Surviving the Game as a Zombie - Chapter 53

The group moved through the forest, heads down. After the bamboo grove, the scenery returned to dense grass and lush leaves. Ferns and vines as tall as a person covered the ground completely, and water droplets that had yet to evaporate clung to the blades of grass.

The group struggled to advance through the undergrowth, but the Old Blind Man, riding his white monkey, was completely unimpeded. The monkey swung through the forest, and the Old Blind Man seemed glued to its back, impossible to shake off no matter how it moved.

The farther they went, the higher the humidity in the air became. They soon noticed visible water vapor floating in the air, followed by the roaring sound of a stream crashing against rocks below. The vapor was spray kicked up by the rushing water.

Completely different from the wide, calm river before, the water in this tributary had become swift and fierce. The ten-meter-wide riverbed had narrowed sharply to five meters, the terrain dropped off steeply, and the number of rocks in the water had increased significantly.

The white monkey landed, and the Old Blind Man started chatting with the group. “This mountain range stretches for eight hundred li. The farther west you go, the more treacherous it gets. Basically, no one comes here. Speaking of which, the player who first discovered the great tomb had a big mouth. He could have just entered the tomb and taken what he wanted, but no, he had to go around blabbing about it, attracting so many players to this godforsaken valley.”

Song Lengzhu said, “The person you’re talking about was in my previous main group. His team only had three people and lacked the ability to enter the tomb, so he gathered a bunch of us. The plan was for everyone to take what they needed after we got in.”

“What if you wanted the same thing?”

“We’d fight for it,” Song Lengzhu said concisely.

The Old Blind Man snorted. “Then why did you leave the group and come looking for me on your own?”

Song Lengzhu’s voice was steady. “Over the past two days, I realized most of them weren’t capable enough. A large group also slows down progress. It was better for me to go on ahead.”

“You’re… a bit arrogant, aren’t you,” the Old Blind Man grumbled. He then got down to business with Song Lengzhu. “What’s in it for me to show you the way?”

“What do you want?”

The Old Blind Man pondered for a moment, then suddenly grinned. “You asked, so I’ll tell you. I don’t want any of the knives or guns you players value. What I want is: a year’s supply of good wine, clothes and socks for the changing seasons—oh, the clothes should be loose-fitting, no fewer than twenty sets. I don’t lack for meat or vegetables in the forest, but I’m short on rice, flour, and oil, and also a flint. And a comfortable rocking chair, one woven from rattan. Some pet supplies like cat food, dog food, fish oil, that sort of thing. If you can find them, bring me some of those too.”

Song Lengzhu’s brow furrowed slightly. He was treating her like a supplier. She would have preferred the Old Blind Man to ask for a high-tier weapon as a one-time deal rather than having to collect all these miscellaneous small items.

Seeing her silent, the Old Blind Man added with a smile, “My demands aren’t high. Just two deliveries will do. If it’s inconvenient for you to bring them in, I’ll send my little ones to the nearest suburb to pick them up from you. I could find these things myself on my occasional trips out of the mountains, but since you’re so keen on making a deal with me, I ought to get something good out of it, don’t you think?”

The Old Blind Man was a smooth talker. Song Lengzhu’s brow furrowed even deeper.

Tang Yu, following behind, secretly delighted in seeing Song Lengzhu in a bind. The Old Blind Man was only asking for small things. Refusing would make her seem insincere about cooperating, but gathering these supplies would be time-consuming and troublesome, and they had to be delivered twice, effectively turning Song Lengzhu into an errand girl.

Song Lengzhu considered for a full minute before agreeing. “However, this is all a post-transaction deal. Aren’t you afraid I’ll go back on my word?”

“Don’t underestimate me, Old Blind Man. If you break your promise, unless you quit the game, I’ll always have a way to find you.”

The Old Blind Man’s tone was light, but everyone else was inwardly shocked.

Tang Yu took a black windbreaker from Jin Ye’s backpack and put it on. The jacket belonged to Li Chengjian’s skinny teammate and was a bit damp from being fished out of the water, but since they were all soaked, she didn’t mind. Tang Yu whispered to Jin Ye, “The more I look at this Old Blind Man, the more unfathomable he seems. He must be very powerful. Haven’t you heard of him?”

