Ayn quickly packed his luggage, but he did not rush to leave. Before officially heading out, he still had a few things to take care of.
The first thing was to text Ari and tell her, "I've packed my bags and I'm getting ready to go." Ari replied almost instantly, reminding him, "Be careful, okay? If it's too dangerous, don't take risks—and text me when you can, just so I know you're safe." Ayn looked at her message, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly as he replied, "Relax, I'm not an idiot. I know what I'm doing."
The second thing was to find a suitable weapon for self-defense. Although there was a kitchen knife at home, it was too short, and taking a kitchen knife to fight zombies would obviously be too risky. After all, zombies were not human; they probably did not feel pain, and even if you chopped one in the head, it might still keep lunging at you, trying to bite you to death. Thinking of that, Ayn gritted his teeth and spent 10 system coins to buy a black alloy baseball bat from the system store.
Do not underestimate those 10 system coins. The "Newcomer Pack" the system gave him only contained 500 coins in total. Ayn had already spent 470 to purchase eight [System Skill Books], leaving only 30 coins. On average, each skill book cost about 58 coins. Yet a single alloy baseball bat actually cost 10 coins—nearly one-sixth the price of a skill book! That was pure robbery.
(Author's note: Ayn's current skills are: Heart of the Strong Lv1, Transcendent Intuition Lv1, Transcendent Radar Lv1, Transcendent Aptitude Lv1, Combat Technique Lv1, Energy Bullet Lv1, Mind Reading Lv1, and Bullet Time Lv1.)
So why did Ayn call the system a robber? The reason was simple: you could buy an alloy baseball bat on Amazon for anywhere between a few dozen to a few hundred dollars. But a System Skill Book? Could you buy that on Amazon? If you could take one of those skill books and sell it, how much do you think the rich would pay for it? Hundreds of thousands of dollars? Millions? Or even tens of millions?
So, Ayn was very reluctant to spend that money. However, he still had to buy it. After all, he did not want to get injured in battle. Compared to the possible consequences of getting hurt, this expense was nothing. And Mr. Ayn's experience also taught us a simple truth: it really is necessary to keep some self-defense equipment at home. You might not need it most of the time, but when the moment comes and you don't have it, you will regret it deeply.
After finishing those two things, Ayn should have been ready to leave, but he did not. Because there was still one more thing left to do: wait for the woman downstairs to finish packing. Why wait for her? The reason was simple—his system task required him to set out together with her. He needed to stage a "coincidental" encounter, and if he left too early or too late, he would miss the perfect timing. So he stayed quietly inside his apartment, patiently waiting. Yet it would be a mistake to think he was only waiting for her.
This guy has actually been using his "Transcendent Radar" all along to sneak peeks at the figure under her clothes. That woman's proportions are perfect like a work of art, with a slender waist paired to full hips and breasts, her skin smooth and white-tender like silk, her pubic area pink and pristine without a single trace of hair, her nipples so delicately pink like budding flower buds, slightly perked up and quivering in the air. Ayn watches with blood surging, his mind involuntarily flashing to the urge to lick those tender nipples, his tongue tip coiling around the areola to savor that salty-sweet taste, making his lower body swell with aching need. Don't believe me? Take a look, his pants have already pitched a little tent, as if his cock might tear the pants open at any second.
So, in the eyes of true transcendents, whether ordinary people wear clothes or not makes no difference—it's just a thin veil that can't block their all-seeing gaze. Of course, Ayn is indeed peeking at her, that secretive voyeurism making his heart race just a little, but his nerve only goes that far. If it really came down to using magic to seduce a beauty, he'd still refuse—because that's his bottom line.
At the same time, Ayn's just peeking, not thinking "I have to fuck this woman." Why? Because he knows full well how bright his future is; he believes that as long as he stays alive, with the system as his cheat code, one day he'll rise to become a big shot—and then... you think he'll be short on women? Just a flick of his tongue, and countless sluts will crawl onto his bed like bitches in heat, arching their tempting asses, spreading their dripping cunts, begging him to fuck them raw. So, he knows exactly what he should do right now: avoid exposing his secrets too early, until he has the power to protect his family.
Before the woman downstairs finished packing her things and got ready to leave, Ayn quietly stepped out first, making sure he could "coincidentally" run into her. Of course, before actually stepping out, he had to deal with a small problem—his "little tent." If that woman happened to see it, wouldn't he look like a shameless pervert?
So Ayn took a deep breath and activated [Heart of the Strong], forcing himself to suppress that untimely impulse and calm both his mind and body. Do not underestimate the function of [Heart of the Strong]. If he could not even control such a primitive desire, how could he possibly call himself a "strong man"?
After taking care of the "little tent," Ayn quietly opened his door, moving carefully as he peeked down both sides of the hallway to check whether there were any zombies around. Of course, he had already scanned the area outside his apartment with [Transcendent Radar] before leaving, so he was not too nervous at the moment. As for the blind spots the radar could not reach, the results were just as he had expected—there were no zombies there either. After all, when the disaster first broke out, most people were still asleep. Who would have gone out for no reason in the middle of the night?
