Across all 35,000 servers and 3.5 billion players, ninety-nine percent stood bewildered on the forest road, unsure where to go.
There was also a small group of players, like Xia Sanfu, who started facing a ruined city; some ran onto the road, while others searched buildings for supplies and signs of life.
Five minutes into the game, a young man picked up a stone and furiously smashed a humanoid creature while riding on its back.
“World Announcement: Congratulations to "Anonymous" from C0001 for achieving the server's first kill!”
The sudden announcement startled her. What was a first kill? Was there a reward? Why wasn't it broadcasted?
Only a few minutes had passed, and kills were already happening?
Xia Sanfu felt a sense of urgency. Oh, wait, what was she, a battle-scarred weakling, so urgent about? Staying alive was the priority.
Xia Sanfu avoided the inexplicable footprints on the ground and walked towards areas with fewer traces. She successively found a relatively intact empty glass bottle, a slightly dented stainless steel bucket, and a rusty pair of scissors.
She also picked up a doll from the ground, took out the cotton inside, and casually put it away.
As she passed a restroom sign, she slowed her pace because there were some scattered footprints on the ground, clear signs of entry and exit.
A flash of inspiration struck her mind. She had a feeling that the places the footprints led to seemed… rather dark?
Xia Sanfu thought for a while, then looked towards the brightly lit main entrance. She curbed her impatience and continued searching, finding a few scraps of cloth and a sneaker.
She wanted to find a cutting tool, but couldn't. Seeing time pass, she couldn't wait any longer.
Xia Sanfu left the shopping center, picked up a stone, and vigorously rubbed the rusty scissors in her hand. After cleaning off the rust, she cut the cloth into strips.
Then, she broke off a naturally curved, sturdy branch from a roadside tree, pulled out the shoelace from the sneaker, and made a bow.
Next, she found a dry piece of deadwood, carved a groove into it, and then found a relatively straight branch, sharpening one end to make a spindle.
The spindle was wrapped with the bowstring, and its rounded end rested against the groove in the deadwood.
Xia Sanfu hid a flat stone in her palm, pressing down on the top of the spindle, and used one hand to vigorously pull the bow and drill the wood.
Thanks to rural life, thanks to her past self who disliked studying and was once despised even by dogs, thanks to her aunt's haystack.
In short, in less than three minutes, she felt familiar heat and soreness, and a wisp of black smoke rose from the deadwood groove.
Xia Sanfu dared not stop, gritting her teeth and working even harder, her back tensed like a bow. The black smoke gradually increased, and the drilling point generated heat from friction, melting the wood and producing black burning debris.
She poured the burning debris into the cotton, puffed out her cheeks and blew, and soon an open flame appeared. She carefully placed the burning cotton into the already prepared pile of deadwood, slowly adding small dry twigs and fallen leaves to aid combustion.
Once the fire was stable, Xia Sanfu also made up her mind: she had to investigate the source of those footprints, otherwise she would be too passive.
Xia Sanfu joined two branches together and wrapped them with strips of cloth, making a simple torch.
Properly, one should use wire to secure the cloth, douse it with accelerant, dry it, and then light it for use.
But here, whether in restaurant kitchens or in cars by the roadside, no oil-based accelerants could be found.
Speaking of the vehicles blocking the road, they had all been stripped down to empty shells; where would there be gasoline or engine oil?
Now, she could only use the simple torch for illumination and quickly head towards the restroom.
There were fewer footprints near the restroom, and it was close to the main entrance, making it a good first test site for exploration.
Xia Sanfu gripped the steel pipe tightly and held the torch forward to explore. As she turned the corner, the darkness deepened, and in the moving torchlight, a pale human face suddenly appeared!
Xia Sanfu scrambled out of the restroom, collapsing in the sunlight and gasping for a long time before her wildly beating heart calmed down.
She looked at the quiet shopping center entrance and forced herself to recall the scene from just now.
What kind of face was that?
Pale, bloodless.
Most importantly, it wasn't that this face suddenly appeared, but that her light illuminated this face.