Jin Ye replied, “No, but his physical fitness isn’t high, so he probably doesn’t have many points. He also doesn’t seem interested in missions or killing zombies. He’s probably just a master who wants to live as a hermit in the game.”

Tang Yu pulled her head back, marveling inwardly. It really took all sorts of people.

As they talked, the group, led by the Old Blind Man, began to descend a gentle slope. The cliff face here became lower and shorter until it merged with the stream.

By the stream, some uneven rocks protruded from the water. Looking ahead, the path was strewn with broken stones, but they were still passable.

The group came to the edge of the stream and used the stones as a path. There were no more hanging coffins on the mountains on either side. Zhou Zhou remembered something and couldn’t help but ask the Old Blind Man, “Are the legends about the masters of the hanging coffins true?”

The usually quiet Li Chengjian chimed in, “How could they not be true? Haven’t we had enough bad luck on this trip?”

Hearing this, the Old Blind Man laughed heartily. “They exist if you believe, and they don’t if you don’t. If you believe, you can connect anything that happens to them. But, based on my long experience as their neighbor, they’re very heavy sleepers. Nothing to worry about.”

No one knew if he was joking or serious. His words, far from dispelling their doubts, made them even more uneasy.

“If one wakes up, would feeding it sleeping pills work?” Zhou Zhou asked, following the Old Blind Man’s line of thought. Judging by her expression, she was seriously considering it.

Tang Yu pulled her back. “Stop it. Don’t talk about such nonsense. It’s creepy.”

After just a few steps, the group suddenly noticed a dark green piece of clothing stuck in a crevice between the rocks. At first, no one paid it any mind, until Tang Yu got closer and smelled the scent of bl00d, nearly washed away by the water vapor.

It was the fresh smell of bl00d, emanating from the water.

She couldn’t help but take a second look at the clothing. Only then did she realize that under the cloth, in the crevice, a hand was visible.

Song Lengzhu, who had already crossed the rock, suddenly stopped and turned back. She had also smelled something wrong.

The stream only wet the bottom of these rocks. Tang Yu turned on her camping lantern and shone it into the shallow water in the crevice. She could clearly see a person wedged inside, with a discarded gas mask nearby. It was unclear how they had fallen in.

The person had a short knife at their waist and cuts on their face, which seemed to be the source of the bloody smell. The body wasn’t bloated yet, and the facial features were still normal.

This meant the body was freshly dead.

In this deserted place, the appearance of a fresh corpse led everyone to one conclusion: this person was from Chen Deming’s team.

Zhou Zhou asked Song Lengzhu, “Have you seen him before? Is he one of Chen Deming’s men?”

Song Lengzhu nodded. “That’s their gear. Dark green camouflage and a mask.” Earlier, their main group had encountered Chen Deming, but he had been unwilling to travel with them.

Zhou Zhou then remembered something. “Hey, that’s not right. You saw Chen Deming. Did you see the woman being held hostage in his team?”

Song Lengzhu knew who Zhou Zhou was asking about, but she shook her head. “I didn’t see her. My boat was far away when they were talking.”

Tang Yu stared at Song Lengzhu suspiciously, not quite believing her. Song Lengzhu glanced at Tang Yu and said no more, her expression conveying a sense of ‘believe it or not, I can’t be bothered to explain.’

Jin Ye simply jumped off the rock into the water and grabbed the corpse’s clothes, trying to pull it up. “Something’s not right. A fall from this height shouldn’t be fatal. We need to find out how he died so we can be on guard.”

But after two tugs, the upper part of the body was firmly stuck in the crevice and wouldn’t budge. Tang Yu also jumped down and shone her camping lantern into the crack.

As the light hit, they suddenly saw something shrink back into the dark crevice.

Both of them held their breath, their hearts pounding. There was something in the water.

Jin Ye immediately let go of the clothes, and the two of them scrambled to climb back up the rock.

Just as they took a step, a long, thin shadow shot out from the crevice and bit onto Tang Yu’s pant leg.

