Chapter 7: Zombie in the Hallway
Joo Joowon casually ate a bag of bread for breakfast before walking into the bedroom and picking up his phone.
The little cat leaped directly into Joo Joowon’s arms.
While scratching under its chin, he opened the residential complex group chat.
[ Mr. Monopoly: How many people are still alive? ]
[ Honeybean: The zombies seriously are not something ordinary people can kill. My roommate is only one point five meters tall, but she smashed my bedroom door apart in just a few hits. It was terrifying. ]
Joo Joowon tapped on the image and took a look.
The scene was horrifyingly bloody.
The zombie had been smashed into a complete mess.
Clearly, the person who killed it had been extremely emotional, probably even on the verge of losing their sanity.
[ TinyTot: The 112 emergency hotline has completely collapsed. Will the government come save us? ]
[ PixieDust: I checked online. This is not a regional disaster but a global one. Everyone is struggling to survive themselves. How could rescue possibly come? We can only save ourselves! ]
There was an endless flood of messages in the residential complex group chat.
Most of it was meaningless venting.
Joo Joowon then switched to browsing various major online platforms, but he could not find any discussions related to beginner villages or safe zones, which left his mood rather heavy.
If players really had no safe zones, did that not mean there would never again be a peaceful night’s sleep?
After all, although the zombies were only Level 1 right now, their levels obviously would not remain unchanged forever.
Their destructive power would definitely continue increasing as well.
Ordinary buildings could never withstand their attacks forever.
When that happened, where would humans even be able to hide?
As if sensing Joo Joowon’s bad mood, the little cat stretched out its paws to hug him and gently licked him with its tongue.
Joo Joowon could not help smiling slightly.
Looking at it from another angle, things were actually not that terrible.
At the very least, the cat he raised had not turned into a zombie cat and attacked him.
Joo Joowon spent the entire morning gathering information.
Perhaps because the apocalypse had only just begun, there was still no information online about elite monsters or obviously terrifying zombies that looked difficult to kill.
Of course, it was also possible that everyone who had encountered them was already dead, but Joo Joowon preferred to think positively.
After eating a random mixed pot meal for lunch, Joo Joowon placed a collar and camera on the little cat, then once again put on his helmet and fully geared up before heading outside.
After a whole morning of rest, the soreness in his muscles had eased somewhat.
It was time to venture out again.
Joo Joowon chose to explore downward.
After all, there was a clear difference between going downstairs and climbing upward, especially for zombies.
He did not believe that after zombies gained such great increases in strength, their speed would also rise tremendously to the point of sprinting effortlessly up staircases.
Compared to the risks of climbing upward, going downstairs was obviously more suitable for exploration.
Ever since being carried outside by Joo Joowon, the little cat had kept its ears flattened like airplane wings and clung tightly to him, completely unable to understand why it had suddenly been brought outside.
It was not time for a hospital checkup, was it?
It had not gone outside in a very long time.
Joo Joowon gently rubbed the little cat’s head.
Beneath the motorcycle helmet, his voice sounded especially soft.
"Be good, little one. Whether your dad can clear the zombies on this floor depends entirely on you. Later, you have to run around the building once before coming back upstairs."
Little Cat: ?
Without caring whether it understood or not, Joo Joowon carefully placed it onto the ground and forcefully pushed it toward the elevator hallway.
"Go!"
The moment he pushed the cat away, Joo Joowon did not hesitate at all.
He immediately dashed upstairs.
He was wearing snow boots, so the sounds of his footsteps were extremely quiet while also making it easier to escape.
Even if there really were zombies wandering the hallway, he would still be able to get away safely.
"Meow!!"
The little cat, whose voice was usually tiny and soft, instantly let out an earth shaking scream that even cracked midway from panic.
If cats could speak human language, it probably would have started cursing on the spot.
"Roar!"
Along with the shrill cat scream came a strange zombie roar.
Hearing it, Joo Joowon secretly felt fortunate.
Being cautious really had been the right choice.
There actually was a zombie wandering in the hallway!
A streak of white shot past Joo Joowon’s feet and sprinted toward home without even looking back.
Joo Joowon lifted the chair in his hands and smashed it backward.
"Get down there!"
The zombie was knocked over by the wooden chair and tumbled down the staircase before crashing heavily into the wall, clearly unable to get back up anytime soon.
Joo Joowon felt somewhat regretful that it had not simply died from the fall.
Left with no choice, he tightened his grip on the fire axe and rushed downstairs, hacking repeatedly at the zombie’s head.
[ Ding! ]
[ Level 1 Zombie has been killed ]
[ EXP +1 ]
Only after killing the zombie did Joo Joowon cautiously lean forward to observe the surroundings.
The zombie roars rose and fell endlessly, while the apartment doors shook with loud banging sounds.
After letting out a long breath, Joo Joowon finally turned around and headed back upstairs.
There he saw the little cat sitting in front of the apartment door, its beautiful heterochromatic eyes staring at him resentfully.
Unlike most cats, the little cat was not the type that would run away and never come back after going outside.
It recognized the way home.
As a cat slightly smarter than others of its kind, it normally neither approached strangers nor ate the cat food kind people left out for stray cats.
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