Evening Breeze said calmly, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Bai."
[Remember this site's domain: Taiwan Novel Network, super useful for solving book droughts. 𝑡𝑤𝑘𝑎𝑛.𝑐𝑜𝑚]
"Mr. Evening Breeze, I read the email you sent me. What... exactly is this place?"
Bai Mu held the cocktail, hunched over, head bowed, appearing dejected, but his eyes were fixed on the subtle movements of the man opposite him, observing the man's feet and arms.
The man made no unnecessary movements, his posture relaxed, seemingly feeling that everything was under his control.
Bai Mu then expressed his "unease" and "anxiety" even more, asking, "Is it really impossible for me to go back? Those strange people make me feel very uncomfortable. I...I want to go home..."
Evening Breeze paused slightly, then said in a low voice, "Before answering your question, Bai, I hope you can answer one of my questions first: Do you still want to live?"
"Live...to live?"
"Living in the park isn't an easy thing. You may have seen it on your way here. Some women use their bodies to exchange for community time with other players. In order to survive, they try every means to please others, just to have even a little more safe time without having to worry about their lives."
Bai remained silent. He saw the phenomenon described by Evening Breeze and understood that this person was trying to amplify his anxiety.
This is a common sales tactic: first make you feel a need, then you'll be tempted by certain packaged items, and then, emotionally overwhelmed, make an irrational purchase.
"You've just gone through a beginner scenario, so you should understand the power of the Paradise. When your community time runs out, you'll be randomly thrown into the next scenario. You can't predict what you'll experience, but you must complete the Paradise's main quests to have a chance to return to the community for a short rest."
Evening Breeze picked up her glass and took a small sip.
"You might not understand now, but if you still want to live and try your best to live, you'll soon realize how luxurious and precious the time we have to chat together like this is." "
So, if you haven't given up hope of living, it's best not to dwell on meaningless questions like 'Where am I?' or 'Can I go home?'"
"Then what should I do?" Bai Mu asked.
"Use everything you can to improve yourself. That way, your survival rate in the next scenario will increase, and you'll have a chance to live longer."
"But I don't know how..." Bai Mu handed the reins to Evening Breeze. This man really wanted to take the lead, so he simply let him guide the conversation.
"First, let me tell you, Bai, never trust so-called friendship in Paradise." Evening Breeze swirled his wine glass. "This is a place that only values profit."
"Everyone's time is precious. I wanted to meet you, not just to be friends."
Hearing this, Bai Mu slightly respected him. At least he hadn't tried to get something for nothing with empty words. If he had tried to deceive Bai Mu with so-called concern, Bai Mu would have immediately blacklisted him.
"Mr. Evening Breeze, do you want to make a deal with me?"
"I like talking to smart people." A faint smile appeared on Evening Breeze's face.
"But what do I have that you want? And what can you give me?"
"After all, I'm an administrator of the K community, so I must have some rare items," said Evening Breeze. "As for what you can give me, your community time and points, even the information from the scenarios you've completed, are all things I'd like to acquire."
"Since we're on this topic, I'll get straight to the point. I have an 'Adventure Scenario Entry Ticket' that's perfect for a newcomer like you. You can take a look at it first, and if you're interested, we can continue our discussion."
After saying this, Evening Breeze tossed a rusty key onto the table.
"I think you know how to authenticate it."
Bai Mu stared at the key, and a series of information came into view.
[Name: Lost Backyard Key]
[Type: Special Item]
[Quality: Unique]
[Note: A key lost in a corner, filled with a disgusting rotten smell. Use it to unlock the Adventure Scenario: Dave's Backyard.] "
This is a special item I obtained in one of the scenarios," said Evening Breeze. "It grants the holder a free access to a repeatable scenario; you can think of it as a ticket to a special level."
"While you can't gain community time or points in adventure scenarios, you can get special item rewards. And unlike the unpredictable main storyline, everything you encounter in adventure scenarios is predictable. That means I also have a walkthrough for 'Dave's Backyard,' guaranteeing you won't leave empty-handed."
"If you're interested, we can discuss the price. You can use your community time to purchase one-time use."
Bai Mu remained silent for a while. He had to admit, what Evening Breeze offered was very tempting.
After browsing the community, he understood one thing: community time is essentially a currency. Using it for relaxation and rest is actually the most wasteful thing for a novice like him.
Every minute he spent could be considered a "loss." In fact, on the way here, he was already considering using "10 hours" to go find that woman and sleep with her.
But compared to sleeping with a strange woman, the deal with Evening Breeze was clearly more reliable.
After all, the rules of the park didn't lie.
A controllable adventure scenario was practically a freebie.
"Mr. Evening Breeze, could you tell me what kind of scenario this is, and what rewards I might get in it?"
"Of course, if you buy it."
"..."
"Please understand me, Bai, you can't be in business thinking about losing money every day."
"How much do I want?"
Evening Breeze held out his right palm, five fingers spread: "50 hours. Give me 50 hours of your community time, and you'll get a one-time use right to it, plus a professional walkthrough guide from me. The park is the witness for any transaction involving scenario items and community time, so you don't need to worry about being cheated. The park will force both of us to fulfill the contract."
Bai Mu thought to himself that this guy was really ruthless. If he didn't get an S-rank rating, he would only have a maximum of 72 hours of community time, and this guy was asking for 50 hours right off the bat.
Of course, he could understand the price; if it had the effects that Wanfeng Qingguo described, then it wasn't expensive.
Bai Mu had already decided to buy it, but to maintain his persona, he hesitated and stammered, "I have another question, Mr. Wanfeng. In this adventure scenario, is it possible for me to die?"
The evening breeze replied, "Although this place is called Endless Paradise, if you treat it like an amusement park, you're doomed. I can't guarantee you'll survive and complete 'Dave's Backyard,' but I can guarantee my guide is accurate and effective. Including myself, at least a hundred people have completed it." "
I hope I can complete it smoothly."
"My judgment has always been good, Bai. You're a very promising person. I think you'll live a long time. I look forward to seeing you again."-+ "Player [Evening Breeze] has initiated a trade request with you. Do you agree?"
"Yes." Bai Mu agreed to the trade. He and Evening Breeze added each other as community friends. 50 hours of community time were deducted from his account, and he received a new email at the same time.
[At this point, I hope readers will remember our domain name: Taiwan Novel Network, t̲̲̅̅w̲̲̅̅k̲̲̅̅a̲̲̅̅n̲̲̅̅.c̲̲̅̅o̲̲̅̅m̲̲̅̅. It's super convenient.]
The email attachment contained a "lost backyard key." He bought two hours of ownership of the key. After two hours, regardless of whether he used the key or not, it would automatically return to the warehouse in the gentle evening breeze.
"It's a pleasure doing business with you." Evening Breeze's smile deepened. "I've included a detailed walkthrough in the email. Just follow the instructions, and you're guaranteed a random 'Plant Card.' How much you actually get depends on your skill."
"I have a question, but it's not about the adventure scenario. I wonder if Mr. Evening Breeze could answer it for me?" Bai Mu said. "If it's for a fee, then forget it."
Evening Breeze placed his hands on the table: "Now that we've done business, we're friends. You can tell me."
"It's about the main storyline. I want to know, is my next scenario completely random? As a beginner, if I'm randomly placed into an advanced scenario, does that mean... I'm doomed?"
"That's not exactly a secret. The scenarios in Paradise are matched according to your player level. Normally, you'll only be matched with scenarios close to your own level. Your level will only increase when you complete three main scenarios in a row. However, you must not be careless. The player's survival rate and the scenario's danger are not the same. Even high-level players can die in low-level scenarios if they make a wrong move." "
Normally I won't be matched with high-level scenarios. Are there any unusual situations?"
