Surviving the Game as a Zombie - Chapter 16

The change happened very suddenly.

Without any warning, the zombie army in front of them suddenly sprang to life, rushing towards the trucks on both sides at an extremely fast speed.

They were like well-trained soldiers. Their withered bodies became nimble and agile. A zombie grabbed the truck’s guardrail and, with a powerful leap, was about to vault into the truck bed.

The underling who had gotten out to throw a grenade was engulfed by the zombie horde before he could even climb back onto the truck.

So fast! These were the fastest zombies Tang Yu had ever seen.

If they stayed any longer, they would be surrounded by the zombie horde. Tang Yu’s pupils constricted. Gripping her knife, she vaulted over the guardrail. Jin Ye and Xiao Li followed closely behind, running back the way they came.

The underlings had no time to chase after the three deserters. They fought back against the zombie horde with even fiercer firepower. Someone shouted, “Brother Hu! The Zombie King is on the move, are you still sleeping?!”

No one answered them.

Someone went forward and gave Brother Hu’s body a push. The body slumped sideways and fell over.

Only then did the underlings panic. They had relied on Brother Hu’s power to do as they pleased, becoming bold and impulsive, developing an arrogant and domineering style. But after angering the Zombie King, they discovered their backer was gone.

Dense swarms of zombies clung to the truck’s guardrails, poised to climb into the truck bed. The underlings near the rails were caught.

They had begun their counterattack.

The quick-witted man with braids had long since abandoned the truck and fled, following closely behind Tang Yu’s group of three.

But he soon discovered that the zombies swarming them didn’t seem to attack Tang Yu and Jin Ye much; most of them were coming for him.

What’s going on! Why the preferential treatment!

Tang Yu glanced back. The man with braids had already been overwhelmed by the agile zombie horde. Tang Yu looked away, and with Jin Ye, flanked Xiao Li to protect her, then rushed into a nearby abandoned office building.

They couldn’t leave yet. The Zombie King hadn’t appeared.

The zombies inside the office building seemed to have all been drawn away. The pitch-black lobby was now completely empty.

They found the fire escape and took the stairs up to the third floor.

The third floor was the perfect height. They could get a clear view of the situation and also jump down to escape at any moment.

They crouched and crept to a floor-to-ceiling glass window, peering down. The ground below was ablaze with fire and in total chaos.

The faction of unknown origin had also launched an attack. Compared to the underlings from Tiger Leopard Camp, who were in complete disarray, this faction seemed much better prepared and had more people.

Tang Yu also saw someone unhurriedly setting up a high-powered shoulder-fired grenade launcher.

A person was standing on the rearmost truck. Tang Yu studied them for a moment before realizing she knew this person.

It was Shen Xu.

It seemed he really had brought people to hunt down the Zombie King.

Shen Xu’s men weren’t in a hurry to use the grenade launcher. They only cleared out the zombies trying to climb into the truck bed. They didn’t proactively attack the zombies further away.

It was as if they were waiting for something.

Jin Ye nudged Tang Yu’s shoulder, signaling for her to look at the office building across the street.

Tang Yu turned her head. A pane was missing from a window on the fifth floor of the opposite building, and someone had set up a long sniper rifle.

Tang Yu was startled. It seemed they weren’t the only ones planning to pick up the scraps.

Not only that, as Tang Yu’s gaze shifted, she discovered people lying in ambush in the adjacent office building as well.

Good heavens, quite a few people had gathered here tonight, all of them scavengers.

Perhaps there were even people hiding on the floors above them in their own building.

The three of them exchanged glances and swallowed involuntarily.

Compared to these shrewd players, Brother Hu’s convoy was like a reckless fool, becoming the nail that stuck out and got hammered down.

Good thing they ran fast.

Tang Yu got up and did a sweep of the third floor. After confirming no one else was hiding there, she squatted back down in front of the window.

When she looked down again, Brother Hu’s convoy had been completely wiped out. His underlings had all become mindless zombies, now following the zombie army to attack Shen Xu’s convoy, a pile of weapons discarded at their feet.

Tang Yu sighed. So many weapons, she wanted to pick them up.

But now was not the time.

More and more zombies were gathering below; it seemed even the zombies from the city’s outskirts had been summoned.

