Apocalypse Escape: Day One of Survival

”I’m not sure if they’re here to dismantle Earth, but their goal is to come for us. That much should be clear, right?”

Everyone nodded in unison.

”There’s one more thing. Before Little Spider surrendered, it was constantly trying to trick me into submitting Zombie Crystal Cores to the system in exchange for system items.”

”And how did it try to trick me back then? By telling me I’m the female protagonist destined to save the world! That this place is just some low-level dimension, like in a novel! And that with the help of my Dimensional Space, I would have a meteoric rise and become a world-class powerhouse, the reigning heroine of this entire dimension!”

Gu Chen couldn’t help but cover his face with his hand.

’My girlfriend is so adorable. What do I do?’

On the side, Little Spider, having been called out on the spot, quickly retracted a few of its legs and skittered away.

”HAHAHA!” Song Kexin burst out laughing. ”Sis, you didn’t fall for it.”

’If it were me, I probably would have gotten all fired up and fallen for it right away!’

Xie Ning scoffed, ”You think I’m as simple-minded as you?”

”So, my personal guess is that their ’gate’ over there probably ran into some problems, which is why they need to collect a massive number of Zombie Crystal Cores now.”

”Then comes the question: how to collect the Zombie Crystal Cores they need as quickly as possible? The answer is to distribute binding wristbands. These allow anyone who has one to access a supply exchange mall within their grand system, and they even throw in a starter-sized Dimensional Space.”

”All you have to do is hand over a certain number of Zombie Crystal Cores, and you can exchange them for any high-tech product you want. Guns and ammo, protective gear, food and supplies, daily necessities! They even have special potions that can help ordinary people awaken a superpower! Tempting, isn’t it? Are you hooked?”

Everyone stared at her, dumbfounded.

Song Youzhi slapped his thigh. ”It’s hard not to be tempted!”

Gu Chen and Lu Wei both jumped to their feet.

They were suddenly so glad they had brought this up as a funny story to Ningning the moment they walked in.

Now, they felt that the X Realm distributing these binding wristbands was a matter of utmost importance, its potential harm even surpassing the distress calls from the various bases.

”We have to go back and report this,” Gu Chen said, standing up and squeezing Xie Ning’s hand. ”Wait for news from me. We’ll probably set out around noon tomorrow.”

”We received distress signals from Gushang Base and several other smaller bases in the area. We were originally scheduled to leave tomorrow morning, but it seems we can’t wait that long. This business with the X Realm binding wristbands is too important. We might have to call an emergency meeting.”

”Ningning, if you’re invited to attend...”

”I know. If I get a notice, I’ll be there. It’s all stuff I already know, so it’s no big deal to explain it again.”

”Okay.” Gu Chen squeezed her hand tightly.

’My girlfriend is the best!’

The group had barely eaten a few bites of their hot meal before they had to leave in a hurry.

Old Mrs. Song sighed. ”These binding wristbands... are they very dangerous?”

”Grandma, don’t worry. The wristbands themselves aren’t dangerous. We just have to make sure we don’t submit any Crystal Cores to that stupid system.”

Xie Ning was helping her mother, Song You’ai, clear the dishes when she heard this. Her hands paused, and she suddenly ran over to her sister and forcefully ruffled her hair.

”Kexin, I think you’re getting smarter!”

”Huh?”

”Haha!” Xie Ning excitedly gathered the rest of the dishes and ran to the kitchen. She had suddenly thought of a great way to earn Crystal Cores.

Binding the wristbands wasn’t a big problem in itself.

A high-tech product like this, given out for free? It would be a waste not to take it.

It lets you see your own comprehensive body stats and offers free communication. What’s not to like?

In an era where communication networks have been cut off, this was a major boon.

She just had to inform everyone of the pros and cons and tell them not to submit any Crystal Cores.

Of course, that was easier said than done. Actually implementing it would certainly be difficult.

After all, the items in the system’s mall were just too tempting.

”What’s this great idea you came up with, sweetie?” Song You’ai asked, following beside her. ”Even if we expose the X Realm’s conspiracy to the world, there will always be some unscrupulous people who’ll go to the mall and make exchanges for their own petty gains.”

”First of all, the wristbands will definitely only be distributed in the major and minor bases, right?”

Song You’ai nodded.

”The Superpower Users in the bases have high standards for the quality of their supplies, but most of them are relatively obedient.”

”If the authorities explicitly forbid something, most people wouldn’t dare to do it.”

”Of course, there will definitely be a disobedient few who secretly use their Crystal Cores to exchange for resources.”

”But the vast majority of people in the bases are ordinary people. They survive by exchanging labor for Contribution Points, so very few of them have a large stash of Crystal Cores on hand.”

”Right, right.” Song You’ai thought about it and felt it made a lot of sense.

She placed the tableware in the sink. Cen Yun quickly took over all the dishwashing duties, even shooing away He Shuping when she tried to help.

”So, I was thinking...” Xie Ning strolled back to the dining room and called out, ”Future, can you hack in and see if I can register an anonymous mall account?”

If Future could protest with its legs, it would have raised all seven or eight of them.

But it couldn’t. With a single glance from its master, Ningning, it could only dejectedly crawl to the side and start figuring out how to open an account for her.

”Okay, I’ve thought about it. Our team needs to level up, which means we need a lot of Crystal Cores, right?”

”If we rely on hunting for them on every mission, it’ll be a slow process.” ’Even with Xiao Gu’s help, my boyfriend’s teammates need to advance, too.’

Now that her boyfriend was under her protection, she had to bring his buddies up with him.

The team’s progress is the greatest progress.

”So, I was thinking, we have plenty of supplies on hand, right? And the farm in my Space produces a lot of stuff every day. I haven’t checked in a few days, and the rabbit hutches are probably overflowing, right?”

”So, I’m going to open an anonymous shop! I’ll go on there, sell our supplies, and steal business from the X Realm. I’ll snatch up all the Crystal Cores they’re after.”

”Think about it. The number of zombies that can be killed each day is limited, and very few Superpower Users in the world can go out hunting zombies in this terrible weather.”

”Zombies don’t reproduce. The more you kill, the fewer there are.”

”But the output from my farm Space is really not small.”

”Every day, we just need to put out a small batch of supplies to rake in a large number of Crystal Cores. Is that good business or what?”

”On top of that, we can have Future hack into their X Realm system mall, steal a bunch of their stuff, and sell it alongside ours. It’s a surefire way to make a killing. What do you think?”

”It couldn’t be a better plan!” The corners of Song Youzhi and his brother’s mouths twitched. ”If Future can steal, it should steal as much as possible. Then it’ll be pure profit for us!”

Everyone: ...

Future: ...

’What kind of masters did I get saddled with?!’

”The most important thing right now is figuring out how to hide Ningning’s identity. She absolutely cannot be exposed in the system’s mall.”