Jian Xingyi froze, quickly clamping his mouth shut.

His heart raced, but not because of the zombies—it was the shock of Shuixi actually arriving.

The Anchor Point truly was on call.

Within minutes of Shuixi’s arrival, he had killed the two men, though they were already gravely wounded.

The zombies in the morgue stumbled to their feet, still groggy, and began shuffling around. They instinctively tried to reach the main door.

Shuixi gently pulled Jian Xingyi away, turning them both toward the exit before closing the door.

Bang!

The moment the door shut, Jian Xingyi saw through the glass pane as the zombie charged forward, its hoarse screams echoing as it pounded and tore at the door.

Shuixi swiftly wedged a spare wooden plank into the doorframe, her movements practiced and precise.

Once safe, Jian Xingyi couldn’t wait any longer. “Someone’s critically injured in the elevator!” he exclaimed urgently. “We have to go back! She hasn’t been saved yet!”

Shuixi followed Jian Xingyi back to the elevator.

Moon lay inside, blood spreading from her wounds, soaking through her shirt. The floor around her was covered in blood.

Jian Xingyi tremblingly placed her hand near Moon’s nose. The breath was faint, but it was there.

Thank goodness…!

Jian Xingyi exhaled in relief, frantically pulling every medical item from his backpack to treat Moon. Stopping the bleeding was the top priority!

Shuixi crouched down. “Let me handle this. We need to remove the bullet first.”

“Okay…”

Jian Xingyi stepped aside. “Let me know if you need anything.”

“Mhm.”

After carefully moving the girl out of the elevator and laying her flat, Shuixi took scissors from his backpack to cut a small opening in her clothing. He then used tweezers to extract the bullet. Fortunately, the player had missed his mark; just a hair’s breadth more, and this girl would have been beyond saving.

Jian Xingyi watched Shuixi’s practiced movements with some shock.

Artificial intelligence really is all-purpose…

What he didn’t know was that Shuixi had performed similar procedures countless times before—whether treating gunshot or knife wounds, on himself or others nearby. That’s why he possessed so many medical supplies.

After all, high combat prowess doesn’t come out of thin air.

Shuixi used his medicine directly, since Jian Xingyi’s supplies weren’t high-grade enough.

“All done.”

Now they just had to wait for the moon to wake up.

Jian Xingyi exhaled in relief.

Shuixi rose and inquired, “Is she your…?”

Jian Xingyi replied, “Ah, just met her. I came here to spend the night and encountered them. They said they wanted to join me for the Midnight Nurse mission.”

Shuixi nodded.

Jian Xingyi glanced at the two corpses nearby, as if remembering something. He activated his skill.

Pure, harmless souls!

【Collection successful. Absorbed 【Essence】 x300】

【Collection successful. Absorbed 【Essence】 x300】

Just as expected!

A single haul of 600 essence points left Jian Xingyi grinning. Combined with his previous reserves, he now had 620 points. Without hesitation, he remotely upgraded his Livestock Farm #2 to C-class.

After quickly confirming the upgrade, Jian Xingyi turned his attention to the corpses before him.

These two who tried to rob him were dead—might as well thoroughly search them for anything worthwhile.

Jian Xingyi examined the dropped items. There were indeed quite a few good things.

Like… □□?

No wonder!

After taking the □□, Jian Xingyi saw their true faces revealed—covered in scars. They were the very traitors wanted for the Thousand Bells Snow Mountain incident!

Not only that, they carried beast meat, dawn coins, upgrade materials, and… a colored flag?

What was this?

Shuixi said, “Keep the colored flag safe. It’ll be needed for the Thousand Bells Snow Mountain quest.”

This colored flag wasn’t easy to obtain. Shuixi roughly estimated that these two were actually T2 high-level combatants. The reason they were injured so badly by Jian Xingyi was likely because they hadn’t expected him to possess such an outrageously powerful item—they’d underestimated him.

They’d been so focused on guarding against Moon that they’d completely underestimated Jian Xingyi.

“Oh, oh.” Jian Xingyi asked, “Is there any gear you want? We can pick some out, then give the rest to Moon… ah, I mean that girl you just saved and her companions, right?”

