. A few scattered zombies also appeared during the excavation, but fortunately, there were no strange white-clothed zombies, so dealing with them took little effort.

They ate lunch inside the large mine they had dug out. They also uncovered more things because of it: nitrate and coal, both in considerable amounts. Li Ke even found some tin ore. This incredibly typical game mineral vein truly saved him quite a bit of time.

However, the most valuable thing was still Robot Turret Ammo made from scrap iron.

By the time they called it a day, Li Ke had reached level fifteen. Not only had the Game System shown no changes at all, but he also felt intense discomfort in his lower back and a numb ache in his arms.

Erina Nakiri was the same. She stretched her arms and waist, clearly just as unaccustomed to the life of a miner.

Li Ke felt that he and Erina would probably need to rest at home tomorrow.

But when they arrived at the trader's, Li Ke discovered something rather awkward.

After he sold three thousand Robot Turret Ammo to the trader, the trader stopped buying his Robot Turret Ammo. Yet when Erina Nakiri sold them instead, the trader was once again willing to buy Robot Turret Ammo, leaving Li Ke thoroughly confused.

"Can each person only sell three thousand?"

Author's Note:

Author's Note: There'll be another three thousand words later. Also... have you noticed it for the past few days?

A Hope-Filled Future

This was undoubtedly a blow to Li Ke, because that meant they could only earn 6,000 Duke Casino Tokens.

If that was the limit of what they could earn in a day, it was barely acceptable.

But achieving true bullet freedom would be somewhat unrealistic.

Bullets were not cheap. They could even be called expensive—just as expensive as those guns marked with colored numbers!

A single bullet cost 48 Duke Casino Tokens, while a single bullet tip cost 30. This could no longer be described as robbery. On top of that, a tactical assault rifle marked with the number 3 cost Li Ke a full 10,000 Duke Casino Tokens!

Honestly, Li Ke didn't want to obtain bullets here. He wanted to make them himself. But unfortunately, without obtaining a Blueprint, they had no access to a forge, much less a workbench!

"This really is troublesome."

Because of his relationship with Erina Nakiri, Li Ke was even more eager to get enough firearms. He wanted weapons capable of dealing with large numbers of zombies.

But unfortunately, while he had plenty of resources, he had nothing he could turn into money.

"Seriously, what is wrong with this game? Why does it get stuck at such a crucial point?!"

Li Ke truly couldn't understand it. The looting route clearly didn't work; aside from some food, they got nothing. The trader also had limits on what he would buy, and when they wanted to build things themselves, they were blocked again.

"Is the world's exploration level not high enough? I'm almost level twenty already!"

Li Ke was unwilling to accept this. He helplessly punched the table in front of the trader, then bought four bottles of glue in resignation, planning to make the gun first when he got back.

But as he was leaving the trader's shop, Li Ke noticed the forge there and a table with several boxes on it.

He had looked at this table and forge before. Even when he pressed E in his mind, nothing happened—no interaction interface appeared at all—so he had paid them no attention, treating them as little more than background decorations.

But after looking at his level, he decided to try again.

He simply couldn't believe that after gaining so many levels, they had been completely useless.

Taking a deep breath, Li Ke stood before the forge and tried pressing E.

Then an interface appeared before him. Having played quite a few survival crafting games, Li Ke immediately recognized the functions of the various elements on the interface.

The gray items displayed at the top were clearly forge components. The area below, marked with a flame icon, was for fuel. At the bottom left was a string of text labeled with categories such as brass and lead, clearly indicating the quantities of resources inside!

A delighted expression instantly appeared on Li Ke's face, but the next moment, when he looked at the table beside it, he could no longer suppress his ecstatic joy!

"I can use them! Just as I thought! This world's exploration level changes according to level! Raising your level unlocks more things!"

Excitedly, Li Ke placed several brass components he had collected into the system's interaction interface, then quickly lit the forge through the interface. A twenty-second countdown appeared over the brass doorknob he had put in!

After one brass doorknob disappeared, Li Ke saw that the brass count had increased by 50. He hurriedly put a stack of clay he had excavated into another slot, because he remembered clearly that both brass casings and lead tips required clay.

One brass and one clay were the materials for a casing, while a lead tip required two lead and one clay.

