Surviving the Game as a Zombie - Chapter 49

Li Chengjian’s silver needle launcher didn’t rely on his own level. Even with his stamina depleted, his accumulated experience was enough to complete an assassination. After following Tang Yu for two steps, he stopped, found a bush to lie down in, and took aim without saying another word.

Tang Yu gestured for him to hold his fire. Only when she and Jin Ye had crept to within three steps of the enemy did she give the signal to attack. At that same moment, Tang Yu leaped, swinging her knife toward Qin San, who was drawing a silver thread. Jin Ye, meanwhile, aimed her dagger at another person watching from the shore.

The three of them struck simultaneously. A silver light flashed in the air. Tang Yu landed precisely behind Qin San, her knife striking swiftly toward his heart. The blade drove straight in, hitting the bullseye without deviation.

The gust of wind from her movement lifted the hair at Tang Yu’s temples. Before her opponent could react, she used her free hand to seize his wrist, securing Qin San in a hold from behind. Then, she thrust her right hand forward, and the knife pierced straight through his body.

It was a perfect ambush. Perhaps it was from assimilating Fu Mengqing and Li Chengjian and gaining points, but Tang Yu’s stamina had quietly improved again.

When Qin San widened his small, rat-like eyes to look back, he met Tang Yu’s wolf-like gaze.

At the same time, Jin Ye easily took down the other person. In that same instant, Li Chengjian’s silver needle shot straight toward the person in the raft on the opposite bank. The man was struck between the eyebrows, his body slumped, and he fell onto the side of the raft.

In a flash, three members of Qin San’s team were “invited” out of the game by Tang Yu and her group.

They were accustomed to using dirty tricks like ambushes, so Tang Yu paid them back in kind.

The remaining woman saw that the situation had turned against them and quickly cried out to alert the main group, which had already moved far ahead. But she had barely uttered a syllable before Tang Yu covered her face from behind and stabbed her in the heart.

Tang Yu released her hand and glanced at her palm. She had made physical contact with both of them, but unfortunately, Qin San’s team wasn’t much stronger than them and possessed no abilities whatsoever.

Tang Yu took the small box of silver thread from Qin San’s waist, picked up the others’ weapons, and then kicked the three bodies into the water to feed the fish.

These people had all used cold weapons. Besides the silver thread, there was a Miao dao and a short sword. Tang Yu handed the Miao dao to Zhou Zhou and the short sword to Fu Mengqing. With that, all five of them had a cold weapon for protection.

Zhou Zhou examined the Miao dao for a moment, then shoved it, scabbard and all, into the inner pocket of her jacket. “I’m not very good with knives,” she said. “Guns are more useful.”

Li Chengjian was taken aback. “Try not to use guns in this place,” he said. “The sound will attract wild beasts, and it’s easy to disturb the Master of the Hanging Coffins.”

Zhou Zhou looked utterly confused. Li Chengjian hadn’t joined their camp, so she couldn’t understand his zombie language.

But the others understood. Tang Yu, who had been gazing at the departing enemy group, turned her head back in surprise at Li Chengjian’s words. “What is the Master of the Hanging Coffins?” she asked.

“There.” Li Chengjian raised a hand and pointed toward the cliff face. In the morning light, the group could finally see clearly what was hanging on the cliff.

It was a wooden coffin supported by two wooden beams. The coffin was extremely small and narrow, only large enough to accommodate one person lying flat. At regular intervals, another such coffin would appear on the cliff.

“The Master of the Hanging Coffins refers to the person lying inside the coffin,” Li Chengjian added.

“Do they reanimate?”

“Not that I know of. I’ve never seen a zongzi appear. But in our line of work, treasure hunting, we have our rules. If you disturb the Master of the Hanging Coffins, your luck will turn extremely bad. At best, you’ll leave empty-handed; at worst, you’ll lose your life.”

“That’s just you not being careful enough. It has nothing to do with them,” Tang Yu attempted to explain.

“Sometimes, you just have to believe in certain things.” Li Chengjian pressed his lips together, his expression extremely solemn.

Tang Yu expressed her skepticism. Then a thought struck her, and she had a sudden realization. “No wonder the people we’ve run into were all carrying cold weapons.” Qin San’s team, and Li Chengjian’s team as well.

Except for the twenty people who had shot the black bear at the very beginning.

Tang Yu thought back carefully. Those twenty people hadn’t been part of the main group from before. She wondered where they had gone by now.

Tang Yu looked at Li Chengjian and asked, “You’ve had your revenge. What’s next? Are you going to join us in searching for people?”

Li Chengjian thought for a moment before replying, “I was originally planning to kill myself and exit the game after getting my revenge. But since you all helped me, I can’t go back on my promise. I’ll help you find those two girls first.”

