Surviving the Game as a Zombie - Chapter 38

Live Stream Room.

Ever since Xiao Zhao took over Tang Yu’s stream, her emotions had been on a daily roller coaster. Tang Yu’s level wasn’t high, but she constantly teetered on the edge of death, the very definition of a noob who loved to take risks. With less than ten days left until the assessment, Xiao Zhao faced the danger of her streamer dying at any moment.

Xiao Zhao comforted herself, thinking it might be related to Tang Yu’s identity as an interstellar hunter. Interstellar hunters constantly walked the line of danger, hunting monsters often dozens of times the size of a human. Anyone who had lived in such an environment would possess a bit of an adventurous spirit.

She had already learned that Tang Yu was an outstanding interstellar hunter.

Previously, Xiao Zhao had contacted a certain Brother Qi, who gave her the contact information for an old hunter with the surname Qu. Lao Qu told Xiao Zhao that in District 17 of Planet 879, there was indeed a girl named Tang Yu who was quite famous in the hunter community. She was highly skilled, generous, and magnanimous, and was on good terms with many other hunters. She would sometimes even give away the spoils from interstellar monsters to the poor for free. She was a beloved and respected young woman.

When Xiao Zhao pressed for more details about Tang Yu’s background, Lao Qu said that Tang Yu had suddenly appeared on Planet 879 ten years ago, living alone on a mountain. He had never seen any parents or siblings. Her disappearance was just as sudden; she had now been missing for two years.

The people of District 17 simply assumed Tang Yu was from the main star and had now returned to it.

The trail went cold right there, and Xiao Zhao couldn’t find any more information.

The bullet comments were still discussing the Huang Village mission. Most were spectators sweating for the streamer, but some were seriously discussing the situation in Huang Village.

One discussion thread in the comment section was particularly long, focusing on game missions.

Poster: The probability of triggering a cryptic mission is very low. Based on my experience watching various streams for years, it has only appeared three times in total. What kind of luck does this streamer have, getting one on her second mission?

And based on the mission content, this cryptic mission can only be considered C-class at best. The danger and strangeness aren’t that high. There have been large-scale cannibalism incidents before, those were truly terrifying.

1st Floor: Why does the game have this kind of mission? Did this stuff really happen on ancient Earth?

2nd Floor: Replying to the person above, it’s said this game calculated a massive amount of data left from ancient Earth, including many strange tales and records. Ancient Earth had no clear understanding of gods or the universe, so the minds of ancient people were easily manipulated. It’s normal for such events to occur.

3rd Floor: Playing these kinds of missions too much, will players be affected? If I stayed in there for a long time, I’d easily lose my sense of right and wrong. And I feel the game’s atmosphere is getting worse and worse; many players have already established a new order.

4th Floor: Upstairs +1, I’ve seen some players who have completely lost their empathy.

5th Floor: Is that necessary? Projecting reality onto the game… there are so many battle royale games, but you don’t see people going on shooting sprees after returning to the interstellar world. Don’t be so weird, person above.

6th Floor: I’m just expressing this concern, not demanding that all games be positive and uplifting. I also like the current situation where all kinds of games are flourishing. It’s just that this game always feels like the developers are intentionally indulging human nature and promoting a ‘profit-first’ mentality.

7th Floor: See, here come the conspiracy theories. It’s just a game, don’t take it so seriously.

8th Floor: Stop arguing, everyone. Any eliminated players want to share if they were affected after leaving the game?

9th Floor: I’ll go first. I was eliminated after playing for a year. No effect. I can still distinguish between reality and virtual.

10th Floor: Eliminated after playing for half a year. Slightly affected. I was once backstabbed by a member of my own camp and experienced the madness of fighting for supplies. It’s hard for me to trust people now.

11th Floor: Played for three days, no effect.

12th Floor: Just got eliminated not long ago. Hard to say. Haven’t noticed anything abnormal for now. My friends say my personality isn’t as cheerful as before, I don’t know if that’s true. But I have indeed started hoarding goods. The days of not having enough to eat were too painful.

The latest reply was from just a minute ago. Xiao Zhao skimmed the content but didn’t pay much attention, as such discussions were common elsewhere.

Besides that, another thread was also particularly lively. Viewers had noticed a post on the game forums and were all urging Xiao Zhao to click and see.

The post had a sensational title: “WTF, zombies are taking on the Huang Village mission too? What’s the deal with these two zombies?!”

