Securing the Perimeter

Commonly in games, satiety instantly gets filled after eating food and water. However, the feature wasn't transferred to the real world and got nerfed a little.

Eating food would a small increase in satiety which will decay in a short time if the food wasn't fully consumed. It is also possible to only eat a quarter or half the portion of the food while saving the remaining portion.

Additionally, once you consumed the food, the food meter would slowly increase as you digest the food. It was a huge nerf, but a great addition to add difficulty.

Marco continued cutting trees. He repeatedly strikes the same spot over and over until the tree automatically disappears and turns to logs, branches, and sticks.

He breathed roughly, then started analyzing to himself. Thanks to increased cardio plus daily activities, his body was getting used to physical labor.

"One tree needs ten swings. A full recovery from half stamina consumes two to three percent of hunger and thirst. If I go with this thinking, one percent of overall satiety is used for every ten percent of stamina.

"I can chop around ten full-grown trees before reaching the yellow zone and having to eat. This is great!"

He turned around and watched how Jessica was doing with her job.

Since they already cleared the area, Jessica helped with gathering resources. She volunteered to weed the empty lots nearby and gather all the stones in one place.

Jessica remained seated on the outskirts of the grassy area, obviously having troubles with her current work.

"Is everything alright? Are you having some difficulties?"

"My palm got cut. Why didn't you tell me that weeds have sharp edges!? Look, my hands bleeding!"

Marco stared at the hand presented to him and had to squint before seeing a tiny cut between the thumb and the index finger.

"Oh. Does it hurt?"

"It doesn't, but it's annoying."

Marco doesn't have much experience with socializing, especially with a girl. He stopped paying attention to her and realized that she didn't get a lot of work done.

Next to her spot was a small pile of damaged weeds together with a pile of stones. After picking one up, he instantly regretted allowing her to help. All the grass turned damaged and became inferior quality instead of low quality. The pulling method ad grip during harvesting affected the quality of the materials.

He calmed himself since getting angry would lead to nothing. The grass was already pulled out and the best thing that he could do was to send her somewhere else.

"Since you're hands hurt, why don't you focus on collecting rocks and being a lookout? Zombies don't wander often, but if they do, we could get a heads up. Also, call me if you see some birds nearby. I need their feathers for something."

Jessica felt that she was needed after receiving a series of tasks and immediately performed her duties. She happily searched for stones in between the fields while being wary of the surrounding. When she couldn't find a stone, she looks up at the sky and searches for passing birds.

Marco didn't waste time and started uprooting the grasses. With the system's help, he was able to collect the regular low-quality weeds instead of the inferior ones.

When his stamina recovered fully, he went back to the treeline and started chopping the next tree. He would use half of his stamina, then go back to clearing the grass from the lot.

In the next few hours, he juggled over uprooting grasses, resting, and chopping trees. He thought the system was becoming good-hearted after giving him another level in cardio but he learned that the skill doesn't help much when the body goes below the yellow zone. The more fatigue the body becomes, the faster the rate of stamina consumption would be.

Since he learned that silent updates work, he startled grumbling for the system to fix these important issues. If the system wants to fully convert the world into a game, at least make their bodies adapt easier to the coming changes.

After chopping dozens of trees, it was finally time to build the barricades. The process was simple like any other game; create a ghost image of the structure, then place the necessary materials.

Marco created the necessary components through the creation platform. The tree logs turned into pieces of wood while the grasses became ropes.

He threw the materials into the ghost image and watched as the ethereal image in front of him turn into reality. A newly constructed barricade appeared out of nowhere.

The barricade had no spikes on them since its main purpose was to divert the zombies into the other direction. It was positioned at an angle in the middle of the intersection.

Jessica got surprised after seeing the event.

Although she trusted that Marco wouldn't lie to her, seeing an indefinite proof that could be called a miracle occur right in front of her made her truly believe. Just as agreed upon, she would not ask and would only comply.

Jessica couldn't see the ghost structures but seeing Marco wave in the air continuously, she could imagine that he was busy doing some work.

Each tree averaged around four to five logs, and each log was turned into four pieces of wood. With enough materials, the barricades were set up and the perimeter started to look safe, albeit not looking good.

"Looking great! Now, we just need some range weapons. Guns would be good, but they might bring more trouble than safety. I need to make bows."

Jessica stood by the side, watching Marco talk to himself.

For the rest of the day, the two continued clearing the plots and securing the pathways.

This day, Marco started to feel his stomach burn and ache due to physical labor. When the sky started to turn dark, Jessica managed to collect all the stones on the area, except for boulders sticking out from the ground. Marco managed to chop eighteen trees before stopping for the day.

Marco gazed at the surrounding. The two streets on the left and right were already barricaded, diverting any wandering zombie to another direction. The housing on the left across the street was already cleared. The only problem now was the treeline being unsafe with possible dangers coming out from it.

"There's a lot to build. I need a watchtower. A bow. A proper melee weapon. I need to work on the plans tonight."