Jack fell silent as he listened to Sarah retelling what had happened. His face twitched as he felt that this was unbelievable.
"Wait, don't think I missed how you went from Windor's Siege being my game to ours and finally your game. Explain yourself." Jack said jokingly.
Sarah lightly coughed and blushed. She hadn't realized that.
"Ah, don't worry about the details. Plus, saying that it's ours after winning 10,000 dollars more than makes up for it, no?" Sarah said as she smiled with her teeth even though she knew Jack couldn't see it.
Jack stroked his chin and nodded in agreement.
"Now that you say it like that, how can I say no?" Jack said with a massive grin on his face.
There was no reality where he would deny 10,000 dollars. Whether in his past life or the current one, 10,000 dollars was a lot of money.
Even when he had the System 10,000 dollars, he could convert that money into one thousand points—enough to directly unlock a whole new skill.
Although it only unlocked at the lowest grade, F-grade, that was the skill level of most average people after spending some time on the skill.
Ten thousand dollars was definitely enough for him to no longer care about that simple word usage. In any case, Sarah did have good points. She was his first investor and the reason he made Windor's Siege in the first place.
Without her, how could he have won this 10,000 dollars? So, she might as well be the second owner of the game.
Sarah hummed to herself after direct approval that she was now a proud owner of Windor's Siege.
"Hester, with this momentum, the chances of Windor's Siege being a success is huge. We should start a game studio. What do you think?" Sarah added cheerfully.
Jack choked on the water from which he was taking a sip. He wiped his lips with a napkin and thought about it.
However, he was hesitant.
"Hmmm, I don't know. Let's see how Windor's Siege does during launch." Jack said calmly.
He hoped Windor's Siege would be a success, but he couldn't forget his main aim for creating Windor's Siege in the first place. He made the game to get enough money for his military service deferral extension.
That alone was 60,000 dollars every six months—a huge money drain.
The constant reminder of the financial pressure on him was suffocating. He had less than twenty-one days to make that kind of money.
If he had used that 10,000 dollars plus the 6000 dollars of investment money from Sarah and Betty, that would have left him with 44,000 dollars, he still needed to make up.
How would he make that money and still have enough to form a game studio?
"Let's take a step at a time," Jack said calmly.
"..." Sarah fell silent.
"Fine," Sarah said in a deflated tone.
Sensing her mood, Jack coughed and changed the subject as he leaned back in his chair. The bar patrons' chatter and the smell of fresh food helped ease his mood.
"By the way, who has gotten through further so far? Has anyone broken past the round five barrier yet?" Jack asked with curiosity.
Sarah perked up from the question and replied with shock.
"Definitely. The person even reached round seven!"
"Round seven, that was quick. I guess you can't underestimate anyone. Maybe I should increase the difficulty level?" Jack muttered with shock.
"Don't! It's hard enough." Sarah cried out. It should have drawn attention, but at that exact moment, another person let out a bloody shriek as they lost.
Jack laughed heartily, "So, who is this genius? And how did they do it?"
Sarah's face twitched as she said, "Guns,"
"What?" Jack asked, scrunched his eyebrows.
"I mainly added guns to use as materials to create defense systems. But it shouldn't be possible for players to even make a self-made turret this early." Jack said with surprise.
He hadn't expected to hear that a player was already breaking his game in ways he never expected.
"Hester, they definitely didn't make a defensive system. They used the guns to shoot the zombies to death." Sarah said excitedly, regaining her bubbly energy.
"Wait, let me start from the beginning." Sarah paused to mull over her words.
"You know Cedrea, who I mentioned earlier. He was the one who invented that technique."
"During his second turn, he learned from his mistake and created a better defense. Letting him reach round three, but as he was shopping in the store, he noticed he could buy guns and bullets."
Cedrea stared at his in-game tablet, which was used to buy items from the city. His face was filled with anxiety as he glanced at his defensive line.
He had a line of green-furred Venus Fly Traps and Crusher Pumpkins protecting the front of his base. But he didn't feel that this was safe enough.
To afford more plant cards, he sold some of his Dandelion Fruit Tree plants for extra cash this round. He was trying to find anything to help him get through this round.
Trying to survive ten Pale Zombies and ten Slow Walkers would be hard, even with his current lineup. Until now, the further anyone had reached was round four, and they used this strategy.
"Come on, there has to be something good in the store I can afford. Why are plant cards so expensive?" Cedrea muttered as he scrolled through the vast catalog.
