Neighbors

The radio crackled. Although some interference seemed to make it hard to hear, FM was still much clearer than AM.

"...Judging by the natives of World 1, they can only use some of the effects of attribute-bearing equipment. Affixes and skills seem to work only for us, though perhaps the Lizardmen can use them too. This should be an extra gift from the world's will...

"...Equipment with skills is rare, but carrying it grants you muscle memory and reflexes directly. Ideally, the equipment should keep working even when its owner rests. Share it and rotate it among yourselves, making sure to train and familiarize yourselves with the skills as much as possible, so you can still achieve their effects without the equipment..."

This was another little tip shared on the University City Broadcast at noon: a small number of equipment pieces came with built-in "skills."

However, Lin Hao had yet to encounter any such equipment himself.

The broadcast also briefly discussed conflicts between equipment pieces. Equipment worn on the same body part couldn't be stacked excessively, or its affixes might stop working. Ideally, they should equip themselves without compromising their mobility.

With my Equipment Slot, I can naturally stack one extra layer.

"Lin Hao, are we heading out? Zhou Feng said he's ready."

Yi Feng sat by the entrance to the living room, repeatedly winding a shoelace around a fruit knife to fasten it to a wooden table leg, making himself a spear.

Sharp weapons like knives weren't particularly effective at driving back Madmen who had no fear of death. Unless you struck a vital spot in one hit, they would keep charging straight at you.

But Yi Feng was short and couldn't deliver an effective blow with a steel pipe, so he was better off using a spear.

A strong, sturdy man like Zhou Feng was better suited to using a steel pipe to help hold enemies back.

"Yeah, coming."

Lin Hao stood up and walked over.

Zhao Xiaowen and Nie Yi rose with him. Both carried empty backpacks and held homemade spears similar to Yi Feng's.

This time, they planned to "clear out" the entire twenty-third floor first.

They would leave occupied apartments alone and loot all the empty ones.

Lin Hao had searched rooms before. The hotel-style rooms on the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth floors were fine: everything was visible at a glance, making them easy to search.

Actual residential apartments took a long time for one person to rummage through. After all, sensing Wish Power items required concentration, which inevitably took some time.

Bringing a few more people along made things more efficient and let them look out for one another. It was a pretty good arrangement.

At least he got along well with these people so far.

As for dividing the spoils, Lin Hao had first pick of equipment and Wish Power items. With no shortage of food, that was enough to serve as his compensation.

Besides, each person could only carry so much to the teleportation point. Lin Hao only needed to take valuable supplies like gold himself; everything else could be divided among the others.

Zhou Feng, in particular, had a wife and son to feed. He was satisfied as long as he got food.

For a team going into the teleportation point, it could be me, Zhao Xiaowen, Nie Yi, and Yi Feng.

In truth, the sturdily built Zhou Feng would certainly be more useful. But with his family in tow, he could only find a way to form a team on his own. Still, they could all look out for one another while they were in the apartment building.

Since Lin Hao had already knocked on every door on the twenty-third floor and dealt with all the Madmen, things were fairly easy now.

With some of Yi Feng's lock picks having gained attributes, opening locks went remarkably smoothly, almost as fast as using a key.

The advantage of having more people became clear as well. Lin Hao would have spent ages rummaging around alone, but five people could search much faster.

In no time, they gathered the Wish Power items and useful supplies together.

"There's some gold jewelry here."

"Here's a gray glove. It keeps you warm."

"An RTX 3060 Ti graphics card, green quality, worth over three hundred Wish Power. The solid-state drive, CPU, and RAM are worth a little too."

They soon amassed a pile of things. Lin Hao took the gold and distributed the bulky, low-value items among Zhao Xiaowen and the others for now, while Zhou Feng received some food.

There were twenty-four apartments on the floor. About half were occupied, and ten were empty.

Even with the threats already eliminated and the apartments right nearby, it still took all five of them an entire afternoon to finish clearing them out.