"I find you to be very good at grasping the key points, Bai. Normally, this kind of information is charged, but you and I get along quite well, so I'll make an exception and tell you for free this time."
Evening Breeze lowered her voice.
"You're right. There are indeed unusual situations. Based on the patterns I've summarized, Paradise seems to have a built-in 'hidden score' for each player. The specific calculation formula is still a mystery, but to put it simply, when Paradise thinks your performance is too good, it will appropriately increase the difficulty and set up obstacles for you." "
So, perhaps choosing a more moderate approach in the game is a better option?"
"No, no, no, that's completely wrong." Evening Breeze shook her index finger. "Bai, you need to understand. Players only get rewards and upgrades by completing the story. The law of the amusement park is survival of the fittest. The strong monopolize more resources to become stronger, while the weak, when they dare not face their inner fears and choose to retreat, face death like a knife hanging over their heads."
"For example, those streetwalkers. Every now and then, the faces there change. This is my advice to you as an old man: try to improve yourself using every means you can. Only in this way can you live longer."
Bai Mu was silent for a few seconds, then said, "I understand. Thank you for your advice."
Evening Breeze glanced at her watch: "It's about time. I should go. It was a pleasant time with you. I hope we'll have the chance to meet again."
"Goodbye." Bai Mu finally looked up, meeting Wan Feng Qing Guo's gaze.
Wan Feng Qing Guo smiled: "Not bad eyes. I bet you'll live a long time."
He took out his "room card," his body turning into a blur, disappearing opposite Bai Mu.
Bai Mu glanced at the empty seat opposite him, then took out the room card printed with "K8107," silently repeating "return" in his mind.
The next second, Bai Mu was back in that windowless, enclosed room.
This meeting with the community manager had been very rewarding; he had a clearer understanding of his current situation and the future that lay ahead.
He knew exactly what he needed to do, just as the man had said: use everything he could to improve himself.
Now, he had that opportunity.
He took the key out and held it in his palm, carefully reading the walkthrough.
The walkthrough was extremely detailed, specifying every step he needed to take.
"The danger level is D, two levels higher than [Desert Island Survival], but following this walkthrough seems to make it easier than the F-level beginner scenario." "
But the most conservative way to complete it yields far too few rewards."
"This is probably my biggest chance to improve before the next main scenario, so I need to find a way to squeeze every last drop of value out of it."
Bai Mu spent an hour memorizing the walkthrough, making sure it was firmly in his mind. If there were any unclear points, he would privately message "Evening Breeze" in his friends list.
The other party was obligated to answer his questions; this was a rule they had agreed upon before the transaction.
He knew all the important points by heart.
With only five minutes left to keep the key, he opened his inventory.
"Use special item: [Lost Backyard Key]?"
"Yes."
[Player detected using special item, transporting.]
[You are playing: Single Player Mode (Adventure).]
[Script Name: Dave's Backyard]
[Current Script Danger Rating: D.]
[Script introduction will play for you shortly.]
Darkness enveloped him, and the menu wouldn't open. After a brief moment of disorientation, a large screen lit up in the darkness, strikingly similar to everything he had experienced during his "desert island survival" adventure.
This was Bai Mu's second time in this space. He was much calmer, focusing all his attention on the screen to confirm that the script synopsis matched the information he had received.
[You live in a peaceful suburban town, leading a simple but stable life, until one day, a group of zombies suddenly invade your land.]
[This is the first time you've seen real zombies. According to historical records, zombies appeared thirty minutes after humans appeared. In 431 BC, zombies stole catapults from a civilized kingdom, sparking a fierce war. In 180 BC, a super zombie named Deadus Zombius ate the brain of a king, becoming the de facto ruler of that country.] The last war between
humans and zombies broke out in 1976. As a human born in a new era, you've only heard of zombies on television.
These suddenly appearing zombies devoured the brains of many townspeople in a short time.
You heard that a man named Dave cultivated some magical plants to fight the zombies. Luckily, you found Dave's lost backyard key and located him.
Dave invites you into his backyard to help him defend against the zombie horde.
Main Quest: Defend against the zombie horde in the backyard; don't let the zombies eat your brains.-+ [This is a role-playing scenario. Your attributes will be reset to their initial levels, and some items and skills will be disabled.]
Upon hearing the last sentence, Bai Mu felt a sudden brightness before his eyes, and his senses returned to normal.
The community menu was disabled in the scenario, but just like on the desert island, he could still see his attribute panel.
Unlike his impoverished state on the desert island, this time his title panel displayed a shining "Survival Master."
He also unlocked his player inventory; the "Solar Panel" and "Police ID" were both in a green state, allowing him to put them in and take them out normally.
It seemed these two essential items hadn't been deemed prohibited by the park.
He glanced at them and then focused his attention on the scenery before him. As the guide had suggested, he had arrived at a lush, green lawn.
It was around nine in the morning, the sun was shining brightly, and there were white wooden fences on both sides. A house with white walls and red tiles stood at the edge of the lawn, looking every bit like a Western-style detached house with a backyard.
In front of the house, there were five small carts that looked like lawnmowers. A bloated middle-aged man stood about five meters away from Bai Mu. He had a frying pan on his head, and his chin was covered by a thick beard.
"This should be Dave," Bai Mu thought as he met the gaze of the somewhat unkempt foreign man with uneven eyes.
"Hello, neighbor, it's really impressive that you managed to escape here."
Dave walked over and patted Bai Mu on the shoulder. Bai Mu's attire had been automatically changed by the park, now consisting of tattered jeans and a gray shirt, making him look like a beggar on the street, dusty and weary.
"You can call me Dave, or my full name, Crazy Dave."
"I really wanted to invite you to my house for a hot bath, but the zombies are coming soon. Their brains are empty, so they're always thinking about eating my brain, thinking that way they'll become as smart as me."
"But that's impossible, because they don't have brains at all!"
Dave said, spitting as he spoke.
"Don't worry, no zombie can get past Dave. Oh, but I'm all alone. I can only guard the front yard."
"Neighbor, can you help me defend against the zombie horde in the backyard?"
Dave stared at Bai Mu with his cross-eyed gaze.
"Of course, Dave, that's exactly what I have to do," Bai Mu replied quickly.
According to the walkthrough, you must agree to Dave's request here. If you refuse, Dave won't offer any help or guidance; he'll send you inside the house to defend the front yard alone.
The player's only area of movement is the backyard. The door to the front yard is locked. Being abandoned alone in the backyard without familiarity with the scenario is almost certainly fatal.
Relying on your own two hands to fend off wave after wave of zombies is incredibly difficult.
Most importantly, if you refuse Dave's request, you'll lose precious buffer time.
The zombie horde begins the moment Dave leaves the backyard; once he determines you're not willing to help him guard the backyard, he'll quickly move to the front yard, giving you no time to prepare.
"Great, neighbor!" Dave was overjoyed to hear Bai Mu's reply. "But I don't know what you can do. If you don't have anything you're good at, maybe you could collect sunlight for my plants in the backyard."
"With sunlight, they can deal with the zombies on their own. They're reliable, and I believe they can protect my backyard with you."
"So, would you like to help me?"
Dave made a second request. Following the walkthrough, all you had to do was agree to Dave, and the level would advance to the next stage.
But Bai Mu heard something that struck him as odd.
He thought of another title he had received.
[Title: Walking Headline]
[Title Level: Unique]
[Effect: When you equip this title, you will greatly attract the attention of certain humanoid characters, and there is a chance that you will be mistaken for a media personality.] [
Acquisition Conditions: ???]
"Give it a try, there's no harm in losing anything."
