Surviving the Game as a Zombie - Chapter 11

“Huh?” Tang Yu’s eyes widened. “What kind of insane ability is that?”

“She can revive within half a day after death.” Jin Ye paused.

Tang Yu was at a loss for words. She wanted an ability like that, too.

“But to put it another way, she can never leave the game.”

“…”

One moment, Tang Yu thought the ability was incredibly powerful; the next, Jin Ye had doused her with cold water.

This was far beyond her comprehension. She had assumed that for other players, this was just an ordinary survival game they could quit whenever they wanted, playing as they pleased. But apparently, that wasn’t the case.

“There’s no exit mechanism in the game. Every player permanently has only one life. The only way to quit is by dying,” Jin Ye explained patiently. “But Xiao Li can’t die.”

“How… is an ability like this obtained? Are players unaware when they get it?” Tang Yu asked.

“They’re aware. Before a player acquires an ability, there’s a detailed description and a confirmation button. Abilities are unlocked through special missions—sometimes killing zombies, sometimes rescue missions. The trigger mechanisms are different, and the type of ability triggered also varies from person to person. But to obtain a special ability here, you have to pay a price. It all depends on your choice. Sometimes the price even outweighs the benefit, which is why there aren’t many players with special abilities in the game right now.”

Tang Yu nodded thoughtfully, her understanding of the game deepening. Song Lengzhu’s ability to find her with such precision every time was likely due to some kind of special ability as well. She couldn’t shake the feeling that this game was filled with an eerie strangeness, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on what was wrong.

Tang Yu turned her head and asked Jin Ye, “What’s your special ability?”

“I don’t have one yet. I haven’t triggered any good abilities.”

“I see,” Tang Yu replied, then tilted her head to study Xiao Li.

As zombies, Tang Yu and Jin Ye had an instinctual urge to bite any living person. However, their self-control was clearly stronger than most. With the delicate and fragile Xiao Li right in front of them, the two managed to ignore the fact that she was human.

Xiao Li had a doll-like face, blonde hair, and black eyes, suggesting she might be of mixed heritage. Her petite frame made her look very cute.

Considering their recent conversation, Tang Yu suddenly understood why Jin Ye had unhesitatingly chosen to remain a zombie. Xiao Li, with her large, innocent eyes, drew people in. Besides, since Xiao Li couldn’t die, Jin Ye couldn’t bear to abandon her to suffer alone in the game.

Seeing the whimpering zombie Tang Yu suddenly turn to look at her, Xiao Li flinched and instinctively blurted out, “What are you staring at?”

Tang Yu paused and silently withdrew her gaze. The moment the girl spoke, she was completely different from what Tang Yu had imagined.

She had misjudged.

Xiao Li seemed to have composed herself. Fully convinced that these two zombies wouldn’t attack her, her expression relaxed considerably. She gently tugged on Jin Ye’s wrist, curiously examining the black patterns covering it and the long nails that had suddenly grown out.

The sudden touch made Jin Ye tremble slightly. She looked away, a little uncomfortable, and her arm stiffened.

“You’re not afraid of me?” Jin Ye asked Xiao Li.

But only Tang Yu could understand her. Seeing an opportunity, Tang Yu chimed in cheekily, “Afraid? She probably can’t get enough of you.”

Jin Ye shot Tang Yu a glare and silently pulled her hand back.

This bit of banter successfully eased the awkward atmosphere between the three of them. They relaxed, as if they were old friends reuniting.

Jin Ye snapped off a twig, wrote Tang Yu’s name on the ground, and then pointed at Tang Yu, serving as a formal introduction. She then highlighted the key points, explaining to Xiao Li how they had turned into zombies. However, due to the communication barrier, it took a great deal of time.

During this interval, Tang Yu opened the game panel on her wristband. Seeing that Jin Ye and Xiao Li were still communicating with gestures, she confirmed that only she could see the light screen.

Her trip to the camp had resulted in assimilating several zombies, and coupled with her deeper understanding of the game, the information on her panel had changed significantly.

Tang Yu scrolled for a while, organizing and categorizing the information in her mind.

Player: Tang Yu

Points: 140

Basic Objective: Survive

Current Objective: Proceed to Y-City to find the C-Class Zombie King

Skill One: Alliance

Skill Two: Unlocks at 300 points

Weapon Slot: Startling Dragon

Special Ability: None

Current Allies: None

Two points in particular concerned Tang Yu.

First was the objective to find the Zombie King. This information hadn’t appeared before. Tang Yu thought back for a moment and recalled the conversation between Song Lengzhu and Shen Xu.

They had mentioned the Zombie King was holed up in Y-City’s central plaza. Had receiving that clue triggered a new mission?

Tang Yu asked Jin Ye, “Do you have ‘find the Zombie King’ in your missions?”

Jin Ye seemed to be done communicating with Xiao Li and was now consolidating her own information. She had killed quite a few people in the camp with a submachine gun, and even though she hadn’t directly assimilated them, she still earned kill points. Unfortunately, all the points she had accumulated as a human player had been reset to zero.

Hearing Tang Yu’s question, Jin Ye replied, “Yes, I do. Why? Are we going to do the mission?”

“Huh? We can choose not to do it?”

“Yeah. If you don’t want to do a mission, you can just leave it. It will disappear automatically after its time limit expires.”

“I see. By the way, the mission only says to find the Zombie King. Does finding it count as completing the mission?”