Searching and hauling, they carried most of the things back to 2318 like ants moving their nest, while Zhou Feng took a small amount of food home himself.

"Thank you. Thank you so much. This is enough to feed us for a while. You don't need to give me any more next time we move things."

Zhou Feng understood their current situation well and was deeply grateful when he took the food.

At a time like this, food was the ultimate hard currency. Even if he had carried more than anyone else, being able to earn food through physical labor alone meant they were doing him a favor. He couldn't lose sight of that.

Hearing Zhou Feng's words, Lin Hao nodded without making any polite protests.

Zhou Feng had always shown a good sense of boundaries, which was actually a very good thing.

Right now, they were all still getting to know one another and deciding who they could trust.

They had spent far too little time together so far. Even Zhao Xiaowen, whom he had known longer, had only been a passing acquaintance when they were roommates. The attraction between them now was driven more by the pressure of their circumstances and their hormones.

Still, Lin Hao wasn't opposed to opening up to them. If they continued getting along as time passed, there was nothing wrong with becoming true companions and comrades who could rely on one another.

Perhaps even...

Something else occurred to Lin Hao, but he quickly shook his head. Survival still came first for now.

At the moment, hauling things might seem easy, with Yi Feng doing the most important job of opening locks.

But if Lin Hao hadn't cleared out the Madmen first and accompanied them to ensure their safety, things could never have gone so smoothly.

He had no qualms about taking the largest share.

However, just as they finished hauling everything and were about to call it a day, with Lin Hao planning to go back and exercise a little-

Creak~

The security door to 2315 opened, and a middle-aged man began peering out.

The moment the security door opened, everyone went on guard.

They each raised their weapons defensively.

"Hey, hey, don't get the wrong idea! Don't get the wrong idea! I'm alive. I'm normal."

The middle-aged man seemed to notice their wariness and hurried to speak. His eyes kept darting around, taking in the last batch of supplies in the hallway waiting to be carried inside. When he saw the biscuits and potato chips peeking out of the bedsheet bundles, his eyes lit up slightly.

Then he walked out as though they were old friends.

"Hey, earlier,

"I kept hearing all that banging outside. It was pretty scary. I kept hearing locks being picked too. Have you got a way to open the apartment doors? These supplies must all be from this floor, right?"

As he spoke, he reached out to pick up a box of biscuits.

"Hey! What are you doing?"

Yi Feng barked at him and waved his homemade spear.

Though he was short and scrawny, his shifty-looking face worked in his favor this time. The middle-aged man stopped reaching and backed up two steps.

Lin Hao stood to the side, watching coldly. As he passed the apartments earlier, he had noticed people watching through the peepholes in their security doors. This fellow had probably seen that they had finished looting and come out to test the waters.

"Why are you being so aggressive? What do you want? You went into other people's apartments and took their things, so why can't I have a share? In an apocalypse like this, we should all help each other, work together, and stand united!"

The middle-aged man backed up a few steps, speaking in a fierce tone.

Then he raised his voice.

"Everyone, come out and look! Come on out! There's plenty of supplies here! They've looted all the apartments on this floor! These belong to everyone on the twenty-third floor!"

With the middle-aged man shouting repeatedly, along with the earlier voices and noises outside, the remaining people hiding in their apartments could more or less confirm that everyone out there was human.

Creak~ Creak~

Door after door opened, and the other survivors on the floor began poking their heads out one after another.

Those without food had either already gone mad or gone outside and been eaten by Madmen.

The people left now all still had some supplies at home.

In this unfamiliar apocalypse, they had pinned their hopes on the false security behind their reinforced doors and remained in hiding.

Only now, hearing the "commotion," did they muster the courage to emerge one after another.

Seeing people respond and their numbers growing, the middle-aged man who had spoken first found his confidence and spoke with a smile.

"Take a look, everyone! These people found some lock picker somewhere and broke into the apartments one by one to loot them. All of this belongs to everyone here, doesn't it?"