Surviving the Game as a Zombie - Chapter 104

Tang Yu nodded very slowly.

Song Lengzhu’s lips curled into a smile. “Let’s go then. We can talk as we walk.” She gripped the wooden handrail of the stairs, applying force with her hand, and seemingly effortlessly stepped up one stair.

Seeing this, Tang Yu felt it was awkward to just stand there, so she turned around, full of suspicion, and started up the stairs.

“It’s simple. Because I don’t dislike you.” Song Lengzhu’s voice came from behind, light and airy, the pitch of her words gradually lowering as she spoke.

Tang Yu’s heart pounded like a drum. Her back instantly straightened. She stiffly took another step up, finally setting foot on the third-floor landing. The staircase was longer than she had imagined.

What did Song Lengzhu’s words mean? What did “don’t dislike” mean? For some reason, Tang Yu didn’t dare to think too deeply about it. The moment she did, her ears would burn bright red.

If Jin Ye or Zhou Zhou had said that to her, she would have narcissistically replied, “Not disliking means you like me, right? I’m so likable. As expected, no one can escape my charming personality.”

But now, she wanted to joke like that, yet her mind was a muddle, as if someone had dropped an effervescent tablet inside, fizzing loudly and making it impossible for her to think.

So? What else was Song Lengzhu going to say? Why had she stopped talking?

Tang Yu wanted to turn around but was afraid to face Song Lengzhu directly. What kind of expression was she wearing now? Was she just teasing her, waiting to see her make a fool of herself?

Tang Yu could only lower her head and keep walking. She rounded a corner and stepped onto the staircase leading to the fourth floor, waiting in silence—but not at all calmly—for Song Lengzhu to continue speaking.

After a long while, Song Lengzhu finally spoke again, as if she had just caught her breath. “I don’t dislike you. I could even say I’m very interested. Seeing you in such a difficult situation, I wanted to give you a hand.”

Help you, so you can live a little longer with more skills to your name. Song Lengzhu didn’t say this latter part out loud.

“Help me?” Tang Yu stopped on the stairs again. She detected the gravity in Song Lengzhu’s tone; it wasn’t the kind of tone she had imagined one would use when expressing affection.

Tang Yu turned around on the stairs once more and saw Song Lengzhu lowering the hand that had been covering her mouth. A small flashlight was held in her other hand. By its light, Tang Yu saw fresh traces of bl00d between Song Lengzhu’s fingers.

It seemed Song Lengzhu had coughed up bl00d again.

No wonder she hadn’t spoken for so long.

Tang Yu stomped her foot, unsure if she was angry at herself for her earlier chaotic thoughts or at Song Lengzhu for coughing up bl00d without a sound. She immediately walked back down the stairs and reached out to support Song Lengzhu’s forearm.

But just as her hand was about to touch the other woman, Tang Yu hesitated. The hesitation was strange, accompanied by a hint of timidity.

What if Song Lengzhu didn’t want her support? She hadn’t asked for it, after all. Was she being too forward, crossing a boundary? Besides, there was still the risk of infection.

What if Song Lengzhu started to dislike her because of this, and her earlier words no longer counted?

In just a few seconds, countless thoughts flooded her mind. Tang Yu felt a surge of irritation. Why was her brain overthinking everything tonight? The Tang Yu of the past was never such a worrier.

Now, with her hand extended, it was awkward to pull it back, but also awkward not to.

Seeing Tang Yu frozen in place, Song Lengzhu naturally placed her arm on Tang Yu’s palm. The little zombie’s muscles tensed for a moment. Even through the sleeve, she could feel the other’s unusually high body temperature.

Were zombies’ body temperatures actually higher than normal people’s? Song Lengzhu was a bit puzzled; she didn’t recall hearing that.

Tang Yu’s heart, which had been in her throat, settled back down. She took two deep breaths to hide her awkwardness, then carefully supported Song Lengzhu as they walked up. Fortunately, the library’s staircase was wide enough for the two of them to walk side by side without any problem.

The air fell silent again, leaving only the sound of their footsteps.

Tang Yu was still mulling over Song Lengzhu’s two sentences. She turned them over and over in her mind but couldn’t figure out what Song Lengzhu was really thinking. She had been the one to press for an answer, but now that she had it, she couldn’t make sense of it.

It wasn’t until she replayed it for the fourth time that Tang Yu focused on the last thing Song Lengzhu had said—that she wanted to help her.

It didn’t make sense. From what she knew of Song Lengzhu, she wasn’t a charitable person. Besides, did she really look that pathetic, in need of someone’s help? Why didn’t Song Lengzhu help Jin Ye or Xiao Li then?

