WMSR – QT Chapter 101

 

WMSR – QT Chapter 101

By

siofra

Chapter 101: The Senior of the Apocalypse

The fleeing man appeared thoroughly disheveled and rather slender in build. Trailing right behind him were two blood-stained zombies in relentless pursuit. While the situation looked precarious, it was evident that although the man was stumbling and panting from exhaustion, he hadn't panicked to the point of losing his wits. Whenever he pulled out a sufficient lead over the zombies, he would pause briefly to catch his breath, deftly utilizing obstacles in his environment to create roadblocks for his pursuers.

Just as Bai Yichen watched intently, his expression shifted slightly. He noticed that the man was running directly toward his residential building. Running toward this building wasn't an issue in itself, but from Bai Yichen's vantage point, he could clearly spot two additional zombies lurking directly beneath the entrance—a danger coming from a blind spot given the man's running trajectory. If the man bolted blindly forward in his current state of utter exhaustion and crashed straight into an ambush, escaping would become nearly impossible.

Bai Yichen's gaze immediately swept across the balcony, finally locking onto a large potted plant. He hoisted the heavy planter, aimed toward the area where the courtyard zombies were stationed, and hurled the container downward with all his might.

"Crash!" The ceramic flowerpot plummeted from above, shattering into jagged pieces upon impact and generating a deafening roar.

Though Bai Yichen's improvised projectile missed scoring a direct hit on the zombies, the violent disturbance erupting right beside them instantly agitated the two previously dormant creatures. They let out abrasive snarls, wandering back and forth as they scanned the area to hunt down whoever dared provoke them.

The thunderous crash of the falling flowerpot, followed immediately by the fierce snarls of the zombies, caused the sprinting man's face to pale. The path he intended to take was instantly cut off, forcing him to swerve and veer in an entirely new direction. Even amid this frantic mid-stride correction, the man did not forget to cast a grateful glance upward toward the building.

For a split second, Bai Yichen felt as though their eyes had met. The next moment, Bai Yichen shook his head—such a feat was impossible within that fleeting span; catching a glimpse of a figure on an upper-floor balcony during a mad dash for survival was already a stretch.

With the man vanishing from view shortly after, Bai Yichen set the incident aside. After all, he was no selfless saint. In an unpredictable, cutthroat apocalypse like this, offering a trivial, effortless assist to save someone was something he didn't mind doing; however, expecting him to risk his neck by stepping outside to rescue strangers was out of the question. Once his one-month mandatory window concluded, he might entertain other options, but for now, his top priority was ensuring his own survival through this threshold.

Thus, Bai Yichen resumed his daily physical conditioning routine indoors. Whenever he took a breather, he posted up on the balcony to study the surrounding zombies, mentally mapping out safe, tactical methods to neutralize them should an encounter occur.

Finally, the one-month duration officially elapsed. A digital chime suddenly reverberated inside Bai Yichen's mind: "Ding. You have completed the baseline survival task for this world. Subsequent survival time will grant reward points. Every additional month survived awards one reward point, which can be utilized in future worlds."

Reward points?

Though Bai Yichen had no concrete understanding of what this unfamiliar currency entailed, encountering such a unique mechanism for the first time across multiple world hops convinced him of its inherent utility. And when it came to useful resources, hoarding as many as possible was always the correct strategy.

For a fleeting moment, Bai Yichen even contemplated hunkering down indefinitely in this sanctuary. The rations he had hauled back were sufficient to sustain him for an entire year; with one month already cleared, riding out the remaining eleven months should pose zero difficulty. Doing so would guarantee he secured the reward points for all eleven subsequent months on top of the initial baseline mission.

Yet after a brief internal debate, Bai Yichen dismissed the notion. How could he succumb to such passive stagnation? While camping out safely had its perks, blind avoidance was a dead end. This was the dawn of the apocalypse; those zombies might look terrifying, but they were currently at their absolute weakest. A healthy adult, provided they kept their wits about them, could easily handle one or two infected targets if equipped with the proper tools. If he failed to steel his nerve while the zombies remained fragile, as the apocalyptic timeline progressed and mutated variants grew increasingly powerful, humans would genuinely be reduced to sitting ducks.

Bai Yichen understood that his food reserves were finite, and even packaged rations possessed expiration dates. To achieve true, long-term longevity, venturing outside was the only viable path.

Naturally, venturing out blindly as an ordinary civilian served no purpose. Even if survivor safe zones were eventually established, the baseline safety of a non-combatant remained completely unguaranteed. In this harsh new reality, the sole method to live with dignity and autonomy was to awaken supernatural abilities.

Though Bai Yichen couldn't predict whether he possessed the latent traits to awaken abilities, the intelligence logs he absorbed indicated that the vast majority of awakened individuals were physically robust adults. Furthermore, historical data revealed that many of those power-wielders had engaged in solo combat against zombies during the earliest stages of the outbreak.

Bai Yichen reasoned that he met the criteria for a physically conditioned adult, and since facing zombies directly correlated with the probability of awakening, he owed it to himself to test his odds. Stationing himself on the balcony for days on end had familiarized him with the patrol patterns of the neighborhood zombies; he could easily cherry-pick an optimal window to single out one or two targets, provided he maintained adequate protective gear. And if things went south and a fight proved unwinnable, he could simply rely on his speed—after all, if the breathless, slender man he observed earlier could outpace two persistent pursuers, his own mobility would certainly suffice.

To put it bluntly, early-stage zombies were remarkably manageable. The majority of casualties occurring among humans stemmed entirely from panic and a total lack of preparation. Give an adult a weapon and unwavering focus to engage a single zombie, and the scales of victory would firmly tilt toward humanity. However, once mutations took hold later on, such luxury training windows would vanish forever. If he refused to hone his combat instincts and adapt to the carnage now, even an eventual awakening of supernatural abilities wouldn't save him if a single momentary lapse in focus led to a fatal stumble against a superior mutant. The regret of such a death would be immeasurable.

With his mind made up, Bai Yichen shifted instantly into action. Even if awakening an ability wasn't guaranteed, hedging his bets was a lifelong habit. Maximizing every variable that could tilt the odds in his favor was second nature. Having spent countless hours observing the movement speed and attack patterns of the courtyard zombies, he was confident he could guarantee his safety.

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