At the entrance of the residential complex, Lin An opened his phone and carefully studied the map.
Beep. You have one new text message.
A familiar number. From his comrade, An Jingtian.
"Brother Lin, heard you need money lately. I still have a decent chunk of my discharge pay. Send me your bank details."
"Come find me when you're free. My little sister keeps pestering me about seeing you."
Warmth spread through Lin An's heart as he read the message.
Not just comrades, he and An Jingtian had been childhood friends, brothers, since before enlisting.
They had grown up together. Even his school fees had been scraped together by An Jingtian's parents.
Before Lin An could reply, another message arrived.
"Weird weather lately. Take care of yourself. Don't get sick with a fever like me."
"My eyesight's not as good as before either. Need glasses to see stuff now. Don't laugh at me when we meet."
Clatter.
Lin An, about to reply, froze.
His phone fell to the ground.
He stood rigidly in place, a cold chill crawling up his spine.
An Jingtian had been a scout in the army. His physical fitness and eyesight were exceptional.
Now, sudden severe eyesight deterioration. A fever.
These were clearly the early symptoms of zombie virus infection!
In his memories,
The first wave of the zombie virus had long been latent within part of the population.
The symptoms were exactly this: fever, deteriorating eyesight, cold limbs.
Memories and clues connected.
Lin An's eyes gradually turned red.
In his previous life, when the apocalypse broke out, he and An Jingtian had agreed to meet up outside the city.
But that day, there was no sign of him. No word.
He had thought An Jingtian was just delayed by something.
What he never expected was...
An Jingtian had died from the virus outbreak, which was why they lost contact.
His best brother had died from the virus, turned into a zombie, suffering eternal torment!
It felt like his heart was being fried in raging fire!
Lin An's eyes were bloodshot.
Since he knew how An Jingtian died, he would absolutely not allow the same tragedy to repeat itself.
He frantically searched his memories.
There had to be a way!
After a long while, Lin An, eyes猩红 (crimson), slowly raised his head.
Blood replacement.
It was the only method he could think of to delay the turning process.
In the early stages, the zombie virus gathered around the heart, coalescing into a core.
Only by transfusing the blood of an Awakened before the turning was complete could this process be delayed.
An Jingtian's physical fitness was much better than an average person's.
Generally, the better the physical fitness, the longer one could resist the turning.
Two hours!
Lin An quickly recalled details about the infected from his previous life.
An Jingtian could hold on for at most two hours after the apocalypse began!
Then..
Prepare supplies within three days, acquire the gear, then immediately get to An Jingtian's side!
Decision made, Lin An swiftly formulated a plan of action in his mind.
Like a silent statue.
Five minutes later, Lin An's steps were firm as he strode into the distance.
Three days were enough!
....
Hongyun Credit Loan Company.
In the spacious finance office, three men sat opposite each other.
"Mr. Lin, this 1.7 million must be repaid in three days."
"Interest is calculated at 7%."
"If you can't pay it back by then, we'll have to seize your property. We hope you won't be late."
Lin An nodded calmly. In three days, money would be worthless paper.
In six months, banknotes littering the streets would be too rough to wipe with.
In the apocalypse, the only things of value were food and strength.
Along the way, he had maxed out every online loan he could.
He had also mortgaged his house and car at the fastest speed, regardless of cost, to a "bridge" company.
A total of 3.4 million in cash, including the bride price he had transferred back.
It wasn't a huge amount, but it was enough to buy large quantities of survival supplies.
Before the apocalypse broke out, money was still the best tool.
Nodding farewell, Lin An headed straight to the pharmaceutical company where he worked.
After he left, the two loan sharks behind him looked somewhat strange, unable to resist whispering.
"Boss Zhang, I checked this guy's info."
"Even dared to mortgage his marital home, at 7% interest. Didn't even pay back a cent first. Pretty ruthless."
"Who cares? Probably gambling online, lost his shirt..."
"If he doesn't pay in three days, we take the house."
...
Pharmaceutical Company.
Lin An walked through the entrance familiarly, casually tossing out his work ID for security escort duty.
The guard uncle hadn't even had time to see who it was before an ID card landed slowly on the ground.
"Name: Lin An"
"Sex: Male"
"Age: 24"
"Position: Special Medicine Escort Personnel"
Ding!
The elevator opened.
Lin An went directly to the third floor, swiped his card, and walked straight into the laboratory.
It was a holiday, and lunch break.
The usually staffed lab had only one intern on duty.
"Brother Lin?"
The intern, a year younger than him, looked surprised at Lin An. He was bleary-eyed, his hair a bird's nest.
Click.
