Chapter 22
Lin Tu, still in bed, abruptly sat up.
She looked at her phone. It read 23:00:01. She was back in the real world!
She scrambled out of bed and flung open the door. The familiar courtyard greeted her, and only then did she let out a sigh of relief, ambling back to bed at a leisurely pace. Xiao Huang, startled awake in her little dog bed, lifted her head in confusion.
A dreamless night passed. The next morning, Lin Tu woke at six as was her habit. She was just about to drowsily cook herself a bowl of porridge that would make her question her life, when she suddenly remembered she was back in the real world.
Her eyes snapped open with a gleam of clarity. She bolted awake, whipped out her phone, and opened the delivery app with the ferocity of a starving wolf, viciously ordering a basket of fresh meat buns, saucy pork buns, mushroom and vegetable buns, spicy beef buns, soup dumplings, and custard buns—one basket each. And then some: a plain youtiao, a sticky rice cake wrapped in youtiao, and an egg-filled youtiao. Plus a bowl of hot and sour noodles, a bowl of braised intestine noodles, and a bowl of dan dan noodles.
These orders weren't from the same restaurant. One by one, the delivery drivers arrived with steaming breakfasts to fill Lin Tu's stomach. As she ate, she gave the phone a glance she hadn't had time for the night before.
After clearing the D-level world's settlement, including the 120 points from completing the world, she had earned 1,813 points in total. Beyond those points, there were also random rewards from main and side quests, plus two special achievement rewards.
She'd need to plan out how to use the points. For now, Lin Tu turned her attention to the random rewards that required a draw to claim—
[D-level random reward: The prize pool contains D-E level special items, various D-E level resources and vouchers;]
The S-level description read much the same.
Lin Tu figured this lottery was fair enough for someone like her, who fate had never particularly favored—after all, the worst outcome was just one tier below the original. Still, she rubbed her hands together, deciding to draw the D-level random reward first as a warm-up, to boost her luck for the S-level one.
[Congratulations! You have obtained the E-level special item—'I love my home' Wind Chime]
['I love my home' Wind Chime: Presented with love by the Post-Disaster Reconstruction Laboratory;
When you are in a space that theoretically has a floor, walls, and a ceiling, you can hang the 'I love my home' Wind Chime outside the entrance. The wind chime will ring when it detects danger and send you a warning text via the app. No charging is required—it will protect your shelter 24/7;
Usage suggestion: Can be paired with disposable tent vouchers and disposable sleeping bags;]
The moment she saw the letter E, Lin Tu had a sinking feeling. But looking at it overall, this wind chime wasn't all that useful for most players—for her, though, it was a big deal, since she actually owned a house.
Looks like today's luck isn't bad! Lin Tu poked at the screen with confidence and spun the wheel for the S-level special reward.
[Congratulations! You have obtained the S-level special item—Full Body Boost Voucher]
[Full Body Boost Voucher: Slightly but comprehensively increases your strength, speed, agility, reaction time, and other physical capacities.]
Lin Tu: "..." There was such a thing?
She tentatively tore the voucher open and felt a warm current flow through her entire body.
She tried moving the fridge that had been a struggle before. She crouched down, thinking she'd need all her strength, only to find that with about sixty percent of her power, she could easily lift a refrigerator weighing almost fifty kilograms—that was nearly the strength of one and a half adult men!
Feeling the surge of power, Lin Tu immediately went out for a run. She found herself naturally quicker, more agile. As far as Bone Corpses went, she figured she could at least keep pace with one now.
She spent a while doing some high-difficulty moves around the yard—climbing trees, rapid descents—until she was finally worn out.
Lin Tu tore open the 'I love my home' Wind Chime voucher, and a smiling sun-faced doll appeared in her palm. She usually needed a stool to hang the wind chime on the crossbeam under the eaves, but now, with a small jump, she hooked it on.
At the same time, her phone buzzed with a new private chat message—
"From 'I love my home' Wind Chime: Good morning, master. The weather is clear, and your home is safe and sound~"
In a good mood, Lin Tu replied with a smiley face. When she exited the chat, she realized she'd been sleeping all night and playing all morning without seeing the messages the other players had sent her.
She skimmed past a few useless messages and went straight to Dong Huadan and Luo Yongzhi's—
"From player Dong Huadan: Sister, did you get the special achievement for Lin Tu City? I saw your name on the special achievement leaderboard, and it's even from a D-level world!"
"From player Dong Huadan: That's amazing, sister. Special achievement rewards are all unique. If you don't need it, could you show me? I'd pay a high price for it, thanks!"
"From player Dong Huadan: One more thing. I heard Luo Yongzhi is looking for you, seems like he wants to invite you to a double D-level plant-type disaster world. If you're going, I can introduce you to that player I mentioned who specializes in plant items. He posted a job looking for someone to find some things for him—should be in a double D-level world. You might be able to earn some takeout money."
