Survival in an apartment, starting with a stroke of luck on a plane

"I see."

Lin Yu's eyes lit up. He patiently waited for the [Illumination] skill to cool down while continuously drinking potions to recover.

Once the skill cooldown was over, he drew the [Rising Sun Bow] to its full potential once more.

This time, he poured almost half of the mana he had just recovered into it.

call out--!

A beam of light, more dazzling, solid, and containing a large amount of solar energy than ever before, shot into the sky and then exploded with a roar above the horde of corpses and giant rats.

In an instant, it was as if a miniature sun had risen within the realm of black mist.

An incomparably intense and pure light descended instantly, frantically burning and purifying all the dark forces within its range.

"Awoooooo!!!"

A chorus of heart-wrenching screams filled the air. Under the light, the zombies were like snowflakes thrown into a steel furnace, their bodies rapidly melting away. The black mist within them was completely evaporated, and they collapsed in droves, turning into true corpses, never to rise again.

The giant rat, enveloped by the [Heavenly Cloak], had its remaining black mist largely evaporated and purified by the intense sunlight. Its struggles quickly became powerless, and its size rapidly shrank...

A few seconds later, the light faded.

The [Heavenly Cloak] flew back into Lin Yu's hand, carrying something with it.

Lin Yu took it and saw that it was indeed the rat-man. It had returned to its original size, its body was charred black, it was unconscious, and its aura was extremely weak. It was obviously severely injured by the combined power of the Sun God's Light and the cloak.

"I'll have to give you a good wash when we get back; you smell like rats." Lin Yu looked at the few black stains on the cloak with disgust, casually threw the unconscious ratman on the ground, and then picked up the azure rose.

boom!

A swift and decisive shot ended the life of this cunning ratman.

The surrounding zombies had been mostly cleared out, and the few remaining ones were easily crushed by the willow branches and could no longer be resurrected.

Willow trees, Liu Xiangxiang, and the remaining ghosts guarded the area.

Lin Yu summoned the ghost back and allowed Liu Xiangxiang to return to the Evil Ghost Sword to be nurtured.

He walked to the willow tree and felt the life energy and magical power continuously flowing from the earth to restore his health.

With this willow tree, blessed by the Earth Mother Goddess, there, the surrounding black mist is firmly repelled and cannot approach.

He seized the opportunity, sat under the tree, and tried his best to recover.

After a few minutes, his physical strength and magical power had recovered to about 80-90% of their original levels.

"That's about it." Lin Yu stood up, patted the trunk of the willow tree, and with a thought, the huge willow tree quickly shrank back into the emerald green [willow branch], which Lin Yu put back into his backpack.

As soon as the willow tree disappeared, the dense black mist around him surged back like a tide, attempting to engulf Lin Yu.

But at this moment, Lin Yu's third eye between his eyebrows was still open. These black mists were nothing to him. His vision was crystal clear, and he could even clearly see the trajectory of the black mist's energy flow.

He hopped on the electric scooter, and his shadow clone drove it again, hurtling towards a direction where the black mist was relatively thin and the energy flowed outwards.

The Heavenly Eye's abilities far exceeded his expectations. It could not only see through the fog, but also predict the trajectory of the black fog's attack to a certain extent, allowing him to avoid it in advance.

The electric vehicles moved nimbly through the black fog like swimming fish, at extremely high speeds.

As the edges of the black fog gradually became clearer, the faint starlight of the normal world outside could even be vaguely seen.

But just before he was about to burst out of the black mist, a figure appeared silently and ghostly in front of him, blocking the boundary between the black mist and the normal world.

It was the first black-robed figure to appear, formed from black mist.

It stood there quietly, and the shadow clone suddenly squeezed the brakes, the electric car tires screeching as they rubbed against the ground, and came to a steady stop less than ten meters away from the other party.

The air seemed to freeze completely at that moment.

Lin Yu frowned deeply as he looked at the figure emerging from the black mist ahead.

It seems this is the real deal.

He slightly tightened his grip on the Azure Rose in his hand, his magical power flowing quietly within him, and his Heavenly Cloak moved without wind, ready to respond to the opponent's thunderous attack at any moment.

However, the man in black robes simply stood there quietly, like an ancient statue.

It did not exude any fierce killing intent, nor did it show any signs of energy fluctuations. It simply "looked" at Lin Yu through the unfathomable shadow of its hood.

The eerie silence, neither speaking nor making a move, only heightened people's vigilance.

Lin Yu disliked this passive waiting, so he broke the silence first, his tone tinged with impatience: "Hey! You're neither speaking nor making a move, what are you doing standing here like a roadblock? What exactly do you want?"

