Surviving the Game as a Zombie - Chapter 28

“Song Lengzhu is based in A-City?” Xiao Li asked the question Tang Yu was thinking.

“Probably not. Legend has it they’re constantly on the move and don’t have a fixed camp. But there’s a mission these last two days, so she’s likely in A-City.” As Zhou Zhou spoke, she glanced out the window.

There was a noise outside.

The very faint sound of human voices came from the stream below the camp.

Zhou Zhou quickly pulled over a leather suitcase from the corner. It was already packed with many things, seemingly equipment prepared for a quick getaway. She then picked out a few more items from the research lab and tossed them into the case, saying as she packed, “The players coming to pick up supplies are here. Aren’t you guys going to run?”

When a camp was overrun, its supplies were bound to be completely plundered. Especially for a medium-sized camp like North Stream, Tang Yu’s team wasn’t the only one coveting its resources.

Hearing this, Tang Yu turned and led Jin Ye and Xiao Li out of the research lab. Thanks to Zhou Zhou’s interruption, they still hadn’t gotten their hands on the generator they wanted most!

The 40-kilowatt gasoline generator in the power room weighed a full nine hundred jin. Fortunately, it was a mobile unit with large casters on the bottom and was already on an automatic mechanical trailer that could be pushed or pulled. Tang Yu unplugged all the wires, grabbed the gasoline, and then the three of them worked together to push the generator out of the camp gate.

As they passed the pile of corpses strewn about the entrance, Tang Yu even helped herself to some weapons.

They couldn’t move the generator very far at the moment, so they simply placed it in the woods and covered it with branches and leaves, planning to find a way to transport it back to the village later.

It seemed they would have to find a car or some other convenient mode of transport in the city.

By the time they had hidden the generator and were squatting in the woods looking back at North Stream Camp, it had already been occupied by a group of seven or eight people who had appeared from nowhere. Unfortunately for them, this team would soon discover that the only things left in the camp were the large items that were difficult to move; the food and firearms had long since vanished.

Tang Yu’s sharp eyes spotted Zhou Zhou under the cover of night, carrying a leather suitcase and scurrying along the dirt path by the camp entrance toward the north stream. After a moment’s thought, Tang Yu led her teammates and followed her.

Zhou Zhou still hadn’t finished explaining why Song Lengzhu was in A-City.

Tang Yu hadn’t expected that the A-City Zhou Zhou mentioned was the very city where she had first regained consciousness.

It was a city even smaller than Y-City, but one could still see that it had been extremely prosperous before the disaster. However, Zhou Zhou wasn’t taking them to the city center, but to an urban village on its outskirts.

Along the way, Tang Yu got the details about the so-called mission. It was a server-wide mission, meaning its content was public to the entire server. Players could accept the mission and get relevant details from the world announcement.

But zombies like Tang Yu and Jin Ye weren’t qualified to view it.

Although there was a chance they could trigger it randomly, the mission content might be different from what the players received.

Zhou Zhou told Tang Yu that the previous mission to kill the Zombie King was also a server-wide mission, which was why so many players had flocked to Y-City. But such missions often turned into a battle royale, so many players who cherished their lives would automatically ignore the news. Only the fearless and the powerful would participate.

The reason Zhou Zhou was curious about this mission was because its content was related to “medicine.”

The game rarely gave hints. When Xiao Li checked the world announcement, she only saw the mission name, “Lifesaving Medicine,” and the address in A-City.

Jin Ye and Xiao Li’s former team rarely participated in such server-wide missions. Xiao Li searched for a long time before finding the forum entrance in the world channel.

“There’s a forum, too,” Tang Yu said, full of curiosity, though she couldn’t see Xiao Li’s interface.

“Yes, the forum is for discussing clues about server-wide missions, but some people also post fake information to mislead competitors. In short, it’s not very credible, so I don’t recommend reading it. But since we haven’t even triggered the mission yet, there’s no harm in taking a look,” Jin Ye explained.

After looking for a while, Xiao Li managed to extract only two pieces of information of dubious authenticity.

One was, “The condition for clearing it is to develop a special medicine.”

The other was, “The special mission has to be triggered at the old well in the urban village.”

Zhou Zhou, who was hurrying along, didn’t even look up. “Fake at a glance. The information on the forums is always a world away from the actual outcome. Besides, these two pieces of information are too detailed. Players who get clues wouldn’t share them so easily.”

Develop a special medicine? How much time did it take to formulate a new drug?

Xiao Li asked Zhou Zhou, “Will Song Lengzhu also participate in this mission?”

Zhou Zhou said, “She participates in basically all server-wide missions.”

“Then what are you looking for her for? Are you friends?”

“Not friends, just transactions. She helps me get raw materials, and I occasionally provide her with new drugs. She has something I want. I’m going to get it and, while I’m at it, see what this mission is all about.”

Tang Yu lowered her head in thought. Logic told her not to get involved in this mess, but her heart was thinking: Since Song Lengzhu is going to do the mission, can I find a way to ambush her? Maybe one successful strike is all it will take to eliminate this mortal enemy.

It just so happened that they needed to go to a nearby city to find supplies anyway. There was no harm in checking out the mission location.

