Days in the Infinite

Something felt off.

Li Ke frowned.

If the person inside were truly alive, seeing two strangers wandering around—whether they looked like zombies or not—should have elicited some reaction after all this time. A greeting, a warning, or even an act of hostility—there should have been something.

But there was nothing. No response at all.

"Strange..."

Suppressing his doubts, Li Ke stepped closer to the iron gate. He cleared his throat and called out cautiously.

"Excuse me, could you open the door?"

He controlled his voice to be loud enough for the person inside to hear, but not so loud as to attract nearby zombies. Yet, once again, there was no response. 

The merchant inside neither reacted like a zombie, lunging and thrashing toward the sound, nor responded in any way to their arrival. She just stood there, breathing rhythmically, as still as a statue, staring straight ahead.

"What's going on?" Li Ke muttered, unease creeping into his voice. A sense of foreboding weighed on him, and the lack of response only deepened his discomfort.

Still, they had come this far—turning back now wasn't an option.

"Should we go in?" Erina Nakiri asked nervously, gripping the axe in her hands as she glanced at Li Ke.

"Yes, but I'll go in first. You stay out here for now," Li Ke replied, taking a deep breath. Clutching his axe tightly, he crouched down to try and lift the rolling iron gate. However, despite his efforts, the door wouldn't budge.

"Is it locked?" he wondered aloud. Just as the thought crossed his mind, he felt a strange sensation ripple through his body, as though something deep within him had been triggered.

Suddenly, his feverish symptoms intensified, and his vision warped. Then, as if projected directly into his eyes, a line of text appeared:

"Press E to open."

Was he hallucinating?

Am I about to turn into a zombie? 

His head spun, and he instinctively steadied himself by grabbing the gate. 

Ding!

A piercing sound erupted where his hand touched the gate, reverberating straight into his ears—and Erina's too. Both of them clutched at their ears in pain.

The dizziness worsened, and Li Ke felt as though he were on the brink of collapse. But amidst the chaos in his mind, a grid-like interface appeared in his vision, floating in mid-air. The first slot in the grid even showed a small icon of the axe he was holding.

Am I dying?

The thought struck him like lightning as he struggled to catch his breath. Taking long, deep breaths, he fought to clear his head, but more hallucinations swam into view. At the top of his vision, he saw a glowing reticle and a compass, while the corner of his eye displayed a line of text: 

"Collect plant fibers."

This feels... just like a video game.

"Is this some kind of final farewell from my brain before I die?" Li Ke mumbled to himself. 

But despite the absurdity of it all, he couldn't suppress his curiosity. He focused on the text that read "Press E to open" and willed himself to follow the command.

The moment he formed the thought, the gate began to rise with a low rumble. Caught off guard, Li Ke lost his balance and stumbled forward, falling halfway through the now-open entrance.

"Mr. Li Ke!" Erina cried out, horrified at the sight of him seemingly phasing through the gate. For a moment, she froze, certain she was witnessing something impossible. 

But as the gate finished lifting, her panic subsided. Li Ke wasn't injured—he had simply lost his footing and fallen inside.

Lying on the ground, Li Ke groaned as the pain from his fall brought him back to his senses. The realistic ache in his body made one thing abundantly clear: this wasn't a hallucination. He was still alive.

And yet... 

He glanced at Erina, who had rushed to his side to help him up. Tentatively, he reached out his hand, grasping her chest in one smooth motion. The warmth and softness beneath his palm sent a shock through his body.

For a moment, he froze, his thoughts racing.

This... this feels real. 

The blush rapidly spreading across Erina's face only reinforced his conviction. Above her head, a red health bar reading 85/100 hovered in the air, confirming that something bizarre was happening.

"So this really is...?" 

Just as he reached out with his other hand toward her thigh, Erina abruptly stood up, pulling herself out of his grasp. Her face flushed, she stammered, "Mr. Li Ke! What—what are you doing? Have you lost your mind? Are you turning into a zombie?"

Li Ke shook his head, his vision returning to normal as the strange text and interface vanished. The dizziness faded as well, replaced by a calm clarity.

"It's possible," he replied cryptically. "But if my guess is correct, our situation might just improve."

His heartbeat quickened as a surge of excitement coursed through him. He had tried summoning a "system" before—what self-respecting transmigrator wouldn't?—but no matter how many times he shouted commands in his head, nothing had ever happened.

Until now.

If there was any difference between then and now, it had to be the combination of killing zombies, being infected, and touching this strange shop.

Or maybe it was something else entirely.

What triggered it? 

Li Ke was dying to find out. But first, there was one more thing he needed to test.

Fixing his gaze on the still-open gate, Li Ke focused his thoughts. Almost instantly, the familiar sensation returned, and a new line of text appeared before his eyes: "Press E to close."

"Press E…" he muttered under his breath, and as if on command, the iron gate began to lower.

Erina Nakiri's mouth hung open again. She glanced at the unmoving, doll-like merchant woman inside the room and then back at Li Ke, whose face now bore a faint smile, her mind swirling with questions. 

