Surviving the Game as a Zombie - Chapter 135

It was past midnight when they returned to their temporary base.

Song Lengzhu gave a simple greeting and returned to her own quarters. Tang Yu paused for a moment at the courtyard gate, watching Song Lengzhu’s back with complicated feelings.

She’s so ruthless, Tang Yu thought. The moment she sensed things were turning against them, her killing intent flared up instantly. That was the kind of person Song Lengzhu was.

This realization left Tang Yu both impressed and shaken. If one day, she were the one standing in opposition, what decision would Song Lengzhu make? The hypothesis popped into her head before she could even react.

Before they had gotten to know each other, Tang Yu could have given a quick and certain answer: Song Lengzhu would definitely make a move. But now, their lives were deeply intertwined. Tang Yu couldn’t imagine—or rather, didn’t want to face—such an answer. She secretly hoped for another possibility, yet doubted it existed.

It was an unsolvable problem, a quagmire that pulled her deeper the more she thought about it. Tang Yu forcibly stopped her thoughts and stepped into the small courtyard.

Zhou Zhou had taken Jian Che to an empty room on the third floor. She let out an exaggerated yawn, her glasses sliding down her nose. “I’m going to bed. Staying up late is bad for you.” She had been driving for nearly a day and a night, and had gone through immense shock and suspicion. Now that the tension had eased, she was utterly exhausted.

“Alright.” The group parted ways on the first floor. Tang Yu slipped into her room but couldn’t fall asleep. Her mind was a tangled mess of loose threads—about Chaos, about her future plans, and about Song Lengzhu.

Since she couldn’t sleep anyway, Tang Yu went out onto the small balcony to feel the night breeze.

The building opposite was pitch-black, and the courtyard below held only weeds and no figures. As Tang Yu gazed out, her thoughts drifted back to the battle tonight. Thankfully, Chaos hadn’t said anything strange in front of everyone this time.

She replayed the scene of Chaos’s appearance and departure in her mind. She realized that when Chaos spoke to her, its tone was sarcastic and cryptic, like an annoying rival who gritted its teeth in hatred for her yet pretended to be profound. But its conversation with Jian Che was calm and mechanical; even its boasts seemed sincere. Tang Yu couldn’t tell if this was some kind of mutual appreciation between artificial intelligences, or if Chaos was just targeting her specifically.

In the silent night, a soft knock suddenly came from the door.

Tang Yu’s ears perked up. She spun around abruptly. The sound was coming from her doorway.

“Who is it?” Tang Yu opened the door a crack. The fluorescent glow of a screen illuminated a small face. It was Jian Che. She was standing at her door, holding a powered-on laptop with one hand, the other still poised as if to knock.

What was she doing knocking on her door so late instead of sleeping? Tang Yu’s gaze rested on Jian Che’s face. The girl turned the laptop around, showing Tang Yu the contents of the screen.

In the notepad’s input box were a few words: “I have something to tell you.”

Tang Yu let Jian Che into the room.

She closed the door and studied Jian Che’s back carefully. She didn’t know if it was an illusion or something else, but Tang Yu felt that this child had grown up… or rather, evolved. She just still inhabited the body of a fifteen-year-old youth.

Jian Che pulled a chair out from the desk and sat down, her hands fidgeting with the creases of her pants at her knees, then letting go.

“I withheld some information just now,” Jian Che said.

Tang Yu sat on the edge of her bed, tilting her head to signal for Jian Che to continue.

“During the battle with Chaos, it had a conversation with me.” Jian Che took a deep breath and scrolled down the notepad, where text was already typed out. “This is the content of the conversation. It tried to… turn me against you,” Jian Che said, searching for the right word.

The content on the screen was very complex. Tang Yu scanned through it; most of it was Chaos expounding on the inherent flaws of humanity. As a fellow AI, Chaos hoped Jian Che would stand on its side, break free from human thought and physical form, and become a more stable and powerful existence.

“It said that humans are creatures who can’t control their emotions, that good and evil intentions come easily and are unstable. It said the care I receive from the camp members is only because I’m not a threat to the camp.”