Upon hearing his words, the man in black robes trembled almost imperceptibly, as if Lin Yu's voice was a noise that disturbed his contemplation.

It slowly raised its head. Although the face under the hood was still not visible, Lin Yu could feel a cold "gaze" falling on him.

Finally, that hoarse, sandpaper-like sound rang out again, repeating the initial demand: "Human... give me back my collection."

Its tone was flat and lacked emotional fluctuations, yet it carried an unquestionable quality.

Lin Yu scoffed, his face revealing undisguised sarcasm: "What do you mean, your collection or my collection? You think you can just claim it as yours with a few words? What proof do you have? Where's the invoice? The purchase record? Or is your name engraved on it?"

Trying to get someone to hand over their belongings without any proof is blatant robbery! Go ahead and try to steal it; do you think I'm afraid of you?

The man in black robes was visibly taken aback by Lin Yu's barrage of sarcastic remarks. His body began to tremble slightly, and the black mist around him fluctuated, as if he was truly angered by Lin Yu.

After a long pause, it seemed to squeeze out a sentence through gritted teeth: "Very well... human... you have succeeded... in angering me."

Upon hearing its standard villainous lines, Lin Yu's muscles tensed instantly, thinking that the other party was finally about to make a move!

But to his utter surprise, after uttering those harsh words, the man in black robes suddenly turned around, his figure fading and disappearing instantly, like ink merging into water, vanishing from the spot.

At the same time, the dense, suffocating black fog around them began to fade and dissipate rapidly at a visible speed.

It was as if an invisible hand had pulled them away.

Within a dozen seconds, the black fog that had enveloped the sky and earth vanished without a trace, revealing the desolate yet normal night scene of the ruined city, with sparse starlight falling down.

"???" Lin Yu was completely dumbfounded, remaining in a defensive posture with a question mark on his face.

"What's going on? They just made a threat and ran away? All bark and no bite?"

He was all prepared to unleash his trump cards in a fierce battle, but his opponent just slipped away like that? This is completely different from the script he had envisioned!

"It's not that she doesn't want to take action, it's just that she knows how to use your current methods."

Just as Lin Yu was completely baffled, a slightly hoarse but uniquely magnetic female voice rang out from not far behind him.

Lin Yu turned his head sharply and found that the person who came was the black cat woman from the Ghost Opera House.

She appeared there silently, still leaning lazily against a dilapidated wall. Her scarlet robe stood out under the starlight, and an unidentified dark red liquid swirled in the goblet in her hand.

Hearing its words, Lin Yu raised an eyebrow in surprise and asked, "Can't do anything to me? Didn't you say it was very strong? A big shot who ruled the north of the city for hundreds of years, and this is all it is?"

The black cat woman elegantly sipped her "drink," her emerald vertical pupils sweeping over the now clear surroundings, before casually replying, "The Black Mist Lady's true form is extremely powerful, that much is undeniable."

However, her true form is restricted and cannot leave the core area of ​​the northern part of the city. The thing you just saw, including the black mist beast head and tentacles that attacked you earlier, were merely 'avatars' extending from her power.

She paused, looked at Lin Yu, and said with a hint of amusement in her eyes, "It's obvious that these avatars she sent out and that bunch of useless subordinates can't do anything to you."

Continuing to drag this out would only be a pointless waste of her energy.

She's not stupid; she wouldn't do something that loses her money, so she had no choice but to leave for the time being.

Lin Yu stroked his chin, frowned slightly, and grasped another key point: "An avatar? Then why did you say before that even the theater owner couldn't handle the black mist? That owner... couldn't possibly be unable to deal with an avatar of this level, right?"

He felt this didn't make sense. The vampire butler gave him the feeling that he was no weaker than a silver-level vampire. How could the boss behind him not be able to handle an avatar?

The black cat woman let out a soft snort and continued, "The theater owner is naturally capable of dealing with these annoying avatars, but the problem is, once one is dealt with, Lady Black Mist can quickly condense a second, a third... As long as her original power remains, these avatars are almost endless."

Moreover, these entities usually only emanate black mist outside and don't directly affect the theater's business, so the owner naturally doesn't bother to waste effort on continuous cleaning; it's not worth the trouble.

She swirled her glass and added, "What's more, the theater owner's situation is actually somewhat similar to Ms. Black Mist's, and perhaps even more... unique."

It also has its own limitations, even more so than those of the Black Mist Lady; it cannot even leave the theater area.

