The Stand at All Costs

Mori walked in, and Kirk went to meet him. The two nodded to each other.

"Kid, you did a good job at the intersection. Now let's take our spoils and get out of this nursing home!" Mori said.

Guillermo sneered. "Leave if you want. The guns stay!"

Mori licked his wrist blade and narrowed his eyes. It seemed his anger and bloodlust had been roused.

Kirk knew it was time for him to step in. "We can divide the guns among us. We found them first, and we were the ones who brought them back. You took them from us, but since you have so many elderly people to look after, we're willing to split them evenly."

Guillermo pursed his lips. "Why should we split them evenly with you? There are only two of you!"

"There are three." Green walked over. "I'm on their side."

When Mori saw Green, his expression turned cold, but with a formidable enemy at hand, he said nothing.

In the original drama, Green had been one of the people who locked Mori on the rooftop. Naturally, Mori didn't feel kindly toward him.

Right now, the most important thing was to get back that batch of guns and ammunition. Green was backing him up, which was good. They could settle their grudge later.

Guillermo was growing impatient and was about to say something when a shout came from outside. "Zombies! A lot of them!"

Guillermo hurriedly rallied his people to fight off the walkers. Kirk's heart tightened. He knew the plot had started early!

Sure enough, the system had already sent him a prompt: "Contractor No. 4444, you have triggered a hidden side plot: The Fall of the Nursing Home. Because you foresaw this plot, it has been triggered ahead of schedule. You now have two choices:

1. While Guillermo's side is defending against the zombies, take half of the guns and ammunition that belong to you and leave.

2. Persuade Mori and Green to help Guillermo's side defend the nursing home.

Prompt: Successfully defending the nursing home will alter the original plot to some extent and earn you generous rewards. However, the number of incoming walkers is enormous. Your participation will cause the plot difficulty to increase temporarily in an unpredictable way! Based on your ability rating, the danger is considerable. Choose carefully!"

The system offered no further information about the rewards for either choice. Kirk guessed the first option would carry little risk and offer little reward; he could immediately secure part of the guns and ammunition. The second option was very risky, but high risk meant high reward, so the payoff should be substantial.

Looking deeper, the system wouldn't offer pointless missions. This choice was probably forcing contractors to pick a side. The first option represented survival above all else; the second represented humanity above all else. Was it more important to "stay alive" or to "live like a human being"? That debate was the story's central theme. In the original drama, Rick had won everyone's support because he still leaned toward humanity. It wasn't enough just to survive; preserving human civilization and compassion mattered too. Helping others, having team spirit, never abandoning anyone—those things mattered. This stood in stark contrast to his old friend Shane, who would later drift further and further away from him, and to the self-serving Mori at his side.

Kirk looked at the elderly people nearby, their heads white with age. Their calm eyes held the clarity of people who had accepted death. As a homebody who had lived in peacetime, he couldn't bring himself to abandon them and run, leaving them to be torn apart by walkers. His conscience wouldn't let him. From a practical perspective, this mission seemed quite rare. The words "hidden plot" alone sounded valuable, and the anticipated reward should be substantial. As for "unpredictable danger," there was already plenty of danger in staying alive. Where in this blood-soaked world was there no danger?

The pressure of the seven-day survival mission and the threat of walkers mutating every 48 hours weighed heavily on Kirk. He had a vague feeling that constantly running away might be the greatest risk of all. The system wouldn't issue a mission that meant certain death, and saving people should fit the plot's central theme. Maybe someone would come to help. High risk, high opportunity. Kirk gritted his teeth. Damn it!

"Mori, Green, let's stay and fight off the zombies together!" Kirk shouted.

Green nodded, his expression softening a little as he looked at Kirk. In the original drama, he had been very fond of this nursing home. People from the East valued filial piety, after all. So it wouldn't be difficult to persuade him to stay.

"Idiot kid, have you lost your mind?" Mori sneered, just as Kirk had expected. "If you've got a death wish, I'm leaving on my own."

"Mori! Do you want to keep running forever?" Kirk roared. "Don't you know why they don't like you? You want to be part of the group, don't you? You can do it..." Before he could finish, Mori punched him and sent him flying. Two teeth fell out.

Then the furious Mori grabbed him and hauled him up!