As he scrolled through, his eyes suddenly stumbled upon the firearm section.
"Guns? I thought this game wouldn't have guns." Cedrea said with surprise.
"It really is realistic. I wonder if I can use these." Cedrea muttered as he remembered that he damaged a zombie by himself.
If he could equip a gun, couldn't he have an effective way to fight back?
Feeling tempted, Cedrea took the chance and bought a basic G-Frame Rifle and some bullets. After that, he purchased two Smashing Pumpkin plant cards with his remaining money.
After finishing his purchases, Cedre stepped outside his base and watched as a large drone from the city flew over rapidly. Without so much as landing, the black and white drone dropped a wooden crate that crashed to the ground with a thump.
Cedrea didn't hesitate to rush to the box and tore off the top to see that two Smashing Pumpkin plant cards were neatly packaged along with two boxes of bullets. The G-Frame Rifle was packaged separately in a sleek metal case.
"So cool," Cedrea said with sparkling eyes.
Seeing the sleekness of the metal case for his rifle, Cedrea couldn't help but feel excited. And when he felt the cold metal of the gun in his hands, he felt an unexpected level of security he hadn't felt since he first played Windor's Siege.
"Hmph, zombies, you better watch your heads because if you step on my property…hmph!" Cedrea said with confidence and determination.
Having self-defense boosted his confidence on a level he couldn't help but love.
He was so confident that he decided to take a risk and save his XXXFertilizer by not speeding up the maturity of his new Smashing Pumpkins. Instead, he waited inside his base for nightfall.
As the light disappeared and the roars and groans from the hoards of zombies filled the air, Cedrea tightened his grip on his G-Frame Rifle. The unyielding cold metal soothed his nerves, letting him keep his composure.
And soon, the hoard of zombies arrived. The Pale Zombies rushed ahead with their insane speed. Their mouths filled with black rotting teeth opened unnaturally wide as they lunged towards the nearest living creature.
As they arrived, the green-furred Venus Fly Trap plants attacked. Their jaws swallowed several Pale Zombies, but they struggled to hold them. Their acid wasn't as effective for Pale Zombies, which had mutated to handle stronger acids.
The remaining Pale Zombies roared and immediately began tearing chunks out of the green-furred Venus Fly Trap plants, unwittingly trying to save their companions.
As this happened, the mature Smashing Pumpkin attacked. Their large tentacles filled with pumpkins attacked the threats. But they were slow and couldn't keep up with how ravenous the Pale Zombies were.
When the Slow Walker Zombies finally arrived, they drew the Smashing Pumpkins' attention, causing massive casualties but allowing enough time for a few Pale Zombies to escape from the green-furred Venus Fly Trap plants' mouths.
"Damn it! My defense isn't strong enough without those two Smashing Pumpkin plants." Cedrea muttered as sweat dripped down his forehead.
If this continued any longer, his defense would crumble, and the game would end.
"God, I'm scared, but this time…I'm not going to let you get off easy. If you want me, then get ready to eat lead." Cedrea growled.
Knowing that he was on the brink of death, a burst of courage filled Cedrea's chest. He snapped his G-Frame Rifle with bullets and felt his body instinctively get into the proper firing position.
Even without experience handling guns, the game's support qualified him as an expert gunslinger.
And so he fired.
Bap! Bap! Bap!
The hell storm of bullets flew across the night sky and landed precisely on his targets. A Pale Zombie about to kill a green-furred Venus Fly Trap plant suddenly found its body filled with holes.
Black blood splattered everywhere. As the storm of bullets destroyed the Pale Zombie's head, its body dropped dead completely.
Watching the Pale Zombie die by his hands, Cedrea froze from sheer shock. He actually killed a zombie.
Excitement and satisfaction filled his body, but when he accidentally saw how many bullets he used, that feeling halved.
"What the hell? One Pale Zombie used up half a cartridge!" Cedrea shouted with shock, but when he saw that his actions had suddenly tilted the battle in his favor, he didn't stop.
He didn't hesitate to use both of his bullet cartridges to kill three more Pale Zombies to shift the battle in his favor entirely. With nearly half of the Pale Zombies dead and a few Pale Zombies still trapped, the remaining Pale Zombies couldn't free the companions fast enough before the Smashing Pumpkin plants smashed them.
As for the Slow Walker Zombies, they had already been smashed to death.
Although the night was still young and the battle raging, Cedrea couldn't help but feel a wide grin across his face.
"Hahaha! I told you not to step on my property!"