After organizing his rune skills, Lin Ye cooked himself a bowl of instant noodles. He retrieved the Jester Doll from under the blankets and opened the group chat while eating.
(537,684/1,000,000)
(1,547,654/10,000,000)
"Three monsters per person, not bad."
"Some people haven't come out yet, the numbers will drop more."
"Really great. Thanks to Boss Lin Ye, our zone wouldn't have so many survivors left, nor so many strong players who've nearly emptied the monster pool."
"Thinking about it scares me. During the last Station Mission, I met a strong survivor who said their zone only had 100,000 people left. If I'd been assigned there, I'd be dead for sure."
"Just got out, still confused. What do those population brackets mean?"
"Isn't it obvious? One million people, ten monsters each. The remaining monsters will definitely be our responsibility soon."
"Hard to say. Might be distributed equally."
"Aren't you afraid the boss might casually eliminate you? You dare touch him?"
"I'm a girl, surely the boss wouldn't be that ruthless?"
"Then it's fine. Lend me your hand after you're done."
"???"
"Dude, you're really playing some weird game."
"Imagine if a zone only had one person left. Wouldn't they break down when checking the system interface after completing the mission?"
"One person fighting ten million monsters..."
"Just thinking about it gives me a headache."
"Even a boss would get mobbed to death, right?"
"Hard to say. What if the boss used their talent ability to exchange for some spiritual energy nukes?"
"...What the hell is a spiritual energy nuke? Sounds powerful."
"Who knows."
"Did you guys use the spiritual energy items Boss made? So useful. Lucky I grabbed one earlier, or I'd really be dead this time."
"Definitely great."
"The spiritual energy shields they generate are much tougher than before, and can be used multiple times."
"If only they could be used forever."
"Keep dreaming."
"Damn, I never managed to get one."
"Hey bosses, does anyone still have shelter upgrade blueprints? Time's almost up and I still don't have one!"
"Huh? You survived this long without one? Impressive."
"I thought those without blueprints were all dead."
"Must have a strong talent ability."
"Then why hide in the shelter before?"
"The drop rate is too low, and shelter upgrade blueprints are even rarer. Any that dropped were sold long ago. Why are you only looking now?"
"This is my first time leaving the shelter... I've been surviving on handouts from group members..."
"Damn."
"What? You survived like that? Your talent must be strong. Can you give us an idea?"
"It's a stealth talent. I hid until the war ended before returning, but I secretly took some loot. I can trade all of it for a blueprint."
"Clever."
"With such a strong talent you didn't leave the shelter? You could've done well exploring red rooms while avoiding monsters."
"I was too scared!"
"Maybe you can ask the monsters invading your shelter for a blueprint. They might have one."
"Honestly, if you go out to kill monsters now, there's a real chance of blueprint drops. Better to try than wait to die."
"If he dared go out, would he have waited this long?"
...
After finishing his noodles, Lin Ye began organizing his loot.
The Special War Gift Box was a pure black rectangular case. Opening it revealed only a black-and-red card.
[War Summons]
[When initiating a war, you may invite any willing allies to your location (1/1)]
[Note: I Am The Army]
'This card is powerful, but useless right now...'
Lin Ye stored the War Summons and examined his other loot.
[Third-stage Mutated Heart]
[A perfectly preserved mutated heart, transplantable]
[Note: Transplantation grants abilities appropriate to this heart]
Sacrificial Offering was an ability to create mutated organs, requiring extremely high mental energy.
More materials used in the skill meant better final products, but also higher mental energy demands.
Without his Trump Card state, Lin Ye couldn't have used this skill on such a large scale.
Holding the mutated heart, Lin Ye wasn't sure what to do with it.
Undoubtedly powerful, but Lin Ye had no desire to mutate his body. Moreover, as a third-stage heart, his current physique couldn't handle it even if he wanted to.
After some thought, Lin Ye tossed the heart aside and pulled the hiding Jester Doll into a dance around the shelter—he always kept his promises.
As he spun, Lin Ye set aside trivial matters and began enjoying his first weekend since arriving here.
Truthfully, before coming here, he hadn't been particularly enthusiastic about life—the type who didn't want to die but didn't particularly enjoy living either.
Paradoxically, being here made him want to live more.
Perhaps only when truly facing death can humans understand how terrifying it is.
[All survivors in this zone have completed the War Front activity]
[Additional activity begins: Surviving participants must eliminate remaining Mutation Creatures]
[00:59]
[00:58]
Watching the countdown, Lin Ye didn't stop dancing. Instead, he closed his eyes and spun faster through the shelter. He still had plenty of time before the countdown ended.
[00:01]
[00:00]
When the countdown finished, Lin Ye was transported to a 30-square-meter white room where a first-stage Mutation Creature stood at the center.
Lin Ye casually extracted the creature's mutation organ without even using Red Blade.
Soon a second first-stage creature appeared, meeting the same fate.
Lin Ye continued eliminating Mutation Creatures this way. After killing the fifth one, he was returned to his shelter.
The Jester Doll had disappeared. The first week of apocalyptic survival had officially ended.
[Please draw today's card]
"My turn, draw!"
This time the card showed a red chicken. As the card dissipated, a fully red-feathered chicken appeared in the shelter's center.
"You should've come earlier. I already ate my noodles. What can you give me? Chicken legs? Braised chicken? Or poached chicken?"
Lin Ye picked up Brother Chicken and asked curiously.
After the duck and goose appeared, he'd known this day would come.
"Cluck cluck."
"What? You can help me hatch that Abyssal Egg? Really?"
Lin Ye asked in surprise.
"Cluck cluck!"
Brother Chicken puffed his chest and patted Lin Ye's shoulder with a wing.
"Truly worthy of Brother Chicken. Then I'll leave it to you."