"Elite Survivor"
Effect: +20% damage when attacking zombies. Reduces damage taken from zombies by 20%.
Unlock Condition: Kill 1,000 zombies within one instance of the Illusion.
"Zombie Slayer"
Effect: Any attack dealing over 100 points of damage to a zombie instantly kills the target.
Unlock Condition: Kill 10,000 zombies using bare hands or melee weapons within 72 hours.
"Oh, it's these two titles..." Luo Yan murmured, a look of recognition washing over his face. He was intimately familiar with both.
[Elite Survivor] was simply the upgraded version of the [Survivor] title, a common sight in biohazard-type Illusions. Rare among weaker players in the early stages, it became practically standard issue later on.
The second title, [Zombie Slayer], was an exceptionally rare hidden achievement. Killing 10,000 zombies with melee weapons wasn't inherently difficult for high-level players. The real challenge lay in the 72-hour time limit, forcing players to rely heavily on expensive stamina recovery potions. Spending such valuable resources just for a title that let you insta-kill cannon-fodder zombies? Only explorers with too much time on their hands would bother grinding for it.
Casually equipping the [Elite Survivor] title as camouflage for his "Nightmare" alias, Luo Yan took a moment to check on Jia Shuai and Sunglasses Man's group. Clearly hooked on the efficiency of their grinding spot, they'd spent the past two days camped inside the swimming pool building, using the pool as a natural trap to ambush batch after batch of zombies.
Under Jia Shuai's organization, their roles were sharply defined. Agile, fast boys acted as bait, luring hordes inside. Once a sufficient number entered, two girls manually slammed down the rolling shutter door, cutting off the trailing zombies. The bait boys then leaped into the pool, scrambled up the ladder on the far side, leaving the zombies trapped helplessly below. The rest of the group, positioned safely at the pool's edge, systematically picked off the trapped zombies with various weapons. Finally, they hauled the corpses out and dumped them through a window, ready to repeat the cycle. If not for the need for rest and the time spent luring zombies and clearing bodies, their kill rate might have even surpassed Luo Yan's.
Perhaps to foster transparency, neither Sunglasses Man nor Jia Shuai's group hid their points. Their cumulative totals were clearly visible on the leaderboard.
Second place was still "Sunglasses" (Sunglasses Man), with 14,230 points. Third was "President" (Jia Shuai), at 10,300 points. Next came the bait boys. Facing the most danger, they earned significantly more points than others, averaging nearly 3,000 each. The rest, based on their roles, had scores ranging from a few hundred to a thousand – essentially consolation prizes to keep morale up. Both Sunglasses Man and Jia Shuai only displayed the [Survivor] title before their names, indicating points and personal kill counts were tracked separately.
...
After finishing their final wave, Sunglasses Man and Jia Shuai skipped the body cleanup. Instead, they gathered everyone and moved into the shopping street. Thanks to their relentless efforts over the past two days, the dense zombie hordes infesting the street had been reduced by eighty or ninety percent. The remaining few hundred were scattered like sesame seeds on a flatbread, sparse and isolated along the hundred-meter stretch, posing little threat now.
Ignoring the other shops, their sole target was "Firepower," the gun store situated right in the center of the street.
"Holy crap! Look at all these guns!" The group burst through the door, eyes wide with shock at the sheer variety of firearms lining the walls. Even Sunglasses Man, a veteran player, couldn't suppress a grin of pure delight.
Firearms were among the hottest commodities in the player market right now. Ammunition, being a consumable, often sold for 50% above its certification cost. Bringing any back to the real world meant pure profit.
Jia Shuai, having handled guns abroad before, knew the safety rules. "Careful, everyone!" he shouted. "Don't point those barrels at each other! Even if they're unloaded!"
The boys were already mesmerized by the brutal aesthetics of the weapons on the racks. They mumbled vague acknowledgments, too engrossed in debating gun specs, pros, and cons. The girls were less enthused by the bulky rifles and shotguns. Most were curiously examining various handguns.
