Chapter 9: Negative States

At dusk, the clouds on the horizon looked like pieces of cloth torn apart by raging fire, casting mottled red light.

Beneath the towering skyscrapers, the once bustling city had long since turned into an apocalyptic wasteland, countless zombies flooding every corner like a tidal wave.

They seemed like sinister ghosts crawling out of hell, their mere sight sending chills down one's spine.

Song Yu’s gaze settled on the city center in the distance, where a dilapidated hundred-meter-tall building was covered in blood-red thorny vines, with terrifying figures faintly moving through the structure.

Those eyes, filled with icy menace, exerted an overwhelming pressure on Song Yu.

It felt as if, any moment now, that dreadful presence would cross the entire city and tear her apart.

Around that building, enormous zombies of various forms roamed the streets and structures.

They were so colossal that Song Yu could clearly see them even from where she was.

Within the central district, Song Yu also noticed an organized group suppressing those zombies.

The dense fire of guns and cannons mixed with the snarls of the undead; watching the distant flames, Song Yu lazily yawned.

The number and strength of zombies in the city’s core far exceeded those on the outskirts.

Those players dropped into the city were truly unfortunate.

Song Yu thought about reaching the old city and delivering supplies to the Watchers organization, which meant she had to break through layers of zombie encirclement.

Was the group clearing zombies in the central city the Watchers?

She didn’t dwell on the question but turned to go downstairs.

For her, surviving the remaining 27 days was far more important than uncovering the world’s truth.

Back on the twelfth floor, Song Yu casually entered an unlocked room, only to be immediately attacked by a grotesque zombie!

She quickly pushed it back and aimed her nail gun at its head.

The nail gun’s sound was faint, drawing no other zombies; instead, the zombie’s roar stirred the entire building’s undead into agitation.

Song Yu kicked the zombie down, swiftly entered the room with Little Black, and barricaded the door with a table and chairs.

Three nails driven into the zombie’s head made it vanish instantly.

The room was clean but dusty, with almost nothing usable except for a pile of long-useless furniture.

Survivors had scavenged these apartments repeatedly; nearly all valuable items were taken.

In the kitchen corner, Song Yu found a pack of jam biscuits, which she ate as dinner.

With some bottled water, she barely got by.

After tidying the bedroom simply, Song Yu settled in with Little Black.

Due to the city’s unique environment, she didn’t sleep immediately but sat by the window, carefully pulling the curtain open just a crack to cautiously observe the surroundings.

Nights in the zombie zone were perilous, yet some players still chose to move under cover of darkness.

After all, the black buff at night improved drop rates; during the day, zombie loot was pitifully scarce.

Even with Song Yu’s innate luck bonus, she couldn’t get much loot, let alone other players.

Under her watch, she soon spotted a group—unclear if players or NPCs—moving below.

They moved smoothly through the night, efficiently clearing zombies from the streets.

The area she was in had no high-level zombies, mostly first- and second-tier undead.

Suddenly, the group seemed alerted, their sharp gazes shooting upward toward her floor and room.

Song Yu reacted swiftly, hiding immediately.

“Scary,” she muttered, patting her chest.

Just in case, she had Little Black keep a close eye on movements below.

Little Black lay quietly by the door, calmly eating the dinner Song Yu prepared, looking reliable.

Sitting on the bed, Song Yu counted the supplies in her inventory, her nail gun nearby.

She and Little Black counted as two players; their daily consumption doubled accordingly.

Based on her recent food and water use, each player consumed around 150 satiety points and about 90 hydration points daily.

For two, she needed to stockpile even more food.

Zombies were harder to kill at night, and their daytime drop rates were low.

Once zombies gathered in packs, they became an insurmountable threat for Song Yu.

Though she now handled zombies easily, that was because their numbers were few and levels low.

If only there were some lone high-level zombies.

While eating a peach, Song Yu pondered her next moves.

Killing only first- and second-tier zombies wouldn’t sustain her through thirty days.

Suddenly, she paused mid-bite and hurried to the kitchen window.

She faintly heard human cries.

Little Black confirmed her suspicion—it was indeed a human crying, though it couldn’t convey the meaning precisely.

It was the group previously besieged by a horde of zombies.

Song Yu witnessed a player wailing in tears being thrown out of a window.

Her expression remained unchanged as she continued eating her peach; Little Black eagerly devoured its meal.

She watched that player thoughtfully.

Being thrown out wasn’t strange, but why was the player crying so loudly in such a perilous situation?

Even when thrown among zombies, the cries didn’t stop.

Something was off—this was troubling.

The next day, Song Yu’s question found its answer.

Waking from sleep, she checked her buff panel for any negative statuses.

When she saw the “Sloppy: Excessive untidiness may affect health” debuff, she felt enlightened.

The player thrown out likely lost control due to extremely low emotional value, triggering corresponding negative effects.

Since the game had hidden stats for satiety, hydration, health, and emotion, they must serve important functions.

“Did he collapse because his emotional value dropped too low...?”

Song Yu opened a bottle of mineral water and meticulously cleaned herself until the “Sloppy” debuff vanished.

She realized she needed to monitor her emotional state constantly.

In truth, Song Yu worried unnecessarily; such a situation would never happen to her.

For breakfast, she and Little Black had creamy bread and luncheon meat—a lavish meal.

Undeniably, their life was better than 99% of other players, many of whom still struggled to survive.

After packing her bag, Song Yu scavenged everything portable from the apartment—like the gold necklace in the bedside drawer and pots from the kitchen.

If not for limited backpack space, she could have emptied the whole room.

However, her good mood from finding the gold necklace vanished the moment she stepped outside.

She and Little Black immediately bumped into another player.