After finishing his meal, Guo Xiaobei felt much better. However, perhaps because he was just recovering from a serious illness, he still felt somewhat tired. Since he was a freelancer and didn't have to worry about going to work, he simply lay back down on the bed to rest.
He couldn't fall asleep for a while. Guo Xiaobei summoned the system again, ready to study it carefully.
He had only taken a cursory look earlier, and most of it remained unexplored. But when he noticed that the backpack icon on the system was blinking, Guo Xiaobei silently thought about entering the backpack.
There were about forty or fifty slots in the backpack. Currently, only two slots contained items, which were a small blue and pink bundle respectively. The system prompt indicated that they were random rewards from the previous task.
Guo Xiaobei used his silent thoughts to open one of the bundles. The bundle disappeared and turned into a bottle of clear water, while the other bundle contained a rough piece of bread.
Looking closely, there were small inscriptions on both the water and the bread, reading "500ML of Clear Water" and "Low-Grade Rough Bread" respectively.
What the heck? Could this kind of thing have different grades? Guo Xiaobei looked at the water in the backpack with confusion: What's this thing for?
The thought flashed through his mind, and he was already holding an ice-cold object in his hand. Guo Xiaobei raised his hand and saw that it was a bottle of mineral water just like the one in the backpack. Looking back at the backpack, sure enough, the first slot was now empty.
Could this thing... be drunk? Guo Xiaobei sat up, unscrewed the bottle cap, and took a sip. Hmm, it tasted good. It was indeed as sweet as Nongfu Spring water!
So the things in the backpack could actually be taken out. That was great! He wondered if they could also be put back in. The empty feeling in his hand made Guo Xiaobei feel a bit excited. Sure enough, the bottle of water he had drunk was already back in the backpack.
Wow, this was amazing. Was this a legendary storage bag?
Guo Xiaobei found it interesting. If he could really become like a character in a game, wouldn't that be like having a cheat code? Then he would surely have an amazing life. Guo Xiaobei laughed foolishly and pinched his arm hard. His skin immediately turned bright red in a large patch. While wiping away his tears, he continued to laugh foolishly: My time of prosperity has arrived, Guo Xiaobei!
However, speaking of games, to truly stand out, one had to look at the equipment. Guo Xiaobei clicked on the character's equipment, and suddenly a miniature three-dimensional figure of himself appeared in front of him. But the clothes he was wearing were the same as what he was currently wearing.
Upper body defense: 0, lower body defense: 0... Guo Xiaobei sighed. Indeed, he was wearing the lowest-grade equipment. But it was precisely because of this that there was the fun of upgrading, wasn't there?
But... whose face was this? Guo Xiaobei looked at the small figure in the system with confusion. It looked like him but not quite. The facial features were okay, but this appearance... it seemed like he was a minor.
Guo Xiaobei rushed to the bathroom. The person reflected in the mirror also looked like the one in the system. The familiar eyebrows and eyes were there, but the overall look was pleasing. All these were positive changes, but how could he explain that he, a 23-year-old young man, now looked like he was seventeen or eighteen? At most, that is...
His head hurt. He didn't know what to do about it, so Guo Xiaobei decided to play the ostrich and went back to bed to continue studying the system.
He entered the mall. Guo Xiaobei quickly glanced at the first page. It was basically various types of drinking water and food. There were the 500ML clear water and the low-grade rough bread from the backpack, as well as various canned drinks and all kinds of high-end food.
Oh my god, there was even pizza! Guo Xiaobei's mouth was watering. He loved all kinds of junk fast food. Although he knew it had little nutritional value, he still couldn't resist it. Having been sick for several days, his mouth had no taste. Suddenly seeing the pizza made him unable to resist.
Looking at the price below the pizza, it was still bearable - 50 gold coins. But... real-world money wouldn't work here, right? Guo Xiaobei fished out the last crisp hundred-yuan bill from his wallet and silently thought about depositing it.