However, the twelfth floor where Ayn lived happened to be safe, but it was hard to say the same for the other floors. After all, this apartment building was not only made up of single-room studios but also had several multi-bedroom shared units. It was entirely possible that someone, upon discovering a roommate turning into a zombie, had panicked, opened the door, and tried to run. In that case, finding zombies wandering in the hallways would not be surprising at all.
After checking the surroundings, Ayn quietly stepped out of his apartment and carefully closed the door behind him, doing his best not to make a sound. Although he was not sure whether zombies had sharp hearing, in both movies and comics, they almost always did. In short, Ayn stayed on full alert, firmly believing that in moments like this, being a little too cautious was always better than not cautious enough.
Then he headed toward the stairwell, which he almost never used. Huh? Why didn't he usually use it? Well, that should be obvious, this building had elevators. Everyone used them to go up and down. Only people living on the lower floors, or those oddballs who liked to exercise, would bother taking the stairs on purpose.
But this time, Ayn had a reason not to take the elevator. The system had just given him a prompt: [Your Transcendent Intuition tells you: taking the stairs will be safer. Using the elevator might lead to an encounter with zombies.] So Ayn did not hesitate. He decided to trust his intuition and obediently took the stairs.
As for the woman on the eleventh floor, would she take the elevator? Ayn thought probably not. After all, he suspected that the system could manipulate fate to some extent. In other words, in the "script" written by the system, it had likely already decided: You must take the stairs.
And sure enough, he was right. When Ayn reached the eleventh-floor landing, the woman carefully pushed open the door to the stairwell, poked her head out, and looked around to make sure it was safe. She noticed that the stairwell light was on and frowned slightly. Why the frown? Because the lights here were sound-activated, they would not turn on unless someone passed by. But as soon as she saw who was standing under the light, her expression softened. It was not a zombie after all, but just a tense bachelor frozen in place.
As for Ayn, he had already known her every move before she even opened the door, thanks to [Transcendent Radar]. His plan was simple: act as if he knew nothing and pretend it was a coincidence. So when he heard the faint sound of the door opening, he immediately tightened his grip on the alloy baseball bat, looking ready to smash the "imaginary zombie" at any second. Of course, if it were under normal circumstances, his acting would never have been this good. The only reason he managed to pull off such a flawless performance this time was entirely thanks to [Heart of the Strong]. After all, a truly strong heart did more than just keep a person calm in battle; it could even boost one's acting skills a little, don't you think?
To be honest, when Ayn saw the woman frown through his [Transcendent Radar], he also frowned inwardly. Why? Because ordinary people would never react like that. A normal person, facing a stairwell where zombies might be hiding, should have been just as tense as Ayn had been a moment ago—maybe even trembling a little. After all, those zombies were far more terrifying than tigers, lions, or even great white sharks. They never hesitated when it came to eating people.
However, this woman only frowned slightly. There was not a hint of fear in her expression; instead, she radiated a calm confidence. And what did that mean? It meant she was not afraid of zombies at all. A girl who was not afraid of zombies was definitely not an ordinary person.
Ayn immediately realized that something about her was off. Without hesitation, he used [Mind Reading] on her. Of course, since the ability was a system skill, Ayn could not actually hear her thoughts directly. The information came to him through the system, displayed as text.
Soon, the system message appeared: [The reason she does not feel afraid is as follows: First, she has trained in kendo since childhood and possesses outstanding swordsmanship. The Japanese sword in her hand right now is clear proof of that. Second, she experienced an awakening around 3 a.m. and obtained Transcendent power. Before leaving home, she was practicing how to control it. Although she has not yet mastered it fully, she believes she is more than capable of handling ordinary zombies.]
When Ayn read the message, his inner expression instantly turned into this: Σ(っ°Д°;)っ Inside, he shouted, (Come on, what happened to the Earth I used to know!?)
He was shocked, yes, but after thinking it through, Ayn began to calm down. (Actually… it's not that strange, is it?) he thought. Why not? Because he himself had a system. Since he could cheat, was it really that strange if someone else got to "cheat" a little too? Taking a slow, steady breath, he comforted himself in silence: (Yeah, that makes sense. Nothing wrong with that at all!)
While Ayn was still convincing himself, the woman stepped into the hallway and raised a finger to her lips, signaling him to stay quiet so they would not attract any zombies. Ayn saw the gesture and began nodding frantically, his face practically saying, "Got it, boss! I'll do whatever you say!" The woman glanced at him, then made another hand sign, which roughly meant, "Let's go." Ayn instantly understood and nodded again in agreement.
After that brief exchange, the two of them had officially formed a team. Truly, a joyous occasion—congratulations, congratulations~