Apocalypse: I Can See Health Bars

"..."

Lin Fan was just bored and wanted to hear some gossip, but he didn’t expect to draw out Chu Zhaozhao’s true feelings.

This was the real reason she trusted him so much.

He had only laid out everything she was capable of doing and urged her to act quickly.

He never thought she would interpret it as some kind of strength and then try to pursue that strength herself.

’Uh... My original intention wasn’t nearly this complicated, but she executed it well...’

’Well, it’s a good thing, I suppose.’

’Aren’t I the same? Chasing survival, chasing power, willing to struggle and fight on the brink of life and death for it.’

’At the very least, it gives this girl the courage and hope to survive in this apocalypse.’

"How many hours are in your shifts?"

Lin Fan didn’t continue the topic, instead asking about the three of them standing watch.

Chu Zhaozhao, with her back to Lin Fan, wiped her face with her hand and said softly,

"I’ll wake up my brother at twelve..."

It didn’t matter to him how they arranged things; Lin Fan had his own "wall" anyway. He gave Chu Zhaozhao’s head a good ruffle.

"Alright, I’m entrusting Big Brother’s safety to you, then. I’m going to sleep..."

Then, he brought his hand to his nose, sniffed it, and muttered,

"Still stinks a little..."

"Pfft... hehe..."

Leaning against the outside of the shelf, Chu Zhaozhao couldn’t help but let out a silly laugh. Her body trembled, making the shelf rattle.

She turned her head and gave Lin Fan a firm nod.

"Mhm! You can entrust Big Brother’s safety to your little bro! Heh..."

Lin Fan couldn’t see her expression clearly, but from the sound of her voice, her spirits were restored. Just as he was about to close his eyes and sleep, something occurred to him, and he asked,

"Eh? What did your brother and his friend major in?"

"Computer science..."

"You’re not in the same year as them. What’s your major?"

"Me? ...I’m an athlete. Track and field, javelin..."

"...Never mind. I’m going to sleep."

"Okay, Big Brother!"

Looking at the 23 points of health above her head, Lin Fan couldn’t help but sigh in admiration.

’No wonder the kid’s as strong as an ox!’

As he was marveling at the vitality of an athlete, Lin Fan suddenly thought of Su Qing.

’I wonder what she’s doing all alone at home?’

...

Early the next morning, just as the sky began to lighten around six o’clock, Lin Fan awoke from his sleep. The night had passed without incident, and aside from being woken up twice when they changed shifts, he had slept quite soundly.

He felt his left arm. The broken bone had mostly healed, and he could move it freely, but he still couldn’t put any strength into it.

His Life Value had recovered to [223/370]. The Activated Crystal had depleted its energy bar and unequipped itself, and now the energy bar had fully refilled to [100/100].

With a thought, he re-equipped the Activated Crystal. A familiar sensation activated his body as the enhancement began to take effect.

’Might as well recover some health while I’m not doing anything.’

Xu Qian was on duty now, peering out from behind the shelves blocking the entrance.

Hearing a sound behind him, he turned to see Lin Fan rustling as he stood up from behind another shelf. It startled him so badly that he nearly knocked over the shelf and fell to the ground.

"Keep it down..." Lin Fan said, exasperated, as he moved a shelf aside.

"S-sorry... Brother Lin..." Xu Qian stammered quietly, looking timid.

The other two were asleep against another wall. It was clear everyone was exhausted, as the commotion hadn’t woken them up.

[34], [31], [30].

After a night of rest, the three of them had recovered about 10 health points each. Chu Zhaozhao had even recovered more than the other two, regaining 12 points.

This matched Lin Fan’s estimate for the base recovery rate. For simple exhaustion and superficial wounds, Life Value recovery was about one point per hour, slowing down as it got higher.

For serious injuries or bleeding, however, recovery would stop completely, and one might even continue to lose health.

After confirming that the three of them were fine, Lin Fan grabbed a few milk candies from a shelf and popped them into his mouth for a quick sugar boost. He clapped Xu Qian on the shoulder, signaling for him to continue his watch, then moved a shelf to create a gap and squeezed through.

A light drizzle was still falling outside, but slivers of sunlight were already breaking through from the east. The rain probably wouldn’t get any heavier.

He picked up the umbrella he had left outside yesterday and circled around the building, retrieving his long spear and short spear.

The short spear was leaning against the car. The long spear was stuck in the ground by the pool, nearly having been flung into it by the monster.

Tucking the short spear back into his belt, Lin Fan held the umbrella in his left hand and the long spear in his right, then slowly made his way toward the warehouse behind the gas station.

The main doors had been smashed open by the three Mutant Dogs, leaving the warehouse wide open.

Even from a distance, Lin Fan could smell the faint scent of diesel.

And that was the most important objective of his trip: fuel.

The warehouse was filled with a thick, strange odor—a mixture of diesel and the stale, metallic smell of old blood.

The floor was littered not only with severed limbs but also with several stainless steel barrels that had been violently torn open. Their edges were curled back, tossed in a corner like crumpled soda cans.

The ground was covered in black slime and gnawed bone fragments, which made a sickening CRUNCH under his feet.

’Looks like a few unlucky souls hid in the warehouse during the chaos and ended up as food for those Mutant Dogs.’

After several encounters with Mutated Zombies, Lin Fan had started to notice a pattern: next to every Mutated Zombie was a corpse that had been completely devoured, leaving only scraps behind.

’In other words, the key to a zombie’s mutation is likely the consumption of enough flesh and blood. Under normal circumstances, however, it’s difficult for a zombie to completely devour a person, because the victim turns into a zombie shortly after being injured. Zombies don’t attack or eat each other, so for a zombie to mutate, it would probably have to attack many people to accumulate enough "energy." As for the conditions that would allow a person to be completely eaten, I’m guessing it would probably require a starving zombie and a perfectly healthy human to be trapped in a sealed space without any outside interference. Only then, by eating nonstop, could the zombie devour the person entirely before they turned, thus obtaining enough flesh and blood. Of course, this is just a hypothesis based on my observations. Don’t quote me on it.’

The scene in this warehouse seemed to confirm his hypothesis.

Amid the blood and oil staining the warehouse floor, a few intact stainless steel barrels lay tipped over against a wall, next to a huge machine.

This had to be the generator Lin Fan was looking for, but...

"This thing is huge!"

He was looking for a small, household diesel generator, not an industrial machine this big!

This machine was almost half the size of his van!

Furthermore, the machine’s casing was covered in messy claw marks. This must have been why it started up the other day but then died again shortly after.

The machine’s sudden activation must have provoked the Mutant Dogs, causing them to attack it wildly until it shut down.

"I wonder if this thing still works..."

Hoping for the best, Lin Fan flipped all the switches off, then on again, and turned the ignition knob...

"WHIRRRR... CHUG-CHUG-CHUG-CHUG..."

After a muffled rumble, an enormous noise erupted. The generator had successfully started!