[Change title to "Walking Headline"? Number of title changes remaining in this script: 3.]
"Yes."
[Change successful. Number of title changes remaining in this script: 2.]
Bai Mu's health and stamina bars decreased, but it didn't matter. He still had two chances to change his title. If it didn't work, he could just change it back.
After changing the title, before Bai Mu could even speak, Dave's eyes suddenly changed.
"Oh, wait! Neighbor, I feel like I've seen you somewhere before?"
Dave rubbed his eyes, his eyes widened, and he moved closer to Bai Mu's face, as if he had seen something strange.
"I remember now, you're the shipwreck survivor! I saw your news on TV; I heard you survived a month on a desert island!"
"Oh my god, you're so lucky! Out of so many people, you're the only one who survived!"
Bai Mu suddenly understood what the phrase "probability of being recognized as a media figure" meant in the title's function.
He quickly grasped the title's role and value. In the original script template, he was just an ordinary small-town resident, but when he acquired this "unique" title, his identity in some scripts changed to "a shipwreck survivor who made headlines," becoming a public figure.
This meant that he went from a "stranger" to a potentially trustworthy "public figure."
In some cases, this might have a positive effect, such as making it easier for him to gain the trust of certain benevolent NPCs. However, it could also be a negative, making him more conspicuous. If a murderer wanted to make a name for himself, he might become their first target.
Fortunately, Dave and Bai Mu were on the same side. Dave pulled a smartphone out of his pocket.
"I have to take a picture with you, neighbor. If my kids and relatives saw a picture of me with a big star, they'd be terrified!"
Click! The flash went off, and Dave took a rather intimate headshot with Bai Mu.
"You're a strong and determined person; only someone like you could survive 30 days on a desert island!" Dave said. "Oh, I even think you could handle those zombies without my plants!"
"My God, that's a crazy idea, don't you think, neighbor?"
"That's really, really crazy! Just as crazy as Crazy Dave!"
[Crazy Dave has issued you a side quest: Crazy Idea.]
[Mission Description: Mad Dave has dedicated his life to studying his garden plants. He believes humans are strange, so he always deals with plants. Few people can gain his approval, but you are one of the rare exceptions. Because of your appearance, a crazy idea suddenly pops into Mad Dave's mind. Will you be the one who can resonate with his thoughts?]
[Mission Requirements: Accept Dave's request and defend the backyard from the zombie horde without using garden plants (after accepting this mission, garden plants will be disabled in the script).]
[Mission Reward: ???]-+ A situation not described in the walkthrough occurred: because of the unique title "Walking Headline," Bai Mu unlocked a completely new side quest.
"That line was definitely a hint,"
Dave said. "I don't know what you can do." Conversely, if Dave "knew what you could do," he might have given you a different quest.
"But using garden plants to defend against the zombie horde is too difficult."
Bai Mu recalled the details of the walkthrough: the zombies would attack after Dave left the backyard.
(Please remember the Taiwan Novel Network → 𝓽𝔀𝓴𝓪𝓷.𝓬𝓸𝓶 website for the fastest chapter updates.)
Players will encounter two types of zombies: ordinary zombies and roadblock zombies wearing roadblocks.
According to the guide, these zombies move slowly, walking like elderly people. In a fight, a grown man wielding melee weapons like a baseball bat and a crowbar could easily defeat a regular zombie.
Barricade zombies are more durable than regular zombies, but their combat strength isn't high; a couple of hard swings with a stick are enough to smash their skulls.
However, the biggest challenge in this scenario isn't the zombies' combat strength, but their sheer number. There will be three waves of zombies erupting within half an hour, with over a hundred zombies attacking in total.
The ratio of regular zombies to barricade zombies is approximately 4:1.
While the garden cart can help withstand a wave of zombies, losing it will drastically reduce your script evaluation and rewards, at most granting you a random plant card.
Even without all garden carts, players will still have to contend with at least eighty zombies. Even
the most physically fit adult would be exhausted after killing eighty pigs in 30 minutes, let alone eighty zombies trying to eat your brains.
Without garden plants as support, this is virtually an impossible task. Killing just a dozen or so zombies will exhaust a normal person's stamina, ultimately leading to being overwhelmed by the zombie horde and losing their brains.
This is true even for Bai Mu, a man with extensive combat experience.
After all, he didn't have any weapons. He felt he could take on this "crazy idea" if he had a gun and bullets, but he only had two items in his inventory. He couldn't exactly use a solar panel to swat the zombies away, or pull out his police ID and righteously warn them that they were trespassing.
Zombies don't obey human laws; they'll just ignore your warnings and rip out your brains for a good meal.
After rational analysis, Bai Mu realized that what he currently possessed wasn't enough to take on this extremely difficult task.
"The neighbor?" Dave began urging Bai Mu to make a choice.
No matter what the player does, no matter how they try to delay Dave, the zombie wave will start on time at the fifth minute after the player enters the backyard, and Dave will leave the backyard at the latest at the fifth minute.
It was almost the second minute now, Bai Mu had to make a decision quickly.
Bai Mu's mind was spinning rapidly. The difference between humans and zombies is that humans have brains to think.
He used a title to successfully trigger a new mission, and maybe he could use his eloquence to get something useful out of Dave.
"Dave, I think your idea is good," Bai Mu said. "I don't know your garden plants well, and it would be terrible if my cooperation with them failed."
"I really want to help you relieve your stress. I'm willing to fight those zombies to the death, but I don't even have a decent weapon. If you could give me some weapons, maybe I could give it a try."
"You're right, neighbor." Dave nodded, agreeing with Bai Mu's words. "Not having weapons is indeed a big problem."
"I've got a good idea." Dave held up one index finger, his eyes lighting up.
He took the frying pan off his forehead and handed it to Bai Mu. The inside of the frying pan had a layer of oily sheen, which seemed to be greasy hair oil that Dave had rubbed off his head.
"Mary's is my favorite frying pan. It's perfect for frying eggs. You can use Mary to smash zombies' heads and splatter their brains, but only if you can find a zombie with brains."
The man in front of him seemed serious; he really intended for Bai Mu to use this frying pan to deal with the zombie horde.
Mad Lady Day lived up to her name—she was truly mad.
Bai Mu hoped this unassuming frying pan was some kind of magical artifact, but the description didn't seem like the kind of weapon that could sweep away a hundred zombies.
[Name: Mary]
[Type: Item]
[Quality: Rare]
[Note: Dave was immediately captivated when he first saw it at the flea market. He thought it was the most perfect frying pan in the world, bought it on the spot, and named it Mary. Dave often says that no one in the world understands him better than Mary, and no one understands Mary better than he does. This has extremely important meaning for him, even though Mary's previous owner told Dave that there are thousands upon thousands of frying pans like Mary, because he just bought it randomly at a convenience store ten years ago.]
Although Mary has a girlish name, it is actually over ten years old and is already an old frying pan.
Bai Mu strongly suspected that when he slapped the zombie's head with Mary, it wasn't the zombie's neck that broke, but Mary's handle.
Poor Dave, he must be heartbroken.
No, you can't use normal human thinking to understand the mad Dave.
Having spent less than five minutes with Dave, Bai Mu realized one thing: Dave's thinking and action logic were unpredictable. When you think Dave is about to pick his nose, what he really wants to do might be to take a rotten fried egg from the frying pan on his head, throw it in your face, and say, "Neighbor, I bet you're hungry."
"Thanks for your kindness, Dave." Bai Mu sensed a slight sense of helplessness. "Mary is great, but you know, well, I rarely fry eggs in a pan; I usually eat boiled eggs."
"I mean, do you have anything like guns or bombs?"
