Grandma finally calmed down. She was very happy I am not going anywhere. All I could do is to gently pat her back and give her the most convenient promise I can. For now, I probably still lied, but I don’t know myself, we’ll see.

- Your clothes are dirty. Go wash and change clothes while I prepare some food for you, okay? What would you like? - the grandmother began to fuss.

I caught myself thinking that I was really hungry, although I devoured the stew as soon as I woke up.

- I'm going to change clothes. As for the food mashed potatoes and meat would be nice if you have it. - I said.

Grandma finally smiled, a sincere, pure smile. Gray shoulder-length hair, a rather thin, wrinkled face with traces of tears in the eyes. Even the teeth are almost all in place. Most likely she hasn’t even turned 70 yet, maybe she’ll live a bit longer.

- Okay, son, I’ll prepare everything, there’s meat in the refrigerator, but as many potatoes as you want to eat, bring them from the cellar, at the same time you can take compote or something else, and I’m already running to cook.

- Okay, I can help with the potatoes if necessary...- I said.

- You don’t need to do anything! I’ll clean and cook everything myself. Go rest son, mind your own business, everything will be ready soon. - the grandmother said firmly.

- Okay, okay, I understand.

I decided to get some extra potatoes, I hope grandma won’t get tired but I need more food. Then I went into “my” room. It looked tidy, some useful things were found, even an old computer was in stock. I decided to turn it on and check the availability of the Internet and I was right. Even in times of a zombie apocalypse, there will be people who like to post videos on YouTube with descriptions and comments. I was looking for any useful information.

It turned out that the inventory is unlocked at level 10, and the auction at level 20. The level can be increased with the help of credits, although the prices are high. To do this, I had to focus on my level in status, I somehow didn’t think about this. The creadits themselves were transferable by unique ID. Smart-ass streamers are already begging for credits for their hard work. Even the zombie apocalypse cannot stop them.

An hour ago they uploaded a video with an alien. In the video, something like a four-armed cyborg, about 3 meters tall, walked among tall clusters of zombies. Laser beams shot out from his hands, eyes and other incomprehensible places, which unerringly hit the heads of zombies who found themselves next to him. Some claimed that it was a god, others said that it was fur or just a mechanical suit and perhaps one of the newest developments. In any case, the majority believed that these were aliens and I came to the same conclusion. Obviously, the beginning of the zombie invasion and the appearance of the alien could not be a coincidence. Most likely it was because of them that all this started, but it’s difficult to say for sure. Those aliens never answered anyone who tried to contact them.

Oddly enough, it was the zombies that surprised me the most. By this time there was already a lot of information on them. It turned out that zombies very actively dodge blows, block them, and some can even use something like combat techniques. It is not always the case that zombies immediately mindlessly try to bite off a piece of human flesh; more often they try to first neutralize the victim and only then begin to feast. When pointing a weapon at a zombie, they react to the threat instantly by either starting to dodge or trying to find cover, some even manage to successfully dodge a bullet. And the rest of their behavior is extremely unpredictable and everyone can surprise in their own way.

Considering that I had not yet encountered zombies in battle, this information was extremely necessary for me, I would definitely not be able to imagine something like this. Those zombies in the market were just wandering here and there aimlessly or doing some other nonsense. The zombies that were able to climb onto the container surprised me a little, but I didn’t think it was that incredible. I realized that they were stronger than ordinary people, but the Resident Evil zombies were also stronger, but they were still essentially mindless meat. For example, swinging a club, I would be 100% sure that I would hit a zombie’s head, I simply could not imagine that zombies are capable of dodging or blocking these blows. I was going to wander here among the houses like a local boss, because I have a knife in my hands and more than enough strength, and I’m not lacking in speed. Only now I realized that I almost committed suicide. What if there were at least two zombies? Even one zombie could dodge and suddenly bite off my household. This is what true horror means, my shoulders shook with the realization of what could happen. At least now I knew what to expect and could react accordingly.

Not only people but also animals were subjected to zombies, this was also worth keeping in mind. Although, apparently, they did not have such variety in terms of attack methods.

