【Survivor Lin Chu, welcome to the Endless Apocalypse. System No. 32588 is at your service.】

【Ding——】

【Detected that survivor Lin Chu has regained consciousness. Beginner mission activated. Please find a door and use the system-issued key to establish your shelter within 30 minutes.】

【Beginner protection countdown: 60 seconds. Timer starts now. Please begin your mission after the countdown ends. Note: once the countdown ends, the beginner protection shield will be deactivated. Please protect yourself and strive to survive.】

As Lin Chu regained consciousness, she heard a mechanical voice ringing in her mind.

Endless Apocalypse?

Lin Chu slowly opened her eyes. The glaring sunlight made her instinctively raise a hand to shield her face.

After a few seconds of adjustment, she could finally see her surroundings clearly.

She was lying in the middle of a road, covered by a transparent, dome-shaped protective shield that shimmered faintly in the sunlight.

On the same road, within her field of vision, there were no fewer than ten others in a similar state—perhaps they should be called survivors.

Like her, they were shielding their eyes from the blinding sunlight, and the confusion in their just-opened eyes was unmistakable.

Scattered zombies were wandering nearby.

More gruesomely, the ground was littered with dismembered body parts, almost covering the entire surface of the road, leaving barely any safe spots to step on.

It was unclear how long the apocalypse had raged here, but the wandering zombies seemed to have gone without food for a long time. They could only repeatedly gnaw on the mangled remains of their already-dead kin.

The ground was soaked in blood, shredded clothing, and… pale, eerie bones.

“Ahhh—!”

Lin Chu immediately looked toward the source of the scream and saw a twin-tailed girl who had just opened her eyes and was now screaming at the horrifying scene before her.

The next moment, the previously aimless zombies suddenly rushed toward the direction of the scream.

Lin Chu frowned.

It seemed the zombies here were similar to those in movies—drawn by sound.

The girl’s scream had not only exposed her own location but also the positions of all nearby survivors.

None of them seemed to understand the nature of zombies yet. They didn’t know whether the zombies would prioritize attacking them once they passed by.

Lin Chu glanced at the countdown in her mind.

45s… 44s…

The protective shield was still active.

She was currently unarmed. She needed to find a decent weapon and plan an escape route before the shield vanished.

“Shut up!” a middle-aged, balding man nearby growled at the twin-tailed girl. “Can’t you see you’ve drawn all those monsters this way?!”

The girl snapped out of her panic and noticed the surrounding survivors glaring at her in anger, clearly blaming her for attracting the danger.

She quickly clamped her hands over her mouth, but tears continued to stream down her face.

“What is this place? Why are we here? I was just cooking at home…”

That’s when everyone noticed a shiny metal object next to her hand. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a spatula.

Lin Chu couldn’t help but feel a bit envious. A spatula—that was a rare weapon right now.

Before losing consciousness, she had been out for a morning jog. All she had on her was a slim, hidden waist pouch.

It looked just like a belt—uniform in width, snug around her waist, easily mistaken for an ordinary belt.

Inside, aside from her phone and keys, and a palm-sized water bottle clipped on top, there was nothing else.

Wait, the key!

Lin Chu looked down and saw a strange silver key lying beside her hand.

As she picked it up, the mechanical voice returned in her mind.

【Shelter Key: Insert it into any unclaimed door to establish your personal shelter.

Note: Each survivor only gets one. Please take good care of it.】

Lin Chu slipped the key into an inner compartment of her waist pouch.

30 seconds remaining.

She began scanning the ground for a usable weapon, while mentally mapping her surroundings.

Soon, she spotted a rusty shard of metal.

Its edges were curled, likely from striking something hard.

But the shard was too short. To use it against a zombie, she’d need to get dangerously close—greatly increasing the risk of being bitten.

It could also easily cut her hand. With that much rust, the chance of tetanus was high.

Not worth it.

Just as she was about to look away, she felt a gaze settle on her.

She looked up and locked eyes with the balding man.

