After their shooting practice, Jaxon headed out again with Natasha, just like usual, to continue their hunt.
"Did you spot anything?" Jaxon asked after Natasha finished scouting with the drone.
But she shook her head. "Nothing. No targets today either."
Jaxon let out a slow breath. "I don’t know if I should be happy or worried. We haven’t seen any infected around for the past two days."
"You should be happy," Natasha replied. "Aren’t you tired of dealing with those crazed undead? I honestly hope our days stay this peaceful."
"I do like the peace too," Jaxon said quietly. "But we still need coins."
He shook his head and forced a smile. "Let’s stop by Burgors’ place. I haven’t seen them in a while."
....
As soon as they arrived, Burgors rushed up to Jaxon.
"Jaxon, I’ve been waiting for you, man," he said excitedly. "How’s Elena doing?"
Before Jaxon could answer, Burgors continued on his own.
"I’m telling you, man, she’s been flirting with a lot lately."
"Uh, yeah... Don’t mind her words, she’s probably just teasing y-"
"This is love," Burgors let out a deep sigh as he stared into the distance. "She’s my destined person. I’m sure she’s thinking about right now."
Jaxon laughed and shook his head. Ever since Elena joined their group, Burgors had beco much more talkative.
"You’re going to see her later, right?" Burgors asked. "Say so good words for ."
"I’ll try, but don’t get your hopes up, sh-"
"Co on, man, be positive," Burgors cut in. "You’re staying with three beautiful won, so you wouldn’t understand. But think about . Even Hannah’s been grumpy at , so help with Elena, alright?"
"Alright," Jaxon said with a smile. "I’ll help you."
"Thanks man. You really are a good friend."
Seeing how deeply lovestruck he was, Jaxon chose not to crush his hopes.
After catching up with Hannah and Haris and updating each other about the escape plans, they prepared to leave.
This ti, Haris, Hannah, and Burgors went out with them to look for food. Jaxon and Natasha accompanied them part of the way toward Elena’s place before they finally split up.
That afternoon, they t up with Elena and the twins again and continued with the stealth lessons.
"You really have a knack for this, young man," Elena said with a chuckle. "You could have made a fine police officer. A sha the world ended."
Over the past week of training with her, Jaxon had co to know her better.
She could be kind at tis, but most of the ti she loved to tease. Yet the mont training began, she beca a completely different person. She was strict, focused, and serious. A natural.
Off to the side, Natasha watched quietly as she wiped the sweat from her face and took a drink of water. Elena’s discipline and genuine effort to teach had softened Natasha’s dislike of her a little. Still, she kept her guard up, not letting it drop completely.
...
Four days later, Jaxon wiped the sweat from his face with a towel after a hard session of workouts. The routine was sothing he found online, mostly ho exercises since he had no equipnt.
He glanced down at the ssage floating in front of him.
(Strength 0.03)
"The gains dropped again. That’s half a day’s worth of work," Jaxon muttered with a sigh.
Over the past few days, he had started training regularly since no infected had appeared nearby. He tried different routines, focusing on stamina, strength, and agility. But as his stats increased, the gains from exercise kept shrinking.
Each session took more effort than the last, while the improvent grew smaller and smaller.
’At this rate, I might need to work out for days just to gain 0.01 stat. Not to ntion the pain and exhaustion. This thod is too inefficient.’
With that thought, he opened his status window.
.....
Na: Jaxon Hawk
Level: 3 (70/133)
Age: 24
Strength: 10.24
Speed: 8.58
Agility: 8.23
Intelligence: 8.24
Stamina: 8.66
Vitality: 5.96
Stat Points: 1
Skills:
Marksmanship (E): Handling and control have improved. Aim faster and fire with greater stability. Recoil is easier to manage, and shots are more accurate even under pressure.
Stealth (G-): Enables quieter movent by controlling footsteps, posture, and body motion.
Coins: 21
.....
’Compared to my stats when I first awakened the system, I should already have the strength of a bodybuilder, maybe even stronger. I might even surpass those normal zombies.’
Jaxon quickly shook his head.
’No. Don’t think of fighting them in close combat. I’m a sniper.’
He then turned his attention to the newest skill that appeared yesterday, his biggest gain so far.
’Stealth.’
His hard work, along with Elena’s teaching, had finally paid off. Still, the rank was far lower than his marksmanship skill. He guessed this was also around the current level of his family’s shooting skills, though Natasha was likely better.
’But this ans I can learn other skills too. I should try other things as well.’
Night had already fallen, and with nothing else to do, Jaxon turned on his PC.
"Feels like it’s been forever," he muttered. "If this were the old , I’d be spending ten hours a day on you."
He opened Discord and checked the gaming server he once managed, a place with over a thousand mbers. The server was quiet, almost lifeless. Hardly anyone was online. The last ssage was from a week ago, soone asking how everyone was doing, with no reply beneath it.
He was not surprised. In a world like this, who would have ti to check on others. Everyone was busy trying to survive.
Surprisingly, he finally received a reply from HarlemLaver, his gaming friend who had once warned him about the apocalypse.
Jaxon opened the ssage and read carefully.
"Yo, sup man! Glad you’re still alive. This will probably be my last ssage. and my family are evacuating. I heard my father talking with soldiers, they said the virus is evolving fast. If you want to survive, build a bunker or flee to the sea, and stay away from populated areas. GG, Jaxon. It’s been real, ti to uninstall fantasy life. Hope you find a secret cheat code for survival. See ya!"
The ssage was full of typos, clearly written in a rush. Jaxon did not mind. The fact that his friend still rembered him was enough.
"Good luck to you too, stay safe out there," Jaxon typed back.
He knew his friend might never read it, but he sent it anyway.
’They must have encountered those strange variants too if they already know the virus is evolving,’ Jaxon thought. ’Building bunkers, fleeing to the sea... Their situation doesn’t seem much better than ours.’
His friend lived in a country known for its strong military, yet even there, people were fleeing.
Jaxon closed the app and leaned back.
’No point overthinking it. I still have a lot to do.’
With that, he shut down the PC and went to sleep.
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