Surviving the Game as a Zombie - Chapter 127

The moment the car lights pierced the darkness, the zombies in the courtyard suddenly scattered. Lin Zhongqi and Lou Yan got out of the car; one look at the state of the courtyard and they knew the surveillance footage was correct—his courtyard had fallen.

Chaos was erupting in the city, and there were simply no spare guards to dispatch, so Lin Zhongqi had rushed back to the villa with only Lou Yan.

Tang Yu was half-crouched by the window, holding her breath. Her index finger on the trigger bent slightly, and a grenade as thick as a wrist shot out of the launcher, heading straight for Lou Yan and Lin Zhongqi.

A deafening explosion shattered the silence of the villa area. The parked car exploded a second time. Before the smoke could clear, Tang Yu immediately fired another shot.

The flames from the wrecked car illuminated the area. The thick smoke dispersed, and beside the raging tongues of fire, two figures still stood, their positions surprisingly unchanged.

As expected, grenades weren’t necessarily effective against ability users. Tang Yu and Song Lengzhu hadn’t pinned their hopes on firearms either. They stood up, entering a combat stance.

Song Lengzhu looked at Tang Yu in the dim light and asked, “Who do you want to deal with? Lin Zhongqi?”

Tang Yu shook her head. Song Lengzhu immediately understood. “Then get ready.”

The instant her words fell, the person standing by the window suddenly changed. A man carrying a Tang dao was pressing his hands to the top of his head, his entire body enveloped in a faint golden light.

Song Lengzhu had swapped positions with Lou Yan.

Tang Yu didn’t care about golden light or silver light. The moment Lou Yan appeared, she twisted and swung the flame-wreathed Startling Dragon. Flowing flames cut through the air, scorching and distorting the surrounding air.

But before Startling Dragon could hit Lou Yan’s body, it “clanged” against an invisible barrier, unable to advance even half an inch.

So this was Lou Yan’s ability? An impregnable, invisible shield. No wonder he could survive a grenade attack.

The shield wasn’t solid; Tang Yu’s Startling Dragon had nothing to strike. Tang Yu decisively withdrew her blade, freeing one hand to quickly reach for Lou Yan.

Her palm met resistance about half a meter from Lou Yan, as if hitting an air wall. Forget injuring him, she couldn’t even touch his clothes. After only a second of contact, Tang Yu gave up hope. It seemed this ability was very difficult to get close enough to bypass.

Lou Yan hadn’t expected his position to change in an instant, nor had he expected to face a zombie—and it was the inconspicuous zombie he had seen following the Zombie King!

“You have an ability?” Lou Yan asked in surprise the moment Tang Yu withdrew her blade. But the other party remained silent, her face grim, forming a claw with one hand and quickly reaching for his shield.

Lou Yan’s panic lasted only a few seconds. He glanced towards Lin Zhongqi through the windowsill. The explosive fire in the small courtyard had died down, and a tall, dark figure was pressing Lin Zhongqi step by step.

Lou Yan braced himself on the windowsill, about to jump down. His ability was to serve Lin Zhongqi. He was an attendant, a subordinate, and most importantly, a walking shield. That was why Lin Zhongqi always kept him around.

How could Tang Yu let Lou Yan go to provide support? She sidestepped, blocking Lou Yan’s path, and simultaneously feinted a strike, forcing Lou Yan back into the room.

Lou Yan drew his Tang dao with a cold expression. “You can’t hurt me.” He swung the long blade fiercely, the air current splitting the air and rushing towards Tang Yu’s face.

Tang Yu dodged to the side, tilted her head, and smiled. “Is that so?” She retreated two steps, backing against the windowsill, extinguished the flames on Startling Dragon, and held it horizontally before her.

Lou Yan wielded his Tang dao skillfully. He held the nearly one-and-a-half-meter blade single-handedly, his attacks fast, fierce, and almost impenetrable.

Tang Yu relied on her agility to dodge the tip of his blade. When she couldn’t dodge, she used Startling Dragon to block. The two blades clashed. Surprisingly, neither blade chipped.

