Chapter 12：Heart of Sorrow

Chen Dao lifted his head to locate the source of the scream, noticing that the zombies near the fresh store were doing the same.

In his first week here, Chen Dao had experienced something similar. Back then, he was much weaker and barely able to protect his own life. Now, thirteen days later, his strength had considerably increased. Most importantly, he now had a vehicle, which sparked the idea of rescuing another survivor to reduce his future workload in building a survivors' base.

Anyone who has played this game knows that it feels like two different games when there are sprinters and when there aren't. Playing solo versus in co-op mode also changes the experience massively. The workload is entirely different when two people cooperate versus one person doing everything alone.

There is no deceit or betrayal in this game; resources are more than sufficient, but labor is severely lacking.

The scream seemed to come from the southwest.

Chen Dao initially "spawned" in an empty house in the western slums, with a "for sale" sign in the yard.

He had traversed the town from the forest edge to the gated community, passing through the area where the scream originated. That place had a few small houses clustered together and a uniquely styled two-story house. The alarms he heard earlier this morning likely came from there. Another survivor might have triggered the alarm while looting during the zombie migration to Spiffo's. But after triggering the alarm, the survivor couldn't escape in time and was now trapped by zombies. The scream indicated that he was being attacked or about to be attacked.

Chen Dao flicked away his cigarette, quickly got into his car, and hurriedly started it. After circling the commercial center's parking lot, he drove onto the main road. He saw a large horde of zombies crossing the street, heading south. The zombies near the fresh store also began moving towards the scream. Still, since the scream's volume was limited, not all zombies were attracted. The hearing-impaired zombies stayed behind.

The sight of sprinting zombies was terrifying—endless waves charging forward. If the ones in front fell, those behind would trample over them. No one could survive under such circumstances.

Silently, Chen Dao turned the car around, mourning the unfortunate survivor in his heart.

He couldn't save that person.

Chen Dao wasn't afraid of walkers and could even playfully lead them around. But sprinters were a different story. Never, under any circumstances, should you provoke a horde of sprinters.

Remember, never under any circumstances.

If you happen to attract them, it's better to end yourself quickly before facing the torturous and hopeless death that follows.

Watching the sprinting horde in his rearview mirror, Chen Dao didn't know what expression to make. Thousands of sprinters—all the town's sprinters must be here, thanks to the Spiffo's explosion attracting every zombie in town. Without it, scavenging would have been impossible.

As he thought about it, Chen Dao saluted the unfortunate survivor in his heart once more.

"Bang!"

Chen Dao stopped the car and looked back. He heard a gunshot.

This attracted even more zombies, filling the road spectacularly.

The gunshot likely came from that same survivor, probably giving himself a merciful end.

Poor guy.

There was nothing Chen Dao could do except continue his own struggle for survival.

Sad, but only to a limited extent.

That's Chen Dao's current state. He parked in front of the school, ready to loot the place. It was past 5 PM, and he aimed to finish scavenging before dark.

Entering the school and orienting himself, Chen Dao found the library down the hall from the main entrance. Through the library windows, he already spotted the bookshelves. Putting the recently witnessed self-sacrificing survivor out of his mind, Chen Dao quickly got into looting mode. The school had closed in late June due to a massive outbreak of fevers, so it had no zombies.

Though his truck bed was nearly full, Chen Dao's greed pushed him to search for more useful items. The school library didn't have many books; apart from elementary textbooks and some educational materials, there weren't many practical books.

In the game, any bookshelf could spawn skill books, but in reality, there's no such "container refresh" phenomenon. This comprehensive school, with primary and middle school sections, wouldn't have specialized books like "Welding Techniques" or "Electrical Wiring and Insulation Safety Training."

But Chen Dao wasn't here for the library's collection. He was after the students' lockers and the school's sports equipment storage.

Student lockers often held valuable items like lunchboxes, books, video games, headphones, and other high-value electronics.

Dismantling a TV provided substantial electrical skill experience, but three game consoles offered the same experience. So electronic watches, game consoles, headphones, mini tape recorders—commonly found in student lockers—could provide massive electrical skill experience with less effort and higher safety than dismantling home appliances, with no worry about sudden zombie appearances.

Collect enough small electronics, and combined with skill books, he could rapidly raise his electrical skill level.

With a higher electrical skill, many survivor devices became craftable, like noise makers, craftable at Level 3, and at Level 4, he could craft remote controls. Further upgrades unlocked higher-tier noise makers and remote controls.

