Chapter Eighteen: Rare-Grade Dagger

Inside the room were two other men, playing games with two young female staff members, but the staff seemed exhausted. Hardly a sip of water or a proper meal all day, then forced to play games with several men in turn—no one could withstand such torment.

...

Fang Xia was oblivious to what was happening in the hotel; by now, he had already descended the stairs. The lobby was overrun with more zombies than yesterday, likely a result of his actions the previous day, bringing them in without an escape route. Yet today was not the same as before—he no longer feared this tier of zombies. As long as his stamina held out, any number of them were merely fodder for upgrade crystals.

"Damn, a bunch of stingy bastards," he muttered.

Over thirty zombies, and only one upgrade crystal emerged? Clearly, it was time to upgrade Bai Xing—she truly was the chosen one, luckier by far than himself.

Stepping out the hotel door, he found even more zombies outside, many unfamiliar faces, confirming that another wave of zombie rain had fallen last night. Fang Xia avoided provoking them; his stamina was limited, and attracting a horde on the street would be nothing but trouble.

Finding the supply drop was his priority now; slaying zombies was only necessary if forced. After orienting himself, Fang Xia moved swiftly northward, guided by Bai Xing's memories—there should be a supply drop box in that direction.

He skirted the zombie army without incident, swiftly dispatching a few that blocked his path. With his current speed and explosive power, he could kill quickly enough not to alert any nearby zombies during daylight.

Maintaining a rapid pace, he pressed on.

"A supermarket," he noted, darting inside.

No sooner had he entered than several zombies lunged at him; his blade flashed, sending them to their rest in moments.

"At last, another upgrade crystal. My luck is truly abysmal," he sighed offhandedly, then began looting the place.

Puddles lingered on the floor, and bodies sprawled in various corners—clearly, these unfortunate souls hadn’t survived the first day. The shelves were bare; anything left would have been scavenged in recent days.

But Fang Xia's goal was not the main hall, but the warehouse. After wandering the store, he finally spotted a sign, found the stairs, and descended to the basement, where a few zombies awaited, two obviously once human.

Dispatching them easily, Fang Xia knew he'd found the right place.

The two humans must have been supermarket staff, hoping to find food after the disaster, only to attract zombies and become one of them without ever finding sustenance.

With a flick of his battle blade, Fang Xia broke the warehouse’s heavy lock and pushed open the door.

This... was far more abundant than expected.

His ring already carried nearly four hundred pounds of goods, with over six hundred pounds of space left; he’d thought it sufficient, but now realized it was nowhere near enough.

Snickers bars, nuts, chocolate—anything he could imagine was here. He wished he could take it all! This drove him to seek more supply drop boxes; spatial equipment was simply too scarce, five hundred kilograms never enough.

Ultimately, he took one hundred pounds each of Snickers, nuts and chocolate, various drinks, snacks like potato chips, and self-heating rice—one hundred pounds apiece.

Space was still sorely lacking; what he'd taken seemed insignificant against what remained.

He ventured deeper—women's underwear and clothing, stuffed into his ring, one hundred sets each, then the same for men’s attire.

After all was collected, only a pitiful twenty-five kilograms of capacity remained.

He closed the warehouse door, resolving to return if he found more spatial equipment, to fill his storage completely.

Stepping out of the supermarket, Fang Xia exhaled deeply.

Even without additional spatial gear, what he had now, combined with what he’d stashed at the hotel, was enough for him and Bai Xing to live comfortably for a long while.

Only twenty minutes remained until nine o’clock. Now it was time to search for supply drop boxes in earnest.

Turning a corner, he saw a tall wall—such places often hosted supply drops.

He circled the wall, finally finding the main entrance, revealing a compound of some organization. The iron gate was closed, but the smaller door was ajar.

Since the apocalypse struck at midnight, there were rarely any survivors inside compounds.

Entering the courtyard, he saw several cars parked, all waterlogged and clearly unusable.

He wandered the yard but found no supply drop box.

"Ah, there's another little door," he noticed.

Passing through, he entered the rear courtyard, where a box sat quietly in the center.

At last, he had found one.

Fang Xia rushed forward, a gentle swipe of his blade unlocking the small lock.

White light again obscured his view, forcing him to reach inside by feel.

A lunch box, a water bottle, and... nothing else!

It was the lowest-tier supply drop box, only two items.

Though Fang Xia had expected this, disappointment still stung. He remembered that in his previous life, finding even the most basic supply drop was cause for days of excitement.

No matter, on to the next.

Ten minutes remained till nine o’clock; if he found nothing, he could only hope for something to drop from the sky.

Moving rapidly, he entered every compound he passed. At the fourth one, he finally discovered a second supply drop box.

"Heaven, grant me luck for once," he prayed.

A lunch box.

As he pulled it out, a burst of purple light flashed—delight filled him.

"A rare item! I've struck gold."

"Shadow Dagger—40% chance from high-level supply drop, rare-grade dagger."

A rare-grade dagger at last, something different.

He vaguely recalled hearing that Bai Xing had used a dagger in her previous life.

At the time, he hadn’t known she was a woman, and wondered why a top expert would use a dagger for stealth.

Now, Fang Xia understood—a dagger, light and agile, was far more suitable for a woman.

And thankfully, it was a dagger, only about ten pounds. Had it been a battle blade, he wouldn't have been able to store it—those weighed sixty pounds each.

After retrieving the two items, the white light lingered. Fang Xia’s spirits soared.

This time, perhaps fortune truly smiled upon him; the third item was spatial equipment—a jade pendant.

Spatial equipment came in various shapes, each signifying different capacities.

Rings were smallest, holding only five hundred kilograms, while jade pendants could store a thousand kilograms.

There were even larger ones, like bracelets, with a staggering capacity of five thousand kilograms.