Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Cheng Zhiyu pressed against the door, peering through the peephole. He confirmed that after Xiao Er incinerated the zombie, no other undead had appeared outside.

He was so absorbed in his observation that he suddenly felt something warm poke his ear. Cheng Zhiyu turned his head to see Xiao Er, perched on his shoulder, slyly retracting its leaf, feigning innocence.

"Why are you so mischievous?" Cheng Zhiyu asked, holding back a laugh as he looked at Xiao Er.

Xiao Er sheepishly rustled its leaves, then nuzzled Cheng Zhiyu appeasingly.

With only his eyes visible beneath his mask and hat, Cheng Zhiyu’s eyes curved into a smile as he poked Xiao Er’s leaf. "Alright, let’s get going."

Xiao Er shook its branches, standing ramrod straight. Though plants don’t have expressions, it somehow looked particularly serious.

Cheng Zhiyu quirked a smile, then let out a breath, opened the door of the rental unit, cautiously scanned the hallway, and stepped out with Xiao Er on his shoulder.

He didn’t forget to close the door behind him—after all, he intended to return.

Outside, facing the elevator, Cheng Zhiyu decided to take the stairs. He tiptoed, turning left and walking straight until he reached the stairwell, blocked by a door.

Holding his breath, he pushed the door open. Fortunately, as he’d guessed, the stairwell was seldom used, and since the zombie outbreak likely hit around midnight, no one would have been using the stairs at that time.

So the stairwell was empty, with no zombies in sight.

But Cheng Zhiyu remained vigilant, clutching his cleaver and descending quietly. At every landing, he carefully scouted below before continuing.

He lived on the fifth floor, and he made it down unimpeded. Before long, he reached the exit on the first floor.

This time, he wasn’t as lucky. Before even opening the exit door, he heard zombie snarls—and it sounded like more than one.

Thankfully, Cheng Zhiyu was braced for it. He tightened his grip on the cleaver and glanced at Xiao Er, who gave a silent rustle.

Cheng Zhiyu gulped, pushed the exit door open a crack, and the zombies, seemingly sensing living prey, immediately roared and lunged toward him.

His adrenaline spiking, he shouted, "Xiao Er!"

Instantly, Xiao Er transformed into a fireball and hurled itself at the charging zombie, which let out a piercing screech.

Cheng Zhiyu didn’t relax. He scanned the area and saw two more zombies aside from the one Xiao Er was burning.

They appeared to have been a man and a woman in life—the woman still wearing a dress. Judging by the decay on their faces, they were likely among the first to turn.

Their rotting faces were unrecognizable, and one of the man’s eyes had popped out of its socket.

"Gah!" Cheng Zhiyu gagged involuntarily while dodging the two zombies and rushing toward their backs.

Before the zombies could react, he swung the cleaver at the head of the nearest male zombie. With a nauseating crack, the blade struck the skull.

Putting all his strength into the blow, Cheng Zhiyu had underestimated how hard a zombie’s head was. The male zombie, attacked, began turning to bite him.

The female zombie, too, sensing the enticing scent of living flesh, started turning.

Without a second thought, Cheng Zhiyu raised the cleaver and frantically hacked at the male zombie’s head with all his might.

The first strike came with a mental block—even though it was a zombie, its human features remained. As someone raised in a peaceful society, he had no experience chopping heads off.

But after several frantic chops, and while dodging the grabs and bites of both zombies, he felt completely numb.

Just as the male zombie’s movements slowed, before Cheng Zhiyu could finish it off, the female zombie reached out with her grayish nails.

Cheng Zhiyu’s heart hammered as he dodged sharply, his back slamming against the wall. Ignoring the pain, he saw the female zombie lunging again.

Cornered, he thought he was a goner—when, in an instant, a fireball struck. The female zombie’s hair ignited instantly, and it roared in pain, losing all ability to attack.

Not wasting a second, Cheng Zhiyu turned back to the male zombie, hacking at it repeatedly until, after dozens of strikes, it collapsed to the ground, motionless.

Catching his breath, he realized he was soaked with cold sweat, his legs weak. Leaning against the wall to rest, he scanned the area for any other zombies.

Fortunately, the lobby was clear. Cheng Zhiyu quickly moved to the building’s main entrance and shut the sturdy metal door to prevent zombies from detecting living prey and swarming in. The door would at least keep them out.

Killing that male zombie had taken most of his energy. If any more showed up, even with Xiao Er, he’d be finished.

