Global Survival: Dominating the Apocalypse with my skill

Chapter 7: Apocalypse begins

Scott came across a video showing several people collapsing to the ground. A few seconds later, their bodies began convulsing violently.

"Oh my goodness! What's wrong with them?" a woman shouted. "Someone should call an ambulance! We need to get them to the hospital!"

She hurried towards a man who was also convulsing, attempting to help him.

"Sir, are you okay? Can you hear me?"

Suddenly, the man stopped convulsing and sprang to his feet. Before the woman could react, he lunged at her and sank his teeth into her neck.

"Arrrrgh!"

The woman screamed, desperately trying to pry him off, but his grip was too strong. He continued biting until he tore a large chunk of flesh from her neck.

"Are you crazy? Why are you attacking her?" a man shouted.

However, the zombie immediately turned towards him and pounced, biting him and tearing another chunk of flesh from his body.

Meanwhile, the woman who had been bitten began to convulse, turning into a zombie in just few seconds. She turned, pouncing on someone in the crowd.

The others who had been convulsing also stopped all at once and slowly rose to their feet. Their bones were bent at ridiculous angles, and their eyes had turned cloudy grey.

They began pouncing on other people, biting anyone they could catch and tearing chunks of flesh from their bodies. Within seconds, the entire scene had turned into a bloodbath.

This began a chain reaction of zombies eating people and those who were bitten also turning into zombies and in turn biting other people.

Chaos quickly ensued. People screamed and ran in every direction after realising that something was terribly wrong.

The video ended with a scream as a zombie suddenly appeared in front of the camera. Its bloody mouth hung open, with pieces of flesh still dangling from its teeth.

A chill ran down Scott's back.

The apocalypse had really begun.

He immediately searched for more news to find out how far the zombie outbreak had spread. Just a few minutes earlier, he had been searching for information and found nothing. Now, videos of zombie attacks were appearing all over the internet.

It was as though everything had started all at once.

Another video showed countless zombies attacking people inside a hospital, including healthcare workers. Most of the hospital staff had already transformed, and the entire place had become a bloody mess, with mangled bodies scattered everywhere.

Scott recognised the hospital. It was only a few minutes' drive from the hotel where he had previously stayed.

He was glad he had checked out in time. Staying near a hospital during a zombie apocalypse was dangerous.

Even if the hospital hadn't been close to the hotel, he had never intended to remain there for long. Crowded places were death traps during a zombie apocalypse. There would be nowhere to hide, and anyone unlucky enough to get trapped could end up becoming a zombie's next meal.

Suddenly, Scott remembered something important.

He hadn't used his skill at all the previous day because he had been too busy. He wanted to check whether unused chances could be carried over to the next day and added to his daily uses.

He opened his panel, navigated to the skill interface, and quickly found his answer.

Unfortunately, unused daily uses could not be carried over.

COPY Skill

Can replicate 5 copies of a single item per use.

Daily Limit: Can only be used 3 times per day.

Skill Cooldown: Every 8 hours.

Has a 10% probability of increasing the quality of the copied item.

Number of Uses Left: 3

Upgrade Requirements: 9 more copies.

"Fuck! What a miscalculation on my part!"

Scott slapped his thigh in frustration.

"I'm so annoyed. I should always find time to use my skill, no matter how busy I am. But there's no crying over spilled milk. I just can't let the same mistake happen again."

He took a deep breath, trying to divert his attention from the missed opportunity to upgrade his skill. The more he thought about it, the more frustrated he became.

Then he remembered something else.

He hadn't checked the Regional Chat for information. That should have been his first source of information before even checking the news.

Players had already been informed about the impending apocalypse, and they were scattered across different locations. Some would inevitably experience the outbreak earlier than others.

"What the fuck is wrong with me? This is a life-or-death situation, and I'm not even thinking properly. GET. YOUR. HEAD. IN. THE. FUCKING. GAME!"

Scott shouted, hitting his head.

He immediately opened the Regional Chat. New messages were appearing and refreshing rapidly. Most of them were about the apocalypse, but one particular message caught his attention.

Dreadwolf: There are limits in this game world, and there are consequences.

Procrastinator: What do you mean by limits and consequences? Explain clearly.

Dreadwolf: I can't say more than that. Just know there are limits, and they have nothing to do with skills or backpacks. It's something entirely different.

SunnySide: You can't just drop a cryptic message like that and expect us to figure it out.

Limits?

What did Dreadwolf mean by that?

Scott couldn't think of anything that could be considered a limit. He only hoped he wouldn't unknowingly trigger something that would cause him trouble.

He closed the chat and began preparing himself.

He put on thick leather gloves, long sleeves, long boots, and a thick jacket. They would provide at least some protection against scratches and bites, provided he was careful enough not to let the zombies get too close.

He then took a machete from his space and held it firmly. Since he couldn't get his hands on firearms for now, this would have to serve as his weapon.

His missions required him to actively kill zombies, not simply find a safe place and wait until the survival period was over.

Before leaving, he activated his Copy skill, hoping to trigger another upgrade. At the very least, he wanted to make his skill more useful.

Five copies appeared in his space. He took them all out and examined them, but none had triggered a quality upgrade.

It was disappointing, though not entirely unexpected.

He would try again after the cooldown. For now, he would have to make do with what he had.

The virus seemed to have infected people randomly. Apart from the fact that it originated from a failed laboratory experiment, its exact method of transmission remained unknown.

Scott decided to start in a sparsely populated area where he would encounter fewer zombies and, hopefully, fewer people.

He climbed down from the RV and stored it in his space.

Just as he was about to move forward—

GROWL!