Chapter 30 Territory Bond
What surprised Iris even more was that bringing in the military dogs had earned her 150 points!
This round, she had more than made her investment back–she was profiting!
She immediately opened the store panel, scrutinizing everything she could redeem.
The food section now listed ten items, from energy bars up to a 100–point super energy serum.
All of them promised rapid stamina recovery and lasting satiety, from a few hours to several days.
Iris didn’t need food, but the medicine section had added two
new items.
Besides the 20–point First Aid Injector for quick bleeding control, there was a 50–point Super Bandage and a 100–point Emergency Recovery Pill.
She clicked on the two new medical items to check the details.
[Super Bandage: Apply to any wound for rapid healing, including arteries.]
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That meant even a cut throat could be patched up with this.
The Emergency Recovery Pill impressed her even more.
[Emergency Recovery Pill: As long as there’s a single breath left, this can revive the injured.]
“Man, these are the real deal!” Iris muttered.
Both medical items were insanely powerful.
Scrolling further, she found something that made her heart
race.
[Zombie Virus Suppressor–100,000,000 points!]
“There’s a cure? The virus can actually be beaten?”
Her excitement quickly hit a wall when she saw the price.
Tens, hundreds, thousands… a hundred million points!
Forget it. No way.
With her measly 156 points, she couldn’t even dream of it.
But her eyes still sparkled–her system store held treasures of unbelievable power. If she ever got her hands on this, it could shake the world. 2/8
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She rubbed her hands together in secret glee.
One hundred million points.
No matter what, she was going to save up enough points to redeem one.
She had to have at least one for herself.
After checking out the medicines, Iris turned her attention to the weapons.
The weapon section made her practically salivate.
A standard P5 cost 500 points; a slightly better Glock went for
1,000!
Submachine guns and shotguns were even pricier, starting at 5,000. Iris had her eyes on an AK priced at 8,000.
The guns produced by the system were leagues above anything available outside.
Their power and lethality were off the charts.
The prices were high, but they were right up her alley.
She added the AK to her shopping cart. She just had to save up her points until she could afford some serious heat.
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Further down, she noticed a locked section of the store.
It said she needed 5,000 points to unlock it. Iris had no idea what treasures might lie beyond.
This system store fit her tastes perfectly.
Everything was tempting, yet she lacked the points.
It was maddening.
She tried clicking on ways to earn points, and a prompt appeared.
[1. Complete system tasks to earn points.]
[2. Expand your territory to earn points.]
[3. Increase the number of territory members to earn points.]
Iris studied the list, and things started to click. Killing intruders before had counted as completing the “Defend the Base” task, which had rewarded her points.
Accepting the 15 dogs today had increased her territory members–that was another way.
And the second option–expanding her territory!
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A spark lit in her eyes.
Starting tomorrow, she would begin pushing the boundaries of her domain.
*****
Early the next morning, Iris didn’t run along the usual borders of her territory. Instead, she headed up the back mountain.
As she ran, she had her dogs carry ropes, marking the land as they went.
In ancient times, people ran horses to fence land. Today, she had her dogs do it.
She split them into two groups. Summer led Happy, Lucky, Buddy, Max, Bella, Daisy, Rocky, and Coco from the left, while Iris guided Cherry, Charlie, Lucy, Molly, Red, White, and Spike from the right.
These were the names she’d given her newly recruited dogs.
The two groups ran along opposite sides of the back mountain, encircling it with ropes.
By afternoon, Iris met up with Summer in the middle. She tied the ends together and secured all the loose rope points.
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evening, after a long day of work, the back mountain was
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fully encircled.
She tied both ends of the rope to her barbed wire fences, effectively claiming the roughly two–mile perimeter of the hill as her own.
“Beep–territory area doubled detected!
“Reward: 1,000 points!
“First–time territory expansion bonus–Territory Bond!”
Iris felt a rush of excitement.
It really worked!
By actively staking claim over unoccupied land, the system officially recognized it as hers.
And this was just the back hill–she’d already earned 1,000 points. If she managed to claim the surrounding hills, her points would soar.
And if she ever took over Aster City? That one hundred million points wouldn’t seem impossible at all.
She felt the system’s second reward activate: Territory Bond.
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When she closed her eyes, the land she’d circled today on the Back mountain, along with the front air–raid shelter, seemed to
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sketch itself automatically in her mind.
Whenever a stranger or creature entered, she could sense it instantly.
“Summer! One thousand five hundred feet west!”
“Woof!”
Summer heard the command and shot off immediately.
Half a minute later, Iris heard the sounds of a struggle.
By the time she arrived, Summer had already taken down a zombie that had somehow slipped into her territory.
Seeing this, Iris understood.
So that was how this worked.
More gray dots appeared within her sensing range. She led the dogs over and tore through them.
“Happy, Lucky, take Rocky and Coco south! Bella, Daisy, Buddy, and Max, head west! Cherry, Charlie, Lucy, and Molly, go east! The rest, follow me!”
Iris and her dogs swiftly cleared the zombies scattered across her territory.
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Through the process, she grew increasingly adept at understanding the value of the Territory Bond,
Gray dots always meant zombies, and even if they appeared in the most remote corners, Iris could locate them with pinpoint accuracy,
This meant she no longer needed alerts from the cameras. She could feel any stirrings in her territory the moment they happened.
It was incredibly useful, especially now that she was planning to expand her territory.
The cameras couldn’t keep up with the progress, but she could sense intrusions ahead of time.
Iris worked well into the night, her accomplishments piling up as she returned with the dogs.
Tomorrow morning, she would expand into new territory.
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Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
