Surviving the Game as a Zombie - Chapter 47

With their hearts in their throats, they searched the surrounding area. Finding no traces of bl00d, their anxiety subsided a little.

No bl00d meant Xiao Li wasn’t injured. No severed limbs meant she hadn’t been devoured by mutated beasts.

Lu Lu called out in the camp group chat: “Tang Yu, we threw the backpack down the cliff. Did you see it? Are you all at the bottom? Are you okay?”

Lu Lu fired off a series of questions, but Tang Yu had no time for a long chat. She only instructed, “We’re all at the bottom of the valley. We probably won’t be able to get back for a while. You should take the aunties back to the village before dark, set up your defenses, and stay off the mountain for the next few days.”

Lu Lu grumbled a bit. She had many questions and wanted to ask more, but she knew she couldn’t be of much help, so she obediently shut her mouth. “Okay, we’ll head back now!”

Tang Yu scanned the surroundings but saw no sign of the backpack. The canyon was so long, and without a guide, Lu Lu’s group might have taken a completely different route up the mountain. The spot where they dropped the backpack was likely not nearby.

They could only try their luck.

They looked up at the sky. Night was falling, the light in the woods was fading, and the chirping of insects began to swell in chorus. An occasional cold wind gusted through the canyon, raising goosebumps on their skin.

After a brief discussion, they decided to continue their search along the canyon.

Four of the five of them were zombies, so they weren’t afraid of the dark. Tang Yu also had a flashlight, which was enough to illuminate their surroundings.

But the canyon was open on both ends, and choosing which way to go was a difficult decision. If they picked the wrong direction, the chances of a successful rescue would drop significantly.

In the end, Tang Yu decided to follow the other team of players toward the swamp. The “blind man” they had mentioned seemed very suspicious.

Getting through the swamp wasn’t hard, but it would take some effort. Tang Yu swung her Startling Dragon, felling seven trees as thick as a bowl. She stripped the branches and leaves and laid the logs side by side. Jin Ye pulled a tough vine from the cliff face, and together, they lashed the logs together.

Tang Yu then sharpened a long, slender, arm-thick shrub for each of them to use as a pole. They pushed the simple raft into the swamp. Because the surface area was large enough, it showed no signs of sinking right away. They immediately climbed aboard, each using their long wooden pole to push against the mud and propel the raft forward.

Paddling in mud was much harder than in water, and under their sustained weight, the raft began to show faint signs of sinking. Fortunately, further into the swamp, more water appeared on the surface of the mud. They quickened their pace, poling the raft to a shallow pool. Beyond that was a river, and the towering trees came to an abrupt end.

They were now two or three hundred meters from where they had fallen, but there was still no end in sight to the long, horizontal canyon. The appearance of a river was even more surprising. This seemingly narrow valley floor actually contained a river. Where did it lead? What lay ahead? They had no idea.

As they poled the raft, the sky grew darker, and strange cries echoed from the surrounding cliffs from time to time. Tang Yu had no choice but to turn on her flashlight for light.

This was a very dangerous move. A single, stark white beam of light was exceptionally conspicuous in the dense forest and could easily attract the attention of other creatures.

Their alertness was raised to the maximum. There were mutated creatures and other players here. Not only that, but the wilderness itself held many dangerous traps. Swamps, poisonous insects, fog, whirlpools in the water, or massive waterfalls were hidden everywhere. A moment of carelessness could cost them their lives.

This was far more dangerous than fighting zombies in the city.

Their vigilance was not in vain. As the raft reached the middle of the river, the rustling sound of voices came from the cliff ahead.

Tang Yu immediately switched off the flashlight. The group steadied the raft and slowly moved it directly beneath the cliff, pressing against the rock and remaining motionless.

A bright beam of light, like a construction searchlight, lit up the spot where they had just been. Someone swept the light back and forth across the center of the river for a moment, muttering softly, “Strange, where did it go?”

“You must have seen wrong. The moon is so bright tonight, it was probably just a reflection on the river’s surface,” another, younger voice replied.

Tang Yu glanced at the river’s surface. It had just rained during the day, and now the night sky was clear. Without the cover of trees, the river was indeed shimmering, reflecting flashes of light from time to time.

“No way, the light was moving in a straight line.” The first person wasn’t convinced. The searchlight swept back and forth a few more times, but it only scanned the middle of the river and the opposite cliff.

Tang Yu’s group was currently on the same side of the cliff as the men. Their figures were hidden in the shadows of the rocks, making them very difficult to spot.

The younger voice spoke again: “Then it might be another team of players. Forget it, stop shining the light. We don’t want to make enemies. Speaking of which, more and more players have been visiting this Ghost Valley recently. Why aren’t they killing zombies in the city like they’re supposed to, coming to our territory instead?”

“Maybe they’re like us, after the treasure here. Let’s get a move on, don’t fall behind.” The searchlight was finally retracted, and the sounds of metal clanking and pulleys came from the cliff.

