Official Partnership

Despite being the first to climb, Jessica easily left Marco on the other side of the fence.

"Hey, you're quite fast... huff... I hate this. I wish I had a bow right now. No, I should have probably made one before I left the apartment."

"You know how to make a bow?"

"Of course! Three sticks and a couple of strings."

Marco waited for a response but received none. He turned his head and found Jessica eyeing him as if he was the worst person on earth.

"Uh, hehe..." Marco chuckled, then added, "Well, it's possible to make one as long as I have the right materials, and mindset." he said, whispering the last portion.

Jessica jumped down when there were only a few meters left, just in time to see a crazed zombie crash into the wire fence. The zombies started hitting the fence, causing injuries on their hands.

She couldn't help but close her eye after seeing red marks appear on their hands, followed by soft bleeding. Their hands were starting to bruise when they suddenly stopped hitting the wire fence.

"Oof, that was tiring. Oh gosh, my hands already hurt. I don't think I can use them anymore." Marco complained as he blew on his hands filled with red marks.

"Hey, why are they running away?" Jessica called after seeing the zombies run by the fence. Instead of feeling safe after the threat decided to run away, she felt a hidden danger looming around.

"Marco, are you listening to me?! Look at them, why are they running away?!" she exclaimed in panic, trying to make someone more knowledgeable about the topic.

Marco got spooked and turned to her, then looked around the basketball court. In one glance, he instantly learned of the answer. "Oh, it's nothing. The other gate is open, so the AI probably generated a new pathing, which means they are going to..."

"Oh no! The other gate is open!!!" Marco started running causing his belly to shake.

"You!!!" Jessica had no time to get angry and immediately dashed for the other gate. Thankfully, she was a fast runner and the zombies were idiots when making sudden turns, which allowed her to reach the gate first.

She hastily locked the gate from the inside, just in time before the zombies started clawing at her. She moved one step back to dodge their grabbing attempts.

Now that she was in a safe place, she was able to calm down and consider the actions she could take.

Marco arrived a bit late but he didn't stop to rest and instead started stabbing zombies on their heads.

Jessica thought: "You're really useful in other areas but very bad in others. Is it good that you're not perfect? Well, this could be a good team and I just need to fill the gaps."

After seeing him kill the three zombies with single stabs, Jessica felt more confident about her decision of sticking with him. At least, she could rely on him in fighting and killing zombies.

"I'll just focus on support." she mused while letting Marco do all the work.

Once the zombies were killed, Marco started grabbing the zombies' feet. It's weird for the onlookers but he was actually looting the dead bodies.

He became surprised to find out that random loot was found on the bodies. There were metal scrap and cloth pieces found on the loot inventory. He became confused and elated once he realized that everything was turning into a game.

The clothes can be reasoned as materials they got after attacking someone while the metal scraps were collected from hitting the wire fence.

The best loot he found was a white Nucleus tagged as crafting material and upgrade material. In the three zombies, only one Nucleus was found.

That wasn't all, the random loot was good and all, but he also received something better after killing the zombies earlier. He received spirit points!

The amount wasn't the same and a hidden rule must be employed in the calculation. He currently knows nothing about the factors affecting spirit collection, but he was glad to find another way to gather them.

Jessica proposed a plan for them to follow. Although they were passively acting on it, some things needed to be clarified for everyone's benefit.

"I will focus on supporting you while you make sure that I'm fed and safe. Just think of me as a manager, I will do all the menial tasks, so you can focus on what's important."

"I will cook food and wash clothes, but in return I expect you to become strong. Strong enough that you could protect both of us from any threat. Is that cool with you?"

Marco weighed the matter and found her offer really enticing. If she can really take over those menial tasks, then he can focus on developing his skill set and improve his physique.

The number one concern preventing him from becoming stacked was his obesity. He can't run fast nor can he ran long distances. He easily gets tired after a simple walk and had to rest most of the time. A quarter of their time outside happened to be his resting time.

"I can agree with your demands, but I have a few requirements too. First, no matter what you see and what you hear, you never ask me any question. Second, you don't open my computer, especially Drive D. Last but not the least, we use our own bathroom supplies. I can smell my shampoo from your hair! That's in limited supply and I don't know whether I still can order one again!"

Jessica's mouth hangs open in shock. "You're gonna be like this? You want to be stingy over some shampoo?"

"I'm sorry but if you can't promise that you won't touch my stuff, I can't agree with your proposal." Marco stared at her dead serious.

"Wow," Jessica exclaimed softly. "Alright, tough guy, your shampoos can live another day." she extended her hand forward, asking for a handshake.

Marco formed a fist and bumped it on the end of her fingers, then suddenly retrieved them while moving his fingers like waves. "Gamer fist bump! Heck yeah!"

Just before profanities escaped her mouth, the wire fence rattled from the side. A lone zombie found them and crazily struck the chain link.

For the first time, Marco saw a durability bar appeared from the chain link. Every attack from the zombie reduced the bar slightly.

He could have seen it earlier after he jumped down but he was too busy with his pained hand to pay attention to his surrounding.

Marco became delighted. "Free kill!"