But the Zombie King still hadn’t appeared.

Tang Yu’s gaze swept over the zombies. Some had just died, others were desiccated like mummies. They wore all sorts of clothes in various patterns, and their forms were bizarre and varied.

Tang Yu asked Jin Ye, “Do you think the Zombie King might be mixed in with the horde?”

Hearing this, Jin Ye also began to scrutinize the zombie horde. “It’s hard to say. I didn’t get any information about the Zombie King before I died. I don’t know any more than you do.”

“What’s with this ‘before I died’ talk? It’s weird.”

Tang Yu shifted her gaze back. Looking more closely, she saw two people tied up securely behind Shen Xu.

Xiao Li let out a soft gasp. “Those are the captives who were locked up with me.”

It was a thin man in a shirt and another man with a buzz cut. Shen Xu had them tied to the truck bed, for what purpose, she didn’t know.

Jian Wu’s words suddenly flashed through Tang Yu’s mind. When he heard Jin Ye mention Xiao Li, he had said:

“They captured a prisoner from another team, planning to use them as bait to catch the Zombie King.”

Bait.

Tang Yu grabbed Xiao Li’s arm and looked at it. The scar was still there, and the skin beneath it was still soft. But right now, the scar was incredibly jarring to look at.

She broke out in a cold sweat and hurriedly looked at Jin Ye. “It’s bait. They implanted something in Xiao Li, probably something to attract the Zombie King.”

The gazes of all three turned sharp. There were three baits here. It was hard to say which one the Zombie King would go for first.

Counting from the moment they confronted the zombie army, they had been in the city center for about ten minutes. Shen Xu’s convoy might have arrived even earlier.

Ten minutes or so was enough to draw out the Zombie King.

Several minutes later, a commotion erupted within the zombie horde. Shen Xu’s convoy suddenly started their engines, and everyone on the trucks was on high alert.

Tang Yu saw a figure in an office building further in the distance break through a window, leap from the tenth floor out of thin air, and land steadily on the ground.

The three of them gasped. That wasn’t a person. It was the Zombie King.

It had been in the opposite building the whole time, observing the entire situation.

The Zombie King seemed to be wearing an army uniform. Its hat was gone, revealing a dignified but withered face.

The game’s setting described it as a military officer. No wonder the zombies it controlled displayed such clear discipline.

As the Zombie King landed, the grenade on Shen Xu’s truck was fired instantly. Not only that, but the players lying in ambush on all sides all launched their attacks in that same moment.

Tang Yu pulled Jin Ye and Xiao Li away from the third floor. Since they could see the other players’ ambushes, it was hard to say whether the Zombie King, who had been observing from the tenth floor, hadn’t discovered their position.

Although they wouldn’t be attacked, Xiao Li was still with them.

The three moved to hide in a showroom on the second floor. They stared intently at the Zombie King’s every move, wanting to see what kind of heaven-defying abilities this creature possessed.

Tang Yu’s prediction was correct. As they moved, a portion of the zombie army suddenly split off and poured into the office buildings on both sides. They rushed precisely towards the players’ ambush points and launched a siege.

Tang Yu was a bit dumbfounded. This was a mutual ambush between the Zombie King and the humans. This Zombie King knew strategy.

She asked Jin Ye, “Since the Zombie King can control zombies, why don’t we feel anything?”

Jin Ye guessed, “From all the previous signs, it seems we’ve become a new faction, belonging to neither humans nor zombies.”

Tang Yu recalled her own past experiences of being chased by zombies and agreed with Jin Ye’s assessment. “I see. In other words, both sides are our enemies.”

She pulled up her system panel. The “Find the C-Class Zombie King” quest was not marked as complete. It seemed that, just as Jin Ye had said, they needed to trigger the next part of the plot to fully complete this task.

Some of the ambushing players were dealt with, and the firepower directed at the Zombie King noticeably weakened, but some better-hidden players remained.

The Zombie King was surrounded by a horde of zombies. These zombies were less like its guards and more like a part of its own body. It nimbly vaulted over wrecked vehicles, and its guards moved in perfect unison with it, not hindering its movements at all.

Like a single entity.