At Level 6, he could use radios; at Level 7, craft all electrical devices; and at Levels 8-9, dismantle and craft faster and reclaim materials more efficiently. Reaching Level 10 practically made him a god, easily crafting devices and dismantling items quickly with full material recovery.

But reaching Level 10 in any skill required 150,000 experience points, equivalent to dismantling 5,000 TVs—the highest experience-yielding item.

With skill books, he would only need the experience equivalent to dismantling about 200 TVs.

Chen Dao diligently searched student lockers, not missing a single one, and stuffed his ALICE backpack with Walkmans, headphones, and game consoles. These items were light and didn't take up much space. Despite the psychiatric meds in his backpack, he had room to fill it to the brim.

Happily collecting small electronics, Chen Dao didn't mind the tangled wired and over-ear headphones. He even found toy guns and water pistols.

Interestingly, he found a .22 Ziber handgun in a student's locker.

American students were impressive, with a strong sense of self-protection. Chen Dao was momentarily stunned by the Uzi-looking mini-handgun, almost not recognizing it.

Memories from playing the game reminded him that such a weapon wasn't originally part of it.

This weapon suggested the game had loaded some weapon mods. When Chen Dao found the silencer-equipped M9 earlier, he should've realized that the real world would have more than just Knox County's limited original arsenal of revolvers, semi-automatic handguns, magnum pistols, shotguns, and assault rifles.

Original game weapons were so scarce and unrepresentative of America's context, leading to many community mods supplementing and enhancing firearms in the game.

Mods like Brita's Weapon/Armor Pack, Vanilla Firearms Expansion, and Real Gun Mod brought new life to the game by adding various weapons.

Brita's Weapon Pack was the comprehensive mod, allowing adjustments to exclude post-1993 weapons and military uniforms.

Chen Dao inspected his M9 from its holster. Its matte black finish resembled the special operations M9 from the game, logically left behind by a high-ranking officer in his mansion, which he eventually found.

The child's locker had limited space, with only half its volume accessible. The lower part seemed partitioned by a board; tapping it revealed a false bottom.

Chen Dao set the thought aside for now and examined the mini machine gun.

The .22 Ziber looked small but could switch between semi-automatic and full-auto. Equipped with a high-capacity magazine, it could be quite powerful.

A dark humor about how, if not for the zombie apocalypse, this .22 could have starred in another tragic school shooting came to mind.

Taking out the mini gun, Chen Dao found it was already loaded. Beneath books at the locker's bottom lay four extended 40-round magazines filled with .22 aluminum-cased ammo, their shiny silver bullets visible through the inspection windows.

After some effort, Chen Dao removed the partitioned board from the locker's bottom, revealing six disposable food containers filled with .22 bullets. Each container held 120 rounds, totaling six containers. He also found eight extended magazines and another .22 Ziber.

…

American middle schoolers were something else.

Chen Dao was momentarily speechless—middle schoolers…

Confirming from the hallway it was indeed the middle school section and not the elementary section, Chen Dao thought, "If elementary schoolers had these, that would be truly terrifying."

But who wouldn't welcome free weapons? Especially since .22 rounds suited the current situation perfectly. Low-noise firearms using .22 rounds had enough power to break skulls and scramble brain tissue.

After packing the guns and ammo into his ALICE backpack, Chen Dao was fully loaded with gear.

Finally, having filled his backpack entirely, Chen Dao reluctantly left the school, returning to his truck. Glancing at the western horizon and Spiffo's smoke column, he knew it was time to head home.

The Spiffo's fire had nearly died out, and zombies would soon disperse throughout town again, potentially reaching the gated community in a few days.

Chen Dao started the truck and drove east along the school road, heading back to his sanctuary.

From the school, an eastward drive would reach the Excellence Supermarket and the church. Continuing north through the activity center and Knox Bank before turning east would lead to the yacht club and then the gated community.

Chen Dao wondered if the zombie horde at the Excellence Supermarket had dispersed since he hadn't seen any outside it. Deciding not to take a detour, Chen Dao drove straight through the Excellence Supermarket area to inspect the parked vehicles and the supermarket's current state.

As the largest and only comprehensive supermarket in Riverside Town, Excellence Supermarket housed a vast trove of supplies. The previously sighted large zombie horde was absent, but Chen Dao cautiously drove to the supermarket's main entrance. Several cars blocked the path, forcing him to drive onto the grass, and he slowly passed the supermarket entrance.