The first two times they met, Song Lengzhu had been eager to kill her.

Now, not only was she not trying to kill her, but she had also helped her several times?

Tang Yu thought about it carefully. Come to think of it, ever since Song Lengzhu guessed she was a player, she didn’t seem to have made a move against her again.

Was it because of her identity? At this thought, Tang Yu’s hand supporting Song Lengzhu unconsciously tightened its grip.

The two had finished climbing the stairs and were now standing at the entrance to the fourth-floor book section. Tang Yu let go of Song Lengzhu, took out a pen and paper, and quickly wrote a sentence, bracing the paper against the railing.

“How much do you know about me?”

Song Lengzhu looked at the note Tang Yu handed her and let out a soft chuckle. She hadn’t expected the little zombie to have been frowning and thinking all this way, only to write this sentence in the end.

“I asked about your identity, and you wouldn’t tell me. How come you’re asking me how much I know about you instead?” Song Lengzhu’s smile vanished, as if it had just been Tang Yu’s imagination.

Tang Yu bit her lip, looking troubled. She turned again and quickly wrote something new.

“You’ve already guessed, haven’t you?”

Even Jin Ye had guessed Tang Yu’s identity immediately; how could Song Lengzhu not know? Tang Yu had her suspicions back in the restricted zone, and they were confirmed when Song Lengzhu had just said, “Seeing you in such a difficult situation.”

To be honest, for a zombie, Tang Yu’s situation was already quite fortunate. She had the replication ability and companions who were like a close-knit family. It could be said that, aside from the occasional manhunts by players, her life was quite comfortable.

Of course, it was also possible that Song Lengzhu had made that comment after seeing her transform into a Zombie King on the spot. So, Tang Yu wanted to use this opportunity to test her.

Song Lengzhu lowered her gaze. “But my guess is something you haven’t personally confirmed.” Without personal confirmation, a guess was just a guess. No matter how high the probability, until it was fully confirmed, its accuracy could never reach 100%.

Tang Yu gritted her teeth, tore off a fresh sticky note, and wrote: “Tell me your guess.”

It was just the two of them here anyway. She might as well take this opportunity to hash things out with Song Lengzhu.

Song Lengzhu glanced at the note, then looked away. “It’s tiring to talk while standing here. Let’s find a place to sit.”

“Oh,” Tang Yu uttered. That was true; Song Lengzhu was still injured. She had been too inconsiderate.

She once again supported Song Lengzhu and walked inside. Qi Jinyin had said they were previously stationed in the fourth-floor reading room, so Tang Yu followed the signs and found the area with tables and chairs.

There were clear signs of life here. Between the bookshelves, two rows of wide tables had been pushed together. On the cleared floor space, there were food wrappers, a discarded foil survival blanket, and some other miscellaneous old items.

Tang Yu pulled out a stool for Song Lengzhu to sit on, then grabbed another for herself, sitting at the corner. She held her pen and paper, wearing an expression that said, “Go ahead, I’m ready.”

Song Lengzhu smiled again.

Her gaze on Tang Yu was like rippling water, brimming with amusement.

Tang Yu’s heart traitorously began to race again. Song Lengzhu was being so expressive tonight. Was she letting herself go because her teammates weren’t around?

Her smile was faint, not at all ostentatious. From a distance, you could barely tell she was smiling; only the slight curl of her lips and the slight crinkling of her eyes revealed her mood.

Tang Yu didn’t remember Song Lengzhu being someone who smiled so much. She was clearly a killer who wouldn’t bat an eye, usually as cold as a block of ice.

Was she being that ridiculous? Tang Yu relaxed her shoulders slightly to appear more natural.

She had to admit, she was indeed a little nervous.

Just a few sentences from Song Lengzhu had managed to make her this tense.

“Alright.” Song Lengzhu’s expression returned to normal. She relaxed her body, propped her head on her left hand, and tilted her head to look at Tang Yu’s note.

“I don’t play many games, but I know that in recent years, there have been cases of executions via games. Dark Earth isn’t the first game to do this, but it probably has the most criminals thrown into it. Over the past year or so, I’ve encountered… special players… who appear out of thin air and are hunted by other players several times in the game.” Song Lengzhu chose her words carefully, as if preparing for a long explanation.

“They usually have two characteristics. First, their identities are special. They are basically key figures in some mission, possibly with a player identity or an NPC identity. In short, they attract other players to hunt them down, and it ends with their death.”

