Chapter 10

【Elite Survivor】

Title Effect: When attacking zombies, attack effectiveness +20%, and simultaneously reduce 20% of the damage dealt by the target.

Achievement Condition: Kill 1000 zombies within a single illusion period.

【Zombie Slayer】

Title Effect: When attacking zombies, a single attack causing over 100 points of damage will instantly kill the target.

Achievement Condition: Within 72 hours, kill 10,000 zombies using bare hands or close-range cold weapons.

"Ah, so these are the two titles..."

Luo Jie's expression relaxed, clearly he was not unfamiliar with these titles.

【Elite Survivor】 is an upgraded version of the 【Survivor】 title, a title that inevitably appears in bio-horror illusions. It is relatively rare in the early stages when players are weaker, but becomes a common standard in the later stages.

The second title, 【Zombie Slayer】, is an extremely rare hidden title.

Killing 10,000 zombies purely with cold weapons is not difficult; many high-level players can easily achieve this. However, completing it within 72 hours requires the continuous use of expensive stamina recovery items.

However, spending so much on expensive stamina recovery items just for a title that can instantly kill weak zombies is something only those bored explorers would do. Most players wouldn't bother with it.

Luo Jie casually attached the 【Elite Survivor】 title to the alias "Nightmare" as a disguise and took a look at the situations of Jia Shuai and the sunglasses man, among others.

This group had clearly tasted the sweetness of scoring points and had been guarding the swimming pool for the past two days, using it as a natural trap to kill wave after wave of zombies.

Under Jia Shuai's organization, their roles were clearly defined.

A few quick and agile boys acted as bait to lure the zombie hordes. Once a certain number of zombies entered the swimming pool, they would be separated from the rest by the manually controlled roller shutters operated by two girls.

The boys acting as bait would then jump into the pool and climb out from the other side using a ladder, leaving the zombies trapped in the pool.

At this point, the remaining people would use various weapons to calmly kill the zombies one by one from the edge of the pool.

Finally, they would drag the zombie corpses out of the pool and throw them out the window, ready to start the next cycle.

If not for the need to rest and recover stamina, and the time required to lure and clear the zombies, their efficiency in killing zombies would have been even higher than Luo Jie's.

Perhaps to maintain transparency among themselves, the sunglasses man and Jia Shuai's group did not hide their points. Everyone's cumulative scores were clearly visible on the leaderboard.

The sunglasses man, with the alias "Sunglasses," was still in second place with a cumulative score of 14,230 points.

Third place was "President" Jia Shuai, with a cumulative score of 10,300 points.

Following them were the boys who acted as bait, facing the greatest danger and earning the most points, averaging close to 3,000 points each.

The rest, based on their roles, earned from a thousand to a few hundred points, essentially a consolation prize to keep morale up.

However, both the sunglasses man and Jia Shuai only had the 【Survivor】 title before their aliases, indicating that points and individual kills were calculated separately.

...

After killing the last wave of zombies, the sunglasses man and Jia Shuai did not call for the pool to be cleaned but instead gathered everyone to enter the shopping street.

Thanks to their tireless efforts over the past two days, the majority of the zombie hordes in the entire shopping street had been cleared, leaving only a few hundred scattered sparsely along the hundred-meter-long street, posing little threat.

Ignoring the other shops, their only goal was the "Firepower" gun store located in the center of the shopping street.

"Wow! So many guns!"

Eagerly rushing into the gun store, everyone was stunned by the wide array of firearms on display, even the experienced player, the sunglasses man, could not hide his excitement.

Guns are now one of the hottest commodities in the player market, especially bullets, which are consumables, with market prices almost 50% higher than the certified prices. Bringing them back to the real world would mean a 50% pure profit.

Jia Shuai, who had played with guns abroad before and knew some gun safety rules, loudly reminded everyone, "Be careful! Don't point the guns at each other! Even without bullets, it's dangerous!"

The boys, however, were too captivated by the various firearms on the shelves to pay attention to Jia Shuai's warnings, casually acknowledging him and enthusiastically discussing the parameters and pros and cons of the guns.

The girls, on the other hand, were not as enthusiastic, showing little interest in the large, bulky rifles and shotguns, and mostly played with the small handguns.