Tang Yu’s eyes brightened slightly. She didn’t know if the Tang dao also had a protective shield or if its original material was just excellent. In any case, it looked good. If it were forged into Startling Dragon, it might even upgrade it.

While Tang Yu was eyeing Lou Yan’s weapon, Lou Yan grew increasingly alarmed as he fought. For half a minute, this zombie only dodged and didn’t attack. Despite being pressed back, her expression wasn’t flustered. Her darting eyes kept sizing him up. Was she looking for a weakness? Lou Yan calmed himself. It didn’t matter; no one could break his defense.

Tang Yu was indeed looking for Lou Yan’s weakness, but not by sight—she was using precognition. She had become increasingly skilled at switching abilities, almost to the point of seamless transition. The moment the flames were extinguished, precognition had already been activated.

Lou Yan’s shield was indeed difficult to break, and its coverage was wide. In a normal weapon fight, almost no one could hurt him. Coupled with his decent bladework, he could almost rank among the top players.

But unfortunately for him, he had encountered Tang Yu.

Tang Yu deactivated her precognition. Just before Lou Yan’s Tang dao slashed towards her face, she summoned a shadow.

There were no lights in the room, only some light from the explosion downstairs filtering in. Some of this light fell on Lou Yan, and the resulting projection provided the perfect conditions for the shadow to manifest freely. It could be anywhere, for instance, under Lou Yan’s feet.

Without him noticing, the shadow climbed up Lou Yan’s legs, like vines coiling around a dead tree, tightening its grip. The other end of the shadow was connected to the ground, directly pinning Lou Yan to where he stood.

His shield could protect against external attacks from half a meter away, but it couldn’t defend against internal attacks—just like the current situation in Songming City.

Tang Yu stood a little further away. She saw Lou Yan turn his blade to slash at the shadow on his body. The shadow was cut away by the sharp blade, but it didn’t matter; it would reform.

If one wasn’t enough, she would summon another.

The increasingly dense shadow almost submerged half of Lou Yan’s body. Then, a spike emerged at the location of his heart, piercing his vital point. Bl00d spurted from Lou Yan’s mouth. His gaze was fixed on Tang Yu, his weathered face showing an unreadable emotion.

Tang Yu met his gaze calmly. Regardless of whether he understood, she said, “Go home. Stop being Lin Zhongqi’s lackey.” She could see that Lou Yan was just a tool trapped by Lin Zhongqi’s side, a useful, bloodstained Tang dao without a will of its own.

The faint golden light only completely disappeared when Lou Yan died. Tang Yu pulled the Tang dao from Lou Yan’s hand, sheathed it, and slung it onto her back. She recalled the shadow, leaped down from the windowsill, and didn’t spare the corpse another glance.

Song Lengzhu and Lin Zhongqi were no longer visible in the courtyard. The sounds of fighting came from the small villa, indicating the battle wasn’t over. Tang Yu didn’t stop, leading the zombies from the courtyard and sprinting into the room.

The room’s interior decorations had been completely destroyed. Broken wood chips and debris formed an arc, piled up on the periphery as if swept by a strong wind. Where Song Lengzhu and Lin Zhongqi stood, there was no debris at all, but the wooden floor and the concrete beneath it had several cracks.

Tang Yu quickly assessed the situation, then stepped into the circle to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Song Lengzhu.

Lin Zhongqi raised an eyebrow when he saw Tang Yu. A hint of mockery appeared on his gloomy face. “Song Lengzhu, so you had a plan all along.”

No one answered him. His response was an attack from the four zombies.

The four zombies still held their guns. Under Tang Yu’s control, they fired from a distance, adopting a semi-encircling formation.

Lin Zhongqi had already guessed that Tang Yu was the Zombie King, and that she could control zombies. But what he hadn’t guessed was that the controlled zombies could use weapons and arrange their own attack methods.

This was far more advanced than his experiments. Instead of worrying, he was pleased. With a wave of his hand, all the bullets stopped in mid-air around him and then fell to the ground.

