Chương 74: As Long As You Don't Die, You Can Survive

Seeing Zoe pour a glass, Claire refused to be outdone. She took the bottle and poured one for herself as well. Seeing this, the other two guys figured they might as well do the same. They took the bottle and filled their own glasses.

"Huh? Brother, I thought you didn't drink?" Zoe asked in confusion, seeing Cody also pour a glass.

"You... say that as if you drink normally..." Cody pursed his lips, signaling her to quickly shut up.... After a few rounds of drinks and plenty of food. The small supermarket didn't have any high-end liquor, and the one they had was only 38% ABV, so after finishing one glass, everyone was only slightly tipsy. They didn't drink much, but they certainly ate a lot of meat.

For just the five of them, they had sliced a good six or seven pounds of beef and mutton, and in the blink of an eye, more than half of it was already gone.

"Has your sister always been this big of an eater since she was little?" Vince raised his glass toward the two boys and asked in a low voice. Watching Zoe wolfing down the hotpot meat, Cody was also speechless. She never used to be able to eat this much... she must have been starving. Just as he was staring blankly at his sister's eating habits, Seth beside him suddenly raised his glass.

"... Vince, a toast to you..." Vince was a little surprised to see Seth suddenly speak up. He had grown accustomed to this quiet but highly obedient boy. Seeing him initiate a conversation, he responded by raising his glass and taking a sip. But noticing that Seth didn't lower his glass, he raised an eyebrow at him and asked, "Is something on your mind?"

"Um... Vince, can I ask you something?" Perhaps the couple glasses of liquor had finally given him a bit of courage, or perhaps that formless, invisible fear had been diluted a little. Seth asked Vince timidly,"It's just... Li Tian... he got bitten once and... you were also injured... why?"

"..."

"..."

"..." Once this question was asked, not only Cody sitting nearby, but even Claire, who had finished eating and was sitting aside picking food for Vince, and Zoe, who was frantically stuffing meat into her mouth, instantly went quiet... The only sound left echoing in the room was the hum of the electric hotpot. Gulp. Zoe carefully swallowed the meat in her mouth, stood up abruptly, and glared at Seth.

"What does it have to do with you! Don't ask stupid questions!" Scolded by Zoe, Seth awkwardly lowered his head, but his hands still picked nervously at his chopsticks, clearly burdened by his thoughts. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Vince was also silent for a moment. Then, he reached up, wiped off a speck of sesame sauce that Zoe had splashed onto his forehead, wiped it onto her thigh, and said slowly, "It's fine.

I was planning to tell you guys anyway..." This was the reason why Vince had gathered these people together for a meal. He knew that, let alone Seth, even Claire was curious about this question; they just didn't ask. He just hadn't expected Seth to be the first to ask using the liquid courage. It seemed this matter was putting a considerable amount of pressure on him. His gaze slowly swept over the group, from the nervous Seth, to the somewhat worried Cody, and then to the steadfast Claire and Zoe.

He then said calmly, "This world isn't as simple as what you see...

"Zombies, mutated zombies, mutated monsters, and even terrifying entities you haven't laid eyes on yet.

"So, it's not that I can't be infected... I guess I'm already infected." His calm words hit like a bomb, draining the color from Seth and Cody's faces. Claire subconsciously grabbed Vince's arm, while Zoe leaned her face in close, carefully examining Vince's eyes. Patting Claire's hand to reassure her, Vince gently pushed Zoe's head back. He continued to slowly recount the events that happened a few days ago, starting from the moment he received the sick dog...

Of course, he carefully concealed everything about Health Bars and loot drops, answering their doubts purely from a biological perspective.

"I don't know what the mechanism is, but ever since that day, I can feel a certain energy circulating within my body...

"It failed to kill me, but it altered me. The strength, speed, and regenerative abilities you see are all a part of this energy...

"So, the answer I can give you is: the reason I am different from Li Tian and the others is because six days ago, before any of you even knew anything, I had already walked through the gates of hell. Maybe I was just lucky, and I survived.

"But I am just a single, isolated exception. It's highly likely the result of countless coincidences stacking together. So you must absolutely, under no circumstances, harbor any false hope.

"Getting bitten or scratched will only lead to one outcome: ending up exactly like Li Tian. What you need to do is not be curious about me, but protect yourselves and make sure you don't get hurt. Do you all understand?" Across from him, Cody and Seth fell silent after hearing Vince's words, as if deep in thought. Beside him, Claire remained silent, but Vince could sense her relief from the hand gripping his arm.

Meanwhile, Zoe leaned in again, stared into Vince's eyes, and declared, "So Dage, you really are the protagonist of a novel!"

"... There's still meat right there, keep eating..." Seeing that Zoe had also relaxed, Vince reached out, pushed her back, and grabbed another chopstick-full of meat from the pot for her.

"Then... Vince... what about us...?" Seth hesitated, pointed a finger at himself, and asked quietly, "Can we... really survive...?" Vince understood that his "we" referred to everyone except Vince. This question made Vince fall silent as well. He just silently stood up, picked up the liquor bottle, and filled their glasses one by one, starting from Claire on his right to Zoe on his left. Then he slowly sat back down in his seat and finally spoke. His tone was as flat as if he were discussing the weather.

"I don't know..." Even though Vince's words carried uncertainty, it surprisingly made everyone relax. They just looked at him quietly. Vince picked up his chopsticks, thought for a moment, and simply snatched a piece of meat dipped in sesame sauce right out of Zoe's bowl. He popped it into his mouth, chewed, and continued,"I don't know if we can survive." Even though Seth's "we" hadn't included him, Vince's "we" obviously added himself in.

"No one can say for sure what the future holds.

"Maybe tomorrow an even stronger monster will appear. Maybe tomorrow a new virus will pop up and rot all the food. Maybe some other thing will show up and make everyone sick...

"The only thing I can know for sure right now is today." His gaze slowly swept past the two desk lamps mounted on the wall, over the bubbling hotpot on the table, and across the Health Bars floating above everyone's heads.

"Today, we still have meat to eat, liquor to drink, and beds to sleep in.

"All we can do is eat our fill this meal, and get a good night's sleep.

"And then tomorrow, pick up our weapons, and don't die." Thinking too far ahead will drive a person insane...