I have an Apocalypse City

Chapter 51: Side Quests

Translator: 549690339

The Zombie Leader dropped a total of four items, and Song Jian quickly inspected them. The attributes of the four items were revealed in order:

“Zombie Leader Battle Armor (Green), chainmail upper armor, equipped effect: Physical Defense+5, Magic Defense+2, Constitution+2, Vitality recovery speed+2, equipment requirement: Level 5; Part of the Zombie Leader set. Can it be taken out of the game: No”

“Zombie Leader Gauntlets (Green), chainmail gloves, equipped effect: Physical Defense+2, Magic Defense+1, Agility+1, Attack Speed+10%, equipment requirement: Level 5; Part of the Zombie Leader set. Can it be taken out of the game: No”

“Zombie Leader Mark (White), tattoo pattern, equipment effect: Physical Defense+3, Magic Defense+3, Vitality Points cap+50, equipment requirement: None; Can it be taken out of the game: No”

“Blood Pool Construction Blueprint (White), special building blueprint (single-use), use to construct the special building: Blood Pool; Construction requirements: 100 Zombie Cores, 3000 units of stone;”

“Hiss, these four items are all great!” Song Jian revealed a look of surprised joy on his face.

The Zombie Leader Battle Armor and Zombie Leader Gauntlets were both green quality equipment and were part of a legendary set. Song Jian couldn’t wait to change into the equipment. After equipping both items, an additional set attribute of “Vitality recovery increase by 30%” appeared.

Whether it was the attributes of the armor or the gloves, they were exactly what Song Jian needed, and his overall physical defense reached 7 points, magic defense reached 3 points, greatly enhancing his survivability.

As for the other item, the Zombie Leader Mark, the system prompted Song Jian to choose whether to use it or not, and Song Jian naturally chose to use it.

The system began to ask for the body part where the tattoo would be placed. After some thought, Song Jian chose his right shoulder. The Zombie Leader Mark turned into a beam of white light, flew into Song Jian’s shoulder, and immediately a burning pain spread across the shoulder.

The pain came quickly and left just as fast. It did not take long for the pain to disappear, replaced by a refreshing feeling.

He removed his armor and saw a skull-shaped tattoo appeared on his right shoulder. Along with that, a refreshing feeling flowed from the tattoo to the rest of his body. His overall physical defense reached 10 points, magic defense reached 5 points, and his Vitality Points cap reached 250 points. Song Jian was now considered a mini-boss among the newcomers.

“Even though I smoke, drink, and have tattoos, 1 know I’m a good boy!” Song Jian touched the slightly raised tattoo and muttered to himself.

Soon, Song Jian’s gaze fell on the last item.

“What’s the use of building the Blood Pool? Is it to breed zombies?” Song Jian held the construction scroll, examining it for a long time. Since the building hadn’t been constructed yet, and he couldn’t see its attributes, he didn’t know what use the Blood Pool would be, but just by its name, it sounded sinister. As for whether or not to build it, that would be decided after the safehouse was created.

Having learned from his past experiences, Song Jian was determined to collect as many materials as possible. The safehouse needed the best possible defense to withstand monster attacks during construction.

Seeing the countless waves of monsters still made Song Jian feel a lingering fear, and any thought of creating the safehouse early had instantly disappeared.

Glancing at the remnants of the Zombie Leader’s nest on the ground, Song Jian’s gaze fell on the Blood Pool, which still bubbled and gurgled. He could see that the blood in the pool was disappearing at a visible speed, soon leaving the pool dry and exposing the thick layer of densely packed corpse fragments at the bottom.

After searching carefully again without finding anything else, Song Jian shook his head and turned to leave.

Unbeknownst to him, Xiao Mao pushed away a corpse that was pressing on him in the Blood Pool, sat up with a bewildered look in his eyes.

“What on earth happened? Wasn’t 1 infected with the zombie virus and already dead?”

Looking at his pale, iron-blue hands with a metallic sheen, Xiao Mao was shocked and hurriedly crawled out of the Blood Pool.

“What happened to me? Am 1 dead or alive now?”

In a panic, Xiao Mao finally remembered that he was in a game called Doomsday City.

“System, system, open the character attribute interface!” Xiao Mao shouted in his mind.

Soon, a semi-transparent interface appeared in front of Xiao Mao. The 3D figure in the interface resembled him, but now it had undergone a tremendous change.

This figure only looked somewhat like Xiao Mao. Its eyes radiated red light, and two tusks protruded from its mouth. The skin was iron blue, and its body was filled with a brutal aura.

Xiao Mao reached out to touch his lips, felt the hard tusks, and quickly retracted his hand in fright.

“Did I… turn into a zombie?”

Xiao Mao looked at his character attribute “race” column, faint and lost, which had changed from “human” to “zombie”. He stood motionless by the Blood Pool.

Just then, Xiao Mao’s gaze was suddenly attracted by the corpse of the Zombie Leader. The corpse emitted a faint fragrance that seemed to make Xiao Mao’s stomach feel like it was on fire.

“I’m so hungry-” Xiao Mao’s eyes burst into a crimson glow, and any remaining humanity vanished in an instant. Unsteadily, he lunged towards the corpse of the Zombie Leader.

In the early morning, with the sun just rising, Song Jian stood silently in front of a pile of rubble on the street. Just a few hours ago, it had been an abandoned newsstand that players had transformed into a safehouse. But it was unable to withstand the monster attack and had crumbled into the ruins before him.

“Abandoned Safehouse (Ruins): This is a safehouse that has been abandoned. Its owner, named Li Jie, has disappeared, and no other safehouse can ever be built here again.”

As Song Jian focused his gaze on the ruins, the system gave an explanation for them. Li Jie, the first player in the game to create a safehouse, had declared his existence to others in this manner.

As Song Jian prepared to leave, he suddenly noticed a fingertip-sized metal fragment glowing faintly next to the ruins.

Upon closer inspection, it was a fragment of a hand grenade.

System: You picked up a fragment of a high-explosive hand grenade. This fragment will give you a side quest. Do you accept?

“A side quest?” Song Jian was momentarily stunned, then a look of joy appeared on his face.

“What a pleasant surprise, accept!”

System: You have received the side quest, Guardian’s Grief.

Quest name: Guardian’s Grief

Quest goal: Take the fragment to materials expert Dr. Ebsiting for examination.

Quest hint: Dr. Ebsiting is hiding in the basement of a villa on Fifth Avenue, and he goes to the Urban Waste Collection Center every day to look for something.

Quest suggestion: You can go directly to Fifth Avenue to find Dr. Ebsiting, but he is a stubborn and highly vigilant person. He has a high chance of attacking you as soon as he sees you.

Quest deadline: None

“Fifth Avenue?” Song Jian took out the map and began searching carefully.