On the rock above, Li Chengjian was quick-eyed and swift-handed. He shot out a needle that pinned the shadow by its neck. Only then did everyone see clearly that it was a small, bl00d-red snake, about the length of a forearm. Its soft body was divided into two sections like an earthworm, and strangely, like an earthworm, its head and tail looked identical.

Tang Yu reacted quickly. The small snake had only managed to bite her pant leg without piercing her skin. The poison on the silver needle quickly took effect. The snake’s body went limp, it released her pants, and fell into the water.

Was this the thing that had injured the man? How could something so small drag a person into a rock crevice?

Everyone was filled with doubt. Just then, Tang Yu’s eyes widened. A terrifying scene of what was about to happen flashed through her mind.

“Run! Run now!” Without time to explain, Tang Yu grabbed Jin Ye and scrambled onto the rock. Hearing the warning, the others instinctively started moving.

The moment they lifted their feet, dozens of small, bl00d-red snakes suddenly shot out from the rock crevice. They moved as fast as lightning, slithering out of the water as if on solid ground, and followed the two women up the rock.

Seeing these small snakes appear, the white monkey suddenly let out a long cry, as if in extreme fear, and carried the Old Blind Man far away in a single leap.

The others followed, leaping across the rocks. The stones in the mountain stream were of various shapes, some sharp and steep, making it difficult to find footing. Everyone was highly focused, afraid of twisting an ankle.

Logically, given the distance between the stones, the small snakes shouldn’t have been able to cross and should have been easy to shake off. But to everyone’s surprise, the snakes arched their backs and leaped forward, clearing the gap between two distant rocks in a single bound.

Tang Yu soon discovered that the small snakes’ crawling speed was faster than a human’s sprint. They caught up to Jin Ye’s feet in a flash. Tang Yu, who was beside her, turned and swung her knife, forcing back the lead snake that was rearing its neck.

When she turned back, Tang Yu saw that it wasn’t just a dozen or so snakes chasing them. From the rock crevices in all directions, bl00d-red figures began to pour out.

There were hundreds of them.

They bumped and scraped against each other, producing a grating sound like fingernails on a chalkboard that made one’s stomach turn. As more and more snakes gathered, the sound grew louder, summoning even more of them.

The image of them writhing together like a pile of earthworms assaulted everyone’s nerves, except these things were much faster than earthworms. In just a moment, red began to emerge from the rock crevices ahead as well. Some small snakes were already rearing their heads, waiting for their prey.

They were quickly surrounded.

Song Lengzhu fought back the nausea and shouted at the Old Blind Man’s retreating figure, “Aren’t you an animal tamer? How do you drive them away?”

“These are red earthworms, they’re snakes. It would take at least ten days to tame them,” the Old Blind Man’s voice echoed through the empty valley. “I successfully tamed a group once, but their habits are strange. If you can’t find the mother snake, you have to tame them one by one.”

The white monkey carried the Old Blind Man, leaping up and down, showing signs of leaving the stream and hiding in the forest.

Seeing that even the Old Blind Man was helpless, the group’s gazes hardened as they prepared to save themselves.

With a glance, Tang Yu noticed there was more than one body in the water. Two or three skeletal remains were wedged in the crevices downstream. These bodies were clearly recently deceased; once swarmed by the red earthworms, they had been rapidly reduced to a pile of white bones.

Tang Yu’s military knife was relatively long. One swing could force back a large area, and the red earthworms didn’t dare to rush forward for the moment.

But the others’ daggers were very short, completely unsuitable for long-range attacks. They put away their daggers and took out their guns. There were no more hanging coffins here, so they no longer cared about any taboos.

But against these tiny creatures, the accuracy and power of the guns were halved. After firing two shots with little effect, Song Lengzhu’s teammate took a grenade from her waist.

The pin was pulled, and the grenade was thrown into the pile of snakes blocking their path. The surrounding snakes hastily writhed and scattered. Soon, an explosion rang out. A large area of mangled flesh and limbs was blasted onto the rocks, and a bloody mist rose.

Seeing this was effective, the twins took out two more grenades from their waists.