I finally turned off the computer and, after checking the surroundings of the house, decided to wash myself first. It was not easy to tear off the long-suffering bulletproof vest and other things, but I somehow managed it. I went into the shower and began to carefully wash off the blood, dirt and other unpleasant things; it was summer outside, so the water was not too cold.

Finally I really looked like a normal person, but soon the joy diminished as I remembered the mark of the primal zombie. As the system said, the mark is now with me forever. Every person, when they look at me probably will run away or shoot me. Most people already realized who the primal zombies are and where the legs of so many zombies around grew from. Whatever one may say, all the primals are butchers and one might even say traitors to humanity. But there are exceptions to the rules; the old lady clearly doesn’t give a damn about both the system and the mark.

Going outside, I looked towards the rising sun. I live as I want and do what I want and don’t care what others think. The opinions of others didn’t bother me much before.

I found a suitable piece of armature in the yard; considering my newly acquired abilities, it was just right as a weapon. After a little practice, I threw it into my inventory and decided to check the neighboring houses for any unwanted presence or anything useful. Of course, I was going to act slowly; even for me, defeating more than one zombie could be a problem.

After checking a couple of houses, one of which was clearly abandoned, I entered another courtyard with a creaking improvised barrier at the entrance. In a booth nearby, a small dog began to growl disgustingly, many parts of whose body were literally eaten, fortunately the dog remained on a leash and could not escape. A couple of seconds later, an obviously middle-aged female zombie jumped out of the house and rushed towards me very quickly and at great speed. I grabbed the armature with both hands in the center and struck at the head area, but the zombie simply ducked down and tried to cling to my leg from a crouch. But I was expecting something like this and, quickly reacting and moving slightly, struck with the other side of the armature towards the same head. This time the zombie tried to intercept my blow with his palm and with his other hand he reached in my direction, but I had plenty of strength and even with equal strength the zombie would not have been able to stop the armature with his hand. His hand simply jumped back limply and the reinforcement landed right in the skull, bending it considerably. This blow did not neutralize the zombie, but the main thing for me was to seize the initiative, as soon as the zombie hesitated due to the blow received, I struck a couple more and the limp carcass with a broken head finally fell to the ground without moving.

I listened to my surroundings and looked around carefully, but despite the noise of the dog, no one else rushed towards me. The dog turned out to be quite stupid, he tried more and more actively to get to me as I approached, one precise blow was enough for him. After checking the house, I didn't find anyone else.

Status.

Name - Rick.

Race - Human.

Level - 20

Strength 30

Agility 27

Stamina 50

Durability 30

Small regeneration.

Inventory 1 cubic. meter.

Auction

One question per day (blocked)

Store (locked)

Mind (locked)

Unallocated characteristics - 0

Credits - 2

I decided that this would be enough for now; after all, granny’s cooking would be ready soon, and because of the regeneration, the hunger was felt more and more.

Before entering the house, I again examined the surroundings and fields around, somewhere I saw silhouettes, mostly closer to the bazaar. Still, some zombies wandered around the field and there were a little more of them than before, but no one had gotten close enough yet.

I decided to put something of my own up for auction, maybe I’ll get lucky. What do people need most now from what I have in stock? Only food and medicine, but 10 credits is still a pretty substantial amount, so not many people will pay that much for a piece of bread, but for a couple of kilograms of freshly prepared food... at least such lots have not yet been available at the auction. I’ll have to ask grandma to cook and pack more, it seems she enjoys cooking. In the meantime, you can sell medicines. There was a rather meager selection at the auction so far. I decided to collect several things at once, such as bandages, a medical tourniquet, alcohol, and so on, just a little bit at a time, put it all in one box and sent it to inventory. My reserves would be enough to collect a dozen similar sets, so there was no point in being greedy. Well, for the second lot I decided to choose the strongest painkiller. Although this won’t help against the virus, as I’ve already seen, zombies don’t always try to bite or scratch first, so physical injuries are probably quite common. I put both goods at 10 kr each.

The system accepted both lots and they safely appeared on sale, and 2 kr were debited from my account. To raise the level, I needed as much as 2100 kr, which was clearly not a rising amount in the near future. I will rather just kill some zombies for exp.

But I could expand my inventory to 3 cubic meters for only 300 kr and made this my immediate goal.