Sunglasses Man didn't rush to grab a gun. He meticulously searched the entire store, checking for hidden compartments or safes. Only after confirming its emptiness did he pick a pistol and a shotgun, certified them, stowed them away, and spent his remaining points on assorted ammunition.
Jia Shuai watched thoughtfully, then followed suit. He turned to the group. "Everyone gets one pistol. Guys, use your remaining points for a shotgun if you can afford it. Spend everything else on ammo."
Sunglasses Man gave a knowing smile, pulling out a cigarette. He started to light it, glanced down at the ammo crate he was sitting on, thought better of it, and reluctantly put his lighter away. Jia Shuai pulled up an empty ammo crate beside him and, like a magician, produced two cans of beer from his pack.
"Ooh! Nice find!" Sunglasses Man chuckled, accepting one. He popped the tab and took a long swig, sighing with satisfaction. Jia Shuai opened his own, taking a small sip before leaning forward, elbows on his knees, a trace of bewilderment on his face.
"Feels like a dream, doesn't it?" Sunglasses Man understood perfectly; he'd been there after his first Illusion. "Yeah. After my first one, my whole worldview was shattered. Took me ages to trust anything was real... But real or not, what does it matter? We're still breathing." "True. At least we're alive," Jia Shuai murmured, swirling his can.
Thud-thud-thud!
The sudden, rhythmic thumping of rotor blades grew rapidly louder. Jia Shuai and Sunglasses Man instinctively looked up through the glass roof of the shopping street atrium. A slate-grey helicopter roared overhead. Emblazoned on its side was a clear red-and-white umbrella logo, followed by three stark, crimson letters: USS.
"What the hell was that?" Jia Shuai and Sunglasses Man exchanged glances, a shared sense of dread settling in their stomachs.
At that precise moment, the mission prompt on the main interface flickered and updated.
[Anomalous point accumulation detected. Activating Balance Mode.]
[Umbrella Security Service (USS) Special Tactics Unit deployed. Squad size: 6.]
[Primary Objective Updated: Survive until mission end OR eliminate entire USS squad.]
"Damn it!" Sunglasses Man's face paled as he read the update, the curse exploding from his lips. Jia Shuai blinked. "What's wrong?" Sunglasses Man cut him off with a sharp gesture, bellowing to the group, "Emergency! Grab your weapons, load up on ammo – as much as you can carry! We need to move, NOW!"
Panic ensued as people frantically stuffed handfuls of bullets into their packs. Most had seen the helicopter and understood the gravity of the new mission prompt. No one questioned Sunglasses Man's sudden command.
"Brother Sunglasses," Jia Shuai asked, hefting a shotgun and keeping pace, "can you tell us what's happening now?" "We got screwed over by someone else," Sunglasses Man took a deep breath, scanning a map. "Illusions have hidden balancing mechanisms. High-level players entering low-level zones get drastically reduced points and higher equipment certification costs..." "But since equipment itself isn't restricted by zone level," he continued grimly, "low-level players sometimes use high-level gear to farm points. Balance Mode is the patch for that exploit. When it triggers, the Illusion spawns boss-like NPCs – powerful ones – that attack all players indiscriminately." "Looks like that 'Nightmare' guy topping the leaderboard is one of those cheaters... Probably some rich kid playing explorer, backed by one or more powerful veteran players. Guys like that are way out of our league." "That's not fair!" a ponytailed girl protested. "Why should we get attacked because someone else cheated?" Jia Shuai knew complaints were useless now. Survival was the priority. He looked to Sunglasses Man, who was still frowning in thought. "Brother Sunglasses, any ideas?" "Nothing solid yet," Sunglasses Man admitted. "But we absolutely cannot fight them head-on. By the lore, the USS is Umbrella's elite unit. Aside from raw numbers and maybe stamina, they outclass us completely in gear and combat experience."
Jia Shuai was silent for a long moment, then spoke. "Maybe... we should fall back to the Safe House and hold out there." "No!" Sunglasses Man rejected it instantly. "They're a tactical squad. Guaranteed to have a demo expert. Blow the Safe House door, toss in a few tear gas canisters... we'd be sitting ducks." Jia Shuai offered a confident smile. "True... but that's assuming they can even reach it."