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Having finally sorted out the two feuding girls, I took the lead in scavenging for food in the empty kitchen.

Those that were cooked were naturally edible right away, but those that were raw could only be stowed away in my inventory for later usage.

As I did so, Bitong’s warning about the zombie virus potentially infecting the food stuck in my head. Thus, I decided to seek out System Lady and ask her about a method of detecting the virus.

System Lady, are you there? I need your help.

“No.” The system immediately cut me off with a refusal.

Awkward…

All I wanted to ask was if our kind, generous and oh so big hearted System Lady could help me check if the food has been infected…

“Valued host, you may spend points to scan the food for the virus.”

Don’t be like that. Why is it always about points this, points that. How cold.

“Cold, hard points, you mean.”

…

Sometimes I really wonder if my System Lady is actually even a system at all. Every other system I’ve read about were all like that doting grandmother you had when you were young. Always protecting and looking out for the needs of their hosts. Always warning their hosts about any detected dangers. Even providing an appraisal service so that they can identify their items. You know, stuff like if an object is poisoned or not. Or maybe a map for someone bad with directions, one that will label all the enemies with a big red dot.

As for mine? If it isn’t points, it’s about how she wanted to find another host… heartbreaking… heartbreakingly cold…

Finally fed up with my whining, the system caved in.

“Honestly, using points to scan your food is both cheap and reassuring for your mind. Would you rather spend some meager points, or always worry about whether that carrot you just swallowed would end up biting you in the back?”

Smooth as always when it came to pushing her services, I unfortunately wasn’t going to bite this time…

Yes, but there are also antidotes for sale in the Marketplace. I could just drink those if there’s a problem.

“An antidote will cost you 10 points, and it will only cure the virus within you, not prevent it. Using points to scan your food is a preventive measure, and cheap as well. Besides, isn’t eating zombie food disgusting? Who knows what part of the zombie infected that plate of food.”

That actually makes sense… I don’t even have anything to say to that…

But even if that’s true, it’s not like points grow on trees. Constantly spending points like this is painful on my wallet as well. I still need to buy skills and name slots for the Book of Oaths…

“If that’s the case, our valued host can actually consider buying an appraisal necklace from the Marketplace. As long as the necklace is recharged with spiritual energy, it will help our valued host detect if any object or person nearby has been infected with the virus.”

Wait. Really? How much? I’ll take it!

“50 points. Thank you very much.”

50… that’s expensive…

“Not at all. Think about it, valued host. Spending these 50 points won’t cost you much in the long run, and you can be assured about the quality of our products. What can you even buy with 50 points that can compete with the sheer convenience of checking every object or person nearby for the virus? 50 points is practically a steal. As long as you maintain it well, it will last for eternity. In comparison, those skill cards…

The system continued on and on about how I was making a bad investment choice right now until I finally couldn’t take it anymore.

But I can’t afford it!

As I said that mentally to the system, I gazed at my measly 18 points on the status menu like a crestfallen child looking into a fancy sweets store. Pitiful and helpless… and definitely wanting a treat…

Sigh… I guess I will have to find a way to scrounge up points for the necklace. As for the food, the system will have to check them for now. I might as well have her scan Bitong and the girls too.

In truth, I wasn’t all that afraid of this zombie virus. After all, I had already been bitten once and I was still perfectly fine. But the safety of the girls was paramount. I wouldn’t want them to be infected by some strange virus unknowingly.

Until the situation in the city was confirmed, we should take every precaution possible. Like for example, gathering up more supplies and food; we couldn’t be sure how long we would have to camp out in the city.

Yet if there was something that truly frightened me now, it would be the prospect of encountering more humans. Everyone was a potential zombie in the waiting. They might be fine one moment, then clawing for your brains a moment later.

That necklace was a necessity. For now, spending points on the system to scan others would have to suffice, at least till I slayed more zombies and earned more points.

As for that single name slot… Perhaps now wouldn’t be the best time to mention it… a war might just start because of that… definitely not something I wanted now.

I confirmed the expenditure of 5 points to scan those around me and the food we had gathered. To my relief, all of them checked out clean.

“I’ve just used my system to scan the food -they are safe. We should eat more while we can, and preserve our strength. I doubt we will get many chances like this to rest in the future.”

Because the kitchen was empty except for us and the prepared food, we casually found a clean spot and all sat down together.

However, just outside of the kitchen was a room full of rotting corpses. No one was in a particularly hungry mood; Jiaojiao almost puked a few times while trying to eat…

I looked at the poor girl and couldn’t help but sigh to myself. Honestly, the amount of corpses I had seen today was more than all the other days combined. Let alone Jiaojiao, even I was feeling uncomfortable. Facing hell on earth at the tender age of 11 was truly a tall order for her…

I quickly finished my food and gently reached out for her spoon. As I did that, she had just finished retching again, and her eyes turned red with tears.

I began feeding her while comforting her, and strangely enough, she seemed to be able to keep down the food…

Because my inventory wasn’t able to preserve food, we could only choose food with a long shelf life. Thankfully, its storage space was rather large so that wasn’t even a concern.

I had originally intended to search the kitchen for anything that could also function as a weapon, but I came up short in the end. Kitchen knives were too short, and there was no metal pipe to attach to them as a hilt.

Finally, we left the kitchen and held a simple meeting on our future path.

Right now, the first order of business would be to ascertain what happened outside. Though from what we’ve seen in the inn, it wasn’t going to be a pleasant sight.

Normally, the rational choice would be to seek out a place with survivors and find shelter together. However, this zombie virus made that essentially impossible…

I wiped Jiaojiao’s mouth clean with a paper towel while stating my observation. “The communication airways still seem to be closed. Barring short-range communications, the whole city should be cut off from the outside world.”

Bitong nodded and calmly continued down that train of thought. “I’m sure the surrounding cities and the military should have noticed this abnormality as well. Help should already be on the way. The police in this city aren’t weak either, so I’m sure they are already enacting a countermeasure. Besides, every city has at least a division guarding it. We should be fine on the military front. What we need to do now is survive till help arrives.”

Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE