Downtown
Althea arrived at her destination some time later, and now she was looking at the tall modern building in front of her in relief.
The villa area was technically within the scope of the city. On a good day, they could get to the downtown area within 20 minutes, even with a bit of traffic.
However, with all the cars and zombies blocking the way, the trip took over an hour.
She sighed as she looked at the time.
[07:41:02]
Tsk, what a waste.
Her first stop was, of course, the mall supermarket. She entered with her handy plasma gun in tow, with a goo-covered Fufi leisurely following her steps.
The moment she entered, zombies were immediately attracted by the sound, and she immediately hit them all with the plasma gun.
Anyway, she couldn't take it with her. She might as well maximize its use while she could.
[+5 Experience, +5 Copper]
[+5 Experience, +5 Copper]
[+5 Experience, +5 Copper]
[+5 Experience, +5 Copper]
[...]
After clearing out the floor with the handy plasma gun, she proceeded to do some leisure shopping.
Her first stop was Baby Products. She took several cans of milk, a few sets of bottles, several packs of diapers, pacifiers, several sets of clothes until the age of three, and others. She also took two smaller toys to fit in the small space.
But she saw more cute clothes and was heartbroken not to be able to take more.
She pursed her lips in thought and a sparkle of an idea hit her head almost immediately. She ran to the staff-only area and rummaged a bit.
It took her a while but she did find what she was looking for: A Vacuum sealer!
With this treasure, she packed up a lot more clothes than she had originally planned.
Her babies would have Terran clothes until the age of 5 no problem.
She then went to the feminine items next to get some napkins and tampons. Although she didn't have her menses now, she would have it in a few months. She took a lot more of the space-saving tampons.
She didn't vacuum them at all because she heard they wouldn't return to their original forms afterward.
Heading back to the food section, she took some raw meat as they lost a few as bait on the way. She took non-perishables like rice, flour, instant noodles, jerkies, and the like.
She also took all the seeds on display.
Ah seeds, she should get more...
Next was the adult's clothing on another floor. First, she passed by the men's sections taking a few sets of clothing and underwear for both her husband and her brother. She also took some comfortable shoes for both of them.
Finally, she moved on to her own garments. She went to the clothing and sports stores to get equipped, choosing the best she could find and taking away what she could (vacuum packed, of course).
[EQUIPMENT:
Head: Motorcycle helmet +3 Defense
Ears: None
Body: Leather Jacket, cotton undergarments +2 Defense
Synthetic Vest +3 Defense
Arms: Arm Brace +1 Defense
Legs: Leather Pants +2 Defense
Hands: Plasma Gun +Attack indeterminate
Leather Gloves +1 Defense
Feet: Leather Boots +2 Defense, +0 Agility ]
Decisively ignoring the ugly biking helmet she could've taken, she then proceeded to the next floor to get to the mountaineering shop.
At this point, not much space was left in the Space Backpack, so she had to choose much more carefully on what to place.
In the end, she went to the mountaineering section to get tools and supplies that she didn't have at home, as well as some outdoor-grade backpacks and duffle bags.
She wanted to test if the only things she could bring were only inside the backpack, or if anything she carried could be carried with her.
She filled both bags with the basics of everything: a bit of ready-to-eat food, a few bottles of water, and change of clothes for females.
In this way, it would be great if she could carry them but fine if she couldn't.
As she moved, she continued to deal with the zombies using the plasma gun. Since she couldn't take it or even the energy core with her, she decided to use it wantonly.
[+10 Experience, +10 Copper]
[+5 Experience, +5 Copper]
[+10 Experience, +10 Copper]
[+5 Experience, +5 Copper]
[...]
Fufi was also fighting his heart out, turning out to be quite the sadistic dog.
She low-key watched as Fufi got more and more familiar with jumping twice his height and using his cute paw pads to smash zombie heads.
It was gruesomely amusing to watch.
Anyway, the number of upgraded zombies was understandably many times more than what she had encountered before. After all, the number of people here was naturally several times more than her own villa area.
Fortunately, the plasma gun was really easy to use. It was strong and there was barely any rebound at all. With her improved physique, she could barely feel it at all.
Of course, she also let Fufi kill a few for training. He soon reached level 1, earning some very good stats.
Eventually, she got to the elevator to go to the luxury area. After clearing out the zombies, she swept through the jewelry and watch stores. She took everything she could.
Even the stores' warehouses didn't escape her claws, either.
[WEALTH: 1992 gold, 32087 silver, 4452 copper]
Looking at her wallet made her happy. Ah, how nice...
Should she rob a bank?
"..."
.
.
.
She paused her steps at the thought.
Well, should she?
.
.
Unfortunately, mall branches were unlikely to have gold so she didn't bother with the banks there.
Instead, she set her sights on the largest bank downtown, a few blocks from her current location.
Because of the time limit, she really couldn't be inefficient at all. Thinking she should get as much money as she could, she chose the most time-efficient bank to go to.
Who knew if other people thought of the same, wouldn't she feel so much regret?
She would later find out that she was actually thinking too much regarding resource rivalry at this time.
After all, almost all creatures on the planet were either dead or had turned into zombies.
In the dense cities, the survivors of the first wave were now either dead or hiding away. Who else could think of getting out at this time, especially knowing they would be 'taken' somewhere–-likely safer–-after 24 hours?
Even if they did go out to get supplies, they would most likely just get food and drinks, rather than rob a bank…
But Althea didn't know this, so she was bent on being as productive as she could in the shortest amount of time.
They continued on their killing spree and soon more and more zombies found them, especially with the leadership of the upgraded zombies.
The disaster happened at the peak of night activities, after all, and each floor had hundreds of zombies.
However, with their current level and weapons, as long as they were not swarmed by all of these, they'd be fine.
She and Fufi kill a few hundred more, and she could see her experience bar soaring.
She had become more and more proficient with the gun. Partnered with improved vision, she could now hit at least 95% of her shots.
[+10 Experience, +10 Copper]
[+5 Experience, +5 Copper]
[+10 Experience, +10 Copper]
[+10 Experience, +10 Copper]
[+5 Experience, +5 Copper]
[+5 Experience, +5 Copper]
[...]
Heaving a sigh, she went to the furniture store to sit down and rest. As she and Fufi rested, she looked at her stats.
[STATS:
Name: Althea Witt
Age: 25
Level: 2 (2840/3000)
Life: 250/300
Spirit: 130/300 (-5%)
Physical: 50 (-5%)
Agility: 47 (-20%)
Defense: 40
Mana: 200
Physical Potential: B
Mental potential: SS+
Skills:
Active: None
Passive: None
Elemental Affinity: Wood, Water, Earth
Titles: None
Overall rank: S
Current Status: Gestating: two life forms, weakened state ]
She smiled, it wouldn't take long before her upgrade.
Her hands unconsciously patted her stomach, and they gave her a gentle kick in response. She laughed.
She hoped to be as strong as possible before migration.
The Unknown was the scariest thing, only with enough strength would she escape the fate of living in fear.
At the very least, she would do whatever it took to give her children a stable place to grow up in.