Tang Yu’s brow twitched. It seemed this Lin Zhongqi indeed had a powerful ability.

“We underestimated him,” Song Lengzhu said softly. “His ability is trickier than I thought. He has damage…”

Before Song Lengzhu could finish, she saw Lin Zhongqi suddenly point his hand at Tang Yu.

Alarm bells rang in Tang Yu’s mind. It was too late to switch to precognition. She immediately withdrew her control ability and used instant movement to flash behind Lin Zhongqi. The moment she landed, she swung Startling Dragon, but heard Song Lengzhu shout, “Wait!”

She couldn’t stop her momentum in time. The tip of her blade cut Lin Zhongqi’s back. Tang Yu only felt a sharp pain shoot through her own back, as if her flesh had been brutally slashed by a knife. Yet, no wound appeared on Lin Zhongqi.

Tang Yu’s eyes widened, her heart pounding. What was this? Damage transfer?!

Luckily, she hadn’t coated it with flames, or she would have become a flame-grilled zombie.

Lin Zhongqi’s triumphant sneer reached her ears. Tang Yu steeled herself. She didn’t move away. Instead, she raised her blade and swung at Lin Zhongqi again, while her other hand reached for the back of his head.

Damage transfer, such an invincible ability. If she didn’t touch it, who would?

Lin Zhongqi hadn’t expected Tang Yu to advance instead of retreating. He couldn’t help but suspect this zombie had a screw loose, suffering once and still wanting a second helping. Song Lengzhu was also surprised. She immediately drew her gun and rushed towards Lin Zhongqi, trapping him between the two of them.

Tang Yu’s palm was about to touch Lin Zhongqi’s skin, even brushing against his white hair. But Lin Zhongqi didn’t dodge or evade. The next moment, Tang Yu found her palm unable to move forward even half an inch.

Not only that, her legs, her entire body, couldn’t move. Her body felt as if it were under immense pressure, as if even her bl00d flow had slowed.

At first, she thought this ability was similar to Fang Yiming’s Gravity Field. But she soon realized something was wrong. She wasn’t being crushed or deformed; her body was simply immobilized.

Song Lengzhu and the zombies behind her were also immobilized. Even a piece of shredded paper floating in the air froze in place.

In the entire space, only Lin Zhongqi could move.

The situation had suddenly changed.

Lin Zhongqi turned around, a smug look on his face, contentedly observing the surprised expression frozen on Tang Yu’s face. He was short and even had to look up at Tang Yu, but his aura still maintained the disdain of someone in a high position.

He twisted open the cane in his hand. The tip of the longer end revealed a gleaming blade. He aimed the long cane at Tang Yu’s throat, then moved it from her throat to her leg. He didn’t want to kill Tang Yu; her ability to control zombies made him covetous. So he planned to destroy Tang Yu’s mobility first.

Tang Yu couldn’t move her eyes, still frozen in the posture of reaching forward. She could see, hear, and feel touch and pain. But strangely, in this state, she couldn’t activate her abilities. Abilities that usually triggered in half a second were now like quicksand, difficult to gather and form.

This ability, similar to time-space freezing, had turned them into fish on a chopping block.

It seemed high-point players couldn’t be underestimated. The two abilities Lin Zhongqi had displayed were too destructive. Tang Yu had never seen Lin Zhongqi fight, but when he did, he was terrifying. She began to worry about Song Lengzhu’s safety.

Song Lengzhu, barely an arm’s length away, held her gun, her eyes wide. Tang Yu’s face was reflected in her pupils, her worried expression frozen, with no time to hide it.

Lin Zhongqi turned his head to look at Song Lengzhu. After looking for a while, he suddenly realized he had found her weak spot. “You usually seem so reserved and stoic, yet you actually care about a zombie?”

In front of Song Lengzhu, he viciously stabbed the long cane into Tang Yu’s left thigh. The blade at the tip pierced her combat pants and plunged into her flesh without resistance, almost going straight through.

