When the zombie apocalypse strikes, without a system and no supernatural powers, how many days can you survive? If you have enough information, stockpile enough survival supplies before the zombie outbreak. If you, like me, have nothing left after the outbreak except your life, then take a chance and venture out into the world outside the shelters.
My name is Gold. Just like my name, I''m a bounty hunter. This is my diary of bounties in the apocalypse.
Two years ago, a deadly biological virus broke out simultaneously around the world. This virus spreads through the air, is highly lethal, and spreads rapidly. There is no effective cure. All infected people will mutate into bloodthirsty and frenzied zombies within a short time.
Under the ravages of the zombie virus, the global population decreased by 90% in just a few months. The remaining 10% of survivors escaped because they had antibodies. Although they are not infected by the deadly bacteria in the air, if they accidentally get lost in the ruins of the city, they will still be torn apart and eaten by the zombie dogs. Therefore, the remaining humans have to struggle to survive in scattered large shelters under the endless tide of the world.
Under this chaotic order, people''s ways of survival are strange and varied. Some rely on strength, some on brains, and I rely on completing the tasks of my employers to earn bounties. These tasks are not too difficult, but a moment of carelessness can cost your life. Because you often have to deal with zombies, if you are unfortunately surrounded by a horde of zombies, don''t be afraid. The worst outcome is just adding a meal for the brothers outside.
Those who have been bitten by zombies know that zombies have extremely strong biting power, but just endure it. Be more careful next time. However, as a senior bounty hunter in Shelter Zero, my professional skills are well-known in the industry. In the two years since the outbreak, I have never failed a task, whether it''s retrieving a client''s lost documents from a horde of thousands of zombies or crossing the dangerous infection zone to purchase scarce medicines in a distant large shelter. In this virus-ravaged, civilization-shattered post-apocalyptic world, as long as your offer is fair and reasonable, no matter when or where, the bounty hunter will always deliver.
But even so, I''m sure no one would like to be woken up by heavy knocking at three in the morning. Just as I got up in a hurry in the rain of knocking, the guest outside the door was already impatient. I glanced at the old alarm clock on the small table. The hands had just passed three. The cold searchlight outside the window flashed by, coldly shining on the crowded and narrow room. Although the global population has sharply declined, the land distribution in the shelters is still tight under the apocalypse. This small wooden house of less than 30 square meters is already the limit I can afford. I took two quick breaths to calm my current agitated mood.
The first rule of the apocalypse: Try to keep your emotions stable in front of the client.
It was early winter. Cold rain was falling outside the door. Looking through the crack, I saw a tall and thin figure standing in the darkness. He exhaled cold air and said, "Someone introduced me to you. I heard that you always fulfill requests and can handle any commission, and your methods are professional."
The guest''s voice was weak, his teeth slightly trembling, and he sounded like he was about to faint at any moment. I was stunned for a moment and suddenly realized that this voice was somewhat familiar. I picked up the flashlight and shone it outside. To my surprise, the guest outside the door was my old acquaintance, my high school classmate, Zoe. On the eve of the zombie outbreak, we had planned to organize a class reunion. Although the news of the virus spreading was being broadcast on TV all day long at that time, no one paid much attention. No one thought that the zombie tide would come so fiercely. In one night, we all lost everything.
It seems that Zoe hasn''t had an easy time in the past two years. He was covered in wounds, wearing a military overcoat that was almost impossible to distinguish the color, and the stench was overwhelming from a distance. He looked like a walking rag. He stared at my face for a long time. His bloodshot eyes were brimming with immense anger and sadness. I was momentarily stunned, but then I suppressed my surprise and calmly invited him in for a seat. Over the past two years, I''ve met countless clients with various motives. Zoe wasn''t the most pitiful one, nor was she the closest to me.
The Second Law of the Doomsday: restrain your sympathy. Don''t ask who the person is; question their armor.
