Drama in the Chat Channel

Henry rummaged through again and found a large box of ice cream.

A box of 20 whole cream ice creams!

While not substantial enough for a meal, the high sugar content made it a decent source of energy during desperate times.

He stored everything into his storage space.

In the kitchen, he selected only one type of seasoning—soy sauce—and placed it into his storage space.

Then, various kitchen knives and fruit knives were also collected into the space.

Before leaving, Henry went to the bedroom to open the wardrobe.

As expected, all the clothes in the wardrobe were collectible!

Harvest!

[Ding! Congratulations, you have collected "Clean Cloth"*120!]

When leaving room 102, Henry didn't lock the door. Instead, he left it wide open and headed up the stairs to the fifth floor.

Along the way, all the room doors were tightly shut.

Occasionally, he could hear zombies' growls and the grating sound of nails scratching against the metal security doors from some rooms.

There were only two zombies in the stairwell, which Henry easily dealt with.

He harvested [Energy Cores]*2, [Mutant Fertilizer]*5, [Cash 173].

He continued all the way to the fifth floor.

Henry took a deep breath.

All threats along the way had been neutralized.

Only this place remained.

He hoped there wouldn't be any "surprises" here.

He didn't rush to insert the key into the lock.

Instead, he banged on the security door forcefully.

Thud, thud, thud!

The sound echoed loudly in the stairwell.

"Heh heh...uh..."

Henry pressed his ear against the security door to listen carefully.

There was no sound inside.

The low growls of zombies were coming from the neighboring room 501.

Safe!

Henry then took out the key and opened the door to room 502.

After entering the room, Henry slammed the door shut with a bang.

The room was well soundproofed.

The moment Henry closed the door, the faint growls of zombies echoing in the hallway vanished.

Everything became exceptionally quiet!

Henry stood at the door for a minute, deliberately making a loud noise.

Still, no zombies emerged.

He searched each room thoroughly, including closets, under the beds, and every corner, to ensure there were truly no zombies inside.

Only then did he let his guard down and collapsed onto the sofa.

Survival in the apocalypse calls for caution!

After the recent fights, Henry felt somewhat fatigued.

This fatigue stemmed from mental strain, not physical exhaustion.

With his enhanced physical strength, killing a few zombies wouldn't tire him out.

He rested for about ten minutes.

His spirits significantly revived.

Henry then started to carefully examine the room.

It was a family room,

with a large wedding photo hanging above the bed.

The culture of Blue Star's humans wasn't much different from Earth's.

There was an empty baby crib in the side room.

The entire room was clean, with no bloodstains, and the air even carried a faint scent.

For now, he decided to use this place as a shelter.

Henry placed the unopened soy sauce in the kitchen.

He stored the frozen ice cream and other food items in the freezer, freeing up space in his storage ring.

Currently, his space ring contained [Luncheon Meat Can], [Purified Water]*2, [Canned Beer]*2, [Mutant Fertilizer]*50, [Clean Cloth]*125, [Riot Shield], [Tempered Helmet], [Fire Axe], [Kitchen Knives]*2, and [Fruit Knife]*1.

These items already occupied 10 slots of space.

If we also count the recently frozen meat block and ice cream, the storage space in the ring would be exactly full.

That doesn't even include the lighters, keys, cash, and other assorted small items.

Sss...

The 12-slot storage space seems a bit insufficient!

Mainly because there are just too many collectible items in this world, and the variety is incredibly diverse.

It would be great if I could expand the storage space.

Thinking this, Henry opened the chat channel.

"Does anyone have water? I just ran nearly a kilometer dodging zombies, and I'm out of water, so thirsty!"

"Is anyone near the hospital? I'm trapped on the 5th floor in the doctor's office, who can come save me?! If you can make it, I'm yours to command!"

The speaker was a woman with a good figure.

"I just killed a zombie and harvested an [Energy Core], who wants it? I'll trade for food or water, no freeloaders please!"

"Holy cow, the guy above is badass, even daring to kill zombies!"

"I spent half the day killing a zombie, and all I got was a bunch of [Mutant Fertilizer], ugh, such bad luck!"

"I don't have any weapons, when I see zombies, I can only run, I'm so pitiful!"

"Let's huddle for warmth, let's all unite and set up a survivors' camp, we can help each other!"

Suddenly, someone named Slater called out.

He looked like a refined, college-student type of person.

"Everyone can privately message me their locations because this is a regional chat channel, so I guess we're not too far from each other!"

"Let's gradually come together, share resources and strengths, unity is our best defense against zombies!"

"The power of one is limited, the power of a team is infinite, please let's all unite!"

Seeing Slater's message, Henry was somewhat skeptical.

Slater's idea might have started from a good place,

But it's doomed not to end well!

Because anyone with strength wouldn't want to be burdened with liabilities.

Mostly, those with little strength, those who struggle even to survive, are the ones willing to band together.

Thus, one can imagine that even if they manage to come together by some fluke, it's likely to be more people who are just scraping by than fighters with exceptional combat skills.

Moreover...

There's another downside to what Slater is proposing.

That is exposing the locations of other survivors.

Who knows if those who come calling will be rescue organizations or opportunistic survivors taking advantage of the chaos?!

Even Slater might not necessarily be a good person.

It's wise not to harbor ill intentions but prudent to guard against them!

Henry simply ignored Slater's call to action.

Ding! Warren has listed [Drinking Water]500ML!

Ding! Warren has listed [Drinking Water]500ML!

Ding! Warren has listed [Drinking Water]500ML!

...

The chat room was instantly flooded with these messages.

Warren listed about twenty bottles of purified water in one go.

Before everyone could recover from their surprise, a string of new messages popped up:

Ding! Warren has listed [Intact Packaged Sausages]*1!

Ding! Warren has listed [Intact Packaged Sausages]*1!

Ding! Warren has listed [Intact Packaged Sausages]*1!

...

Similarly, over twenty messages were posted in a flurry, flooding the chat once more.