Tang Yu endured the pain, but her body couldn’t move an inch. Even the pain couldn’t be expressed. She didn’t know how long Lin Zhongqi’s ability could last. Seeing his unhurried demeanor, it seemed as if the ability had no time limit.

Lin Zhongqi slowly pulled out the long cane and stabbed Tang Yu’s right leg in the same way. He even twisted the cane, the blade at the tip churning the flesh, tearing and widening the wound. Tang Yu’s bl00d flowed very slowly from the wound, soaking the surrounding pant leg.

This was like death by a thousand cuts. Tang Yu couldn’t resist. She accepted it silently, unable to react.

Song Lengzhu had never wanted to kill someone so badly.

Lin Zhongqi wasn’t in a hurry to hurt her, but every stab felt as if it landed on her own body. She could see that Lin Zhongqi was retaliating against her. After stabbing Tang Yu, he even turned to observe her reaction, then revealed a wild expression of laughing in extreme anger.

She knew perfectly well that Tang Yu only had one life. If this old man Lin Zhongqi struck ruthlessly, the little zombie might not make it out of this room. But the cry to make him stop was stuck in her throat, unable to come out. Anger was useless, and she couldn’t summon her abilities.

Song Lengzhu’s attempt to activate her abilities failed again. She was performing a futile task, like trying to pick up sand with a needle. Abilities like Weapon Enhancement and Position Swap were all ineffective.

The more critical and enraged the situation, the calmer Song Lengzhu became. She tried her abilities one by one and found that in this situation, only mental-type abilities could work.

But even mental-type abilities were extremely difficult to activate. Her head felt as if it were filled with cement; just concentrating required immense willpower.

Just then, Lin Zhongqi pulled out his blade. He moved behind Tang Yu, preparing to sever her Achilles tendons.

Song Lengzhu stared at Lin Zhongqi. He held the end of the long cane, made a couple of practice swings with the blade tip at Tang Yu’s heels, adopting a baseball batter’s stance.

Tang Yu’s high-top hiking boots couldn’t block his weapon. With one swing, he could sever her Achilles tendons. Song Lengzhu realized Lin Zhongqi didn’t want to kill Tang Yu directly but wanted to control her. Perhaps he would then severely injure Tang Yu’s spine, rendering her completely immobile, forced to obey Lin Zhongqi’s commands thereafter.

Song Lengzhu stared intently at Lin Zhongqi’s movements, mobilizing all her mental power.

Lin Zhongqi raised his hand and swung fiercely. The long cane traced an arc through the air. Just before it made contact with Tang Yu’s body, it suddenly stopped.

At the same time, Song Lengzhu’s eyes instantly became bloodshot. Her expression and posture didn’t change, but her face flushed crimson, as if she were under immense pressure.

A thread in her mind snapped taut. The other end of the thread controlled Lin Zhongqi. Through her efforts, “Mental Interference” was successfully activated.

Mental abilities that could control living people were very rare in the game. Song Lengzhu had almost never used this ability because its side effects were severe. After use, mental exhaustion would lead to a prolonged state of weakness, especially when suppressing an enemy stronger than herself, the side effects would be even more pronounced.

On a battlefield where life and death were decided in seconds, this state was extremely dangerous. Song Lengzhu had hesitated. But if she didn’t do it, she would have to watch Tang Yu be severely injured.

She, who always weighed pros and cons, suddenly lost her judgment. A thought stirred within her—the idea of saving Tang Yu regardless of the consequences.

Song Lengzhu successfully stopped Lin Zhongqi. Lin Zhongqi uncontrollably moved away from Tang Yu. It wasn’t enough. Enduring a splitting headache, Song Lengzhu continued to direct Lin Zhongqi’s actions, forcibly deactivating his ability.

“Tang Yu!” The moment her fingers regained mobility, Song Lengzhu cried out, “Now, attack!”

Tang Yu guessed Song Lengzhu must have done something. The moment her body regained mobility, she saw Song Lengzhu unable to support herself and fall towards the ground.

