The Terror of the Human Heart

Ye Zhao watched the situation outside, while chaos continued to erupt online. Everyone was crying, screaming, and begging for help. It sent a chill through her. The zombie virus had not even spread here yet, but more than half of the current disorder was man-made.

People were slaughtering one another.

Sure enough, the human heart was more terrifying than any ghost.

That evening, Feng Chao and the others returned. He specifically came upstairs to tell her that things outside had become even more chaotic. More than twenty of them had gone out together, yet they had still ended up in a brawl with others before finally managing to protect a few boxes of medicine. Several more people had been injured.

There were already many people lined up at the Safe Base, and spots were worth a fortune. For now, it seemed that only the privileged had entered the Safe Zone, while ordinary civilians without connections could only keep waiting.

"Miss Ye, once the Safe Base opens, will you come to the base with us? The hotel still looks fairly safe now, but as the zombies around us grow more numerous, this place will become a target too. It's only a matter of time before it falls."

Ye Zhao had limited time, so she did not agree immediately. "We'll see."

The sixth day after entering the game.

10:00 a.m.

Ye Zhao's Constitution had risen to 57.

[Name: Ye Zhao]

[Constitution: 57 (no equipment effects)]

[Strength: 4 (no equipment effects)]

[Speed: 0+47 (equipment effects)]

Her hair loss had greatly eased, her nosebleeds had become less frequent, and the red patches on her body had stopped spreading.

Only the hair she had lost had yet to grow back.

Ye Zhao touched her half-bald head. Her edgy street-punk aura had now reached its peak; she could probably scare a three-year-old to tears just by going outside. She simply used a razor to shave off the rest of her hair, but her lack of skill nearly split her scalp open.

After putting on a hat and taking her medicine and Vitamin ABCDE, she carried the fruit platter Xiao Min had brought her to the rooftop.

Her heart had grown restless. She was no longer content to hide in her room and take potshots in the dark. She planned to set up several sniper rifles directly on the roof and become the sniper tyrant of this neighborhood!

The situation was still terrible today. Incidents of smashing, looting, arson, and robbery kept occurring. Ye Zhao had made quite a haul that morning—she had sniped ten asses.

Thanks again to Teacher Baidu for making her both scholarly and martial.

The situation changed somewhat that afternoon. While Ye Zhao was aiming her sniper rifle here and there, she unexpectedly saw a mutated zombie attacking humans in a residential complex not far away. Humanity's instinctive reaction to zombies was still fear and terror, and people were fleeing in every direction.

Ye Zhao fired five shots. One struck the zombie's leg bone. Zombies did not feel pain; even after falling to the ground, it would crawl after its food.

The appearance of that zombie seemed to flip some kind of switch. Ye Zhao soon witnessed numerous incidents of zombies eating people.

The zombie virus had finally spread to City B.

The streets became even more chaotic. There were fewer and fewer pedestrians, more and more zombies, and all kinds of tragedies frequently occurred within residential complexes.

Ye Zhao did not even need to go online to know how terrifying the situation had become.

The City B government issued a warning: [All residents, please shut your doors and windows and isolate yourselves. Do not go outside! Do not go outside! Do not go outside!]

[All residents, please shut your doors and windows and isolate yourselves. Do not go outside! Do not go outside! Do not go outside!]

[All residents, please shut your doors and windows and isolate yourselves. Do not go outside! Do not go outside! Do not go outside!]

The internet was filled with cries and pleas for help. People flooded the public accounts of the city government, police, fire department, traffic police, and others, begging for rescue because phone calls simply would not go through.

[Help! Can someone come save me? My husband and mother-in-law have both turned into zombies. My child and I are in the bedroom now. Wuwu, they're banging on the door! Can someone save us??]

[Didn't we know about the zombie virus long ago? Didn't the government prepare for this? Why has it become such a mess now?! Help!]

[Why is the government so useless? They collect so much tax from us just to sit around and do nothing? Why haven't they developed a vaccine yet?!]

[Ahhh, can someone save me! I'm at Room XX, Floor X, XXX Residential Complex! There are zombies outside my door!]

[It's been chaos for so many days. When I went out to buy supplies, I was not only robbed but beaten up too. The hospital wouldn't see me, and I couldn't buy medicine even when I wanted to. When will these days ever end?!]

