My Reality Became a Zombie Game World, but Only I Can Use the Game System - Chapter 22: The Important Thing I Lost

Chapter 22: The Important Thing I Lost

I was feeling a despair that I had never experienced in my life before.

Even when I was surrounded by zombies at school, I didn’t feel this much fear. My body was shaking and I couldn’t control it.

“How can this be happening…?”

I sobbed, tears streaming down my face.

–Oh, I have lost something irreplaceable and precious.

Three days ago.

Yume-nee and I had safely arrived at her apartment building.

After defeating a few zombies wandering in the apartment hallway, we first reached my home.

Inside room 808, I saw my father’s zombie lying on the floor, and I realized that I had not explained what had happened to Yume-nee. But she seemed to understand what had happened at a glance.

“It must have been hard, Ritsu.”

Yume-nee hugged me gently.

The warmth of her embrace made me feel the fatigue in my body melt away. At least I had been able to protect Yume-nee.

We also went to Yume-nee’s house, but her mother still hadn’t returned home.

That night, we slept together in Yume-nee’s room.

It had been a long time since we had slept together in Yume-nee’s room, and I felt a little nervous, but lying next to each other, feeling each other’s body heat and breathing, gave us a sense of security, and we soon fell asleep.

The next day, we began preparing to use the apartment building as our base.

Even if we didn’t plan to stay long, we needed to ensure at least a minimum level of safety.

The first thing we had to do was confirm if there were any other people left in the apartment building.

It seemed that evacuation orders to the shelters had been issued at an early stage, and there were no other people left in the apartment building besides the zombies.

There were several candidate shelters, and my academy was one of them, which made me feel complicated. I prayed that no one had evacuated there.

After confirming that there were no people left, we moved on to blocking the entrances and exits.

Our apartment building had two entrances: the front entrance with an automatic lock and the back door that led to an outdoor staircase.

We set up barricades made of furniture at both entrances. We used the furniture from apartments whose doors were unlocked. We hoped for understanding in this emergency situation.

By the way, the Store System also offered a Defense Kit to create barricades.

Fences, high-voltage grids, barbed wire, and mounted machine guns were available.

We didn’t purchase and use these items because we wanted to save the info value “ORTA” and buy other things first.

We would probably rely on the Defense Kit more seriously when we settled down in a place.

Both Yume-nee and I had our physical abilities enhanced by the game system.

We could easily carry heavy furniture, so building the barricades was easy.

Humans could climb over them, but the zombies, who walked in a straight line, couldn’t pass through. This way, only Yume-nee and I could enter and exit.

Even after blocking the entrances and exits, there was still a lot to do.

We had to eliminate the remaining zombies in the apartment building.

Then, we had to carry the defeated zombies out and burn them in the parking lot. Among them was my father.

As we watched the zombies burn, Yume-nee asked,

“If you can buy kerosene in the store, it means there’s a system in ‘DL4’ that allows you to burn zombies, right? Maybe you have to burn zombies or their heads turn red and they revive?”

“That’s from another game, isn’t it? You know a lot about it.”

“I’ve seen it in game streaming videos.”

There was a famous zombie game where defeated zombies would revive if they weren’t burned. They would be strengthened when they revived, so it was quite a hassle…

In ‘DL4’, zombies would disappear from the screen when they were defeated, so they wouldn’t revive… should they? There was some kind of hidden setting, but I had forgotten about it. In any case, we burned the zombies for a different reason.

“Zombies in ‘DL4’ don’t revive. I just didn’t want them to rot. Also, I think burning them is a kind of funeral rite, better than just leaving the bodies as they are.”

“I’d like to correct you, but zombies don’t rot.”

Ai interrupted our conversation. However, it was confirmed that Ai’s words could only be heard by me, the player.

“(Huh? Is that so?)”

“Yes. They don’t disappear on their own like in the game, so please be aware of the differences.”

Zombies don’t rot.

Come to think of it, if zombies rotted, the ones walking around now would be skeletons in a few months, and the zombie hazard would be resolved. There must be a reason why that doesn’t happen.

The hidden setting that I had forgotten about in ‘DL4’ might be that one. In the game, zombie corpses disappeared, but that was just a system limitation, after all.

After Ai explained this to Yume-nee, she showed a relieved expression.

“It’s only mid-October, but it’s still hot some days. If the zombies rotted, the whole city would be filled with the stench of decay. Let’s start by disposing of the food first.”

“Ah, if we’re going to go to a shopping mall, we should go sooner rather than later. Maybe the people who evacuated are already disposing of things.”

Since we could buy food and water in the store, we wouldn’t starve to death.

Still, there were a lot of things to consider. After all, the items that could be bought in the store were only those implemented in ‘DL4’, and they didn’t include tools to make life more comfortable. For example, furniture for a carefree life with Yume-nee.

For now, electricity, water, and gas were still working, but we didn’t know how long that would last.

Now that we were free from the immediate danger to our lives, we had time to consider the challenges of our new life.

We had to decide where to start.

It took us two days to take care of everything in the apartment building, and during that time, I came up with a conclusion, which I explained to Yume-nee.

“I think we should spend time strengthening ourselves first. We’ll save up the info value ‘ORTA’ and buy skill drugs.”

“Skill drugs?”

Yume-nee tilted her head.

I, nervous to see Yume-nee in private clothes in her room, continued my explanation. This skill drug also had an erotic setting, but since it was the second time, the hurdle was lower than when I explained the immune-activating drug.

