There were only four squishies.
No—three.
The three attackers had been hungry and cold for so long that they were severely malnourished. Compared with Tang Danqing, who ate well and trained in martial arts year-round, they were worlds apart in strength and agility.
That very morning, Tang Danqing had been practicing with weapons in the training room.
With years of training behind her and her stamina at full strength, she had nothing to fear from three NPCs swinging their weapons sluggishly.
And she had a crowbar. Her left hand caught a headscarf-wearing NPC, pinned their shoulder, and wrenched their arm out of joint. With her right, she swung the crowbar in a wide arc. The impact numbed the long-ponytailed NPC’s hand, and the wooden club fell from their grasp.
So that was what bones looked like when you’d spent years without enough calcium. Tang Danqing had felt it the moment she locked them in a grapple. They were as brittle as chocolate biscuits.
A minute later, she had the last of the three pinned by the shoulder on the floor and had broken her right knee.
Before she became an actress, Tang Danqing had worked for years as a martial arts stunt performer. Fights on a stunt crew worked like this: a whole sequence of strikes, hooks, shoves, and transitions flowed together at speed. Sometimes the other person was already down before they even realized what had happened. And when Tang Danqing fought, she always focused on one person until they were down, then moved on to the next.
Now the three NPCs lay sprawled in the hallway, wailing. Tang Danqing had grappled them into submission and left them unable to move.
[Achievement Unlocked: You Call That Unreasonable? I Know a Little Martial Arts, Too.]
[Achievement Reward: 1000 Survival Coins.]
[Achievement Unlocked: Group Brawl.]
[Achievement Reward: 1500 Survival Coins.]
[Quest Complete! Reward: 4000 Survival Coins.]
[Side Quest 7: Continue exploring and unlock 60 achievements. (40/60)]
Did this count as a brawl? Taking down three people hadn’t even worn Tang Danqing out as much as a few extra punches on a sandbag.
This part of the story must have been on easy mode.
One person remained in the hallway. Tang Danqing looked over.
The silver-haired NPC had tied her hair back, with a section of her bangs covering one eye. Half her body was hidden behind the stairwell wall, the other half peeking out to watch Tang Danqing. Her silver-gray eyes narrowed into two little rectangles. She stared for a moment, then looked down at the hallway carpet…
The silver-haired NPC slowly stepped out with both hands raised over her head, taking one careful step at a time to show she meant no harm.
Tang Danqing waited to see what she would do.
The silver-haired NPC walked slowly over to the NPC in the military overcoat and crouched beside him.
Tang Danqing thought she was going to help the injured NPC to his feet. “Did he tell you to come here and rob us?”
“Mm.” The silver-haired NPC nodded. Her voice sounded as cool and light as a drop of water.
She dragged the NPC in the military overcoat into the stairwell. Then, without warning, she drew a sharpened curved knife from her waist and slit his throat.
Tang Danqing flinched. The NPC kicked once, and red tomato sauce spilled from his neck.
The silver-haired NPC dragged the other three into the stairwell too, pinning them down as they struggled and killing them all.
As she worked, she told Tang Danqing, “I didn’t help them surround you just now. When they recover, they’ll kill me.”
That made sense, so Tang Danqing left the NPCs to settle their own grudges.
All four NPCs had Xs where their eyes should have been.
The apocalypse is so cruel.
Tang Danqing was even more convinced that she couldn’t let Little Jelly wander outside.
There were bound to be other dangerous traps in the game.
The silver-haired NPC left her knife in the stairwell and continued toward Tang Danqing with her hands raised in surrender.
Her cool, thin voice carried over. “I came to… pick up the things…”
She reached Tang Danqing’s feet, picked up the half-full bottle, carefully wiped the rim, then retrieved the snack bag and tucked it inside her clothes.
Nodding as she backed away, the silver-haired NPC soon scurried off.
[Achievement Unlocked: The Farmer and the Snake.]
[Achievement Reward: Emergency Surgical Kit x1.]
The farce of the farmer and the snake was over. Tang Danqing picked up the surgical kit, opened the door, and went back inside.
Good thing she hadn’t needed the kit after dealing with those NPCs.
Jelly had stayed safely inside. The moment Tang Danqing returned, she rushed up from behind the door and threw her arms around her.
Tang Danqing still had the fight’s muscle memory. She nearly elbowed the NPC before she caught herself and let Jelly hug her.
“What’s wrong? Don’t be scared. They’re gone.”
“You were amazing just now… I was so worried about you, but I was afraid I’d only get in your way if I came out. I’m glad you’re okay… Shan Qing, you’re amazing.”
Little Jelly leaned against her shoulder and breathed deeply, still shaken.
Her black eyes shone like polished onyx.
The NPC at home really was so good. So well-behaved.
Tang Danqing smiled. She’d only handled a simple break-in event.
But to Little Jelly, she seemed to have become a savior.
Tang Danqing ran her hand from the top of Jelly’s head down the length of her hair. “These little problems are easy to handle. Don’t worry.”
