“Hey~ Wuhu~” 

“Oh my gosh, I still have to go to work even in the apocalypse!” 

It’s been an hour since he acquired the system.

For the past hour, Lu Yao has been struggling to complete tasks, carefully making his way to work, and staring blankly through the glass door as his former coworkers banged on the glass…

Since he’d made thorough preparations, he didn’t encounter much danger on his way to the office.

After entering the company through the back door and immediately locking it, Lu Yao pressed himself against the cold wall of the service corridor, holding his breath. The hallway was dimly lit, and the emergency exit signs still glowed with a faint green light.

The emergency exit lights remain illuminated even during a power outage because, according to design standards, they are equipped with dual power sources and automatically switch to battery power when the electricity goes out.

It was a familiar sight from his daily routine, and that faint green light was reflected in Lu Yao’s eyes.

The ghostly flames that have yet to be extinguished amid the vast ruins of a bygone era burn faintly in the endless darkness, fueled by lingering obsession. 

Light and darkness, life and death, order and chaos—all achieve a fleeting balance in this corridor.

Lu Yao quietly stared at the “Emergency Exit” sign. 

He had come here to shatter that balance.

The faint light outlined his sharp jawline; he held his breath, his entire being frozen in time just like these ruins, with only his eyelashes occasionally fluttering, sweeping across the faint, weary ashen hue beneath his eyes.

After a moment, he looked away and turned his gaze back toward the depths of the hallway. There, two security zombie guards were wandering about.

Ten meters away, with nothing blocking the way. That was enough.

He raised his hand, his pale, slender fingers gripping the zombie tranquilizer gun firmly.

With a faint hiss, the first tranquilizer dart pierced the zombie’s chest.

The zombie tranquilizer gun provided by the system only needed to hit the zombie—any part would do—and its power was absolutely incredible. 

The zombie’s movements froze, and it soon slumped limply to the ground. Lu Yao adjusted the angle of his wrist and fired a second shot.

The entire process was over in the blink of an eye. Lu Yao watched as the second zombie fell backward onto its back, breathing slowly. He held the position for a moment, his pale fingers still on the trigger.

After a brief pause—and seeing no other signs of trouble—he pulled his kitchen knife from his backpack and stepped forward.

His footsteps remained silent as he stopped in front of the first zombie slumped against the wall. He pressed his left foot down on its shoulder, pinning the ashen, lifeless body in place. A flash of steel glinted in his calm, unruffled eyes.

His pale, slender fingers clenched, gathered strength, and struck.

With a clean, decisive slice, the zombie’s head rolled to the ground. 

On to the second one.

Anesthesia is just anesthesia; only headless zombies are good zombies. 

Lu Yao stepped over the stain on the floor and continued walking deeper into the company.

He certainly couldn’t just sit around for three hours at the company, so as soon as he walked in, he began searching for supplies.

“The company is my home; our success depends on everyone.”

“Taking company stuff is just like taking my own stuff, so it doesn’t count as stealing.” 

“Besides, I said hello to the security guard when I walked in. Even though he was a bit out of it, he didn’t object.” 

With these words, Lu Yao convinced the system.

In the boss’s office, he found the boss’s hiking backpack and slipped his hiking gear into it. The hiking gear was made of sturdy material; with a helmet worn over it, it could provide temporary protection against zombie scratches and bites. In the general office, he found a case of bottled water.

He took five bottles and put them in the backpack; any more would make it too heavy to carry. 

The faucet was still running, but the water supply could be cut off at any moment. In a colleague’s drawer, he found instant noodles, small bread rolls, and spicy beef jerky.

He took several pool cues from the recreation room; as weapons, they were more useful than his mop. 

The power went out in the activity room’s refrigerator. He took out the pre-packaged meals from the fridge, opened one of the packages, and found that they hadn’t gone bad—they still smelled delicious.

“Hmm, it looks like they didn’t add preservatives to the food—they just threw a little food into the preservatives.” 

After making this observation, Lu Yao put them in his backpack.

Since there was no guarantee the system would continue to supply food, he decided to stick with his old method of searching for supplies. He rummaged through various people’s drawers and found three lighters.

He also found a water bottle and filled it with mineral water.

In fact, he could have found more supplies if he’d searched more thoroughly, but the three hours were up, and the sun wasn’t as intense anymore, so to play it safe, Lu Yao shouldered his large backpack and returned with a full load.

