Chapter 21: Swinging a Large Tree

The shelter's defense value was continuously dropping.

The game's warning prompts rang in the ears of players like death knells.

Prison Snake had lost count of how many times he had charged out of the doors with the group.

Every time he ran out, the zombies would automatically retreat into the darkness.

But before long, they would return in force, hammering at the shelter again with stone mallets.

Prison Snake had even tried assigning several players to stand guard outside the door continuously.

It had worked at first.

But after a few attempts, the zombies changed their tactics.

They began trying to flank them, attacking the wooden walls from the rear and the sides of the shelter.

A few players alone were simply unable to guard the entire perimeter!

At night, if players stayed in the wild for an extended period, they would enter a negative status called "Darkness Fear."

This status would gradually reduce all of a player's base attributes!

The longer they stayed out, the more attributes they would lose!

According to official statistics provided by the Federal Government, once a player accumulated more than 300 minutes within a single night, there was a very high probability they would be directly infected with the zombie virus!

This was the most terrifying aspect of the night!

It was impossible for everyone to stay outside the door constantly.

If this continued, once the shelter was destroyed, everyone would die here tonight!

Not a single soul would escape!

Fear enveloped every player; they were even beginning to feel despair.

Lin A'er said coldly, "Should we just go out and fight them?"

"Fight my ass! Are you going out there to die? Everyone stay put!"

The rage Prison Snake had been trying to suppress finally broke free in a total outburst.

He gritted his teeth.

"A bunch of useless trash!"

Not only was he being played like a fool, but his subordinates were completely incompetent and couldn't help at all!

"Repair the defenses!!"

Amidst the silence, a player suddenly shouted as if possessed.

"Right! Repair the defenses!"

The other players quickly reacted as well.

This suggestion was like a beam of light in the dark night, illuminating the group and giving them a glimmer of hope for survival once more!

The zombies' attack power wasn't high, so the shelter's defense didn't drop rapidly.

Furthermore, since the zombies attacked in waves, they still had sufficient time to repair the shelter's defenses!

They still had a fair amount of basic materials like wood collected over the past two days. They just needed to hold out against the zombie attacks until the next morning.

Once morning came, they could charge out and wipe those zombies out!

"What are you standing around for! Get moving!"

Prison Snake was no idiot; he immediately ordered his men to begin repairing the defenses.

"If you don't want to die, move your asses!"

At this point, no player was even thinking about logging off to rest.

Under the threat of the zombies, the players were exceptionally united.

Some were gathering firewood, some were crafting wooden planks, and others took turns going out to clear a perimeter of zombies to buy time.

For the entire night, Prison Snake and his group of players fought against these zombies.

It wasn't until early morning, as the sun slowly rose, that Brother Snake prepared to head out and fight the zombies to the death, only to find that the zombies had long since vanished without a trace.

Having been tormented all night, Brother Snake's eyes were bloodshot.

Partly due to anger, and partly due to the immense mental pressure he had endured all night.

"Brother Snake, should we..."

Wang Shao's face was filled with exhaustion, and he sighed inwardly.

"Maybe we should let the brothers log off and rest first. Last night was truly too exhausting."

Prison Snake's gaze swept across the haggard faces of his subordinates.

Everyone had stayed up the entire night; both their mental state and physical stamina had hit rock bottom.

Even so, the shelter's defense had been whittled down to only 62%.

And that was after everyone had spent the entire night working at full capacity to repair it.

Worse still, by the latter half of the night, they had run out of materials to make wooden planks, so they had resorted to dismantling everything they could find inside the shelter.

The entire shelter was now stripped bare; the interior doors had been completely dismantled, and even a large section of the second-floor ceiling had been torn away.

Prison Snake closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Due to game restrictions, staying without rest for a long time would trigger a negative status: "Fatigue."

Like the other players, Prison Snake had only one thought now.

To get a good night's sleep.

A team like this couldn't even protect themselves, let alone raid the shelters of other players.

And besides, the system shelter would become ineffective again tonight...

Their shelter had been hammered intermittently by zombies all night, leaving them short on the basic resources needed for repairs.

Everyone was tired; the team desperately needed rest...

The more he thought about it, the more of a headache Prison Snake developed.

"We'll take turns resting in batches. The shelter will start losing its protection tonight, and we'll need to maintain it. We'll deal with them in a few days."

As Prison Snake spoke, his heart trembled inexplicably.

The zombies wouldn't come looking for them again tonight, would they?

...

The Small Log Cabin.

In the early morning, Liao Bufan logged on as usual.

The dark, thin old man, Jimmy, was holding a glass filled with hot water.

"Where's Fang Heng?"

"You're a step too late. He just logged off five minutes ago."

"What?" Liao Bufan was stunned. "No way, he actually stayed up all night without logging off?"

Jimmy nodded and took a sip of hot water.

"Is the Big Boss trying to ascend to heaven or something..."

Liao Bufan thought to himself, *The Big Boss is indeed legendary.*

Possessing a strong sense of being a "tool person," he took a can of meat from the storage box, opened it, and stuffed it into his mouth.

"Did the Big Boss leave any instructions before he left?"

"Yes. He wants you and Liu Lin to stay at the cabin today to help transport logs, and while you're at it, craft a few storage boxes that are easy to carry, so moving will be more convenient later."

"Huh? That's it?"

Liao Bufan was bewildered.

"It'll be good enough if you can finish it," Jimmy glanced at Liao Bufan, paused, and added, "If you have any energy left, reinforce the shelter."

"Wait, what did you mean by 'transporting logs'? Where are the logs coming from?"

Jimmy pointed his chin toward the door.

"Go outside and see for yourself."

Feeling confused, Liao Bufan blinked and pushed open the door of the log cabin.

"Holy crap..."

Seeing the scene outside, Liao Bufan couldn't help but swear.

In the forest outside, about twenty zombies dressed in logger's clothing were holding steel axes. They were circling trees, swinging their axes at the trunks one by one.

*Crash!*

A large tree fell with a roar under the zombies' chopping.

The zombies walked forward expressionlessly, moved to another large tree, and began swinging their axes tirelessly.

*Thud! Thud-thud!!*

The forest was filled with the sound of axes chopping wood.

Liao Bufan was momentarily dazed.

There was actually an operation like this?

It seemed as if the zombies had no stamina mechanics at all?

They swung their axes mechanically to chop trees without needing any rest.

If it were a player, felling a tree would require at least half a bar of stamina.

According to the game settings, under normal circumstances, it would take half an hour of rest to recover half a bar of stamina...

Seeing Liao Bufan standing there dazed, Liu Lin, who was returning to the cabin with a massive backpack full of logs, shouted at him.

"Liao Bufan! Don't be lazy! Come help pick up the logs!"

"Oh! Coming!"

Liao Bufan snapped out of it. He couldn't help but look down at the ground.

The area around the small log cabin was covered.

It was all logs...

(End of Chapter)