Chapter 35: Super-sized Shelter

"Hehehe!"

Liao Bufan chuckled, playing coy.

"Why don't you guys try to guess what's in the basement? You'll never guess it."

Zhou Yi quickly pressed him.

"What's in there?"

"I'll tell you—it's full of spider zombies! Those things are way more ferocious than your average mutated zombie!"

"Holy crap, a massive swarm of spider zombies filling the entire passage? You guys missed out on quite a sight, tsk tsk tsk..."

"So..."

Zhou Yi looked at Liao Bufan cautiously, seeking confirmation.

"So you didn't make it through the basement?"

"How could that be? They're just spider zombies. Running into me was just their bad luck."

Liao Bufan vividly recounted his heroic exploits of how he annihilated the spider zombies, taking the opportunity to downplay Fang Heng's role in the process.

"You... you took out all those spider zombies by yourself?"

Zhou Yi's face contorted with horror.

This was immediately followed by a profound sense of helplessness.

Fang Heng was already incredibly strong within this shelter, but his companion was this powerful too?

How is this game supposed to be played?

The urge for Zhou Yi to retire became increasingly intense.

At that moment, Fang Heng pushed the door open and entered.

"Oh, it's you two."

Fang Heng was somewhat familiar with them.

In his memory, he had encountered them twice outside the Apocalypse Merchant camp.

"I heard you want to cooperate with me?"

Lu Yu glanced at Zhou Yi, who remained silent.

He had been demoralized.

Initially, he had indeed wanted to seek cooperation.

But now, he knew that Fang Heng had already completed both stages of the previous hidden quest.

What was the point of cooperating now?

He didn't even know how to proceed with the subsequent steps of the quest! Unless he continued to spend money to buy information from those "black middleman" types.

"Do you want to cooperate?"

Seeing that the two were silent, Fang Heng broke the ice.

"How about this? I have a job here and I'm looking for some help. I think you two are quite capable."

A job? Help?

Zhou Yi and Lu Yu exchanged glances.

Twenty minutes later, they walked out of the sentry hut.

It was strange. They had clearly come to find Fang Heng to cooperate on a hidden quest.

How had they turned into employees working for someone else in the blink of an eye?

"Sigh!"

Zhou Yi let out a long sigh.

The price the other party offered was simply too hard to refuse!

...

Two days later.

The prison basement.

Fang Heng stood inside the corridor.

He opened the game's construction interface and made a final adjustment to the shelter's location.

"Right here."

After much deliberation, he set the final initial location of the shelter next to the underground warehouse.

[Prompt: Player has drafted the shelter's construction site. This location is confirmed as buildable.]

[Prompt: Upon completion of construction, all items at this location will be cleared.]

[Prompt: Your Shelter Blueprint (Modified) has been altered and is classified as a Basic Super-Large Shelter (can be expanded to the maximum extent later). Current requirements: Wood Planks * 29,813, Wooden Frames * 26,712, Nails * 6,891, Iron Blocks * 90, Small Stones * 6,671, Firewood * 27,111.]

[Does the player wish to build?]

"Not a problem."

Fang Heng reached out and tapped "Confirm."

The concrete walls before him gradually transformed into a basic wooden door.

[Prompt: Player's shelter establishment and renovation complete.]

Fang Heng pushed the door open and entered.

The interior of the shelter was vast, consisting of a single large hall roughly the size of half a football field.

Currently, the hall was empty except for a few supporting pillars.

Specifically, the interior could be partitioned into individual small rooms later.

This step could be modified through the blueprint later on.

It would only require some materials and wouldn't be difficult.

Furthermore, Fang Heng could consume more resources to bring a much wider surrounding area under the shelter's protection.

Alternatively, he could use higher-grade materials to reinforce the shelter.

[Prompt: Based on system determination, your shelter can currently accommodate a maximum of 18 players. If the capacity is exceeded, your shelter will be more vulnerable to zombie attacks at night.]

Simultaneously, including Fang Heng, all players in District 8 received two simple messages in their game logs.

[Prompt: The first Super-Large Player Shelter has been established.]

[Prompt: The next Blood Moon Zombie Tide will occur in 21 days.]

Most ordinary players automatically ignored these two messages.

However, on a high-threshold elite player forum, these two messages were immediately reposted and climbed to the top of the trending list, causing a massive uproar.

The deeper their understanding of the zombie apocalypse game, the more terrifying they found this news.

How many days had the game even been live?

A faction had already completed a Super-Large Shelter?

In the past, the first Super-Large Shelter would have undoubtedly been established by the Federal Government!

Only they possessed such immense manpower and resources.

But this time, tradition was broken.

The Federal Government had not issued an announcement, which meant this shelter was not built by the Federation.

Someone actually managed to finish before the Federation?

Who could it be?

Which large guild or gaming company?

Why hadn't a single scrap of information leaked?

The forum was buzzing with speculation.

It had been less than ten days since District 8 opened, and players had already established a shelter.

This was absolutely a historic achievement!

While the internet was in an uproar, in reality, various player clubs and directors/owners acquainted with gaming companies began to probe one another.

"Brother Liu, congratulations! You've completed the first Super-Large Shelter. Please look after us in the future..."

"It wasn't me. I'm wondering the same thing—I have no idea who could be that powerful."

"If it wasn't you, then who? We've been old friends for years, are you really playing this game with me?"

"I'm not lying to you. Could it be you? Are you trying to shift the blame?"

Everyone was waiting for a company to announce this news.

But after waiting a long time, the forum remained quiet.

No one claimed it.

And no one knew who exactly had built this shelter.

Except for Lu Yu and Zhou Yi.

The two, currently driving a motorcycle to transport supplies, looked at each other.

After a long silence, Zhou Yi's throat bobbed.

"Could it... be him?"

Lu Yu shrugged.

"If not him, then who?"

"Damn it! This game is unplayable!"

"There are only 21 days left until the zombie tide. You need to think carefully—should we build our own shelter next, or what?"

Zhou Yi took a deep breath.

He struggled to clear his mind, forcing himself not to think about the monster that was Fang Heng.

"In a few days, when the new batch of employees arrives, we'll build a small shelter first to tide us over."

"Yeah."

Lu Yu nodded.

They also had to hurry.

After the first Super-Large Player Shelter was established, the Main God would issue a warning regarding the timing of the next Blood Moon Zombie Tide.

There were 21 days left.

This meant they had to complete their shelter construction within 21 days.

The Federation had released statistical data three years ago.

In the zombie apocalypse game, within the first six months of a new server opening, the mortality rate of players who were not inside an effective shelter on the day the Blood Moon arrived was as high as 70%.

Even if they were inside a shelter, the mortality rate still exceeded 20%.

In the early stages, few guilds chose to build Super-Large Shelters directly because of the existence of the Blood Moon Zombie Tide.

Rather than waiting to die while trying to complete a Super-Large Shelter, it was better to build a small one to survive the interim...

(End of Chapter)