Surviving the Game as a Zombie - Chapter 101

Repeating her old trick, Tang Yu used a combination of her Instantaneous Movement and Invisibility abilities. In the blink of an eye, she had crossed the central open area and reached the second floor on the other side of the walkway.

A sign at the top of a bookshelf read “Central Area 1 – Classical Literature.” Tang Yu moved along the shelves, sending updates to the group chat while approaching the source of the light.

Soon, she saw three people sitting together in the study area.

The tables and chairs in the study area were neatly arranged. Some tables showed obvious signs of dirt and damage, and used food wrappers littered the floor. It seemed more than one group of players had camped here since the apocalypse began.

But right now, in the vast library, there were only those three living people under the light.

Tang Yu stopped at a distance, positioning herself beside a bookshelf in the shadows to observe. The attire and faces of the three individuals were clearly visible in the light.

One of them was the person Qi Jinyin had mentioned. His features were very distinct: he wore silver-rimmed glasses and was sitting at a study table, his head bowed as he read a thick, black-covered book.

Unlike other players dressed in windbreakers or tracksuits, this young man wore a white silk shirt that was ill-suited for combat. Either he was supremely confident in his exceptional abilities, or he was just trying to be cool and stand out.

Tang Yu didn’t think he was the latter.

The man didn’t look like someone to be trifled with. His shirt was clean and tidy, without a single speck of bl00d on it—an extremely rare sight in the apocalypse.

Compared to him, the other two looked much more normal. A man and a woman in tracksuits were chatting to the side; they were the source of the conversation echoing through the library.

Perhaps because they had occupied the entire library, they had let their guard down. They weren’t deliberately controlling the volume of their conversation, and the echoes carried a long way.

After confirming her target, Tang Yu notified Jin Ye and Xiao Li in the group chat: “If Qi Jinyin is all right, you can leave. Those people are staying in the library and haven’t gone out. I’ll watch his movements until you’re safely out of the city. Give me a signal when you are.”

Jin Ye replied, “Okay, be careful.”

Tang Yu put away her panel, crossed her arms, and leaned against the bookshelf, listening to the man and woman’s idle chatter. Her mission was surveillance, and she would keep watch until Jin Ye and the others left. All she had to do now was maintain her distance so as not to trigger the Zombie King mission.

“If only I could get those points. Yiming might not care about them, but I do,” the tall man sighed.

“Forget it. Even if Yiming didn’t make a move, you wouldn’t get those points. The forums say Song Lengzhu got the kill, and you’re nowhere near as strong as her,” the woman, sitting cross-legged on the table, retorted.

Tang Yu heard Song Lengzhu’s name and pricked up her ears. It seemed the two were discussing the matter of the restricted zone.

“Just have Fang Yiming lend a hand,” the tall man said, tilting his head to the side. “You’d help, right, Yiming?”

So the “Yiming” they were talking about was the young man who controlled metal.

Without looking up, Fang Yiming said, “I’ve told you before, don’t bother me when I’m reading. Do you not understand human speech?”

His voice was young, but his tone was unsettling.

The tall man sullenly turned back and continued speaking to his companion, subconsciously lowering his voice.

“Still, I saw someone on the forums say a D-Class Zombie King mutated on the spot and managed to escape. That’s pretty interesting. For such a low-level species to evade pursuit from so many people, those pursuers must not be very skilled.”

Tang Yu frowned. What does he mean, “low-level species”? How infuriating.

“You shouldn’t even be thinking about those few points,” the woman said. “It’s not even enough for the four of us.”

“What’s wrong with that? You and Yiming are just too ambitious, always looking down on small gains. That’s why you didn’t even go to the restricted zone. If it were me, I would’ve gone ages ago.”

“Then why didn’t you go on your own? We weren’t holding you back.”

“It’s because Yiming sent me to find out about that meddlesome woman. How could I get away?”

The tall man’s voice grew louder again, filled with indignation.

“Well, you didn’t handle that well either. You found out her location, so why didn’t you just kill her?”

“Didn’t I tell you? That woman is living a life worse than death. Her entire waist is perforated; it’s more agonizing than dying. When I went, I even saw three scoundrels brutally killing her companion. How satisfying is that?”

“You’re really… sick,” the woman cursed, laughing.

Tang Yu straightened up, her expression darkening. So, this team knew Qi Jinyin’s whereabouts, but they had been too arrogant to act on it directly.

The man was still chattering away when, before long, Fang Yiming slammed the spine of his book hard on the table. “You’re too loud. Get away from me.”

He looked up, staring directly at his teammates with a grim expression. Through the lenses of his glasses, Tang Yu finally got a clear look at his eyes.

It was a sinister gaze, the stare of a superior, and it made one uncomfortable.

The man flinched, jumped off the table, and sensibly moved a few steps away.

