Surviving the Game as a Zombie - Chapter 145

Judging from the smooth, red striations on the rock walls, this cave was naturally formed and had been eroded by flowing water. There were no sharp rocks inside; most of the protrusions were round and smooth.

Tang Yu quickly made a judgment. During the summer rainy season, the river in the canyon would likely rise into this cave. This meant they weren’t far from the river’s surface.

Tang Yu had scouted this canyon before sunset. The drop was over thirty meters by visual estimation. With a quick deduction, she determined that their current location was at least twenty meters from the ground.

Twenty meters was very high. Even if they ran out of the fuselage wreckage now and tried to climb the rock wall, they might not be able to escape the spiders’ pursuit. In fact, it would only restrict their movements. Tang Yu quickly dismissed the idea of running out of the cave.

The swarm of spiders still hadn’t stopped pulling. The fuselage bumped and scraped along the ground, swaying from time to time, and the vibrations made Tang Yu’s arms go numb.

Song Lengzhu single-handedly took the flashlight from her waist and shone it forward through the side cabin door’s window. “Are they trying to drag us into a spider’s den?”

“Looks like it.” Tang Yu bent down, hooked her legs over the back of a seat, and then used her core strength to grab the cockpit doorframe, flipping herself up into the pilot’s seat.

The cockpit had been turned ninety degrees during the pulling, leaving the nose of the aircraft pointing up. The back of the pilot’s seat was now parallel to the ground. With the backrest for support, she at least no longer had to hang suspended in the middle of the cabin.

Tang Yu reached out and pulled Jian Che up, having her huddle on the inner side of the co-pilot’s seat. Then, she extended her left hand again towards Song Lengzhu.

“I’m wearing gloves, so I won’t touch you.” Remembering the experience with the flatbread, Tang Yu quickly clarified.

Song Lengzhu glanced up. The black, full-fingered tactical gloves were spotless, without a trace of bl00d. Following the arm upwards, she saw Tang Yu leaning diagonally above her, her eyes shining brightly as she patiently awaited a response.

“I don’t mind that,” Song Lengzhu said after a pause. Her core strength was no weaker than Tang Yu’s; she could have flipped herself into the seat without help. But she still extended her hand, placed it in Tang Yu’s palm, and then her fingers tightened, firmly gripping Tang Yu’s wrist.

Tang Yu’s arm felt a weight. The wrist she held felt somewhat slender; if it had been anyone else, Tang Yu would have worried about crushing the bone. But Song Lengzhu’s grip was steady and strong. Before Tang Yu could even exert force, Song Lengzhu had already tensed her arm, bent her body, pushed off the cabin wall with her toes, and pulled herself up with astonishing arm strength.

The movement was even smoother and more agile than Tang Yu’s. By the time Tang Yu let go, Song Lengzhu was already seated securely in the co-pilot’s seat, squeezed in with Jian Che.

A flash of undisguised amazement crossed Tang Yu’s eyes.

In that brief moment, the scene outside changed again. The fuselage was dragged upward into a sloping tunnel. The hard rock overhead gave way to what looked like earth. This section didn’t seem like a natural cave but rather an earthen tunnel dug by insects. The ceiling was much lower, with the dirt almost scraping against the helicopter’s shattered windshield.

Some clumps of earth, carrying a damp, musty smell, were scraped off by the broken glass and fell into the cockpit.

“So we really are heading into a spider’s den.” Song Lengzhu steadied herself, her expression focused, and quickly changed the magazine in her gun. She said, “There were no fewer than thirty of those small spiders just now, and there might be more in the cave. Tang Yu, do you have an ability that can take on ten at once?”

Tang Yu ran through her abilities in her mind and shook her head. “Other than setting a fire, I can’t eliminate that many at once. But fire isn’t effective.”

Fire could ignite the spider silk, but it wasn’t lethal to these strange spiders that had suddenly appeared.

