Hah… Hah… Hah… Hah…
Lu An did not know how long he had been battling the zombies and he did not care either how long it had been. The thing in his mind was taking a rest.
He stood motionlessly with his shoulder dropped forward. Energies drained out of his body, but he knew the battle was not over yet. Slowly, he turned his head toward where the noise came from.
Lu An saw Boss was still battling against the last group of the zombies. He witnessed Boss was swinging the big battle-ax tirelessly.
Hah… Hah… Hah… Hah…
"I... a-am… hah... s-still… hah... far... behind… hah…" It took Lu An some effort to say it out, "I… have… hah… to… help…"
He tried to move his feet but to avail. His feet refused to budge even just a little. Lu An could no longer move, his body was at the limit. No matter how hard he tried, his body refused his brain's order to move.
As Lu An tried to move his body, he heard some noise not far from him. He turned his head mechanically, then he found a male zombie, about ten meters away from him. The male zombie had its lower body severed, it was crawling with its hand toward him.
It caused some noises as it crawled, in that instant, Lu An's pupil contracted in horror. His sleepy and exhausted eyes enlarged in horror as he tried to move his body.
Slowly, the zombie crawled toward Lu An. It pulled its comrades' piled bodies, shorting the distance between it and Lu An. After a moment of panic, Lu An realized the fact that he still could stand was a miracle.
He witnessed with his own eyes the zombie slowly crawling toward him, even so, he could do nothing but watch the zombie slowly getting near. At this time, only regret and helplessness filled his heart.
'If only I were a little stronger! Just a little…' Lu An closed his eyes in regret for not following his Boss' step, crazily killing the zombies just like Tang Shaoyang did, '... Maybe I will not die here…'
When he closed his eyes, the male zombie was only two meters away from him. It was just a matter of time before he was eaten by the zombie.
Just as he thought the male zombie was about to reach him, but a booming sound resounded next to him. The ground vibrated, then a familiar voice entered his ears.
"What are you doing, Boy? Were you giving up just now?"
Slowly, Lu An opened his eyes. The first thing he did was checking the zombie that crawled toward him. Not far from his feet, he saw the zombie's hand trying to reach his feet. The male zombie could not reach him with the tip of the battle-ax pinned its body onto the ground.
He was saved and without doubt, once again, Boss saved him. He looked up and indeed, his Boss was walking toward him with his body covered in blood. Blood that came from the zombies he killed.
Only then Lu An let out a sigh of relief as he shook his head in response.
"Hoho, so you are exhausted to the point you can't move?" It was his first time to encounter someone who could not move because of exhaustion.
Lu An nodded in response.
"Not only you can't move, but you also can't speak?" Tang Shaoyang asked in wonder as Lu An merely shaking or nodding.
"N-No… I can speak, but I would rather not… It will worsen my thirst… I am sorry, Boss..." Lu An replied with his dried voice.
"Hoho, that so? Then let's rest for now and get our meal as well!" Tang Shaoyang walked to Lu An's side.
He pulled the battle-ax and immediately crushed the zombie's head with his right foot. After that, He put the battle-ax on his right shoulder while carrying Lu An on his left shoulder. They were heading back to Changshou Establishment.
Walking amidst the zombie's dead bodies, it gave out an eerie atmosphere. Moreover, the sun also almost set, indicating they had been battling the zombies all noon.
It took fifteen minutes of walking to reach the Changshou Establishment. Tang Shaoyang brought Lu An to the right building, Changshou Plaza. Even though the city filled with zombies, fortunately, the electricity was still working.
Heero brought Lu An to the third floor. It was a floor that focused on selling furniture. He threw Lu An onto the bed on display and said, "Wait here, I will get our meal!"
"B-Boss… D-Don't leave me… What if there are zombies here?" However, the words failed to reach his Boss as Tang Shaoyang went back to the second floor, the grocery center.
Lu An panicked as he kept glancing left and right. He was worried suddenly a zombie popped out of nowhere and bit him. He did not want to die yet.
Just as he thought the third floor was safe, he heard a voice from the escalator. Lu An immediately turned his head toward the escalator that was about ten meters away from him. He strengthened his grips on the butcher knife as his heartbeat accelerated.
Badump! Badump! Badump!
Then a shadow jumped out from the escalator which startled him. He immediately stood in response, but when he saw the shadow to be his Boss, Lu An relieved.
Tang Shaoyang was oblivious that he just startled his only subordinate. But he was delighted to see Lu An could stand already.
"Oh, you can stand now? Good… Good…" Tang Shaoyang commented with a big smile while bringing a big box of instant ramen, a pack of eggs, cabbages, and bacon. He poured everything next to Lu An, including the drinks which Lu An immediately took.
"Fwuah! The thirst is killing me! Thank you, Boss!"
