Prison

Looking at the newcomers around him, Kirk also had some guesses about The Space's intentions in choosing them. At his core, Kirk was still a homebody who liked to think. It was just that too much entertainment in modern society had caused his thinking abilities to decline. Now, faced with harsh survival pressure, something that seemed insignificant might determine whether you lived or died in 24 hours. Kirk had to force himself to think more, to use his brain more; he couldn't afford to be careless.

Judging by the situation of the newcomers, The Space chose people with specialties. When allocating newcomers, The Space seemed to consider matching the plot characters' specialties with the newcomers', as well as plot needs and even compatibility. Basically, it was a one-on-one pairing in a "mentor-apprentice" relationship. This situation should only occur during the newcomer trial plot. With so many newcomers on trial together, it went without saying that The Space would definitely issue team tasks like "Teamwork" to help everyone get familiar and integrate quickly, forging a team.

Regarding teamwork, Kirk's idea was to watch coldly and make a fortune in silence. If everyone could unite sincerely and there were profits to be made, he wouldn't mind being a pawn used by others and using others. If they continued to scheme against each other, or even frame each other, he wouldn't waste time and energy on these people and would go solo and strengthen himself as soon as possible.

Kirk continued to observe his potential teammates. The current "captain," Ma Ruiqi, was clearly a type of "White Bone Spirit" (white-collar worker, backbone, elite) who thrived in the workplace. Her charm value should be high, and her basic eloquence was good, which was why she was doing so well now. However, Kirk believed that there were two types of "White Bone Spirits": those with real ability and those who pretended to have it. This woman belonged to the latter. Her rise was due to her good relationship with the protagonist Rick, but she lacked a big-picture view, persuasiveness, and true leadership ability. Simply put, "big breasts, no brain, scheming" was her description.

He wondered what kind of role the newcomer on Governor Philip's side would be.

The fatty beside him suddenly said, "Do you know? We can die in this scenario."

"Huh? Why?"

"Because I saw a newcomer girl die. She was Amy's apprentice. Yesterday afternoon, walkers attacked our camp, and everyone scattered. Amy pulled her, and they ran together, but they were caught by walkers. She was bitten, and the plot character abandoned her. She died ten meters away from me. I saw her throat torn open, and blood sprayed out..." The fat guy said with lingering fear, "I thought this was a fun game, just like a transmigration novel. But knowing that I can die, will die, and will be eaten, I realized it's not a game. It's a murder game."

Kirk felt the same way. Just 24 hours ago, he was a homebody, in an air-conditioned room, playing games, watching movies, and watching adult films, living the dream. Now, he was in this world, feeling pain, facing death, living on the edge of survival, with his life hanging by a thread.

The vehicle stopped, and Rick's deep voice rang out, "Everyone out of the car, we're having a meeting!"

Kirk jumped out of the car. They had driven for more than five hours all night, and it was now dawn. The blood-red sun was just rising, signaling another bloody day.

The plot team and the newcomers gathered together. On this convoy, after rescuing the 82 people from the nursing home, the team size now exceeded 100 people, making it quite a large group. However, there were many elderly, weak, sick, and disabled individuals, with less than 50 usable combatants. After last night's fierce battle, their ammunition was running low. Everyone had a grave expression.

Rick handed his son Carl to his wife Laurie, clapped his hands, and said, "Everyone, look here. We are facing many difficulties right now. There are four main challenges: first, a lack of food and fresh water; second, a lack of firearms and ammunition; third, a lack of shelter; and fourth, we know nothing about our surroundings. We need to collect food and firearm resources in the morning, and then find shelter before sunset this afternoon. Today's task is heavy; we need everyone to take action and contribute their strength."

Then, The Space's prompt sound came: "[Contractor 4444, you have officially joined the protagonist's team. To establish yourself in the team, it's not about words, but about actions and contributions. Now you need to complete a branch mission. Please choose:

"1. Pizza Delivery Man. Search for food and fresh water in a town within 10 kilometers. Contribution will be calculated based on quantity.

2. Ammunition Loader. Search for firearms and ammunition in a police station within 10 kilometers. Contribution will be calculated based on quantity.

3. Field Engineer. Find a sturdy shelter within 10 kilometers and clear out any potential dangers. Contribution will be calculated based on performance.

4. Danger Watcher. Establish an observation post at a high point nearby and eliminate all dangerous factors. Contribution will be calculated based on performance.

Explanation: You are now official members of this team. It's time to leave your plot character nannies and daddies. You must complete this mission independently and will not receive any help from the plot team."

The newcomers began to show eagerness, but some of the female newcomers looked troubled. Their combat strength was not high, and surviving in the wilderness infested with walkers was already a problem. Fortunately, The Space had thought of everything and arranged a task for them so they wouldn't be too embarrassed.

"5. Nursing Home Nurse. Take care of the elderly and children in the nursing home and fulfill their requests. Contribution will be calculated based on performance. Hint: For the leader Rick, the nursing home itself is a burden, and he probably won't give your service a high evaluation."

Obviously, this was a consolation task.

Blondie and a few other warlike individuals naturally chose the "Ammunition Loader" mission. Seeing their excited whistles, Kirk believed they were planning to enrich themselves and arm themselves first, but The Space probably wouldn't have any loopholes to exploit.

That woman, Ma Ruiqi, gathered a group of newcomers who leaned towards her and prepared to take on the "Field Engineer" mission. Listening to her blabber, she was a die-hard American drama fan and knew the plot's development. The protagonist's team should have found an abandoned prison in a valley five kilometers from the highway, which was very safe. She was now gathering people to complete this mission together, which was equivalent to completing the main quest in advance! The reward would naturally be generous. This woman had considerable motivational and rallying power, taking away more than half of the newcomers to go find the prison.