Glancing at his cleaver, he saw the blade was notched. Clearly, not only did his physical strength need improvement, but his weapon did.

The female zombie had been incinerated by Xiao Er. Cheng Zhiyu called it back and hurried toward his destination—the small corner store.

The store was a home-run business. Initially, Cheng Zhiyu had worried about how to get in—if the owner had survived, he’d need something to trade.

But now, the store door was wide open. Clearly, the owner was likely already…

If he remembered correctly, the store was run by a couple. The two zombies earlier… He didn’t want to think too hard about it. With Xiao Er, he entered the store, carefully checked every corner to ensure no zombies were inside, and closed the door.

He’d brought a backpack. Though it was a small store, the sheer amount of stuff was staggering—a single backpack wouldn’t be enough.

Then it hit him. He asked the system, "Didn’t my starter bonus include a storage space?"

"Host has a 1-cubic-meter storage space. Would you like to use it?"

One cubic meter wasn’t massive, but it could hold quite a bit.

Cheng Zhiyu: "Yes."

"Storage space activated. Host may explore its functions independently."

As soon as the voice faded, Cheng Zhiyu noticed a change. The inside of his left wrist grew warm, and a red mole appeared there.

He was certain that mole hadn’t been there before.

Curious, he tentatively touched the mole and saw a 1-cubic-meter storage space—empty inside.

This must be the system’s reward. It looked like it could hold a lot more than his backpack.

He just wasn’t sure how to store items…

Walking over to a 5-liter bottle of water he’d spotted earlier, he placed his hand on it and thought about storing it. The next moment, the water disappeared into the storage.

No way. His eyes widened slightly. If he hadn’t checked the storage space and seen the water inside, he might’ve thought he was hallucinating.

Wasting no time, Cheng Zhiyu stored all the water he could find in the store. If he rationed it carefully, it would last him at least two months.

While storing items, he noticed something wild: this 1-cubic-meter space didn’t work like physical space.

How to explain it? In reality, if you had a one-cubic-meter box, you couldn’t perfectly fill it with 1 cubic meter of items. For example, if you put a water bottle inside, then tried to add other things, you’d end up with dead space since objects don’t fit together perfectly.

But the system’s storage space was different—it could hold exactly as much as its volume allowed, with no wasted space. Even when items were crammed in, when Cheng Zhiyu took them out to check, they remained perfectly intact.

Once again marveling at the system's wonders, Cheng Zhiyu continued loading things into it.

Aside from water, he prioritized food. Unfortunately, the small store only had snacks, instant noodles, and some bread.

But given the current situation, there was no room to be picky—anything edible was good enough.

Luckily, in the kitchen next to the store, he found an unopened bag of flour, some vegetables and eggs in the fridge, and a large piece of beef—estimated weighing over three pounds!

That would last him a good while!

The electricity hadn’t been affected yet, so the items in the fridge were still well-preserved.

These were likely provisions for the shop owners themselves, but now they were his for the taking.

With mixed feelings of joy and unease, Cheng Zhiyu stored the eggs, vegetables, and beef in his space, only to find it completely full. He ended up carrying the flour by hand.

Thinking of the frozen beef, Cheng Zhiyu asked the system, "By the way, does the storage space have a freshness-preserving function?"

"Currently, it is a primary storage space and does not have this function."

Cheng Zhiyu wasn’t too disappointed. His attention was drawn more to the words "not currently," which implied that while it didn’t have the function now, it might in the future!

It seemed he still needed to put effort into farming.

Loading up his backpack and hands hopefully, he noticed a pack of vegetable seeds. After a moment’s thought, Cheng Zhiyu grabbed it—he had an idea he wanted to try later.

After finishing all this, he opened the store door only to find another zombie outside. But with experience under his belt, Cheng Zhiyu didn’t panic and quickly worked with Xiao Er to take it out.

Fortunately, he had closed the building’s main door earlier. Zombies from outside had indeed been drawn over and were now frantically banging against it, creating a cacophony.

Ignoring the noise, Cheng Zhiyu was ready to head back quickly.

However, after just a few steps, he spotted a small, furry black pup lying not far away. The pup lay quietly on the ground with its eyes closed, only its gently rising and falling body indicating it was still alive.

Judging by its size, the pup was probably just a month old.

Cheng Zhiyu was certain the pup hadn’t been there when he came through earlier. So where had it come from?

After hesitating a moment, he walked toward the pup.