Surviving the Game as a Zombie - Chapter 2

A cold female voice spoke, “Hasn’t Du Xiao returned to the team yet?”

The moment Tang Yu heard this, she didn’t have time to ponder why the other person mentioned Du Xiao. She immediately turned and ran into the building. She couldn’t afford to suffer the same loss again.

The other zombies didn’t follow Tang Yu’s lead. Upon seeing the humans, they instinctively bared their sharp teeth and, with low growls, lunged toward them.

“Bang, bang.” With two gunshots, two zombies fell swiftly.

As she was running, Tang Yu glanced back, only to see a pair of icy eyes staring at her, the gun’s muzzle already aimed at her head. Behind the woman stood three other female team members.

“Holy crap! Why are you shooting at me again!” Tang Yu let out a cry and dove toward a trash can, but she was a second too late. A bullet struck her shoulder.

Tang Yu’s movements faltered, but fortunately, the bullet wasn’t fatal, and the pain wasn’t intense. She still managed to crawl behind the trash can and, using it as cover, slipped into the large building nearby.

Both times she had encountered humans, Tang Yu was met with the cold barrel of a gun. This gave her a preliminary understanding of her situation. These humans weren’t afraid of zombies; on the contrary, they were very calm, seemingly accustomed to attacking zombies on sight. Tang Yu had a strange feeling that in this world, humans weren’t the hunted prey—zombies were.

The sound of gunfire from outside continued unabated, mixed with the roars of Tang Yu’s zombie companions. By the time Tang Yu climbed to the second floor and peeked down through a crack in the window, only one of the ten zombies remained.

The woman with the cold expression, who seemed to be the leader, stood in place, hardly having moved at all. The gun in her hand had claimed the lives of several zombies in an instant. Tang Yu couldn’t help but size her up.

The woman’s face was somewhat pale and slender, but her eyes were full of spirit. Her waist-length, tea-brown hair was casually tied back with a strap. She wore a loose-fitting black work uniform, but it was still evident that this woman was strong, agile, and possessed considerable combat prowess.

Is her game skin this good-looking because she’s a pay-to-win player? Tang Yu slandered her internally. Generally, in-game bodies were no different from real ones, but Tang Yu didn’t know this. After all, her own game skin looked nothing like a human.

Downstairs, the woman had already pressed her gun to Du Xiao’s forehead. Two women beside her held Du Xiao’s arms and legs, preventing him from moving. The woman spoke, “Since you’ve already turned into a zombie, I’ll see you off.”

“Captain Song…” one of the women began hesitantly. “Although Du Xiao just joined our team, he made a decent contribution. Why don’t we just let him go? There are so many zombies, one more won’t make a difference.”

“Bang!” Before the woman could finish her sentence, the one called Captain Song had already pulled the trigger.

“This…” Even her teammates were stunned into silence.

“A soft heart won’t keep you alive this long,” Captain Song said, holstering her gun without another word.

Tang Yu cursed inwardly, Woman, you have such a cruel heart! My first little brother is gone just like that!

Just as she finished cursing, she saw the woman’s gaze sweep in her direction. Tang Yu jumped in fright and quickly ducked down.

“There was one that got away just now. Go check it out,” Captain Song issued the command, and the sound of footsteps approached.

Tang Yu knew this was bad and scrambled upstairs.

“Oh my god, isn’t that Song Lengzhu?” A viewer who had just entered the live stream couldn’t help but post a comment, which was immediately echoed by others.

“Yes! That’s her! Her team is always active in the top ten of the leaderboards. No zombie that runs into them ever leaves alive. It’s just that she’s down a teammate now.”

“This mute zombie is done for. This live stream is really only going to last for a day, hahaha.”

“This is way too hard, what kind of hell-level difficulty is this.”

“Hey streamer, look at the great title you picked. I’m dying of laughter.”

Xiao Zhao quickly put on her administrator account persona. She was about to respond when she had a flash of inspiration. She created a poll and pinned it to the top of the live stream.

“Do you think the mute zombie can escape with her life? Yes, or No. A random user who guesses correctly will be drawn to win 5 Star Coins~”

On this planet, Star Coins were not only used for live stream donations but also served as currency in the real world. Although 5 Star Coins wasn’t much, free money was free money.