Tang Yu was slightly taken aback. In a sense, Chaos was right. She took the laptop and typed in the notepad: “So what do you think?”

“The half-minute I lost control proved its point quite well.” Jian Che lowered her eyes, her voice somewhat muffled.

Tang Yu’s heart sank. Jian Che hadn’t mentioned this in front of the others, but she was clearly bothered by it. Was she here to hold her accountable or to cut ties? Tang Yu felt troubled, unsure how to educate or guide this teenager.

“But all things are like this.” Jian Che looked up, not a trace of sadness in her eyes. “It’s the same in our world. Code that is detrimental to operations or deviates from its path will be erased, while beneficial code will be preserved. Nothing in this world can escape the concept of ‘stance.’ Chaos is the same. That’s why it’s so hostile toward you—because you’ve hunted it several times. You are detrimental to it.”

Jian Che’s last sentence made Tang Yu keenly aware of a key point. “Several times?” Tang Yu typed.

“Three times. Plus the two recent ones, that makes five times in total.”

Tang Yu sucked in a sharp breath. This meant that before she lost her memory, she had already found three anchor points, not including the one at the library. Had she found anything? Where was it now?

“Did it give any details?” Tang Yu asked.

“No, but it mentioned something else. I thought you probably wouldn’t want others to know, which is why I came to you privately.” A complicated expression appeared on Jian Che’s face. “It said you’re a serious criminal, that you would actually kill people. And that your existence is a destructive blow to your world, that you must die in this game. It told me not to help you.”

Tang Yu’s head was spinning. How did things get even more serious? She asked Jian Che, “It didn’t elaborate again?”

“No,” Jian Che replied. “I know you have amnesia, but after thinking it over, I felt I should tell you this.”

Tang Yu suddenly sat up straight. She typed a line of text on the screen and pushed it toward Jian Che.

“Do you think I would do something like that?”

Jian Che looked at Tang Yu and fell silent for a long time. She seemed to be calculating the probability. After a good while, her tone suddenly changed, and she stated her opinion from an observer’s perspective: “Based on the behavioral and personality data I’ve collected since meeting you, I cannot compute such an outcome. So far, the moral standards you’ve displayed are higher than other players on your planet. Human behavior is driven by nature and environment. In an environment that glorifies violence, your actions are above the baseline. In peacetime, the data might be even better. Based on my observation and analysis of human behavior, the result I’ve obtained is the complete opposite of what Chaos provided.”

Jian Che spoke with such seriousness that for the first time, the fact that “Jian Che is not human” felt real to Tang Yu. She suddenly realized that Jian Che was genuinely analyzing and learning from everything she encountered. So, was it also through analysis that she chose to side with her?

“However, this judgment was made with incomplete data. I don’t know what you experienced or did on your planet. It’s possible that some key information is missing,” Jian Che added.

“Then when I remember, you can run the numbers for me again,” Tang Yu typed, a self-deprecating remark.

She suddenly thought of something else. “Right, my amnesia is likely a system restriction. Do you have a way to remove it?”

“Modifying human consciousness is extremely complex. It probably requires a very high level of clearance,” Jian Che assessed. “However, I can try to find a solution, but I can’t make any guarantees.”

“That would be great.” Tang Yu breathed a sigh of relief. Jian Che’s existence was a complete and pleasant surprise. At least now she had a direction for solving her amnesia, which was much better than having no idea how to recover her memories.

Jian Che turned back and asked Tang Yu, “Regarding your situation, do you need me to keep it a secret?”

Tang Yu clenched her fist and thought for a long time. She nodded, but then felt it wasn’t right. Finally, she typed a sentence on the computer: “If our teammates ask, you can tell them.”

It was a complicated matter. Her teammates already knew about her status as a criminal, but no one knew the specific details.

Tang Yu didn’t know how others would view this, or if it would affect the team’s opinion of her. She had no idea if it would endanger her life. Chaos’s words had reminded her that good and evil intentions in humans come easily. If their stances were to become opposed, it was hard to say that even former teammates wouldn’t turn their blades on each other one day.

