Chapter 228: Surviving the Night

What a little cat that had absolutely no worries as long as it had food and drink.

After finally eating his fill, Hwi washed his face with his fluffy paws. He subconsciously wanted to find a high place nearby to sleep, but then he suddenly jumped up in shock.

"Meow?!"

What was going on? Why could he only see a small area? Why was everywhere else so dark?!

Joo Joowon: "..."

Alright, he had overestimated him. It turned out that Hwi had not been carefree enough to be calmed down by food. Instead, after the cat food appeared, he had simply stopped paying attention to anything else and had only realized the problem now.

Joo Joowon spread the bedsheets he had brought with him over the bed. The smell inside the room, which had not been ventilated yet, was somewhat unpleasant, while the cotton blankets, mattress, and other things also carried the damp smell characteristic of the southern region.

Joo Joowon did not care either. He carried both cats onto the bed, then patiently used his mental power to explain the situation to them.

The little cats had a limited understanding of the world. They could not understand how long 72 hours was, nor could they understand who had caused the darkness to descend. However, if he did not explain it to them, they would never understand.

Byeol listened in a dazed and confused manner, but by the end, he still did not really understand what Joo Joowon was talking about. The only thing he managed to understand was that this darkness would not last for too long. Once the sun appeared again, he would be able to see just like before!

Because of this, Byeol relaxed.

As long as his human was there, even if he could not see anything, he could accept it. At worst, if there ever came a day when Joo Joowon could no longer support them, he could secretly run away while his human went out hunting.

However, being able to see was certainly the best possible outcome. He did not want to leave Joo Joowon, and even more so, he did not want to become a burden to him.

As for Hwi, he spent the entire time looking completely absent minded. As he listened, he somehow fell asleep just like that, leaving Joo Joowon somewhat helpless.

Fortunately, judging from how carefree he was, it seemed that this sudden change had not affected him at all. It seemed that the unknown whispers probably would not be able to find him either, which could be considered a good thing.

Joo Joowon also planned to go to sleep. Before going to bed, he sensed the mental imprint on Gaemi and discovered that it was in an active state. However, its position had not changed very much. It seemed that she was digging a tunnel and had not been affected by the darkness that had suddenly descended.

As an animal that lived in its nest for long periods of time, she normally relied on her antennae to find her way around. Naturally, whether it was dark or not did not matter to her. She was originally a creature that lived in a dark environment.

This also allowed Joo Joowon to relax considerably.

Having to go outside and bring Gaemi back while feeling his way through the darkness was something he was certainly reluctant to do at the moment. Who knew what hidden dangers might be lurking in the darkness?

Joo Joowon took another look at his level. After the "walking around the streets" activity ended today, he had risen from Level 8 to Level 9 (236/2560), leaving only this final step before reaching the job advancement level he had predicted at the beginning.

However, an experience bar requiring more than two thousand points meant that even if he killed elite monsters, he would have to kill fifty or sixty of them just to fill it.

It went without saying that there would not be that many elite monsters nearby waiting for him.

Just thinking about it made Joo Joowon feel a headache coming on.

He had no idea whether the Age of Apocalypse would introduce something like experience potions later on. Otherwise, if he could only rely on killing monsters to increase his level, the speed would inevitably be far too slow.

After all, monsters would not wait for players to slowly increase their levels before allowing themselves to be killed. This was especially true now that the game had also lifted the restrictions on bosses. This meant that they could actively leave their territories and eliminate players who might pose a threat to them in the future. In the future, it might even be possible for them to wipe out all the players completely.

It had to be known that even Joo Joowon in his current state would still find it difficult to deal with a boss if he encountered one. It went without saying that ordinary players who struggled even when facing elite monsters would have an even harder time.

This was especially true for psychic type zombies. Their ability to detect living humans was practically unrivaled. If a psychic zombie joined forces with other elite monsters, then...

Joo Joowon shook his head and threw away this frightening possibility. Surely the Age of Apocalypse would not go so far as to make things completely hopeless, right?

He closed his eyes, stopped his chaotic thoughts, and tried his best to enter a state of sleep as quickly as possible.

So far, Joo Joowon had not sensed the unknown whispers mentioned by the system, so he could not predict how serious their effects on players would be.

As for everyone else, he could not say. However, with his Mental Power of 23 points, he thought the effect on himself should not be too serious.

In a situation where dangers were everywhere outside and there was no guarantee of safety, falling asleep would undoubtedly require much more time than usual. However, that was only true for ordinary people. Mental Power had a wide range of uses, so using it to assist with falling asleep was naturally not a problem.