The Watch

After taking down the Mario Brothers, Kirk formally took over as the new master of the water tower.

Just as he had expected, the location was high, spacious, and offered a wide field of view. With the help of binoculars, Kirk could even see more than two thousand meters away, clear as day.

The System Prompt appeared: "You have occupied an ideal high ground, established a watchtower, and begun carrying out your mission." Kirk began scanning the area and keeping watch. More than two hours passed quickly. Everything remained peaceful, and nothing happened.

Kirk began organizing his thoughts. Now was the time to think carefully about what to do next. His attributes were average at best; even after completing that hidden Main Mission with its generous reward, he would only be on par with an ordinary person. (Kirk: What a ridiculous pitfall!) He had no special skills and no hidden talents.

Little Fatty had said that his hidden talent was [Abnormal Metabolism]. His basal metabolic rate was much faster than other people's, exceeding 2,000. The downside was that he had to eat a lot and got hungry quickly; if he didn't eat, his attributes temporarily dropped. But the benefits were obvious, too: his stamina recovered 25% faster than that of an average Contractor, and the duration of poison effects was reduced by 25%. He'd heard that Ma Ruiqi had the most powerful talent. This woman had "Talent Charm," which gave her a +5 bonus when making a Charm check. Combined with her high Charm, she was almost irresistible to men! No wonder Rick was so bewitched by her that he wouldn't even listen to his wife, Laurie.

One thing was certain in this space: Contractors without a unique advantage or strong suit would have a hard time surviving, whether in a team or on their own. So where did his advantage lie? What was his role? Ranged damage dealer? Melee damage dealer? MT? Support? Scout? Kirk fell into deep thought, feeling rather lost.

Then a gunshot shattered the silence.

Kirk quickly pinpointed where the shot had come from. Those inexperienced rookies had gone out to grab guns, food, and women, and, just as expected, gotten themselves into a huge mess!

At the three o'clock position, Blondie was running in blind panic. The Affies men and women behind him were no longer acting so cocky, either. They were all running frantically, faster than rabbits!

Blondie was clutching a bag, which probably contained the guns and ammunition they had gathered. Unlike some shut-in who'd often been kited by Walkers, they were probably faster than ordinary Walkers. But fear had taken hold, and Walkers were closing in on them from every direction. Blondie and the others were in a panic. The last woman couldn't keep up and was tackled to the ground by a Walker. She seemed to be shouting something, but she was too far away for Kirk to hear.

Then she was eaten alive. She was still alive as the Walkers tore bloody chunks of flesh from her, stuffing them into their mouths right in front of her tear-streaked face!

The woman was so terrified she went mad. She screamed for a full minute before she stopped struggling. By the time she died, half the flesh had been torn from her body.

Kirk felt a chill run through him as he watched. The woman was a Contractor, just like him, but as the Walkers ate her, there was no difference between her and the first man Kirk had seen being eaten after entering this space.

Contractors were no different. Once they were in a Walker's belly, they were just rotten meat.

The saying that misfortunes never came singly was proven true once again. At the six o'clock position, a crowd of Walkers poured out onto the main road of a small town, chasing a group of people. Judging by the familiar, round figure running at the front, they were probably the adorable Little Fatty and his group.

They had gone out to grab food, only to become a meal delivered right to someone's door.

Kirk had been watching the spectacle, but suddenly realized how serious the situation was. Both groups of rookies were pretty useless, and when they ran into danger, they probably wouldn't think about keeping the Walkers away from the car camp. Seeing Blondie and his group in such a terrified state, after watching a woman get eaten by Walkers, they were so scared they'd nearly pissed themselves. They were desperate to run as fast as they could and wouldn't care if they led the Walkers straight back to camp. It was unrealistic to expect them to stay rational. Sally's group was no better.

So he fired a warning shot. Rick, Shane, and the others ran out of camp. Kirk pointed toward the three o'clock and six o'clock positions, then gestured to indicate a large horde of Walkers. Rick's face darkened. He nodded to show he understood, then withdrew.

Kirk knew this was how the space had arranged things. The Plot Characters couldn't directly come to their aid. Whether they made it back alive was up to them.

Just then, gunfire rang out from the highway. Kirk looked over.

It turned out to be another large group of "lone heroes," led by Ma Ruiqi, sprinting wildly along the highway with a huge horde of Walkers behind them. Among the pursuing Walkers, Kirk even spotted an armed Riot Police Walker! So they really had found that prison! Unfortunately, the rookie deadweights had tried to break into the prison, only to be driven back—and brought the Walkers home with them!

Three hordes of Walkers were converging on this tiny car camp!

"No wonder they issued four branch missions. If the first three fail, they're counting on the fourth. What a messed-up setup," Kirk couldn't help grumbling.

So he could only fire another warning shot, sending the bad news back to camp.

Before long, the camp was in an uproar as the Plot Characters prepared to fight.

Kirk watched the highway again. It was actually the best escape route for the Plot Characters, but it was now swarming with Walkers. Ma Ruiqi was wearing high heels. As she ran, she suddenly stumbled and fell. A middle-aged man had been running ahead of her. Ma Ruiqi had always gotten along well with him, and she ran back to help him without hesitation.

Then.

Then!

