Bonus chapter thanks to Green KiTea on Kofi. Thanks for the support, and enjoy! Much love from the team.

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But the system’s message wasn’t finished.

【Note: Only guilds of Level 20 or higher qualify for the Zombie Tide event. Those below Level 20 will be automatically erased by the system… You will lose your eligibility to board the Ark.】

【Dawn will not come… Only by relying on yourselves can you fight your way out…】

Jian Xingyi froze.

Automatically erased… What did that mean? Would they be killed? Or simply vanish without a trace?

Jian Xingyi frantically checked her profile page, desperate to see the level of the Long Live For A Hundred Years Guild.

—18

Cold sweat broke out on Jian Xingyi’s back.

The guild was level 18, two levels short of 20. But the experience required to level up was enormous—not something easily achieved.

After the system announcement, a text message was privately sent to every player. Jian Xingyi carefully reviewed the details again.

Guilds below level 20 would be erased in two weeks. The zombie tide would arrive in full force four weeks later.

In other words, they had to gain two levels within two weeks.

This… How was that even possible?!

Heiye called everyone to gather at the guild office in the guild channel, presumably to discuss this matter.

Jian Xingyi immediately teleported there.

The guild office.

“I trust everyone has seen the announcement,” Heiye said solemnly. “Those present here have likely experienced the zombie tide event before.”

To be honest, Jian Xingyi hadn’t. Before this, players could choose not to participate, but now… no one had a choice.

Even without participating, Jian Xingyi had witnessed it.

Once the zombie tide began, guild gates could no longer be closed. Wave after wave of the undead surged at guild entrances, snarling as they tried to tear members apart.

Worse still, zombies appeared at everyone’s home gates. Dragging their rotting husks, they invaded, driven by primal, destructive instincts.

It was terrifying.

Even knowing resurrection was possible, Jian Xingyi had still been terrified.

Heye said, “We have only two choices now. One: disband immediately and let everyone find a Level 20 guild to join. Two: push through to Level 20.”

Feiyi’s voice was cold and rational. “Each level requires 100,000 experience points. Reaching 200,000 within two weeks is unrealistic. Our guild’s hunting group battles only net us a few thousand points each time, and those battles are only open once a month. Where are we supposed to find that much experience?”

Experience points are accumulated through monetary contributions and combat power. Money is scarce now, and as for combat power—who would be willing to grind it out recklessly, wearing down weapons and armor?

Even if everyone were willing to sacrifice the durability of their weapons and armor to desperately grind combat power, what happens when they burn out? What about when the real zombie tide comes?

Many can barely feed themselves now.

Heiye lowered his head in thought, perhaps weighing the options.

Baizhou remained silent; she always preferred to listen to others’ opinions first.

Lone Wolf took a deep breath and addressed Heiye: “Guild President, would dissolving the guild and having everyone find new ones really be that easy? Yes, it might be simple for me, my brother, Feiyi, and you lot, but what about the rest?”

Heiye and Baizhou exchanged glances.

This was precisely their dilemma.

Their elite fighters could easily join new guilds—others might even roll out the red carpet for them.

Because of their high combat power.

But what about the rest of the members?

Like Chacha and the countless low-power members.

The dilemma facing Heiye and Baizhou was this: either abandon them to their fate, or… push for that seemingly unattainable 200,000 experience points.

Heiye pondered for a long time, meeting the gazes that were either hopeful or fearful. Finally, he sighed heavily and said, “We have two weeks, right? Let’s try. If we’re still too far from 200,000 by the last week, we’ll disband.”

Feiyi still didn’t understand. “If disbanding is inevitable, why waste energy chasing experience points?”

Lone Wolf frowned. “Are you that eager for us to disband?”

Heiye halted their argument. “Let’s first discuss how we can actually gain that experience.”

Afterward, Heiye, Baizhou, and the Guild Administrator stayed behind to strategize about accumulating combat power and funds, while the others returned home.

Everyone looked dazed and downcast, clearly caught off guard by this turn of events.

They’d been clinging to the hope that the bug would be fixed soon, allowing them to escape this crappy game.

After returning home, Jian Xingyi stared blankly at the announcement on his terminal.

For others, this presented two choices: fight on or leave. But for Jian Xingyi… he had no way out.

He couldn’t switch guilds.

The reason was stated in the announcement: the system would evaluate guild points in two weeks. To prevent errors and bugs, functions for disbanding, creating, or switching guilds would be disabled three days prior to the evaluation.

This meant anyone wishing to change guilds had to do so beforehand. That was why Heiye had suggested pushing hard for a week—if things got too dire, everyone would still have three days to find a new guild.

Of course, leaving early wasn’t impossible.

But… Jian Xingyi had just been kicked from his previous guild, triggering the system’s anti-player disruption mechanism. His account was now temporarily frozen, preventing any guild changes.

Jian Xingyi couldn’t help but curse his bad luck, stuck in this bug.

The account freeze lasted ten days. By the time it lifted, the system would have already closed the guild transfer window.

Had he joined the guild just one day earlier, he might have had a choice. But hindsight is always 20/20. Regardless, the current reality was that he had no choice.

If Long Live For A Hundred Years disbanded, then he… would just have to wait for death.

