Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Oath

“Join them. As long as you keep improving your strength, you’ll be able to take care of your mother—and who knows, maybe one day I’ll need your help.”

A lunchbox and a water bottle—if this is real, it’s an incredible deal. Even if he isn’t that Guo Yu, Fang Xia still believes he’ll accomplish something.

Moreover, he’s deeply loyal. In such dire circumstances, he’d risk his own life to save his mother.

Someone like that, if you save him once, he’ll never forget it.

“Brother, I owe you my life. If you ever need me, I’ll serve you without hesitation, even as a beast of burden.”

As he spoke, Guo Yu kowtowed three times, the sound echoing in the room. His mother, who had already awakened, sat on the bed witnessing this scene, gratitude shining in her eyes.

“Take this knife. Live well, and we’ll meet again sooner or later.”

The bone knife Fang Xia had treasured before the apocalypse hadn’t been used in a long time; it was perfect to give to Guo Yu now. With it, he’d be able to quickly advance to a First Rank Warrior and have the strength to bring his mother safely to a survivor group.

After this, the rest would be up to him.

Returning to his own room, Fang Xia indulged in a deep, satisfying sleep. With these comforts, there was no reason to deny himself.

When he woke, the first thing he did was prepare a self-heating rice meal. The rice ball tasted great and was filling, but the portion was just too small. After a day, his mouth still longed for more flavors.

But eating steaming beef rice was sheer bliss.

The tent was set up in the living room; Fang Xia hadn’t even gone inside yet. From the outside, it looked like a standard one-person tent, but inside it was a whole different world—two hundred square meters of space, extremely convenient.

He took out all the mattresses and bedding from his personal storage, leaving them for the others to sort out among themselves.

The main problem was washing and sanitation. If only those needs could be met inside the tent.

He had one toilet, but that was far from enough.

A bathtub too—impossible for thirty-some people to share just one.

Sanitary pads were another major concern. Women—such a hassle.

And this was only thirty-two women. In his previous life, the “Daughters’ Corps” had five or six thousand women—what a headache that must have been.

Ultimately, his resources were still far too limited.

Thinking of this, Fang Xia couldn’t sleep anymore. He picked up his knife and headed outside.

With one life-saving skill in reserve, he fought recklessly today. On the street, he often saw other survivors—all of them hurriedly passing by, avoiding unnecessary trouble.

Killing zombies to earn upgrade crystals—at this stage, the priority was to help all his young women become First Rank Warriors, so they could find more airdrop crates.

He reached a supermarket right beside the street. There was no back door, so by guarding the entrance, he didn’t have to worry about being attacked from behind.

Then Fang Xia began making a huge ruckus.

Zombies in the daytime only had reduced hearing—they weren’t deaf. With such a high-profile commotion, hordes of zombies surged toward him.

There had been other survivors on this street, but seeing this, they cursed him as a madman and fled as fast as they could.

Fang Xia stood guard at the supermarket doorway—these were all resources, after all.

The slaughter lasted over an hour. Occasionally, a survivor appeared but quickly avoided the area. No one dared provoke a zombie horde of this size at this stage.

Fang Xia was like a tireless killing machine, repeating the same slashing motion—one swing often cut down four or five zombies at once.

Against these weakened First Rank zombies, he might as well have been watching seventy-year-old grannies moving in slow motion—they simply couldn’t touch him.

After more than an hour, Fang Xia leaned on his knife, panting, surrounded by piles of zombie corpses. He had single-handedly cleared the entire street.

Now came the more tedious task of searching for upgrade crystals—more exhausting than killing zombies.

Luckily, upgrade crystals were hard and gleaming, making them easier to find.

With each slice, rows of zombie bodies were split open, and many crystals spilled out.

Having real strength was exhilarating. Who else could collect upgrade crystals this way? Probably only a handful in the entire city of Baicheng could do it.

Killing zombies took just over an hour; collecting upgrade crystals took three whole hours—241 crystals in total, that was Fang Xia’s final haul.

There were probably a few missed, but he had no desire to go over the corpses again. No matter how strong-hearted, sifting through mangled bodies was revolting.

By two in the afternoon, Fang Xia had recovered his strength. One massacre like this was enough—any more and he’d be spent. Next, he would search for airdrop crates guarded by Second Rank zombies.

With more survivors joining, airdrop crates were getting harder to find. By day, First Rank zombies no longer posed much threat to humans.

But Second Rank zombies remained a nightmare for most—encountering one meant certain death.

Rather than wasting time searching courtyards for airdrop crates, it was better to hunt for Second Rank zombies directly on the main streets. High-level crates were what Fang Xia desperately needed.

But before leaving, he needed to clear out the supermarket’s stockroom.

It was obvious someone had been here before—the warehouse doors were open—but Fang Xia didn’t mind; there was only so much anyone could carry off.

Self-heating rice and hot pot meals greeted him as soon as he entered—exactly what he wanted. Much better than bread or cakes, tastier and more filling.

He took all the chili sauces, condiments, and water.

Salt and spices were worth stockpiling too.

Salt might seem useless now—after all, it’s not like you’re cooking elaborate meals—but three months later, after the earthquake and the founding of Dawn City, salt would become valuable. Hoarding some now was an investment.

And who says salt is useless now? Once you leave the city, you’ll find not only zombies but also hordes of mutated beasts.

Then, when you hunt a few wild boars, you’ll be glad to have salt to cook with.

Sanitary pads? Take them all. If the group expands, you can never be too prepared.

By the time Fang Xia left the supermarket, his storage was filled with another four thousand kilograms of goods.

Without his bracelet, it wouldn’t have been enough. If only he could get a few of those hundred-thousand-kilogram bags.

It wasn’t even dark yet, and Fang Xia was already daydreaming.

At two thirty, the day was still young. He could go out to hunt for Second Rank zombies and try for a few high-level airdrop crates.

Along the way, he saw fleeting figures and came across two airdrop crates, but both had already been found and picked clean by others.