Chapter 23: Giantwood City, Feeding the Walking Dead

"Huff—huff—huff—Host… Host… I-I'm back!!"

The system’s breathless voice sounded beside Qiao Jia. She turned her head and saw that an enormous bundle almost filled half of the small cabin.

“It’s… it’s all here!”

“The low-durability weapon mystery boxes were too popular. I got stomped on several times by another system’s data—my numbers nearly crashed.”

The system complained pitifully to Qiao Jia—it had worked so hard!

"Good job. Once we win the competition, I'll help you get even," Qiao Jia said, patting the dog's head to comfort it.

The little dog-shaped system whimpered and nodded, setting down the bundle.

Qiao Jia untied the bundle, quickly counted out one hundred medical mystery boxes, and had the system deliver them to Shen Tong and the others.

She repacked the remaining boxes, hoisted the massive bundle onto her back, and set out for Giantwood City.

Along the way, every survivor who saw the bundle on Qiao Jia's back was utterly stunned.

When they heard she was heading to Giantwood City, they became even more excited.

"Mayor—Mayor, my family lives in Banyan Community, Building 7, Apartment 1308. These are all the crystal cores I have left. If you could just check whether my family members are still alive, that’s all I ask!"

"If this isn't enough, I'll pay you back with more once I have them!"

A young woman hurried over, offering every crystal core she owned, even her food and supplies, hoping Qiao Jia would confirm her family’s safety.

"I'm sorry," Qiao Jia shook her head gently, declining the request.

She didn’t even know where the city gates of Giantwood City opened, much less had time to look for people.

Besides, she really didn’t have the time.

There weren’t just this girl’s relatives in Giantwood City; many survivors from the town had family there—Qiao Jia couldn’t help everyone.

She had no idea what truly awaited inside Giantwood City.

"Isn’t it just a small favor?" a survivor muttered, barely audible. To the mayor, it wasn’t even that troublesome. And the girl was willing to pay.

Qiao Jia stopped, gazing steadily at the muttering player.

She had to admit, spending time with Shen Tong and the other protagonists made their attitudes contagious. Qiao Jia didn’t dislike the feeling, but it didn’t mean she had a gentle temperament, letting anyone walk over her.

Perhaps Qiao Jia’s handling of Xie Jinghan and the goblins had created some misunderstanding among the survivors.

In truth, both incidents were for the town’s development, for the competition.

But clearly, the survivors didn’t see it that way.

A flash of killing intent passed through Qiao Jia’s eyes, and her presence became sharp and menacing.

The surrounding survivors could acutely feel her mood and instantly fell silent, not daring to speak further.

Fortunately, Qiao Jia had no intention of killing anyone in town—the muttering survivor narrowly escaped disaster.

No one dared block her path after that. Carrying her massive bundle, Qiao Jia strode straight toward Giantwood City.

On the way, she passed countless zombies and monsters, grabbing a kitchen knife off a zombie's corpse for self-defense.

While a corpse couldn’t die again, damage meant costly repairs in points.

Halfway there, the system caught up. Under the moonlight, the two of them journeyed on toward Giantwood City.

...

Giantwood City was close to the town—by car. On foot, dodging all manner of zombies and monsters, Qiao Jia and the system spent hours reaching the city’s outskirts.

Staring at the sign—“100 meters ahead to Giantwood City”—Qiao Jia shifted the weight on her back and pressed on with a calm expression.

Giantwood City was far livelier than her little town.

Even deep into the night, gunfire and explosions, mixed with the howling of zombies and monsters, created a cacophony of chaos.

The roads were badly damaged; it was nearly impossible for vehicles to drive out of the city.

No wonder so few survivors had escaped from Giantwood City—most came from elsewhere.

For survivors trapped inside, escaping was almost impossible.

Qiao Jia walked carefully, guided by the system toward the direction where survivors might be.

Suddenly, a group of dark figures appeared ahead.

"Host, those are ghouls!"

The system bit Qiao Jia’s pant leg in warning.

Qiao Jia looked up. Slender, withered bodies, tattered clothes fluttering in the night breeze—each ghoul exuded an eerie presence.

"Host, they're coming!" The system was especially nervous; this was its first real encounter with ghouls—all its knowledge was theoretical until now.

"Don’t be nervous," Qiao Jia replied with utter calm, not the slightest hint of fear in her demeanor.

The group of ghouls crept closer and closer, surrounding Qiao Jia and growling in low, guttural tones.

Their voices were strange, but Qiao Jia, oddly, understood them.

"Same… kind?"

"Strange…"

Surrounding her, the ghouls studied Qiao Jia with curiosity, puzzled by why this ‘same kind’ seemed so odd.

She looked so frail and thin.

"Eat…"

One ghoul picked up a bloody chunk of meat and pressed it to Qiao Jia’s lips, smearing blood across her mouth.

They were oddly kindhearted, wanting to feed this seemingly frail companion.

They were nothing like the dumb zombies from before, who had half a mind to bite Qiao Jia just to see what would happen.

Perhaps those zombies were too low-level—these ghouls couldn’t even handle Xie Jinghan, the male lead.

Qiao Jia gently pushed away the ghoul’s hand, shaking her head.

She took a crystal core from her pocket, showed it to the ghouls, then popped it into her mouth, miming a swallowing motion.

Of course, she had actually exchanged the core for points.

"Host, you’re even tricking ghouls out of their crystal cores?" The system was astounded by her cunning—how could anyone be so clever!

"Not really," Qiao Jia modestly replied, taking the system's words as a compliment.

Upon seeing the crystal core, the ghouls seemed to understand.

"Eat…"

They rummaged around, returning with their hands full of crystal cores for Qiao Jia.

So naive and kindhearted—the system felt it could weep in gratitude for these ghouls. What good ghouls they were!

With a rough estimate, Qiao Jia figured there were nearly two hundred first-tier crystal cores among the lot.

"Want to open a mystery box?" Qiao Jia mused, pulling a low-durability weapon mystery box from her bundle and offering it to the ghouls.

They curiously poked and prodded the box, completely clueless as to its purpose.

Qiao Jia explained patiently, gesturing as she spoke, but the ghouls remained baffled.

Only when the system stepped in did they finally comprehend the use of the mystery boxes.

"Open… weapon?"

The ghouls looked down at their sharp claws, then tilted their heads at Qiao Jia.

They already had those.