The trip back went fairly smoothly.

In a residential area, a zombie suddenly appeared from the side and tackled him to the ground.

Fortunately, he was wearing full protective gear, and as soon as he was knocked down, he fired a shot from his tranquilizer gun at the zombie. He was unharmed, but upon returning and checking his backpack, he found that the packaging of one of the pre-packaged meals had been crushed. 

Lu Yao declared that this would be tonight’s dinner.

Shortly after the apocalypse began, he had built a triangular stove on his balcony using bricks and stones, with a notch cut out for airflow. The fuel problem was easily solved—he simply dismantled the wooden furniture in his home.

The family upstairs had been renovating for years; while Lu Yao used to find it unbearably annoying, now he couldn’t help but be delighted.

Renovations mean a lot of construction debris—all kinds of sawdust and wood scraps have piled up in the hallway, and these make great fuel.

He placed that box of pre-made Fish-Flavored Shredded Pork over Rice on the stove to heat it up. To his surprise, the fragrant pre-made dish even contained a “wok aroma” flavoring to mimic the aroma of stir-fried food. 

Lu Yao sat by the window, eating from the windowsill while taking in the dilapidated scenery outside and watching the zombies wander about, all while listening to their intermittent, agonized screams. 

Life still felt pretty comfortable. After finishing his meal, he started reading.

He hurried to finish the books in the room so he could use them as fuel afterward. As the light faded, Lu Yao closed his book, lay down on the bed, and prepared to sleep.

Going out was still quite thrilling for him; he hoped tomorrow’s mission would be a little easier. He wondered what reward he’d get for checking in tomorrow…

【Reply to Host: Tomorrow’s mission is still going to work, you know.】

Lu Yao：？！？！

Lu Yao realized a possibility: “So you mean, as long as I don’t take a day off, I have to keep going to work?”

【You can stay home on public holidays and weekends.】

Lu Yao: “But tomorrow is Saturday—Saturday!”

【Host~ The company you work for, Hongda, uses the “alternating week” schedule~】

Lu Yao：“……”

Lu Yao: “I protest! I protest! I’m going to file a complaint with the Labor Bureau!” 

【Okay, here’s a map to the Labor Bureau…】 

……Shut up. I’m tired. Just let it all end.

Early the next morning, Lu Yao clocked in on time. 

Received 2 Penicillin and 3 Alcohol Wipes.

Getting penicillin was pretty good, but unfortunately Lu Yao was allergic to it. 

He exercised in the morning, went to work after lunch, and searched for supplies once he arrived at the office—his life was extremely routine. Just like that, a week passed.

The supplies at home didn’t increase dramatically; there were just a few more practical little items here and there.

Lu Yao’s earlier concerns were indeed correct—the system doesn’t consistently reward food, and items like the tranquilizer gun he received at the beginning were special rewards. 

He checked in for the day.

【Received 5 bottles of multivitamins】 Today’s check-in.

【Received 5 Italian military rations Type F】 

【Congratulations, Host, on checking in for a full week in a row】

【Host has earned one chance to spin the White Wheel of Fortune】

A white wheel of fortune filled with rewards appeared in Lu Yao’s mind.

30 tranquilizer rounds. 

Solar charger. 

3 cases of bottled water.

3 cases of compressed biscuits.

One case of steamy BL novels. 

Rubber Anti-Slip Gloves x2.

……

Wait, something got mixed in here.

【Based on this system’s assessment, humans in the post-apocalyptic world experience high emotional stress and require appropriate emotional coping mechanisms.】 

Actually, half of my emotional stress comes from you, the system—did you know that…?

【I’m sorry, Host. To help alleviate your emotional stress, I’ll increase the odds of winning steamy BL novels in the prize draw.】

……No, no, no, please don’t! 

【Okay, Host】

Alright, let’s start the draw.

The red pointer on the white spinning wheel began to spin rapidly.

The best prizes inside should be 30 tranquilizer darts or a solar charger.

Even though Lu Yao had been using them sparingly lately, he only had 2 tranquilizer rounds left, so he needed to restock. 

The pointer slowed down, then slowed down even more.

It glided past three boxes of compressed biscuits, past 30 tranquilizer rounds… It didn’t stop…

Lu Yao felt a little disappointed.

Finally, the pointer landed on the solar charger. 