Sally, of course, would not obey Ma Ruiqi's command. She gathered that Japanese cross-dresser Ranmaru and Korean newcomers to go on the "Pizza Delivery Man" mission together. The familiar fatty also came to persuade Kirk to go on the mission together, saying it would be safer with more people. Kirk politely declined.

He chose the "Danger Watcher" mission. For balance, the difficulty and rewards of each mission should be similar. In that case, choosing any mission should yield a good reward. With more people, if there were profits, everyone would rush for them, and the contribution value would naturally be diluted. Based on Kirk's experience of reduced rewards from borrowing guns and setting fires to kill walkers, this Space was highly intelligent, and there were no obvious loopholes to exploit. Blondie searching for guns and ammunition and Sally searching for food and fresh water would likely not be pocketed; they would have to be handed over completely. Ma Ruiqi's so-called "finding the prison in advance and completing the main quest" was even more nonsense! The task released now was only a branch mission, not on the same level as the main quest. Let alone whether they could find it, even if they really found the plot prison, The Space clearly stated that the plot characters would not provide support. With just a few newcomers and a few broken weapons, they would all die, and it would be impossible to capture it. Mind you, it took the lives of many plot characters to clear the swarming walkers in that prison!

Danger Watcher: First, doing a branch mission alone meant no one would compete for the profit, so it would naturally be higher. Second, it was near the camp. If he really couldn't handle it, he could escape into the camp. The plot characters indeed wouldn't support him, but they still had to defend themselves, right?

Before the newcomers set off, they were all called by the plot characters. Mori stood in front of Kirk and carelessly threw out a sentence, "Harden up like a man," before patting his butt and leaving.

Kirk was speechless. There was a hidden meaning in those words. My hardness is very hard, okay?

However, Rick proactively found Kirk. "Are you ready, rookie?"

Kirk: "Boss, I'm ready." Just as Rick showed a satisfied expression, Kirk immediately followed up, "But right now, I only have a police-issue handgun, and there's no other support..."

Rick: "Alright, I know. Rookies are all like this. They want to fly far away at any opportunity, but they don't understand the cruelty of the wilderness. Some people might not come back. Since we considered that you're the only one acting as a watcher, we'll provide you with necessary equipment. You have to return it after the mission is completed. Do a good job." Rick patted Kirk's shoulder and left.

An old M16 and a telescope were handed to Kirk. Kirk wasn't too surprised because he had already obtained [Firefighter], automatically gaining favor with the human faction leader Rick, and the Charm +2 effect partially compensated for his weakness of 2 points in charm. Coupled with the newcomers swarming out like bandits to grab guns, food, and women, Kirk was the only one left to guard. It wasn't strange for the plot characters to arrange some temporary weapons and equipment for him.

However, Kirk also sighed. He probably got into trouble again. The Space was balanced. Giving him an M16 and a telescope was naturally for him to fight and risk his life. It seemed like there would be work to do today.

Kirk's first task was to establish an observation post. After observation and consideration, he chose a water tower on a high ground only 200 meters away from the car camp. This abandoned water tower was 40 meters high, and the elevation difference between the high ground and the car camp was 50 meters. Together, Kirk was equivalent to standing at a height of 100 meters, overlooking the entire gentle slope of the plain. With the help of the telescope, Kirk could see everything within a 2000-meter radius.

2000 meters. It would take walkers at least 15 minutes to walk over during the day, which was enough time for Kirk to issue an alarm, attack, and escape into the camp.

However, the plot characters were also poor, as evidenced by the old M16 in his hand. Not only was it old, but it also came with only four 30-round magazines. So poor. Coupled with the police-issue handgun in his hand and five magazines, with only 60 rounds of ammunition, resources were limited and had to be used sparingly.

On the way to the water tower, there were also scattered walkers wandering around. This was a rare practical combat opportunity. Kirk held a dagger in his mouth and a police-issue handgun in both hands. He would use the dagger when he found an opportunity to ambush. When encountering danger, he would use the handgun to shoot them in the head. He killed his way through.

Kirk had great patience since childhood, otherwise he wouldn't have stayed indoors all the time. He could have leveled up Diablo to level 99 without any cheats. Now was the time for MF (Magic Find) and leveling up. It was empty, no one to steal monsters, he could kill to his heart's content. Moreover, as an unknown factor, if he needed to retreat when encountering danger, and the walkers behind him suddenly appeared without being cleared, it would be a delay.

Therefore, it took Kirk an hour to clear the more than 30 walkers within about 500 meters around the water tower. Only then did he wipe the sweat from his forehead and walk towards the water tower with satisfaction.

On top of the water tower, there were actually two walkers. They should have been plumbers who were trapped there and turned into walkers after death. Kirk was a bit scared. He needed to climb the ladder up. Would they be waiting there to bite him? He was still timid. He wasn't afraid of walkers in ranged combat, but in close combat, he was still afraid.

However, there was no turning back now. He gritted his teeth and climbed up.

Halfway up, as expected, the two plumbers smelled a living person and surrounded the ladder, roaring.

Kirk cursed, "Damn it, are you two Mario Brothers? Wearing plumber outfits and climbing ladders everywhere? Do you think I'm here to deliver mushrooms? Eat lead!"

He tore off a piece of his shirt to protect his eyes from the filthy blood, then raised his handgun and fired more than ten shots, emptying a magazine, before finally shooting the unlucky Mario Brothers off the top of the water tower.