Thanks to this gimmick, coupled with Song Lengzhu’s appearance, viewers spread the word, calling friends to come and vote. The live stream’s popularity surged, instantly hitting ten thousand viewers.

In the poll, everyone chose “No.” The number of votes for “Yes” was 0. After all, among the viewers who frequented interstellar live streams, few hadn’t seen the live broadcasts of the top ten players on the leaderboard.

Watching the viewer count continue to climb, Xiao Zhao jumped up from her seat happily. She ruffled her rainbow-colored hair, thought for a moment, and then used her own account to cast a vote for “Yes.” She secretly prayed that Tang Yu would survive. After all, she didn’t want her live stream to last only one day, especially now that it was just starting to get popular.

In complete contrast to the cheerful atmosphere in the live stream, Tang Yu’s situation was a matter of life and death. She hadn’t forgotten the initial reminder from the electronic screen: she only had one life. She didn’t want to die in a daze before she had even remembered anything.

As she ran, she took the gun off her back and tried to figure out how to use it. When she finally managed to open the magazine, she realized that she seemed to have… forgotten to grab any bullets.

Only one last bullet remained in the gun, one that Du Xiao hadn’t had time to use, and it was already chambered. While Tang Yu felt lucky that she hadn’t been taken out by an accidental discharge, she scrambled up the stairs, her footsteps echoing in the unusually quiet stairwell.

Song Lengzhu and her team were in hot pursuit, taking the stairs two or three steps at a time. They had been playing since the game’s release, had experienced the great virus outbreak and the difficult period of survival, and had now been alive for a year. Their bodies had grown stronger and stronger. Tang Yu, who had just entered the game, was no match for them in a race. Soon, the sound of Song Lengzhu’s footsteps, like a devil’s, reached the floor Tang Yu was on.

Tang Yu bit her lip, sweating with anxiety. She reached the corner of the fifth floor and was about to continue running up when she suddenly smelled a familiar rotten stench.

It was her stinky zombie kin!

A flicker of joy ignited in Tang Yu’s heart. She stopped running upwards, instead pulling open the fire door and slipping into the fifth-floor corridor.

The zombies, who had been aimlessly scratching at doors for a long time, were stunned when they saw Tang Yu enter. They postured to attack but then realized she seemed to be a zombie too. They bypassed Tang Yu and rushed through the open fire door into the stairwell.

A plan formed in Tang Yu’s mind. She dragged a broken table from nearby to prop the fire door open, allowing her zombie kin to hold off Song Lengzhu’s group. She then turned and ran into an open room.

This was a single-person apartment. The window glass was already shattered. After running into a room, Tang Yu leaned on the windowsill and looked down. Fortunately, there was a drainpipe next to the window, and directly below it was an awning. With the awning to break her fall, she might get injured from the jump, but it wouldn’t be fatal.

Tang Yu looked around, yanked the bedsheet off the bed, twisted it into a rope, and tied it to the windowsill. It wasn’t long enough, so she pulled out the duvet cover and quickly twisted it together with the sheet.

Gunshots echoed from the hallway, getting closer and closer. Tang Yu silently complained about how fast these people were and how her zombie companions couldn’t hold out, all while speeding up her actions.

A dark figure appeared in the doorway. Tang Yu instinctively looked back. Before she could react, a bullet grazed her face. Tang Yu cursed, “Such a cruel heart!” while raising the gun from her back, aiming at Song Lengzhu, and firing the last bullet.

Unfortunately, her marksmanship was terrible. The bullet didn’t even touch Song Lengzhu’s clothes. She quickly dropped the gun, braced herself on the windowsill, grabbed the sheet rope, and vaulted out the window. By the time Song Lengzhu reached the window and looked down, Tang Yu was limping as she moved down from the awning, soon disappearing from view.

“Huh?” Song Lengzhu couldn’t help but murmur. “Strange. How can this zombie use a gun? Has it already evolved?”

It seemed to have howled something at her, but unfortunately, to Song Lengzhu’s ears, it was just a series of “wooooo” sounds.

Tang Yu’s left shin was fractured.

