Chapter 2 - 2. First Combat

Did I accidentally go into a zombie outbreak VR game? Jack thought. But it felt so real. Whenever he went into any VR games, there was always a sense of unrealism. The textures, the details, and the sense! I could feel everything on my body as if in the real world.

The wind, the cold, the fatigue, the pain. This was no VR games, if it was, it was a damn perfect one. And he didn't remember being plugged into a VR chamber. You would need to plug your mind into a machine in order to enter VR world. After all, Virtual Reality was a man-made digital world that existed only in data inside a computer machine.

All that happened before the whole world turned upside down was a bright flash and he getting disoriented for a short while, there was no way he was hooked up with some VR machine within that time frame. Or was it? Uncertainties started to gnaw at him. But even if it did happen, what's the purpose?

Before he could process all that thoughts, the scene in front of him turned intense. The white-clothed man reached the last stair, one of the zombies leaped from above and landed right on top of the man. He fell and lost his grip on both the staff and the round object. The round thing rolled onto Jack.

"No! no!" The man was panicking.

The zombie on top of him started to bite and tear onto him. Multiple red numbers appeared on top of the man's head.

Damn! This really was a game.

The man was screaming at the top of his lungs. The zombie was tearing the man's flesh in an explicitly gory manner.

Was this really a game? Jack was in doubt again. It's too damn detailed!

And the sound of the man's scream, it's too real. It's giving Jack goosebumps.

I can't take it, game or not, no one deserved to be hurt like that. Jack thought as he pulled his short sword out of his scabbard. He looked at the sword instinctively and thought about inspecting it. A blue description appeared above the sword.

Bronze short sword, level 1 (common one-handed weapon)

Physical damage: 20

Attack speed: 1

Durability: 30

He then looked at his equipped armor.

Leather armor, level 1 (common medium armor)

Physical Defense: 5

Magical Defense: 3

Durability: 30

Standard beginner weapon and armor, Jack thought while approaching the poor man. However, the other zombie seemed to have perceived his intent. The creature lunged forward passing his feasting companion and ran towards Jack.

That was fast for a zombie, Jack thought.

He maintained his cool and sidestepped. It was a good thing that he had plenty of experience in VR games. He let the zombie zoomed past him and made his slash. He felt the resistance when his sword sliced through the zombie's belly. It felt absolutely real! He thought again. Red number of 20 appeared on the zombie's head.

Motivated, he performed another slash at the zombie's back before it could turn around.

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Critical! 40 damage!

Sweet! Jack readied himself to perform another attack, but the zombie spun around with clawing motion. The claw hit his side and pushed him back. He almost tumbled down when a red number 10 damage appeared above him.

The kinetic programming is too real! He thought out loud while working on his footwork. He needed to really watch his balance in this game.

He looked at his side which was scratched, a red line was seen under his torn shirt, with stinging pain.

Too real! Too real!

The zombie lunged again. He had prepared and avoided the attack before doing another counter-attack. He kept his cool by kept on reminding himself that this was all just a game, despite the realism. After landing another 3 slashes on the zombie, he realized the screaming had died down. He glanced at the clothed man only to find the second zombie was about to grab him. Startled, but still calm, he did multiple backsteps, averting himself from danger.

That was close! He thought. He had always had quick reflexes, not to mention his martial arts training by his grandfather during his younger day had helped him become one of the independent top experts in several VR games. And with the degree of realism in this game, he could control his body in a much more complete sense.

He took another glance at the clothed man. He was lying on a pool of blood, all mess up and unmoving.

Do they have to make it so real? Jack resisted the urge to throw up. Usually in VR games, when players or monsters died, they just vanished in a ball of light.

As the two zombies continuing their assault, Jack adjusted his footwork to circle towards the one that he had slashed several times before. He was not confident to deal with these two zombies at the same time for long term, so he needed to take down the one that should only have a little life left. He managed to land another two slashes in during the process while getting clawed and bite once each. The wounded zombie let out a long howl before disintegrating into dust after the last slash.

Now that looks more like a game! Jack announced in his heart while not forgetting to dodge the other zombie's attack.

With his opponents bounced back to one quantity again, the pressure on him was significantly reduced. He refocused his attempt to chip away on the other zombie's life. During his endeavor, he was clawed another time due to carelessness, reducing another 10 HP from his life. He remembered having 120 HP when he last opened his status window, so he still had more than half to spare. Finally, the second zombie also fell. He heard the mechanized sound again as was usually heard in VR RPG games at the end of combat.

"Congratulations on winning the battle. Receiving 4 experience points."

"Well, that was exhausting," He commented while gasping for breaths. In normal VR games, he won't feel fatigued, or at least not real fatigue as now, where his lungs were thirsting for air. He really felt his real body functions as how he felt in real life. Then he looked again at the pile of dust on the floor and the sword in his hand.

Was this real or was this a VR game?

After pondering for a while, he shook his head. Whatever, I will just take things as they go. He approached the man or more accurately, the corpse of the man killed by those zombies. The stench! He had to pinch his nose to approach. He wouldn't have to deal with this smell problem in his past VR games. As he observed the corpse and admired its gory details not that he enjoyed it, it just made him wondered how the programmer applied such find details onto it it burst into several traces of small light.

"Holy " He blurted out while falling backward on his butt.

The corpse and the stench vanished, as was the blood. Just some red smear was left on the floor, along with three items. The strange monocle that was previously on the man, a card, and a bag.

He hesitated for a while before picking up the three items.

Administrator Key-Card (Special item)

Can be used to open restricted area within Trigitech Corporation building

Large bag (Unique item)

Capacity: 100 cbm

Administrator God-Eye (special equipment)

Passive ability 1: Radar detect allies, neutral, and hostiles within a radius of 300 meter

Passive ability 2: Scan environment detect and analyze important object within line of sight

Passive ability 3: See invisible object, monster, or player

Active ability: Inspect object without restriction

The monocle had some domineering name, and its listed abilities also indicated extraordinary usages. This would be a heaven-defying object in any VR game. He tried putting the key-card into his pocket, instead, a holographic box appeared. 'Standard storage bag' was written on top of it. At the bottom was written 'Capacity: 5 cbm'.

That was a big volume size in this seemingly small holographic box. The key-card was seen floating inside the box projection. He also put the large bag inside. His standard bag was 5 cbm, while this large bag had 100 cbm, it was 20 times larger. He had gotten a great haul with this.

Chapter end