He glanced at Lin Chu, then at the metal shard nearby.

It seemed like a warning.

Lin Chu calmly averted her gaze and looked elsewhere, a cold glint flickering in her eyes.

She had already found the weapon that suited her.

Rustle…

A nearby zombie had already stumbled close to Lin Chu. Its fast-moving steps slowed for a moment as it neared.

Lin Chu held her breath.

15 seconds left on the shield.

She knew that the zombies couldn’t harm her right now.

But if she were discovered, the remaining zombies that hadn’t yet chased after the twin-tailed girl would gather around her instead, making it harder to escape later.

The zombie in front of her hesitated for half a second, but in the end, continued running toward the twin-tailed girl.

Trailing behind it were more than a dozen zombies following the same path.

They staggered past Lin Chu, some even bumping into the invisible shield around her, smearing dark red bloodstains on the transparent surface.

The twin-tailed girl’s face was ashen. She gripped her spatula tightly, her lower lip bitten so hard it had turned white. Her eyes darted around in panic as more zombies began to surround her, silently pleading with the other survivors around her.

But everyone was already overwhelmed.

There were just too many zombies closing in. Besides the twin-tailed girl, nearly every survivor had zombies closing in from behind.

Everyone was thinking about how to save themselves—no one paid attention to her.

Lin Chu also looked away.

Her eyes were fixed on the “weapon” she had already chosen, while she also kept an eye on the countdown ticking in her mind.

5

4

3

2

1

Run!

The moment the invisible shield vanished, Lin Chu shot out like an arrow, ducking between two zombies and reaching her right hand out to grab something from the ground.

It felt wet and sticky—disgusting—but Lin Chu knew: she had her weapon.

Even though she tried to move quietly, on a ground covered in blood and flesh, her footsteps still made wet slapping sounds.

The nearby zombies instantly turned and lunged toward her.

With a swift motion, Lin Chu swung her sticky weapon backward and struck the nearest zombie right in the forehead with full force—her strike so clean and precise it was like she had killed many before.

“Pfft—”

Red and white brain matter sprayed across Lin Chu’s face.

The zombie with the shattered skull collapsed limply to the ground.

At that moment, a nearby survivor happened to glance in her direction and couldn’t help but marvel at Lin Chu’s luck—she actually found such a large baseball bat…

Wait. No—that’s not a baseball bat!

The survivor’s eyes widened in shock.

The supposedly frail-looking girl was holding a long rod with a raised protrusion at the end. That protrusion was what had smashed the zombie’s skull in a single blow.

That rod wasn’t a normal cylinder—it was stained with dark red blood, and beneath the stains, a hint of grayish-white could be seen.

That wasn’t a bat. It was a bone! A discarded bone from the ground! And judging by its size, it looked like a femur!

There was even a bit of unchewed flesh still clinging to the thigh bone.

Urgh—

The survivor who had just witnessed Lin Chu using a femur as a weapon almost vomited from sheer nausea—but he didn’t have time.

Because his shield vanished at that exact moment.

He didn’t have time to think. He grabbed a nearby bone and tried to mimic Lin Chu, swinging it at an approaching zombie’s head.

No critical hit—he missed.

Only then did the man realize: this seemingly frail girl was far more capable than he had imagined.

Crushing a skull in one strike was a matter of skill.

Meanwhile, Lin Chu had already cleanly dispatched all three zombies around her.

Her arms, face, and body were splattered with red and white fluids.

The stench of blood and decay filled her nostrils, but she had no time to stop and wipe it away.

The brief battle had drawn in the zombies that hadn’t yet charged at the twin-tailed girl.

There was no avoiding them now.

They were at the entrance of a tech park. Behind them, the heavy metal gate had fallen to the ground. Several iron bars had been snapped in half by zombies with their bare hands, covered in blood, completely useless as a barricade now.

To reach the shelter located inside, she had to get into the office building.

During the earlier 60-second protection period, she had already planned her route—but it would have to take her right past where the largest concentration of zombies was: near the twin-tailed girl.