"Oh, that's a shame."
Dave looked disappointed, put the pan back, and continued to use it as a helmet.
"You mean guns and bombs? No, no, that's too dangerous. I can't let an amateur use such dangerous things. Let my plants help you protect my backyard; they're much more reliable than guns. A pea shooter's peas never go off like gunpowder."
"But Dave, I'm not an amateur. I have a lot of shooting experience..."
"Don't try to fool me, neighbor. How can a desert island survival expert also be a sharpshooter?"
The conversation reached a stalemate. It should be the third minute; the zombie horde is about to begin.
Bai Mu seems to have only two choices: either commit suicide by fighting a hundred zombies hand-to-hand with "Marie," or follow the original strategy.
However, judging from Dave's conversation, he does have firearms, but Bai Mu is not satisfied with the conditions for obtaining firearms from him.-+ Then Bai Mu remembered the prop in his inventory: the police ID.
On a whim, he took it out; the small, dark green booklet appeared in his palm.
The photo on the ID was of a white male he didn't recognize; a quick glance revealed it wasn't him.
He was making a final attempt, or rather, a gamble, hoping he could fool Dave.
Last time in the script, when he repaired the boat's walkie-talkie with a bunch of random materials, he realized something.
In the Paradise script, anything was possible.
The script was incredibly free; you could try anything you wanted, and whether you succeeded or not, only the trial and error would tell.
This book was first published online by 𝕥𝕨𝕜𝕒𝕟.𝕔𝕠𝕞.
There's a saying that goes, "Practice is the sole criterion for testing truth."
Bai Mu showed Dave his brand-new police ID and immediately began his practice.
"You can't say that, Dave. My main profession isn't survival expert. You know, me ending up on that desert island was an accident."
"I'm not a video blogger. Those who make money from survival videos are the real survival experts. My job is actually a police officer."
"Have you forgotten? The news said I was caught in a typhoon and had to survive alone on a desert island for a month."
"I was originally enjoying my vacation. I don't really like making desert island survival my entertainment, but in that situation, I had to." "
Look, this is my identification. Of course I know how to use guns and bombs. I'm not the amateur you're making me out to be. In fact, I served in the special forces."
"You know, it's one of those special forces units that need to be kept secret. Thanks to the training in the unit, I was able to persevere in that extreme environment and wait for rescue."
This impromptu explanation made sense logically.
The only flaw was that the photo on the police ID wasn't the same person as Bai Mu, so Bai Mu only showed the cover of the police ID and didn't open it.
Dave was stunned for a moment after hearing this, but his "bright" but mismatched eyes always seemed to be in a daze.
"Neighbor, are you a retired special forces soldier from the Little Yellow Duck Commando Team?!"
Dave reacted sharply after a few seconds of lapse in concentration.
"You know, Dave, I signed a confidentiality agreement,"
Bai Mu replied vaguely. He had no idea what the Little Yellow Duck Commando Team was. Seriously, would there really be a special forces unit called Little Yellow Duck? It sounded like child's play; he seriously suspected it was a fictitious unit Dave had made up.
But judging from Dave's reaction, it didn't seem fake. But well, never mind, he decided to stop speculating about this guy and silently added Dave to his "blacklist."
"Oh my god!" Dave excitedly came over and grabbed Bai Mu's hand. "Neighbor, I know! You must be a member of the Golden Duck team. Only the Golden Ducks have such outstanding qualities as you!" "
I apologize for my earlier remarks. Yes, you are definitely not an outsider!"
"This is like a dream. I can't believe I'm fighting alongside the Golden Ducks! I never even dared to dream of such a thing!"
The "Golden Ducks" that Dave mentioned sounded a bit strange, making Bai Mu feel like they were top performers in some kind of male profession. But in order to smoothly advance the mission, Bai Mu continued chatting with Dave without changing his expression.
"So Dave, let's not waste any more time. The zombies are coming soon. If you have any weapons, give them to me. I'll definitely help you guard the backyard."
"Yes, of course." Dave spits as he speaks. "A Golden Duck certainly doesn't need my garden plants!"
"Come inside with me, I'll take you to my armory. Use whatever you want, choose whatever you like!"
[You have accepted the side quest: "Crazy Ideas." Garden plants cannot be used in this scenario.]
[Crazy Dave's secret armory is now open to you.]
With the notification from Paradise, Bai Mu followed Dave into the house.
Dave's garden plants were placed near the window. Bai Mu had read the description of the garden plants in the walkthrough, but still found them fascinating.
These plants, like humans, had eyes and mouths.
They were planted in flowerpots, swaying back and forth, staring blankly at the sun outside the window.
"That must be the Peashooter," Bai Mu said, looking at one of the garden plants.
It was about half a meter tall, with green roots growing out of the flowerpot. Its head was gourd-shaped, with a large mouth, and its overall shape resembled a cannon barrel, with bean-sized eyes embedded in the tail of the "barrel."
According to the data, the Peashooter can fire a fist-sized pea every two seconds. The pea is probably stored in its barrel and needs enough sunlight to replenish its energy and enter battle mode.
The Peashooter's bullets aren't very powerful, but their strength lies in their continuous and automatic firing. As Bai Mu understands it, the Peashooter is like a small, automatically targeting turret, but its head structure is different from a human's; it can't turn, so it can only attack straight ahead.
Every 10 peas a Peashooter can take down one ordinary zombie.
If using garden plants to fight zombie hordes, it's the primary offensive plant.
Currently, it looks a bit listless, its leaves drooping, and its dark eyes dull and lifeless, giving it a sleepy appearance.
The information Bai Mu saw showed its attributes as follows:
[Name: Peashooter (Sleeping)]
[Type: Garden Plant]
[Quality: Rare]
[Note: Stay calm, take deep root. The philosophy of the Peashooter is: every pea shot comes from the careful brewing of sunlight and water, and an endless love for the lawn.]
Next to the Peashooter were other plants, such as a sleeping, snoring cherry and a clover with three fan-like leaves.
Normally, after the zombie horde begins, the player needs to use the "Mirror" to collect sunlight to awaken these garden plants.
According to some players, Dave had originally cultivated a garden plant called "Sunflower," which could automatically radiate sunlight to surrounding plants, but something seemed to have happened, causing the sunflower to disappear.
However, that had nothing to do with Bai Mu, because Dave led him to a room not mentioned in the walkthrough.
Dave opened the basement door, and a pale yellow chandelier illuminated the small space, which was a wall full of weapons.
Hunting rifles, rifles, submachine guns, grenades, pistols—more than a dozen firearms hung on the rough cement wall. Below the wall was a wooden table crammed with bullets, the bright yellow bullets piled up haphazardly into a small mountain, some even rolling onto the floor.
This scene would be extremely impactful to anyone who has never seen a gun before, but Bai Mu only felt familiar and at ease because he once had a similar wall of weapons.-+ Bai Mu immediately recognized it as an old-fashioned pump-action shotgun. Modern shotguns no longer use external hammers and rarely use wood as a material.
He picked up the hunting rifle closest to him, the wooden stock touching his palm, feeling heavy and cold.
This old gun was a classic 12-gauge. In the era when this gun was produced, craftsmen used the number of perfectly spherical lead bullets with the same diameter as the barrel that could be made from one pound of pure lead to count the number of bullets. This number was called the "gauge."
The so-called "12-gauge" means that one pound of pure lead could produce 12 lead bullets that could fit perfectly into the barrel.
Simply put, the smaller the number, the larger the barrel diameter. The nominal barrel diameter of a 12-gauge shotgun is approximately 18.5 millimeters. Among the weapons Bai Mu had collected was a 12-gauge semi-automatic shotgun.