Not only that, he quickly put in the two stacks of lead he had excavated, allowing all three materials to begin smelting.

But when he saw the smelting speed, Li Ke couldn't help taking a deep breath. It was simply too slow!

Still, slow was better than nothing!

He then looked at the Duke Casino Tokens in his inventory and tested them a little, only to discover that these Duke Casino Tokens could also be smelted into brass!

This meant that if they didn't buy anything else, they could produce 1,000 bullets in a single day!

Li Ke took a deep breath. Having been under intense mental strain, he could finally relax for a while.

"What is it, Li Ke? Did you discover something again? Why are you so happy?"

Erina Nakiri, who had been picking out ingredients she wanted from the merchant, walked over. She looked curiously at the smile on Li Ke's face and the burning furnace.

When they had searched through the place where this merchant was located earlier, they hadn't found anything useful at all. Even these two things hadn't reacted, so they hadn't paid them any attention.

By then, Li Ke had already crafted an Iron Pipe Machine Gun in the system inventory. He immediately equipped it in his inventory and eagerly used it.

In an instant, a battered, ramshackle machine gun appeared in his hands. Even its bolt had been replaced with a screwdriver.

Judging by its appearance alone, it was complete junk. Li Ke simply couldn't connect this thing with wood, glue, and scrap iron.

After all, there was no way to turn those things into the machine gun in Li Ke's hands, which had quite the Warhammer Ork aesthetic, without machine tools!

But this world was just that unreasonable!

And even more unreasonable was this: when he equipped the machine gun in his inventory, a crosshair appeared in his vision!

When he moved the crosshair, his body instinctively made the corresponding movements. When he instinctively called for the right mouse button, the crosshair narrowed and the target point magnified. It looked like he could become a limited but unfailingly accurate sharpshooter without any training at all!

Looking at the machine gun in his hands, Li Ke couldn't help rushing over and hugging Erina Nakiri, who was still stunned by how he had conjured up such a junky gun. He first buried his face in her chest, rubbing hard against her full breasts and breathing in her captivating scent, before lifting her and spinning her around.

"Our safety is guaranteed now!"

Li Ke wore a smile of immense relief. Finally, at this moment, he felt a sense of security.

"W-What are you doing?!"

Feeling Li Ke's hot breath against her chest, Erina Nakiri blushed furiously and couldn't help pounding his head, looking thoroughly bashful.

"We don't need to keep looking! There's a workbench and a furnace here! We can make everything we need here! And as long as we keep leveling up, we'll be able to unlock more of this world's special features!"

Although many options were still locked, Li Ke believed that as long as they kept developing, they would eventually be able to live happily in this world!

"What?!"

Erina Nakiri was stunned as well. She quickly broke free from Li Ke's embrace and rushed to inspect the burning furnace. After confirming that it was true, she cheered and hugged Li Ke again.

Weapons were the best way for humans to gain a sense of security. So when they saw firearms—and saw that they could manufacture bullets themselves—both Li Ke and Erina were overwhelmed with joy.

"Yes! We can make weapons now!"

Both of them were delighted by this unexpected discovery. Then, like fools, they stood around the furnace and watched the countdown tick away as brass doorknobs and Duke Casino Tokens melted down one by one—they had even thrown in all 6,000 Duke Casino Tokens they had earned that day, leaving only the 1,000 from yesterday for emergencies. While they waited, they used the system to mix the coal and Nitrate Powder they had dug up into Gunpowder.

But while they had more than enough Gunpowder and lead, they had acquired very little brass. In the end, they could only make one thousand brass casings.

Then, like fools again, they stared at the workbench as it turned their thousand casings and bullet tips into Bullets.

As they watched the workbench continuously produce bullet after bullet, neither of them could stop smiling.

So, after trying a shot with the machine gun stored in the inventory and confirming that it really worked like a game—one thought made his fingers and body move, and the firearm aimed and fired just like in a game—Erina Nakiri announced the news.

After that, the two melted down some scrap iron and made a few short iron pipes to repair their two scrap-metal machine guns, then returned to the RV.

This time, Li Ke finally got to taste Erina Nakiri's true cooking. However, neither of them managed to finish that strange meat before climbing under the covers.

Fortunately, they had had the foresight to put out the fire beforehand, so it didn't keep burning. They spent a sweet and peaceful night together.