Li Ke let out a sigh of relief as he watched the metal door close, unable to suppress a chuckle. 

"As I thought, assuming this isn't some hyper-realistic hallucination, I think I've figured out a part of this world's workings." 

Erina didn't fully grasp what he meant. She looked at him, then at the strange merchant, and finally tugged on his arm anxiously. 

"Li Ke, what is this place exactly…?" 

The self-opening and closing doors, coupled with the eerily lifeless merchant, filled her with dread, as though they had stepped into some elaborate trap. 

"Ah, well, I don't fully understand it either, but it should be a good thing," Li Ke replied, striding boldly toward the small room where the merchant stood. 

As they approached, Li Ke scanned his surroundings carefully but found no sign of other people. Only a single door separated him from the merchant. 

Like the previous door, this one couldn't be pushed or twisted open by hand. Yet, the moment he mentally imagined pressing "E," it opened instantly—no physical contact required. 

Erina watched in shock as Li Ke opened the door without laying a finger on it. Her brain reeled from the sheer absurdity of it all. 

Li Ke had no time to explain. He entered the room and approached the silent female merchant. 

Calling her beautiful might be an overstatement; she was slightly above average in appearance. Her long black hair was disheveled, a stethoscope hung around her neck, and her clothes were tattered. 

Still, there was one undeniable feature: her figure. Though her chest wasn't quite as full as Erina's, it was still substantial. 

Most importantly, above her head, Li Ke could see a floating prompt: "Press E to talk to Merchant Jane."

Li Ke couldn't help but hold his head, suppressing the urge to laugh. But before indulging his mirth, he needed to confirm one more thing. 

He waved his hand frantically in front of the merchant's face, but no matter how much he moved, the woman didn't react. She simply smiled serenely at him, as if frozen in place. 

"What's going on, Li Ke?" Erina's fear spiked again. 

Before she could get a response, she watched in horror as Li Ke swung his axe and aimed it directly at the merchant's head. 

With a resounding "Ding!" the axe stopped dead just above the merchant's hair, as though blocked by some invisible force. No matter how much strength Li Ke put into his swings, the axe couldn't even graze her. 

"Just as I thought—invincible NPCs and indestructible buildings," Li Ke muttered, pulling back his axe and taking a deep breath to calm himself. 

"What does that mean?" 

"You've played games before, haven't you, Erina?" Li Ke asked, leaning against a nearby shelf. 

"Games? You mean the ones boys are obsessed with?" she replied, puzzled. 

Li Ke nodded. "Exactly. Based on everything we've seen, it looks like we've been thrown into some kind of video game world." 

Erina's first reaction was disbelief, but as she looked around at their surroundings, the merchant, and Li Ke's strange actions, a nervous dryness crept into her voice. 

"Who… who would do something like this? This isn't real, right… Li Ke?" 

"It's not something we can deny. Whether it's the work of some cruel god or a twisted devil, it's beyond our control now. What matters is that we survive," Li Ke sighed. 

Gesturing toward the merchant, he continued, "Take her, for example. She's probably the type of NPC who handles supplies and issues quests. Completely invulnerable." 

To demonstrate his point, Li Ke extended a hand and firmly grabbed the merchant's chest. The soft warmth immediately spread through his palm, accompanied by the sensation of her heartbeat and the texture of her clothing. 

"Li Ke…" Erina called out, torn between embarrassment and anger. She wanted to stop him, but he didn't give her a chance. 

Li Ke grabbed the merchant's clothing and yanked it aside, revealing her white undergarments beneath. Yet, the merchant remained utterly unresponsive, smiling placidly at him and Erina. 

The sight unnerved Erina even further, though a faint blush crept onto her cheeks as she remembered how Li Ke had touched her earlier. 

"See? Even when I do this, she doesn't react. This world probably doesn't have any other living people—only NPCs and zombies," Li Ke concluded. 

"And judging by how things look, we're stuck in some kind of survival game. Games like this either use zombie viruses to finish you off or send massive zombie hordes your way to make survival harder. Oh, and this building? There's no way it's going to remain safe forever—it's an 'invincible' zone." 

Li Ke glanced at the merchant, recalling the many survival games he'd played in his previous life. 

In games, it made sense to limit the player's access to permanent safe zones; it added excitement and challenge. 

But in real life… 

"We probably can't safely spend the night here, Erina," Li Ke said grimly. 

Turning his attention back to the merchant, he mentally pressed the "E" key. 

The merchant "came to life" immediately. She smiled warmly, waved, and spoke. 

"Hello, friend. How can I assist you?" 

As her voice echoed through the room, Li Ke felt a strange energy surge within him. A menu interface materialized before his eyes, presenting three options: 

1. Let me see your inventory.

2. Do you have any tasks for me? 

3. Nothing for now.

Without hesitation, Li Ke selected the first option. The strange energy within him stirred once more, and a game-like inventory screen appeared, displaying various items for sale. 

"So this is… my golden finger?" Li Ke murmured, scrutinizing the merchant and the goods she offered, a mix of suspicion and excitement bubbling within him.