Bai Mu held the gun in his left hand, while his right hand gently caressed the gun's body as if stroking a lover.
In the ten years following the apocalypse, he carried a gun almost every minute of every day. The submachine guns, rifles, shotguns, and pistols he had acquired through various means had become a part of him.
At the moment he detonated his vehicle, intending to perish with the horde of zombies, only his silent companions remained by his side.
Without a gun by his side, he always felt a part of himself was missing, and now that missing part had finally returned.
Being in Dave's secret armory, that feeling of peace, that sense of home, returned to him.
As Bai Mu stroked the hunting rifle, its information came into view.
[Name: Dave's Hunting Rifle]
[Type: Shotgun]
[Quality: Rare]
[Note: Dave's grandfather participated in the 1976 zombie war, and this rifle was one of his weapons. Dave first saw this hunting rifle on the day he turned one month old. His grandfather placed a flowerpot, the hunting rifle, and a pen in front of him. Without hesitation, Dave buried his face in the flowerpot, dug out a sprouting pea seed, and declared to everyone that his research on garden plants began that day. However, the reality that day was that he urinated all over his grandfather's face.]
Judging from the background information of the hunting rifle, it is a veteran.
"Neighbor, do you need me to help you remember how to fire a gun?" Dave asked.
"No, Dave." Bai Mu's eyes were fixed on the ammunition on the long table.
The zombie horde was about to begin, and he had less than a minute left to prepare. He had to arm himself quickly.
For the next half hour, he would have to hold this backyard alone and fight hundreds of zombies.
Failure would mean death, but he remained calm and composed, because he had experienced countless battles like this where life was the only stake.
He quickly found 12-gauge shotgun shells on the table and loaded the shotgun.
This old-fashioned hunting rifle is primarily loaded through a tubular magazine at the bottom of the barrel. He stabilized the rifle with his left hand while his right thumb pushed forward on the magazine's latch, opening the loading port.
One 12-gauge shotgun shell after another was inserted into the loading port from the bottom, the follower being compressed with a pleasant, crisp "click."
Six shotgun shells were loaded into this weapon of mass destruction, and Bai Mu pulled back the magazine tube.
—Click, the loading port closed, and the old gun was ready for action.
His movements were a sight to behold; he completed this somewhat complex operation in seconds, so fluidly that it seemed he wasn't loading a gun, but performing acrobatics.
"My God, neighbor, the way you reload is exactly like my grandfather's!" Dave exclaimed. "Looks like you don't need any of my help."
"The zombies are coming soon. I have to go to the front yard to hold them off. The back yard is yours, neighbor. Smash their heads open with bullets!"
Dave issued his ultimatum. To the player, his departure was the signal for a zombie attack.
"I'll do everything I can to hold this place, Dave." White Shepherd slung his hunting rifle over his shoulder.
Dave didn't reply. He left the basement, the sound of his footsteps fading into the distance.
While Dave walked to the front yard, Bai Mu continued scavenging for weapons in the basement. Hunting rifles were powerful, but their range was too short; one rifle couldn't sustain a fight for thirty minutes.
He fastened the yellowed military belt to his trousers, and loaded four wooden-handled grenades and two revolvers.
He also held a semi-automatic rifle in his left hand and a large drum-loaded submachine gun under his right.
These were all outdated pieces of equipment, which was understandable; a mad genius obsessed with garden plants didn't have much time to collect firearms.
Judging from the background of these weapons, they were almost all legacies left by Grandpa Dave—either weapons he brought home after participating in the zombie war, or collectibles he found at the secondhand market.
They were old, even older than Bai Mu, but they were very well maintained, without any signs of rust or dampness. Judging from the luster of the parts, they had been oiled just a few days ago.
This meant they were all functioning properly, and there was no need to worry about them jamming or exploding.
From the condition of the firearms, Bai Mu could sense whether their owner had any affection for them.
Perhaps this was just a repetitive adventure script, but the detail and realism of the script left Bai Mu with not a single flaw.
He could tell the guns' owner loved them dearly; he could even picture an old man sitting at a long table under the lamplight, putting on his reading glasses, disassembling the guns, and carefully and meticulously oiling them.
In short, Bai Mu spent less than a minute fully armed himself, loading all the guns on his person with bullets.
Not only that, he also filled extra magazines, slung the military backpack over his shoulder, and stuffed the bullets inside.
Actually, he wished he could pack up the entire table and take it with him. For a long time, he lived a frugal life, one bullet less after another, a state of meticulous poverty that persisted even after he and the zombie horde self-destructed.
So when he saw the mountain of bullets piled on the table, he felt like he was seeing a starving person receiving disaster relief supplies—he was truly terrified of poverty.
He conservatively estimated that he had about 300 bullets loaded, weighing around 20 kilograms. Of course, this meant nothing to him; he felt no pressure. If he weren't running out of time, he would have loaded at least 600 bullets before stopping.
But there was no time. He carried his equipment and jogged back to the lawn in the backyard.
A humanoid creature with green skin, wearing a suit and tie, appeared in his field of vision. He knew this was the "zombie" from the script, his enemy.-+ Three ordinary zombies trespassed onto the lawn from the road outside the backyard. Unlike the zombies that Bai Mu was familiar with, they looked very different from humans.
These zombies had a dull, dark green skin, somewhat resembling toads. They had raised bumps on their faces, and they were all bald, without a single hair.
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What Bai Mu found most strange was the attire of these guys. The three ordinary zombies were all wearing identical brown suits, identical red ties, and identical black leather shoes.
Their size, clothing, and appearance were all like they were made from the same mold, giving off the feeling of office employees wearing uniform formal attire. Although their clothes were a bit tattered, it did not affect the neatness of the overall impression.
After careful observation, Bai Mu's information about the zombies emerged:
[Name: Ordinary Zombie]
[Type: Zombie]
[Level: Ordinary]
[Note: Ordinary zombies are as ordinary as their name suggests. They are the most common type of zombie, without any noteworthy characteristics. They can't dance, sing, or perform acrobatics. Like all other zombies, they crave brain matter. If you dig into their brains, you'll find two words inside: brain matter, brain matter, and more brain matter.]
From the script's synopsis, the zombies in this world are different from the bloodthirsty, beast-like monsters Bai Mu had encountered, infected by a virus and only attacking humans. These zombies seem to possess a certain order and even organize wars against humans.
But you can't say they're another kind of "creature" different from humans; you can't find any biological characteristics on them at all.
The stench of rotting corpses wafted from them. The zombie closest to Bai Mu opened its mouth, revealing its gums—only two or three dark yellow-black teeth remaining in its shrunken gums, like a toothless old woman.
The moment it opened its mouth, an even stronger stench wafted over, comparable to a mental attack. Even the battle-hardened Bai Mu couldn't help but frown.
He was certain that a normal, untrained person would definitely be nauseated by the stench.
This also confirmed one thing for him: a zombie is a zombie, a dead thing, a monster that cannot be called "alive."
Upon seeing Bai Mu, a living person, the monsters became visibly more agitated. Like children seeing candy, they stretched out their hands, emitting unintelligible whimpers, as if they could strangle Bai Mu and suck out his brains. However,
their pace was slow, just as described in the strategy guide, unsteady on their feet, as if they were about to collapse at any moment.
Bai Mu didn't rush to attack with his rifle and submachine gun. He slung them over his shoulder, took out a revolver, and aimed it at the zombies' heads.
He wanted to specifically test the zombies' physical strength, to see how many bullets from the least powerful pistol would be needed to penetrate their skulls.
There couldn't be a better time to test it.
