[Ding—Welcome, survivor Lin Chu, to your unlocked shelter space. Current space level: 1.]

[Ding—Congratulations, survivor Lin Chu, for completing the “Establish Shelter” mission. Distributing mission rewards now.]

[Ding—Congratulations, survivor Lin Chu, you have awakened the talent skill: “Turn Trash into Treasure.” You can view it in your personal panel.]

[Ding—Newbie gift pack is being distributed—]

[Ding—New mission has been issued. Survivor Lin Chu, please open the [Mission Center] to view details.]

A burst of system notifications exploded in Lin Chu’s mind like fireworks.

She paused for a moment before beginning to survey her new surroundings.

It was a very small, dimly lit space.

There was only one square window, about half a meter wide and tall, at the far end of the room, allowing a faint bit of light to filter in.

Lin Chu stood near the entrance.

To her right was a bathroom area, partitioned off by a plain white curtain.

It was about 1 meter by 1 meter. A small sink was fitted beside the doorway, with a showerhead attached to the faucet. Deeper in was a squat toilet. Though tiny, the space had everything it needed.

However, there was no light inside. One careless step during a shower and you could fall straight into the toilet.

Further inside the small room was a narrow bed, roughly 1 meter by 2 meters. Its foot touched the bathroom’s outer wall, and its head pressed against the corner wall.

Only a one-person-wide aisle remained for Lin Chu to walk through.

It reminded her of the cramped and gloomy budget hotels in Hong Kong.

Of course, this space was probably just a low-end version of those hotels at best.

Still, it was a safe, livable space—free of zombies.

Covered in grime, Lin Chu didn’t sit on the bed. Instead, she placed the femur she had used as a weapon in the corner by the door, then turned into the bathroom to wash the blood off her hands and face.

Everything had happened far too suddenly.

She didn’t know why she had been chosen by this so-called “system” to participate in this infinite apocalypse.

She had always followed the rules, lived a lawful life, had no special abilities. In terms of professional skills, she had just graduated college and entered the workforce less than two months ago as a rookie forensic scientist.

One moment, she was jogging in the park. The next, darkness took her—and when she opened her eyes, the mission had already been issued.

If there was anything that set her apart from others, it was probably her profession. She was already used to bloody scenes, which allowed her to keep her cool during the opening chaos, buying herself a chance to survive.

It was only now that she had a moment to stop and try to make sense of what had happened.

Cold water splashed on her face. Lin Chu was certain—this wasn’t a dream. Everything that had just happened was real.

She had watched enough apocalypse films and infinite survival stories to realize she had most likely been chosen, for reasons still unknown, and pulled into this mission world.

[Congratulations, host. You guessed correctly.]

A mechanical voice suddenly echoed in her mind, making Lin Chu frown instinctively.

She had always valued her privacy. This system’s ability to seemingly read her thoughts was extremely unsettling.

[Suggestion: Host can purchase the Mind Privacy Shield for 1,000 points to block system access to thoughts.]

Still monotone, but Lin Chu could almost hear a trace of sarcasm in the voice.

The system was mocking her for being poor.

But with the current situation being what it was—she the fish, and the system the knife—Lin Chu knew better than to argue about privacy. Instead, she asked the question that had been weighing on her.

“Why was I chosen for this mission?”

[No comment.]

With those two words, the system fell silent.

Lin Chu hadn’t expected to get answers so easily anyway.

She had always believed in adapting to circumstances.

She was used to being alone, had no friends, and her only living relative had passed away just last month. In the real world, she had nothing left to tie her down.

Instead of wasting time wondering how to get back, she might as well focus on how to survive in this mission world.

After leaving the bathroom, she sat cross-legged in the narrow aisle and began reviewing the series of rewards that had just been dumped into her mind.

---

[Name: Lin Chu
Gender: Female
Age: 26
Talent Skill: Turn Trash into Treasure (Level 1)
General Skills: None
Shelter Level: 1
Current World Security Door: Not Activated]

There wasn’t much information on her personal panel. Lin Chu tapped on the talent skill “Turn Trash into Treasure” to view its description.

---

[Talent Skill: Turn Trash into Treasure – Level 1
Proficiency: 0/50
Effect: Allows one piece of junk (or broken item) to be turned into a usable item.
Note: Deliberately breaking functional items will nullify the skill.
P.S. Cooldown: 30 minutes. Usable twice per day.]

Can be used once per instance to turn a discarded (or damaged) item into a usable one?

Deliberately damaging a normal item will render the skill invalid?

In other words, it can only be used on things that were naturally damaged or were originally junk?

Lin Chu tried hard to understand these two statements, then turned her gaze to the large thigh bone in the corner.

Due to intense combat, the thigh bone already had several scratches and dents.

Especially at the hip joint, the part she had used to crush a zombie’s head, which now had multiple cracks. It likely wouldn’t last through a few more zombie fights before becoming unusable.

This counts as normal wear and tear from use, not deliberate damage, right?

Lin Chu had originally planned to find a few more thigh bones next time she went out, just in case.

But now…

She looked at the thigh bone in the corner, lost in thought.

A minute later, a flash of white light appeared. The thigh bone, previously covered in blood and filth, now glowed with a faint white luster.

The scratches, dents, and cracks had all vanished. Its surface was now smooth, like polished ceramic.

It felt cool and smooth to the touch.

Lin Chu lifted the thigh bone and noticed that its weight had also changed.

