Eric stood in front of the remaining four survivors, dressed in casual wear rather than his uniform.
Like everyone else in the store, he was a gamer, and he also came to get a game to get hooked on before the world turned into an absolute mess.
That said, being a gamer is one of the main reasons all of them are able to understand the situation so well.
Any other group of people would be panicking by now.
*Clears throat*
"Now then, the reason I am standing before you right now is because, just like you, I want to survive this, and I can't do that on my own. We don't know why the world is suddenly like this, but we can still survive, if we stick together. So why don't we start by introducing ourselves, build a little trust with ourselves."
His words sank into the hearts of the people listening. Though they were still wary of one another, Eric's idea didn't seem all that bad.
Jayhan, on the other hand, remained in the dark room with his girlfriend, listening to everything that was going on outside.
(Time remaining before quest starts: 9:35 minutes.)
"I don't mind, so I'll go first." Someone finally spoke. Seated on the ground, the woman raised her hand to introduce herself.
She was dressed in long jeans and wore a hoodie that was complemented with a blue cap.
"My name is Veronica Bonide, 19 years old, and I am an upcoming streamer."
Everyone's eyes were fixed on her.
And then the next person spoke,
"My name is Jason Mamoa, I am ...."
While they were all introducing themselves, Jayhan took the liberty to use his system to his own advantage.
Though he didn't initially know he could do it, when he doubted if Veronica was truly her name, the notification popped up before him.
[The Lord of Information has been activated.]
[Character info.]
[Name: Veronica Bonide.
Group: None.
Abilities: Sword Master Lvl 1, Sprint Lvl 1, Saint Clash Lvl 1, Eye Sight Lvl 1.
Unique abilities: None.
Personality: Self-centered, strong-willed, and cautious.
Compatibility: 65%.]
'Does this work on everyone? If that's the case, then it's truly going to be helpful. I should check if Kara's system can do the same thing.'
But when Jayhan wanted to ask her, he noticed she was fully paying attention to Eric and what he was saying.
Back outside the room...
"Okay then, since we all know our names, that should make it easier for us to communicate now." Eric paused, staring into the dark room where he could see two people hiding in there.
But for some reason, he didn't call them out.
"As you can see from the screen up there, we have less than 6 minutes before the entire place gets run down by monsters. Exactly something that would have happened in a zombie game, so I'm not too surprised. The problem is, we don't know if we have skills or any abilities to fight these monsters; we might not have any ability at all. But according to the voice, there are zones around the city where we can check our stats, with the coins we already earned from the first quest."
As he spoke, they all listened.
Suddenly, one of them raised his hand.
"So is this you indirectly saying you want us to form a group?" he asked.
"Yes. The chances of us surviving are higher if we stick together as a group. Of course, I'll respect your choices if you wish to do this on your own," Eric uttered, reading their faces.
"I don't mind, I'm in." Veronica agreed to join the group.
"Yeah, me too."
"Sure..."
"Yeah, I'm in too."
Everyone seemed to agree with him.
Now, Eric's focus was on the storage room.
"What about you two? Do you want to join the group? Any minute now, and this entire place will be swarming with monsters," he yelled.
Jayhan was about to crawl out to speak to them, but Kara held him back. He was still injured, so she wanted to do the talking.
Standing to her feet, her arm and face covered with blood from her previous kill, Kara stood at the entrance of the door, one hand resting on the wall.
{Jayhan wants to know where they plan on heading once the quest starts.}
The screen flashed in front of her.
"Where do you plan to head to once the monsters appear?" Kara asked out loud.
Eric replied,
"As I said earlier, towards the green zones, to find out if we have any ability."
"After that?"
"If we end up having abilities, then we'll fight the monsters head on, till we find a place to stay. And if we don't, we'll run into a bigger group for numbers advantage."
Even without looking at Jayhan, Kara could already tell it was a stupid idea.
Not only had they never seen any of these monsters before, they didn't know how strong, fast, or smart they were. Their whole plan was based on what if.
She'd be damned if she let Jayhan follow through with a plan like that.
{Jayhan doesn't agree with the plan.}
'As expected, my love...'
She raised her head. "I'm sorry, but we won't be joining your group."
"I'm sorry? We don't have time left; three minutes isn't a lot of time to convince you why numbers are better than—"
"I don't need you to convince me. I already made up my mind. We'll be heading towards a different route. If we manage to meet up after the quest, then maybe we'll join."
Kara turned around, heading back inside the room.
"Wait! Where do you plan to go? Uh? The whole place will be surrounded by monsters."
"Convenience store, to stack up on some food. Don't worry, it's just as dangerous as you are thinking right now."
With that, Kara fully entered the room.
Eric stood there. For some reason, Kara irritated him. Being a Jewish sheriff, it felt like she had just questioned his intelligence.
"Don't you think we should do the same thing? Before the timer runs out?" Veronica asked, while playing with her hair.
Of everyone there, she was the calmest.
Frowning, Eric replied,
"No, they are going to die there. We have a higher chance of surviving with my plan. Don't worry, we'll stock up on food after the quest has been completed."