[...]

The internet was in an uproar, nearly crashing the social media platforms. At a time when everyone could barely look after themselves, naturally no staff came out to maintain the network. The network soon collapsed, and nothing could be loaded.

Downstairs.

Feng Chao and the others dealt with several companions who had suddenly mutated. Feng Chao said, "Have you all filled up the water? We need to store as much water as possible. Water sources will definitely be contaminated later, so we have to stockpile more just in case."

"Now go door to door and determine who's human and who has mutated. This is our base. We must ensure the hotel's safety first."

The group immediately sprang into action.

Xiao Min went up to the rooftop with a machete in hand and saw the girl in black wearing a baseball cap, carrying a sniper rifle on her shoulder. Her figure was slender, her back unyielding, and her expression calm. Her slightly narrowed eyes were clear and sharp.

If not for the sudden nosebleed that ruined her imposing aura...

Ye Zhao expertly tore off a piece of tissue and stuffed it into her nostril. Without taking her eyes off the target, she fired. In the distance, a zombie that had pounced on a girl was blown apart with a single shot to the head.

The girl had narrowly escaped death. She looked around in panic, repeatedly said thank you, then quickly fled.

Ye Zhao fired a few more shots before looking at Xiao Min. She froze for a moment, unable to understand why Xiao Min, who had once had a full head of hair, had also shaved herself bald. Had she thought long hair was too cumbersome and wanted to better face the crisis of the apocalypse?

If Xiao Min had possessed that level of awareness, she would not have been heartbroken over losing her hair or constantly worn a hat to hide her bald head.

Ye Zhao truly admired Xiao Min. After experiencing despair and pain, she could still be so brave and strong.

She handed her a milk candy. She wanted one too, but forget it. A little more hardship in life meant a little more time alive. She would just chew on carrots. She still believed in Doctor Baidu as she asked, "How are things downstairs?"

Xiao Min clenched the candy in her palm and explained what had happened. "We had rules from the start. Unless someone was going out to search for supplies, no one was allowed to wander around the hotel. Everyone stayed in their own rooms. Even if they mutated, it would happen in their rooms. Zombies can't open doors, so it wasn't too chaotic. We've stabilized the situation. It's fine, don't worry. We'll definitely defend the hotel!"

Ye Zhao nodded. "Be careful of asymptomatic infected people. Some people can mutate even without being bitten."

Xiao Min gave a soft acknowledgment. She was somewhat curious why Ye Zhao seemed to know so much about zombies and was not overly surprised upon seeing one. When Xiao Min had seen zombies downstairs earlier, even though she had mentally prepared herself, she had still been badly frightened.

Though curious, Xiao Min did not ask further. She was afraid of offending Ye Zhao.

She needed to become stronger. Only by becoming stronger could she stand at Ye Zhao's side.

She went downstairs and began knocking on doors and clearing zombies with her teammates. She had to become stronger!

The seventh day after entering the game.

After allocating her Creation Points, Ye Zhao checked her personal information.

[Name: Ye Zhao]

[Constitution: 67 (no equipment effects)]

[Strength: 4 (no equipment effects)]

[Speed: 0+47 (equipment effects)]

[Note: A Player's personal base attributes are not included in statistical rankings.]

[Talents: SSS-Rank Creation, SSS-Rank Prophet]

[Elemental Ability: None]

[Creation: Level 1]

[Creation Points: 58]

[Experience: 35%]

[Prophet: Level 1 (used)]

[Experience: 7 (Note: 24h≈1 point)]

[CD: 00:00:00]

[At the current level, you can foresee events that will occur within three days. Foresight duration: 10s.]

Very good. It was time for her daily use of the Prophet Skill again.

The Prophet Skill had shown her scenes of zombie disasters erupting in various places over the past two days. The pain and despair in those images seemed to cross time and space and reach her heart.

Even though Ye Zhao had witnessed the destruction of an entire city, seeing too much of it still made her feel stifled and miserable.

Witnessing human suffering firsthand was not a good thing. It was truly detrimental to her condition.

But she could not afford not to look.

Hopefully, she would see something useful today.

May Buddha bless her.