Tang Yu couldn’t view the forums, but the live stream could. Xiao Zhao opened the game forums for the viewers to see. The post had been made by a player three days ago, on the very day Mrs. Li and her daughter were captured for the bl00d-dripping ritual.

Original Post: As the title says, I was doing the server-wide mission in Huang Village, and two zombies actually showed up here, with a human in their team. Their behavior is completely different from other zombies. They were actually saving an NPC! My god, zombies are saving people! Can anyone tell me what’s going on?

1st Floor: Can’t. Wasn’t there. From your description, are they mutated zombies?

2nd Floor [OP]: It’s hard to explain. They don’t really seem like mutated zombies. They seem to have consciousness. The human with them even talked to other players. It’s too weird, a zombie and a human standing together. It gives me the creeps.

3rd Floor: I was there. Aren’t those zombies raised by that Song woman? They were standing behind Song Lengzhu during the ritual.

4th Floor: No way. If she raised them, why would they be tied up with iron chains? They were obviously just captured.

5th Floor: Ah, are you talking about two female zombies and a short little girl?

6th Floor: Person above, you’ve seen them?

7th Floor: I saw them during the C-Class Zombie King mission. I thought they were mutated zombies back then too, and I thought the Zombie King had killed them long ago. Turns out they’re still alive?

8th Floor: So they’ve been taking on missions all this time. What’s their origin? Are they players?

9th Floor: Impossible. Not players. The game doesn’t have that mechanic.

10th Floor: Could it be that a player has allied with zombies? Didn’t you say there was a human with them? Maybe that person gained some unknown ability to tame zombies, and those two zombies are her helpers.

11th Floor: I think the person above has a point.

12th Floor: By the way, since they were captured by Song Lengzhu, will they submit to her? Wouldn’t that make that woman even harder to deal with? Fvck, I was planning to find a chance to kill her.

13th Floor: You talk tough, person above, but let me remind you, Song Lengzhu can also see the server-wide forums.

14th Floor: Interrupting for a moment, who is Song Lengzhu? Sob, can someone tell me~

15th Floor: Replying to 13th floor, so what if she sees it? I’m putting it out there. I welcome a fight!

16th Floor: Forget it, looks like no one is paying attention to me, sob~

17th Floor: Getting back on topic, I saw the long-haired zombie use invisibility on site. A reminder to everyone, it has an ability.

18th Floor: Damn! Why? I haven’t even gotten an ability yet.

19th Floor: No way, I’ve only seen Zombie Kings with abilities. Could it be a Zombie King?

20th Floor: It’s not impossible. Maybe it has other abilities too. Anyway, I suggest everyone pay attention to their movements. Although we’re not partners, this zombie team could very well become our common enemy. If anyone sees this zombie, let’s notify each other on the server-wide forums. That’s not too much to ask, right?

21st Floor: Support the person above, I think that’s feasible.

22nd Floor: They only have three members, so they shouldn’t be hard to deal with. If you run into them, just eliminate this threat. However, if this zombie team submits to Song Lengzhu, then it’ll be very difficult to handle.

…

Xiao Zhao scrolled down. The post had already been bumped by players to over ninety floors. Aside from some filler, most were discussing the identities of Tang Yu’s trio and how to deal with them.

By making a scene in Y-City and Huang Village, Tang Yu and her group had inevitably attracted the attention of players, becoming a public enemy.

Xiao Zhao broke out in a cold sweat. How had Tang Jie’s situation become even more dangerous in the blink of an eye?

The viewers, after reading the post, became very lively. Someone spammed in the bullet comments: “Heeey, now Tang Jie and Captain Song are tied together, appearing in the same frame on the server-wide forums. It’s candy!”

“You CP fans are being ridiculous. You can ship this? Aren’t you afraid of chipping a tooth?”

“Xiao Tang rejected Captain Song’s invitation to join her team and even fought her. Your ship has already BE’d.”

“Who says? Fights are a sign of affection. The fights they have now will all be paid back in bed later.”

“Is that something you can say? Can I pay for early access?”

“Hold on, let’s worry about Xiao Tang’s situation first. So many people want to hunt her down.”

“Don’t worry about the previous comment. Those players don’t know who Xiao Tang is or where she’s hiding. The mix of true and false information on the forums is actually beneficial to Xiao Tang, as long as she lays low for a while to avoid the heat.”

“Does she look like she’s about to lay low?”

The viewers turned their attention back to the live stream. On the screen, Tang Yu was brazenly looting the items in the store…