My players are too fierce!

That night, a curtain of scarlet moonlight enveloped a long-abandoned and desolate city.

Several unsteady figures wandered through an alley next to a tavern.

bang-

A faint noise came from deep within the alley.

A figure seemed to sense something and turned to walk unsteadily into the depths.

A rotting face, crawling with maggots, was clearly visible under the red moon!

The commotion was caused by a mouse.

Perhaps stimulated by the fresh flesh, the zombie quickened its pace, its jaws opening and closing as if it had already tasted the fresh meat...

Completely unaware of the pair of indifferent eyes behind the open door of the tavern beside them.

Pfft!

The dagger pierced the corpse's decaying skull with pinpoint accuracy.

After twitching for a moment, the zombie turned to ashes and drifted toward Roland, who had retrieved his dagger.

Ding--

A blue panel appeared on Roland's retina.

[Congratulations to the administrator for completing the newbie assessment task!]

[Collect Ashes: 10 units]

[Reward: Epic Item "Fire Seed"!]

[Player's initial stats/class: Useless!]

[Note: Each player needs to choose a template upon initial summoning. Applying the template 'Useless' consumes 2 units of Ash.]

Lowest cost, huge potential for improvement.

As for its current strength?

All I can say is that they are healthier than young people on Earth.

Leaning against the bar, Roland gazed at a tiny flame in his palm.

All he wanted was to live.

At the very least, I must not die here!

In fact, Roland did not start out as an orphan; a month earlier, he had been wandering around with a group of natives.

But now all those companions have turned into living rotten flesh, unable to die.

This spark gave him hope to survive!

Roland went to the fireplace in the tavern.

Perhaps the tavern owner was in such a hurry when he ran away that there was still a lot of firewood left in the basement.

Swah——

Roland breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, this spark, like him, is not picky about food.

Since arriving in this shattered world more than a month ago, the accumulated crazy thoughts have been gradually driven away, and reason has begun to regain its dominance.

In short, this spark can restore sanity.

As for whether it can recover health...

Thinking about it, Roland began to try it out, using a dagger to make a bloody cut on his palm.

Blood dripped onto the flames, causing them to flicker and sparks to leap upwards, as if yearning for more.

This fire doesn't discriminate in its food, but if we want the child to grow up healthily, it seems we still need to provide some nutritious food.

Outside the tavern, the zombies, already agitated by the sudden appearance of the fire, moved toward the source of the bloody smell like sharks in the sea.

Roland didn't care about this, closed his eyes, and focused entirely on feeling the temperature of the flames.

【fire】

[Status: Weak flame]

Fuel required to reach the next stage: 0/10

The warm glow stopped at half of the tavern lobby, still some distance from the windows.

Roland sat in the chair in front of the fireplace, staring at the wound on his palm that was writhing and closing.

slam-la-

The tavern windows were shattered.

The zombies climbed in through the window, and at a glance, there were more than ten of them!

The stench of rotting flesh assaulted Roland, but he paid it no heed, engrossed in studying the new functions brought by the fire.

Connecting to the global internet, player respawn points, creating promotional CGs...

Current player count: 0/5

[The quest chain "New Broom Takes Office" is now open!]

[First step: Unlock the player recruitment module and summon at least 5 players!]

[Rewards: The Welfare Prize Pool module is now available. You can use Ashes to draw random rewards, including but not limited to premium fuel, epic equipment, and special player templates.]

Clang—clang—clang—

Three chimes came from the city center, signifying the start of a new week.

The entire city seemed to come alive; rotting or fresh zombies emerged from the shadows and surged onto the streets, crowding together in dense swarms.

And within this horde of corpses, there seem to be some even more peculiar monsters lurking.

But one thing is certain: their destination is the city center.

Inside the tavern, the zombie that had broken in through the window froze, its already rotting brain seemingly sprouting two consciousnesses.

One side demands that they kill the living beings before them and devour their flesh; the other side demands that they immediately abandon all their goals and head to the city center.

Ultimately, the latter prevailed, and they retreated.

After they left, under the scarlet moonlight, the shattered windows seemed to rewind time and piece themselves back together as before.

In this city shrouded in the red moon, no matter what traces he leaves behind or how much supplies he accumulates, as soon as this bell rings, everything except what he wears and what he holds will be reduced to nothing.

This is why, after staying here for several months, he hasn't been able to accumulate any resources other than the dagger and ashes given to him by the system.

only...

He trembled as he touched the seven scratches on the fireplace, the marks he used to record the chimes.

If it's erased by the bell, then carve it again, and add another line at the end...

One deeper and deeper...

Why didn't it disappear this time!

Shock, confusion, ecstasy...

He looked around and found that only the traces within the area protected by the firelight had not been reset!

Roland's eyes twitched, and his whole body began to spasm uncontrollably.

A jumble of confused thoughts clashed within his mind.

Collect ashes... collect fuel... summon players...

Survive in the firelight... find your way home...

Who could resist having a group of immortal and indestructible natural disasters under their command?

"Squeak?"

A gray mouse scurried from the tavern kitchen to the fireplace, a piece of cheese that would never rot in its mouth, its eyes filled with human-like confusion.

What is this hot thing? It looks even brighter than the fleshy lump in the sky!

Out of wariness of the unfamiliar creature, the little gray mouse was about to ask Roland, the two-legged man, to take a look.

As soon as I jumped onto the bar, I saw him lying there like he was about to kick the bucket.

The sky has fallen!

"squeak!"

The little mouse quickly dropped the cheese in its mouth and bit Roland's face.

"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!"

The pain pulled Roland back from his ecstasy.

He rubbed his face, then casually picked up the cheese from the little gray mouse's mouth and took his face back.

Ignoring his grumbling companion above him, he seized the opportunity by the fire to grab the accounting tools left by the tavern owner and quickly jot down the thoughts he could make up, forming a plan.

Hunting zombies, gathering ashes, the way home...

Roland bit the pen cap and crossed it out.

Based on experience, a new wave of zombies can only appear in large numbers in the darkness some time after the bells have rung.

Monsters will breed in any corner where there is no moonlight.

Fortunately, this tavern is the best-lit building among the surrounding buildings, with virtually no blind spots in the red moonlight. All that's needed is to periodically clean up the few zombies in the tavern's cellar.

But now there's a new problem: the well-lit taverns are now more likely to let the firelight be detected by monsters outside.

The monster is not afraid of the blood moon.

Renovating the tavern requires resources, and obviously not all the materials in the tavern can be used to seal the windows.

A newbie camp should at least look like a camp; you can't expect players to just come back, log off, and lie down on the ground, can you?

Now that the monsters outside are all gone, it's the perfect time to collect materials, train players, and explore the map.

While pondering, the pen strokes were barely made.

Suddenly, Roland paused, his eyes glazing over, as if he had thought of something very important.

Even the little gray mouse on his head seemed to sense something, and stopped pulling his hair.

Damn! The system's reference panel doesn't seem to show any starting equipment for the player?