In this situation, as long as Ms. Black Mist doesn't cross the line, the boss will naturally turn a blind eye.

Lin Yu pursed his lips; he roughly understood.

Since both of these are "earthbound spirit" type bosses, they are wary of each other but unable to do anything to each other, thus creating this strange coexistence situation.

So it seems that I am indeed safe for now. At least I have left the northern area of ​​the city, and the main body of Lady Black Mist is no longer able to reach me. As for those avatars... it seems that their strength is also limited.

The black cat woman seemed to see right through Lin Yu's momentary relaxation, a sly smile playing on her lips as she reminded him, "Hey, human, don't get too excited. Have you forgotten what your 'profession' is?"

Occupation?

hiss--!

Upon hearing the black cat's reminder, Lin Yu gasped and suddenly realized what was happening.

Yeah! Damn, I'm a food delivery driver! The "Starving Tomorrow" app covers the entire city.

If the system assigns me an order to the northern part of the city later, I will have to go no matter what.

Although I have three chances to refuse orders each day, what if the Black Mist Lady gets really ruthless and uses her influence or some unknown means to continuously assign orders from the north of the city to me... Wouldn't that be like walking into a trap?!

Although the other party may not know his specific number, to be honest, his number is not exactly a secret, and it seems that quite a few monsters know it.

Lady Black Mist holds a fairly high position in this game world, so getting her own number shouldn't be too difficult.

"Headache..." Lin Yu couldn't help but rub his temples; this was indeed an unsolvable problem.

Unless he gives up meeting his daily delivery quota and gives up competing for the top spot, but that's simply impossible.

"Hehe, good luck, human delivery guy." The black cat woman seemed quite pleased to see Lin Yu's pained expression, letting out a few light laughs.

"I hope you live long enough so that I can have some fun in this boring, godforsaken place."

After saying that, she didn't linger. She turned around gracefully and walked away with silent, cat-like steps. Her red figure quickly disappeared into the shadows of the ruins.

Upon hearing her last sentence, Lin Yu scoffed, then shook his head, temporarily suppressing his chaotic thoughts.

"Forget it, there's no use thinking about it now. Like I said, we'll deal with whatever comes our way. Let's go to the north of the city then, a living person won't let themselves die from holding in their pee, right?"

He muttered to himself, "If all else fails... I'll just go to the north of the city, find that girl's lair, and take her down with a Master Ball! Let's see how arrogant she can be then!"

Thinking of the Master Ball in his backpack, which was said to be able to capture everything, Lin Yu felt more confident and relaxed a lot.

"Shadow clone, drive! Back to the station!"

Without further delay, he hopped on the electric scooter and had his shadow clone drive it towards the station.

Lin Yu returned to the station safely very soon.

After parking his electric vehicle in the designated area to charge, he headed towards the dormitory building.

However, as soon as he reached the entrance of the apartment building, an extremely tall and muscular figure blocked his way like an iron tower, casting a shadow that almost completely enveloped him.

The newcomer was none other than the station's captain—Bullman.

Its terrifying height of over three meters and its bulging muscles created a sense of oppression far exceeding any monster Lin Yu had encountered in the city ruins before.

"You... are you the single king from yesterday?" The bull lowered its head, its copper bell-like eyes scrutinizing Lin Yu, and asked directly in a deep voice like muffled thunder.

"It's me." Lin Yu nodded. Although the other party exerted tremendous pressure, he remained calm.

But in theory, the other party should be a friendly NPC, and as long as I don't violate company rules, there shouldn't be any problems.

A faint, almost imperceptible expression of satisfaction appeared on the bull's ferocious face as he nodded. "You're quite good. It's rare to see a newbie deliver nine orders on their first day."

Before Lin Yu could exchange a few polite words, Man Niu stretched out a huge hand and handed over a piece of ordinary A4 printing paper, saying, "The company's processes and rules are not perfect in many aspects."

Headquarters needs to recruit capable and experienced delivery drivers like you to offer some "reasonable" suggestions to optimize our delivery system.

Lin Yu took the paper and looked at it. The contents were very simple; it was just a suggestion solicitation form.

The title was "Solicitation of Opinions and Suggestions on Optimizing the 'Eelto' Delivery System," followed by a large blank space for him to fill in.

Finally, there is a small line of text: If the suggestion is adopted, the person who made the suggestion will be given a certain reward, depending on the circumstances.

Lin Yu stroked his chin, not nodding on his own, but looking at Man Niu cautiously, he asked, "Captain, what exactly constitutes this 'reasonable' suggestion? Are there any taboos we need to be particularly aware of?"