She took the NPC’s thin wrist and circled it with her fingers. “If there’s danger, you can’t leave the apartment. Keep the door locked. Don’t go outside, no matter what.”
The NPC at home was just as weak as the others. A little squishy, like them. If they fought, the attackers would outnumber her, and she’d get hurt.
Good thing Tang Danqing had been home today.
The frail NPC murmured, “I’ll listen. I won’t get in your way…”
So she didn’t need to do anything in front of Shan Qing. Shan Qing expected so little from her.
Almost nothing, in fact. That only strengthened Shang You’s suspicion.
She wouldn’t become a pet. But she could play one and get something in return.
The two experiences were entirely different. The latter even gave her a secret thrill of accomplishment.
Tang Danqing thought back over what had just happened. There were still plenty of dangers lurking outside… Right, her home’s Security Score was only “2”…
She looked around, then held Little Jelly by the shoulders and eased her away. “No. We need to improve the defenses here.”
Most of the time, Tang Danqing wouldn’t be home. What would happen if Little Jelly was alone when intruders showed up?
She had to take good care of the NPC roommate the game had assigned her.
Once the idea took hold, Tang Danqing started examining the apartment’s security weaknesses.
She knew how the NPC in the military overcoat had found them in the first place: the light.
In the fog and darkness, this was the only hotel room on the top floor with its lights on.
It was as dangerous as lighting a fire in the wilderness. But Tang Danqing had wanted to experience more of the game’s story events, so at first she hadn’t worried about attracting trouble.
But after the NPC in the military overcoat had shown up with a group of people ready to charge in, she changed her mind. What would happen if Little Jelly was home alone?
The first step to avoiding trouble was to cover every window with blackout curtains.
Once she’d drawn them all, the apartment disappeared into darkness, hidden and unremarkable.
The suite was enormous, nearly 5,000 square feet. Its windows were scattered across different rooms, so managing them all was tiring and easy to mess up. Tang Danqing bought a complete smart-curtain system that covered the entire apartment. A single wall-mounted touchscreen let her check the status of every curtain and control them all electronically.
The system cost a total of 13,600 Survival Coins, leaving her with 220,900.
She took the instructions and brought the NPC to the touchscreen. They learned to use it in just a few minutes.
Tang Danqing reminded her, “We’ll keep the curtains closed most of the time. There are bad people outside. If they see this place, they’ll come after your supplies.”
“Especially when I’m not home. Don’t open the curtains. It’s dangerous.”
The NPC nodded like a woodpecker. “I shouldn’t put myself in danger. That way, I won’t make you worry, right?”
Tang Danqing beamed. “Exactly.”
The blackout curtains made the apartment harder to spot. The Security Score in [Info] went up by one, reaching “5.”
So they helped, but not by much. A keen-eyed predator could always scent blood in the air.
After being caught off guard by the four NPCs hiding in the shadows before rushing out to ambush her, Tang Danqing went into the hallway to check it over before setting up a surveillance system.
One nice thing about the Shop was that whenever Tang Danqing bought high-tech products, it included after-sales instructions that briefly explained how to use them properly.
She bought industrial cameras rated for temperatures as low as -60 degrees Celsius. Each one went inside an insulated equipment case with an opening for the lens, which she covered with bulletproof glass. Then she mounted the cameras at intervals along the corners of the hall.
The visible cameras were there to intimidate and mislead intruders. In less obvious corners and inside the walls, she installed another system of hidden pinhole cameras with full coverage.
Above the doorframe, Tang Danqing installed a powerful strobe light. According to the product description, it would trigger in the dark and instantly blind and disorient intruders. She had no way of testing how well it would work in a real fight.
Even with the strobe light, she still wasn’t satisfied. An intruder could go berserk and swing a weapon around, and the damage could be considerable.
The Shop had an “Active Tear Gas Defense System (22,000 coins)” and an “Active High-Voltage Floor Defense System (22,000 coins).” The price alone gave her a powerful sense of security.
Fine. She’d buy both.
The gas vents were installed in the ceiling. The electric shock system was hidden beneath the carpet. Both were concealed so they’d be hard to notice.
Tang Danqing took the remotes inside and quickly set passwords for the controls, just in case she accidentally triggered them while standing in the hallway. That wouldn’t be fun.
The hallway defense system cost a total of 71,000 Survival Coins, leaving her with 149,900.
Tang Danqing checked [Info] again.
[Residence Information]
[Supply Score: 3900 (Rating: If any of your supplies include a combination of steel and gunpowder, your actual Supply Score is much higher than you think. You understand, right?)
Security Score: 20 (Rating: Your supplies have an irresistible charm. They make people want to beat the stuffing out of you.)]
She’d only stockpiled enough basic supplies to fill half the spare room, yet her Security Score was already so hard to raise.
Seriously? Tang Danqing knew that, if this kind of apocalypse were real, then yes, seriously.
This game was far too realistic and strict!
