Apocalypse: I Can See Health Bars
Chapter 4: Past and Future

Chapter 4: Chapter 4: Past and Future

The zombie’s health bar, which had already hit zero, was gradually fading away. ’Looks like the health bar disappears once they’re completely dead.’

Lin Fan rummaged through the corpse’s pockets. Besides a phone with a dead battery, he only found a small set of keys.

’These must be the keys to room 402 upstairs.’

’I’ll put them away for now. I’ll go check upstairs once I have a better weapon.’

After a moment’s hesitation, Lin Fan decided to head to his shop on the first floor to retrieve his tools. He would craft some proper weapons before doing anything else.

He wasn’t sure if there was anyone else in 402. It would be trouble if there were more zombies inside.

He put the keys away, gripped the spear shaft with both hands, and yanked. With a wet THUD, the spearhead came loose. The corpse, no longer pinned, collapsed to the floor.

A large, grayish-white and dark-red stain was left on the door of room 302 across the hall. Beside the peephole, there was now a coin-sized hole, through which he could vaguely make out the furniture inside...

"Sister Su?"

Hearing no response from inside, Lin Fan felt a little embarrassed.

’From inside, my last attack must have sounded like a zombie breaking through the door.’

’Did I scare Sister Su so badly that she fainted when I yelled at her to get back...?’

Still, he continued in a low voice:

"Remember to block this hole with something in a little while. Also, try to be as quiet as possible. Zombies are very sensitive to sound."

With that said, he ignored her and bent down, planting a foot on the zombie’s neck. He gave a hard shake and pulled his bone cleaver free.

The cleaver’s blade was chipped, but he had no other weapons for now. He casually wiped it on the corpse’s clothes, smearing away the grayish-white brain matter.

He then shoved the corpse under the stairwell railing.

The corpse tumbled down, banging against the banisters with a series of dull thuds before landing heavily on the first-floor concrete with a sickening SQUELCH.

He didn’t know how quickly a zombie corpse would rot in the dog days of summer, and he had no desire to experience the smell of decay right on his doorstep.

’If I want to survive the apocalypse, keeping the area around my shelter sanitary is a crucial first step.’

’My body may have gotten stronger, but there’s no guarantee my immune system has.’

...

It wasn’t until he was back inside his apartment, pulling the iron door shut with a CLANG, that he finally let go of the tension.

Only a few minutes had passed from the moment he left his apartment, but to him, it had felt like an hour.

He stripped off his "gear" piece by piece, tossing it all to the side.

Lin Fan lay on the sofa sipping water, and only then did the fear begin to set in. He couldn’t tell if it was the adrenaline wearing off or just exhaustion from the fight.

’Zombies are ridiculously tenacious.’

’I ambushed it and pierced its brain, yet I still had to desperately stab it twice more just to kill one.’

Lin Fan looked at his [110] Life Value. After a moment’s thought... ’I guess that’s not so bad.’

’Opportunity always comes with challenges, after all.’

Moreover, Lin Fan had a feeling that as his maximum Life Value increased, his strength was growing stronger too.

It was only a slight increase, but he was sure the feeling wasn’t just his imagination.

’Speaking of opportunities...’

With a single thought, he pulled the smoked chicken out from the backpack icon.

With another thought, the smoked chicken in his hand vanished again...

’This is the most important reward from this little venture...’

’A storage space!’

Furthermore, Lin Fan somehow knew that items inside it had no expiration date. As long as he didn’t take them out, they would never spoil!

He was tempted to taste this "unlabeled product"—it had no text on its packaging whatsoever—but he held back.

He’d already tested it. Only items "dropped" by zombies could be freely stored and retrieved. Other things, like the phone he’d found, didn’t work.

Therefore, he had to prioritize eating the food in his apartment first, especially anything that needed refrigeration.

Besides, he couldn’t stay here forever. The only supplies that truly mattered were the ones in his storage space. Even if he stockpiled a mountain of rice and flour at home, it would all be for nothing if he couldn’t take it with him.

His mind made up, Lin Fan sat up decisively from the sofa. It was still early; he had to make a trip to his shop to retrieve his useful tools.

Unsure of the situation on the first floor, he had no choice but to suit up in his protective gear again. He gave the chipped cleaver a quick wash and re-checked the head of his spear.

Fully prepared, Lin Fan picked up his spear and left his apartment once more.

He glanced at the wooden door across the hall and saw that the hole had been blocked with something.

’She’s pretty quick.’

Lin Fan thought silently, then focused his full attention forward.

There shouldn’t be any other zombies in the stairwell, but it was always better to be cautious.

The spear, over two meters long, was particularly inconvenient around the corners of the staircase.

Passing the second floor, Lin Fan was forced to draw his cleaver, ready at any moment for a "surprise."

Thankfully, the trip was tense but without incident. A path that normally took less than a minute had taken him almost five.

The building’s main entrance was shut tight, and the corpse with the smashed-in head was lying right in front of his shop.

Lin Fan peered left and right through the glass door. Seeing no zombies around, he opened it and tossed the corpse outside.

He locked the main door again. ’Now I just have to wonder if zombies eat other corpses...’

There was no good way to dispose of the body anyway, so Lin Fan decided to just put it out of sight and out of mind.

Back at his shop’s entrance, he knocked first, just to be safe. Confirming there was no sound from inside, he finally opened the door and went in.

Back in his familiar shop, he couldn’t help feeling as if a lifetime had passed. He was even, somehow, nostalgic for the days he spent treating poodles.

The old men and women who used to bring their little dogs in to haggle over prices had always been incredibly annoying in Lin Fan’s eyes.

But now, he felt a strange sense of melancholy.

’The ones who are already dead are the lucky ones. The unlucky ones have probably all turned into zombies, wandering in some corner of the city. If we meet again, I’ll probably have to be the one to put them down myself.’

’The deceased have left their bodies trapped in this purgatory, and as for the survivors... it’s hard to say if we’re the lucky ones or the unlucky ones.’

With a bitter smile, Lin Fan stacked the remaining bags of dog and cat food by the entrance to make them easy to grab if he needed them.

Then he started rummaging for any and all tools that might be useful.

Power tools like the angle grinder had been bought when he was first renovating the shop.

Lin Fan hadn’t used them much since he’d finished building the shop’s shelves himself. He never thought the next time he’d take them out would be to fight for his life.

He also collected some medical instruments like scalpels, along with medicines that could be used on both humans and animals.

He packed everything into a large box, ready to haul it all upstairs.

’Looks like I’ll have to do the weapon crafting upstairs.’

He could hear the occasional sound of shuffling footsteps from outside the shop’s street-facing wall. If he made any loud noises in here, there was no telling how many zombies he would attract.

Just as he picked up the box to leave, Lin Fan suddenly remembered something.

’On the day the apocalypse began, the same day I fainted,’

’didn’t I admit three dogs...?’

’Their bodies... are in the freezer.’

’I was waiting for their owners to pick them up the next day, but I never imagined the world would descend into chaos overnight.’

’Those dogs all died of illness... maybe it’s related to this whole zombie thing...’

Lin Fan pondered this for a moment, then set down the box. He picked up his bone cleaver again, walked over to the freezer in the back room, and gave it a light kick.

Aside from the pitter-patter of rain against the window, the room was frighteningly silent.

’Am I just overthinking this...’

He stood at a corner of the freezer, carefully reached out, and slowly lifted the lid just a crack.

Under the light, a grotesque, scarlet flower of flesh and blood...

SLAM!

Lin Fan slammed the freezer lid shut with all his might, holding it down desperately with both hands!