Lin An locked the laboratory door behind him, ensuring the intern couldn't run out.
Without wasting words, he got straight to the point.
"Where is the Monitor Lizard Extract? The purified Snake Venom?"
"Brother Lin, there's no escort mission today. What are you doing?"
The intern looked puzzled, somewhat uneasy.
The names Lin An mentioned were medications that required reporting; each vial was extremely expensive.
"Some things you shouldn't know!"
Lin An's voice was icy, like a warning.
The intern seemed to sense something.
The coldness and impatience in Lin An's eyes made him fearful for a moment.
Struggling briefly.
"Brother Lin... I really can't."
Lin An glanced at the clock on the wall. He didn't have time to waste.
As a key part of his plan, he absolutely had to get these two serums.
Rustle.
Lin An directly shook out bundles of cash from his backpack.
"700,000 here. Consider it me buying them."
"Just missing some paperwork. The company won't do anything to you."
The intern stared dumbfounded at the cash covering the floor,不知所措 (at a loss).
Seven hundred thousand...
The company's selling price was about the same.
Lin An didn't plan to waste more time talking. He charged into the lab.
Time was tight. No room for hesitation.
Although he could simply take the medicine without paying a cent,
In three days, money would be trash. Besides, they knew each other somewhat.
If a problem could be solved with money, he didn't need to kill for the medicine.
Behind him, the intern came to his senses, opening his mouth slightly, wanting to dissuade him.
But remembering Lin An's cold eyes and the cash all over the floor,
He couldn't help but comfort himself.
Forget it... Brother Lin paid for it. It's not too against the rules.
But in his impression, the originally amiable, gentle Lin An who never argued with anyone seemed like a completely different person.
Lin An roughly opened all the refrigeration cabinets.
After some rummaging,
He held up two test tubes to the overhead light, gazing at the vials of deep blue liquid.
The dark blue liquid looked somewhat奇异 (peculiar) under the light.
Intoxicating.
Monitor Lizard Extract: Blood essence extracted from North American monitor lizards. Greatly increases strength for a short period.
Purified Snake Venom: Forcibly increases explosive power and endurance by stimulating the heart and lungs.
As special serums, these two had excellent effects, but also extremely severe side effects.
However, Lin An didn't care.
As long as he Awakened his talent, his body would return to a perfect state after Awakening.
Regrown limbs, vanished illnesses.
Every Awakened became a perfect warrior.
Not only that, their physical fitness would also be enhanced.
Harboring a longing for the power of his previous life, Lin An顺手 (casually) packed up the remaining serums in the lab.
Good stuff shouldn't be wasted.
In the backpack, the space left by half the cash was filled with 30 vials of serum.
These serums would cease production after the apocalypse. Each one used was one less.
Speed boost, strength burst, fearlessness to pain, focus enhancement.
In the early apocalypse, a single serum could even turn the tide of a battle.
With these serums, his confidence in the plan increased severalfold.
Satisfied, Lin An walked out of the laboratory. Behind him, the intern hurriedly stuffing cash bowed his head fearfully.
"Keep it quiet for three days. After that, tell whoever you want."
He tossed the words behind him and entered the elevator, turning to face forward.
Their eyes met across the distance.
The coldness in Lin An's eyes made the intern instinctively shrink his neck.
What a terrifying gaze.
....
The elevator descended.
Lin An carefully calculated what supplies he needed to buy, his mind racing.
Food. Needed high-calorie canned goods.
Definitely needed to stock up on portable chocolate and energy bars.
Under the powerful strength of an Awakened, energy consumption far exceeded that of ordinary people.
Water. Buying a batch of bottled water would suffice, but he could mix in some glucose.
Weapons. Crossbows were unnecessary.
After Awakening, such garbage ranged attacks wouldn't be needed.
As for firearms...
Guns were hard to acquire and would waste too much time.
Abandoned.
Could get a few sets of combat fatigues.
High-intensity fighting easily ruined clothes.
As for riot shields and bulletproof vests...
Lin An shook his head slightly.
With several times the physical fitness, bulletproof vests were useless, only hindering agility.
Weapon-wise.
Cold weapons were a good choice.
Could get a few alloy weapons, ensuring they wouldn't break or dull, leaving him empty-handed.
After the apocalypse broke out, suppressed by the rules,
The power of any firearm or artillery would be greatly reduced.
With the exaggerated strength bonus of Awakened, cold weapons were most suitable for combat.
Ding. First floor.
Lin An strode out of the elevator, quickly scrolling through the map on his phone.
His eyes burned with fervor.
"If I remember correctly, there's a key piece of equipment here that can help with Awakening!"