Hearing him say that, Tang Yu finally took a proper look at Li Chengjian. He was a tall young man, over 1.8 meters, and quite handsome, but his expression was serious and he spoke in a formal manner. From their interactions, he seemed to be a man of his word.

“Alright. To make communication easier, I’ll add you to our camp group first. After this is over, you can quit if you don’t want to play anymore. If you want to stay and work with me, we’ll find a place for you to live,” Tang Yu said, pulling up the game panel to add a member. She didn’t plan on having Li Chengjian live in the “A Close and Loving Family” camp. If he was willing to stay, she would find another place and build a new camp.

Even a cunning rabbit has three burrows; she could also make multiple preparations.

“Okay, I’ll consider your proposal. We can talk about it after this is all over,” Li Chengjian said, not immediately agreeing to stay but temporarily registering under Tang Yu’s camp.

Tang Yu relayed the reason for not using guns to Zhou Zhou. Zhou Zhou, who should have been a firm believer in science, instead showed great reverence for the idea of the Master of the Hanging Coffins. She quickly clasped her hands together and bowed toward the hanging coffins, then obediently put her gun away and took the Miao dao in her hand.

Tang Yu said, “I didn’t realize you were so superstitious.”

Zhou Zhou explained, “You can bet on anything but luck. We in the medical field don’t even eat mangoes.”

Fu Mengqing was confused. “Why?”

“It’ll make you very busy.”

Tang Yu: …

As they talked, the five of them re-inflated the raft, pushed it into the water, and prepared to set off once more.

After a night of rest, the bleeding from Li Chengjian’s neck had stopped, the bl00d having formed a scab. Now, he took out another bandage and wrapped it around his neck several times, making him look less like a zombie and more like a mummy.

Everyone boarded the raft in an orderly fashion, following behind the large enemy group. Li Chengjian’s raft had its own propeller device, so they didn’t need to paddle by hand. The group held their weapons and observed the hanging coffins on the cliffs on both sides.

The number of hanging coffins was far greater than Tang Yu had imagined. The further they went downstream, the denser the coffins became, until it reached a point where nearly half the cliff face was packed with them.

The coffins varied in age. Some were made of new-looking wood, likely interred just before the zombie outbreak. Others were severely decayed, their supporting wooden beams already rotted away, leaving half the coffin suspended in mid-air.

Just as a sense of dread began to creep over them, a hanging coffin plummeted from the cliff without warning. It fell straight into the river, sending up a huge splash. The coffin bobbed twice before being carried downstream by the current.

The group in the middle of the river was some distance away and wasn’t hit by the splash, but the sudden event made everyone’s breath catch in their throats. Tang Yu stared, dumbfounded, and asked Li Chengjian, “Does… does this count as us disturbing the Master of the Hanging Coffins?”

“N-no… I don’t think so.” Li Chengjian swallowed hard, forcing himself to remain calm. “It’s common for coffins to fall into the water. We didn’t fire a gun, and we weren’t shouting. It has nothing to do with us… right?”

Seeing that even Li Chengjian, who frequently roamed Ghost Valley, was hesitant, the faces of the others instantly grew uglier.

Jin Ye naturally connected their luck with the rescue of Xiao Li. The knuckles of the hand gripping her dagger turned white, and her lips were pressed into a thin line. Along the way, Jin Ye had become much quieter. She no longer teased Tang Yu and walked with a sense of urgency. Every time Tang Yu glanced at her, her brows were knitted together.

Fu Mengqing was in a similar state.

“It’s fine,” Tang Yu said, patting her chest. “Our luck has always been great.”

As if.

“In any case, we will all return to the village safely,” Tang Yu emphasized again.

Jin Ye’s brow relaxed slightly. She knew Tang Yu was trying to comfort her in her own way, so she stopped wearing such a grim expression.

At some point, the river’s current began to flow faster. The water once again swallowed the land, becoming wider. The fallen hanging coffin was pushed by the current, shifting its position until it was gradually trailing behind the raft’s right rear. Although the distance between them was increasing, its presence still sent a chill down their spines.

Li Chengjian cranked the propeller’s speed to maximum, trying to quickly escape the floating coffin. As their speed picked up, they soon caught sight of the large group ahead.

The boats in the main group were spaced very far apart, with the last boat lagging tens of meters behind the one in the middle. These players were a temporarily formed team and lacked any strong sense of discipline.

Their progress was slow, yet their dozen or so boats occupied the entire width of the river, which created a problem for Tang Yu. They needed to find their people and couldn’t afford a single moment of delay.

An idea sparked in Tang Yu’s mind. She asked the others, “Can you swim?”