“Then I’ll do it,” Song Lengzhu immediately replied. “My wind blades can cause collateral damage. As soon as you feel a wind in the cave, take Jian Che and find cover. I won’t be able to watch out for you.”

“No problem,” Tang Yu nodded. Guided by Song Lengzhu, her thoughts quickly shifted from escape strategies to methods of engagement.

Unlike Tang Yu, Song Lengzhu didn’t seem to be thinking about escaping at all after being dragged into the cave. Even now, she showed no trace of fear, which in turn served as a shot of confidence for Tang Yu and Jian Che.

Tang Yu gestured as she continued, “Oh, right. If the missing zombie was dragged away and dismembered by these small spiders, we need to be careful of zombified spiders in the cave. If we run into any, you take Jian Che and stay far away. Let me handle them.” Tang Yu pointed to her own nose. She was fine if she got zombie bl00d on her, but she couldn’t let Song Lengzhu and Jian Che take that risk.

“Okay.” Song Lengzhu looked at Tang Yu and smiled almost imperceptibly. When talking to her, Tang Yu still had the habit of gesturing animatedly. Such subconscious little movements were… quite captivating.

Song Lengzhu nonchalantly averted her gaze, and her eyes happened to fall on the gap between the back of the pilot’s seat and the cabin seats. Something was stuck there—it was the pair of gloves she had left on the seat earlier.

She bent over, pulled the gloves out, and carefully put them on. They would be very useful.

The fuselage jolted for a while and soon came to a stop. The dirt from overhead stopped trickling down.

Tang Yu looked up. The rock walls were high again; it seemed they had been dragged into a spacious area.

Immediately after, that grating sound of claws scratching against metal alloy rang out again, louder and more frequent than when they were on the ground. Jian Che, sitting by the window, said in a trembling voice, “They’re climbing up.”

Pitch-black spider bodies suddenly blocked their view. Dense clusters of legs scraped and crawled across the glass, knocking the fuselage from side to side.

Song Lengzhu quickly clipped the flashlight to her waist. “Let’s get out first!”

She stood up abruptly on the seatback, grabbed the shattered windshield, and vaulted onto the roof of the aircraft. Two small spiders had already climbed up, and Song Lengzhu fired two shots, knocking them both back.

Seizing the opportunity, Tang Yu supported Jian Che from below while Song Lengzhu bent down and grabbed her hand. With one pulling and the other pushing, they hauled Jian Che, bag and all, out of the fuselage. Almost without a pause, Tang Yu scrambled out as well.

The three of them stood shoulder to shoulder on the uneven nose of the aircraft, quickly surveying their surroundings.

The flashlight beam didn’t reach very far, but they could tell the cave was incredibly large. There were several shadowy openings on the rock walls, covered in spiderwebs, looking like interconnected tunnels that had been sealed off, leading to unknown destinations.

A thought suddenly occurred to Tang Yu: this entire desert landscape was probably a spider’s nest underneath.

Dark shapes swarmed on the ground below. The sight of the densely packed spider legs was terrifying, and for a moment, it was impossible to tell just how many there were.

The largest figure stood in the distance, its two long, leg-like pedipalps and walking legs rubbing against each other, making a sound like tearing newspaper.

At this sound, the small spiders below seemed to receive a signal to eat and rushed in one direction. Tang Yu even saw slightly smaller spiders crawling down from the giant spider’s back, jostling each other as they charged toward the fuselage.

“So many.” Tang Yu’s brows furrowed. With a wave of her hand, she sent fireballs in four directions.

The fireballs landed on the spiders’ backs, making them crawl even faster, but their carapaces only burned for an instant before the flames went out.

Tang Yu attacked again, sending fireballs toward the webs hanging in the tunnel entrances and the silk wrapped around the fuselage at their feet.

This time, the flames caught, and the silk gave off the acrid smell of burnt hair. Flames shot into the cabin, and the cotton-filled seats quickly ignited, instantly brightening the cave.