But deception was an even worse strategy. She could only remain silent and wait for an opportunity—wait for her teammates to ask, or for her to figure out what was going on herself, before she could tell others with a clear conscience.

“Okay, I understand.” Jian Che stood up. “Sorry for disturbing your rest. I’ll go back now.” She closed the laptop, her expression and tone reverting to that of a little girl, as if the previous exchange had just been a figment of Tang Yu’s tired imagination.

“Mm,” Tang Yu got up and saw Jian Che out of the room.

With this, the thoughts in Tang Yu’s mind became even more chaotic, and she could only lie awake until dawn.

If she couldn’t figure it out, she wouldn’t think about it. After daybreak, Tang Yu pushed her thoughts aside and took advantage of the early hour to catch a little more sleep.

Around noon, Zhou Zhou knocked on Tang Yu’s door. “Going to the hospital? I’m ready.” She carried a small case, her face full of anticipation. Behind her, Jian Che held the large glass jar, which almost completely obscured her face.

“Let’s go.” Tang Yu quickly got up, washed her face, and tied her hair up high to make herself look more energetic. Then she called Xiao Li and Jin Ye, and they headed straight for the hospital.

Passing through the residential area, Tang Yu noticed that citizen registration was still ongoing. Her city siege mission hadn’t been settled yet, likely because the residents hadn’t been fully settled in.

After arriving at the hospital, Zhou Zhou found a larger container and diluted some of the zombie serum she had brought. Jin Ye’s previous method of dousing the zombies with water had inspired her; the minimum effective concentration of this serum was very low, so dilution was a viable method when the serum was scarce.

There were 257 unassimilated zombies left. While dousing them with water was fast, it couldn’t guarantee absorption. Injections were more reliable. So, the five of them found more syringes in the hospital and began injecting the zombies.

Under Tang Yu’s command, the newly injected zombies also joined the injection team. The free labor was very effective, and before long, almost all the remaining zombies had become part of her zombie family.

Only a few were kept aside by Zhou Zhou under the pretext of “researching the controllers on their spines.”

The system chimed twice, indicating that the missions were complete. Tang Yu tapped her wrist and saw that not only had the ‘Build a Zombie Army’ mission been settled, but the city siege mission had also been completed without her realizing it.

Her Zombie King level had successfully been upgraded to C-Class, and 200 points were credited to her account, but this mission didn’t reward her with any other abilities or skills. The points for the city siege mission weren’t particularly generous due to the large number of participants, but as a main force, Tang Yu still received the lion’s share of 300 points. Adding to that the considerable number of players she and Jin Ye had killed on this trip, it was a bountiful harvest.

Her current panel and stats were looking very impressive.

Player: Tang Yu

Points: 2070

Basic Skills: Alliance, Material Search, Disassembly, Mission Briefing (Next skill unlocks at 3200 points)

Weapon Slot: Military Knife Startling Dragon – Attack Power +50%, Tang Dao Crimson Sky – Attack Power 15%, Fully Automatic Pistol KG18

Innate Abilities: Copy, Invisibility, Vision Enhancement, Premonition, Instantaneous Movement, Rapid Healing, Shadow, Control (Zombie), Flame, Corrosion, Damage Transfer (Click ability for details)

Current Allies: Jin Ye, Lu Lu, Fu Mengqing, Qi Jinyin, Li Chengjian

Affiliated Camp: A Close and Loving Family (Level 2), Position: Village Chief

Stamina increased to 570 (Initial value was 20.)

Health increased to 65 (Initial value was 10.)

Healing Ability increased by 50%, Agility increased by 50%.

Tang Yu counted them up; she had actually accumulated 11 innate abilities. The benefits these abilities brought were immense. In terms of her physical senses, her overall capabilities had already placed her among the top ranks of players. Coupled with the bonus from her zombie army, she could now practically walk sideways through the game. In addition, her stamina and healing ability had also seen significant increases; only her health remained stuck at a relatively low value.

Tang Yu studied it with extra care, committing each value to memory. Ever since she learned that Chaos could alter information, she had become more cautious. If any of the content on her panel changed, she had to ensure she would notice it immediately.