According to the guide, the first wave of zombies wouldn't arrive until 10 minutes later, then 20 minutes later, 30 minutes later, the pressure of the entire script gradually increasing, with more zombies appearing as time went on. The
zombie horde had just begun, and now was the time of least pressure.
The zombie at the very front, about to step onto the grass, was about 30 meters away from Bai Mu. Bai Mu steadily gripped his revolver, pulled the hammer, and fired.
Bang!!!
The gunshot rang out, sparks flew, and a huge recoil came from his hand, sending a bullet flying.
A viscous liquid splattered from the zombie Bai Mu had aimed at.
The bullet struck the zombie precisely between the eyebrows, revealing a small black hole in the skin between its eyes.
The bullet seemed to be lodged in its rotting skin, but it hadn't pierced its skull.
It merely staggered back a step, then continued forward.
Bai Mu calmly fired a second and a third shot. His accuracy was flawless; all three shots hit the same spot. Finally, with the third shot, the zombie fell.
Its skull had been shattered by Bai Mu's attack. These monsters had no brains, yet they could still be killed by a headshot.
After this round of testing, Bai Mu confirmed the approximate physical strength of these zombies.
He emptied the magazine of his revolver, killed two zombies, then reloaded and switched to rifle fire.
More zombies surged onto the lawn, including those wearing barricades, which mingled with the horde.
To reduce recoil, Bai Mu propped the rifle against the fence under the eaves.
Aim, then fire; aim, then fire... He fired according to muscle memory.
It felt like shooting training; the zombies were too slow to even be considered moving targets.
Bai Mu's bullets were hitting heads repeatedly. He didn't feel that the roadblock zombies were any more resilient than regular zombies. Just like regular zombies, he could take one down with every two to three bullets.
Perhaps it was because his shooting accuracy was higher than the Peashooter's. The Peashooter's peas were still too difficult to adjust their trajectory, making it hard to bypass the roadblock zombie's "helmet" and directly attack its head.
But Bai Mu's bullets were different. If you looked closely at the zombie corpses, you would find that every fallen zombie had only one hole in its forehead.
Bai Mu easily passed the first ten minutes. Not a single zombie could cross the first row of the lawn; about twenty zombie corpses piled together, forming a wall of corpses.
He maintained a high level of concentration, even though his actual shooting time was probably less than a minute, spending the remaining nine minutes in a daze.
"A zombie horde is coming!"
Bai Mu sensed a significant increase in the number of zombies attacking this time. About twenty to thirty zombies came from the road outside the lawn at once, almost the total number of zombies in the previous ten minutes.
Without hesitation, he took out a wooden-handled grenade.
The old-fashioned grenade contained TNT. It was enormous, measuring 36 centimeters long, almost the size of a beer bottle. It
was also quite heavy, weighing half a kilogram each, giving an idea of its explosive power. It was undoubtedly a weapon of mass destruction, used for offensive operations on the battlefield.
Bai Mu unscrewed the metal cap at the bottom of the wooden handle and pulled the trigger.
The friction wire ignited the delay charge like a match, the hissing sound like a lurking viper. Before the zombies could step onto the lawn, Bai Mu threw the grenade at the most concentrated area of zombies.
Boom!!!
A deafening explosion rocked the zombie horde, sending shockwaves through the air. Thick smoke and flames spread with the blast, and the zombies at the epicenter were blown to pieces, their severed arms and bones flying onto the lawn.
The grenades took down about a third of the zombies. Bai Mu then sprayed bullets back and forth with his rifle and submachine gun. When one gun ran out of ammo, he switched to another, reloading with his teeth and arms as he fired.
Not a single zombie could cross that "wall of corpses"; Bai Mu's defense was impenetrable.
It might sound strange, but the act of fighting zombies under the eaves felt as natural and familiar to him as coming home.
At the 20-minute mark, a second wave of zombies surged from the road.
This time, the numbers were even greater than before; the dense horde of zombies huddled together, slowly moving towards Bai Mu.
Bai
Mu threw a second grenade; the explosion sent the surrounding zombies sprawling, crammed together, one on top of another, struggling helplessly on the ground like overturned turtles.
Bai Mu noticed that the zombie at the very bottom had an expression as if it had eaten feces. Did zombies feel pain?
No, it wasn't pain that made it look like that.
If zombies felt pain, they would scream when hit by bullets.
The rest of the zombies underneath behaved in accordance with the pattern, except for one that stuck out its tongue as if to vomit.
Bai Mu's superhuman eyesight allowed him to see minute details: a severed zombie leg lay before it, the small leather shoe on the leg torn, revealing a dark gray, stiff, smelly sock.
It was its kind's sock, covered in dirt and grime.
It was impossible to tell if the sock was originally dark gray or had been worn from white, but Bai Mu leaned towards the latter.
He saw a hazy white smoke rising from the sock, the heat of the grenade explosion scorching it, and sunlight shining through the smoke in a beam.
Objectively speaking, it was the stench of the sock that caused the zombie to display such a agonizing expression.
It was reacting to the "stinky sock"; it could smell the stench and thus displayed a remarkably human-like disgust.
It was truly amusing; they were completely oblivious to their own putrid stench, yet a smelly sock somehow had a kind of "warding off" effect.
If smelly socks are effective, could other pungent odors also repel them?
Like garlic?
While killing, Bai Mu didn't forget to study the zombies' habits.
Like a scholar, he observed the zombies' sensitivity and reactions to environmental conditions such as sound, smell, and temperature.
This was a habit he had cultivated over many years. Don't underestimate this detail; as the saying goes, knowledge is power. When you encounter zombies and have no bullets but a clove of garlic, you might be able to use that garlic to save your life.
Of course, he maintained his efficient killing spree, firing his gun one by one.
The flailing limbs quickly became still, and the zombies were powerless against his hail of bullets. Not a single zombie could set foot on the grass.
Except when the zombie horde erupted, when Bai Mu was a little overwhelmed, the rest of the time could be described in three words:
—Instant kill.
He appeared completely at ease and composed. An untrained observer standing next to him would likely think the horde of zombies posed no threat whatsoever, and that they could do the same. But an expert would recognize the terrifying accuracy of his aim. No
one else could match that level of precision. For a zombie, a bullet that doesn't accurately hit its head is essentially useless, a complete waste of ammunition.
Bai Mu's bullet utilization rate was over 90%. Examining the zombie corpses revealed that he almost always landed headshots. At close range of 30 meters, it was as if he could hit exactly where he aimed.
His marksmanship was different from those honed in training grounds. If he missed, he would die; therefore, he had to be accurate, even if he wasn't.
If he were inaccurate, he would have been like everyone else, bitten to death by the ubiquitous zombies and mutants in the apocalypse. In
other words, those who couldn't shoot died; only those with his level of accuracy survived.
Looking back, in those ten years, he hadn't found another person with such a high accuracy, so he had always been alone.
With the last bullet in his rifle magazine, Bai Mu fired at the ordinary zombie buried at the bottom.
He had deliberately saved the erratic creature for last, so he could observe it a little longer.
Now it was finally free from the stench of his smelly socks—a relief.
The next ten minutes passed without incident. Once he was in position, he easily held Dave's backyard.
These zombies were too predictable. They weren't as fast as ghouls, nor did they evolve various bizarre movement patterns like mutants.
They only attacked from the front, only moved in straight lines, never taking detours; the piled-up corpses would even cause them to trip over.
In the 30 minutes of the zombie horde, the shotgun didn't even have a chance to be used.
Holding off the zombie horde with firearms felt easier than using garden plants as described in the guides, at least for Bai Mu.