Huh? That’s not bad either.

An object much larger than he’d imagined immediately appeared in Lu Yao’s hand. 

It’s about half the size of a computer keyboard, with a slim, dark gray panel and no text or graphics anywhere on it.

Nine ports are neatly arranged on one side of the panel; above them are a three-prong outlet and a two-prong outlet side by side, while below are three USB ports.

It’s very easy to understand at a glance.

Lu Yao placed the solar charger on the balcony, and the green light on it immediately lit up, indicating that charging had begun. Then Lu Yao got ready and left for work.

Four hours later, upon returning from work, Lu Yao fully charged his phone, which had been out of power for quite some time. He opened Mobile Game A, but it displayed an error stating it couldn’t connect to the server. 

When he opened Mobile Game B, it displayed a version incompatibility error.

Lu Yao scoured his phone and found a game he could play: *Plants vs. Zombies*. 

Come to think of it, Lu Yao had once mistakenly remembered the title as Comatose People vs. Zombies …

Playing this game at a time like this was actually quite fitting.

Lu Yao lay down on his bed and started playing. Today’s work had been pretty exhausting…

Before falling asleep, he felt like something wasn’t quite right.

Going to work, cooking, coming home to play games… Had he really ended up in the apocalypse? Never mind, time to sleep.

Human potential is limitless.

Nearly a month passed like this, and Lu Yao felt calm, emotionally stable, and living a regular, very healthy life. 

Over this period, he’d managed to draw all the good items from the white gacha wheel.

That box of steamy BL novels—of course, he’d added those to his collection as well. After he’d grown tired of playing games, he’d spend his evenings reading the novels under the covers by the light of a flashlight. 

It was, in a way, a trip down memory lane… Lu Yao felt as if he’d grown younger all over again.

━━ 🐈‍⬛ ━━

Yay! It’s the Qingming Festival! Three days off! 

Lu Yao slept in, and after waking up, he used his induction cooker to make himself some nutritious rice porridge, which he topped with a packet of Wujiang pickled mustard greens. 

The solar charger provided by the system can be directly connected to home appliances.

Lu Yao brought the power strip from work home, left the solar charger on the balcony to charge continuously, and used the power strip to connect it to all the appliances in the house. 

The solar charger charges incredibly fast and has a high storage capacity. This means that by midsummer, he’ll even be able to run the air conditioner. 

Time to plan what to do today.

His immediate task was to go to Linchuan Shopping Mall, find his manager, and tell him he was quitting. Otherwise, he’d be stuck in this area like he was caught in a loop.

So today, just like on previous weekends, he’ll head out to explore the area around Linchuan Shopping Mall. After setting his goal for the day, Lu Yao walked over to the whiteboard and started scribbling.

He’d brought this whiteboard back from the company conference room. One day, when he simply couldn’t find anything of value, he figured, “Since I’m already here, I might as well—”

He couldn’t shake the thought, so he brought this whiteboard back. 

There was only one damage mark on it—when a zombie lunged at him, he used the whiteboard to block the attack, and the zombie left a bite mark on it.

Lu Yao wrote down his plan on the whiteboard and sketched a rough map.

A disposable paper cup sat on the edge of the whiteboard. Sunlight fell on the water’s surface, rippling with shards of gold, bathing Lu Yao’s silhouette in a shimmering, gentle glow. 

The marker scraped against the board, emitting a faint rustling sound—like rain falling on a clear, sunny day. He pressed down with his fingertips, and the lines extended.

He drew an “X” over the main road. Rejected.

He drew a question mark over the side streets and alleys. Risk assessment required.

Black letters and numbers flashed before his eyes. The fingers gripping the dark pen were pale and slender, with slightly prominent knuckles that stood out clearly in the light, casting a hint of ambiguous shadow.

He reached out and picked up the water glass, taking a light sip with his thin lips. The clear water moistened his slightly parched lips.

“We can start from here.”

Lu Yao marked a check on a small path, drained the water from the cup in one gulp, then tossed the marker aside. After a graceful arc— “Clack.”

With a soft click, the marker landed precisely in the pen holder on the table. “Lucky!”

“A lucky start, a lucky day.”

“Everything’s ready. Let’s go.”

“Today’s goal: the security booth at Linchuan Shopping Mall.”

A smile tugged at the corners of Lu Yao’s lips.