{Guys, Sorry about yesterday, I was too tired after a busy day. This won't happen again.]
In the Hollow Lake city, the sun was setting, and its orange radiance had painted the distant skies alike. But the skies were blocked by the clouds of smoke rising from the city.
The inhuman screams, constant gunshots and loud bangs that were frequent throughout the city yesterday have disappeared by now.
A tranquil, calm atmosphere has descended upon Hollow Lake city and the school in the evening. But this silence was disrupted by a man in a military uniform armed with an AK-47.
"Bang, Bang, Bang."
Three 39mm bullets flew through the air at high speed and drilled into the temples of three zombies. They mashed everything inside and came out from the back of the head in a matter of milliseconds.
"Thud, thud, thud."
[Congratulations, you have received 10 coins....]
The soldier with the gun, whom Fredrick named William, took a deep breath and distanced himself from the AK-47 set up on the window. Fredrick eyed him for a moment before looking at the school compounds, which had turned into a graveyard of undead.
If he had to give a rough guess, at least three hundred bodies were lying here, but William only killed a portion of them.
The others were there before he even began farming tokens.
Fredrick's farming tokens were a simple but successful endeavour.
He set up a snipe point in the eleventh-grade classroom's window that directly overlooks the school compound, which is packed with walkers.
Then he assigned William to snipe zombies and farm tokens while he sleeps and eats on his bed made out of clothes-Tenth grade students made it.
It was a brilliant plan.
And it worked.
He has already surpassed the amount of money needed to summon a battalion armed with AK-47, but since there were so many free tokens, he decided to level up today.
And he was a few kills away from levelling up.
Fredrick squinted his eyes and examined the school compound for any moving targets, but there was none in the school compound.
Even though it greatly pains him to see no walking token bags in the compound, his heart was at ease. Because he knew that in a few seconds, a couple of more token bags would come from the street connecting the school and the city.
He closed his eyes and sat on the floor beside William, and without him knowing, he had fallen asleep.
***
"Bang, bang"
His eyes abruptly shot open from the sound of loud gunshots.
[You have levelled up to level 2.]
[New Items have been unlocked in the store.]
[Congratulations, you have activated the ability panel.]
[You have gained a new ability, System Core.]
He ignored the noisy voice in his head for a moment to take a look at his surroundings.
The pitch black darkness had already enveloped the entirety of the classroom he was in. This pitch black darkness was only challenged by the dim light coming from the tenth-grade classrooms' artificial light bulbs.
"Bang, Bang"
He turned around to see William firing his gun at the few zombies coming from the school gates.
He cast his gaze away and then hastily looked at his status panel.
The level bar was now filled to a fourth, and beside it was "Level 2". More items in the store were also unlocked.
'Fuck yeah.' Fredrick cheered in his heart as he looked at the items that were unlocked.
There were military rations, suppressors for assault rifles and pistols, grenades, etc.
All of these things were interesting, but what caught his eye the most was the glowing icon of a DNA cell in the upper center of the panel, at the level of the filter button.
'What is that?'
Fredrick squinted his eyes for a moment before mentally commanding that icon to be open. And it opened as a blue translucent panel called the Ability panel.
In this panel was a longer purple bar that was filled to only a portion-the other part was empty and colourless. A couple of big circles were connected to this bar at different locations, and only one of them was purple.
This purple circle glowed, indicating a clickable area. Fredrick clicked in his mind, and another blue panel popped up with a big title and a description.
The title was "System Core", his new ability, and the description explained its effects.
[System Core]
This ability allows you to summon a Nano portion of the system and integrate it into a closed area. After you do that, you will receive five coins from every human you keep in that area.
This area will be highly suitable for agriculture, and it will also be filled with natural resources like water and oil.
In this area, you can also use your authority to the maximum.
Fredrick read the description with gleaming eyes. He snickered and closed the status panel.
'Wow.....It seems like I have found a new token farming technique.'
"Bang, Bang"
"William, stop it, that's enough"
Fredrick lightly covered his ear and screamed at William, who was gunning down zombies one after another with his AK-47.
William met Fredrick's gaze for a moment. His eyes showed tiredness and hunger, but the cold urge to complete his duty and order was suppressing both of them.
He pulled his hand away from the trigger and sat on the floor without saying anything.
Fredrcik sighed and got up from the spot he was sitting on. Then he took a bottle that was beside him on a desk and gave it to William.
"Here, drink this."
William looked at the water bottle for a moment before flashing a pleasant smile and taking it gently.
Fredrick nodded and walked past him toward the entrance door, through the mass of chairs.
He opened the door to find Alpha-he decided to name soldiers using code names to identify them easily-standing beside the door with three lunch boxes beside him.
Fredrick eyes them for a moment before asking.
"Alpha, what are those?"
Alpha quickly cast away his small sleepiness and told Fredrick.
"Sir, Miss Chloe has given us dinner."
A frown appeared on Fredrick's face. "And you didn't eat?"
Alpha straightened his back and said proudly.
"No, sir, that will stop me from guarding this classroom like you ordered me to."
Fredrick stared at Alpha for a moment before sighing and turning away.
"Go inside and eat the dinner with William...that is an order."
"Sir, yes, sir"
Alpha saluted and went inside with the three lunch boxes.
Fredrick walked through the dim light of the moon toward the toilet door.
He was calm and focused, but he didn't hear the group of figures slowly following behind him.