“No,” Jin Ye said. “The missions in this game are all open-ended. After finding the target, you usually need to take one or even two more steps to trigger a resolution. For instance, joining it or killing it. The trigger for the resolution is unknown, and different outcomes lead to different rewards.”

“This is too confusing,” Tang Yu complained.

“You can treat it like an open-world game.”

Play? Tang Yu’s face darkened. She wasn’t here to play. If she was killed, she would die.

The open-ended missions undoubtedly added a lot of difficulty for her. If she chose the wrong path, she could trigger a disaster.

But if she didn’t do missions, her points would increase slowly. With her current constitution and abilities, it would be very difficult to survive later on.

No guts, no glory. Tang Yu wasn’t the type to just hide and scrape by. Steeling her resolve, she said, “I’m going to check out this Zombie King. You in?”

Jin Ye’s reply was decisive. “I’m in. You helped me save someone, so I’ll help you with your mission as a way of thanking you.”

Tang Yu beamed. With Jin Ye around, she wouldn’t be fumbling in the dark. “You’re a true sister! Is Xiao Li coming with us?”

“Wherever I go, she goes.”

Tang Yu let out a knowing “Oh,” earning another eye-roll from Jin Ye.

The other point on the panel that puzzled Tang Yu was the “Current Allies” section.

Tang Yu decided to ask Jin Ye directly, “Since we can communicate now, why does my allies list still show ‘None’?”

Jin Ye answered patiently, “For human players, forming an alliance requires two or more parties to bind themselves. After binding, they can communicate over long distances or send their location to allies. I imagine the mechanism for zombies is more or less the same.”

After listening, Tang Yu noticed a grayed-out “+” sign in front of “Current Allies.” She tried tapping it, and a scanning box appeared, indicating it was scanning for nearby allies.

Tang Yu aimed the panel at Jin Ye, and soon Jin Ye’s face was registered. A confirmation message appeared on the panel.

“Please select an ally.”

Xiao Li wasn’t an option. It seemed this alliance could only be formed with fellow zombie companions.

Tang Yu decided to get her consent. “Wanna be allies?”

Jin Ye smiled. “I thought you wouldn’t ask for my opinion. After all, the second thing you ever said to me was to be your follower.”

Tang Yu blushed. This girl really knew how to hold a grudge. Besides, the way she spoke to Tang Yu was anything but deferential. She didn’t act like a follower at all.

After the two became allies, Jin Ye’s name appeared in the “Current Allies” status bar. Furthermore, clicking on the name allowed for encrypted communication.

Tang Yu figured out how the game panel worked. The more she participated in the game, the more information would appear on the panel. Before she understood anything, the panel wouldn’t provide many hints.

Jin Ye was right. This really was an open-world game.

After a proper rest, the three of them decided to go down into the village to forage for food.

After nearly a day and a night without eating, Tang Yu felt like she was turning into a dried-up corpse. She also discovered that the hungrier she got, the stronger her desire to bite humans became.

With a human like Xiao Li following them, they couldn’t afford to go hungry in the future. The consequences would be severe.

There was almost no food left in their backpacks. After all, the food in the shops had mostly been looted, and Tang Yu hadn’t managed to scavenge much. But Jin Ye had brought a small pot, which was a very useful item in the wild.

They walked down the small path of the village. The village was deserted, and many of the brick-and-tile buildings were damaged. It didn’t look like anyone was around.

The abandoned farmlands on both sides were overgrown with weeds. Tang Yu casually pushed aside some human-height grass and stepped into the field.

“Let’s see if we can find anything to eat.” Tang Yu bent down and searched among the weeds.

And she actually found a plant. Her intuition told her this thing was edible.

Jin Ye saw that it was a sweet potato vine. Without human cultivation, this sweet potato vine had grown quite robustly.

Tang Yu grabbed the base and pulled it up, but her joy was short-lived. Attached to the roots was a thumb-sized sweet potato, not even enough to get stuck in her teeth.

“I’m surprised you can recognize crops.” Jin Ye and Xiao Li also went into the field and started searching through the weeds.

Jin Ye’s casual comment made Tang Yu pause for a moment. “Is that strange?”

“Most interstellar people don’t engage in agriculture. Not many people recognize food crops, nor do they care where their food comes from,” Jin Ye said. “I only accumulated this knowledge in this game.”

As she spoke, she found another vine. The leaves weren’t large, but when she pulled it up, the sweet potato on its roots was the size of a fist.

“Oh, I have no idea,” Tang Yu replied thoughtfully. Her memory of the interstellar era was a complete blank. She didn’t know what kind of place it was, or how people’s lives were different.

Jin Ye handed the sweet potato to Xiao Li to hold, straightened up, and studied Tang Yu inquisitively. “Do you have amnesia? Or are you not from the main star?”

“I don’t know,” Tang Yu answered bluntly. “My mind is empty, and I’m completely clueless.”

Jin Ye’s pupils narrowed. She thought of another possibility.

“In the interstellar era, criminals are thrown into games for their execution. Do you only have one life?” Jin Ye didn’t directly ask what crime Tang Yu had committed. She already had a strong suspicion, as such things weren’t uncommon in the interstellar era.

Hearing this, Tang Yu instead showed a look of sudden realization and said joyfully, “So that’s how it is. In that case, I must be a criminal?”

Jin Ye was a bit speechless. Why did she look so happy about it?