Tang Yu poked out half her head and peered up at the cliff. They were some distance away, but by the moonlight, she could make out a few details.

Three young men with mountaineering packs were rappelling down the cliff face. All three were men: one fat, one thin, and a tall one wearing a baseball cap.

Looking closer at their attire, Tang Yu couldn’t help but be surprised.

All three men wore military-green camouflage mountaineering clothes. Not only were their backpacks professional, high-capacity models, but they also had professional shoes, gloves, tool bags, and entrenching tools. Furthermore, their pulleys and ropes were fully equipped, and all three held the ice axes commonly used by climbers.

These players looked completely different from the ones in the city. It was the first time Tang Yu had seen such equipment.

When the three were still some distance from the river, the fat one in the group pulled a folded inflatable raft from his pack. He then took out a small, blower-like gadget, flipped a switch, and in less than a minute, the raft inflated into a small boat that could carry three people.

Watching the three paddle away, Tang Yu waved her hand and said in a low voice, “Let’s follow.”

Tang Yu’s small wooden raft was slower than the inflatable one, and since they didn’t dare to paddle too hard, they were quickly left far behind.

The five of them weren’t worried. The river only flowed in one direction; they just needed to watch if the people ahead made any sudden stops.

The inflatable raft was no longer in Tang Yu’s line of sight, so she turned her head and asked Jin Ye, “What is Ghost Valley?”

Jin Ye pondered for a moment before saying, “Ghost Valley isn’t a specific valley. It’s a name given by players to refer to mountainous areas where tombs have been discovered, or deep old forests with strange burial customs.”

Tang Yu sucked in a cold breath. “What’s so great about a place like this? Why would players come here?”

Jin Ye gave a wry smile. “I told you before that this game is an open world, and you didn’t believe me. There are all kinds of players in the game. The ones who fight zombies and build camps in the city are just one part of them. Some players are seriously building infrastructure on deserted islands, some are herders on the grasslands, and there are also ones like them—fully equipped wilderness players who spend their years exploring deep in the mountains. Fighting zombies is a common objective for players, but it’s not the only one.”

Zhou Zhou picked up the thread, “But the Ghost Valley explorer community is a very small circle. For us to run into two groups in the short half-day we’ve been here is a bit unusual.”

Tang Yu nodded and asked, “Is there any treasure in Ghost Valley?”

Jin Ye frowned in thought for a moment. “I don’t know much about it, but as for treasure, the only things related to tombs would be burial objects.”

“What would you want with things that belonged to the dead?” Tang Yu’s eyes widened.

“I’m not sure.” Jin Ye also looked perplexed. They knew little about these places and were just as full of questions.

Bronze and jade artifacts would certainly be useless to players. The world’s monetary system had already collapsed, so these items couldn’t be exchanged for money. The most valuable things would probably be the buried bladed weapons.

However, most of these weapons would have corroded over thousands of years, becoming rusted and dull. They’d have trouble killing an ant, let alone a zombie. Unless, of course, there was some kind of legendary, unparalleled artifact.

For example, a sword or knife that could cut through iron like mud and was cold to the touch.

A knife?

Tang Yu’s heart skipped a beat. She looked down at the Startling Dragon at her waist, her mind racing with suspicion. “No way. This thing wasn’t dug out of a tomb, was it?”

Jin Ye noticed her movement and reassured her, “Don’t worry, your military knife is a modern military design. Ancient people couldn’t have made it.”

“Oh, that’s good.” Tang Yu let her heart settle back into her chest.

“However, we can’t be sure about the raw materials,” Zhou Zhou added, resting her chin on her hand.

“Shut up. Just shut up.” Tang Yu shot Zhou Zhou a glare and poled the raft even more vigorously.

“The increase in players here probably means they’re really looking for some kind of treasure,” Fu Mengqing, who hadn’t spoken in a while, muttered. Everyone else had the same suspicion.

However, no amount of treasure mattered to them. The most important thing right now was to find their teammate.

The raft drifted with the current for a while. The calls of apes echoed from the cliffs on both sides from time to time. The further downstream they went, the higher the canyon walls loomed. Looking up, all they could see was the ink-blue sky, aside from some shadows on the cliffs that could have been trees or something else.

After about ten minutes, Tang Yu abruptly plunged her pole into the riverbed, halting the raft’s forward drift. The water here wasn’t deep; the three-meter-long pole could just barely touch the bottom.

The others immediately did the same, steadying the raft in the middle of the river.

In the dark water ahead, they could faintly see an object floating, bobbing up and down with the waves, completely motionless.

“What is that?” Fu Mengqing asked in a low voice. No one answered; they all held their breath.

The others couldn’t see it clearly, but Tang Yu could. It was a corpse, floating on the surface of the river.

The corpse was wearing a military-green mountaineering suit, identical to the attire of the three men on the cliff.