Chapter 8: An Unwelcome Guest with a Vivid Imagination

The Beichen Base belonged to a civilian organization, and two groups had arrived—one consisting of the base’s officials, the other made up of survivors from within the base. The officials were clearly not here for friendly reasons; they intended to make trouble for Qiao Jia.

Qiao Jia’s blind box stall had intercepted many survivors, and to begin with, few managed to escape from Giant Wood City. In recent days, every survivor who made it out of Giant Wood City was stopped at Qiao Jia’s blind box shop, and her group of survivors even went to Beichen Base to recruit more people. Wasn’t this tantamount to plucking fur from a tiger’s head?

Of course, another reason for the officials’ interest was the blind boxes themselves. The survivors praised Qiao Jia’s blind boxes to the skies, and the base officials were naturally intrigued by such a mysterious power. If they could “invite” Qiao Jia and her blind boxes to join the base and put them to use, nothing could be better.

Early that morning, the blind box shop was crowded with players. The low-durability weapon blind boxes were the most popular, mainly because of their affordable price. The chance of obtaining a good weapon was the same as with regular weapon blind boxes. Even with their drawbacks, the low cost made them tolerable. As long as someone drew a major or minor hidden weapon, their previous sunk costs would quickly be recouped.

Yet so far, only Shen Tong and that burly man had drawn hidden weapons from the low-durability boxes. The third lucky draw belonged to the fake heiress of the Shen family—a bow and crossbow. Most survivors received weapons such as long knives, spiked clubs, axes—slightly better than ordinary weapons but still cold weapons, no match for firearms.

“Ah, damn it! Boss, give me another weapon blind box!” On the open ground around the blind box stall, a survivor was frantically pulling at his hair, frustrated—another cold weapon! Couldn’t he just get a firearm for once? Or even a ranged weapon would do!

“One low-durability weapon blind box, a bargain at ten crystal cores.” Survivors crowded before the stall, and Qiao Jia calmly handed out blind boxes, collecting crystal cores in return. Those who tried to take advantage of the chaos had already been taught a lesson by Qiao Jia—they were still soaking in the river as punishment.

As the survivor’s voice echoed, the system took the blind box Qiao Jia handed over and hurried off on its short legs toward Liang Chuan—the survivor who had prepaid a hundred crystal cores the day before.

Accepting the crystal cores from another survivor, Qiao Jia suddenly sensed something and slowly lifted her head to gaze in a certain direction.

The faint howling of zombies drifted from that side, and the survivors’ faces changed dramatically, panic overtaking them. The previously lively and peaceful atmosphere vanished in an instant. Judging by the commotion, a horde of zombies was approaching!

These days, survivors had earned their crystal cores by killing stray zombies after fleeing Giant Wood City. Except for Shen Tong, who was absent, none of them could handle a zombie horde.

“A horde! The horde is here!” Survivors cried out in terror, memories of the oppressive days under zombie rule in Giant Wood City flooding back. Amidst the rising screams, a massive, densely packed zombie horde appeared in their line of sight.

Survivors immediately scattered in panic, leaving Qiao Jia alone at her stall. She remained composed, tidying the blind boxes and crystal cores.

“It’s time to restock,” she murmured, counting her weapon blind box inventory.

Far off, personnel from Beichen Base observed Qiao Jia’s situation. “Boss, so many zombies and she’s not afraid at all—not even running!” The man in the driver’s seat of the jeep stared at the drone footage in shock. Even they felt their scalp prickling at the sight, yet this woman showed no reaction, calmly counting her blind boxes.

The handsome man in the passenger seat furrowed his brows, suspecting that this woman’s origins were indeed problematic. Every zombie ignored her, as if she didn’t exist.

“All those stories spread in the base must be true,” said one of the three men in the back seat, his expression heavy. If they had to deal with such a mysterious figure, their fate would hardly be favorable.

“Boss, I swear the base leader is just out to get you! He’s always resented your reputation in the base being higher than his, and now he’s handed you this task knowing full well this woman is trouble!” The subordinate in the driver’s seat gritted his teeth in anger. As the head of the base, the leader couldn’t even stomach such a minor issue! If not for the boss’s intervention, he would have been zombie food long ago. Yet the leader had the nerve to demand, in front of everyone, that the boss bring this mysterious blind box seller back for the base’s development. The implication was clear: if the boss didn’t bring her back, he was deliberately hindering the base’s progress.

“If not for you, boss, Beichen Base wouldn’t have developed so smoothly!” The subordinate raged against the base leader.

“San’er, stop cursing. The boss knows what’s going on. Let’s just see what this woman’s game is,” said the scholarly man in the rear, glasses glinting with a fox-like cunning smile.

All five in the car stared at the screen, watching as Qiao Jia suddenly lifted her head, fixing her gaze directly on the drone, as if she could see the people behind the screen. She tilted her head, lips curling into a strange smile, then calmly resumed her work.

“This woman is so odd—her eyes are like those of a corpse.” San’er rubbed his arms, shivering with goosebumps.

Qiao Jia was, indeed, a corpse.

“Has she already discovered us?” San’er asked nervously. This woman was terrifying! They were so far away, yet that one glance felt as if a fierce beast had locked onto him.

The cold-faced man in the passenger seat and the foxish man in the rear grew serious as well. This was a woman not to be trifled with. San’er had it wrong—her gaze wasn’t corpse-like; she looked at them as if they were corpses.

It seemed she had detected their presence and realized this zombie horde was connected to them. Yet she hadn’t acted against them—likely because she knew the true culprit behind this outbreak was the Beichen Base leader.

One had to admit, their imaginations were vivid.

With the drone circling overhead, it was hard for Qiao Jia not to notice them. She was simply an ordinary dead person; all these men’s feelings were nothing but their own imaginings. Humans, after all, are creatures of extraordinary imagination.

[Host, I’ve detected a strong aura fluctuation again!] The system leapt onto the blind box stall, excitedly addressing Qiao Jia.