"Wake up, Collaborator Number Five Trillion Six Hundred Eighty-Six Billion... um... Thirty-Four Million Six Hundred Twenty-Seven Thousand Four Hundred and Twelve..."
A pair of blocky hands, sheathed in semi-transparent black stockings, shook Su Han relentlessly where he lay on the ground.
The violent shaking finally roused him from deep slumber. The soft, moe voice in his ear grew clearer, piercing through his groggy mind with a sudden realization: *Since when was there a girl in his university dorm?!*
Su Han shot up, gasping for air, his eyes snapping towards the source of the voice.
A black-haired girl in a dress filled his vision. Her head was perfectly cubic, adorned with standard 2D anime-style facial features etched onto its flat surface, currently etched with concern.
Su Han's eyes widened. He lifted his own rectangular prism arm, trembling as he pointed at her. "B-Block person?!"
As the words left his mouth, the blocky arm *below* his field of vision caught his attention. He looked down at his hands. His fingers were gone, replaced by two solid cubes.
*What the hell?!*
He scrambled to his feet, looking down at his body. He still wore his usual clothes, but they clung tightly to his blocky form, devoid of any natural fabric folds. *Wasn't I just sleeping in my dorm? How did I become a block person?!*
Su Han lifted his gaze in confusion. Twenty meters away, a city sprawled, its buildings meticulously recreated with blocky frames stretching as far as the eye could see. On the streets, countless block people ran in panic, arms raised high. This entire world had been pixelated.
"Holy shit!"
Su Han started moving his legs, intending to head back towards his dorm within the city. He'd barely taken two steps when a small hand suddenly grasped his.
He turned. The black-haired girl stood behind him, biting her lip and shaking her head frantically. "N-No... don't go in... the zombies are about to spawn..."
Zombies? Block world zombies? *What is going on?!*
And... who *was* this black-haired girl?
Su Han froze, his flat face flickering between confusion and shock. His brain had officially blue-screened!
The black-haired girl seemed to sense his bewilderment. She raised her arm, about to explain, when an electronic voice boomed from the heavens above:
"**Attention native species. Zombie spawning commences in T-minus 5 minutes. Prepare to engage!**"
**Boom!**
Rectangular tombstones erupted from the ground, violently ejecting the existing blocks to the sides. One landed right by Su Han's feet. In the next instant, the block vanished, reappearing clutched in his hand.
Su Han stared wide-eyed at the grass block in his grasp. "Huh? This is *exactly* like that game?!"
He knew this inside out! He'd been hooked since middle school!
Before he could fully process this shock, a tug pulled at his hand. Looking up, he saw the black-haired girl pulling him towards a blocky mountain range.
"Wait! Wouldn't hiding in one of those city buildings be safer?" He sprinted to catch up, running beside her as he asked.
She shot him a glance, shaking her head in panic. "N-No... the city... too many people... the zombies... they smash blocks..."
Ah, he got it. That only left one option...
His gaze locked onto an oak tree. He instantly veered off course and ran towards it. *First rule: punch wood!*
*Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!*
His fists slammed against the trunk, sending slight jolts of pain up his arms. Tiny cracks spiderwebbed across the deep brown, striped surface.
The black-haired girl rushed in front of him, her eyes squeezed shut into anxious '><' symbols. "Running... running away is the priority *now*... We can't fight the zombies!" Her soft voice was thick with urgency.
Su Han waved dismissively, his eyes fixed on the hovering trunk section. "Relax, still four minutes. Plenty of time. Help me gather some logs. The more, the better."
"Eh...?!" Her eyes flew open in disbelief. Fear and desperation warred within her, making her pace frantically in place. After a moment, she capitulated. Head hanging low, she ran to the oak tree and started punching it too.
Tears welled in her squinted eyes as she mumbled in despair, "Why... why is my Collaborator obsessed with chopping wood... The zombies are coming... Spider-sis... Sheepy... I guess I'm joining you soon..." Visions flashed through her mind – the spider-girl, the sheep-girl, cut down by zombies yesterday.
This zombie plague had descended just yesterday, destined to last a month. A single night had already decimated countless natives. She'd been certain she wouldn't survive the month of escalating zombie mutations, until the Creator announced they'd fused with another planet, granting each native a Collaborator for support. The news had filled her with joy. She'd rushed out of her dark mine shaft, following her task to rescue *her* Collaborator from the city.
Never did she imagine her Collaborator would be fixated on punching trees, utterly unfazed by the impending zombie horde.
"Waaah... I don't wanna die... Let's just *run*..." The black-haired girl wiped tears with one blocky hand while tossing the twelve logs from her inventory towards Su Han with the other.
Su Han scooped up the logs and looked at the tear-streaked face before him. A flicker of exasperation crossed his features. *Had this girl never played the game?* With wood, escaping zombies became trivial!
Too bad there was no bed. They'd definitely need to raid the city for one tomorrow.
"Hey, hey, stop crying. Let's find some flat land." He grabbed her hand again and pulled her out of the woods.
After two minutes of running, they burst into a clearing of grassy blocks. Su Han released her hand. After a moment of mental focus, he successfully summoned his inventory screen.
He scanned the grid. Only 30 logs. Nothing else. Above the grid, the left side showed his blocky avatar and equipment slots; the right displayed a simple 2x2 crafting grid.
*Familiar territory!* He thought. He dumped all thirty logs into the crafting grid.
*Ding!*
The result slot beside it filled with wooden planks, a small '120' appearing in the corner. Su Han transferred all the planks to his hotbar. With a quick switch, his right hand's grass block was replaced by a wooden plank. He aimed at the grassy ground beside them and placed it.
*Thump!* A block made of three planks materialized on the grass. He jumped onto it, ready to place another block beneath his feet, when an ear-splitting air raid siren ripped through the air.
*Woooooo—!*
The sound seemed to awaken the zombies beneath the tombstones and accelerated the twilight's plunge into full night.
**CRACK!**
**"RROOOAAARRR!"**
Zombies erupted from the ground, jaws gaping wide as they howled at the sky. Chaos engulfed the city – screams and panicked shouts reached even Su Han's position.
He whipped his head around. Dozens of dark shapes were already charging towards them at frightening speed. *No idea if these zombies have ranged attacks. Gotta build the shelter, FAST!*
He looked down for the black-haired girl, intending to pull her up. Instead, he found her frantically circling the wooden block below him, her blocky hands raised high in terror, utterly lost.
*This girl's a bit dense!* He suppressed the urge to sigh. Leaning down, he grabbed her blocky arm and hauled her up onto the platform with all his strength.
The body in his arms trembled violently. Fat tears rolled down her flat cheeks. One arm wrapped around her waist, he looked down at their precarious perch and yelled, "JUMP!"
*Thud!*
Only *he* left the block. The legs sheathed in black thigh-highs just quivered, making no effort to spring.
"What?! Jump already!" Su Han tightened his grip, trying to physically lift her.
**"ROARR!"**
Suddenly, a zombie's guttural roar sounded right beside them, shattering the night. A dozen dark figures lunged from all sides.