Leo looked at the huge list of goods inside—canned food, bandages, concrete, and the like—without a doubt, all items needed in a post-apocalyptic survival game.
But the problem was—
What the hell was a Duke Casino Token? Something like bottle caps in Fallout 4?
And more importantly—
"So I actually have an inventory?"
Looking at the large empty grid on the right side of the goods panel, Leo felt that this world was genuinely interesting.
With a thought, Leo took out the gold bar he had found in that house and kept as a souvenir. Looking at the bar, which wasn't even as big as his pinky, he silently thought, "Press E."
The next moment, the gold bar vanished from his hand. In its place, a golden item appeared in one of the empty inventory slots.
Leo focused on it, and its description immediately appeared before his eyes.
Gold Nugget: Merchants might be interested in this. Sell price: 140.
Leo didn't hesitate and sold the gold bar. The instant it was sold, a notification popped up at the lower corner of his vision.
EXP +420.
At the same time, the purple bar he had noticed earlier at the bottom of his view jumped forward slightly.
Experience?
Even trading gives EXP?
The world felt more and more absurd. Still, when Leo saw the yellow, shiny items labeled Duke Casino Tokens in his inventory, curiosity got the better of him, and he focused on them as well.
Once again, game-like options appeared.
Disassemble (S)
Drop (D)
Leo didn't choose disassemble. He chose D.
The next instant, a burlap-wrapped package appeared out of thin air and landed on the counter in front of the merchant.
"..."
Leo grabbed the small sack. A prompt reading "Press E to pick up" appeared on it, but instead of using the system, he simply opened it by hand.
A pile of yellow coins spilled onto the table. Leo picked one up and examined it—it was made of brass, with strange patterns stamped onto it.
And because it was in English—
He couldn't read it.
No help for it. He'd long since returned his English knowledge to his teachers. If not for that CET-4 certificate, he wouldn't even know he supposedly understood English.
"Come to think of it, Erina's been speaking Japanese this whole time too."
He casually glanced at Erina Nakiri. He heard clearly that she'd been speaking Japanese the entire time, yet he could understand her perfectly, and she could understand him as well.
Before, when they were both panicking just to survive, he hadn't paid attention to things like that.
But compared to that—
Leo's attention returned to the things appearing in his vision.
Leo's attention returned to the things appearing in his field of vision.
He closed the merchant interface and tried pressing the B key in his mind.
The next moment, a large grid—just like when he had opened the shop earlier—appeared before him. Not only that, a lot more information showed up as well.
On the left side of the inventory was an image of himself wearing a suit and holding two axes. On the right side was a long list of text.
Concussion.
Treated abrasion: 45 hours 23 minutes 42 seconds remaining.
Antibiotics: 3.5%
Treated mild infection: 1.5%
Hunger.
Thirst.
Leo froze when he saw this. He shifted his focus to the "treated mild infection" entry, and the next instant, a string of explanatory text appeared.
Treated mild infection: Your minor infection has been treated. Continue medication until the infection is eliminated. Being attacked by zombies or animals will worsen the infection.
"I was treated?"
Leo looked completely baffled. He clearly remembered being scratched and then showing obvious signs of infection. Other than eating some canned luncheon meat and drinking honey, he hadn't taken any medicine at all.
Was luncheon meat medicine? Or honey?
Some kind of hex-tech junk?
The text itself was easy to understand and matched his condition pretty well. He really was hungry and thirsty, and a concussion wasn't hard to believe—he had hit his head when he first arrived.
But if there was actually hope of being cured…
With slightly trembling hands, Leo opened the merchant interface again and flipped through it quickly. In the medical category, he finally saw what he had been hoping for.
Honey: Food +5, Health +2, Max stamina bonus: none, Cure infection +5%.
Honey really was an anti-infection item.
Leo instantly got so excited that he hugged Erina beside him. In his excitement, he even planted a kiss on the pretty merchant, then instinctively tried to buy more honey.
But then he suddenly realized something.
He didn't have enough money.
Even after selling the gold bar, he only had 140, while one jar of honey cost 240.
But that was fine. The house they came from still had more than a dozen gold bars—more than enough to buy plenty of honey.
The Erina he was hugging had no idea why Leo suddenly became so excited. She covered her face in confusion, staring at Leo's expression of wild joy, completely unable to understand why his emotions were swinging so violently.