Shuixi scanned the area, then selected a □□ and used it immediately.

Jian Xingyi: “?”

Shuixi said, “Just trying it out.”

Mainly, he only realized it was Flag-Raising Mountain after teleporting here. If it had been Thousand Bells Snow Mountain, it wouldn’t have mattered, but Flag-Raising Mountain was packed with people. He didn’t want to be recognized and cause trouble.

Jian Xingyi pondered, “I probably don’t need a mask… no one knows me here. But still… I think it’s better to keep my ID hidden.”

He certainly wouldn’t dare broadcast to everyone that he was Xinghe now.

Nearly the entire server knew he had abundant resources. Who could guarantee he wouldn’t encounter more thugs?

“Mhm.”

Jian Xingyi looked at Shuixi’s altered features and felt a strange sensation.

Shuixi raised an eyebrow. “Don’t you like it?”

This mask was generated based on the owner’s original appearance with random variations. While it wouldn’t be drastically different, recognition was impossible.

Jian Xingyi: “It’s beautiful!”

Shuixi was naturally beautiful before, and he was beautiful now, too. It was just…

“You look great now, but you looked even better before! Ah, I don’t know how to explain it…” Jian Xingyi scratched his head, searching for words. “Ah, maybe because I’d always seen the original version, so I got used to and grew fond of that look. Now I have to work on adapting to the new one!”

Shuixi paused.

And his ears turned suspiciously red.

Shuixi said nothing, merely lowering his head to deal with the two mutated individuals.

Jian Xingyi continued rummaging through the items, taking the beast meat, colored flags, and dawn coins.

Not only that, but Jian Xingyi also discovered something useful—a disposable EF4 storm shelter tent.

This storm shelter could be deployed during tornadoes, allowing players to take cover inside. An EF4 rating meant it could withstand hurricanes from EF0 to EF4, but not EF5.

Though few had ever seen an EF5-rated shelter.

Thus, this was undoubtedly a highly useful and rare item—at least for players seeking to gather resources in Flag-Raising Mountain. Yet it couldn’t be purchased from the store; one could only stumble upon it during their gathering journey, tucked away in some corner of the woods. It was said to be left behind by the map’s “Windchaser” NPC.

As the name implies, it was all about luck.

So when Jian Xingyi spotted it, he was overjoyed.

And there were two!

Jian Xingyi kept one for himself and left the other for Moon.

Then Moon woke up.

After using the medicine, her wounds had completely healed—a perk of the game where proper treatment and supplies allow instant revival.

Startled awake, she first touched her chest—perfectly intact! Glancing around, she saw the two thugs already dead, while Jian Xingyi stood safely nearby. Relief washed over her.

Seems it’s settled!

And she’d narrowly escaped death…

After the tension eased, Moon even felt a chill of fear. She had been ambushed like that… She’d almost been killed outright.

Thinking of this, Moon looked at Jian Xingyi with even greater gratitude.

But who was that person beside Xinghe…?

“You’re awake!” Jian Xingyi smiled. “Thank goodness you’re okay! Those two are already dead, and they dropped a bunch of items. See if there’s anything you want?“

”…You’re so amazing,“ Moon said admiringly. ”Thanks to you!“

Jian Xingyi gave a nervous laugh and pointed shyly at Shuixi. ”No, no, he helped me kill them…”

Shuixi’s tone remained flat. “You’d already taken care of most of them. I just finished them off.”

This was indeed true. Shuixi felt that even if he hadn’t come, Jian Xingyi would have won eventually, though it might have been tougher.

Shuixi thought to himself that Jian Xingyi had grown significantly after surviving that zombie horde.

Moon asked Jian Xingyi curiously, “So, is this your companion? How did he suddenly appear? Did I faint for a long time?”

“No, no, you only fainted for a little while. He… um.” Jian Xingyi paused, unsure how to explain.

Shuixi said, “I’m also a player from the Peace Mountain. He called me, so I came.”

Half-truth, half-lie.

Jian Xingyi thought, Is Shuixi trying to hide his NPC identity?

“Oh…”

Moon glanced at Shuixi, then at Jian Xingyi, blinking once, then twice.

“Are you two a couple?”

Shuixi: “?”

