Apocalyptic Sequence

Chapter 2 Stronghold

Because I have a student status at Jinling University as a guarantee.

Lu Fan easily obtained the online loan from the microloan app with almost no effort.

This is one of the advantages of online lending: it's convenient and fast, and the two are incomparable to the long approval period of mortgage loans.

However, the interest rates on microloans are also very high.

That's over 20 percent a year, practically usury.

But with the apocalypse approaching, there would be no need to worry about repaying the loan in the future, and Lu Fan silently gave the lender a thumbs up.

What defines a good person? (Leans back tactically)

Lu Fan checked his online banking balance and found that he had embezzled a little over 300,000 yuan in total. His account balance was currently 325,000 yuan, enough for him to rent a room off-campus and set it up as a safe haven.

"Time to prepare for renting a place and complete the newbie tasks."

Lu Fan acted immediately and decisively skipped his afternoon class.

Stepping out of the gate of Jinling University, one is greeted by a bustling commercial street stretching out before them.

This commercial street is mainly for food, and every shop is full of students. The air is filled with the lively atmosphere, showing no signs of the impending apocalypse.

On the west side of the commercial street is a large area of ​​high-rise residential buildings with red walls. Most of the buildings have "hotel" signs on their facades, and they are budget hotels or single apartments for rent run by locals.

This area is also jokingly referred to as the "Red Wall District" by students of Jinling University, where couples can often be seen holding hands and entering hotels together.

Lu Fan's target is the Red Wall District, which has several advantages.

The first advantage is its proximity to Jinling University, separated only by the same commercial street. After the apocalypse, if military personnel come to rescue the students, he can easily hitch a ride on their convoy and avoid missing the rescue opportunity.

The second advantage is that there are many supermarkets below the Red Wall area, which contain daily necessities and can provide Lu Fan with great convenience.

Finally, the Red Wall area mainly caters to students, and the rent for single apartments is not expensive.

In conclusion, Lu Fan plans to rent a studio apartment in the Red Wall District.

After surveying the terrain, Lu Fan arrived at the building in the very center of the Red Wall District, found a single apartment building with a supermarket downstairs, and dialed the number posted on the Red Wall.

A few seconds later, the homeowner answered the phone.

"Hey, I need to rent a studio apartment for a month."

"Okay, I'll be right down."

Three minutes later, a plump middle-aged woman in red hurriedly came down the stairwell.

"Excuse me, are you the one who called me to ask about renting a place?"

The woman in red asked enthusiastically, and seeing Lu Fan nod, she immediately smiled and said:

"The cost of a short-term rental for one month is 500 yuan more expensive per month than a long-term rental."

"Based on market prices, I'll charge you 1,700 for a one-month short-term rental. In addition, you'll need to pay a deposit equivalent to one month's rent, which will total 3,400."

Upon hearing this, Lu Fan didn't rush to agree, but instead asked, "Can I go up and see the room type?"

"Of course!" The plump woman in red nodded and said cheerfully, "You can just call me Sister Hong. I wouldn't say my apartment is the best in the whole area, but it's definitely the cleanest. Come on up with me."

After saying that, Sister Hong led Lu Fan upstairs, and the two arrived at the apartment building.

"By the way, which floor are you planning to rent?"

"I'll rent an apartment on the second floor. If not, I'll look around elsewhere."

Lu Fan stated his requirements for renting a house.

The second floor is the most suitable location for renting a room. Once the apocalypse arrives, the doors and windows on the first floor are too low, making it easy for zombies to climb over and break in by forming a human wall. The second floor is relatively high, making it less likely to be overwhelmed by human wall tactics.

Secondly, by using the air conditioner unit on the second floor, one can jump down to the first floor and then jump directly down to the next floor.

With this advantage, if the second-floor apartment is surrounded by a zombie horde, the second-floor residents can jump out to escape, which is much easier and safer than the third-floor residents. This is the second advantage of second-floor residents.

In conclusion, Lu Fan plans to rent a studio apartment on the second floor.

Upon hearing Lu Fan's words, Sister Hong immediately patted her chest and said enthusiastically, "No problem, there are two single apartments available on the second floor. I'll show you the room types."

The two took the elevator to the third floor, and Sister Hong unlocked the door with her room card, easily entering the first studio apartment.

The apartment is not large, about forty square meters, but it has a separate bathroom. The kitchen is located in the entrance hallway, forming a functional area together with the bathroom on the right. At the far end is a Simmons bed, and in front of the bed is a large OLED TV. It is small but complete.

"Hey, what do you think of this studio apartment?"

Sister Hong confidently introduced, "Don't be fooled by the fact that it's a studio apartment. The entire building is a high-rise residential building, so it uses residential water and electricity rates, which are much cheaper than commercial apartments."

"Great, this is the one."

Lu Fan nodded slightly, turned around to check the facilities in the room, opened the built-in wardrobes on both sides of the apartment, and began to consider how much emergency supplies the entire apartment could hold.

Although the studio apartment is not large, it makes very efficient use of space, with built-in wardrobes on both sides.

If you put emergency supplies such as canned goods, instant noodles, and bottled water into these wardrobes, it should be enough to feed you for several months.

Lu Fan was very satisfied with this.