The sunglasses man did not rush to choose a gun but first thoroughly searched the store to ensure there were no hidden rooms or compartments. He then certified a handgun and a shotgun, storing them in his storage space, and exchanged the remaining points for various types of ammunition.

Jia Shuai, seeing this, thought for a moment and did the same, reminding the others, "One handgun each, boys can exchange for an additional shotgun if they have enough points, and the rest should be exchanged for ammunition."

The sunglasses man smiled meaningfully, took a cigarette from his pocket, and suddenly remembered he was sitting on a box of bullets. Despite the low risk of explosion, he cautiously put away the lighter he had just taken out.

Jia Shuai also sat on an empty bullet box next to the sunglasses man and magically produced two cans of beer from his backpack.

"Hey? Good stuff!"

The sunglasses man chuckled, pulled the tab, and took a large sip, his face showing immense satisfaction.

Jia Shuai also opened his can, took a small sip, leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, and wore a slightly puzzled expression.

"Feels like a dream, doesn't it?"

Having been through it before, the sunglasses man completely understood Jia Shuai's feelings.

"When I survived my first illusion, I was in a similar state, my worldview shattered, and for a long time, everything seemed fake... But what does it matter if it's real or not? The most important thing is that we're still alive."

"Yeah, at least we're still alive." Jia Shuai shook the can, murmuring softly.

Rrrrrr—!

A sudden roar grew louder, and Jia Shuai and the sunglasses man instinctively looked up. Through the glass ceiling of the shopping street, they saw a gray-blue helicopter fly overhead.

On the helicopter's body, a red and white umbrella-like logo was clearly visible, followed by three blood-red letters—USS.

"What was that?"

Jia Shuai and the sunglasses man exchanged glances, a sense of foreboding rising in their hearts.

At that moment, the task prompt on the main interface changed.

[Abnormal points data detected, activating balance mode.]

[Umbrella Special Operations Unit USS entering, team size 6 members.]

[Task objective changed: Survive until the end of the task or eliminate the entire USS team.]

"Damn!"

Seeing the updated task prompt, the sunglasses man's face changed drastically, and he cursed.

Jia Shuai was stunned: "What's going on?"

The sunglasses man rudely interrupted him, shouting to the others, "Emergency! Grab your weapons and as much ammunition as you can carry. We need to leave here immediately!"

Everyone frantically stuffed bullets into their backpacks. Most of them had seen the helicopter and, through the task prompt, realized the severity of the situation, so no one questioned the sunglasses man's command.

"Brother Sunglasses, can you tell me what's happening now?" Jia Shuai, carrying a shotgun, followed closely behind the sunglasses man.

"We've been implicated." The sunglasses man took a deep breath and, while checking the map, explained, "There are many hidden mechanisms in the illusion to maintain balance, such as high-level players entering low-level illusions having their points significantly reduced and increased equipment certification points..."

"However, since equipment itself is not restricted by the illusion level, sometimes low-level players can use high-level equipment to score points."

"Balance mode is like a patch for this loophole. Once a suspected situation is detected, powerful NPC enemies, similar to bosses, will be generated in the illusion to attack all players indiscriminately."

"Clearly, the top-ranked Nightmare is likely a cheater... Most of these people are second-generation players with one or more powerful veteran players backing them. We, as small fry, can't afford to provoke them."

"That's not fair! Why should we be attacked just because someone else is cheating?" A girl with a ponytail complained.

Jia Shuai knew that complaining wouldn't solve the problem and needed to come up with a plan. He looked at the frowning sunglasses man and asked, "Brother Sunglasses, do you have any ideas?"

"Not yet, but we definitely can't fight them head-on... According to the settings, the USS is the most elite unit of the Umbrella Corporation. In terms of physical ability, numbers, equipment, and combat experience, we are at a disadvantage."

Jia Shuai thought for a long time and suddenly said, "Perhaps we can return to the safe house and hold out there."

"No!" The sunglasses man firmly rejected, saying, "As a combat team, they will definitely have a demolitions expert. Once they blow open the safe house door, a few canisters of tear gas will render us powerless..."

Jia Shuai smiled confidently.

"That's true, but the premise is—whether they can get to the safe house in the first place."