“Move.” Song Lengzhu seized the opportunity, spotted a clear patch of ground, and leaped down. She rolled upon landing and, paying almost no mind to Tang Yu and Jian Che, instantly activated her wind blades.

A wind rose out of nowhere in the semi-enclosed cave, causing the fiercely burning flames to sway and nearly go out. Scratches as deep as knife cuts suddenly appeared on the helicopter’s cabin door.

Song Lengzhu had no time to check if Tang Yu had taken cover, as the dense swarm of small spiders was already closing in. She could only trust that her rapport with Tang Yu had developed to a point where Tang Yu could successfully evade the devastating wind blades.

The moment Song Lengzhu jumped, Tang Yu grabbed the strap of Jian Che’s backpack near her collar and, lifting her like a kitten by the scruff, dove toward the ground. Jian Che’s face, which had just recovered its color, turned deathly pale again. Just as she was about to hit the ground, a black, viscous substance suddenly rose from below, wrapped around her legs, and absorbed the impact.

Jian Che almost couldn’t catch her breath. Before she could inhale, the black, viscous substance on her feet transformed into a humanoid figure in the blink of an eye. It took her from Tang Yu’s hands, held her horizontally in its arms, and ran swiftly toward one of the tunnels.

Jian Che felt as if she were flying above the small spiders. If the shadow’s grip had been unsteady, she had no doubt she would have fallen into the swarm and been devoured completely.

Her heartbeat hadn’t yet returned to normal when she suddenly felt a needle-like pain on her exposed ankle. The fierce wind that had suddenly whipped up in the cave had cut her skin, and Jian Che could clearly feel that her leg was bleeding.

Bl00d dripped from her ankle into the swarm below, and the nearby spiders surged toward her fanatically. She didn’t know if it was her imagination, but Jian Che felt that these spiders were relentlessly pursuing her.

Tang Yu, running beside them, muttered, “Damn it, not enough time.” The rushing wind grew stronger, slicing off a lock of her hair. They were still a few steps from the tunnel when Tang Yu suddenly realized it was straight—it offered no shelter from the wind!

“Jian Che, hold your breath!” Tang Yu suddenly shouted. She decisively stopped in her tracks and quickly summoned her other two shadows. In an instant, a black membrane formed by the shadows enveloped her and Jian Che tightly.

A suffocating sensation, like drowning, instantly assaulted Jian Che’s mind. She felt her nostrils being blocked by the viscous substance, cutting off her breath halfway. She could only hold that half-breath in her chest, her eyes squeezed shut. Her five senses were instantly sealed off, and the only sound was the pulse throbbing in her ear bones.

Jian Che didn’t know how much time had passed. She only felt dizzy and light-headed. That half-breath wasn’t enough, and her lungs burned as if they were about to explode. She subconsciously tried to inhale but found her mouth and nose were blocked, unable to draw in any air at all.

Just as her consciousness began to drift, a flicker of red light entered her vision.

Tang Yu quickly helped up Jian Che, whose small face had turned purple again, and patted her on the back to help her breathe. Before she could pat her twice, she handed her own backpack to Jian Che and then rushed out with the other two shadows.

The ground was a complete mess, littered with severed spider legs. Except for the clean ground at Jian Che’s and Song Lengzhu’s feet, the surrounding area was covered in black bl00d and dismembered limbs.

Most of the spiders had been eliminated, but a small portion was still alive, especially the giant spider, which was shielding many smaller ones under its body. Some spiders with four or five legs missing were still scuttling about.

Jian Che took a sharp breath. In the flickering light of the flashlight, she saw that the spiders still capable of moving all had eight bl00d-red eyes.

With most of the spiders dead, the missing zombie from before was revealed. The lower half of its body had been discarded at the entrance of a tunnel, bl00d and entrails spilled all over the ground. It had been devoured, leaving only the torso.