But to my slight surprise, before even sitting down, Zoe blurted out, "Would you mind helping me kill someone?" I sat up straight instinctively. It was a murder commission. Although rare, it wasn''t particularly unusual. It was just more troublesome. The Zero Shelter, where we were, was a small shelter deep in the ruins of the city, surrounded by high concrete walls. There was no intervention from the United Government, making it a wild and lawless place. Weapon dealers, thieves, and smugglers gathered here, a veritable melting pot of talent. Here, from a bag of bread to a human life, as long as you could afford the price, nothing was off-limits for trade. So, after a moment of thought, I replied to my old classmate whom I hadn''t seen in two years, "Of course not, but you have to tell me who you want to kill first."
Zoe trembled slightly, fished out a crumpled photo from her pocket, and slowly pushed it towards me. "It''s him. Within 24 hours."
I want to see his corpse. I followed the trembling fingertip and saw a photo of a bald man with a face full of scars. My heart raced for a moment upon seeing the photo. This bastard was an old acquaintance of mine, one of the managers of the Zero Shelter. He took a considerable amount of tax from me every year.
I silently withdrew my gaze and replied without changing my expression, "I know this person. Killing him is a bit troublesome, but it''s not impossible. However, this kind of commission doesn''t come cheap. What can you offer as payment?"
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Zoe sat down slowly in front of me, her face dark, and stared into my eyes. "Five kilometers south of the shelter, there''s a comprehensive shopping mall. In the square in front of the mall, there''s a van full of supplies. It''s all the belongings of a scavenger who worked hard to collect them. I saw that poor guy being devoured by the zombies around the mall, but no one else has discovered the van full of supplies yet. I''ve observed that there aren''t many zombies wandering around there usually, about twenty or so. Although I can''t retrieve the supplies myself, you surely can. I''ll use this information as the commission fee."
"What do you think?"
I glanced at the map and nodded expressionlessly. I wasn''t surprised by the offer. After the apocalypse, the original monetary system had collapsed along with the civilized world. Here, people only accepted food, cigarettes, medicine, and other items with exchange value. Therefore, up to now, the vast majority of clients who came to us brought commissions for retrieving supplies. "Retrieving" usually meant that the client knew where in the city the supplies were hidden, but they knew they couldn''t escape the zombies on their own. That''s when we bounty hunters came in. The client provided the information, and I planned the route and ensured their safety.
After retrieving the supplies, I would take 60% of them as the commission fee. In this treacherous post-apocalyptic world, this was already a very favorable offer. After all, without my help, the client wouldn''t get a single item. Compared to those friendly colleagues who carelessly let the client die in the zombie horde after retrieving the goods, we prided ourselves on being fair and honest, offering a fair deal. After all, only by ensuring the client''s success and having them spread the word would more business come our way in the future. Therefore, I thought for a moment and replied, "If I understand correctly, this is actually two commissions. The first one is to retrieve the supplies, and the second one is to kill someone." Zoe nodded and then emphasized, "I don''t have to give you all my supplies. I just want this person''s life." I played with the lighter nonchalantly and didn''t immediately agree to Zoe''s request. Unexpectedly, Zoe''s eyes dimmed.She said hoarsely, "Do you remember Jenny? Our high school classmate, the one who was the Chinese language representative and sang love songs at the graduation party." I lowered my head and recalled for a moment. Two years of post-apocalyptic life had already made my past memories hazy, but I still managed to dig up this name from the depths of my mind. I remembered her. I nodded and replied, "She was a sweet girl with a charming smile. I remember you used to chase after her." Zoe looked at me for a long time, then suddenly gave a desolate smile, her face as pale as a corpse."She later became my wife. After the apocalypse broke out, we lived in our self-built shelter until one day we encountered this bald man and his gang of thugs. I managed to escape at the cost of my life. Guess what, old classmate, why am I the only one here to find you today?"I glanced at the dirty bloodstains on Zoe''s coat and nodded thoughtfully, tactfully not continuing the topic. As the founder of