The Team

Guillermo shouted at Kirk, "Go, Nima Prophet! You've done all you can, and I'm grateful! Don't stay here and get yourselves killed!"

Kirk began to waver, but he had no choice now. According to his scouting, a large number of walkers had also gathered at the back entrance. He exchanged a look with Mori, who nodded. Kirk shouted, "If we leave, we leave together! We're willing to fight to the death!" He stabbed a walker through the throat, slicing his fingers on the blade and drawing blood.

His strength was still too low. The walkers seemed to have reached 8 or 9 points of strength at night, putting them on par with Mori and making them more than three times as strong as Kirk. In close combat, Kirk was completely overpowered. He took a moment to check the battle log and saw that the walkers were actually inflicting crushing damage on him!

Kirk was speechless. How had he ended up like this as the protagonist?

Guillermo seemed to have prepared in advance. He organized people to pull down the first wall, burying many walkers beneath the rubble. But it was only a drop in the bucket. Without the advantage of the terrain, the defenders were forced to retreat to the courtyard behind the second line of defense.

Suddenly, Kirk remembered something. "Guillermo, do you have any gasoline here?"

Guillermo froze for a moment, then quickly got people to bring over all the gasoline and anything else that could burn. Kirk didn't hesitate. He grabbed a gas can, wildly splashed gasoline around the courtyard, then snatched a lighter and tossed it in.

A huge blaze shot into the sky. Driven by their bloodthirsty instincts in the dead of night, the walkers surged forward even more frantically, despite their usual fear of light and fire. One after another, they charged in and turned to charred bones in the sea of fire!

Everyone threw everything they could burn into the blaze, trying to keep it going as long as possible.

A skeletal hand reached out from the flames and grabbed for the little girl. With a sharp crack, Mori sliced it in two and calmly withdrew his blade-like hand.

The little girl said in a childish voice, "Thank you, Uncle. You're a good person."

Mori's face turned ashen after being given a "good person" badge by a little girl. He apparently thought he ought to be the kind of terrifying man who could scare children into silence, but now he'd become the little girl's wet nurse, babysitter, and bodyguard.

Kirk didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but he'd received a notification. His idea had counted toward the kill! Wasn't that a windfall? Kirk excitedly checked the battle log.

However, Kirk realized that the System wouldn't let anyone game the system. The reward for each walker's death had been reduced: it now took about five burned walkers to earn one Survival Point, bringing the payout down to 10% of its original value. Still, there were so many of them that Kirk had earned around 100 points. He'd come out ahead.

Half an hour later, the flames had begun to die down, and the walkers were gradually closing in again. Gunshots rang through the pitch-black sky once more.

After another half hour of fierce fighting, the nursing home's defenses could hold no longer. It was past one in the morning.

More and more walkers were still pouring in, stretching beyond sight.

They had almost run out of ammunition. Everyone retreated to the third line of defense—the lobby. The walkers had forced a wide gap in the Steel Door, and now people stood shoulder to shoulder, desperately jabbing at the walkers' heads, eyes, and mouths with sharpened iron rods, knives, and anything else they could use.

Mori said expressionlessly, "I told you. Sooner or later, you'd get us all killed."

Kirk yanked a steel pipe out of a walker's skull and gave a bitter smile. "Come on, man. Could you say something auspicious for once? You're a jinx."

Green was already exhausted and gasping for breath. "We've killed so many of them. We've done enough."

Mori shook his head. "They're endless. No matter how many we kill, it's pointless."

Kirk thought, Of course it's pointless for you. Not for me. Too bad I can't figure out how to get everyone out of here.

Just then, delighted shouts came from the back entrance. A nurse ran over to say that several large vehicles had arrived, including a reinforced city bus. Everyone was being moved to the rear.

Green smiled. "Rick and the others finally came to help. I sent them a radio message and told them what was happening."

Mori's face was gloomy. Kirk, however, was overjoyed, because he'd received a message from the System:

Contractor 4444, you have completed the hidden side story, The Fall of the Nursing Home. Through your sense of justice, courage, and quick thinking, you prevented the deaths of a total of 82 people, having a certain impact on the subsequent story. You have been rewarded with 2% story deviation.

Since this hidden side story has been completed by a Contractor for the first time, your reward is increased by 100%. Since you are a first-time participant in the trial, your reward is increased by 50%. Your Plot Difficulty adjustment (night battle, newcomer, C-class difficulty) increases your reward by another 50%. You will receive 300% of the reward. Choose 2 of the following rewards:

a.

Strength +3 (originally +1; the numbers in parentheses below show the original rewards and will not be repeated)

b.

Agility +3 (+1)

c.

Stamina +3 (+1)

d.

Intelligence +3 (+1)

e.

Wisdom +3 (+1)

f.

Charisma +3 (+1)

g.