Ma Ruiqi suddenly plunged a dagger into the man's thigh, snatched his submachine gun, and scrambled back to her feet. She kicked off her high heels and sprinted away. She was no longer running awkwardly at all! That woman clearly had high Agility!

The man roared in fury, but his leg wound left him unable to escape the Walkers. They caught up and tackled him to the ground...

Kirk had seen Blondie abandon a female teammate to fend for herself, and he'd seen Ma Ruiqi's despicable betrayal of her teammate. He shrugged and gave up on rescuing them right away, aiming the M16 5.56mm assault rifle in his hands toward Little Fatty's group at the six o'clock position.

The M16 had a range of 800 meters. He also needed to leave himself 500 meters to escape, so the time it took the Walkers to advance 300 meters was all the time he had to shoot. Kirk didn't have [Basic Large Firearm Mastery], so he couldn't exactly boast about his Hit Rate. Luckily, there were as many Walkers as flies in a public toilet. If he just fired at random, he was bound to hit something.

To be honest, standing leisurely on this high ground and watching other people struggle in the water was quite a pleasant experience!

A Walker was about to catch up with Little Fatty when a bullet suddenly struck it. The Walker flew backward and couldn't get back up for quite a while.

Little Fatty was so moved he nearly cried. He'd almost been eaten alive! Later, he came specifically to thank Kirk, then asked curiously, "Big Brother, you're pretty capable! You can use a pistol and an M16. Where'd you learn those skills? Did you figure them out yourself?" Kirk shamelessly claimed he had no M16 shooting skills. Fatty was shocked and asked how he could shoot so accurately, daring to fire when a Walker was barely over a meter from his butt. Kirk shamelessly replied that he was just shooting for fun, without a care in the world. It was an unplanned rescue. Hitting a Walker was great, but if he happened to hit Fatty instead, that would also free him from the misery of being eaten alive. Fatty nearly threw up and died on the spot.

Seeing Kirk firing repeatedly from the water tower, the group's morale soared, and they ran even faster!

After emptying two magazines, Kirk saw that Fatty and the others had more or less escaped. He began firing cover shots in other directions. Blondie might not have been a decent person, and Ma Ruiqi was even more vicious, but they were still on his side. The Governor's group was still lurking nearby, and losing too much of his team's strength would not serve his interests.

Kirk kept firing until all four magazines were empty. Only when the Walkers had gotten within 500 meters did he calmly climb down from the water tower. He hadn't learned any shooting skills, but the Walkers were so densely packed that his wild shooting still earned him more than 40 kills.

His cover fire had also helped the other two groups escape, slowing the Walkers' advance to some extent. They had all made it back to camp without incident, keeping their little behinds safe.

As Kirk ran into camp, the System Prompt appeared: "Contractor No. 4444, you have completed the Dangerous Watcher Mission. Based on your performance, you are rewarded with 1,000 Survival Points, 2 Basic Attribute Points, and 2 Skill Potential Points. Killing Walkers earned you 136 Survival Points. You have gained 10 Team Contribution Value. Team Contribution Value can be used in three ways:

1.

Purchase team items, weapons, and equipment from Laurie;

2.

Purchase skills from the team's Plot Characters by speaking to any team member;

3.

Influence team decisions to a certain extent by speaking to Rick."

After the team gathered and took stock, it turned out that three people had been lost during the operation, all of them rookies. All three mission groups had failed. Blondie had dropped the bag of guns along the way, so that mission had failed. Sally had brought back too little food and fresh water, so that mission was judged a failure. Although Ma Ruiqi's group had found the prison, they'd been driven back, so that mission was also judged a failure. These people had gained nothing and now had to thank Kirk for saving them. Kirk kept a low profile, saying he'd just gotten lucky and that it was no big deal.

The two women who weren't strong enough had stayed in camp and dutifully completed the Nursing Home Nurse mission. They'd received some guaranteed rewards, and ended up gaining more than those reckless idiots who hadn't bothered to think things through.

At the next team meeting, even the few rookies who were usually jumping in and out of every discussion stayed quiet. Rick and the other Plot Characters talked it over and decided that, with Walkers surrounding all three main roads, escaping by car was no longer possible. They had to hold off the Walkers coming from all three directions first, while sending people to retrieve the bag of guns and reinforce the camp's firepower.

The space issued another mission: "Due to your reckless actions, most of the missions have failed, and the team is now in danger. Please choose another branch mission:

1.

Assist Plot Characters Defend Camp.

2.

Help retrieve the abandoned bag of guns and reinforce the camp's firepower."

Blondie's group didn't accept the mission to retrieve the bag of guns. They just watched everyone with cold, hostile eyes.

Kirk had already made up his mind to learn combat skills from Morido. This was a rare opportunity, so he chose to help defend the camp. He handed the M16 with its empty magazines to Rick and took his place beside Mori. He'd already drawn plenty of attention. If he went to retrieve the bag of guns, he'd become a target. He understood the saying: the tallest tree catches the wind.

But the Korean man snorted and stepped forward. He joined Green, who was quick on his feet, to take on the mission. It looked like failing the previous mission had cost him quite a bit.

Rick organized everyone into a simple barricade of cars, reinforcing it with planks and steel plates. They handed out guns and ammunition, then assigned people to defend each section. Fortunately, it was daytime, when Walkers weren't very active. The Plot Characters were also fairly capable, so they had a good chance of successfully defending the camp.