After the transformation, the bone had become heavier, but more in line with what she expected from a weapon.

[Item: Bone Club
Rarity: A
Description: Transformed from a thigh bone. Soaked in special material, greatly increasing its durability. Capable of delivering a head-crushing blow.]

The “Trash to Treasure” skill entered cooldown. Lin Chu put down the bone club and turned her attention to the two boxes in front of her.

One was the reward for successfully establishing the shelter, and the other was the starter gift pack.

Lin Chu opened the shelter reward box first.

The box seemed to be a folded space—Lin Chu couldn’t see what was inside, so she reached in to pull things out.

• Bed sheet x1
• Quilt cover x1
• Pillowcase x1
• Nutritional supplement x3
• Tracksuit (full set) x1
• Swiss army knife x1
• Kettle x1
• Blackout curtains x1
• Light bulb x1

The contents were a mixed bag. There was quite a bit of stuff, but Lin Chu noticed that since this was a shelter establishment reward, most items were related to daily necessities for the shelter.

But the food and water she urgently needed amounted to only three nutrient supplements and a stainless steel kettle.

Fortunately, one supplement could sustain her for 24 hours.

With three of them, she could hold on for three more days.

Lin Chu bit down on one of the supplements and opened the starter gift pack.

The box again was a folded space. Lin Chu reached in and pulled out a black item.

[Item: Extra-Large Backpack
Rarity: A
Description: Internal space: 2m x 2m x 2m]

The description was brief, but Lin Chu immediately focused on the key point.

Internal space?

2m x 2m x 2m was nearly the size of a household bathroom.

Yet the backpack in her hand was about the same size as the schoolbags she used to carry in middle school.

This was a spatial backpack.

Lin Chu had read a few web novels in her spare time and knew how useful such space-related items were.

She unzipped the backpack, placed her hand on the bone club beside her, and with a thought, the club disappeared from the corner of the room. In her mind, she could see it now stored in a corner of the backpack’s internal space.

An 8-cubic-meter space, with only one bone club inside, looked almost empty.

Lin Chu then put all the items from the shelter into the backpack—even the 1m x 2m small bed.

The previously cramped shelter instantly became spacious.

Lin Chu stood up and lifted the backpack with one hand.

It still weighed the same as before.

Looks like as long as the item fits inside, the backpack ignores the weight.

Definitely a great item for outdoor activity.

After checking the rewards, Lin Chu returned all the items into the space backpack and sat cross-legged on the ground again. She opened the [Mission Center] on her system panel.

[Survival Mission: The host must survive 30 days in the zombie apocalypse world. Failure results in immediate termination.
Mission Difficulty: B
Mission Reward: 50 points]

The mission was straightforward and easy to understand.

“Does the time spent in the shelter count toward the 30 days?”

Lin Chu asked the system in her mind.

[Yes.]

Another concise reply, but it put Lin Chu at ease.

If shelter time counted toward the 30 days, then her chances of survival increased greatly. At least she didn’t have to worry about zombies while she slept.

However, since there was no food in the shelter, relying on just three nutrient supplements meant she would soon run out. So hiding here forever wasn’t an option. She had to find a chance to go out and gather supplies.

After clearing her thoughts, Lin Chu turned her attention to the second mission tab.

[Daily Mission (Optional): Submit a pair of zombie eyeballs
Reward: Random food item]

[Daily Mission (Optional): Submit 10 zombie body parts
Reward: 1 point]

Zombie body parts?

As a newly minted forensic examiner, Lin Chu immediately pictured a human anatomical diagram in her mind.

The zombies she had encountered outside, if she wasn’t mistaken, were all mutated humans—their body structure was nearly identical to normal people.

And the human body has 206 bones…

If zombie parts were counted this way, then one zombie could yield at least 20 mission submissions. One submission gives 1 point, so 20 could give 20 points.

Lin Chu opened the system’s points store.

Perhaps because she was a newbie, there weren’t many items available for purchase. Lin Chu immediately saw the price of the nutrient supplements.

2 points per supplement.

She currently had only the 5 points from the gift pack, enough to buy just two supplements.

If she could dismantle a zombie into bones and submit them, one zombie could yield at least 20 points, which could be exchanged for 10 supplements—enough to survive for 10 days.

But to test her theory, she’d first need to kill a zombie and experiment.

As she gathered her thoughts, Lin Chu suddenly noticed a third mission tab glowing with a silver shimmer—it hadn’t been there before.

[Congratulations to survivor Lin Chu for being the first among her batch to establish a shelter. Bonus mission activated!]

[Mission Objective: Kill 5 zombies within 1 hour. No penalty for failure.
Mission Progress: 0/5]

Mission Countdown: 00:59:59

Mission Reward: Activate the current world’s security door

Activate the security door?

Lin Chu recalled seeing a note on the information panel earlier—it did mention that the current world’s security door was not yet activated. But what exactly did the security door do?

[If the security door is not activated, and the current shelter door is destroyed, it will be considered a failed shelter placement. The survivor will be immediately ejected from the shelter and lose the qualification to place a shelter in the current world.]

[Once the security door is activated, the status of the current world’s shelter door can be ignored.]

Upon reading this, Lin Chu’s heart skipped a beat. She immediately remembered the noises she had heard outside before placing her shelter.

She and the twin-tailed girl had already been targeted by the group of people thrown into the apocalyptic world at the same time. If those people were willing to go to any lengths to seize their keys, then…