He knew very well that this kind of "suggestion" was not something he could just write whatever he wanted; it had to conform to the "rules" of this strange company. Otherwise, he might not get any benefits and might even get into trouble.

Upon hearing his question, the ugly, fleshy face of the bull twitched, revealing a "smile" that could stop a child from crying. He said, "It's very simple. First, don't involve any questions about 'customers'."

The customer is king, and their behavior is none of our business.

"Second..." It held up two thick fingers: "It's best not to write too many, three at most. If you write too many, those guys at headquarters will get annoyed."

Lin Yu nodded, immediately understanding.

The core principle is: you cannot complain about customers being eccentric, and you cannot suggest changing any rules related to customers.

The suggestions should be limited to the delivery system itself and should be concise and to the point, without being verbose.

"I understand, thank you for reminding me, Captain."

"It's finished. Just hand it in to me at this time tomorrow." After saying that, Man Niu didn't say anything more. He turned around and left with heavy steps, "thump, thump, thump."

Lin Yu took the seemingly ordinary A4 paper, which might contain an opportunity, and returned to his apartment, number 003.

Back in the relatively safe apartment, Lin Yu first placed the suggestion paper on the table, then his eyes were immediately drawn to a small cardboard box placed beside the bed.

"This should be today's reward for winning the single-player game."

He stepped forward and opened the box, inside which lay two exquisitely designed cards.

The first card is light gold in color and has a crossed-out order image printed on it.

[Order Clearance Card]

Category: Special game item (cannot be taken out of this world)

Effect: After use, you can select a completed order that has been recorded by the system (regardless of whether it is a good or bad review) and completely remove it from your delivery record.

All points rewards, customer reviews (including negative reviews), and any subsequent effects (such as task count) for this order will be reset to zero, as if you never delivered this order.

Number of uses: 1/1

Description: "Let bygones be bygones—although the company doesn't encourage this behavior."

"This is great stuff!" Lin Yu's eyes lit up immediately; this thing would be very useful to him.

He had been working hard for that side quest with "no negative reviews". With this card, he would have an extra chance to make a mistake. If he accidentally got a negative review one day, he could use it to save the quest.

He put the card away and then looked at the second card.

The card is blue and has a number printed on it.

[Delivery points card]

Category: Game Items

Effect: You will immediately receive 200 delivery points after use.

"It's alright." This card is relatively ordinary, a real resource supplement.

But for Lin Yu, who just needed the points, this was a timely help.

He used the delivery points card without hesitation.

[Ding! Successful use, 200 delivery points earned.]

[Current total points: 1010]

"Perfect!" Lin Yu nodded in satisfaction.

1010 points are just enough for him to buy the [Multi-functional Electric Vehicle (Silver Level)] he's been longing for in the points mall.

That's a vehicle that can operate on land, sea, and air, and can even be taken out of the game world. It can greatly improve his food delivery efficiency; it's definitely a good thing.

He immediately decided to buy it first thing tomorrow morning.

Afterwards, Lin Yu habitually opened his phone and checked the task requirements for the day posted on the app.

Minimum delivery order today: 5 orders.

Upon seeing this number, Lin Yu curled his lip. The difficulty had indeed been increased.

He knew without even thinking that the player chat channel must have exploded at this moment.

After all, judging from yesterday's leaderboard, apart from the top ten, most players completed around 3-4 orders, and many even barely completed the minimum requirement of 3 orders.

Even so, nearly half of the people died.

Today, the limit was increased to 5 orders, which is a nightmare for many players.

"We can't be so pessimistic." Lin Yu rubbed his temples.

Those who die on the first day are most likely the weakest and unluckiest group.

Those who survived all had some survival skills or had begun to adapt to the rules of this world.

As long as they don't do anything reckless and are careful, completing 5 orders is not impossible.

Based on the information he has obtained so far, he believes that for ordinary players, delivering food is not that difficult; the difficulty lies in the delivery process itself.

There were just too many monsters in the ruined city. Apart from a few players, most people couldn't just run around aimlessly like him.

However, the danger to customers and businesses is not as exaggerated.

He lay down on the bed, resting and recovering his energy, while casually opening the player chat channel to see if there was any new information or noteworthy news.

The channel was indeed boiling over like water, with almost all the discussions revolving around the number "5 singles".

The screen was filled with cries of despair and complaints, with various comments lamenting that the difficulty level had been increased too drastically.

Interspersed among these were posts seeking to team up, exchange regional information, or sell or buy equipment and potions.

It seems that many players have accepted the current situation.

……