Tang Yu raised her head and looked at Jin Ye, her eyes burning.

Jin Ye took a step back. “What? You want to go get yourself killed again?”

“Don’t put it so harshly. We’re blessed with good fortune; we won’t die,” Tang Yu said. “We can go with Zhou Zhou. It’ll be lively with company.”

“Fine, if you want to go, we’ll go. If there’s danger, I’ll run first.”

“You’re truly my best sister.” Tang Yu smiled happily. “But our goal this time isn’t to complete the mission, it’s to get revenge. While Song Lengzhu is fighting other players or zombies, we can take a few shots from the shadows, trip her up a bit. She’s always chasing us, so we have to fight back.”

“Agreed.” Jin Ye touched the back of her neck, where she could still feel the scar from the bullet hole.

She had originally wanted to find a doctor to remove the bullet, but Zhou Zhou was clearly not going to do it, so she might as well leave it.

By the time they reached the edge of the urban village, it was already late at night. Tang Yu decided to find a place to rest for the night and enter the village during the day. It was pitch black, and visibility was too low.

Outside the urban village stood a small decorative archway with the words “Huang Village” carved on it. Apparently, before the city developed, this place had been a sizable village. Now, surrounded by tall buildings, it looked dilapidated and awkward.

They stopped next to a small convenience store to the left of the archway. The store had been completely looted. Tang Yu pushed open the still-intact glass door and peered inside.

The convenience store in the urban village couldn’t compare to the shops in the city center. It was small and cramped inside, with only two rows of shelves, which were now overturned on the floor, creating a chaotic scene.

Tang Yu took a step inside, and her sole immediately stuck to something gooey, like the residue of spilled soy sauce and vinegar on the floor.

Tang Yu looked around for a moment and said, “We can’t rest here.”

“Let’s find another place,” Jin Ye said. “Look for the door to the upstairs. The rental rooms above should be cleaner.”

Tang Yu backed out and casually closed the glass door.

But just then, a rustling sound suddenly came from the very back of the convenience store, startlingly clear in the dead of night.

“A zombie? Don’t tell me we’ve run into other players?” Xiao Li immediately ducked behind Jin Ye.

But after waiting for a moment, no zombie or player rushed out. The rustling sound, however, persisted.

Tang Yu drew her Startling Dragon, reopened the glass door, and stepped over the shelves on the floor to investigate deeper inside the store.

After a few steps, Tang Yu let out a mental “huh.” She discovered there was another room inside the convenience store. The door was currently closed, and the rustling sound was coming from within.

The others followed her in, weapons in hand, and spread out on either side of the door.

Tang Yu reached out, grasped the doorknob, and with a twist of her wrist, the door creaked open.

It was pitch black inside, without a sliver of light.

Everyone’s alertness was raised to its peak.

Suddenly, a black shadow shot out from the room, bumping into Tang Yu’s leg before quickly scrambling up and stumbling out into the street.

Tang Yu didn’t strike, because the shadow was very, very small, and furry.

It seemed to be a black cat.

With the cat’s departure, the rustling in the room ceased, replaced by darkness.

They all breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed it was just a small animal.

Tang Yu pushed the door open wider, pulled a lighter from her backpack, and used its faint light to see the room’s interior.

It was a bedroom with one large and one small bed, separated by an old curtain. Next to the large bed was a nightstand. Besides that, there was an old wooden wardrobe, on top of which were several large woven plastic bags.

A typical urban village residence.

The family was probably not well-off. The owner of this small store and their family were all squeezed into one room, with the front serving as the shop and the back as their living quarters.

Tang Yu held up the lighter and looked around. The beds were clean, there were no zombies in the room, and there wasn’t even any broken or fallen debris on the floor.

This was truly a rare sight.

Tang Yu felt for the light switch on the wall. As expected, the light was broken. But out of the corner of her eye, she spotted two large candles on the nightstand.

The candles were shaped like a teddy bear and were already half-used, with only the bottom half of the bear remaining.

Tang Yu lit the candles with her lighter, and the room was quickly filled with light.

“It’s so clean here. We can stay here tonight,” Xiao Li said, a little excited. She closed the door and put down her backpack.

Zhou Zhou also relaxed. She had become familiar with Tang Yu’s group but still maintained a polite social distance. They all treated each other as fellow travelers, who would likely part ways after this mission.

Xiao Li was petite. She sat on the single bed, touched the quilt that seemed to be for a child, and said to Jin Ye, “We’ll sleep here tonight. The big bed is for Tang Yu and Zhou Zhou.”

Jin Ye naturally agreed. Tang Yu rolled her eyes; she didn’t like sharing a bed with others.

Even at the camp, she and Lu Lu had separate beds.

But under the circumstances, she couldn’t really say anything.

Tang Yu didn’t put down her backpack. She remained vigilant, her gaze sweeping around the room before settling on the large wooden wardrobe against the wall.

She walked over to the wardrobe and reached for the handle. If they were to rest peacefully, every nook and cranny of this room had to be checked.

But in the next second, Tang Yu suddenly froze.

“What’s wrong?” Jin Ye asked.

Tang Yu turned her head slightly, pointed at the wardrobe, and mouthed a phrase.

“There’s someone inside.”