Surviving the Game as a Zombie - Chapter 128

In Lin Zhongqi’s eyes, Tang Yu’s smile became a fatal curse. He couldn’t understand what she was saying, but he could tell that the person before him was not afraid of him in the slightest.

He fought as he retreated, backing all the way to the staircase. Although he possessed an escape ability, he didn’t dare switch to it now.

Compared to his blind retreat and defensive steps, Tang Yu’s attacks grew fiercer. The constant pain and bleeding sharpened her focus, and her will to fight seemed to have been ignited, putting her in a frenzied state.

Seeing that the situation had stabilized, Tang Yu changed her immediate objective from “making the opponent bleed so he can’t switch abilities” to “I must copy his damage transfer.”

Without damage transfer, even if the zombie army arrived, it would be useless. As long as Lin Zhongqi didn’t deactivate his ability, the pain of being devoured by zombies would only fall upon Tang Yu.

She had another worry. If the old man before her was a bit smarter and more ruthless, it wouldn’t be hard for him to figure out a way to break the current stalemate. She had to get her hands on the damage transfer ability quickly.

However, although Lin Zhongqi was at a disadvantage, he remained extremely vigilant. He seemed to have noticed Tang Yu constantly reaching for his exposed skin with her empty hand and had a bad feeling about it. Thus, he refused to let her touch his face or his right hand, which held the cane, no matter what.

He was no longer eagerly letting Tang Yu cut him as he had before. He had finally realized he needed to flee, even though he hadn’t fled so wretchedly in the past year.

Forced back onto the stairs, Lin Zhongqi suddenly had an idea. He raised the long cane in his right hand and swung it violently at his own severed arm.

The flesh on the severed arm, stained with zombie bl00d, was sliced open by the blade at the end of the cane, which then embedded itself in the bone.

Tang Yu let out a muffled grunt. The damage transfer had taken effect. A bone-chilling pain shot through her perfectly intact arm, and a thin, long gash appeared on her left arm out of thin air.

Her fears had come true. Lin Zhongqi had figured it out.

Fortunately, the blade embedded in the cane was limited by space, only the size of a dagger, and not sharp enough to sever a bone in one strike. Otherwise, Tang Yu’s arm would have been lost. No matter how powerful her rapid healing was, she couldn’t reattach a severed arm in an instant.

Seeing that the damage was effective, Lin Zhongqi suddenly turned vicious. He yanked the blade out, reversed his grip on the long cane, and without hesitation, stabbed toward his own eyeball. He had understood now; to eliminate Tang Yu was simple—he just had to be willing to inflict fatal harm upon himself.

His blade wasn’t enough to sever his own spine, but he knew that if the slender tip plunged deep enough, destroying the central nervous system would be just as fatal to a zombie.

Tang Yu’s heart tightened. She took three steps up the stairs in a single bound, swinging her blade at Lin Zhongqi’s cane. Startling Dragon sliced off a section from the wooden end of the long cane, but she wasn’t close enough to grab it with her bare hand.

Just then, Lin Zhongqi agilely turned and bolted up the stairs. The momentum of his hand didn’t falter; the tip of the blade was already before his eyelashes.

In the nick of time, a white mist suddenly blocked Lin Zhongqi’s path. Song Lengzhu, having deactivated her ability, spun around and kicked him hard in the abdomen.

He lost his footing on the stairs and fell backward, the long blade in his hand shifting by half a centimeter. But he was exceptionally agile. In the instant he fell backward, he readjusted the blade’s position and, without hesitation, plunged it violently toward his eye socket.

The next second, Lin Zhongqi crashed into someone. It was undoubtedly Tang Yu. She had caught the back of his head with one hand, then reached around his head to pull the long cane away.

But it was too late. He had already stabbed the cane viciously into his eye. The slender blade almost completely disappeared into the socket. He felt no pain; as long as he pulled the blade out, the wound on his eyeball would vanish as if it had never existed.

Someone cried out in pain—it was the howl of a zombie.

The sound was cut short at its peak, as if someone had abruptly hit a rest button. The howling zombie suddenly went silent.

However, Lin Zhongqi sensed something was wrong. First, the pained cry was coarse and deep, a man’s voice.

Second, Tang Yu, who had him in a headlock, didn’t collapse weakly as he had expected. Instead, she tightened her grip with one hand and dragged him down the stairs.

According to the damage assessment, even with her immortality, Tang Yu should have been gravely injured. How could she possibly have the strength to drag him?

Lin Zhongqi was bewildered. He was thrown to the ground like a piece of trash, his weapon snatched away, and his body pinned by Tang Yu’s knee, unable to move. Tang Yu suddenly slapped him across the face. When he looked up again, he met Tang Yu’s icy eyes.