Except for Zhou Zhou, the other zombies nodded.

“Alright. Zhou Zhou, you stay on the raft. If you’re discovered, act according to the situation. The rest of you, take your cold weapons and get in the water. We need to create some chaos to make them clear a path.” Tang Yu took off her waterproof jacket, leaving it on the raft. Clad only in a black sleeveless tank top, she clenched her knife between her teeth and slipped silently into the water.

She poked her head out and added, “Leave your backpacks on the raft, or they’ll hinder your movement.”

Without a word, Jin Ye slid into the water, her dagger also held in her mouth. With a few strokes of her arms, she glided away like a fish.

Fu Mengqing and Li Chengjian followed suit. The four of them quickly distanced themselves from the raft and approached the rearmost dinghy.

Tang Yu would occasionally break the surface to breathe, using the opportunity to activate her enhanced vision and survey the situation on the water.

To her surprise, the person sitting on the rearmost dinghy was someone she knew.

It was Lan Lin, along with her three underlings.

Lan Lin was incessantly spraying insect repellent on her yellow jacket, but unfortunately, the swarms of bugs were completely immune to it, remaining stuck firmly to her clothes without moving an inch.

Lan Lin had to take off her jacket to swat at the bugs. Underneath, she wore only a small, backless tank top. In the forest, an outfit like that was as good as wearing nothing, and her skin was bound to suffer from bites.

If she had thick skin, it might have been fine, but she was an extremely delicate person who always wore perfume. The large mosquitoes in the canyon adored it and were relentlessly preying on her.

Tang Yu could see that Lan Lin was extremely agitated. This was likely her first time taking a mission far from the city, and she was now completely absorbed in her battle with the insects.

It was her subordinate, the burly, bald man, who first spotted the extra raft on the water.

“Huh?” The bald man raised his gun and aimed it at the military-green raft. Although someone in the main group had repeatedly stressed not to use guns, the bald man clearly hadn’t paid it any mind.

Lan Lin finally looked up. She was stunned for a moment and activated her ability, but when she didn’t detect any immediate threat to her safety, she relaxed and carefully examined the person on the raft.

The bald man recognized Zhou Zhou. Scheming something, he fired a shot straight at Zhou Zhou on the raft. Lan Lin, who was beside him, made no move to stop him.

Zhou Zhou’s reaction was also incredibly fast. She grabbed the edge of the raft and leaped into the water. Once the gunshot passed, she heaved herself back onto the raft.

The bullet missed and struck the raft, which quickly began to leak air.

A player on a boat up ahead shouted, asking what had happened. The bald man roared back, “A new player showed up.”

“Oh.” The boat ahead didn’t think much of it. It was just a player, none of their business, and not a zombie.

Zhou Zhou sat on the deflating raft, her brow furrowed, uncharacteristically angry. These people had not only destroyed her raft but had also gotten her completely soaked. Before the raft sank, she pushed the motor to full power and rammed straight into Lan Lin’s dinghy, raft and all.

The massive impact caused the leaking raft to flip over, and under the weight of the backpacks, it sank straight into the water.

Zhou Zhou leaped onto Lan Lin’s dinghy, landing—whether intentionally or not—right on the yellow jacket Lan Lin had placed on the boat. With that one step, the dripping water from Zhou Zhou’s clothes soaked into Lan Lin’s jacket.

Lan Lin gritted her teeth and forced a smile. “Well, well, if it isn’t Professor Zhou. What a coincidence. We just saw each other in Huang Village, and now we meet again in this godforsaken valley. What, did you come alone?”

“That’s right.” Zhou Zhou also resumed her gentle smile, though her eyes were blazing with fire.

“You’ve got guts. Not afraid of dying out here,” Lan Lin commented. Hearing that Zhou Zhou had come alone, she relaxed her shoulders. Zhou Zhou wasn’t much of a threat, and she rarely hurt people, so Lan Lin let her guard down slightly.

At that moment, Tang Yu was hiding right beneath the dinghy. She and her three companions were crowded on one side, their hands gripping the dinghy’s underside. With one powerful heave, they could flip everyone on board into the water.

But this move required perfect timing so that Lan Lin couldn’t predict it. So they waited, waited for Zhou Zhou to give them the signal.

On the boat, Zhou Zhou stomped her feet on the yellow jacket, shaking the water from her body. Lan Lin was seething with rage, but Zhou Zhou acted as if nothing was wrong and sat down beside her. Looking at the swollen mosquito bites on Lan Lin’s arm, she said, “That’s a nasty bite. I have some medicine here, want some?”

Lan Lin frowned. “More like you want to poison me.”