One bottle of high-protein potassium injection, restoring 100% of Stamina and Energy.

Without a doubt, bonuses to basic attributes were extremely valuable. Kirk learned only later that quests directly rewarding basic attributes were very rare in the System. Even when a hidden quest offered one, the bonus was at most +1. If not for all the coincidences—and the fact that his choices had aligned with the main storyline of this scenario, effectively completing a Main Mission—the reward would never have been so generous.

After thinking it over, Kirk ultimately chose Strength and Stamina.

The System's main principle was survival. You could tell from its name, "Arena," which meant an arena or gladiatorial ring. The survivors were the victors. The Main Mission of this newcomer quest was actually to survive for seven days—a grave warning to newcomers. Stamina was the foundation of survival. Once your Health Points were gone, nothing else mattered. Kirk had nearly died several times just now after being battered by the horde. Without Mori, Green, Guillermo, and the others protecting him, and the doctors and nurses treating him, he couldn't have endured such intense fighting. This was a rare opportunity; even all the gold in the world couldn't buy a chance to survive. He chose +3 Stamina without hesitation. He also resolved to exercise more once he got home.

He chose +3 Strength because ordinary walkers had been crushing him with their strength, which had been a serious shock. Walker fights were often close-quarters battles, and being overpowered each time put his survival in doubt. With the bonus, Kirk's Strength reached 7 points. He might not be able to yank a weeping willow out of the ground, but at least ordinary walkers wouldn't crush him like a mushroom whenever they felt like it.

Besides that, Kirk received a notification that he'd gained a new title: "Fire Captain."

[Fire Captain]: Black Iron rank title. Automatically awarded to anyone who saves more than 50 people during this mission. Effect: After completing each rescue mission, rewards are passively increased by 30%. Automatically grants favor with Plot Characters in the human faction, regardless of whether the title is equipped. When equipped, adds +2 to Charisma checks when communicating with humans.

After checking, Kirk found that because he had rescued so many people at once, the next-lower Bronze rank title, [Firefighter]—awarded for rescuing 20 people—had also been completed automatically. The next goal was the Silver rank title, [Fire Maniac], which required rescuing 100 people. His progress was currently 82/100, so he was close to completing it.

As for the other Black Iron rank title, [Walker Slayer], Kirk had earned it after killing people and setting fires with ruthless abandon.

[Walker Slayer]: Black Iron rank title. Awarded for killing more than 500 walkers. Effect: Increases damage dealt to walkers by 10%. Negative effect: Walkers will prioritize you. Proceed with caution.

The next rank was the Silver Title [Walker King], which required killing 1,000 walkers. His current progress was 661/1000.

After killing walkers all night, he'd obtained seven white keys. His kills had taken place from a safe position and with firearms, reducing the drop rate, but his first-time trial status and low overall rating had helped make up for it. When he opened the keys, he didn't get any weapons or equipment, only some Survival Points and Skill Potential Points. Kirk had now saved up 2,000 Survival Points and 2 Skill Potential Points.

According to the System's search results, Skill Potential Points could be used to increase skill levels, though the cost varied by skill level and rank. Kirk had also learned that the System awarded "Basic Attribute Points," which could be used to improve basic attributes, though he hadn't gotten any this time.

Just then, Kirk saw a middle-aged man with black curly hair, an average build, and sharp eyes approaching, surrounded by a large group. Kirk knew the main character, Rick, had arrived.

The moment Rick and Mori saw each other, their eyes collided like Mars and Earth!

Mori laughed loudly. "Captain Rick, surprised to see I'm still alive?"

Rick pressed his lips together and met Mori's gaze calmly. "Daryl, T-Dog, and I went back to look for you."

Mori looked at another sturdy man nearby. The man held a tungsten-alloy crossbow. He seemed calm, but there was strength and danger beneath the surface. He nodded.

Mori shook his head. "So what? You looked for me, then left again right away! I lost my right hand!"

Rick snapped, "Mori, you're the one who causes trouble. You need to take responsibility for what happened back then. If you hadn't given everyone a hard time, why would they have left you?"

Kirk was about to speak when a woman across from him cut in. "Rick, calm down!" To Kirk's surprise, Rick actually fell silent. He looked at her. She wasn't Rick's wife, Laurie, but a smart, capable Chinese woman with short black hair who looked like an HR director at a major company.

Kirk took half a step back and watched quietly.

The group was larger than he'd expected. T-Dog, Andalusia, Laurie, Ryan, and the other major characters were there. What surprised Kirk even more was that each of them had an unfamiliar face standing beside them—someone who clearly wasn't part of the story. Their clothes, manner, and behavior all felt oddly familiar to Kirk.

