The door creaked subtly as Hans opened it from the inside. His steps were light, steadying himself as his eyes caught the blood-slick floor and scattered limbs.
Damn, I want to retch, but something is holding me back.
At that moment, that familiar cooling sensation washed over him again, calming his unnerved body and mind and bringing him to an optimal state.
Hans closed the door behind him and gulped, hoping no zombie waited around the corner.
The light in the hallway flickered incessantly, forcing him to squint. His nose burned under the smell of iron and flesh as he approached a room where the door remained ajar.
Hans barely remembered his neighbors; he'd spent most days gaming, sleeping, or grinding through work. He had no choice but to check them individually, fearing he might lose a golden opportunity.
He slowly pushed the ajar door open, tightly gripping the combat knife in his left hand. He looked around the room and found a silver watch on the desk and a small gold ring on the side of it.
[ Detected: 125 grams of silver and 10 grams of gold. Convert to resources? ]
Hans nodded, and the silver watch and gold ring vanished from his hands.
[ Gold: 0 (+23) -> 23 ]
"System, do you automatically round things up?"
"Yes, commander!"
"Hmm..."
Hans continued scouring the room for anything he could convert into gold. Unfortunately, this room's resident must have been somewhere else during the afternoon, leaving him with nothing, not even a bag.
Hans left reluctantly and moved to the next closed door. Just as his hand touched the doorknob, a sudden groan echoed from the stairwell on the side.
Damn it, a zombie?
He instantly felt calm and stepped back, planting his body against the wall. Footsteps thumped above.
The eighth or ninth floor? It's far from me for now, but I have no time to dwell on it.
He went back to the doorknob and eased it until it clicked open, his heart drumming. One breath later, he slipped inside.
The room was clean, making it easy for Hans to overturn the area. However, smooth as it was, Hans got nothing from this room.
"No resident, or did they move out?"
He took a deep breath and left the room, scavenging the rest for any resources.
Most of the rooms were locked. Hans wondered if those rooms had someone inside, or the door was barricaded, or the people residing there had left the area during the day.
He was then left with only two open rooms that yielded 28 Gold, increasing his balance.
[ Gold: 23 (+28) -> 51 ]
"Just 49 more..." he gritted his teeth and approached the stairwell, peeking out through the gaps in the middle.
Above him was a single zombie dressed in a formal suit, and at that moment, a glint of gold passed through his unblinking eyes.
The zombie's arm was tangled in the railing, but the dumb creature stood there, staring at something.
However, Hans's eyes narrowed, trying to outline the golden object stuck on the zombies' arms.
A gold watch!
Moments ago, he was reluctant to engage with it due to the commotion his fight against the zombie may draw, but now, the prospect of striking it rich was preferable to inaction itself.
Though scavenging the lower floors would be relatively safer, the unknown condition below might not net him the gold he badly needed.
But the zombie above him... If he killed it and retrieved the gold watch, he would be able to train his first unit.
The thought itself excited him, and he immediately devised a plan.
Hans concluded that it was better to end it all as quickly as possible. Whether it caused a commotion or not, at least he could secure the gold watch from the zombie and train his first unit.
Testing a zombie's senses was out of the question. Who knew if he might mess up and lose this chance?
Better to strike first and confirm later!
Hans ascended the stairwell, watching his footing and the space around him. He clung to the wall to avoid hitting the metal rail at the center of the stairs.
Accidentally clanging it with his body or the combat knife might just as well be no different from firing the M1911 pistol itself.
As Hans closed in, the combat knife in his hands gleamed sharper than ever.
Each step felt like walking on glass. The zombie's low moans echoed against the concrete, but it didn't turn. Hans steadied his breath; one mistake and the whole floor would wake.
When Hans reached the floor where the zombie was, the latter stared blankly into the wall, like a log, unaware of its impending doom.
Great, makes things easier then!
With his heightened reaction speed and close-quarter combat effectiveness, Hans held his breath, gripped the combat knife with both hands, and aimed at the head!
The strike drove the zombie down in one motion. The blade bit through the skull with shocking ease; the resistance he expected never came.
His own momentum slammed him down with the corpse. For a second, the world was silent except for the slow drip of blood from his blade.
He didn't expect that the minor boost the system gave him was too powerful, but at least the zombie was now truly dead.
The loud thump echoed into the hallways and the stairwell, followed by groans that seemed to have found prey.
Hans's body tensed, feeling the raw power that wasn't his and wanting to deal with all of the zombies drawn to the noise.
But the calming sensation washed over again, pulling him out of his adrenaline and returning to his main objective.
He quickly grabbed the gold watch from the zombie's hand. Then, with silent and swift steps, he retreated to the seventh floor and into his room.
He didn't dare linger, nor did he want to find out how many were drawn to the thumping. All of his focus was now on the gold watch in his hands, bloodied and battered yet useful for his next plans.
[ Detected: 85 grams of gold. Convert to resources? ]
Yes!
Hans shouted inwardly as he watched his balance soar.
[ Gold: 58 (+85) -> 143 ]
"System, train a Conscript!"
He didn't hesitate and ordered. The Infantry Tab flickered as the Conscript's thumbnail now had a countdown spinner slowly moving clockwise.
"I see, so every 100 gold means 1 minute of training."
Hans smirked and went into the bathroom sink, washing his bloodied hands and knife while waiting for the training to finish. He noticed that the uniform remained unblemished, despite his hands and blade being stained with the zombies' blood.
"Wait… do these clothes clean themselves?"
"Commander, for your convenience, the clothes will automatically be cleaned, but they cannot be repaired."
The moment he was done cleaning, the system prompted that the conscript unit was trained.
"System, where will they appear?"
"Commander, if there is no physical building for units to spawn in, they will appear in a safe place and outside of others' vision," it explained, "Your unit will spawn from your gaming room."
Hans sighed in relief, praising the system for its cleverness in enhancing the user experience. Otherwise, explaining where his soldiers came from would be impossible.
Amidst his thoughts, a figure walked out near where his gaming desk was.