Chapter 3: I Can See HP Bars_1

After the meal, Wang Tao carefully observed the surroundings from a few windows in the house.

Outside the south-facing window, in the courtyard of the residential complex, there were roughly over a dozen zombies. Those were only the ones he could see; there might be more in places he couldn't see. And definitely, there would be zombies inside these four buildings.

However, the day the zombie virus appeared wasn't a weekend, and the rain had stopped. It was likely that a good number of the working population had gone out... That might be the only good news.

Outside the north-facing windows, over the main road, was a scene of devastation. Many cars had crashed, blood was everywhere, but no corpses were visible, only a few ferocious-looking zombies wandering around.

Of course, Wang Tao didn't believe there were only these few zombies on the road. His window's angle limited his view, and he wouldn't be able to see many places. Perhaps, inside the cars, stores, shadows, or even at the base of the wall beneath his building, countless zombies might be lurking!

With some resignation, Wang Tao shook his head and began to analyze the current situation.

Rescue was something to wait for, but before help arrived, the food at his home might not be sufficient.

Go borrow some food from other people's homes? Clearly not an option.

Wang Tao never placed his hopes on the mercy of others, and under the current circumstances, the likelihood of being able to borrow was almost zero.

There was only one thing to do—go out and find food!

Inside the small restaurants outside the community, there must be a lot of food, and they were very close to his home.

But even if they were close, he would still have to cross through the yard. Wang Tao was strong, but he didn't feel he could win against these ten-plus zombies...

Suddenly.

Thump, thump, thump!

There came a series of dull knocks at the door.

"Is it the sister-in-law from next door? Or..."

Wang Tao didn't speak.

He tiptoed to the door and looked through the peephole, a tingling sensation running through his scalp.

Outside the door was a zombie covered in blood, its neck and face adorned with twisted, dark veins, expression distorted, pupils white, mindlessly pounding on Wang Tao's door!

Thump, thump, thump!

This person, Wang Tao had seen him before. Seems like he was the single guy in his thirties living upstairs.

"Could it be that the zombies have discovered me?!"

Wang Tao immediately grabbed a kitchen knife, waiting by the door, somewhat nervously. Although he didn't think the zombie could open his security door, he felt very insecure without a weapon in hand.

However, when Wang Tao looked out the peephole again, he was momentarily taken aback.

"Huh? What's this?"

He noticed a thin red bar floating above the zombie's head with a line of text—500/500.

This red bar hovered over the zombie's head, unlike a real object.

After a while, the zombie gave up on Wang Tao's room and went to knock on room 502 across the hall. The red bar remained in front of Wang Tao's view, and its size did not change.

"Why does this feel... like the health bar from the games I play?"

Wang Tao was somewhat astonished.

"Aaah—"

Suddenly, a piercing scream of a woman came from the room across. Wang Tao wasn't frightened by the zombie, but the scream gave him quite the startle.

"Roar!"

Bang bang bang!

Upon hearing the scream, the zombie, like a cat that had smelled fish, started hitting the door of room 502 furiously!

"It seems that when the zombie doesn't detect any movement, it acts very slowly. Once it senses movement, it goes into a frenzy. As for the sister-in-law, she can still scream so loudly, so it seems she's safe for now..."

Wang Tao continued to observe the zombie through the peephole.

The door of the opposite room was equally sturdy, and after pounding for two or three minutes, the zombie returned to its previous state and slowly descended the stairs.

"I've been knocking on the door for two or three minutes; if there were any other zombies, they should have been attracted by now. Does that mean there's only this one zombie in the corridor of this unit? If there's only one zombie, maybe I can try..."

Wang Tao's gaze flickered.

Sooner or later, he was going to have to go out to look for supplies, and there was a high chance he would encounter zombies. He absolutely needed to understand the strength of these zombies and whether he could handle them.

Moreover, he suspected he could see the zombies' HP bars!

"Right, if those really are HP bars, then I should have one, too?"

Wang Tao was about to look for a mirror when, just as he thought about his own HP bar, a golden HP bar suddenly appeared in his field of vision!

There was also a line of text on the HP bar: 100/100, and the moment he thought about it, the numbers on the HP bar changed to 100%!

An understanding flashed through his mind in an instant—this was his own HP bar!

"100/100" indicated that his maximum HP was 100, and he currently had 100 HP. "100%" naturally indicated the percentage of the HP bar.

"Indeed, I can see HP bars!"

Excitement surged in Wang Tao's heart. He hadn't seen anyone with this ability when he was refreshing the news online before.

"There's only one zombie in the corridor right now, and although it has 500 HP and I only have 100 HP, this is a chance for a one-on-one battle! It would be a disservice to all my muscles if I didn't give it a try! Let's do this!"

With such a rare opportunity at hand, Wang Tao decided he wanted to test the zombie's strength.

But not right now; he needed to gather his strength and prepare proper protective measures before attempting. After all, zombies were infectious, and getting infected meant the end.

"Let's warm up first!"

Wang Tao went to the living room to do push-ups.

"1, 2... Huh? Why do I feel like my physical strength has increased? Is it an illusion?"

"Keep going! 3, 4... 498, 499, 500! Huff~"

Sweat dripped from his bulging muscles onto the floor, accumulating a small puddle of moisture. After completing the last push-up, Wang Tao flipped over and got up nimbly.

Gulp gulp~

After drinking half a bottle of water, Wang Tao felt a bit excited.

"It's not an illusion! My physical condition has genuinely become stronger!"

His physical strength was originally impressive; he could do over a hundred perfectly-formed push-ups in one go. That already surpassed a vast majority of people.

But now, he had just done five hundred in one go! And after the five hundred, he still felt like he had energy to spare, as if he could do another five hundred.

However, exercise shouldn't be too intense at once, especially under current circumstances where he was trapped. It was better to be moderate; there would be plenty of time in the future.

"Roar~"

A roaring sound came from the corridor again.

Looking through the peephole, he saw that the zombie had moved upstairs.

Initially, Wang Tao had been scared of the zombie's roaring, but after hearing it many times, he gradually got used to it.

"I'll rest up today and take care of you tomorrow!"

After muttering to himself, Wang Tao ate some food, then continued to train.

He didn't stop until the evening, when he went to take a shower.

In front of the bathroom mirror.

"Eh? Where's the scar on my face?"

Wang Tao discovered that the fearsome scar on his face had disappeared! Not only that, some other minor injuries on his body were also gone. And Wang Tao could feel that his muscles seemed to have grown even larger!

Looking at the handsome face and exploding muscles in the mirror, Wang Tao felt a surge of excitement.

Looks were secondary; the main thing was the enhancement of his physical condition and the disappearance of scars and underlying injuries on his body. And now, he could also see the zombies' HP bars...

"This is my chance!"