Chapter 20: Domestic Machines Are Truly Impressive!

Kong Zhe slipped quietly into the security office, peering through the shattered window to observe the situation outside.

Roughly five hundred meters away stood a towering building—that was the shopping mall Kong Zhe was searching for. Yet, from the residential area to the mall, just within his field of vision, he already counted more than a dozen monsters, not to mention the many others lurking in the shadows.

For most people, even for those who had awakened their abilities, facing such a scene would be a nightmare; they’d never dare cross. With monsters packed so densely, disturbing even one would attract the attention of all nearby beasts, almost certainly leading to a gruesome death.

But Kong Zhe was both skilled and bold. After a careful survey, he finally drafted a winding, convoluted route in his mind, one that would minimize encounters with the monsters as much as possible.

He knew he couldn’t simply stroll over this time. Taking a deep breath, he slipped out of the security office, dropped to the snow, and began to crawl forward. His white robe blended seamlessly with the snowy landscape; from a distance, it was impossible to pick out a human figure on the ground. His little dog scouted ahead, checking for any hidden monsters along their chosen path.

A low, guttural growl soon reached Kong Zhe from up ahead—the dog must be confronting something, but since there was no warning signal, it meant Kong Zhe could proceed.

He soon crawled past the dog’s position, and out of the corner of his eye glimpsed the creature his companion was facing: a Plague Murloc. This type of monster wasn’t formidable in combat, but it possessed a particularly troublesome ability.

Disease Cloud: Releases a contagious miasma that weakens nearby enemies, dealing 1 point of damage per second for 60 seconds. However, this cloud would never kill an enemy outright, always leaving them with at least 2 points of health.

The murloc hissed and faced off with the little dog for a while, but in the end, cowardice won out; it backed away and left.

Seeing the murloc retreat, the little dog raised its shovel triumphantly and let out a proud howl.

Kong Zhe breathed a sigh of relief. The little dog was a level-three monster—a high rank for these times—so most monsters wouldn’t dare challenge it.

In this manner, with the dog leading the way and Kong Zhe crawling behind, their progress was slow but safe.

As Kong Zhe drew nearer to the mall, his nerves gradually settled. Good. At this pace, he’d reach the mall safely before long.

Suddenly, he felt something hard beneath the snow. Pausing, he moved his hands to brush away the snow and gave a pull. To his shock, he unearthed an arm.

He froze, then tugged harder, pulling free an entire corpse.

The sight nearly made him vomit. Judging from the clothing and the long hair, it was a woman’s body. There were no visible wounds, but all exposed skin was swollen and festering, the face so bloated and waterlogged it was impossible to make out her features.

Kong Zhe immediately thought of the murloc he’d just seen. Only that monster could have caused such a state. This woman must have succumbed to the Disease Cloud and frozen to death here.

Having spent most of his previous life in the southern hemisphere, Kong Zhe had rarely encountered Plague Murlocs. Seeing the woman’s miserable fate, he resolved never to provoke one of those hideous creatures in the future.

It was just a minor episode. Shaking his head, Kong Zhe gently set the corpse down and prepared to move on.

But just then—

“Woah, woah!
Woah, what the hell, enough already!
I told you I can’t take it anymore, but you just keep going—”

A string of classic movie lines blared from the corpse’s pocket beside Kong Zhe.

At any other time, hearing such a ringtone would have made him chuckle. But now, laughter was the furthest thing from his mind.

His pupils dilated in shock, cold sweat instantly soaking his back. He frantically reached into the woman’s pocket and pulled out a pink cell phone.

The phone screen flashed an alarm to wake up, with a third of its battery remaining. Kong Zhe was at a loss for words. Three days had passed, and the battery still wasn’t dead—domestic phones really were incredible!

No, what was he thinking! He quickly silenced the alarm.

But it was too late. Whatever the woman did in life, she’d set her phone alarm to maximum volume—and in this empty, silent street, the blaring ringtone was as loud as a construction site.

This was the first release of the story.