Chapter 18: Deadly Infection 3
Current balance: 1,690.
On the main road, Chu Yian, driving her elderly scooter, felt a little smug. To think that at her young age, she had already bought a four-wheeled vehicle outright.
She parked her precious vehicle and carried the items from inside to her house.
If nothing unexpected happened, she wouldn’t be going out for a while.
Just thinking about the young man vomiting at the hotpot restaurant made her lose her appetite completely. Chu Yian didn’t feel like eating anything now, so she simply collapsed onto the sofa and turned on the TV, which she hadn’t used yet.
There weren’t many programs on the TV.
What was playing was either city introductions, documentaries, or local news.
Wait, news!
She immediately sat up and switched the channel to the news.
The city’s minor news almost always reported trivial matters.
So-and-so was scammed by telecommunications fraud,
a couple in a certain residential area got divorced after sixty years of marriage,
and a certain citizen’s home was burglarized… Everything seemed so insignificant and normal.
This morning at 11:03 AM, a traffic accident occurred in Fucheng District of our city. A taxi suddenly lost control and collided with a nearby bus, resulting in six injuries.
After investigation, it was determined to be caused by the taxi driver fainting from a fever.
Currently, all six individuals, including the driver, are receiving treatment at the Hospital, and none are in life-threatening condition.
The news broadcast showed a scene from the Hospital.
Among the patients, one person had many red spots on their arm, but the camera quickly panned away, making it impossible to see clearly.
However, from now on, she would stay at home, and no matter what happened outside, she was temporarily safe.
Game Day 3—
Chu Yian, who hadn’t eaten well for two consecutive days, felt her stomach rumbling. She sat up, looked at the supplies piled high in the small house, and decided to make herself a good meal today.
There were shrimp she had bought in the refrigerator.
She removed the veins, sliced them in half, laid them on a bed of rehydrated vermicelli, seasoned with minced garlic and other spices, and steamed them for twenty minutes. Garlic vermicelli shrimp, done.
Then she beat an egg and steamed it into an egg custard.
After that, she stir-fried a small vegetable dish and steamed a small pot of rice.
The entire meal tasted absolutely delicious.
Chu Yian carried the prepared meal to the TV, turned it on, and ate while watching, still on the news channel.
A new type of infectious disease has been discovered in our city today. Six people have already been confirmed infected, one of whom has died, and five have entered the intensive care unit. According to research, this is a highly contagious and deadly infectious disease. Currently, those who have had close contact with the six individuals have been placed under observation and isolation. All citizens are advised to pay attention to personal hygiene and germ protection, and it is best to wear masks during outdoor activities in the coming days and avoid crowded places.
Has the infectious disease already begun?
Chu Yian put down her bowl and chopsticks upon hearing this, focusing on the news.
Unfortunately, it was like the viral flu outbreaks of previous years; although reported, there was no further elaboration after a brief two-minute introduction.
Chu Yian looked at the description of the infectious disease: highly contagious, strong lethality.
Not going out now was an extremely correct choice.
But what about the other players?
Chu Yian recalled the conversations on the forum, which made her realize that she wasn’t the only one playing this game. Everyone started with 2,000 yuan. Would those people hoard supplies and hide in a house like her, or were they currently earning money?
Just as she was pondering these thoughts, she suddenly heard voices in the hallway outside.
She rented an apartment on the eighth floor of a newly completed residential area.
She was the only tenant on this floor, so why would there be anyone outside?
Because of this doubt, she opened the inner steel door and looked through the peephole. She saw several workers standing in the hallway, and in addition, a tall, distinguished-looking man in a black shirt and rimless glasses stood to the side.
Chu Yian was originally just curious.
Who knew that this glance would lead her to an acquaintance.
Teacher Lu!
Could this be the world that was attacked by zombies?
The zombie crisis had barely passed, and now there was an infectious disease crisis?
Then this world was simply too full of misfortunes!
Chu Yian grumbled while putting on her mask and opening the locked door, “Teacher Lu! I’m so happy to see you again!”
She was excited, but he looked at her with an unfamiliar gaze, “Who are you?”
“It’s me, Chu Yian!”
She took a deep breath and held it, pulled down her mask to let him see her face, then quickly put it back on, “We braved the zombie horde together, a life-and-death friendship! It’s only been a few days, and you don’t recognize me?”
What zombie horde, what life-and-death friendship?
His previously distant expression turned cold, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Chu Yian was stunned by his cold words.
“Sir, the lock has been replaced for you, including the soundproofing materials around it.”
The workers finished tidying up and said to him, “If there’s nothing else, we’ll be leaving now.”
“Yes, alright.”
Lu Qingyuan nodded, then slammed the door shut.
That completely unfamiliar look… Chu Yian felt that a second meeting shouldn’t be like this. Sensing that something was amiss, she closed her door and returned to her apartment, pulling out her phone to search for terms like “zombie,” “zombie crisis,” “zombie outbreak,” and so on.
The result was a large number of related films, TV shows, and novels.
So… this might not be the same world, and this Lu Qingyuan simply had no memory of fighting zombies in the previous world.
No, these are just games; theoretically, everything she experienced was a constructed world.
Who was behind the construction of these worlds?
And what was his purpose?
Because of Lu Qingyuan’s reappearance and cold attitude, Chu Yian began to ponder the nature of this game.
But she couldn’t figure anything out.
She only felt that this game was both bad and stingy, threatening billions of people to struggle in the game, yet the rewards were pitifully small. That would be fine, but even NPCs had to work two jobs.
Insane.
Damn!
Game Day 4—
Chu Yian still stayed safely at home.
She still woke up early and turned on the TV. While it was playing news unrelated to the infectious disease, she eagerly took out her treasure box.
The treasure box, having cooled down for a full 72 hours, could once again use its skill of creating something out of nothing.
The box glowed, and Chu Yian eagerly reached in and felt around.
Then, she felt a cylindrical, somewhat light object.
A roll of virgin pulp toilet paper.
Note: Will be recovered after this round of the game ends.
Good Item’s Inner Voice: Toilet paper that can be bought for three yuan at the supermarket, if this can even be called a good item… then it must be when you’re on the toilet with nothing on hand.