Thinking of the earlier System Prompt, Kirk suddenly understood. So I'm not the only newcomer sent here for a trial. It looks like every newcomer has been placed beside a Plot Character as an apprentice or a sidekick.

Just then, a young man with yellow hair noticed that the walkers were trapped behind the gate, easy targets. He let out a strange yell, racked his gun, and ran over to kill walkers and rack up points.

The other trial participants quickly copied him. Soon, gunfire erupted.

The Plot Characters frowned. The short-haired woman couldn't stop them either, and her face turned ashen.

"Let's go!" Rick waved his hand, and the group began to pull out. Mori didn't want to go with them, but his brother Daryl refused to let him stay behind. He dragged Mori along, and Kirk helped get him into the car. Mori had no better way to escape.

As the cars were about to leave, several Contractor trial participants still hadn't returned. Rick frowned and leaned on the horn. He was a good-natured man; if it had been hotheaded Shane, he would've shaken his head and driven off long ago, leaving this undisciplined rabble to feed the walkers.

At last, the young man with yellow hair returned, covered in rotting flesh and blood. He gave a loud whistle and proudly racked his gun. "Wow, that was cool! I'm the first one to complete the [Walker Hunter] title!"

Several other men and women also loudly bragged about their scores and what they'd collected. Kirk watched with a cold expression. The short-haired woman couldn't hold back her anger and shouted, "Blondie! We agreed to follow orders and stick together. Why didn't you listen?"

Blondie looked bewildered. "When did you say we weren't allowed to kill walkers? I didn't hear that." As he spoke, he stole a glance at the short-haired woman's ample chest. Several men and women burst out laughing.

The short-haired woman's chest heaved with anger. Then her eyes landed on Kirk, who was hiding in a corner. She sized him up, her phoenix eyes narrowing, and a smile flickered across her lips. "Young man, you've been with Mori for a while, and you did your share in this fight, didn't you?"

Kirk put on a naturally vacant expression and smiled. "I'm pretty strong, but walkers are dangerous, and I'm kind of clumsy. Luckily, Mori only had me reload for him."

Several contemptuous glances came his way. It was already the second day, and the newcomers were gradually adjusting to the pace of battle and becoming more active. Blondie had killed over 100 walkers, and the others had all made their own contributions. Now this new rookie was saying that all he'd done was reload. The woman was still a little suspicious, but she was worldly and experienced at reading people. Kirk looked like an honest, ordinary guy, not someone with any special abilities. She'd meant to ask whether he'd gotten anything out of following Mori, but decided not to bother and let it go with a smile.

Kirk, though, found common ground with a little fatty standing nearby. They were both nerds, and they hit it off after just a few words. The little fatty had clearly joined the group as soon as he arrived and hadn't seen much hardship. He was innocent and naïve, and Kirk got him talking with a few casual remarks.

It turned out that the System had dropped more than a dozen new trial participants into this scenario at once. Through various story events, it had assigned them to each of the Plot Characters, with each one saving a Contractor. For example, this little fatty had run into the Plot Character T-Dog—a fatty—before the walkers could eat him. The two fat guys, one big and one small, one white and one Black, complemented each other perfectly. The short-haired woman, for another example, was called Ma Ruiqi and had been following Rick. Whether she was exceptionally persuasive or had some other talent, she'd gotten along very well with Rick and gained quite a few benefits. Blondie had joined the rebellious Shane. Shane was Rick's good friend and coworker, as well as a well-trained cop with formidable combat skills. But he was jealous of Rick, lusted after Rick's wife Laurie, and was selfish, looking out only for himself. In the end, Shane became twisted and tried to kill his friend and steal his wife, but he never got the chance—Rick killed him.

Beside Laurie was a blonde European-American woman named Sally. The two seemed to have plenty in common and were close. Sally and Ma Ruiqi, the women attached to the two protagonists, were constantly at odds, openly and covertly vying with each other.

Beside the Black Blade Woman was a thin, delicate Japanese boy. He looked a bit like Ranmaru from Japanese anime—the submissive type—and carried an Ōdachi even taller than he was. He introduced himself as a fan of anime and cosplay and told everyone to call him Ranmaru. He had a sunny look in his eyes, but they always seemed to flicker. Kirk glanced at the knuckles of his right hand and his expression changed. If the kid really was a newcomer, he must have practiced with swords before. His knuckles were broad and callused—the result of years of kendo training. A Korean boy also approached Green, and the two started talking in Korean, saying "ssimida" back and forth. The Korean boy was quite handsome and had probably had plastic surgery, though nobody knew how capable he was.

Judging by this, should the main villain Philip also have a Contractor beside him? If so, Philip's side would know the story's direction and specific details inside out. Could an attack on the story's team come earlier than expected?

The newcomers on this side were a mess, divided among themselves, and their potential enemy had all the information. Their prospects looked grim. Kirk thought to himself.

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