Into the Zombie World

'Fortunately, I was able to have a peaceful sleep.' Nile uttered as he took a set of food from the System Storage Space. 

One portion of innards for Croco, one portion of nuts for Maximo, while he himself bought breakfast from the System Store with 5 Apocalypse Points. 

He took out the last bit of nuts and innards for the two animals as a form of reward. He also planned to search for another food source today anyway. 

After eating and drinking, he gave the two animals a rub before going out of the root cave. 

The sunlight pierces his eyes but it didn't take him long to adjust to its brightness. He raised his head high and inspected the tree that the root belonged to. To his surprise, it was actually a fruit-bearing tree. 

 Upon closer inspection, he didn't recognize its kind. While gazing to the top, he bends his knees and sprung above like a rocket before landing on the tree's thick branch. 

Using the stats function, he stared at the fruit of the tree to inspect its properties. 

[Mutated Apocalypse Berry(Fruit)- A Berry that had absorbed Apocalypse Virus causing it to mutate into a new species. 

Status: Perfectly Ripe. Good to Harvest. 

Effects: Increase Energy Restoration. Helps animals to mutate faster(The lower the level, the stronger the effects).]

Nile bulges his eyes in awe after seeing the fruit's description. It must be noted that it has the same effects as of that from the System Products. Not to mention the last effect that he perfectly needed at this moment. 

The berry was heart-shaped and had the color akin to fire, red. It was the size of a fist and it has a hairy exterior that resembled a rambutan. 

He could not wait to let Maximo consume this fruit so that it could help the animal evolve faster. Thinking of the Peak Stage Max, his eyes gleamed in optimism. 

Excitedly, he plucked berry after berry and stored them inside the System Storage Space. He got absorbed in harvesting that he didn't even notice that he was already nearing the top of the tree.

Compared to before, the berry tree had almost looked like a naked lady without its heart-shaped berry hanging on its branches. 

Jumping from one branch to another, he ultimately arrived at a branch that has a large berry fruit hanging on it. It was twice as big as the others and he guessed that its effects would also be on another level. 

He smirked under his mask and extended his right hand to reach for the hairy Apocalypse Berry in front of him. 

However, it was at this moment that he noticed a sudden movement from the leaves behind the fruit. Not a second has even passed when an orange object suddenly sprung up towards his hand from behind the fruit. 

'You finally decided to show up, bitch!' Still smiling under his mask, Nile stated as he hurriedly retracted his hand and stepped to the side. A red glow appeared on his hand as the ring on his right hand suddenly transformed into a sharp machete that is nearly a meter long. 

Even though he enjoyed the process of plucking the berries, he didn't lower his guard and constantly checked the System Map for potential dangers that might arise at any moment. Halfway through the tree, he noticed a new addition of a colored dot on the System Map. 

It was huge, probably a little bigger than Croco's darkish green dot on the System Map. The dot has the color of dark gray, from his previous experience, Nile already knew that it represents other animals. 

He didn't hurry towards the spot and instead took his time collecting the Apocalypse Berries. He knew that not all animals were harmless, so he didn't attack it immediately. 

It was pure coincidence that the spot where the dark gray dot was on has a large Apocalypse Berry on it. He tests the waters by extending his hand towards it, and as expected the animal, or rather, the snake really tried to bite his handoff. 

The snake brushed past his body by a hairsbreadth after he evaded to the side. Its snout quickly landed on a branch but its body was still slithering in front of Nile. 

Ting!

The sound of metal hitting metal reached his ears as he tried to hack It with the machete. The machete only managed to pierce it by an inch before it got bounced away. His hands and the machete he was holding trembled due to the vibration that the failed strike had generated. 

He clicked his tongue in surprise as the snake's body slightly quivered in pain. The snake finally manages to pull its tail away from Nile as its body hurriedly coils around the thick branch while it hisses threateningly towards him. 

Hissss!

The snake's tongue flickered in and out of its mouth as it stared daggers towards Nile. 

At this point, Nile had also retreated towards another branch to put some distance between him and the snake. He was afraid that it might spring rapidly towards him. At least he would not be able to respond in time if it suddenly strikes.

While retreating, he didn't forget about the large Apocalypse Berry so he plucked it and stored it on the System Storage Space along the way. 

He then stared at the snake and using the stats function, he was able to see the information about the snake.

[Level Two° Middle Stage Mutated Red Hognose Snake- After consuming the Apocalypse Berry, the Hognose snake was able to rapidly evolve. It retained the berry's fiery red color while it's hide mutated into the durable. 

Remarks: Extremely Poisonous. If bitten, a Level Two° creature has the chance of transforming into a zombie. ]

After reading the 'remarks', he couldn't help but roll his eyes helplessly. He realized that he had greatly underestimated his foe this time.

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