On December 21st, 2012, the zombie virus erupted worldwide. In reality, many people had unknowingly become infected with the zombie virus long before this global outbreak. Prior to the full-scale pandemic, there had been numerous warning signs—many countries had experienced what appeared to be zombie attacks on humans. However, under strict government information control, ordinary citizens accepted the official explanation that these incidents were merely cases of extreme drug-induced psychosis.
It wasn't until the zombie virus fully erupted that regular people realized the government had known the truth all along. Those individuals who had been taken away by authorities weren't "bath salt" drug addicts as claimed—they were people infected with the zombie virus. Rather than being about "bath salts," the earlier reports had been prophetic warnings.
But by then, the virus had already spread globally. Complaints were useless; people could only band together and flee toward relatively isolated cities. The larger and more densely populated a city was, the worse the infection and the greater the number of zombies.
The zombie virus hadn't been detected earlier by the general public because its early symptoms were unremarkable. The initial onset after infection was simply a persistent high fever, remarkably similar to the SARS outbreak from years before.
After the continuous fever refused to break, victims would fall into a near-death state. When they awakened, two outcomes were possible.
The first was transformation into a zombie. The fever would subside and body temperature would drop. Before people could celebrate the temperature decrease, the infected person's body temperature would plummet below normal human levels. If measured with a thermometer, the readings would suggest the person was dead. This outcome affected ninety-five percent of the infected.
The second possibility was evolution into a powered individual. These people endured high fevers for even longer than those who became zombies. The abilities they awakened were bizarre and varied, each completely different from the others. The chance of awakening powers was 4.9999...9 percent of infections.
After discovering isolated cases of zombie attacks, governments had secretly implemented monitoring policies. Those who had already transformed were either taken away or eliminated, while suspected high-fever cases were placed under surveillance. Once awakening was confirmed to result in zombification, immediate action was taken to destroy them. However, governments could only monitor a small fraction of cases, ultimately failing to prevent large-scale transmission of the zombie virus.
Guo Xiaobei belonged to that remaining 0.00000...01 percent probability. He had also been infected with the zombie virus and developed a high fever, transforming into a zombie—but he was a hidden type, and his body had gained a strange system.
Guo Xiaobei was fortunate. Living alone and being quite the homebody with no real-world friends, nobody discovered his fever to take him to a hospital, so he wasn't placed under government surveillance. He also awakened before the zombie virus's full outbreak.
Guo Xiaobei was jolted awake by something resembling an electrical current. His body convulsed as if electrocuted, but he found himself completely numb and unable to move. Suddenly, a brief musical tone sounded in his mind, like a computer booting up, and a LCD screen-like interface appeared before his eyes.
What the hell is this? Guo Xiaobei felt like he'd entered a sci-fi movie. He raised his heavy arm to touch it, only to discover there was nothing but air in front of him.
Had the fever made him delirious? Guo Xiaobei grimaced. After running a fever for several days, his entire body ached with weakness, accompanied by a terrible smell. Wrinkling his nose in disgust, he headed toward the bathroom.
Ding. Random Task: [Clean Body]. Task Reward: 10 Experience, 10 Money, 1 Survival Point. Please choose to accept or decline. The system will automatically decline for you after 20 seconds.
What? What?! Guo Xiaobei froze. The semi-transparent blue LCD screen appeared before his eyes again.
10...9...8...7...
Numbers were counting down at the bottom of the screen. Guo Xiaobei snapped back to attention. Whatever this was, taking a shower wouldn't hurt, so he might as well accept.
Guo Xiaobei pointed his finger at the LCD screen for the second time. Unsurprisingly, his finger passed right through the screen, cutting through empty air.
4...3...
Damn it! How do I accept this?! Guo Xiaobei raged internally.
Ding. You have accepted the random task [Clean Body]. Please complete the task within 30 minutes. Task failure will result in: -20 Experience, -100 Money, -10 Survival Points.
That's quite a penalty, but how did I actually accept the task? Was it because I mentally shouted "accept"? Guo Xiaobei was completely confused, but this seemed fun enough. Just shower to complete a task—he'd wash up first and figure it out later!
To avoid going over the time limit, Guo Xiaobei grabbed his Doraemon alarm clock and took it into the bathroom with him. Despite being dirty and smelly, as a guy, Guo Xiaobei managed to finish his shower quickly within 30 minutes. His skin seemed slightly paler and more delicate than before.
The benefits of staying home—he hadn't even gone out grocery shopping these past few days, so his skin was definitely paler than usual. Unfortunately, it was a sickly paleness. He really needed to eat something soon.
Almost the instant Guo Xiaobei dried himself off and opened the bathroom door, the voice in his mind sounded again.
Ding. Task [Clean Body] completed. Host receives task rewards: 10 Experience, 10 Money, 1 Survival Point, plus one bonus package. 90 experience points needed until next level up.
Completed? There really was a completed task?
Guo Xiaobei, who had felt like he was dreaming before his shower, finally believed it was real. However, based on his previous two failed attempts to touch the LCD screen, this time he didn't rashly reach out. Instead, he carefully observed the screen before him.
The screen was semi-transparent ice blue, somewhat see-through yet dim. At the top were his name, gender, age, and other personal information. The middle section was a water-blue area with several small boxes labeled: System Shop, Electronic Map, System Settings, and others. Below that was a row of small icons for: Item Bag, Character Attributes, Equipment, Skills, Tasks, Pets, and more.
Guo Xiaobei felt speechless. Was he playing an online game?
Looking at the various boxes, Guo Xiaobei wondered how to actually click these buttons. Suddenly, a voice prompt sounded in his mind: The host only needs to mentally focus on an option to open the corresponding dialog box. Following the system's guidance, he opened Skills, Tasks, Pets, and other menus one by one, having a great time. It wasn't until his stomach started rumbling loudly that he realized he'd been hungry for days—what he needed most right now was a bowl of rice.
Before the thought had fully formed in his mind, the prompt sounded again:
Ding. Random Task: [Cook a Bowl of Noodles]. Task Reward: 10 Experience, 10 Money, 1 Survival Point. Please choose to accept or decline. The system will automatically decline for you after 20 seconds.
Guo Xiaobei was annoyed. Playing games was fine, but turning every single action into a task was incredibly irritating. Still, he needed to eat anyway, so he might as well accept the task. As for cooking noodles... that was probably all he had left in the house.
Rummaging through his cabinets, he found a package of instant noodles. Guo Xiaobei boiled water and prepared to cook them. Soon the noodles were ready. Ignoring the task completion notification echoing in his mind, he carried the bowl back to his small room that served as both bedroom and living room.