Iron Treasure Chest (1)

After scanning the surroundings, Chu Heng's expression immediately turned ugly.

In that short time, he had seen no less than forty shops, but according to the hidden hints, none of them met the requirements.

These shops were either locked and could not be opened in a short period of time, or there were several zombies inside. People like him, who had thin arms and legs and were not equipped with weapons, would basically be feeding themselves to the zombies if they got inside…

After they fed themselves to the zombies, the zombies wouldn't even thank them…

Seeing that the time for these zombies to move was getting closer and closer, Chu Heng could not help but become a little anxious. The adrenaline in his body surged, and his heart pounded violently.

At that moment, his gaze fell on a hardware store on his left with its shutters closed.

There's a zombie on the first floor of this hardware store. You have enough time to open the Iron Treasure Chest in the room on the second floor before it wakes up.

In addition, there are many tools in the shop that can be used as weapons. This is a good choice for you currently.

Note: The shutters of the hardware store are unlocked, but they make a loud noise when they open and close.

The door was unlocked. There was only a zombie, but there was an Iron Treasure Chest, and many weapons…

Seeing this hidden hint, Chu Heng was overjoyed.

The hardware store stood at the end of the street to his left, about a hundred meters away.

A distance of 100 meters. Even if he only ran 3 meters per second, he could make it in about 30 seconds. Leaving half a minute for him to open and lock the door, he still had about a minute to run upstairs. Plenty of time!

Without wasting any more time, Chu Heng immediately changed directions and sprinted towards the hardware store like a rabbit.

At the same time, he spotted a couple of the unlucky bastards who'd descended among the zombies like him running toward the shops. One of them chose the restaurant he'd had his eye on in the first place.

However, Chu Heng did not remind him. After all, he was in trouble now.

If he reminded others to believe him, he might even get himself killed.

He was just an ordinary person. After all these years of struggling in society, he might still have kindness in a small place in his heart, but most of the places were selfishness.

Chu Heng, who had read countless apocalyptic novels and movies, knew one principle.

The apocalypse could not tolerate any kindness. To be merciful to others was to be cruel to oneself.

Thirty seconds later, he finally reached the front of the hardware store without incident.

Without any hesitation, Chu Heng immediately raised the shutter door and entered. Then, he quickly lowered the shutter door and locked it from the inside.

The next moment, everything went black.

"Oh no!"

Chu Heng's heart skipped a beat.

He had made a mistake. A beginner-level but fatal mistake.

A hardware store usually had no windows on the first floor. After closing the door, one would fall into darkness.

In this pitch-black environment, it was impossible to see inside without the help of lights, let alone find a way up to the second floor.

He might trip somewhere, or even run over the zombie. It wasn't impossible for him to accidentally touch it.

At the thought of this, Chu Heng could not help but feel a chill in his heart.

The countdown continued. There was less than a minute left before the zombies woke up!

Ding! Examining the host's environment. Do you wish to authorize the system to switch to 'Night' mode?

In 'Night' mode, all items in sight will have hints.

As if grabbing onto a life-saving straw, Chu Heng immediately roared.

"Hurry up and switch…"

Ding, switch successful…

As the voice sounded, in the darkness, Chu Heng's eyes were filled with eye-catching hints.

Checkout, some cash in the drawer…

The shelves, filled with all kinds of hardware…

Air-conditioning, able to adjust indoor temperature when turned on…

…

"Damn, why are there so many hints? I can't even see the way clearly…" Chu Heng couldn't help but curse.

In order to ensure the safety of the host, all items' hints will appear in the 'Night' mode.

If the host finds it troublesome, you can select a target to show its hints. Other hints will be automatically eliminated.

After hearing the system's words, Chu Heng heaved a sigh of relief. He suddenly remembered a sentence he had seen in the long paragraph of text: "The city's power is back."

Could it be…

"System, help me hint to the light switch button. Turn the rest off for now."

The dense eye-catching hints dispersed. Chu Heng walked to the remaining hint.

Then he slammed the switch.

After a crisp sound, his eyes suddenly lit up, and the entire layout of the first floor appeared clearly in front of Chu Heng.

As expected!

Chu Heng could not help but feel happy.

Behind the cash register by the door, two rows of shelves stood on either side. All kinds of equipment were neatly placed. It was obvious that the owner was a careful person.

Two meters away from him, a ferocious-looking zombie stood motionless.

Behind it, an iron stairway led straight to the second floor.

Level 0 zombie: Low-level bloodthirsty creature. In the time freeze state, it cannot be attacked or destroyed. There are 33 seconds left in the time freeze state!

Strength: 10

Speed: 6

Weak spots: joints, spine, head (fatal)

Infection methods: nails, teeth, body fluids.

The threat level is medium and the difficulty of killing it is relatively low. However, once you are scratched by it, the system can begin to select the next host. It is recommended that the host find a weapon or stay away from it as soon as possible.

"F*ck… System, can't you expect something better from me?"

Chu Heng cursed under his breath. He walked past the zombie that might have been the boss of this store and grabbed a steel pipe from the shelf. Then, he hurriedly ran upstairs on the metal stairway.

He ran upstairs, burst into the room, and locked the door behind him. All in one smooth motion.

At the same time, the countdown that had been urgently ringing in his ears during the last thirty seconds stopped.

In the next moment, the zombies on the street woke up from their time freeze. They waved their broken limbs and let out beast-like roars.

"Roar… hehe…"

"Roar… hehe…"

Boiling zombie wails rose and fell, mixed with a few human screams that floated in through the street-facing windows.

It was like the sounds from hell, making Chu Heng's hair stand on end.

He leaned weakly against the side wall, breathing hard, feeling weak.

Only then did he notice that his back was already drenched in cold sweat, and his hands and legs were trembling slightly.

After all, he was just an ordinary office worker before this. It would be a lie to say that he was not afraid when he suddenly encountered such a situation, not to mention that his environment was even worse than that of most people.

After a long while, Chu Heng finally calmed down. He stood up and scanned the room.

When he went upstairs, he had observed that this was the only room on the second floor that faced the street. In other words, the Iron Treasure Chest mentioned in the hint was in this room.

Soon, his attention was attracted by a black box the size of a shoe box on the bedside table.

Iron Treasure Chest: A magical chest. Open it and you will obtain something useful at random.

Note: Treasure chests are divided into different levels according to their quality, namely Garbage, Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Legendary, Epic, and Mythic. The higher the level of the treasure chest, the greater the danger.

"Tsk… Only the second level…"

Chu Heng curled his lips in disdain, but he still obediently placed his palm on the treasure chest.

Do you want to open it immediately? Yes/No!

"Yes!"

The treasure chest clicked open.

A pocket bow, two quivers of arrows, and a crimson potion came into view, lying quietly inside the box.