The restraint was lifted. A large amount of bl00d gushed from the wounds on her legs instantly. But Tang Yu had no time to care. She ignored Song Lengzhu’s prompt, took a lightning-fast step forward, grabbed Song Lengzhu’s arm through her sleeve, and pulled her back in retreat.

After confirming Song Lengzhu was steady, Tang Yu spun around abruptly, and rushed towards Lin Zhongqi in a few strides, blade in hand.

Granulation tissue rapidly grew over her wounds. Severed muscles extended, intertwined, and healed. The wounds gradually recovered as if in reverse, and apart from the large bloodstains, it was almost impossible to tell she had been injured.

Lin Zhongqi was frozen in place like a marionette. This retribution of being unable to move his legs or speak quickly befell him.

Tang Yu’s face was grim. She punched Lin Zhongqi in the temple. The immense force snapped Lin Zhongqi’s head to the side, and bl00d trickled from his mouth. He had truly taken the hit.

This blow was a test. Lin Zhongqi hadn’t regained his freedom of movement. His damage transfer hadn’t activated. Tang Yu no longer hesitated. The flame-wreathed Startling Dragon instantly stabbed towards Lin Zhongqi.

The scorching flames burned a large hole in his chest clothing. The tip of Startling Dragon pierced his flesh, emitting a foul, burnt smell. Tang Yu didn’t stop, but Lin Zhongqi suddenly reached out and grabbed the searing hot blade.

The advantage brought by points exceeded Tang Yu and Song Lengzhu’s imagination. Lin Zhongqi’s health was so high that even Startling Dragon, buried almost to his heart, couldn’t kill him. Under extreme pain, his willpower erupted, and he broke free from Song Lengzhu’s Mental Interference.

“Watch out for damage transfer.” The moment Song Lengzhu’s words fell, Tang Yu withdrew her blade. She wasn’t sure who he would transfer the damage to. It would be fine if it was her, but disastrous if it was Song Lengzhu.

Song Lengzhu wasn’t in good condition now. The weakness from the mental ability was mandatory. But Song Lengzhu only swayed slightly, her face showing no sign of it.

Tang Yu quickly retreated in front of Song Lengzhu, reached out, and lightly supported Song Lengzhu’s arm through her clothes. “Are you okay?” she turned and asked urgently, her worried expression completely visible.

Song Lengzhu was slightly taken aback. The little zombie’s concern was so pure. She suddenly felt her decision was worth it, and the accumulated disappointment vanished.

“I’m fine. Now that we’ve figured out his abilities, it’ll be easier.” Song Lengzhu stood behind Tang Yu and said softly, “Damage transfer, time-space freeze, air cutting.” Song Lengzhu pointed to the cracks on the floor. “These are all high-damage abilities, but he hasn’t used time-space freeze again. It should have a cooldown.”

That’s good. Tang Yu turned around, holding her blade, and stood protectively in front of Song Lengzhu. She formulated a plan in her mind. To deal with a player of a higher level than her, she couldn’t use conventional tactics.

“My stamina and speed are reduced. I’ll need you to hold out for a while.” Song Lengzhu quickly instructed as Lin Zhongqi drew closer. “Tang Yu, don’t hesitate when you attack. His damage transfer can’t hurt me.” Song Lengzhu advised, but her voice became ethereal and indistinct. Tang Yu turned her head to look—Song Lengzhu was gone, replaced by a white mist floating in mid-air.

Tang Yu was startled at first, but quickly calmed down. Song Lengzhu had used an ability she didn’t know.

Lin Zhongqi approached Tang Yu fearlessly. He was sure Tang Yu wouldn’t dare harm him, so he strolled closer, his cane disassembled into a gun and a blade, held in each hand. He wasn’t surprised by Song Lengzhu’s ability; he had encountered it before. Damage transfer had no effect on the mist-form Song Lengzhu, but it could inflict real damage on this zombie.

To Lin Zhongqi’s surprise, Tang Yu advanced instead of retreating. She held her blade single-handedly and rushed at Lin Zhongqi with extreme speed. Startling Dragon still carried the residual heat of flames. The blade slashed diagonally downwards across Lin Zhongqi’s shoulder.