She looked down at the way she was walking; now she had truly become an abnormal zombie. With a mournful expression, Tang Yu fumbled her way into a pharmacy, found some leftover alcohol and iodine, and, regardless of whether it would be effective, poured it all on her wound, performing some simple treatment. After a wave of dull pain, Tang Yu found some plastic boards and used a curtain to secure her lower leg.

Zombies were very insensitive to pain, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t feel it. Tang Yu couldn’t find any painkillers in the pharmacy and could only grit her teeth and wait for the dull ache to pass.

Thinking of Song Lengzhu, Tang Yu shivered internally. That woman was terrifying. She never wasted a word, and her actions were always swift. Not only had she shot her, but she had also nearly taken her life.

The more Tang Yu thought about it, the angrier she became. She bit her lip resentfully. After tending to her leg, she painstakingly dealt with the gunshot wound on her shoulder. After extracting the bullet, Tang Yu stared at it for a moment, then placed it carefully into the pocket of her work pants.

She was a vengeful person. No matter which side she was on, she would always repay a grudge.

Tang Yu curled up in a corner of the pharmacy. After eating something, she fell asleep on the floor. It was hard to say whether she was exhausted or had passed out from the pain.

While Tang Yu was still holding a grudge against Song Lengzhu, the interstellar live stream had already exploded. “The first zombie in history to escape from Song Lengzhu” had sparked a heated discussion, and 500,000 people instantly flooded the stream. Xiao Zhao was grinning from ear to ear. She was the only one who had won the Star Coins, and she felt no guilt about lining her own pockets as she sent the 5 Star Coin prize to her personal account.

“Tang Jie, you’re my goddess from now on,” Xiao Zhao said, ruffling her rainbow-colored hair as she happily watched the viewers’ discussion in the live stream.

The comments were already in a frenzy: “Oh my god, I can’t believe Song Lengzhu met her Waterloo.”

“Her fans are furious. They’re demanding to find out this person’s whereabouts.”

“This streamer is a criminal, right? Then they’ll have to look for her in prison.”

“So she’s a criminal! That means if she dies in the game, she’s really dead.”

“No wonder her will to survive is so strong. I’m in love.”

“I’m in love too! Even though her game skin is scary, her real face is quite pretty, and her actions are so decisive.”

“A criminal? Then she should be killed quickly. How does she have fans already?”

“What are you talking about? According to our interstellar sentencing methods, how many people are truly guilty?”

“Guilty is guilty. Does the interstellar sentencing system need you to critique it? She should be killed by Song Lengzhu already.”

The discussion veered off in a strange direction, which was common. Wherever there was discussion, there would inevitably be a clash of opinions.

Seeing the argument brewing, Xiao Zhao immediately posted an announcement: “The streamer will unlock a new function upon reaching 100 points. The streamer’s current score is: 10 points.” This successfully redirected everyone’s focus.

“What kind of skill?”

“A speaking skill?” someone quipped, making everyone laugh. But someone else quickly spotted a discrepancy and asked in confusion.

“How does the streamer only have 10 points? I remember killing one zombie is worth 10 points, and there are other ways to get points. Captain Song’s score is over ten thousand.”

“The streamer can’t possibly kill zombies, she’s a zombie herself.”

“Does that mean she can kill other players? Look, she assimilated one player, and now her score is 10 points.”

“That makes sense. That must be it.”

Xiao Zhao, however, didn’t post any further announcements, letting everyone guess for themselves.

Tang Yu also received the points notification. She had slept for a night in the pharmacy. When she woke up, she accidentally touched her wrist. With a ding, the electronic screen appeared before her eyes again. After fumbling for a while, she discovered that she could summon the screen by double-tapping her wrist. The personal information column now read: “Player: Tang Yu. Points: 10. Basic Skills: Not unlocked, 100 points to unlock.”

There wasn’t much information, but Tang Yu quickly figured out the connection. Eliminating Du Xiao had earned her 10 points. If she wanted to survive, she had to strengthen her body. To strengthen her body, she needed a large number of points, and these points could be obtained by eliminating human players. This way, she was now in complete opposition to the human players.

Tang Yu sighed. If she could, she wouldn’t want to be enemies with all humans. After all, it posed a huge threat to her survival. But if she could win, she would be happy to earn more points to improve her situation.

The most urgent task now was to ensure her surroundings were safe so she would have enough time to recover from her injuries.