Seeing her confusion, Leo kissed her cheek again.
"We're saved! If all of this is real, Erina! We don't have to turn into zombies!"
"Eh?"
Erina looked completely lost, not understanding what Leo was talking about at all.
But seeing her confused expression, Leo suddenly realized something else.
What if honey didn't work on Erina?
His gaze shifted back to the interface in his vision, moving toward the tabs at the top.
Crafting, Character, Map, Skills, Quests, Log, Players, Creative.
He quickly opened them one by one to see what they did.
Crafting opened an empty framework with nothing inside. Character was the inventory screen he had already seen.
But after that, things got strange.
When Leo tried to open the map, a bright red message appeared.
"Insufficient permissions."
He didn't dwell on it and moved on to Skills, but got the same "insufficient permissions" message.
The Log was also inaccessible. Only when he clicked Players did something open, revealing an interface that looked like an Excel spreadsheet.
Leo: Level 1, Game Stage 1, Party: none, Allies: none, Enemies killed: 12, Players killed: 0.
Erina Nakiri: Level 0, Game Stage 0, Party: none, Allies: none, Enemies killed: 0, Players killed: 0.
Leo: Level 1, Game Stage 1, Party: none, Allies: none, Enemies killed: 12, Players killed: 0.
Erina Nakiri: Level 0, Game Stage 0, Party: none, Allies: none, Enemies killed: 0, Players killed: 0.
"Level zero… is it because she hasn't killed enough zombies?"
Leo looked at Erina Nakiri's entry and couldn't help clicking the teammate option beside her name, but there was no response at all.
So he closed the interface, kept the game UI active, stared at Erina Nakiri, and under her confused and slightly embarrassed gaze, silently held the E key on her in his mind.
The next moment, a prompt appeared before his eyes.
"Consume 11,240 EXP to help Erina Nakiri become a player?"
A smile spread across Leo's face. He kissed Erina on the cheek again, his excitement completely blinding him to how shocking this was for a girl.
"Mr. Leo! What is wrong with you?!"
Erina Nakiri covered her flushed cheek, completely unable to understand why Leo was suddenly so worked up.
"Anyway, it means we can probably really keep living together here!"
Leo hugged her again excitedly. Erina didn't resist, but her expression turned visibly uncomfortable.
"W-Who wants to live with you, you…"
Her heart was in turmoil. It wasn't like she'd never imagined who her future partner might be, but most of the time she believed it would be a chef capable of making food "powerful enough to lift the curse of her God Tongue."
But now, she felt that even if that curse could never be lifted, living together with Leo didn't seem so bad.
After all, honey mixed with luncheon meat wasn't completely inedible… as long as you got used to it!
That's right—she, Erina Nakiri, should be able to adapt in a place like this!
"Anyway, come out with me first, Erina! I need you to take down a few zombies so I can verify something!"
Leo excitedly picked up the Duke Casino Tokens, stored them in his inventory, then grabbed the girl and rushed out of the shop.
If gold bars could be exchanged for money, and the merchant sold so many goods, that meant plenty of other things could be turned into currency too.
But as they walked out the door, a doubt surfaced in Leo's mind.
"Don't tell me… I really don't have a cheat of my own?"
This ability clearly existed because of this world itself—otherwise Erina wouldn't be able to be invited as a player. While it might be a growth-type advantage, Leo still felt it was more likely a system rule of the world.
So as a transmigrator, was he actually just an ordinary one?
"What a depressing thought."
Quickly pushing that aside, Leo led Erina back to the previous house.
He rapidly stored the gold bars in his inventory and searched for anything else he could sell, but unfortunately, neither the sofa nor the refrigerator could be stored. Folding chairs and flower pots, on the other hand, could be put into his inventory just fine.
Disappointingly, there were no loot chests to scavenge. No matter how much he mentally pressed E on cabinets or refrigerators, nothing happened.
During this time, Leo wasn't afraid of zombies at all, instead continuously explaining everything he had discovered to Erina.
"So basically, we've come to a game world, and as long as we do things that match the game's rules, we can gain abilities like game characters? And the honey we ate is actually medicine that cures infection?"
Erina Nakiri couldn't help holding her head.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Leo, but this is just too strange! Though… well, we've already been transported here, so I guess there's nothing we can't accept anymore."
She took a deep breath and looked at Leo.