Tang Yu saw it too. With no time to clear a path, she ran directly over the spider carcasses toward Song Lengzhu.

“Song Lengzhu! Get back!” Tang Yu shouted.

The wind blades had just stopped, and the ends of Song Lengzhu’s hair were still fluttering. Hearing Tang Yu’s shout, she turned to see the giant spider charging at her, with red-eyed smaller spiders clinging to its body.

The earlier wind blades had left deep and shallow cuts on the giant spider, and black bl00d was flowing everywhere, but it still wasn’t dead. It was unclear whether its wounds had been infected by the zombified spiders or if it had actively fed on the zombie, but the giant spider’s remaining six eyes had also turned bl00d-red.

It was a ferocious, savage red. With a single glance, Song Lengzhu realized the gravity of the situation. The zombified giant spider moved too fast. The first syllable of Tang Yu’s warning had just left her lips when the giant spider raised its fangs and lunged down at Song Lengzhu’s head.

The next second, Song Lengzhu felt a push. Without hesitation, she immediately turned into mist and moved away from the ground.

Before she could even withdraw the hand that had pushed Song Lengzhu, Tang Yu stepped onto the palm of a supporting shadow and leaped into the air, meeting the charging zombified giant spider head-on.

The tip of her knife plunged into the zombified giant spider’s chelicera. Corrosive bl00d sprayed from the wound, splattering onto Tang Yu’s clothes and instantly sizzling with smoke.

Tang Yu’s shoulder grew scorching hot, and her feet were unavoidably poisoned by its bone spurs.

The zombified giant spider’s vitality had grown even stronger. Its attack on Song Lengzhu had been faster than Tang Yu could have imagined, and she was terrified in retrospect. The spider’s fangs had been only a centimeter from the top of Song Lengzhu’s head.

She couldn’t afford to be conservative anymore. Tang Yu quickly made a decision. Gritting her teeth against the poison, she decided to go all out. She climbed onto the giant spider’s head, letting its bone spurs dig into her bent knee, and stabbed at its eye again.

The two shadows beside her erupted with intense battle intent, transforming into sharp blades that followed her movements and stabbed at the giant spider’s body.

In the distance, Song Lengzhu’s heart skipped a beat. Tang Yu still had her shadows with her, which meant she wasn’t using her Rapid Healing or Damage Transfer abilities. Song Lengzhu turned her head and saw that Tang Yu had left the other shadow with Jian Che, where it was fighting off the small spiders relentlessly attacking her.

That bl00d, carrying both the zombie virus and corrosive properties, had splattered all over Tang Yu. Was this what she meant by “Let me handle the zombies”?

Song Lengzhu’s brows furrowed tightly. If she had known this would happen, she never should have said “Okay.” She deactivated her mist ability, moved to Jian Che’s side, and pulled the trigger faster than she ever had in her life.

After relieving the immediate danger to Jian Che, she fired a continuous stream of bullets at the zombified giant spider. Song Lengzhu no longer aimed solely for its eyes. Its cephalothorax, mouthparts, legs, the wounds from her wind blades—every point that could diminish its combat effectiveness was covered by her fire.

The “ding” of a mission notification sounded at an inopportune moment, but neither of them paid it any mind. A dense barrage of firepower rained down on the giant spider, yet miraculously, not a single bullet landed on Tang Yu.

Tang Yu’s leg had already gone numb. If she were to pull up the pant leg tucked into her boot, she would find it covered in festering, rotting marks.

But the giant spider was also on its last breath. Song Lengzhu’s assault had wounded it further, creating many openings for Tang Yu. Hanging limply, Tang Yu plunged her knife one last time into the joint between the spider’s cephalothorax and abdomen.

This spot was surprisingly soft. Tang Yu gripped the hilt with both hands and twisted forcefully, mangling the wound. A gelatinous shadow flowed along her Startling Dragon knife into the opening, then abruptly transformed into spikes, piercing the giant spider’s internal organs from within.

