Today was the third day of the apocalypse.
Liu Yang checked their remaining food supplies.
They had fifteen 250ml cartons of milk, seventy 20g sausages, twelve rolls of bread, and eight vacuum-sealed chicken legs.
If they rationed carefully, it would last the three of them about seven days.
However, Liu Yang was naturally cautious. Even with a week's worth of food left, he knew he had to gather more as soon as possible.
The longer time dragged on, the hungrier other survivors would get, making them more likely to risk going to the convenience store.
That convenience store was the sole food source for the entire residential complex.
If he didn't act early, someone else would beat him to it.
To scavenge for food, however, he first needed to clear out the dozen or so zombies lurking right outside his front door.
Liu Yang stood at the third-floor window, looking down from above as he observed the undead roaming outside. With a subtle flick of his mind, an ice needle instantly condensed in midair.
He aimed straight for a zombie's head and fired.
Yet the zombie remained completely unharmed.
Liu Yang's eyes widened. "Damn! The Ice Needle is powerful, but the range is way too short! That zombie is only about twenty meters away, and I can't even reach it?"
He quickly reached a conclusion. Given his current mental strength and Level 1 Ice Control ability, the maximum effective range was roughly ten meters. Beyond that, he lost control of the projectile.
Unlike bullets, an ice needle was too light. Once it lost its guiding force, its remaining kinetic energy wasn't enough to inflict real damage.
"Guess this skill isn't completely invincible after all... I'll have to risk opening the front door and snickering shots through the crack," Liu Yang muttered, shaking his head.
Fortunately, zombies lacked intelligence. If he only cracked the door open slightly and ambushed them silently, they probably wouldn't notice.
Liu Yang calculated his odds.
He could manifest up to five ice needles at once, which meant five kills.
Reloading took fifteen minutes.
There were fifteen zombies outside in total, meaning he needed two cooldown cycles.
Total time required: half an hour.
In just thirty minutes, he could clear out all the zombies outside and safely make his way to the convenience store.
With his plan set, Liu Yang initiated the deduction.
In the simulation, he slipped behind the main entrance of the villa, pulled open a thin crack in the door, and peered outside.
The zombies hadn't noticed him and continued to wander aimlessly in front of the gate.
Liu Yang fired an ice needle without hesitation.
Crack!
The ice needle hit its target with pinpoint precision, bursting into countless ice crystals inside the zombie's skull.
An instant headshot!
Seeing this, Liu Yang grinned with excitement.
The ice needle was just as deadly as he had anticipated!
Without delay, he fired the second, third, fourth, and fifth needles in rapid succession.
Five zombies collapsed to the ground, every single one killed by a headshot.
The remaining zombies watched their companions fall, but having no idea what was happening, they simply stood in place, idling as before.
Zombies really were brainless.
With his ammunition spent, Liu Yang entered his fifteen-minute cooldown period.
He ducked behind the door with a triumphant smirk. "With this Ice Control ability, dealing with zombies is so much safer and more efficient.
"No need to get into close-quarters combat. Otherwise, even with my enhanced stats, taking on over a dozen zombies at once might not end cleanly.
"Besides, zombies get riled up when they see living prey up close. Their roars attract more of them, whereas ambushing them with ice needles lets me take them down without a sound!"
Just as Liu Yang was waiting out his cooldown to recover his mental strength for another volley...
In a nearby villa not far from the convenience store, a woman suddenly crept out.
Clearly, three days into the apocalypse, she could no longer endure the hunger.
She was sneaking out to try her luck.
Noticing that the entrance to the convenience store was clear of zombies, she crouched low and slowly shuffled over.
However, halfway through her attempt, just as she approached the store's entrance, the zombies near Liu Yang's villa spotted her. One immediately let out a furious roar and charged forward.
Hearing the noise, the rest of the horde swarmed toward her as well.
The woman panicked instantly.
"Ahhh!" she shrieked, spinning around to bolt back toward her villa.
Unfortunately, how could a woman who had been starving for three days outrun a horde of frenzying zombies?
The lead zombie caught up in seconds, tackling her to the ground and tearing into her flesh.
Her horrific screams echoed throughout the entire complex.
In the distance, countless more zombies were drawn by the noise.
Within moments, the woman was picked clean, leaving behind nothing but a bloodied skeleton.
And now, dozens of zombies had gathered right in front of the convenience store entrance!
Seeing this, Liu Yang couldn't help cursing out loud.
"That dumb bitch! Screaming like that in a situation like this-she just brought a whole horde over! Now even I can't go get food!"
Originally, there were only fifteen zombies outside his villa, and he had already taken out five. If he had waited just thirty minutes, the rest would have been cleared out, allowing him to easily go scavenge.
Now, dozens of zombies were massed at the store entrance.
Since Liu Yang's Ice Needle only had a range of ten meters, hiding inside his villa meant he couldn't reach the horde far off by the store.
He could no longer snip them down safely from the shadows.
If he wanted to eliminate those dozens of zombies now, he would have to step outside and fight them in the open.
The risk was far too high. Facing dozens of zombies head-on was something even Liu Yang wasn't fully confident he could survive. If he got surrounded, he would likely die.
It was all that idiot woman's fault!
Liu Yang terminated the deduction.
He immediately started a second deduction.
In the second simulation, after hiding behind the door and taking out five zombies with his needles, Liu Yang didn't wait for his cooldown.
Instead, he grabbed his fire axe and charged straight out. With his enhanced strength and speed, combined with his Virus Immunity, his odds of winning a hit-and-run engagement against ten zombies were extremely high.
Even if he sustained minor injuries, it didn't matter-he was immune to the virus anyway.
With the fire axe in hand, he moved like a god of war, hacking mercilessly into the crowd.
In less than a minute, ten zombies were dead on the ground.
Knowing the sounds of combat might still draw distant zombies, Liu Yang sprinted toward the woman who was trying to sneak over to the store.
The woman, seeing a burly man drenched in black zombie blood rushing at her with an axe, froze in sheer terror. Trembling violently, she squeaked out, "W-Who are you? What do you want?"
"I'm your damn savior! Move your ass and follow me, you dumb bitch!" Liu Yang snapped harshly.
If I wasn't worried about you screaming and bringing a horde down on us, would I have bothered fighting ten zombies in melee?
Now I'm covered in this stinking, disgusting zombie blood. Fucking gross!
Schooled by his harsh tone, the woman didn't dare utter another word. Liu Yang grabbed her by the arm and dragged her straight back into his villa.
Meanwhile, the commotion outside had already attracted another twenty zombies, who quickly converged around the gate of Liu Yang's villa.