Two men were standing in line at a bustling small restaurant, waiting to get takeout.
One of them swallowed hard and said, "I've been craving meat for so long. Last time I finally managed to exchange a Crystal Core for a piece, but it was spoiled!"
"Don't remind me. The meat I had before didn't have any seasoning at all. It was called meat, but it didn't taste like it!"
"Exactly, and the price is higher than in the hotel..."
"Well, that's normal. Originally, you could only eat meat if you stayed at the hotel, but now we can eat it too. So what if it's a bit more expensive? Besides, in other places, you might not be able to get a piece of meat no matter how many Crystal Cores you have. Here, one Crystal Core can get you quite a lot! What more do you want?"
"But I heard there are many other good things in the hotel, and they're not cheap. Shouldn't we be saving up?"
"You have a point..."
"Listen, I have an idea," the man said mysteriously. "There are still many people outside willing to pay a high price for meat. I've heard that the food here doesn't spoil no matter how long you keep it. If we buy some and then sell it elsewhere, a fresh serving of spicy hot pot could easily fetch more than ten Level 1 Crystal Cores outside! Don't you believe me?"
"This... is that really okay? It doesn't seem right!"
"Come on, what era are we living in? Are you getting all righteous now? Sure, the stuff in the hotel is cheaper than outside, but it's not free. You still need to save up enough points! Even if you have enough for food, don't you want to buy new clothes? Don't you want a phone or a computer? Don't you want to live like we used to? Think about it!"
"Alright, I'll do as you say. Let's buy more and then take it to other places to..."
Before the man could finish his sentence, he heard a light chuckle.
He turned around to see a young couple standing behind him, both wearing mocking smiles.
"What are you laughing at?"
The girl in the couple waved her hand and said, "Sorry, we didn't mean to eavesdrop. It's just... our hearing is too good, and we accidentally overheard."
"What's so funny about that?" the other man angrily retorted. "I know our plan is a bit underhanded, but what's wrong with wanting to live better in this apocalyptic world?"
"No, we're not saying you're wrong," the boy in the couple said. "It's just... haven't you read the store rules?"
The two men were stunned and looked at each other.
When they came in earlier, they had glanced at the rules but didn't pay much attention, only knowing that fighting and causing trouble were prohibited.
They quickly turned to look at the rules posted on the left wall.
The last rule stated: All goods from this restaurant are prohibited from resale. Violators will be blacklisted from the restaurant, Peace Supermarket, and Peace Hotel.
The two men: "..."
They had been careless!
"Whether it's the hotel, the supermarket, or this newly opened restaurant, they all have this rule," the girl said with a smile. "You can buy goods and give them to others voluntarily, but reselling at a higher price is impossible."
The two men looked dejected.
"Instead of thinking about these shady schemes, why not work hard to improve yourselves and earn more Crystal Cores to exchange for points? Otherwise, you won't be able to afford food or even stay at the hotel."
"...We understand."
...
"Ding! New task unlocked: Organize a sports meet at the school. Task rewards: Unlock all rooms on the 9th and 10th floors of Building 2; Upgrade all rooms on the 8th floor of Building 2; Unlock Building 3 of the hotel and all rooms on its 1st and 2nd floors; Unlock all rooms on the 5th floor of the Special Building; Unlock various research laboratories and all necessary equipment and props; Unlock the game hall and all facilities within. Note: The sports meet will be held on the school playground. In addition to the students at the school, other hotel guests can also participate. The top three in each event will receive point rewards."
Gu Wanyin was quite satisfied with this simple task and its generous rewards.
Another hotel building, Building 3, had been unlocked.
The 9th and 10th floors of Building 2 were presidential suites, suitable for high-level ability users with many Crystal Cores.
The 1st and 2nd floors of Building 3 were cheaper, suitable for ordinary people.
Moreover, unlocking various research laboratories might allow them to develop some useful things.
Gu Wanyin still had faith in human wisdom.
Earlier, a hotel guest chatting with her mentioned that they hadn't conducted experiments in a long time. Before the apocalypse, they only focused on having enough to eat and survive, but now that food and shelter were no longer concerns in the hotel, they found themselves missing the days of being immersed in the lab.
"System, do you think humans could develop a cure for the zombie virus? If so, we might be able to end the apocalypse one day. Although there are still various natural disasters... solving the zombie problem would make things much better."
"That depends on you humans," the System replied. "Once the research labs are unlocked, there will be ready-made research materials. If you work hard enough, it's not impossible to solve the zombie problem and save some people."
"Research materials? What do you mean?"
"According to the rules, I can't say too much."
Gu Wanyin rubbed her chin.
Did it refer to zombies? No, that couldn't be right. Zombies were extremely difficult to kill, how could they be considered ready-made research materials?
Regardless, the first step was to complete the task and unlock the research laboratories.
Gu Wanyin immediately announced that a sports meet would be held at the school playground the day after tomorrow.
Upon hearing this news, the students at the school were the most excited.
Other guests were also eager to sign up.
After all, the top three would receive point rewards!
Although not much, first place would get 300 points, second place 200 points, and third place 100 points.
But it was still enough to buy quite a bit of food.
Gu Wanyin set the competition events, including long-distance running, sprints, relay races, as well as shot put, high jump, long jump, and so on. She asked Xu Shi and Fang Yang to keep track of the number of participants.
It was good to occasionally let everyone gather and have fun together. They had been very happy at the Mid-Autumn Festival party last time.
...
Bai Shuwen and Zhuang Xiaoxia were currently outside looking for zombies.
They wanted to kill a few level 1 zombies to see if they could get some Crystal Cores.
Just then, a figure appeared in front of them, swaying and stumbling towards their direction.
Bai Shuwen quickly pulled Zhuang Xiaoxia to hide around a corner.
Such a walking posture was very likely to be a zombie.
Bai Shuwen peeked out a little and sure enough, a lone zombie was walking towards them. It was quite tall and covered in blood.
However... although the zombie's face was grotesque, Bai Shuwen couldn't shake the feeling that it looked increasingly familiar the more she looked at it.