But just as Li Ke, full of anticipation for the future, stretched and prepared to get up and begin the day's work, he saw a pitch-black sky.

"Isn't it daylight yet?"

Kneading Erina's chest as she slept, Li Ke even teasingly pinched one of those slightly swollen little strawberries before preparing to go back to sleep.

After all, they had both been rather excited yesterday and had done it quite a few times! Not only was his waist sore now, but his legs felt weak too.

But just as he was about to lie back down, he noticed something that nearly made him cry out!

Zombies! Endless zombies!

Zombies filled the hills and fields, shuffling steadily forward behind their vehicle. At that moment, Li Ke finally understood what the dark sky was all about.

It was layer upon layer of swirling yellow sand. Countless grains of sand had obscured the sun, and beneath that sandstorm, zombies blanketed the landscape, advancing in numbers so vast that there was no end in sight.

Covering his mouth, Li Ke cautiously looked toward the front of the vehicle. He immediately discovered that countless zombies were still advancing toward them from that direction as well, covering the hills and fields with no end in sight.

It was utterly despairing. He could see neither the front of this horde nor its tail, much less understand why this was happening.

But there was only one thing he could be certain of.

If they were exposed...

They would undoubtedly die.

Yet that wasn't the only thing Li Ke found strange. Something else was even stranger.

Li Ke looked up at the sky. High above, the moon hung there in an abnormal display. Though the sun's light had been blocked by the yellow sand, the moonlight remained dazzling, and...

Eerie.

Blood Moon

"What... are these things?"

Li Ke looked at the strange moon and the zombies carpeting the hills and fields, his heart pounding with dread. There were already several thousand zombies within his line of sight alone. Everywhere he could see, there were zombies.

And the moon had become very strange as well.

But Li Ke immediately remembered the panel on his unique system, where the name of this world had been clearly marked.

"Seven Days to Die, Seven Days to Die... does that mean a killing spree every seven days?"

He had not thought much about it before because he had been with Erina, but now it seemed...

"Seems useless now. How can zombies in the real world compare to zombies in a game world? You can respawn in games, and you know it's just a game..."

Watching the zombies outside the window, despair kept rising within him. The only reason they could remain unharmed for now was that they had built a wall to keep the zombies outside the vehicle, and the zombies' detection range was limited.

Otherwise, with so many zombies, their sheer pressure would have been enough to overturn this RV.

Li Ke still believed metal could defeat bone and muscle, but there were simply too many of them. The RV's metal shell was not especially sturdy either. It would be fine for a short while, but if thousands of zombies kept attacking the RV without pause, even Li Ke had no confidence in it.

As he was thinking, Li Ke saw Erina's eyes twitch. He hurriedly rolled over, covered her mouth, and pointed out the scene beyond the window.

Erina Nakiri stared at Li Ke in shock. Before she could understand what was happening, she followed his finger toward the window. The next instant, her whole body tensed, and muffled whimpers escaped her throat. But she quickly realized what was going on, covered her own mouth, and stopped herself from screaming.

Because they were some distance away, her voice did not alert the zombies. Once her breathing gradually calmed, Li Ke removed his hand.

Erina kept one hand over her mouth as she stared disbelievingly at the zombies outside. She could not help clutching Li Ke's arm, her eyes reddening as she shrank into his embrace in terror.

Li Ke silently held her tighter. At a time like this, Erina was the only one who could give him even a little sense of security.

The two of them remained curled up in each other's arms, carefully watching the zombies constantly moving past them. They even lay down cautiously, trying their best not to make a sound.

Neither of them knew how long they kept this up. During that time, Erina and Li Ke even slept a little more, but the zombies continued onward without end. They used the plastic bottles they had scavenged earlier when they needed to relieve themselves, moving as carefully as possible and not daring to make the slightest noise.

Li Ke could not help falling silent. Although Erina looked incredibly alluring when she used the bathroom, he truly had no interest in that now. All he felt was a slowly rising despair.

Because he discovered that the moon in the sky was growing brighter and brighter. Not only that, red had gradually begun to spread from the edges of its crescent.

Under the light of that gradually reddening moon, the zombies, who had initially been shuffling along, began walking faster and faster. Worse still, their eyes gradually began to glow.