THUD!
Luo Jie slammed face-first onto the ground in a classic despairing bow, his complexion ashen, looking like he was choking back a mouthful of ancient, congealed blood.
Speak of the devil…
He'd just been thinking about Gold-tier gear, and now here were two E-Gold katanas popping up right in front of him. It was so absurdly coincidental it felt fake – even trashy fantasy web novels wouldn't dare pull a stunt this blatant! At this moment, he felt the profound malice of this world radiating towards him.
If he hadn't seen these two E-Gold weapons, he might still be smugly patting himself on the back over the two Blues and one Purple he'd found. But having witnessed the utterly broken skills on these E-Golds, it was like peeking at bathing goddesses – no matter how alluring other women might act afterwards, it all just felt… lackluster.
200,000 points…
Luo Jie couldn't even begin to fathom how he was supposed to scrape together a full 200,000 points in just three short days. What kind of messed-up mission was this? It defied all logic…
Then again, E-rank gear showing up in a Level 1 instance when it belonged in Level 2? What logic could he really expect? No wonder this "Zombie Siege" instance had the prefix "Crossover" – it was aptly named.
After wrestling with the decision, Luo Jie ultimately couldn't bring himself to abandon the rare E-Gold weapons, the Meitō·Fugu and Meitō·Baika. He wrapped them tightly in cloth strips and slung them crosswise on his back, one over each shoulder. Though 200,000 points seemed impossibly distant, a sliver of hope – or maybe just desperate wishful thinking – still flickered within him. A man needed dreams, right? What if, by some miracle, it happened?
Next, he spent 1,500 points to certify the [Rapier Longsword]. The other weapons, the [Knight's Mace] and the [Executioner's Guandao], were stashed above the ceiling tiles in the cafe's back kitchen. Uncertified gear couldn't be stored in his personal inventory space, nor did it grant any stats or skills. Carrying too much would only slow him down. As for the risk of someone finding them… if anyone was bored enough to poke through every ceiling tile in every room, then those weapons were simply never meant to be his. No point forcing it.
The longsword was a hybrid weapon, sitting between a dedicated two-handed greatsword and a one-handed arming sword. Held in one hand, its length and weight made it feel a bit slow and clumsy, limiting him mostly to simple chops and thrusts, usually best paired with a shield. But gripped with both hands, it transformed. It gained the power of a greatsword combined with the agility of a shorter blade, making it versatile for both duels and chaotic group fights.
Luo Jie tightened his grip on the [Rapier Longsword]'s hilt, testing its balance with a few practice swings at about half strength. He adjusted his stance and grip point based on the feedback. A cold, crescent-shaped arc flashed above the countertop. A pale head thumped to the floor, its corresponding headless body slumping after it.
"Eighty percent power for a clean decapitation, with enough force left to bite deep into a second body," he muttered, wiping the blade clean with a bar rag. "So, full power should reliably take two heads. Conversely, sixty percent should be safe for one kill."
Despite being leagues behind the E-Golds strapped to his back, the [Rapier Longsword]'s current performance satisfied him. After efficiently "opening" the skulls of a dozen or so curious zombies watching from the other side of the counter, Luo Jie took a brief rest on a clean bench. Then, gripping the long, narrow blade, he pushed open the cafe's main door.
In the confined space of the hallway, once zombie numbers reached a certain density, their heavy, shuffling footsteps began to mask each other's movements. Luo Jie moved with deliberate silence. His appearance went largely unnoticed by the horde. Only two or three nearby zombies spotted him. Before they could close the distance, Luo Jie dispatched them with precise, serpentine footwork, thrusting his blade through their skulls.
Thrusting – that was the key. Decapitations were ideal, but impractical in real combat. Zombies' outstretched arms constantly blocked clean headshots. Luo Jie's primary method involved a motion akin to poking a hornet's nest – driving the sword point upwards under the jaw and into the brain. Only when swarmed would he resort to sweeping slashes, aiming to disable limbs before finishing the job.
This tactic wasn't his invention. In his previous life, he'd briefly joined a player guild. Their leader was a master of this efficient, if unglamorous, style. That guy, armed with just a spear and shield, once solo-cleared an entire instance. They called him "Chief Poke, from the Big Iron Rod Hospital." Sure, it lacked the dramatic flair of charging into a horde yelling "Demacia!" and unleashing an epic whirlwind of death. But the survival rate? Hundreds of times higher.