Lin Tu frowned. Putting aside the double D-level disaster world and the rest, how had her name ended up on the special achievement leaderboard?
She looked at the special achievements she'd earned: the first was [Lin Tu City (post-disaster rebuilt city in a D-level disaster world)], and the second was [The Female General's Dream (Note 1)].
Lin Tu sighed, finally understanding what these special rewards meant—
The time flow in disaster worlds and the real world differed. In the brief second it took for her to leave the disaster world and step into reality, that world had already passed through decades, even centuries.
The small changes her presence had brought were magnified over time. The place she'd helped clean up was later called Lin Tu City. The little girl she'd helped, Nora... she had already grown old, had she? And become a female general at that.
Lin Tu stared at her phone, a strange feeling welling up inside her. She was about to mull over that feeling when another message came through—
[Would you like to select your special achievement rewards?]
Lin Tu tapped "Yes," and a list of items scrolled onto the screen—
[From 'Lin Tu City': You may select one item produced by Lin Tu City.]
[S-level Zombie Virus Antidote ×1 vial;
C-level Precision Firearms ×45 units with matching ammunition ×4,500 rounds;
D-level (Basic) Strength Boost Voucher ×10;
D-level...]
Without hesitation, Lin Tu chose the S-level Zombie Virus Antidote. A black case the size of a briefcase dropped into her palm. She set it aside and turned to the other special achievement.
[From 'The Female General's Dream': You may select one of the female general's abilities.
C-level special item 'Sense Disaster';
C-level special item 'Zombie Nightmare';
C-level special item 'All Hands on Deck';]
Lin Tu read through the item descriptions. These three special items covered information gathering, attack, and control. So Nora had turned out pretty formidable after all. Lin Tu smiled and chose 'Zombie Nightmare.'
She already had a smart butler and drones to gather disaster intel, and an Angry Corn for temporary control. What she was missing right now was a special item for offense.
[Congratulations! You have obtained the special item—Zombie Nightmare
Zombie Nightmare: From the ruler of a zombie disaster world, who led her militia to wipe out all the zombies in that world, creating a minor calamity aimed solely at zombies. After her death, she voluntarily donated her body to a certain Lin, and the Post-Disaster Reconstruction Factory crafted it into a dreamcatcher.
Using this dreamcatcher, you can create the creature you fear most in your heart and drive it to attack a target.
Notes: 1. The deeper your fear, the more terrifying the creature you create;
2. If you use it without fear, you will create Nora (medium nightmare level);
3. The dreamcatcher will shatter automatically after three uses;]
Lin Tu held up the small dreamcatcher, no bigger than her palm, and felt a strange bond tethering her and the dreamcatcher together. So... Nora was already dead? Lin Tu suddenly felt a pang of regret. If she'd known, she'd have pushed through her psychological hang-up back then and not pretended to be a foreigner.
After claiming all her rewards, a pitch-black interface appeared in her clean Anju app. When she tapped in, it was indeed the 'Infinite Calamity' interface.
[Congratulations on completing the newbie quest. You are now officially a player~ Infinite Shop, Doomsday Town, and many more features are now open to you~]
Lin Tu stored the dreamcatcher back in her inventory and was about to check out the shop she'd been dying to visit, when she found one more unread message—
[Dear newbie player, hello. You have entered the leaderboard for zombie kills and received an invitation to a special disaster.]
[God's Nightmare Space
Rating: S-level (Player's overall attributes below standard, pass rate 0.0001%)
Disaster: The Devil's Ship of Suffocation
Synopsis: After a world-ending calamity, all of humanity fled the planet aboard a spaceship, heading into the unknown universe. But a virus has invaded your ship. This virus turns the dead into evil demons, and all these demons crave is to take this ship—the bearer of humanity's last hope—on a bloody, terrifying carnival of fear!
Mission: Survive for 3 months (completion grants a random reward)
Main quest: Kill S-level zombies (unlock random rewards after reaching a certain kill count)]
[Note: You cannot decline the invitation to God's Nightmare Space.]
Lin Tu: "..."
She set down her phone, expressionless. She just loved this world so much! Her fists were itching again, weren't they?
She instinctively took off her glasses, ready to throw a punch or two, only to realize that throwing a punch wouldn't make her feel better—it might even make this terrible world feel good.
"What's this God's Nightmare Space invitation about?" Lin Tu asked the butler.
"It's because we're just too outstanding!" The butler wanted to cry too. How was it supposed to know that Lin Tu would go and land herself an invitation like this? "But... but there's still hope! The preparation time for an S-level disaster is one month! We can prepare properly in that month!"
Lin Tu wanted to kneel on the ground and smash this world to pieces. Could one month even make this world explode?
With her strongest willpower, she suppressed her rage, opened her phone, and tapped on Luo Yongzhi's chat—
"When do we leave? Can we make it as soon as possible? I'm in a hurry."