Lin Chu didn’t hesitate and sprinted in that direction.

Her footsteps drew the attention of more zombies, who turned and gave chase.

Soon, a small horde was trailing behind her.

The twin-tailed girl was wildly swinging her iron spatula among the zombies.

Despite her panicked flailing, she managed to hit a few zombies that lunged at her.

Unfortunately, none of her strikes were lethal. The zombies quickly regrouped and lunged again.

One zombie opened its mouth wide, sticky fluids dripping from its jaws, just about to bite her arm when—

“Pfft—” A muffled impact.

Before the zombie could clamp its mouth shut, it froze in place and dropped to the ground.

“What are you standing there for? Run!”

A cold, sharp voice cut through her daze, like a jolt of clarity to her foggy mind.

Right—run!

She looked up, just in time to see the back of the girl who had saved her.

That short, clean-cut hair gave off a sense of decisiveness. In her hand was a “club” soaked in red and white fluids, and every swing hit its mark, carving a bloody path through the tide of zombies.

The twin-tailed girl gripped her spatula and followed.

Lin Chu, gripping the femur tightly, ran firmly toward Office Building No. 6 in the distance.

The zombies inside had been drawn out by the earlier commotion and were now shambling toward the noise.

Even with a hard bone in hand, fighting in close quarters was starting to wear Lin Chu down.

Just then, three zombies approached from different directions. Lin Chu frowned, kicked the one on the left away, swung the femur to explode the head of the one on the right, and turned to deal with the one coming from behind her—

Clang—

A sharp metallic clang.

A spatula slammed into the head of the zombie behind her, knocking it back a few steps.

The twin-tailed girl’s eyes were red, her teeth clenched as she delivered that blow.

Lin Chu finally had a moment to catch her breath. She grabbed the girl’s arm and dragged her forward.

The two of them burst through a side door into the office building.

Lin Chu glanced at the countdown in her mind.

16 minutes and 48 seconds remaining.

She had to find a door to set up the so-called “shelter” before time ran out.

Otherwise, she might end up stuck in this environment, sharing a space with zombies.

But as far as the eye could see, every door was broken beyond repair—apparently all the locks had been smashed by the zombies and could no longer be closed.

Lin Chu stepped forward and took out the key dropped by the system from her waist pouch.

[Error, error! No closeable door detected. Conditions for shelter installation not met.]

A warning blared in Lin Chu’s mind.

Not far behind her, the twin-tailed girl also took out her key and gave it a try.

Soon, disappointment showed on her face as well.

“Keep looking.”

Lin Chu swung the femur in her hand and knocked away a zombie lunging at her. She took the lead and moved forward, but had only taken a couple of steps when she heard footsteps echoing from outside the office building.

The other survivors had caught up.

“Damn system! The keys are so small, it’s easy to lose them. What a pain!”

“I saw those two girls up ahead each pick up a key. Why don’t we just go in and take them?”

“The short-haired one looks tough. Let’s snatch the key from the twin-tailed one first.”

“Tch, so what if they’re tough? They’re just two women.”

Lin Chu narrowed her eyes slightly. The twin-tailed girl beside her widened her eyes, filled with panic.

They were completely surrounded now.

In front: broken doors and wandering zombies. Behind: survivors eyeing their keys like hungry wolves.

But Lin Chu’s face remained calm.

She knocked aside the zombie in front of her and strode quickly down the corridor ahead.

There—a sign pointing to the restroom.

The twin-tailed girl gritted her teeth and followed.

To their surprise, the restroom was free of zombies—just rows of stall doors.

Stall doors still counted as doors.

After checking them, Lin Chu closed the last stall door and placed the key on it.

[Ding—closeable door detected. Shelter can now be installed. Please confirm installation.]

[Warning: Once confirmed, the shelter location cannot be changed in this world.]

Yes.

The moment Lin Chu made her choice, her body instantly felt lighter. In the next second, she found herself in a completely different space.