The two went downstairs and signed the agreement. Lu Fan paid two months' rent, which was one month's rent as deposit and one month's rent in advance, and successfully got his private room key from Sister Hong.

At this point, he had successfully captured a stronghold.

Lu Fanxing rushed back to the third floor and used his room card to open the apartment door.

Standing in the apartment, Lu Fan brought up the player panel again and opened the taskbar.

[Hint: The current task progress is 69%, which meets the completion requirement (greater than 50% task progress). Do you want to submit the task?]

Mission progress? Lu Fan paused for a moment, then began to think.

The so-called mission progress should be related to 'outpost construction'.

Currently, I have only acquired a single apartment as a base, and I have not yet carried out any construction on it, such as sealing off the doors and windows, reinforcing the doors, or stocking up on enough food.

These actions will likely affect the progress of the mission.

"The higher the mission progress, the greater the reward."

"My task progress is only 69%, there's still room for improvement."

With that in mind, Lu Fan immediately left the apartment and went to the building materials market two streets away, where he spent over a thousand yuan to buy some wooden boards, rivets, and a rivet gun for fixing.

Upon returning to his studio apartment, Lu Fan immediately boarded up the doors and windows. Except for the bathroom doors and windows, he boarded up the windows next to the Simmons bed and all other windows.

The bathroom doors and windows are left open, as they can serve as an escape route.

Because the doors and windows are inside the bathroom, as long as the glass door is closed, if a zombie invades, it will make noise and wake Lu Fan, giving him enough time to react.

Perfectly, the air conditioner unit is right outside the bathroom door and window, just as Lu Fan had planned. It can serve as an escape route from the second floor, perfectly replicating the escape plot from the JOJO manga.

JOJO, this is my escape route (lol)!

After doing all this, Lu Fan opened the player panel again and was pleasantly surprised to find that the quest progress information on the quest log had changed.

[Hint: The current task progress is 106%, which meets the completion requirement (greater than 50% task progress). Do you want to submit the task?]

Can the task progress exceed 100%?

Lu Fan was slightly taken aback at first, then became eager to try it out; this was good news.

The higher the progress of the task, the greater the reward upon completion.

He really wanted to know something.

If the task progress can be increased to 200%, how generous will the rewards in the newbie gift pack be?

With this in mind, Lu Fan immediately went downstairs to the nearest supermarket.

Inside the Friendship Supermarket.

Lu Fan went on a shopping spree, buying instant noodles, bottled water, sausages, chocolate, and other portable foods.

In addition, he also added all the unsold canned goods on the shelves to his shopping cart, including hot pot cans, stewed beef cans, braised pork cans, and even canned fruits such as yellow peaches and bayberries.

The scene left several students nearby stunned. They watched Lu Fan sweeping through the goods with curiosity, mistakenly thinking that he was a purchasing agent sent by the class monitor to buy things for a class activity.

Under the watchful eyes of many,

Lu Fan pushed his fully loaded shopping cart to the supermarket cashier.

"Sir, this totals three thousand five hundred and seven yuan."

"Okay, I'd like to rent a shopping cart."

"No problem, sir. Please pay the deposit."

Lu Fan paid a car rental deposit, successfully obtained ownership of the shopping cart, and pushed it back to his apartment.

Taking the elevator upstairs, Lu Fan threw everything from the shopping cart into the closet in his apartment.

After finishing everything, Lu Fan brought up the player panel again.

This time, his mission progressed again.

[Hint: The current task progress is 168%, which meets the completion requirement (greater than 50% task progress). Do you want to submit the task?]

"The current progress is 168%, which is still a little short of 200%."

"I wonder if the task progress can continue to increase after reaching 200%?"

Lu Fan stroked his chin, a hint of suspicion in his mind.

An intuition told him that the maximum progress of the task should be 200%, and it could not be increased any further.

Experimentation is the best way to verify.

So, Lu Fan went downstairs back to the supermarket to continue shopping for food.

Under the cashier's almost ghostly gaze, Lu Fan purchased another full cart of emergency food.

In addition, he bought several pairs of socks and several pairs of underwear as changes of clothes.

"Sir, this totals four thousand and twenty-nine yuan."

"Okay, I'll continue using the shopping cart."

"No problem, sir. Have a nice day."

Lu Fan pushed the fully loaded shopping cart back to the apartment.

This time, his mission progress skyrocketed to 200%, just as predicted.

"200% mission progress should be the maximum; it cannot be increased any further."

To verify this, Lu Fan went downstairs and bought two more cases of Nutritional Express, carrying them all the way back to his apartment.

Back in his apartment, he tossed the energy drink into the closet, but this time, his mission progress didn't increase.

It remains at 200% progress.

"As expected, the quest progress on the player's panel is capped at 200%!"

After verifying this, Lu Fan no longer hesitated and decisively clicked to submit the task.

[Hint: You have completed the beginner quest (Lv.1). You will receive a reward based on your quest progress!]

[Hint: Surrounded by hordes of zombies, you painstakingly completed the beginner's missions and plundered a large amount of resources to establish a safe base, exceeding the beginner's mission objectives!]

[Hint: You have gained 300 experience points!]

[Notification: You have received a New Player Gift Pack (Silver Treasure Chest)!]