"Wait here, I am going to get a portable stove…" After that, Tang Shaoyang turned around and muttered, "The appliance should be on the fifth… or the sixth floor?"
"Ah, Boss seems familiar with this place…" Lu An overheard his Boss's mutters, "Hmm, but he said this place would be our base…" Lu An looked at the surroundings and commented, "Hmm, not bad…"
Soon, Tang Shaoyang came back with a portable stove as he even brought a knife to cut the cabbage. Then, he set the table and began cooking the instant ramen.
Lu An, of course, felt unwell, letting Boss cook for him. He wanted to offer himself to cook, but it seemed Boss could read his mind, "It's okay, just this once you will taste my cook!"
Put the noodles into boiling water, the spice, and when the noodle was almost done. He put the cabbage earlier and the last was the egg. After that, he served the noodles into the bowl. The last step was putting the bacon into the bowl, then the ramen was ready to eat.
The golden yellow egg in the middle was not fully cooked as he put the egg last. Next to the egg were three slices of bacon perfectly waiting to be eaten.
Lu An was surprised as the plating was surprisingly good. At least, this ramen had a better look than the ramen he made earlier this morning. The first thing Lu An did was poking the golden yellow egg.
The runny yellow egg oozed out from where he poked. He did not know why, but he had an urge to dip the bacon into the egg and he did it. As he put the bacon into his mouth, the delicious flavor flooded over his mouth.
"Such a simple recipe, but it was so delicious…" Lu An was not stingy with his praise.
"You are exaggerating, it's just a random recipe!" Tang Shaoyang rolled his eyes at Lu An's exaggerating praise. Then, both of them had instant ramen for their meals.
Lu An immediately slept right after he finished his third bowl and Tang Shaoyang merely shook his head at this. He planned them to sleep in the five-star hotel, looking at the exhausted Lu An, Tang Shaoyang, also lazy to move.
He chose a random bed then he fell asleep as well.
The next morning, Tang Shaoyang woke up with an energizing body. A night's rest washed away yesterday's exhaustion. The moment he opened his eyes, he smelled the instant ramen he ate last night.
"Hehe, Boss, you wake up?" Lu An greeted while slurping the noodles. The moment he woke up, Lu An made breakfast and the current bowl was his second, "Do you want some ramen?"
Tang Shaoyang shook his head, "Eating instant ramen is not healthy… Hmm, but I wonder if it's truly not healthy for our enhanced body…"
There was no doubt that his body got stronger as he leveled up. But he was also curious if he still could get sick when he reached a higher level.
Tang Shaoyang shook his head at those thoughts as he went to the second floor. When he returned, he was bringing a bunch of snacks and a carton of milk with him.
He sat next to Lu An and asked, "So how's yesterday's harvest? Have you got your talent yet?"
When Tang Shaoyang brought up the talent, Lu An made a sad face, "I haven't got my talent yet and I am level 13 now!"
"It's weird, I got my talent at level 5 or 6, around that level…" Tang Shaoyang held his chin, thinking about how to get a talent for his subordinate.
"Are you sure you did not miss the notification?" He asked again upon thinking Lu An might be missing the notification while battling the horde yesterday.
Lu An shook his head as he was sure that there was no notification about him getting a talent point.
As Tang Shaoyang had no way to get the talent for his subordinate, he opened his status screen. Talking about level, he remembered he had not allocated his attribute points yet.
-----------------------------------------
Name: Tang Shaoyang
Age: 26
Affiliation: None
Level: 25
Talent: Divine Body
Attribute Point: 8
Strength: 86
Agility: 34
Vitality: 46
Stamina: 39
Magic Power: 26
Sense: 7
Skill: Basic Detection
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Tang Shaoyang allocated four attribute points into Strength and allocated the rest into Vitality.
Noticing Lu An was done with breakfast, he tapped the boy's shoulder, "Don't get discouraged, I believe you will get your talent later. For now, let's check our new base, it's a five-star hotel, you know!"
Tang Shaoyang was pretty excited about his new base. Before this unknown game started, there was no way he could get something like this, but everything was different now.
Lu An also got pretty excited when he heard this. He immediately followed his Boss, they went down and headed toward the hotel that was located in the middle.
As they reached the entrance, the glass door automatically opened, a luxurious and big lobby awaited ahead of them. Surprisingly, the hotel was intact, then the duo immediately entered the hotel with a big grin.
[ You have entered an inhabitant territory! ]
[ You have triggered a mini-game! ]
[ Mini-Game: Kill or Get Killed ]
[ Task: Please kill the territory's keepers to finish the mini-game. Note: During the mini-game, you can't get out of the building! Good Luck, Gamer Tang Shaoyang! ]
However, the grin instantly vanished upon the notification rang in his ears.