Survival in the Apocalypse: Max Level Drop Rate with Abundant Resources

Inside the duty room, gravel fell from the ceiling and landed next to Shen Xi.

He lay prone behind the pile of debris, holding his breath as he watched the scene unfold before him.

That enormous figure... the rotting corpse of the human trafficker leader, finally fell.

It lay on the ground, its chest torn to shreds by the ghost child, with dark brown blood flowing everywhere.

But those scarlet eyes remained fixed on the little girl kneeling beside him, their gaze devoid of resentment, only filled with a twisted, complex tenderness.

The little girl knelt beside it, head bowed, her pale little hand gently resting on its enormous head.

The entire duty room was shaking, and cracks in the walls were spreading wildly like a spider web.

A loud rumbling sound came from the underground parking garage, as if something was collapsing on a large scale.

Shen Xi knew that the building was about to collapse and that she had to run away.

But his legs seemed to be nailed to the ground, completely unable to move.

"uncle."

The little girl spoke.

She didn't look at Shen Xi, but said softly, "Do you know what it feels like to be locked in a dark room?"

Shen Xi opened her mouth, but couldn't say a word.

The little girl's voice was very soft: "There was no light there, no one to talk to, only the sound of my stomach rumbling. I counted more than three thousand sheep, but he still wouldn't give me any food."

She paused, her pale face and pure black eyes glistening with what seemed like tears.

"I used to...have a mother."

"My mom is so good to me. She braids my hair, buys me pink dresses, and takes me to the park to swing."

"That day, Mom took me to the park. She just turned around to buy ice cream, just for a little while... really just a little while..."

The little girl's voice began to tremble.

An uncle came over and said, "Little friend, your mother asked me to pick you up."

"I believe it."

"I went with him."

"Then... I was shoved into a bread truck. My mouth was taped shut, and my hands were tied behind my back. I cried, I called for my mother, but no one paid any attention to me."

Although Shen Xi was terrified, she couldn't help but continue listening.

"Later, he sold me to a couple," the little girl continued, her voice growing softer. "They locked me in the basement because they thought I was crying."

"That basement was so dark. There were no windows, no blankets, just a hard, tattered mattress. Rats were running around on the floor. I was so scared."

"I called for my mother, I called for her so many times."

"But Mom can't hear me."

"They only brought me food once every three days. Sometimes it was spoiled steamed buns, sometimes it was half a bowl of cold water. I was so hungry that I was eating plaster from the wall, but the plaster was bitter and astringent, and I couldn't swallow it..."

Shen Xi closed her eyes.

He had seen too many people die tragically in the apocalypse, but listening to this child recount her death in the calmest voice, he couldn't help but feel sorry for her.

"Later, I got sick. I had a high fever, and I was delirious." The little girl's voice became even softer. "They dragged me out of the basement, looked me over, and said, 'You're sickly, you can't be sold.'"

"Then...they threw me back into the basement."

"Uncle, it's so cold."

"It's so cold."

"I huddled in the corner, hugging my knees, and kept calling for my mother. But she never came."

"Then I wasn't cold anymore."

"I fell asleep and never woke up again."

She paused for a long time after saying this.

The entire duty room was shaking, the cracks in the ceiling were getting bigger and bigger, and rubble was falling like raindrops.

Shen Xi's eyes stung a little.

After ten years of living in the apocalypse, he thought he had long since become cold-blooded and numb.

But at this moment, as he listened to a child recount how he starved to death, froze to death, and died of illness in the basement, he realized that he was still a human being.

There will still be feelings of anger and sadness.

"After I became like this, I ate a lot of people," the little girl continued calmly. "That couple, I ate them first. They knelt on the ground and begged me, saying it wasn't intentional, that they had their reasons."

I don't believe it.

"I tore them to pieces."

"And the person who drove me there, I found him too, and I ate with him."

"But I still can't find him, the one who took me away from the park."

She looked down at the huge figure lying on the ground.

"So he's become like this too."

"He always remembered me, always called me 'child,' and always wanted to find me."

He said... Dad was wrong.

The little girl's voice finally showed a hint of emotion, choked with sobs, filled with confusion, and carrying a complex mix of feelings a child shouldn't have to bear: "But he's clearly not my father. He's a bad person. He sold me. He made me die there."

"But...why does he still keep this?"

The little girl picked up a yellowed photograph next to the body of the human trafficker leader.

In the photo, a little girl is swinging on a swing, with two braids, wearing a pink dress, and smiling brightly.

That's her.

She is still alive.

That was the last photo her mother took of her.

The little girl stared at the photo, completely frozen in place.

Blood and tears welled up again in his pure black eyes.

"It was my mom... who took this picture..."

Her voice trembled; at that moment, she was truly a wronged child: "Mom... I miss you so much..."

She pressed the photo to her chest and hugged it tightly.

Then, she lay down on the human trafficker leader's corpse and gently embraced the enormous head.

Her voice grew softer and softer: "Uncle, you should leave quickly. This place is going to collapse."

"Aren't you... leaving?" Shen Xi asked instinctively.

The little girl did not turn around.

"I'm not leaving."

"I'm so tired."

"I want to sleep."

"Maybe when I wake up, I'll see my mom..."

Rumble...

The walls of the entire duty room began to collapse in large sections!

Shen Xi knew she couldn't stay any longer!