“You… you’re not dead?” Lin Zhongqi almost believed that true immortality existed in the game. He turned his head in horror and saw the one lying on the ground was the ability user who had once offered his services to him—the player with the corrosion ability.

A large gash had appeared in the player’s left eye. The ruptured eyeball was a bloody mess, mixed with a grotesque white. As he lay on his side, the gushing bl00d quickly stained the floor red.

Lin Zhongqi turned back again, looking at Tang Yu in disbelief. The player’s injury wasn’t transferred by him, which meant there was only one possibility: this bizarre scene was related to Tang Yu.

What was going on? For a moment, Lin Zhongqi couldn’t figure it out. He only felt a bone-deep fear creeping up his spine to his brain. He stared intently at Tang Yu, as if looking at an unknown monster. This person was far more terrifying than he had imagined.

“Are you okay?” Song Lengzhu hurried downstairs. She reached out with some lingering fear, wanting to pull Tang Yu over to check her injuries. Only ten seconds had passed since she deactivated her ability, but so much had happened in that short time.

Tang Yu swiftly dodged Song Lengzhu’s hand. One second she was intimidating Lin Zhongqi, the next, facing Song Lengzhu, she had already retracted her killing intent, her eyes sparkling.

Tang Yu pointed at the bloodstains on her body, not letting Song Lengzhu touch her, not even her clothes. Although her wounds had already healed, the bl00d that had flowed out was smeared everywhere.

Tang Yu stomped firmly on Lin Zhongqi’s remaining hand and gestured to Song Lengzhu, “Do you have any rope?”

Song Lengzhu half-guessed, “Rope?”

Tang Yu nodded.

Song Lengzhu quickly pulled a roll of very thin steel wire from the pocket of her cargo pants. “Will this work?”

It would have to do.

Tang Yu grabbed Lin Zhongqi and bound him tightly with the thin steel wire, tying him to the staircase railing. Whenever Lin Zhongqi struggled, the wire would dig into his body, leaving red marks and only getting tighter. The wire even cut into his flesh, breaking the skin. He then saw a wound appear on the same part of a zombie’s body somewhere in the room.

Song Lengzhu saw it too. She looked at Tang Yu. “It’s a good thing you have this ability.”

Tang Yu must have copied Lin Zhongqi’s damage transfer in that critical moment and then applied the damage to the zombie. She asked Tang Yu, “Can’t you reflect the damage back to Lin Zhongqi?”

Tang Yu shook her head. She couldn’t. She had tried; the slap she gave Lin Zhongqi was a test, and it was her own face that had hurt.

She guessed it was because her points were far lower than Lin Zhongqi’s. When two people with the same ability fought, the system would judge that the one with fewer points would bear the damage.

Fortunately, in that critical moment, Tang Yu had made the safe choice to transfer the fatal injury to that zombie player instead of Lin Zhongqi. Otherwise, she would have been the one to die.

She couldn’t kill Lin Zhongqi right now, nor did she want to. Letting him die like this would be too easy. She wanted to teach this man a lesson.

Lin Zhongqi sat slumped on the ground, his hands tied behind the railing, completely immobilized. Tang Yu rummaged through the inner pocket of his suit and pulled out the remote-control-like master device.

By the time the zombie army surrounded the courtyard, twenty minutes had passed. Tang Yu and Song Lengzhu had already left Lin Zhongqi’s residence and returned to the second floor of the building across the way.

The dense horde of zombies swarmed in like an army of ghosts, pouring in from the villa area’s driveways, courtyards, and even over the rooftops. The tail end of the army was hidden in the darkness, stretching beyond sight. It seemed like every zombie in the hospital had been summoned.

For some reason, some of the zombies were soaking wet, as if they had been drenched with water. They smelled the living and a portion of them roared as they poured into the villas on both sides. However, the ones dripping with water suddenly fell silent as they approached the villa area and stood quietly below Tang Yu’s position.

A ripple went through Tang Yu’s consciousness. She was surprised to find that she could control this portion of the zombies. These weren’t just the few dozen she had injected; their numbers had exceeded two hundred.

The moment she connected with the zombies, a mission notification sound played in her mind. She opened it and saw that not only was there mission information, but Jin Ye had also left her a message.

Tang Yu first scanned Jin Ye’s message—

“We saw a massive horde of zombies pass the water plant and head for the villa area. We were worried it would be bad for you, so Xiao Li and I poured all the zombie serum we had into a water tank and then used a hose to spray them. We don’t know if it’ll work, but it was a last-ditch effort. Don’t blame us for wasting it.”