“In ‘DL4’, players can use special powers called skills. The items to obtain those skills are skill drugs. Players can gain skills just by drinking skill drugs, but for team members, they need to have sex with the player who drank the skill drug to gain the skill.”

“Another erotic setting…”

Yume-nee gave me a stern look.

“There are other ways to strengthen players, right? Like weapon upgrades or team upgrades. Are you just using the skill drugs because you want to do something naughty?”

“Please don’t underestimate me, Yume-nee. Many of the skills have important effects that increase the situations you can deal with. They’re very important elements when considering our survival in the future. Of course, I also have a little bit of an ulterior motive, but I’d say my feelings are 90% strategy and 10% ulterior motive.”

“The percentage of your ulterior motive was higher than what I was expecting… But…”

Yume-nee glared at me cutely, with a hint of embarrassment, but she seemed ready to forgive me.

“If you want to, I guess it’s okay.”

“Really? If I buy costume skins from the store, will you wear them?”

“Skins are clothes you can buy in the store, right? Why are they so revealing?”

“Don’t you know? Forty percent of the skins implemented in games around the world are made because people want to see sexy girls.”

“Game developers should be angry about that…”

Yume-nee showed a look of disbelief, but there was no disgust in her expression. She might be willing to do more.

“So, what kind of effects do costume skins have? Do they increase defense?”

“Huh? No, they don’t. They only change your appearance. I wanted you to wear them because I want to cum inside your pussy while you’re wearing sexy clothes.”

“I won’t wear them, so you can give up on that idea.”

Yume-nee said firmly with a smile.

Such…

I was shocked because I had been looking for skins to make Yume-nee wear. However, I couldn’t force her to do something she didn’t want to, so I felt defeated.

“By the way, what kinds of skills are there? From your explanation, I can’t really imagine them.”

Yume-nee’s question made me feel energized.

Now was the time to spread the word about ‘DL4’. I eagerly started the console version and handed Yume-nee a controller.

My smile was so wide that I could see it myself.

This brings us back to the beginning of the timeline.

A terrifying fact was about to be revealed, one that seemed to gather all the despair in the world…

“Huh? Huh? Something’s wrong, something’s wrong!”

I, sweating all over my body, restarted ‘DL4’ over and over again.

But each time, a system error indicating a “network error” appeared on the screen.

I don’t want to believe it!

I absolutely don’t want to accept reality!

If it was just a problem with the internet at home, it would still be okay, but according to my checks on my PC and smartphone, there was no problem at all. That meant the problem was on the ‘DL4’ side.

Please, at least let it be a temporary malfunction!

Yume-nee, looking uncomfortable, showed me a news article she had searched for on her smartphone.

“Ritsu, this…”

The article said that the major game company developing the “Dead Land” series had been attacked by zombies, and there was no prospect of restoring the server.

“Ababababbababaababa…”

“Ritsu, pull yourself together!” 

“You’re more shaken up than when you were surrounded by zombies.”

I was feeling a despair I had never experienced in my life.

Even when I was surrounded by zombies at school, I didn’t feel this much fear. My body was shaking and wouldn’t listen to me.

“How can this… this be happening…!”

I sobbed, tears streaming down my face.

–Oh, I have lost something irreplaceable and precious.

“You sound like you’re going to speak in a grandiose monologue just because you can’t play the game for a little while.” 

“Ritsu-kun, pull yourself together! Come on, isn’t there a new game in development?”

Hah, I came to my senses. Yes, even if I lose ‘DL4’, I still have hope!

“Oh, I saw the news that the development of the new game has been canceled due to the zombie hazard..”

“There is no God in this world!”

I screamed, then covered myself with a blanket and withdrew. Everything is over.

“You’re crying like a five-year-old.” 

“I’ve never seen Ritsu-kun so upset…”

While rubbing my back through the blanket, Yume-nee comforts me.

“Look, now that you can use the game system, it’s not so bad, right? You can think of it as being able to play ‘DL4’.”

“Uu, gusu, it’s not that, Yume-nee. Games and reality are still very different…”

The appeal of “DL4” also lies in its level design.

The zombies that are randomly placed to keep the player tense are the heart of “DL4”, and the placement of zombies in reality, which is affected by population density, is not designed to entertain the player. Of course, even if the “DL4” system could be used in reality, it would never replace the game “DL4”.

I think everyone clings to something to live, and for me, that was “Dead Land 4”, and now I’ve lost it.

I cried and sniffled for a few hours until my heart calmed down, and Yume-nee patiently stayed with me.

Eventually, I slowly poked my face out of the blanket. I feel a little embarrassed after showing so much upset.

Yume-nee gives me a gentle smile.

“Calmed down?”

“Yeah…”

“Since you can use the ‘DL4’ system in reality, let’s slowly find new things to enjoy, okay?”

Yume-nee’s words touch my heart, but I don’t think I’ll find something that can heal this pain so easily.

“I can’t forget about ‘DL4’ so soon…”

“Cheer up? …If it makes Ritsu-kun feel better, I’ll wear any costume skin for you.”

The moment I heard Yume-nee’s words, words like string swimsuit, nurse outfit, Chinese dress, and reverse bunny filled my brain, and the feeling of suffering was pushed out of my mind.

“Yume-nee, you said any skin, right?”

“Yeah… um… Ritsu-kun, your face is scary…”

Yume-nee, who was confirmed by me holding her shoulder, shows an expression of upset.

I quietly make a fist pump, and then I start checking the purchase price of the skins in the store.