In the final wave of the zombie horde, only three figures remained standing: two ordinary zombies and one roadblock zombie. Their path was blocked by the corpses of their own kind, hundreds of bodies piled up into a small hill. The last three brave warriors charged fearlessly up the hill, grabbing at the severed limbs and struggling to climb.
Bai Mu was reloading his magazine, and he understood even more deeply the advice "Evening Breeze" had given him.
"The strong seize more resources and become stronger..."
If, in the [Survival on a Deserted Island] scenario, he had simply stayed in his straw tent, eating and drinking, instead of choosing to repair the boat's walkie-talkie, he would never have been able to contact the rescue team, much less obtain the unique title of "Walking Headline."
Without a title, Dave wouldn't have given him new missions.
Even the "Police ID" he won in the lottery was an extra resource he obtained after completing a hidden mission.
It seemed like a coincidence that he tricked Dave into giving him the gun with the "police ID" to start a new mission, but in reality, he had squeezed the value of the previous scenario to the extreme to create new possibilities.
The scenario hadn't been resolved yet, but it was foreseeable that he would receive a high rating. He had completed a difficult side quest that required many conditions to trigger and had saved all the carts.
A player who completed the game according to the walkthrough and kept all the carts could only get a maximum rating of A, with a scenario completion rate of 80%.
He not only saved the carts but also opened the hidden area "Dave's Secret Armory." When killing the zombies, there was another detail that was easy to miss.
From the beginning to the end of the zombie horde, not a single zombie stepped on the grass; without exception, they all died outside the road.
"Perhaps this can also be considered a hidden mission," Bai Mu thought.
To complete this potentially hidden mission, Bai Mu, having changed the magazine, pulled the trigger.
Six bullets, three bursts of fire, and the last three zombies fell to the ground, powerless, becoming part of the mountain of corpses.
[Side quest "A Crazy Idea" completed.]
Bai Mu breathed a sigh of relief; the backyard was finally quiet.
But before he could relax, he suddenly heard a muffled roar, felt a faint tremor under his feet, and heard the amusement park's notification sound.
[Due to your perfect defense of the backyard, a giant zombie has sensed the anomaly.]
[The giant zombie has seen the mountain of its own kind's corpses and is enraged. It will arrive on the battlefield within 30 seconds.]
[Scenario danger rating increased; current rating: C.]-+ "Damn it, neighbor! It's a giant zombie!"
Dave suddenly appeared out of nowhere, carrying two flowerpots filled with a garden plant that White Shepherd had never seen before. Judging from its color and shape, it was corn—large pots of corn, like catapults, about the size of a Peashooter, half a meter tall.
"If only it were nighttime, then I could call the Destroyer-shroom for help!"
"Neighbor, help me hold off the giant zombie! I need to prepare the Corn Cannon with the Corn Cannon! Otherwise, our house will be destroyed!"
[Main Quest Changed: Help Dave prepare the Corn Cannon and kill the giant zombie.]
[Corn Cannon Firing Time Countdown: 60.00 seconds.] [
Countdown to the Corn Cannon's firing time: 59.23 seconds.]
...
An unexpected incident occurred. After Bai Mu repelled the entire zombie horde, he didn't follow the procedure of entering Dave's praise and consolation segment, settling the script, and returning to the community.
A new enemy was on its way to the battlefield, which even changed the Paradise's danger rating for the script like never before.
"Giant Zombie..."
Before it could be seen, its voice could already be heard.
That guy was definitely not the same as the zombies they had just fought.
He heard a roar coming from afar, a deep and suppressed sound, like a boulder falling.
The ground trembled slightly, not with the violent shaking of an earthquake. If one had to describe it, it was like a massive truck, its engine roaring, crushing past you on the roadside.
As that enormous weight rolled over it, even the small pebbles on the roadside trembled in fear.
It was an absolute heavyweight zombie, heavyweight in the literal sense.
In that instant, a terrifying monster flashed through Bai Mu's mind.
It was a rare mutant that had given him a real brush with death.
For many years, Bai Mu never forgot that heart-pounding moment.
He encountered that three-meter-tall behemoth on his way back to his hometown at a power station. He was almost out of gas and was looking for supplies there.
Because of the profound impression this terrifying monster left on Bai Mu, he named it "Iron Skeleton" based on its characteristics.
Iron Skeleton, true to its name, had multiple areas of its body mutated into steel-like hard substances, a metallic sheen connected to its skeleton. It wasn't a human transformed into a monster, but a rare silverback gorilla, probably escaped from a zoo.
At the time, Bai Mu only had a few pistols, and the bullets had almost no effect on Iron Skeleton. It stubbornly charged towards Bai Mu, roaring, fresh flesh stuck between its teeth.
Iron Skeleton ran on all fours like a gorilla, and when it ran, the entire steel frame of the power station trembled.
Being targeted by it felt like Death itself was chasing you with a sickle; you could clearly sense the moment you would die—an indescribable fear emanating from the deepest recesses of your genes.
Bai Mu was nearly torn apart by the Iron Skeleton, but in the end, he survived thanks to a bit of luck and composure.
He found gasoline and, during the chase, used himself as bait to lure the Iron Skeleton to the incinerator at the power plant. Using the flames of the gasoline and the fragile steel frame, he burned the Iron Skeleton to death there.
Its steel-like skin couldn't shield it from the intense heat, but the fire still burned it for a full half hour before it calmed down.
Bai Mu still remembered that half hour, when he hung on the highest lampstand and listened to the crazy roaring and hammering process. His whole body was soaked in cold sweat. When he returned to the chariot, his hands and feet were shaking uncontrollably due to muscle soreness.
This giant zombie has not yet appeared, but it has already given Bai Mu some feelings when facing the "Iron Skeleton".
But he is not the same person he was back then. He is more mature, calmer, and has more combat experience.
If he was asked to face "Iron Bones" in the same environment and under the same conditions, he felt that he could handle everything calmly and the final winner would still be him.
Judging from the prompts in the park, his mission is just to hold back the giant zombie.
It seems his performance was too good, triggering the amusement park's "hidden points" mechanism, which increased the difficulty for him.
But as the saying goes, fortune favors the bold, and the amusement park's rule is that the greater the difficulty, the greater the reward; the more difficult the task, the richer the reward. Since he would have to face this situation sooner or later, what he needed to do was not complain, but cope.
Chaotic emotions wouldn't help you defeat the enemy; only the weapons in your hands could.
In a few seconds, he analyzed what he needed to do. The corn cannon would take 60 seconds to deploy, while the giant zombie would take 30 seconds to arrive on the battlefield. He should only need to hold off the giant zombie for 30 seconds, and Dave's cannon would take it down.
In the lawn, Dave was already preparing. He deftly scooped out two corn cobs, dug two holes in the mud, and buried them in the grass, one in front of the other.
Then, he pulled a mirror from his pocket—a girl's vanity mirror, three in total. He used the mirror's reflective effect to collect sunlight for the garden plants.
"Damn it! If only the sunflowers were here! I shouldn't have left them in the car!" Dave complained.
This middle-aged man with a pot lid on his head pulled a bunch of "unidentified" tools from his mysterious pocket.
These included a flower sprayer, a chemical product that looked like fertilizer, and a half-eaten chocolate peanut energy bar.
Okay, that energy bar probably had nothing to do with the "corn cannon." Dave stuffed the remaining half into his mouth and got busy.
To White Shepherd, Dave was just wiggling his butt while watering the corn pitcher and then fertilizing it, somewhat like he was performing a ritual.
"Need my help with the preparations, Dave?" White Shepherd asked.
"Don't let the giant zombies bother the corn pitcher!" Dave said. "That's what we need to do!"
It seemed there was nothing White Shepherd could do when it came to preparing the cannons.