Sticking to this method – creep, poke, creep, poke – Luo Jie painstakingly inched his way down the hallway towards the security office door. A trail of sixty-plus zombie corpses marked his path.
"Huff... Finally!" Luo Jie leaned heavily on the pommel of the [Rapier Longsword], using his shirt to wipe sweat from his face and neck. His stamina was flagging badly. The sword felt heavier, his swings less fluid. But this corridor was still zombie territory. If he didn't get into the security office fast, all that effort would be wasted.
Biting his tongue hard, Luo Jie forced himself alert. He cautiously pressed down the security office door handle and eased it open. To his surprise, the large room was eerily silent. No sign of any active zombies.
Seeing zombies starting to crowd the hallway behind him, Luo Jie wasted no time. He slipped inside and swiftly locked the door from within. He stood still for a moment, listening intently. The lack of reaction to the zombies pounding on the door confirmed the room was clear. If any were inside, that racket would have drawn them out immediately.
Clear of active threats didn't mean devoid of bodies. During his sweep, Luo Jie found six corpses – all security personnel. Judging by their state of decay and wounds, the scenario was clear: two guards had suddenly turned, biting and killing two others instantly. The remaining two managed to put down the infected attackers but were scratched in the process. Facing the inevitable, they'd dealt with their fallen comrades before ending their own lives with their service weapons.
"Damn... rough way to go," Luo Jie murmured with a grim shake of his head. He proceeded to remove any usable gear from the bodies before unceremoniously tossing them out the window. The mention of infection triggered a memory. Wasn't there an item called [Z-Inhibitor] in this instance? It temporarily suppressed the zombie virus and was a hot commodity on the market, usable across all zombie-type instances. If possible, he needed to grab a few to take back.
In every explorer's guide, the security office was hailed as the single most critical location in the "Zombie Siege" instance. Not just for the early access to proper weapons and gear, but primarily for its surveillance system. The monitors here covered nearly 70% of Fortune City. Without exaggeration, whoever controlled this room gained a literal god's-eye view over the entire instance.
One wall of the monitoring room was dominated by dozens of screens, each displaying a different section of the decaying mall. The scenes were starkly dystopian: countless zombies in varied, tattered clothing shuffled aimlessly through the ruins of what was once a bustling metropolis.
Luo Jie spotted a plain, unmarked tablet on the console. As he picked it up, a prompt flashed before his eyes:
[You have obtained the item - Portable Surveillance Terminal. Consume 1000 points to Certify? Y/N]
The cost was steep, but Luo Jie didn't hesitate. The benefits certification unlocked were easily worth the 1000 points. The tablet dissolved into a grid of blue-white light and vanished. Instantly, a massive surveillance feed filled his entire field of vision.
"Display Safe Room feeds," Luo Jie commanded via voice prompt, simultaneously shrinking the overwhelming display down to a more manageable 20-inch screen size. The initial IMAX view had been dizzying.
The Safe Room was located in a first-floor office area, accessible by turning left after the main entrance lobby and heading down a fire exit corridor. Its main entrance was barricaded from the inside with furniture and debris; the only way in or out was through the ventilation ducts.
On the Safe Room feed, Luo Jie spotted Jia Shuai's group again. The nearly hundred-strong contingent from the instance entry point had dwindled to less than forty. They looked haggard, their clothes torn, expressions shell-shocked. Faint sobbing could be heard from somewhere off-screen. Their passage through the main lobby had clearly been brutal.
Switching feeds to other rooms within the Safe Room complex, Luo Jie finally found Jia Shuai in a break room. He was huddled with several other young men, deep in discussion. Unaware they were being watched, they made no effort to lower their voices.
"...minor differences from my memory, but I'm certain!" A chubby teenager in a black-and-red flannel shirt slammed the table, his face flushed with excitement. "This instance's setting is Dead Rising 2! That old cop with the cowboy hat? He's one of the Safe Room NPCs from the game!"
The speaker was Shi Dake, a high school student and avid gamer, not one of Jia Shuai's university classmates. He'd been the first to recognize the instance's world and, relying on hazy memories, led them to the Safe Room. That earned him a spot in Jia Shuai's inner circle.
"Which is exactly why I said we needed to buy that map!" Shi Dake insisted, his voice rising. "Without it, I can't formulate any kind of plan!"