The giant spider stopped moving. So did Tang Yu.

“Tang Yu,” Song Lengzhu called out urgently, gritting her teeth as she shot and killed the few small spiders that were approaching her.

But Tang Yu didn’t respond.

“Tang Yu!” Song Lengzhu called out again. The equally panicked Jian Che noticed that Song Lengzhu’s voice was actually trembling.

“I’m… I’m fine. Still alive.” A clear voice came from the center of the cave. Though extremely weak, it ended on a high, drawn-out note. The next moment, a black figure jumped down from the giant spider’s back, carrying Tang Yu, who was bristling with spurs like a hedgehog.

Song Lengzhu’s heart settled back into her chest. With a dark expression, she raised her gun and eliminated the remaining small spiders, then followed behind the shadow.

The shadow carried Tang Yu away from the spider carcasses and rushed into the tunnel behind Song Lengzhu. It placed her on the clean ground, sprouted eight hands to quickly pull the bone spurs from her body, and then silently disappeared.

Lying on the ground, Tang Yu was covered in filth and bloodstains. The part of her cheek splattered with the giant spider’s bl00d was festering and purulent. If not for the flash of her white teeth in a weak smile and her eyes that shone like a river of stars, she would have been indistinguishable from the bl00d-soaked zombies outside.

“Tang Yu.” Song Lengzhu stared at her with a dark, unreadable expression. She slowly knelt, reaching out to help Tang Yu up from the damp ground, but just as her hand extended, Tang Yu blocked it with the hilt of her knife.

“Don’t touch me,” Tang Yu breathed out weakly. Seeing Song Lengzhu’s expression darken further, she quickly added, “You’ll get infected.”

Song Lengzhu pushed her knife hilt aside, her voice dangerously low. “Infected with what? I’m wearing gloves.”

She quickly tucked her sleeves into her gloves, slid one arm under Tang Yu’s neck and the other under her knees, and gently lifted her to a new spot. With Song Lengzhu’s help, Tang Yu’s upper body was finally resting against a dry section of the cave wall.

Song Lengzhu’s expression was very grim, and Tang Yu couldn’t guess why she was angry. But her movements were extremely careful. Aside from where her arms made contact, the rest of her clothes didn’t touch Tang Yu. She handled her gently, as if she were a fragile piece of porcelain.

This kind of suspended hold was very physically demanding, but Song Lengzhu didn’t even blink.

It was just that her expression was truly awful.

“You’re not using Rapid Healing right now?” Song Lengzhu asked.

Tang Yu didn’t expect Song Lengzhu to look at her cheek and ask such a question. She answered weakly, “I am, but the injuries are a bit severe this time. It won’t heal right away.” The wound on her face showed no signs of healing at all; it must look pretty ugly, she thought.

“Tang Yu,” Song Lengzhu suddenly said her name. Tang Yu was startled, and Jian Che, who had just run over with the backpack, also jumped in fright.

“Wha… what?” Tang Yu stammered.

Song Lengzhu stared at her for a long moment before her tone suddenly softened. “When we first met, you were very cautious and cherished your life. But lately, you’ve been too reckless. You need to understand that abilities can’t guarantee your survival without fail.”

Tang Yu noticed that Song Lengzhu’s expression was one of vexed anger, but she wasn’t yelling or interrogating her. She wore her coldest expression, yet used a calm tone.

“I know. It’s just that… I saw you were about to be killed,” Tang Yu immediately retorted. Realizing what she had just said, her face flushed, and her voice trailed off. “Besides, I knew what I was doing.”

But Song Lengzhu was right about one thing. She had indeed relied on her numerous abilities and used the most dangerous method of attack.

After hearing her answer, Song Lengzhu fell silent. She stared at Tang Yu’s cheek for a long time, her brows furrowing and then relaxing. Her thoughts were a jumbled mess, impossible to sort out.