C4 Killing Zombies to Exchange for Apples

"When did they start locking the doors?"

Yan Cheng was close to tears. After finally finding a weapon, he hadn't anticipated this additional hurdle.

With no other option, Yan Cheng retreated to his dorm, securely locking the door before preparing to make his way across the balcony.

It was unlikely that anyone else would carry such a weapon. This might well be the only one in the entire dormitory.

Yan Cheng packed all his essentials. Since he was leaving for good, he decided not to return, especially with a zombie corpse still lying there.

He approached the balcony and noticed the zombies below hadn't spotted him. Climbing up, he cautiously edged along the balcony's perimeter.

Perhaps due to hunger and nerves, he nearly lost his footing when stepping onto the adjacent balcony. Thankfully, he gripped the handrail with considerable strength.

The close call left him drenched in cold sweat, but he managed to get across safely.

"Thank goodness the balcony door wasn't locked!" he exclaimed in relief.

Once inside, he easily located the kitchen knife. Clutching it, he finally felt a sense of security.

"A kitchen knife is such a handy thing! Even the fiercest zombies would fear it," Yan Cheng mused to himself.

The next task was to dispatch the zombies. After some contemplation, he decided to begin from his own building's top floor.

He cautiously opened the door and moved to the other rooms on his floor. The dormitory had only seven floors, and they were at the very top.

Yan Cheng methodically checked each room on the seventh floor but encountered no zombies.

He breathed a sigh of relief. During his search, he stumbled upon some food: instant noodles, ham, sausages, and more.

He quickly returned to his starting room, locked the door, and ate heartily to restore his energy. Once he had devoured most of the food and felt satiated, Yan Cheng grabbed the kitchen knife, packed the remaining food into his backpack, and made his way down to the sixth floor.

Reaching the sixth floor, he found the hallway dim despite the daylight. At the corridor's end, he saw a figure swaying uncertainly.

"I can't believe there's actually a zombie. What if it attracts others? I'd better lure it into a room before I take action!" Yan Cheng mused. He quickly located an empty room, flung the door open, and scattered the furniture—tables, chairs, and stools—across the floor in disarray.

With a kitchen knife gripped firmly in his hand and a magazine plucked from nearby, Yan Cheng stepped out into the corridor. He balled up the magazine and hurled it down the hall, hitting the zombie squarely.

The zombie paused, seemingly confused, but then shambled toward Yan Cheng with a clumsy gait. Watching the slow-moving creature, Yan Cheng grew impatient. "It's moving too slowly! I should have chosen a room closer to it!"

The corridor spanned roughly fifty meters, and it took the zombie a full five minutes to traverse it. Once it had drawn near, Yan Cheng darted into the room.

The zombie dutifully followed him inside, where the cluttered furniture proved to be an obstacle. Yan Cheng easily stepped over the chaos, but the zombie quickly stumbled and fell.

Seizing the opportunity, Yan Cheng jammed a chair against the zombie's neck, effectively pinning it down. He then swiftly chopped off its hands, anxious to prevent it from grabbing him. With a grimace of disgust, Yan Cheng raised his knife and brought it down on the creature's head.

The handless zombie continued to thrash until Yan Cheng's blade cracked its skull. The struggle ceased abruptly when he hit the crystal core nestled within its brain.

"Finally, it's over!" Yan Cheng exhaled deeply, relief washing over him. He wiped his knife on a bedsheet, grabbed the crystal core, and left the room.

On the sixth floor, Yan Cheng found a clean bedroom and locked himself in. He collapsed onto the bed, his energy nearly depleted from the fight. His lack of physical strength, coupled with the adrenaline rush, had drained him.

"System, how much energy can I get for this crystal core?" Yan Cheng asked silently, leaning against the wall.

"A Level-1 energy crystal core can be exchanged for ten energy points. Would you like to proceed with the exchange?"

"Exchange," Yan Cheng responded without hesitation.

The crystal core vanished from his hand, and the system confirmed, "Exchange successful. Current energy balance: 10 points."

"How much rice and cabbage do we have in the warehouse?" Yan Cheng inquired.

"At present, there's 50 kg of rice, 50 kg of cabbage, and 10 kg of apples," came the response.

"That much?"

"Yes, the Level 1 crops grow quickly, and what we have here is what's left after selling some."

"Great, I won't have to worry about food anymore. By the way, how much food can I get for one energy point?" Yan Cheng suddenly thought to ask. If exchanging food was expensive, then the system would be quite the rip-off.

"One energy point can get you one kilogram of a Level 1 crop. For Level 2 crops, it's double, and for Level 3 crops, it's triple, and so on."

"If there's a Level 9 crop, I'd have to spend 256 energy points!" Yan Cheng remarked.

"Crops are only rated up to Level 4, so there's no need to worry about exorbitant food prices, Lord," the system assured.

Yan Cheng pondered for a moment and nodded in agreement.

"That's reasonable. I mean, I can take down a zombie and exchange it for 10 kg of rice. Level 1 zombies are fairly easy to kill, especially with someone to back me up!"

"Let's start with a pound of apples," Yan Cheng requested.

As he spoke, his phone projected an image of a pound of apples in front of him, which then materialized into real fruit. Yan Cheng caught two of the apples, while the rest landed on the bed.

"Can I choose a specific spot for materialization in the future?" he asked.

"Certainly, you can specify the location."

"And is it possible to materialize without all the special effects?"

"Absolutely!"

"Then let's keep it simple from now on. Being understated is the real deal," Yan Cheng said, then bit into an apple with gusto.

He devoured the large apple in no time.

"Tasty!" he exclaimed, stowing the remaining apples in his bag. As he slung the bag over his shoulder, he noticed the weight.

"Can I materialize items one at a time in the future?"

"Definitely. I never understood why you wanted a whole kilogram at once. Isn't it burdensome to carry them all?" the system commented with a hint of sarcasm.