Volume One: The Apocalypse Begins Chapter 12: Fighting Through the Neighborhood to Gather Supplies

After slaying the spider monster, Xiang Chenguang and his companions locked the security door of that home, leaving the couple to rest forever together in their bed, never to be separated.

Having witnessed several such tragedies in familiar homes, the atmosphere among the group grew somber.

They proceeded to the top floor, preparing to lock the door leading to the rooftop.

Xiang Dongliang analyzed the circumstances surrounding the couple’s demise on the fifth floor, attempting to ease the tension in the group. “Security in this community has always been excellent. I suspect that Old Zhang and his wife never closed their doors or windows at night to let the air in, making the room cooler as they slept. Unfortunately, that left them vulnerable; the spider monster crept in while they were still asleep.”

After securing the iron door to the rooftop, the four of them swiftly entered Building 1, Unit 1, to inspect.

Fortunately, the residents there had not encountered any monsters.

They locked the rooftop door again and returned downstairs, preparing to check Building 2.

At that moment, on the concrete path beside Building 3, a distortion in the light suddenly appeared, and a massive spider monster materialized out of thin air.

The newly appeared spider instantly fixed its gaze on Xiang Chenguang and his group, lunging at them.

Seeing this, Xiang Dongliang raised his shield to block the attack. Protected by his blast-resistant shield, the spider was helpless, and Xiang Dongliang struck it twice on the head with his blast-resistant fork.

Realizing it had met a tough opponent and unable to threaten him, the spider took another heavy blow to its head and nearly lost a fang before decisively retreating.

This turn of events caught Xiang Dongliang off guard. His agility was not high, and he was powerless to stop the fleeing spider.

At that moment, Xiang Chenguang, who had been watching nearby, suddenly sprang into action. In just a few strides, he caught up to the escaping spider. Sweeping his blast-resistant baton close to the ground, he severed several pairs of the creature’s legs. After it tumbled several times, it barely managed to stand.

Its movement was now sluggish, and Xiang Dongliang quickly caught up, pounding its head repeatedly with the fork until the spider was thoroughly slain.

Xiang Chenguang carefully examined the spot where the spider had appeared but found nothing unusual. The earlier light distortion had vanished.

He snapped off a branch from the roadside greenery and swept the area to probe for abnormalities, but found none.

Yet he had witnessed two spiders materialize from thin air here, and earlier, He Wan had encountered a giant centipede emerging from the same spot.

In gaming terms, this was clearly a monster spawn point, though the timing and the type of monsters appeared unpredictable.

With such a spawn point in the community, peace would forever be elusive.

Despite the baffling and uncontrollable nature of this phenomenon, Xiang Chenguang set it aside for now and continued with the original plan to clear the neighborhood.

The rest of the search went smoothly. Only one spider monster was found on the third floor of Unit 1 in Building 7.

With Xiang Chenguang providing cover, Xiang Dongliang single-handedly confronted the spider, using the narrow stairwell to restrict its movements.

In the end, he killed the spider unscathed.

Within just over an hour, the four had cleared all eight buildings of monsters.

After returning home for a brief rest, Xiang Chenguang checked the clock in the living room; it was only just past 9 a.m.

Less than three hours had passed since the apocalypse began, yet the experiences within those few hours were more intense and eventful than many months or even years had been before.

He checked his survival system’s attribute panel. After clearing the neighborhood, his psychic energy had reached 85 points. One more spider kill would allow him to level up.

Xiang Dongliang had earned 30 psychic points from two spider kills and needed just 20 more to level up.

After allocating his upgrade points to agility, he was nearly capable of handling himself independently in this early apocalyptic world.

Xiang Chenguang proposed, “It’s still early. We can head outside the community to gather supplies and hunt monsters to level up. Let’s aim for each of us to advance at least one level today.”

He Wan replied, “We’re currently fine on staples, but we’ve run out of vegetables and fruits. It’s too dangerous to go to the market now, and it’s probably deserted anyway. My small shop still has plenty of sausages and canned fruit, which can temporarily substitute for fresh produce, but that’s not a sustainable solution.”

Xiang Chenguang said, “We can’t plan long-term yet. We need to finish the main survival quest and see how the system and situation evolve before deciding how to proceed.”

Xiang Dongliang agreed, “Then it’s settled. We’ll bring back a batch of canned goods and sausages from the shop. Also, to prevent running out of water, we should bring some bottled water.”

The family of four set out again. Passing the second floor, their downstairs neighbor, Old Hu, cautiously cracked open his security door to inquire about the situation.

Xiang Dongliang shared all their current information with him and warned, “Monsters appear unpredictably on the concrete path beside our building. Although we’ve cleared the community, it’s still dangerous. Be very careful.”

The four maintained their formation as they headed toward the community exit.

Opening the iron gate again attracted two monstrous mites.

Xiang Dongliang could handle these creatures alone. To hone his combat skills, Xiang Chenguang deliberately restrained the power of his baton, holding one mite in check while handing the other over to him.

With his blast-resistant shield and fork, Xiang Dongliang easily killed the mite lunging at him.

Seeing this, Xiang Chenguang struck harder, sending the mite he was holding toward Xiang Dongliang.

Already injured, the mite was no match and soon transformed into ten psychic energy points.

By then, Xiang Dongliang had accumulated 50 psychic points. Following Xiang Chenguang’s advice, he allocated his upgrade point to agility.

Wielding his blast-resistant fork, he exclaimed, “This system is amazing. I can definitely feel my body becoming lighter and more agile, my movements faster. It feels like I’m back at my peak in the military.”

He Wan’s small shop lay just fifty meters from the community gate.

At that moment, more than ten monstrous insects roamed the stretch of Fuyuan Street visible ahead.