Combined with the fact that the owner of that face didn't chase her out, did that mean that thing was temporarily… not dangerous?
Xia Sanfu was unsure of the limits of the beginner protection period.
She hesitated, then mustered her courage, wrapped another torch, and re-entered the shopping center, extending the torch as she moved towards the restroom.
Seeing that face again, she suppressed the urge to turn and run, held her breath, and examined the "person" in front of her.
Perhaps this couldn't even be called a person. Its skin was loose, as if a layer of abnormally white skin was draped over a skeleton. It didn't move at all, and upon closer inspection, a hint of sharp teeth was visible in its mouth.
Why didn't this damn game have an appraisal function?
Xia Sanfu carefully retreated from the restroom.
Halfway through her retreat, she clutched the steel pipe. Never mind, she'd take a gamble, bet that it was a monster, bet that it was part of the game, bet that it could provide a clue for this survival game!
She turned back, used the torch to ignite a corner of that thing's clothes, and as the flames shot up, she immediately retreated three meters, holding the steel pipe across her chest.
The moment the fire intensified, this thing suddenly opened its blood-red eyes, twisting its limbs and letting out a roar.
Xia Sanfu had fled the restroom the moment its eyes opened, leaning against the wall outside the restroom. If it dared to chase her out, she would swing the steel pipe!
However, after waiting for 30 seconds and listening to the roaring sound, it seemed to still be in its original spot and hadn't chased her out.
Xia Sanfu entered the restroom once more, only to see that it was completely engulfed in flames, the fire being eerily large!
She waited to the side, holding the torch and steel pipe. In a short while, the thing was burned to charcoal.
A system prompt suddenly rang in her mind, startling her: "Congratulations to the player for clearing a Level 0 Night Demon. Battle Points +10."
"Congratulations to the player for achieving a personal first kill. Battle Points +100."
"Friendly reminder: Once Battle Points reach 1000, players can advance to Level 1 and receive an advancement gift pack."
"Alright, alright, so this is how we're playing, huh?"
It seemed that under the 12-hour absolute protection period, Night Demons were in a mandatory standby state, unable to attack or move.
Xia Sanfu mentally prepared herself and continued to explore the male and female restrooms, burning two more Level 0 Night Demons.
Again and again, she became more and more proficient.
Her history was not very good; so far, she only remembered two phrases: "Backwardness leads to being beaten" and "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun."
She couldn't retreat; she had to seize the greatest advantage in the shortest possible time!
Xia Sanfu suppressed her fear, gritted her teeth, and gathered more wood and cloth, stuffing them into the stainless steel bucket.
She carried the bucket, clutched the steel pipe, and strode towards the supermarket entrance with her torch held high. This supermarket entrance had a downward escalator leading to the large supermarket on the basement level.
The torchlight illuminated the path below, and there were shadowy figures just at the supermarket entrance!
"Don't panic, just treat it like a horror game."
Xia Sanfu kept giving herself psychological hints, moving her trembling legs closer to the terrifying humanoid creatures.
From the faint torchlight, she could see many shadows scattered throughout the supermarket.
Her wood wouldn't be enough!
Xia Sanfu carefully entered the supermarket, almost forced out by the strong stench. The dense array of Night Demons made her scalp tingle even more.
The humanoid monsters stood there like mummified corpses, as if they could open their eyes and pounce at any moment to take a bite.
She tore off a piece of her clothes, wrapped it around her mouth and nose, and, enduring the shivers, squeezed inside, first looking around.
The supplies in this supermarket had clearly been moved as well, though not thoroughly, leaving behind a small amount of worthless items.
Moldy rice, rotten bags of flour, and packaging stuck to the floor, with a black layer inside, perhaps once containing bread.
Xia Sanfu suspected the air inside was full of toxic gases; the physiological discomfort was already making her feel a little dizzy.
She quickened her pace, searching the fresh produce, kitchenware, and deli sections with extra care. Her efforts paid off, as she found a boning knife in a corner crevice.
This counted as a cold weapon.
There were also a few tattered clothes in the apparel section. Regardless of whether they could be worn, she shoved them all into a shopping cart.