How could she blame them? She couldn’t be more grateful for such god-tier teammates. Tang Yu looked up. Most of the zombies with obvious wounds had absorbed the serum. Although the effect seemed to have been diluted—they didn’t seem as intelligent as the injected family of zombies—controlling their actions was possible. The dry zombies, however, remained in a frenzied, bite-on-sight state.

Looking at the mission, Tang Yu found that this time the notification was different from before; it was extremely detailed.

【Mission 1: Assemble a Zombie Army】

[Mission Description]: This mission can only be unlocked after controlling one hundred zombies. Completion Standard: Successfully assemble a five-hundred-strong zombie army. Current Progress: 257/500

[Mission Reward]: 200 points, Zombie King level increased by one. Current Rating: D-Class.

【Mission 2: Conquer Songming City】

[Mission Description]: Kill the leader and guards of Songming City, seize the city, occupy all strongholds, and deal with the original residents. The method is not limited; they can be expelled, killed, or properly resettled.

[Mission Reward]: Participants can divide 2000 points. The city’s resources and manpower will belong to the conquerors, to be distributed as they see fit.

[Attached Camp Information]:

Level: Nine

Main Forces: One leader, 531 guards, 54 players and 72 NPCs loyal to the leader. A detailed list is temporarily unavailable.

Strongholds: Armory, Water Plant, Hospital, Food Warehouse, Villa Area, City Wall Highlands.

Tang Yu quickly scanned through it, pleasantly surprised. The information provided by the system this time was incredibly thorough. She suddenly remembered unlocking a basic “Mission Hint” skill. She hadn’t expected this hint to be so useful, clearly stating the completion conditions and rewards. She no longer had to fumble in the dark to complete missions like before.

Furthermore, more than one mission had been triggered this time.

Tang Yu closed the panel, her mood soaring. She controlled a portion of the zombies, first blocking the entrance to the villa she was in to prevent any out-of-control zombies from coming upstairs and attacking Song Lengzhu, then directed the remaining zombies to charge into Lin Zhongqi’s villa.

Tang Yu examined the master control device in her hand and pressed the “Block” button, stopping the zombies from devouring Lin Zhongqi. Then she looked at Song Lengzhu.

The twenty-minute rest had allowed Song Lengzhu to recover. During that time, they had briefly discussed how to circumvent the “damage transfer.” Song Lengzhu had unhesitatingly suggested, “I’ll use mental interference one more time. I’ll only disable his ability, no other interference. But it won’t last long, about twenty seconds.”

Twenty seconds was more than enough.

The two stood on the second floor, looking down at Lin Zhongqi’s courtyard. From their vantage point, they could no longer see Lin Zhongqi’s face; their view was blocked by the dense mass of zombies.

The moment Song Lengzhu switched her ability, Tang Yu pressed the master control button again. The zombies, whose stimulus had been blocked, became frenzied once more. They pounced on Lin Zhongqi, who was immobilized both mentally and physically, packing the house so tightly it was impenetrable.

Lin Zhongqi only had time to let out a single scream before his voice was swiftly drowned out by the roars of the zombies. Before he was infected, he saw a zombie tear a piece of flesh from his face and devour it. He even recognized this zombie; it was an NPC who had previously angered him and been thrown into the hospital to be turned.

More and more out-of-control zombies piled onto him. His ability was useless, his body was restrained, and he couldn’t even run. He could no longer see Tang Yu, but his fear of her pierced his very flesh at that moment.

Who on earth was this unknown zombie!

“He got what he deserved,” Song Lengzhu said suddenly after half a minute. A thin layer of sweat beaded on her forehead; using her mental ability a second time had left her quite exhausted.

“Yeah,” Tang Yu replied, thoughtfully dragging a stool from the room and placing it behind Song Lengzhu.

“Thanks.”

After the target’s death, the zombies downstairs began to leave the house in twos and threes, wandering around like headless flies. Their mouths were still smeared with bl00d, and smelling the living, they started moving toward the house Song Lengzhu was in.

Tang Yu pressed the button on the master controller, making these uncontrollable zombies stand obediently in the courtyard and on the driveway, awaiting her next command.

While Song Lengzhu rested, Tang Yu opened her wristband and typed in the group chat to Zhou Zhou: “Zhou Zhou, we’re out of zombie serum! Can you bring some to Songming City? Enough for three hundred zombies!”

Zhou Zhou: “Thanks for asking, but I’m not a delivery person. I’m going to bed. Bye.”

Tang Yu: “We’re about to take over Songming City. There’s a big hospital here. If you come, its equipment and their research findings are all yours.”

Zhou Zhou: “Give me the route. I’m on my way.”

“Oh, and bring Jian Che with you. I found a computer for her.”