He gritted his teeth, got up, and rushed out with all his might!

Behind her, the little girl huddled in a ball, clutching the enormous head and the yellowed photograph.

"Thank you, Uncle..."

"Take a look for me at the world where my mother lives."

boom!

The duty room behind them collapsed completely, with reinforced concrete pouring down, burying that small pink figure there forever.

Shen Xi was thrown to the ground by the shockwave and rolled several times before finally coming to a stop.

He lay on the ground, panting heavily. The enormous roar made his ears ring and kicked up a cloud of dust.

He struggled to his feet and glanced back.

Everything is gone.

The little girl and the human trafficker were both buried under the rubble.

Shen Xi opened his mouth as if to say something, but then gave up.

Just then...

The entire dormitory building, now filled with rotting corpses, began to shake violently!

It wasn't the kind of localized collapse tremor we'd seen before, but a devastating tremor that came from deep within the foundation!

[System Announcement: The area boss "Corpse Ghost Child (Level 5 Boss)" has been detected to have died prematurely! The Corpse Dormitory Building is about to collapse completely!]

[System Announcement: The beginner mode "Corpse Dormitory" has ended prematurely due to unforeseen circumstances! All surviving players will be forcibly teleported back to the real world in 60 seconds!]

[Countdown: 60, 59, 58...]

Shen Xi's pupils suddenly contracted.

"Ending early?"

"I'd never heard of such a mechanism in my previous life."

He looked up and around. Large cracks began to appear on the walls of the corridor, and the fluorescent light tubes on the ceiling shattered one after another, with glass shards falling like raindrops.

The load-bearing columns downstairs groaned under the strain, and the entire building was tilting!

[Regional Channel - Corpse Dormitory] (Currently Online: 39/100)

"Holy crap! Holy crap! Holy crap! The building's going to collapse!"

"What's going on? Weren't you supposed to take five days? It's only the fourth day!"

"The boss is dead? What boss? We've never even seen what the boss looks like!"

"Stop talking nonsense! Find somewhere to hide!"

"Screw you! The system says we'll be forcibly teleported in 60 seconds! Just stand still!"

"39 people... There are only 39 people left in our building..."

"The Primordial Lord is awesome! He must have killed the BOSS!"

"Stop bragging! Let's get out of here alive first!"

"Aaaaaah, it's so shaky! I can't stand up!"

Shen Xi leaned against the wall, barely managing to steady herself.

Suddenly, he thought of something.

"They're dead just like that?"

"I'm 5 experience points away from reaching level 5."

"My kill rewards, my beginner's best friend."

"Gone...all gone..."

Shen Xi stood there with an expression as if she had missed out on a hundred million, her eyes vacant, with only the rumbling sound of collapse echoing in her ears.

[Countdown: 30, 29, 28...]

Shen Xi took a deep breath, composed herself, and ran towards the stairwell.

"Oh well, it's gone. With the high drop rate of Heavenly Evolution items, there will be plenty of opportunities to get better things in the future."

He wanted to take one last look at the building where the nightmare had begun ten years ago.

As he passed the third floor, he saw the door to room 308 shaken open, and a figure in sportswear stumbled out.

It's Lin Yurou.

She was still holding the rusty steel pipe in her hand, her face covered in dust, but her eyes lit up the moment she saw Shen Xi.

"In the beginning!"

Shen Xi didn't speak, but simply nodded slightly at her.

Lin Yurou staggered over and stood beside him. Looking at the collapsing world before her, her eyes suddenly reddened.

"I...I survived?"

"Um."

"I survived on my own?"

"Um."

Shen Xi was not in high spirits, clearly still feeling disappointed at missing out on the rewards of two boss-level rotting corpses.

Lin Yurou didn't pay attention to any of that, she just smiled sweetly.

[Countdown: 10, 9, 8...]

The collapse of the entire building accelerated suddenly!

The floor beneath Shen Xi and Lin Yurou's feet began to tilt, and the two instinctively grabbed the railing beside them.

【5、4、3、2、1……】

[Teleportation initiated!]

A blinding white light descended from the sky, enveloping the entire dormitory building filled with rotting corpses!

Shen Xi took one last look at the ruins.

The white light engulfed everything.

……

[Since the Corpse Dormitory was cleared first, a global announcement will be made first!]

The beginner mode "Corpse Dormitory" has ended ahead of schedule!

[Number of players participating: 100]

[Surviving players: 39]

Mortality rate: 61%

[Special Announcement: Congratulations to player "Taichu" from the China region for becoming the strongest player in this round of new player games! Achieved the server-wide unique achievement...]

[King of Newcomers!!!]

The reward has been issued; please check your account.

The world channel... is finally open.

Shen Xi opened her eyes.

The familiar ceiling, the familiar iron bunk bed, the familiar room—everything was laid out just like I remembered it from ten years ago.

He is back.

Back to the real world.

His chest was completely intact, without any wounds or bloodstains. But the skeletal battle axe and the rotting corpse claws in his storage space were still there; this was no dream.

Shen Xi stood up, walked to the window, and drew back the curtains.

Feeling the sunlight on his skin, he took a deep breath.

Gu Yungui's father was a member of the military.

Shen Xi's lips curled into a cold smile.

"The Gu family..."

"You don't need to come looking for me."

"Once I'm ready, I will definitely visit you in person."