Shelter Zero, this bald man always acted cruelly and decisively, without considering the consequences. He had a fully armed hunting team at his disposal. Unlike bounty hunters, this team''s target was not zombies but isolated survivors outside.In a post-apocalyptic world where survival resources were so scarce, you''d better not be curious about how a group of armed thugs would treat scattered survivors with supplies. Because the answer would surely be filled with a pungent smell of blood. Seeing that I didn''t speak for a long time, Zoe impatiently urged, "Give me a definite answer, old classmate. Will you take this job or not?"I looked at Zoe and smiled meaningfully, put away the photo of the bald man, then stood up and said, "Of course I''ll take it. A bounty hunter always fulfills his mission. You rest well first. I''ll go confirm the bald man''s location after dawn." Zoe finally let out a long sigh of relief, her eyes showing signs of fatigue. I made up the bed for Zoe and told him to stay calm. At dawn, I watched Zoe fall into a deep sleep, then quietly left the room and quickly locked the door. I warily looked around and said to myself, "Old classmate, old classmate, I really don''t know how you''ve survived until today. You''re so stupid as to hire a bounty hunter to kill yourself on the bald man''s turf. There are his spies everywhere. If we''re not careful, both of us will die here. It''s fine if you don''t want to live, but don''t drag me down. A van full of supplies isn''t worth taking such a dangerous job. If I sell you to the bald man, I could earn even more. Don''t blame me for being heartless. Blame this world. Good people don''t live long."With these thoughts in mind, I walked through the cold and windy streets towards the bald man''s residence. On the high wall, a sentry holding a rifle gave me a cold glance, then turned his gaze to the outside of the wall. In the cold and silent air, the sharp howls of the city could be faintly heard. I tightened my coat and arrived at the bald man''s residence. Passing by a dried-up swimming pool, I saw several stiff corpses at the bottom of the pool, all young girls, their clothes in disarray, looking like they had suffered a lot before their deaths. One of the corpses'' faces looked strangely familiar.I stood by the pool for a long time, and that face gradually merged with my memory. That girl was our classmate Jenny. It turned out that she was captured by the bald man and brought to the shelter, where she was tortured to death. No wonder Zoe was willing to risk her life to kill the bald man. I let out a soft sigh and pretended not to see the corpse in the swimming pool.
In the end times, there''s no room for excessive sympathy. Only those who are cold-hearted have the right to survive until the end. However, what I didn''t expect was that when I pushed open the door of the bald man''s residence, a group of thugs were dividing up the supplies in boxes, making unpleasant cheers. My face turned pale immediately because those supplies were what I had hidden in an abandoned office building in the city center with my own hands. Among them was a mechanical watch that I had never been willing to part with. These were the rewards I had earned over the past two years as a bounty hunter.
Because I was dissatisfied with the bald man''s 80-20 tax rate, I chose to store these supplies in a place only I knew. If there were no unexpected circumstances, it must have been the bald man who sent someone to follow me. Otherwise, it would be impossible to explain why the supplies ended up in front of the bald man. At that moment, the bald man was standing on the second floor, looking down at me from above. He seemed to be greeting me warmly.
"Gold, you''ve come just in time. The guys outside picked up a lot of good stuff. This is going to make us rich. I''m in a good mood today. You can take whatever you want from these supplies."
I looked up at him and sensed a hint of threat in his words. It seemed as if the bald man was saying that no matter how I hid the supplies, in the end, they would all belong to him. I suddenly smiled with relief and pretended to be clueless. While thanking the bald man for his kindness, I picked out the 20% of the supplies he had given me as a reward.
I could feel the bald man''s gaze fixed on me, but I didn''t care and left the villa directly. The moment I stepped out of the gate, my expression turned cold and the smile on my face vanished. "Old classmate, I borrowed this for 24 hours, right?"
Bounty hunter, mission accomplished. The third rule of the end times: whoever messes with your money, you take their life.
But before carrying out the assassination plan, I needed to make the necessary preparations. Retrieving the supplies I had left at the entrance of the mall was the first step of the preparation!