Ding. The system deposited 10 gold coins.
Pfft... Cough cough cough...
Guo Xiaobei choked on a breath of air, causing a violent cough. My one-hundred-yuan bill! It actually turned into 10 gold coins. Then this damn pizza must be worth five hundred yuan!
The overly exaggerated price made Guo Xiaobei lose his appetite instantly. However, he also felt a bit happy. He had earned 20 gold coins from taking a shower and cooking noodles earlier. That meant he had earned two hundred yuan? As long as he could withdraw the money, his life would be much better. Two hundred yuan a day was much faster than making money by writing online articles. Guo Xiaobei couldn't help but laugh foolishly.
Indeed, Guo Xiaobei was a writer. He usually wrote novels on a website to earn some living expenses. However, he wrote romance novels. A male writer who wrote romance in the author group was quite rare. Every day, he was harassed by a group of women.
But his articles weren't very popular. Although he worked hard to write every day, he still couldn't make much money and could only barely make ends meet. If it weren't for the fact that his parents had died in an accident a few years ago and he had received a substantial insurance payout, he might have been out in the scorching sun running errands now.
Guo Xiaobei was naturally lazy and very introverted and homebound. After graduating from college, he had little contact with his classmates and friends. Since he found that writing novels could earn him some living expenses and he also got flirted with by girls, he started his career as an online writer.
In 2012, the so-called doomsday. A few days ago, Guo Xiaobei had even joked in his newly completed article that on December 21st, he would turn into a zombie. Who would have thought that the doomsday hadn't come yet, and he had fallen ill first. However, because his updates were usually irregular, the editor didn't pay him any attention. In fact, even if the editor had noticed, they wouldn't have been able to see his reply because he was already in a high fever and had no clear mind.
After going through this, Guo Xiaobei felt a bit lonely. At least when he was sick, there should be someone to take care of him so that no one would know if he died and started to smell.
However... Guo Xiaobei sighed. He had dated before, but none of the relationships lasted more than a month.
The more he thought, the more thoughts crowded his mind. Guo Xiaobei simply turned on his little computer. There were only a few comments urging for new chapters under his article, and the editor hadn't sent any messages either.
Thankfully, no one was cursing. Thank goodness... It's just very lonely.
Guo Xiaobei clicked on a news pop-up window.
"Contagious virus has entered the tap water system. Residents are temporarily advised not to drink it." A big headline appeared on the front page of the news column. Below it, the relevant departments called on the public to stay at home and not go out, waiting for notices from each street. Hospitals would send additional medical staff to various communities to vaccinate residents uniformly. Residents who had already been infected needed to call the government, and separate vehicles would pick them up and take them to the hospital for treatment. The symptoms of infection included: flu-like symptoms, fever, mental confusion...
Guo Xiaobei checked the region. His city was also included. He was silent for a while, and a very strange thought suddenly popped into his mind. Could it be... that a real zombie outbreak had occurred?
There had been frequent natural disasters around the world these days, and the weather was very abnormal. It was precisely because of this that he had caught a cold and had a fever when he went out to buy things earlier. Moreover, even the water he used to cook noodles earlier was tap water...
To answer the doubts in his heart, Guo Xiaobei started typing words like "tap water" on the Internet to look it up. After this brief search, Guo Xiaobei was almost scared to death. It turned out that similar zombie-like symptoms and attacks on humans had occurred in many places around the world, and there were even some people pointing out that those who were attacked or bitten by these so-called zombie-like people would get infected.
Was he given this mysterious system to save the country and save humanity? But with just a bit of water and food, how could he make any difference?
During the short time he was online, the sound of ambulance sirens had already been going back and forth downstairs countless times. He looked down through the window. It was a chaotic scene below, with cries of grief everywhere. It seemed that the situation was getting worse and worse. He didn't know when the new vaccine would arrive and whether it would be effective at all.