"So that means… neither you nor I have to die? We can keep living?"
She felt joy, but even more unease. Although she had seen many unbelievable things—the brass Duke Casino Tokens vanishing into thin air, the frightening female merchant, doors opening and closing without being touched—she still couldn't fully believe it without experiencing it herself.
"Mm, yes. But to be safe, I should turn you into a 'player' first. Otherwise I'm not sure if the honey's detox effect will work on you."
Leo was still running a fever. It seemed the status panel couldn't instantly change his condition, and he also needed to confirm whether this was all real or just his imagination.
"So… you're going to fight those monsters again?"
Even though she had mentally prepared herself, just thinking about Leo fighting zombies made Erina anxious.
"Yeah. If this is real, then infection isn't something we have to fear anymore. And if infection isn't an issue, then this isn't so scary. As long as we don't run into huge hordes at night or get surrounded, these monsters are just prey. So don't worry. And turning you into a player won't take that much EXP either—it's just… uh… how much was it again?"
Leo nodded, placed a hand on Erina's shoulder to reassure her, and in the same instant summoned the game interface and pressed E on her.
Nothing happened.
Leo froze. He pressed E again in his mind—several times—trying to call up the interface.
Then, the next moment—
Erina Nakiri's clothes—
Vanished.
"Eh?"
A rare sight unfolded before Leo's eyes. In the instant created by his "repeated mental E-press," everything—clothes, shoes, skirt, even stockings—vanished all at once.
His palm immediately touched skin as smooth as silk. He saw the snowy white curves, the delicate pink softness, and the hidden, mysterious blush beneath a slightly sparse field of golden wheat.
"It's not even sagging… just as expected…"
He murmured subconsciously. At that moment, Erina Nakiri finally sensed something was wrong.
She lowered her head, looked at her own body, then at Leo, whose eyes were locked onto her chest. The next instant, a scream escaped her without conscious control.
"Mr. Leo!!"
Erina Nakiri hurriedly covered her chest with one hand, burying her fair palm deep into the other soft mound and hiding that adorable pink from Leo's view.
Not only that, she also covered the golden field below and pressed her legs tightly together, refusing to let Leo see anything more.
"What are you doing?!"
She was nearly out of her mind—the shock of this was simply too great for her.
Kissing and hugging might barely be forgivable, but this was far beyond the line.
"Uh—sorry, I used the game system wrong by accident…"
Leo immediately turned around. From his inventory, he took out all of Erina Nakiri's clothes, forming a small burlap bundle on the floor. He ripped it open and handed it to Erina, whose face was burning red.
"These are your clothes! I really didn't mean to!"
Even with his back turned, what lingered in Leo's mind wasn't Erina Nakiri's shy yet astonishingly voluptuous body—but his own ability.
"If this skill were in a normal world, it'd be insanely powerful, wouldn't it?"
He imagined how it could be used. This ability could instantly socially annihilate someone, or steal things without anyone noticing.
Even in the cold-weapon era, if you fought someone in armor, you could strip them clean in an instant.
What a terrifying ability.
"This is basically god-level talent… what a shame it's not very useful in this world. If it were the age of swords and spears, I could become a legendary hero with this…"
Leo stared at his hands and couldn't help saying it aloud.
He meant it sincerely. As for Erina Nakiri's body—
Thinking about that now would only bring unnecessary trouble.
Looking at his hands, already covered in cuts and calluses after just a few days, Leo sighed helplessly.
Using hands like these for anything resembling tenderness would be torture.
It wasn't like he could sand down a bed—everything here was filthy, possibly even slept on by zombies.
As for directly making demands of Erina, Leo didn't think it was necessary. They might end up spending their whole lives together—there was no reason to make things awkward now.
Erina Nakiri was furious. She did have vague feelings for Leo, but that level of affection absolutely did not justify being stripped naked like this.
Yet as she listened to Leo muttering to himself, a wave of embarrassed rage flared up inside her.
"You jerk… what is wrong with your brain?! At a time like this, you're thinking about stuff like that?! Jerk, jerk, jerk!! Big idiot!"
After getting dressed, her cheeks burning red, Erina Nakiri kept kicking Leo's calves. But at that moment, a zombie's roar sounded outside the room.
She immediately stopped, grabbed the axe beside Leo, handed one to him, and said tensely—
"Leo! I think I messed up!"