Jian Xingyi: “???”

“No.”

“No…!”

“Oh…! Sorry!” Moon beamed. “So now that I’m back to life, shall we… continue the quest?”

True to her original intent.

“Let’s go then.” Jian Xingyi glanced at Shuixi. “Is that okay?”

“With you.”

With Shuixi by his side, Jian Xingyi suddenly relaxed, no longer afraid of the eerie surroundings.

Moon collected the items dropped by the two men. After formally thanking Jian Xingyi, she didn’t forget to take photos of them. She then uploaded them to her guild channel, announcing that the targets had been captured and killed.

Jian Xingyi asked curiously, “These are the people you said you were hunting?”

“Well, not me. I’m just a lowly guild member—how could I take on two high-level wanted criminals? They were targets our guild leaders wanted to hunt down to stop them from wreaking havoc on Flag-Raising Mountain. Never thought I’d be the one to run into them…” Moon sighed in frustration. “I didn’t even know the disguise item existed. It’s incredibly rare.”

Moon shook her head. “Before the zombie tide, these two looted a ton of supplies from Really Cold and then hid, exploiting a bug.”

Jian Xingyi paused.

Oh, right…

There was that option.

Before the zombie tide, players get teleported back to their guild. But these two got stuck right when the tide started—when players couldn’t leave their guilds—so they slipped out and hid in Dawn Town. That way, they didn’t have to fight the tide but still got to enjoy the rewards for surviving it.

Jian Xingyi frowned. “That’s so sneaky… Not being able to kick players out of guilds during the zombie tide feels like a major loophole.”

Shuixi shook her head. “If guilds could kick players during the zombie tide, it would break the balance.”

Jian Xingyi paused. True.

Then players would have to guard against being exploited by their guilds—risking being kicked out after contributing combat power and resources, leaving the rewards swallowed whole.

The rules must favor the weaker side—after all, guilds are always more powerful than individual players.

Its easier to punish players players who betray their guilds, but if the guild itself acts maliciously, where can players seek justice?

Jian Xingyi said, “You really think things through!”

The trio headed to the warehouse and found the syringes they needed. Moon stowed them away. They’d meet up with the other squad at the counter later to claim their rewards.

The warehouse also held plenty of resources players could collect and claim—items like bullets and canned goods that constantly respawned. The three gathered some supplies.

Jian Xingyi noticed a faint glow in a nearby corner and paused.

Jian Xingyi pointed at several sacks and said, “Can’t you click to harvest? There’s some pesticide over there.”

Moon tried and reported, “No. Could it be because our management level isn’t high enough?”

Jian Xingyi thought it was possible.

Jian Xingyi happily stepped forward and harvested a pile of pesticides.

He’d used up all his speed-boosting items during the zombie surge, and now that the VIP store had refreshed, he didn’t dare stockpile too much—after all, thirty thousand credits was a fortune. Finding these pesticides made the hospital trip feel totally worth it!

Jian Xingyi muttered, “What’s up with the hospital having pesticides…”

Moon chuckled, “Because the hospital center has a huge garden with all kinds of flowers, plants, and trees. Plus, hidden quests spawn in the garden. Apparently, someone stumbled and accidentally dug up a patch of soil, luckily finding a note inside. It said picking specific flowers and giving them to specific patients would earn rewards. Later, lots of people tried, but not everyone was lucky enough to dig up the note.”

Jian Xingyi thought to himself, if it was a luck-based quest, it was basically out of his league. The quest itself wasn’t important, but he really wanted to see this so-called garden.

What if it held some special seeds or essence?

After completing the quest and reuniting with the others, Moon explained the situation. Everyone reacted with a mix of shock and concern. Jian Xingyi quietly slipped away from the group, exchanged a brief farewell with Moon, and exited through the back door.

Jian Xingyi remembered to check his mailbox, where the Midnight Nurse quest reward had indeed arrived.

【Midnight Nurse Infected. Kind player assisted nurse in completing the mission. Rewards: Dawn Coins x6666, 【Syringes x5】, 【Medicines x5】】

These were relatively rare medicines, sparing Jian Xingyi from spending a fortune in the mall.