So the answer was clear. He silently slung three guns over his shoulder, stepped out from under the eaves, and stood in front of Dave.
The 30-second countdown ended, and a huge, deformed monster, with heavy steps, arrived at the mountain of corpses.
Its skin was as dull as a normal zombie's, but it was at least three meters tall. Its muscles were bulging and knotted, like an inflatable balloon about to explode, and its eyes were deep red and bloodshot.
In its hand was a utility pole, broken off from the roadside, with twisted steel bars and cement visible at the break.
Behind it, a small zombie with a sinister smile lurked.
Bai Mu appeared so small before it, yet he merely stared at it indifferently.
Bang! A gunshot rang out, a deep red eyeball caved in by the bullet, spurting out viscous fluid.
A roar of pain and rage followed. The giant zombie covered its eyes with one hand, wildly swinging a utility pole in the other, smashing through the pile of zombie carcasses. It charged at Bai Mu like a madman, the earth trembling with each step.
Its momentum was immense, but to Bai Mu, its movements were clumsy and foolish; its agility was far inferior to Iron Skeleton's, merely a facade.
The white shepherd calmly led it to the other side of the garden, raised his hunting rifle, and aimed the large 12-gauge barrel at the creature's head.
—Boom!!!
The gunshot was like rolling thunder, like a heavy iron hammer slamming into the air.
A bright, orange-red fireball briefly illuminated everything around it.
Dust and fallen leaves scattered on the ground, and a strong, pungent smell of gunpowder wafted from the barrel and ejection port—the reassuring smell of burning sulfur in gunpowder.-+ A hail of bullets poured from the gun barrels, striking the giant zombie's head.
A shallow hole, several centimeters in diameter, appeared on its left cheek, and the lead pellets, now devoid of kinetic energy, fell one by one onto the grass.
The bullets hadn't penetrated the giant zombie's skull, nor had they completely pierced its skin and flesh.
Its flesh was different from those rotting, weak zombies; beneath its dull, dark green skin lay extremely dense and thick muscles, perhaps transcending mere "muscle" and reaching a level that could be called "bulletproof armor."
This layer of armor protected it from the buckshot loaded in the old gun. Buckshot, also known as detonator, is a shotgun consisting of 8 to 9 lead pellets, somewhere between a bird shot and a slug. It's most commonly used for hunting medium-sized prey like deer at close to medium range.
Buckshot has a wide kill radius, but its drawback is that its power isn't concentrated enough.
This lack of concentration means it wasn't concentrated enough against the monster in front of White Shepherd. If a deer were hit head-on by this shot, the part that was hit would already be a bloody mess.
If the hit were to be in the deer's abdomen, you would see its intestines tumbling out onto the ground.
It's important to understand that in human warfare, shotguns are often not used to target humans, but rather as specialized equipment to penetrate walls and clear trenches.
Yet, this weapon capable of piercing walls proved surprisingly weak against the giant zombie.
Witnessing this, Bai Mu immediately discarded the submachine gun and rifle he was carrying.
At such close range, if shotgun shells couldn't penetrate the giant zombie's defenses, based on his past experience, the submachine gun and rifle would also be quite ineffective. Killing a giant zombie with simple firearms was virtually impossible; it was a creature truly extraordinary.
Carrying those two guns on his back would only increase his burden.
He made this judgment almost instinctively; his mission was to delay, not kill, the monster. To make his movements more agile, he abandoned both guns, including the belt with the wooden-handled grenades tucked into his waistband. The
enraged giant zombie swung the concrete utility pole horizontally at him; the whistling sound of the thick, violent weapon cutting through the air could be heard.
Having dropped the weight, Bai Mu rolled to the left, dodging the attack.
Being hit by that utility pole would undoubtedly have turned him into mincemeat.
This isn't just an enemy rated C in danger; C is Paradise's danger rating for the current instance. Under the scenario's conditions, he only needs to face the Giant Zombie for 30 seconds, after which a "plot twist" will rescue him.
This means that simply holding off this monster for 30 seconds is enough for Paradise to rate it as C in danger.
Its attributes and description clearly warn players that this is a dangerous opponent.
[Name: Giant Zombie]
[Type: Zombie]
[Level: Epic]
[Note: What is a Giant Zombie???] The pinnacle of research, its movements cause the earth to tremble, and its lament silences all zombies. It is the idol all zombies dream of becoming, though it still hasn't found a girlfriend.
If the player's mission is to duel it in the arena, the danger level should be at least B.
Defeating it is extremely difficult, especially for a novice player like Bai Mu, whose rank is only F, mainly because his offensive methods are too limited.
Fortunately, this creature is all strength and defense, not agility, allowing Bai Mu to easily fly its kite.
Although he was constantly dodging, he actually gained the upper hand in the brief exchange.
He caught the giant zombie in the throes of its attack, firing to disrupt its movements each time it was about to strike, then creating distance.
More than the conspicuous giant zombie, he was focused on the smaller one.
This enormous monster carried a baby-like infant on its back.
The smaller zombie had a strange smile on its face, and its eyes, unlike the unfocused gaze of ordinary zombies, seemed to be constantly calculating something.
Bai Mu kept a close eye on the creature, using his shotgun to lure the giant zombie while simultaneously monitoring Dave's progress and the easily overlooked baby zombie.
Two corn stalks planted in the lawn underwent a magical transformation in less than a minute.
They merged together, growing into a giant corn cannon.
It looked like a single ear of corn laid horizontally on a wooden cart; it was a super-sized ear of corn, nearly two meters long and about half a meter in diameter.
White Shepherd had never seen such a large ear of corn before. A sweet corn aroma wafted out,
but the ear was still wrapped in green leaves. Dave, standing nearby, used all his strength to shovel husks, helping to load the cannon.
[Countdown to firing the corn cannon: 17.23 seconds.]
[Countdown to firing the corn cannon: 15.56 seconds.] Bai
Mu blasted the giant zombie's other eyeball with his fourth shotgun shell, but it didn't seem to need eyes to see. Even with both eyes turned into black holes, the giant zombie could still locate Bai Mu and swung the utility pole.
At exactly 15 seconds, the giant zombie's attack suddenly stopped.
As if receiving some kind of command, it reached back with its left hand and grabbed the "underdeveloped" little zombie.
The next second, it threw the little zombie.
The deformed little zombie arced through the air, accompanied by a shrill, grotesque laugh and a smile that seemed to tear at the ears.
It spread its short limbs and landed precisely on the corn cannon behind Bai Mu.
Dave, busy at work, "coincidentally" slipped and fell, his hands and feet tangled in the brown roots at the tip of a corncob, and he crashed to the ground.
The giant zombie's throw was unexpectedly accurate, as if an invisible force had corrected its trajectory.
The little zombie glided over Bai Mu's head; Bai Mu looked up and saw it briefly block out the sun, its shrill laughter particularly jarring.
"So this is how it works..." Bai Mu had anticipated an unexpected turn of events.
This was much better than he had expected; he had suspected the creature possessed other special abilities, such as spraying acid or extending its tongue.
Simply throwing it was one of the easiest outcomes to handle.
Bai Mu leaned back, pushed off with his legs, and slid backward, raising the black barrel of his gun.
His body slid across the lawn, the muzzle pointed at the small zombie's abdomen.
With a deafening roar, the flying zombie was blasted in two by the terrifying impact; the left and right halves crashed onto the lawn.
To prevent the creature from self-destructing, Bai Mu adjusted the angle, ensuring its body was blasted into an open area.
But no zombie explosion occurred. The two-part zombie didn't die; it just stared at Bai Mu in astonishment, its smile vanishing and replaced by confusion.
It seemed it didn't understand why its takeoff had failed.