It wasn’t just Long Live For A Hundred Years and Jian Xingyi who were distressed; others were suffering too.

After the announcement, the public channel exploded.

After reading the notice, Jian Xingyi curiously checked the public channel and found everyone equally despairing.

[My guild is only Level 8! How are we ever supposed to hit 20!]

[Bro… just quit and find a new guild already…]

[I wish I could! But how do you even find one now… I’m not some high-powered player. I heard most guilds aren’t taking anyone below 100, let alone below 200. Everyone’s huddling together tighter than ever!]

[Well, my guild’s average combat power is around 300, but it’s not as great as you might think. Even with that power, it doesn’t change the fact that resources are scarce. When the real zombie tide hits… We’ll just have to tough it out.]

[Yeah… Zombie Tides are brutally fair—the higher your guild’s combat power, the tougher the Tide. Can’t even imagine how insane the Grape Guild’s Tide must be…]

[That’s why the big shots in Grape Guild have been farming resources like mad lately… Bet they’re maxing out their firearms and guild defense systems!]

[Everyone, remember to follow the guild channel announcements and scavenge resources alongside the leaders!]

[Announcement] Player [Shanhai] has slain an SS-rank Dodo Beast

[Announcement] Player [Shanhai] has slain the Hospital Zombie King

[Guild Channel] [Grapevine Peak Guild]: Hello everyone, we’ve cleared the hospital zone. For the next 24 hours, there will be no danger-level monsters. You can go gather medicine and materials—they respawn every ten minutes, so no need to rush.

[Guild Chat] [Grapevine Peak Guild]: Announcement: We’re replenishing guild resources and have cleared the Dodo beasts from Dead Man’s Lake. No need to head there before the respawn.

Jian Xingyi inwardly sighed—is this what the world of big shots looks like…?

Earlier, Chacha had even advised him that if he ever encountered unscrupulous individuals through bad luck, he could request Grapevine Peak’s assistance on the public channel.

In this chaotic post-apocalyptic world without government, the top guild, Grapevine Peak, naturally became the organization everyone looked to for leadership.

They lived up to expectations, providing survival intelligence and assistance whenever possible.

Due to their daily high-intensity resource farming, Grapevine Peak members rarely stayed within safe zones. Their members were scattered across the entire map. Thus, if someone encountered a truly unsolvable predicament with bad people, calling for help on the guild channel might just bring them luck—perhaps a member nearby would come to their aid.

But at least Grapevine Peak had a direction to strive toward, Jian Xingyi thought to himself. Faced with the overwhelming 200,000-point gap, he didn’t know what he could possibly do. So he could only focus on what he could manage right now.

Like… checking Dawn Town for decent attachments.

Crafting a gun requires five attachments. Lone Wolf gifted him two, so Jian Xingyi planned to scout the town for bargains on the remaining five.

Marketplace players only sold premium gear, and auction bidding was out of his price range.

He acted on impulse, teleporting there immediately.

Dawnbreaker featured diverse maps, mostly natural landscapes like volcanoes, mountains, forests, deserts, and straits. Man-made areas included PVP training grounds, abandoned factories, and hospitals with periodic resource spawns. Dawn Town stood as the game’s sole operational city, complete with NPCs and various trade hubs.

Jian Xingyi circled around, finding most accessories priced exorbitantly. D-grade gear offered negligible damage, and he felt his mediocre skill level made it pointless to buy. Even C-grade gear costs several thousand coins.

Jian Xingyi rummaged through his backpack to check his remaining funds.

【Dawn Coins: 666】

Jian Xingyi: Holy shit.

Combat Power 6, Gold 666. Was he cursed? He couldn’t catch a break with the number six.

Jian Xingyi sighed.

He’d been dreaming too big. Money was hard to come by!

Stepping out of the parts shop, inspiration struck him when he spotted the restaurant.

Right!

Like shops, restaurants restock ready-made meals every two weeks, but quantities are limited, and prices are exorbitant.

In this world, unless you’re a high-level powerhouse unafraid of resource shortages, few people would willingly dine out. The food sold in restaurants is exactly what Jian Xingyi had unlocked in his recipes. Once a recipe was unlocked, he could make it at zero cost with just ingredients—but ordering it at a restaurant came at a sky-high price.

Therefore, Jian Xingyi wasn’t interested in these options. He just remembered a way around it—by… doing the opposite!

Restaurant NPCs aren’t just for buying food; they can also recycle it!

What if he fed the NPCs and had them pay him instead?

Jian Xingyi immediately walked into the restaurant and traded two small jars of pickled white radish with the NPC for… fifty dawn coins.

Huh.

The NPC is paid based on the rarity of the ingredients. White radish wasn’t a rare ingredient, and its quality was mediocre at best, so naturally, it didn’t fetch much.

And when Jian Xingyi tried to trade again…

【Sorry! You’ve reached this week’s restaurant exchange limit!】

Fine, you greedy system.

Jian Xingyi muttered under his breath.

He sulkily packed his row of pickle jars back into his backpack.

He’d been so focused on exchanging that he hadn’t noticed the malicious stares following him.

In the restaurant’s shadowy corner, several figures watched his pickles with hungry eyes.