“Hmph, a reckless fool who doesn’t learn.” Lin Zhongqi snorted. All the damage was transferred to Tang Yu.

The flesh of her slashed shoulder split open. Yet Tang Yu didn’t stop. Her relentless blade continuously slashed at Lin Zhongqi’s throat, face, arms, and shoulders.

Her movements were extremely fast. Her proficiency in close combat proved effective now. Lin Zhongqi’s agility was higher than hers, but his mental reaction speed wasn’t as fast. Coupled with his untrained, decrepit body, he simply couldn’t avoid her blade.

Coincidentally, it seemed he didn’t want to avoid it either.

All the damage was transferred to Tang Yu. Bloody gashes appeared out of nowhere on Tang Yu’s shoulders and face. Some wounds were deep enough to reveal bone. She didn’t hold back at all. At this moment, Tang Yu finally looked like a genuine, mangled zombie. As time went on, she seemed to lose her sanity, attacking relentlessly without defending.

Lin Zhongqi began to sense something was wrong. His eyelid twitched incessantly. Her suicidal attack style instilled a trace of fear in him. If he retreated a step, Tang Yu followed. She would even occasionally reach for his face, like a phantom he couldn’t shake off.

“Crazy!” Lin Zhongqi roared in a deep voice. His time-space freeze had a two-minute cooldown, and only one minute had passed.

Then he discovered something else: Tang Yu’s wounds were healing rapidly. No wonder she could still move after being stabbed in the thigh. She didn’t care about these wounds at all.

This stalemate couldn’t continue. Lin Zhongqi switched abilities in an instant. The surrounding air condensed into blades.

But he hadn’t expected that Tang Yu was waiting for this very moment—the instant he switched abilities. The moment damage transfer was deactivated, Startling Dragon, which hadn’t stopped for a second, instantly slashed Lin Zhongqi’s right arm. The long cane in his hand fell to the ground. Tang Yu took this as a signal, swung her blade fiercely, and severed Lin Zhongqi’s left arm, which held the gun. Simultaneously, a bullet shot out from the white mist, piercing the air and lodging in Lin Zhongqi’s abdomen.

In that instant, Lin Zhongqi understood Tang Yu’s intention. She was forcing him to switch abilities. As long as he didn’t have damage transfer protecting him, he could be wounded. Lin Zhongqi came to his senses. He hurriedly switched back to the damage transfer ability, his heart filled with lingering fear.

After slashing Lin Zhongqi, Tang Yu seemed to have an epiphany. She suddenly backhanded herself with her blade, its clean surface finally stained with bl00d. Then, Tang Yu, gripping this bloodied blade, slashed at Lin Zhongqi again.

Lin Zhongqi’s temples throbbed violently. His options had been narrowed down by the reckless Tang Yu. Now, he could only use damage transfer!

Tang Yu intentionally smeared the zombie bl00d from her blade onto his severed arm. Fortunately, the zombie virus was also judged as “damage” and transferred to Tang Yu, who hadn’t yet succumbed to the poison.

However, the moment he deactivated the damage transfer ability, the zombie virus would instantly eliminate him from the game.

What kind of tactic was this! He had never seen such a tactic!

Time-space freeze was off cooldown, but now, Lin Zhongqi didn’t dare use it again.

Forced into a corner, Lin Zhongqi laughed in extreme anger. “It’s not that easy to kill me. The zombie army will be here soon.” He had already pressed the master control button.

The master control button was more advanced than other controllers. With Chaos’s help, he had set up a pathfinding mode. The controller in his hand was the signal-emitting terminal. Under certain conditions, this batch of zombies would become an army to save their master.

Lin Zhongqi wanted to see fear on his enemies’ faces. At least, he thought Song Lengzhu should be afraid of the zombie army. But his wish was unfulfilled. Song Lengzhu, in her white mist form, showed no reaction. And Tang Yu, upon hearing his words, actually smiled.

“Perfect. I was afraid they wouldn’t come.”