"What gives you the right to lecture me, huh? Just because you're some yellow-skinned monkey? You're both useless, just like this Asian weakling! If you want to die, rot here. I—"

"Look at these old people..." Kirk was scared too. He spat out a tooth with difficulty, blood running from his mouth. But he had come this far; he couldn't back down now. He forced himself to keep spouting nonsense. "They're all calm. You're the one who's lost your nerve. Mori, you have a serious lack of security. In fact, Green and I, the two cowards you keep insulting, are ready to stay and fight. But you, the brave soldier, want to run away. Go on, then. Run as far as you can..."

Mori punched him again and sent him flying! This time, Kirk hit his head against the wall. His scalp split, and he dropped to his knees as blood dripped down. Even his Health Points fell by 20.

Kirk couldn't help regretting it. Damn this system, damn this mission. It leaves you almost no way out. If Mori won't join us, our odds will be even worse... If he leaves, we'll have lost both our goods and our chance.

Green stepped forward and stopped the enraged Mori from attacking again. "That's right. This Chinese man beside you and I are going to stay and fight the walkers together. Go on, brave soldier." As he spoke, he picked up a riot shotgun, an eight-round model known in Counter-Strike as a "pumper," and headed outside.

Kirk struggled to his feet and pulled out his police pistol, forcing a smile that looked worse than crying. He couldn't show weakness now. Even if he had to fake it, he had to keep up the act. Mori was a vicious hard case. The tougher you acted, the more respect he had for you. If you were a fence-sitter who kept changing sides, he wouldn't think much of you at all.

As he passed Mori, Kirk said with a deliberately dramatic air, "People shouldn't live just for the sake of staying alive. There's no difference between that and being one of the dead walkers!"

Hearing this, Mori burst out laughing. Kirk got another punch and a kick, then was sent sprawling outside.

When he emerged, Kirk saw that the walkers were indeed everywhere. They filled the roads and smaller streets in the blocks ahead, surging toward them in a frenzy. Guillermo's side had about sixteen or seventeen people capable of fighting, and they had all been deployed. Fortunately, with the guns and ammunition Kirk's group had supplied, they could form a complete firing line and stubbornly keep the walkers outside the wall. Green had joined the fight. He held the front line, blasting at clusters of walkers and aiming straight for their heads.

Walkers had no weak points other than their heads. Hitting them anywhere else was useless. They only died for good when a fatal head wound stopped their brains from working. Everyone on Earth knew that by now.

Kirk didn't charge to the front. Following the techniques Mori had taught him, he began shooting.

Truthfully, he regretted falling out with Mori. Mori was highly capable, and since Kirk had entered this miserable world, Mori had acted as his mentor, teaching him all sorts of survival skills. Even if Kirk got no rewards for sticking with him, what he had learned alone would have made it well worth the effort.

But it came down to the same thing: people shouldn't live just to stay alive. Kirk was a young man who hadn't seen much of the world, a homebody who had still been watching TV and playing video games the night before. He couldn't abandon all these old people to face death. His conscience would haunt him for the rest of his life.

You might say this was only a game, that they were merely plot characters, and that it didn't matter if they died. Kirk had once thought the same way. But when he saw the eyes of people on the verge of death—filled with resentment, unwillingness, despair, and hope—he couldn't see them as NPCs, scenery, or data. Kirk wasn't noble enough to die in their place. But he was willing to do something from behind the line and shoot.

The police pistol had little recoil, so Kirk could control it well. With Basic Small Arms Mastery, he handled it with ease. As the walkers swarmed toward them, he barely needed to aim. He fired roughly level shots to increase his rate of fire. In one minute, he changed magazines once. He fired 40 rounds, killed 32 walkers, and earned 64 Survival Points. (The weapon used was Kirk's own Whiteboard pistol, so he received all the Survival Points.)

Guillermo's group was fighting with their backs to the wall; there was no escape. Guillermo held an M16 US assault rifle. No one knew where he'd gotten such a high-end weapon, but he sprayed the walkers with bullets, tearing through flesh and blowing their heads apart. When he saw Kirk come to help, even Guillermo's usually cold expression softened. He grinned at Kirk, revealing a mouthful of white teeth.

Green was also a highly skilled fighter. He wielded a shotgun and fired again and again, taking down one walker per shot. He reloaded quickly, too.