Shen Xu’s grenade launcher was still being reloaded. The Zombie King was caught in the blast, and a large swath of its guards fell, only to be immediately replaced by new zombies.

In the blink of an eye, the Zombie King charged in front of Shen Xu’s convoy.

At that moment, the two baits on Shen Xu’s truck were pushed off. Not only that, but large gashes were cut into their arms, and bl00d streamed out.

The Zombie King was drawn by the scent of bl00d and rushed towards the bait. It opened its mouth and bit down, feasting heartily amidst the bait’s tragic cries for help.

Tang Yu’s brow furrowed; she realized things weren’t that simple. It was clearly not a good time to be eating, yet the Zombie King was so stimulated by the scent of the bait’s bl00d that it couldn’t move away.

Was this the true purpose of the bait?

Tang Yu clearly felt Xiao Li shrink back beside her.

Seizing this opportunity, Shen Xu suddenly leaped, his blade heading straight for the Zombie King’s cervical vertebrae.

Tang Yu was a bit surprised. He was also using a cold weapon, a one-and-a-half-meter-long zhanma/dao.

The instant the blade swung towards the Zombie King, Shen Xu’s body suddenly expanded. His muscles bulged, and he shot up to a height of three meters.

“Ability: Berserk,” Jin Ye said.

Even after going berserk, Shen Xu’s movements remained agile. His blade quickly reached the space above the Zombie King’s neck.

This was the moment they had been waiting for.

Just as victory seemed certain, the Zombie King suddenly raised a hand and grabbed for Shen Xu’s wrist. Shen Xu had no choice but to retract his blade and take a step back.

But the Zombie King’s fingertips still brushed the back of Shen Xu’s hand. Shen Xu’s pupils dilated. He looked down at his hand—thankfully, there was no wound.

With that retreat, the situation changed abruptly. The Zombie King dropped the bait and stood up.

For some unknown reason, its body also suddenly expanded rapidly, growing to the same size as Shen Xu.

Jin Ye exclaimed in a low voice, “How does the Zombie King have the Berserk ability too?!”

Was this the ability of a C-Class Zombie King?

Tang Yu checked her game panel again. That’s right, the panel did indeed mark it as C-Class.

Shen Xu and the Zombie King began to fight. The surrounding underlings quickly scattered. Their firearms were now useless—what if they hit their own boss? For a moment, they could only turn their guns on the surrounding zombie horde.

But the ambushing players had no such concerns. Killing either side was no loss to them. Bullets tore through the air, and it was impossible to tell who was hit.

In a corner no one was watching, someone raised a gun, aimed, and pulled the trigger.

With a soft gunshot, Shen Xu’s massive body crashed to the ground.

This sudden change stunned everyone present. The Zombie King also stood there blankly, its hands still in an attacking posture.

A bloody hole appeared in the center of Shen Xu’s brow, perfectly centered. The shooter’s aim was precise. As Shen Xu was eliminated, his body returned to its normal size.

Tang Yu’s eye twitched. Someone had deliberately shot Shen Xu.

An expert with such precise aim should have been able to kill the Zombie King directly. Unless this person wanted to use the Zombie King as a distraction to eliminate Shen Xu.

Tang Yu narrowed her eyes. The people gathered here tonight were certainly interesting.

With Shen Xu dead, his underlings instantly lost their backbone. Some fled in a panic, while others continued to fight the transformed Zombie King with firepower.

The Zombie King glanced at the people on the trucks, but then suddenly turned and ran into the distance, leaving behind the overwhelming zombie horde to wipe out everyone on the vehicles.

“The Zombie King is just leaving?” Tang Yu was a bit stunned.

“The Berserk ability has a fatal weakness. It only lasts for two minutes. After the ability wears off, the body becomes extremely weak,” Jin Ye explained. Seeing Tang Yu’s inquisitive gaze, she added, “Xiao Li’s brother is a collector. He likes to catalog all the abilities that have appeared in the game. I’ve learned a thing or two.”

After hearing this, a glint flashed in Tang Yu’s eyes. “Let’s go. We’ll follow it. We can’t waste such a great opportunity.”

She pulled Jin Ye and Xiao Li along, left the office building, and ran under the cover of night in the direction the Zombie King had fled.