Moreover, hospital meds had an advantage over store-bought ones: store items couldn’t be stacked beyond a certain limit, and using them on existing injuries rendered them ineffective. Hospital supplies, however, could be stacked infinitely. During the final day of the zombie surge, everyone had exhausted both hospital and store meds before running out of options—a stark reminder of how desperate things had gotten.

Jian Xingyi stowed the items away, pushed open the back door, and stepped into the so-called garden.

The hospital garden’s railings and flower pots lay in utter disrepair. Yet strangely, the surrounding plants flourished. Every lily bloomed with a vibrant, almost intoxicating beauty, their stark white petals in the night making them impossible to look away from.

Jian Xingyi murmured, “Blooming so beautifully…”

Shuixi stamped his foot in the mud and raised an eyebrow. “Maybe the soil’s rich.”

Jian Xingyi: “…”

Ah, that brought to mind something unsettling.

But if there really were corpses buried underground, then this place was a mass grave… which meant… the essence value would be incredibly high, right?!

Jian Xingyi attempted to activate his skill.

【Collection Successful, Absorbed 【Essence】 x30】

【Collection Successful, Absorbed 【Essence】 x41】

【Collection Successful, Absorbed 【Essence】 x15】

Sure enough!!!

Every single flower here has incredibly high essence value!

Jian Xingyi was overjoyed.

After scanning the entire garden, he finally obtained 210 essence.

Once he finished tapping all the flowers, he tried digging up a few patches of soil with his shovel, thinking maybe he’d get lucky.

After digging five or six holes with no results, Jian Xingyi sighed. Glancing at Shuixi, who stood silently by his side, he asked, “Guess I’m just unlucky… Shuixi, wanna give it a shot?”

Shuixi took the shovel and casually dug a spot on the ground right in front of him.

【Ding!】

【Congratulations! Player has triggered hidden quest 【Little Yuan’s Flower】!】

Jian Xingyi: “?”

Shuixi, however, wasn’t particularly surprised. His luck with finding things in the wild was usually pretty good.

Shuixi dug at another spot.

【Ding!】

【Congratulations! Player has triggered hidden quest 【Nurse Lili’s Flower】!】

【Ding!】

【Congratulations! Player has triggered the hidden quest 【Dr. Dai’s Flowers!】

Jian Xingyi: “…………”

Shuixi stopped digging. “Three is enough. We don’t have time for more.”

Jian Xingyi still needs to sleep, right?

Jian Xingyi’s mouth twitched.

Shanhai had one, and Shuixi had one.

So frustrating! There are so many lucky players out there—why couldn’t he be one of them?

After Shuixi dug up the note, Jian Xingyi came over to read it. It said to bring lilies from the garden to the hospital patients: Xiao Yuan, Nurse Lili, and Doctor Dai.

Shuixi: “Follow me.”

Jian Xingyi felt elated. Was this the perk of being an NPC? He was practically a walking dictionary!

Shuixi led Jian Xingyi to plant the lilies in a flowerpot outside one of the hospital rooms. Turning around, they saw an envelope appear by the entrance. Jian Xingyi picked it up and read.

【Mom said I won’t die after the surgery, but Nurse Lili said Mom and Dad won’t come anymore. The doctor who operated on me can’t come either, and I can’t go to school. Did they all turn into monsters? Something terrible happened outside—suddenly lots of monsters appeared. Nurse Lili said many people got sick, and when you get sick, you turn into a monster… I’m so scared. My hand turned purple. Will I become a monster too?】

Jian Xingyi froze.

After reading the letter in his hand gradually dissolved, transforming into a tuft of dandelion fluff.

Jian Xingyi held the white dandelion fluff, lost in thought.

Shuixi said, “Blow it away.”

“Oh…!” He almost forgot—the more dandelion fluff blown away at Flag-Raising Mountain, the more blessings from the departed spirits, and the greater the rewards.

Jian Xingyi first activated his skill, gaining 20 essence points, then gently blew on the dandelion.

【Player 【Xinghe】 has blown away dandelion x10】

Next, they went to the nurses’ lounge. Jian Xingyi placed the lilies on the locker labeled “Lili,” receiving another letter in return.