Everyone else was fighting desperately. The situation was dire. Even Blondie, a half-grown kid, was clutching a Uzi submachine gun and spraying bullets! Several white-haired old people, presumably veterans, shakily aimed civilian rifles and fired at the walkers.

Everyone who could fight had joined the front line. There were no men or women, old people or children now—only humanity against "them"!

When the nest was destroyed, how could any of its eggs survive?

However, there were simply too many walkers. They came in wave after wave, feeling nothing, losing no morale, making no cries of pain. They had only an insatiable hunger for food and an innate urge to destroy!

Kirk had emptied his fourth magazine. As he was reloading, he suddenly saw a crawling walker bite toward Guillermo, who was smashing a walker's head with his rifle butt!

Kirk let out a strange cry and hurled his pistol at the walker in front of him, knocking its head back. Then he charged at the walker beneath Guillermo's feet with his knife and drove it through its skull.

Guillermo's face changed. "Watch out!"

Kirk spun around. A gaping mouth was already lunging at his shoulder, about to bite down!

Suddenly, the walker's head exploded again, and a cold voice rang out. "Idiot kid, I told you to watch your back!"

It was Mori!

Kirk had nearly pissed himself. Now, he forced a smile that looked worse than crying.

Mori kicked Kirk hard in the ass. "Move it. I only came because walkers have surrounded the back entrance too. I'm not here to save you. I just can't get out either. I told you, you stupid pig, you'd get us all killed!"

Kirk and Green exchanged a look, both speechless.

Then Mori turned and roared, "Everyone, if you want to live, do as I say! Reform the formation! Stand in a line to cover more firing angles! Submachine guns and riflemen, shoot at 30–50 meters! Riot shotguns, 30–10 meters! Pistols, 10 meters! Each person covers a 45-degree firing arc in front of them! You fat black bastard! Didn't you hear me? Your grandmother's going to get fucked by them, you hear me!"

Ignoring the purple-black face of the big man beside him, Mori laughed wildly as he took up two fully automatic assault rifles, one in each hand, and opened fire with a "rat-a-tat-tat." The fierce barrage sent the walkers stumbling and collapsing in showers of blood and flesh.

The distribution of firepower noticeably improved the battle. The defenders were better organized, their shots fell in layers, and no one had to scramble in confusion. Walkers toppled one after another, giving everyone a chance to catch their breath and reload. Guillermo tossed Kirk a Uzi submachine gun and several magazines. Kirk grabbed it and let out an excited yell, spraying bullets at the walkers' heads.

The defense lasted a long time. Thanks to Mori, Green, and Kirk joining in, along with their powerful firepower and favorable position, hundreds of walkers fell along the nursing home's high wall. Kirk alone had killed 125 zombies, earning 250 Survival Points. Adding his earlier gains, he now had 421 Survival Points. His Walker Hunter title progress had reached 174/100.

A flash of light passed, and the system prompted: "Contractor 4444 completed the Walker Hunter progress and earned the Walker Hunter title. Equipping the [Walker Hunter] title increases damage to walkers by 5%. Would you like to equip this medal now?"

An extra 5% damage against walkers was quite useful, and Kirk happily equipped it.

"Next title unlocked: Black Iron Title [Walker Slayer]. Keep hunting walkers. Current progress: 174/500."

Fortune favored the bold. An ordinary new contractor wouldn't have had the chance to take part in a battle this intense and kill so many walkers. Even though Kirk had been careful to protect himself, the walkers had managed to claw him several times. He had only 4 points of Stamina, equivalent to 40 Health Points. Even with the Brass Ring adding 1 point of Stamina, he had only 50 Health Points. Though his tactical bulletproof vest had improved his defense, he had only 25 Health Points left. Fortunately, the nursing home had doctors and nurses, bandages, and field medical equipment. They could stop the bleeding and effectively prevent infection from the walker virus. After Kirk was bandaged, his Health Points slowly began to recover.

However, the ammunition, which had seemed plentiful, was being used up rapidly in the intense battle. Soon, they began to run short.

Worse still, night had fallen! The walkers' vitality, speed, and bloodlust had all increased dramatically. Kirk watched as one walker suddenly lunged over three meters and knocked down the fat black man Mori had insulted. Before the others could open fire and kill it, the man's throat was torn open. The walker ripped at his white flesh and spurting blood vessels. There was no saving him. The timid girls fainted on the spot.

The walkers kept pouring in.