Chapter 3 Realization

• Philip obviously ignored the shout from the fat guy that had appeared, with a zombie chasing behind him. Why should he be involved in fighting a zombie right now, considering the risk involved?
• He might be slightly capable, but the zombie only needed a simple scratch for him to be infected. Once infected, his entire life would be over.
• As for the $1,000 that the other person was mentioning, what was the use of the money in this apocalypse? In the apocalypse, money was going to be useless, so, there was no need for him to risk his life for nothing.
• Thinking about that, he immediately accelerated. It was not that he was inhumane, but he understood that this was the apocalypse. In the apocalypse, only strength was what mattered.
• “I will-will add the amount to $50,000! Just-just help me, please! Or, I-I will give you… all my wealth!” The man shouted once again. And as he continued speaking, his voice got more desperate.
• Philip completely ignored him. And in a few seconds, screams came from behind him, indicating that the zombie had somehow caught up to that guy. Well, even though the zombies were quite slow, the man that was being chased after was not fast either.
• And according to the information that he possessed about zombies from all the series, movies and novels that he had read, he understood that zombies seemed to have infinite stamina. So, if you do not shake off a zombie as soon as possible, or kill it, you would only end up being killed by the zombie instead.
• Philip was running, but he was no longer heading in the direction of the park. After all, since a zombie had appeared, the park, which had quite a number of people, definitely had more of them.
• And at the moment, he did not have any good weapon that he could use. Even though he trained in kickboxing, he was definitely not going to compete against zombies in terms of kicks and punches. That would be a death wish.
• It was only after running for more than a minute that Philip finally began walking. He was moving cautiously, considering that he was still within the city. While he was in the outskirts of the city, that did not imply that there were no people here.
• So, he had to be prepared in case he faced a zombie. He was not ready to die, considering that there were quite a few things that he needed to do.
• As he was moving, he finally approached a road that was close by. He did not immediately move to the road, but instead, he hid in one of the bushes, observing the road.
• While this road was not usually busy, a car or two would occasionally pass by. And right now, on this road, there were quite a few cars, and some of them had actually been involved in an accident.
• He could see that there were quite a few people that were still alive, some were running away, others were fighting against zombies, while others were being… eaten by zombies.
• The bloody scene on the road made Philip feel nauseated once again. But he still managed to hold back, as he realized that he would need to get used to this.
• The blood that was splattered all over the road indicated that quite a number of people had been victims of the zombies or the accidents.
• The shouts of pain, anger, and fear filled the air. Simply put, the situation was currently chaotic.
• Philip continued hiding in the bushes, wondering what he should do. If he went back to his apartment that was located near the heart of the city, he would definitely be risking his life.
• The number of people that could be found within this city was over 600,000. And considering the rate at which the zombies infected ordinary humans, turning them into zombies, it was clear that there were definitely more than 100,000 zombies in the city. And that was just a conservative estimate.
• Philip was after all not sure about the situation within the city, as he was still in the outskirts, and had only encountered two zombies so far, other than the other three on the road at the moment. So, it was quite difficult for him to be able to make a correct estimate of the possible number of zombies within the city.
• Regardless, even 100,000 zombies were deadly. After all, just a single scratch from one of them was enough to be able to infect a person, turning that person into a zombie. One could already imagine what would happen if even just a hundred of them were allowed to spread into a city.
• After contemplating for a moment, Philip decided to visit a convenience store that was close by. He needed to stock up. He needed to get as much water as possible, together with canned food and other things that would enable him to be able to survive in this apocalypse.
• But there was something else, he needed to get out of this city. He needed to go back home. He currently did not have his phone on him, as he had left it back in his apartment. He left it there, not wanting to be disturbed when he was clearing his mind.
• That implied that it was impossible for him to be able to make a call to his family, to know how they were doing. This was something that made him quite anxious, as he was worried about their safety.
• Tap! Tap! Crunch!
• Philip was suddenly brought back to his senses by the sound of footsteps and dry leaves being crushed. He immediately looked behind him, only to realize that somehow, a zombie had actually approached him, and was only about 3 meters away from him!
• The zombie was staggering, and it seemed that it had not noticed him. So, Philip did not try making any movements, as he was currently inside a bush. He just hoped that the zombie would stagger past him.
• But against his wishes, when the zombie approached the bushes, it stopped there. It did not do anything, just stopped there, and from the looks of it, it was… sleeping?
• Philip was not sure, but looking at the zombie that looked like a robot that had been switched off, he felt his heart racing. In his mind, he could not help but curse, ‘Damn zombie! Why did you not go and stop somewhere else?!’
• Of course, he did not dare to say that out loud. Otherwise, this zombie that seemed to be inactive would immediately charge at him.
• Feeling the tension that was building within him, Philip understood that if he continued staying here, the situation would only get worse. It would be better for him to get resources early on, and not wait until the zombies increased in number.
• Otherwise, the longer he waited, the lower the chances of him being able to get the resources and survive.
• Philip began looking around, trying to see if there was something that he could use in order to deal with the zombie. But unfortunately, there was nothing that could be used as a weapon within the bushes he was hiding in.
• Philip contemplated for a moment, and finally came to a decision a few seconds later. He looked towards the road, making sure that there was no any other zombie that was close by. After making sure of that, he looked around, trying to see if there was something that he could use to deal with the zombie.
• He did not believe that he had the capability of killing the zombie using his bare hands. It was extremely risky, and although he had noticed that the skull of the zombies seemed to be fragile, he was not willing to risk it.
• Finally, Philip noticed that there was a tree branch that was broken, not far away from where the zombie was standing. The branch was quite big, with a diameter of about an adult male’s arm.
• It was not that long, just about half a meter. But that was the only thing that he could use at the moment.
• Observing the zombie that was still standing there, not far away from him, Philip took a deep breath. Then, with all his muscles tense, he launched himself towards the zombie.
• The moment that he began moving, the zombie was also alerted. After all, the noise that was made by Philip when he was going through the bushes easily attracted the zombie.
• Roar!
• When the zombie saw the figure of Philip charging towards it, it immediately roared. It also began charging towards Philip.
• The distance between the two of them was only 3 meters, and with the two of them approaching each other, the distance was covered within a short time.
• The moment that he came close to the zombie, Philip bent down, backwards. This way, he dodged the claw of the zombie that wanted to grab him. At the same time, he sent a kick towards the legs of the zombie, managing to sweep it off its feet.
• It was a good thing that the speed of the zombie was not fast, otherwise, it would not have been easy for Philip to be able to send the zombie tumbling to the ground.
• With the zombie on the ground, Philip dashed past it, managing to reach the tree branch. He picked it up, and once again rushed towards the zombie that was just managing to struggle back to its feet.
• Bang! Splat!
• With no hesitation, Philip swung the tree branch at the head of the zombie. The moment that it collided with the head, the zombie’s head was burst like a watermelon. This verified that the head of the zombie was quite fragile.
• {You have acquired +0.19 strength.}
• While Philip was looking at the headless body of the zombie, to verify if it was dead or not, a message popped up in his mind.
• Instinctively, Philip called up the panel that possessed his information.
• [Name: Philip Matthews
• Age: 22
• Class: N/A
• Exp: 2/10
• Constitution: 7
• Strength: 8.39
• Speed: 7
• Agility: 8
• Magic: 0
• Skills: N/A ]
• There were not many changes on the panel, and his strength had increased by 0.19. But there was something else that Philip noticed, the experience bar had changed from 1/10 to 2/10.
• And as the warm current went through his body, increasing his strength, Philip suddenly thought of something. Could it be that he needed to kill the zombies in order to level up?