【No one knows when or how the virus began. Suddenly, the city fell. I want so badly to run away, but I can’t… My duty is to care for the patients, even if they’ve lost their minds… Even if I’ve been bitten by them and am dying soon…】

Jian Xingyi scattered another ten dandelions.

Their final stop was the top-floor ICU.

Shuixi warned, “The top floor is also a danger zone. Be careful.”

Except for the morgue, the higher you went in the hospital, the more dangerous it became.

Jian Xingyi and Shuixi had taken the elevator cautiously all the way up, with Shuixi dispatching numerous zombies along the way. Without Shuixi, Jian Xingyi knew the ascent would have been brutal.

The moment the elevator doors opened, Shuixi grabbed Jian Xingyi from behind and ducked them both into a nearby cabinet.

Jian Xingyi: “…!”

Not far away, a giant zombie covered in pink tumors slowly passed by.

Jian Xingyi thought, Thank goodness Shuixi reacted fast.

It wasn’t that Shuixi couldn’t handle it, but there was no need. The zombies on the top floor carried infectious viruses; killing them would just spray pathogens everywhere. Plus, there were no rewards, so why invite trouble?

But…

Jian Xingyi blinked, staring at Shuixi.

Shuixi had tossed him into the cabinet like cargo, and now his feet dangled in midair, still clinging to Shuixi.

Squeezed together in this tiny cabinet, their bodies pressed against each other, their breath mingling.

Jian Xingyi recalled Moon’s question from earlier, his ears flushing slightly.

They weren’t a couple. It was just that during field missions, unavoidable circumstances often led to frequent physical contact.

Besides, who even dated NPCs? Shuixi didn’t possess that functionality!

Shuixi probably hadn’t thought anything of it—he lacked human thought processes after all. It was Jian Xingyi who’d misinterpreted things.

After the giant zombie departed, they emerged and headed toward the ICU.

Inside the ICU lay a bloodstained operating table, surrounded by numerous grotesque zombies wandering about. In the adjacent break room stood a vase.

Shuixi and Jian Xingyi concealed themselves in a blind spot, silently dispatching the zombies with arrows.

They then entered the break room, where Jian Xingyi, as always, placed lilies in the vase.

【More and more infected are being brought in. Those scientists claimed they had solutions, that they had medicine, but it’s all useless! Things are spiraling out of control… This hospital has become a breeding ground for these monsters. My colleagues and I must hold the line here and save lives, but who will save us?】

Jian Xingyi blew away another ten dandelions. He had now scattered thirty in total, drawing closer to the reward threshold.

These bouquets of dandelions raised his essence points to 280.

Jian Xingyi thought to himself: When gathering in the wild, he must not only pay attention to the land but also seek out more dandelions. After all, dandelions not only fulfill quest rewards but are likely the plant with the highest essence value on the map.

After completing these tasks, Jian Xingyi drifted into thought. Moments later, he murmured, “This must have happened when the zombie outbreak first erupted in this game world. The heroic leaders of Peace Mountain, the ordinary yet remarkable people in the hospital… Even though they’re fictional stories and characters within the game, we’ve all been transported into this game world. It has become our reality. So, do you think these NPCs in the game might have feelings too? After all, they truly experienced all of this.”

Shuixi paused.

After a moment, Jian Xingyi realized his musings sounded overly sentimental. He chuckled, “I’m overthinking. Shall we head down?”

Shuixi glanced at the bed in the rest area. “You can rest here if you want.”

After all, this wasn’t the open wilderness. With the door locked, zombies couldn’t get in. The real danger lay outside and in the operating room—resting anywhere made little difference.

“Alright.”

The bed was large, though somewhat dirty. Shuixi didn’t think much of it, simply sitting on the floor to rest his eyes. He was a light sleeper anyway.

Jian Xingyi sat on the bed, glancing at Shuixi, then at the mattress.

“Um…”

Jian Xingyi mentally repeated ten times that he was just an NPC before cautiously asking, “Aren’t you coming up to sleep with me?”

The floor looked rock-hard. Shuixi was, after all, a living, breathing human being with a heartbeat and warmth. It felt awkward to have him sleep on the floor.

Shuixi suddenly opened his eyes.

Huh?