Through the entirely glassless and doorless entrance, Chen Dao saw that there were still many zombies inside, including several sprinters who had noticed him and were rushing towards him. Seeing this, Chen Dao stepped on the gas and sped through.

Glancing in the rearview mirror at the sprinters trailing behind, he knew that while the explosion had attracted many zombies away from the supermarket, many still remained inside, including a considerable number of sprinters. For now, Chen Dao lacked the capacity to search inside.

The layout of Excellence Supermarket resembled a single-open ring, with large windows and doors only at the main entrance, while the other three sides had only one small door each. During the explosion, the noise attracted all the zombies outside, but those inside, unable to find a way out, remained trapped.

In his brief look inside, Chen Dao saw numerous collapsed shelves and scattered, trampled supplies. The longer the delay, the more the supermarket would be damaged, reducing the value of recoverable supplies.

Making a smooth turn, Chen Dao reached the northwest gate of the gated community, which he had passed by two days ago. As he expected, there were no zombies here.

Skillfully parking the car in front of his refuge, Chen Dao leaned against the door, gazing westward. From his vantage point, he could see the distant Excellence Supermarket, where the sprinters that had chased him out were now aimlessly wandering. They occasionally stretched their limbs as if preparing to sprint again.

Chen Dao observed their movement patterns, noting that they either headed north or were re-attracted by the commotion within the supermarket, drawing them back inside.

Zombie herd behavior was terrifying. Even if one managed to split them up, they would eventually reconverge into a large horde. Not even a military force could stand against such a massive horde, especially with sprinters in the mix. The airborne zombie virus had already infected most soldiers. If America had responded more quickly and responsibly, perhaps this disaster could have been averted.

Chen Dao checked his watch—it was 6:23 PM on July 13th. Washington D.C. must have seen zombie cases by now. The completely unprepared U.S. government likely had no idea how deadly this virus was. Over 70% of people succumbed to high fevers, another 20% suffered from unknown fevers and lethargy, and only a tiny fraction were immune.

But all the infected who lost their vital signs would rise again to chase the living.

In a few days, the downfall of America would begin.

Let's hope this disease doesn't spread worldwide like in the game.

Feeling somewhat exhausted, Chen Dao checked his information panel, pleasantly surprised to find his weight at 94 kg with a small ">" indicating a slow decrease. The day's labor had burned off the chips' calories, preventing further weight gain. Though he enjoyed the eat-sleep-repeat lifestyle, Chen Dao had no desire to become overweight.

Moreover, his information panel showed a new mood indicator:

"Sad": Seeing or hearing certain things has made you unhappy. Appetite decline, experience gain -25%, mood won't improve.

What?

I'm not sad!

Chen Dao couldn't understand why he was sad. Was it because of the unknown survivor who potentially killed himself with a gun?

Why was he sad?

Chen Dao lit a cigarette, hoping it would remove the "Sad" mood indicator.

But it didn't work. This mood debuff appeared out of nowhere, despite his lack of sadness.

Pondering for a long time, Chen Dao finally came up with a theory.

Although his body existed in reality, it was intertwined with "information panel" and "skill panel" systems. These informatized indicators didn't necessarily align with his real self.

It was like he was half-playing a game while the other half adhered to real-world logic.

In the game, encountering a previous survivor's corpse or other distressing random events could affect mood. His information panel likely followed game rules, giving him a severe "Sad" debuff, even from a small feeling of regret.

Sadness, a severe debuff, could only be removed through entertainment, such as watching videotapes, reading fun books, or playing mini-games.

Because the game allowed limited activity compared to the richness of the real world, there was a discrepancy between his body and the information panel.

Most likely, he needed to follow in-game entertainment activities to remove this debuff.

Normal real-world activities wouldn't affect the sadness debuff.

Thinking this through, Chen Dao pulled out a handheld game console from his backpack, finding a simple Tetris game. After a few rounds, he checked his mood indicator.

Still at the lowest level…

It seemed he had to engage in activities recognized by the "information panel"—gameworld entertainment.

Sighing, Chen Dao noted the approaching nightfall. He decided to sleep, organize his loot tomorrow, and tackle the sadness debuff later.

Opening the garage, Chen Dao backed the car in and closed the door. He checked the windows and doors to ensure everything was secure before heading upstairs to sleep.