“Like the Li family?” Tang Yu scribbled down a few words.

“Something like that.” Song Lengzhu tilted her head as she looked, pausing to answer. “The second characteristic is that their game difficulty is incredibly high. To make it more of a spectacle, the game also arranges an upgrade and mission system for them, but it’s not the same as the one for regular players, and their physical abilities are severely limited. Most importantly, their lives are linked to reality.”

Song Lengzhu paused here to observe Tang Yu’s reaction.

Tang Yu blinked. Alright, so Song Lengzhu had indeed guessed her identity. Her feelings were complicated, but she tried hard to maintain her previous nonchalant expression.

Song Lengzhu spoke softly, “So, you only have one life too, right?”

Tang Yu started to hum and haw. “Ah, well, that’s hard to say. How should I put it… let’s just say…”

Seeing her not writing and her gaze flickering evasively, Song Lengzhu continued on her own, “However, there have never been players or criminals with the identity of a zombie before. At least, I’ve never encountered one. That’s why I didn’t know you were a real person at first.”

The scene of their first encounter flashed through Song Lengzhu’s mind. That time, and the time after, and the time after that, she had intended to kill Tang Yu. To be honest, back then, she wouldn’t have spared a thought to whether someone was a real person or just data. Killing them was all that mattered.

But now, Song Lengzhu was starting to feel a lingering fear.

“Sorry,” she uttered, her voice barely a whisper.

Huh? Tang Yu didn’t hear clearly. She tilted her head and glanced at Song Lengzhu. “Did you say something?” she wrote on the paper.

“Nothing,” Song Lengzhu said, her expression unchanged.

Tang Yu lowered her head and continued writing, “Then how did you find out later?”

“Your reactions,” Song Lengzhu replied. “You’re too human. More human than an NPC.”

Of course, Tang Yu thought. I was human to begin with.

“More human than most people,” Song Lengzhu added, looking at Tang Yu. The image of Tang Yu protecting two NPCs in front of a large group of players still came to Song Lengzhu’s mind from time to time. It was after that mission that she had started to try and understand Tang Yu as a person.

After all, Tang Yu was too special—as fragile as a faint firefly’s glow, yet impossible to ignore.

“I later thought that your identity is so special, and you’ve repeatedly drawn players to hunt you down, which happens to fit those two characteristics,” Song Lengzhu said leisurely.

Song Lengzhu had actually had her suspicions for a while, but it wasn’t until the mission in the restricted zone began that she became fully convinced. She had worked with Tang Yu and knew that her basic abilities were strong, but her stamina severely limited her performance. Plus, she had attracted player hunts countless times. Thinking it over, it wasn’t hard to guess.

Seeking Tang Yu out for confirmation was really just an excuse to talk to her in person.

“So, what crime did you commit?” Song Lengzhu thought for a moment before asking the question bluntly.

Hmm, this question was easy to answer. Tang Yu unhesitatingly took a new sticky note and wrote four large, flamboyant characters on it: “I don’t know.”

Song Lengzhu frowned slightly. “If you don’t want to say, just pretend I never asked.”

“I really don’t know. I have amnesia,” Tang Yu wrote on another piece of paper, then pointed to her head. She had only just learned that this game was called Dark Earth.

“Why is that?” Song Lengzhu was confused. Criminals usually didn’t have their memories erased. They were supposed to pay the price for their actions with remorse and fear. Erasing their memories would be letting them off easy.

But Tang Yu’s eyes were clear and pure; she didn’t look like she was lying at all.

Tang Yu picked up the “I don’t know” note again in response to Song Lengzhu’s question.

This note was really useful. She should carry it with her from now on.

Song Lengzhu nodded, indicating that she believed her, and didn’t press the matter further.

Tang Yu thought for a moment, bit her lower lip, and took the initiative to write a few words on the paper: “If I did something heinous, would what you said before still count?”

What words? Song Lengzhu thought for a long time but couldn’t figure it out. She had said a lot of things.

Tang Yu fidgeted, then wrote a few tiny words, so small they were almost invisible: “You said you didn’t dislike me before.”

After making out the line of text, Song Lengzhu fell silent. She withdrew her hand, straightened up, and sat properly.

This was a difficult question to answer. She didn’t know what Tang Yu had done, so how could she answer whether she disliked her or not? What if Tang Yu had really killed someone, or done something detrimental to the main star’s General Administration? How could she make such a promise so easily?

Song Lengzhu reached out and slowly tapped the note that hadn’t been put away. On it were the flamboyant characters of an all-purpose sentence.

“I don’t know.”