Fang Yiming, however, didn’t return to his book. Abruptly, his gaze shifted from the man and woman and moved in Tang Yu’s direction.

Since dusk, Song Lengzhu had sensed something unusual. A familiar scent had infiltrated the library.

The zombies here had long since been cleared out by players, so this zombie scent was particularly conspicuous.

She leaped lightly from a bookshelf, her toes landing on the floor without a sound. The fourth-floor walkway provided a direct view of the levels below. Leaning over the railing to look down, her peripheral vision caught a momentary flicker on the third-floor landing. It was like a game bug, a lag that left behind a single-frame afterimage.

An invisible zombie.

A hint of a smile touched Song Lengzhu’s calm eyes. It seemed the little zombie had come to the city as well, though she didn’t know if it was following her or here for some other reason.

She had spent half the day alone in the fourth-floor reading area, more than halfway through the collection of short stories in her hand. Now, someone had finally arrived to stir her senses.

Song Lengzhu slid the book back onto the shelf, pressing lightly on its spine to return the novel to its exact place. She locked onto the source of the scent, moved away from the walkway, and slowly followed it down the stairs to the second floor.

She knew where the little zombie was headed. Anyone who would use abilities to sneak in here must have the same target as she did.

Her slender figure hidden in the darkness, she followed at a moderate distance. The source of the scent was to her left, separated by three rows of bookshelves. Soon, the other person stopped, halting not far from Fang Yiming.

Song Lengzhu peered through a bookshelf toward a patch of empty air. She frowned slightly. Too close. The little zombie is a little too close.

Song Lengzhu was no stranger to a person like Fang Yiming; in fact, one could say she was quite familiar with him. Thinking back, their last encounter had been more than half a year ago. Song Lengzhu had assumed he was still active in the northern regions and never expected to find him in this southern province.

After half a year, her abilities were still no match for his.

This man had once killed the game’s only A-Class Zombie King to date, right in front of her. The reward he received was so great that other players couldn’t bridge the gap even by killing ten B-Class Zombie Kings.

His power was unfathomable. From what Song Lengzhu knew, he possessed at least four different abilities.

That was why Song Lengzhu didn’t get too close. One of Fang Yiming’s abilities was Spatial Detection; any fluctuation in the air within twenty meters could not escape his notice, even if one was invisible. Xiao Qi had already tested this point.

The little zombie surely didn’t know this, or she wouldn’t be standing within his detection range.

Song Lengzhu took a step back. She subconsciously touched her right wrist, which was wrapped in gauze. Her right hand, injured in the restricted zone, hadn’t fully healed yet. If a fight were to break out now, her chances of escaping unscathed were only thirty percent.

So troublesome, Song Lengzhu sighed inwardly. Yet, her face showed no annoyance. Instead, her eyes were bright with a faint hint of anticipation. She took a step forward, heading in Tang Yu’s direction.

It was the perfect opportunity to test her newly acquired ability.

Tang Yu stood perfectly still, not even daring to lower her crossed arms.

Even the most oblivious person could have guessed that Fang Yiming had likely sensed her presence, though she had no idea how he’d done it.

Could he have a nose like a dog’s, just like Song Lengzhu?

Tang Yu slowly turned her head to the left. Her position was exposed. Using Instantaneous Movement should get her far away, but in the split second it took to switch abilities, her form would be revealed.

Fang Yiming was staring right in this direction; he would definitely catch that split-second appearance.

Tang Yu’s mind raced as she considered her options. Her abilities were perfect for escaping, so even if she were discovered, her chances of getting away were high. Moreover, there were few metal objects inside the library, so she didn’t have to be overly concerned.

However, Qi Jinyin had said this man was difficult to deal with. A person who would severely injure a passerby for offering a few unsolicited words of advice could hardly be called rational.

If Fang Yiming discovered her and pursued her relentlessly, she wasn’t sure she had enough stamina to deal with him.

Tang Yu held her breath, her focus fixed on Fang Yiming’s every move, ready to act at a moment’s notice.

Fang Yiming stared for a full half-minute, seemingly waiting for the other party to make the first move. He hadn’t expected them to be so patient. Finally losing his patience, he put down his book, stood up, placed one hand on the wooden table, and vaulted over it.

His movements were nimble, his agility high, Tang Yu judged inwardly.

Fang Yiming advanced step by step, the hem of his long-sleeved shirt tucked into dress pants. The elegant drape of the silk cuffs indicated the outfit was high-quality—inappropriately so. It looked completely out of place in this setting.

He carried no weapons. Tang Yu subconsciously reached for the hilt of Startling Dragon and gripped it tightly. This man could very well control others’ weapons, turning them against their owners.

The other, taller man sensed something was amiss and leaned over. “Yiming, what’s wrong?”

No one answered him.

The tall man and the woman exchanged a look of understanding. Both jumped down from the table and followed behind Fang Yiming. “Interesting. Someone else has come to die.”