Zhou Zhou neither confirmed nor denied it. She asked, “You broke my raft. Mind if I sit here for a bit? I won’t be in the way, will I?”

Seeing that Zhou Zhou wasn’t fighting back, Lan Lin replied, “As long as you behave yourself, you can have a ride.”

Throughout their exchange, the bald man’s gun barrel followed Zhou Zhou’s every move. Lan Lin activated her ability again, but still detected nothing unusual. She completely relaxed.

About two minutes later, Zhou Zhou tilted her head and leaned closer to Lan Lin. “What’s that smell? Perfume? It attracts mosquitoes. I’d advise you not to use it.” After saying that, she sat up straight again. Her wet clothes clinging to her body were uncomfortable; Zhou Zhou’s ability to speak so calmly at that moment was entirely due to her self-control.

“Is that so?” Lan Lin was particularly interested in this topic. She couldn’t stand the bites any longer and couldn’t help but lean in and ask, “Then what kind of smell doesn’t attract mosquitoes?”

“Want to know?” Zhou Zhou leaned down, her lips close to Lan Lin’s ear.

Lan Lin hesitated for a moment, but she truly wanted to know the answer, so she didn’t pull away.

Zhou Zhou spoke softly, enunciating each word, “Just go for a soak in the water.”

She had kept the camp group’s voice chat active. Her words were a signal for Tang Yu.

The moment she finished speaking, Lan Lin’s expression changed, but it was too late. The entire dinghy was yanked to one side by a powerful force. The people on board lost their balance and toppled over. The bald man, who was already sitting on the tilting side, was thrown off balance by the uneven force, and combined with his massive size, the entire dinghy flipped over, landing upside down on the water’s surface.

Everyone on board was thrown into the water. Tang Yu, Jin Ye, and the others, who had been waiting underwater, each gripping a knife, closed in on the fallen underlings.

Jin Ye and Li Chengjian first dealt with the two weaker underlings, then ganged up on the bald man. Fu Mengqing, meanwhile, grabbed the non-swimming Zhou Zhou, hoisted her onto the overturned dinghy, and then turned to help Jin Ye.

Tang Yu’s target was clear. The moment Lan Lin hit the water, Tang Yu kicked off and shot toward her. Swinging a knife in the water was difficult due to the resistance, so she could only attack at close range. Tang Yu reached out, attempting to grab Lan Lin first, but Lan Lin, who had already reacted, kept her precognition ability active. She dodged Tang Yu’s attack, immediately pulled out a gun, aimed it at Tang Yu, and pulled the trigger.

Her attack was as ruthless as ever.

The bullet, trailing a stream of bubbles, shot from the muzzle. Hindered by the water’s resistance, it lost most of its kinetic energy. Tang Yu simply blocked it with the flat of her blade and then prevented Lan Lin from surfacing.

With her escape route blocked, a flicker of annoyance crossed Lan Lin’s face. She had fallen into the water suddenly and didn’t have much air in her lungs. Now, after the struggle, a sharp pain was already radiating from her chest.

Tang Yu’s situation wasn’t much better. She had been holding her breath underwater for a long time, waiting for Zhou Zhou to distract Lan Lin so she could flip the dinghy during the brief window when Lan Lin wasn’t using her ability. By now, Tang Yu had been holding her breath for nearly two minutes.

Their underwater struggle was consuming a massive amount of energy. Soon, Lan Lin’s face turned a deep shade of purple.

Primal survival instincts kicked in, and Lan Lin couldn’t stop herself from reaching out to grab Tang Yu’s arm. She knew Tang Yu had an invisibility ability and just wanted to restrain her and drag her under so she could surface for air. Tang Yu instinctively dodged at first, but then, a thought occurred to her, and she extended her arm forward.

Lan Lin seized Tang Yu’s arm. Overjoyed at her success, she kicked Tang Yu in the abdomen. The blow made Tang Yu cough, nearly causing her to choke on water.

Lan Lin used the opportunity to break the surface, gasping for air.

Tang Yu also surfaced quickly.

The splash attracted the attention of the others. Several boats had already turned around and were heading their way.

At the same time, Lan Lin pressed the pistol in her other hand against Tang Yu’s abdomen. She thought it was a guaranteed hit, her move fast and vicious.

But Tang Yu seemed to have anticipated it. The very moment Lan Lin pulled the trigger, she grabbed the barrel of the gun and twisted it aside.

The gunshot exploded across the water’s surface, the bullet skipping far into the distance.

Lan Lin’s brow twitched. A sudden, terrible premonition washed over her. This zombie’s reaction shouldn’t be this fast.

“You walked right into it. Thanks for that,” Tang Yu said with a sudden grin, looking pure and harmless.