But the rock they needed to land on was also blown to pieces by the explosion. Not only that, they discovered that the red earthworms whose bodies had been blown in half were not dead. They writhed their back halves, using their tails as heads, and quickly launched an attack on the group.

Tang Yu’s knife became a blur. The red earthworms she sliced in two split apart and instantly became two separate snakes.

These were much harder to deal with than zombies.

“We can’t kill them all. Running is the best option.” Tang Yu gave up on attacking and leaped onto the shattered rocks, stepping on the mangled flesh of the red earthworms to get across.

The loose stones shifted under her weight, and Tang Yu inevitably stepped into the water. After falling in, she quickly climbed onto a rock on the other side. Song Lengzhu happened to be crossing at the same time and bumped right into Tang Yu.

Song Lengzhu hadn’t intended to collide with her; it was just a matter of timing. Afraid Tang Yu would take the opportunity to scratch her, she quickly took a step back after the impact. Tang Yu snorted. She had already predicted this scene, but since Song Lengzhu hadn’t posed a threat and there was nowhere else to step on the rock, a bump was just a bump.

The two of them stood on the same rock, barely half an arm’s length apart.

Two red earthworms shot out from the water Tang Yu had disturbed. Tang Yu swung her knife twice, slicing off both the head and tail of one of the small snakes.

She had learned her lesson. If you didn’t remove both the head and tail, these snakes were impossible to kill.

Song Lengzhu faced the other snake. She fired four consecutive shots, blasting its body to bits.

The two didn’t linger. After pausing for no more than ten seconds, they quickly dashed toward the rocks on the forest side.

The white monkey was the fastest and had already darted into the woods. The Old Blind Man glanced back and muttered, “This thing should only appear in damp, dark tombs. How did it get into this stream!”

Hearing this, Jin Ye forced back the red earthworms in front of her. “It must be something Chen Deming’s group did.”

She was incredibly worried. With so many snakes, how did Chen Deming escape? Was Xiao Li able to move? Was she hurt?

The image of the bones swarmed by snakes burrowed into her mind, disrupting her thoughts.

Worry creates chaos. No matter how experienced a person was, they would be affected.

As Jin Ye’s thoughts fell into disarray, her feet slowed by half a step, and she fell to the back of the group.

Tang Yu, running at the front, stopped. Almost without thinking, she took a few steps back and pulled Jin Ye forward. By now, the surrounding red earthworms had closed in again, cutting off their path in an instant and trapping Jin Ye and Tang Yu.

Seeing they had successfully trapped the two, the swarm of snakes gave up chasing the others and converged around Tang Yu and Jin Ye.

Tang Yu gritted her teeth and yelled at Li Chengjian and Zhou Zhou, who had already run far ahead, “You guys go first! Get to the shore, quickly!”

But for some reason, when Li Chengjian saw Tang Yu go back to save her teammate, he also turned around. A rain of silver needles shot toward the snakes blocking the path, attempting to clear a way for Tang Yu and Jin Ye.

Zhou Zhou sighed, her brow furrowed. One of her feet was already on the forest floor. Countless thoughts flashed through her mind before she finally stopped running forward and turned to fire at the snakes in front of Tang Yu. She didn’t go back to save them like Tang Yu did; firing her gun to help from where she stood was already beyond her bottom line.

Zhou Zhou thought: “Just this once. I won’t save them next time.”

In a moment of crisis, they, like Tang Yu, had made their own choices.

Song Lengzhu glanced back, her heart trembling slightly. She didn’t understand what Tang Yu had done to create such cohesion in her team, to the point that even Zhou Zhou would give up a chance to escape to help save someone.

Song Lengzhu had seen many player teams that only appeared united on the surface. Everyone had tacitly accepted the rule of survival of the fittest. During missions, those who fell behind and dragged down their teammates were usually considered expendable, deserving of death.

Clearly, Tang Yu didn’t think so.

Song Lengzhu pressed her lips together, looked away, and paid no more attention to the zombies behind her. They were not the same kind of people; there was no need for her to help them.

Tang Yu pulled Jin Ye along, instructing, “Follow my steps.” She activated her precognition, mapping out several routes in her mind, and chose the one with the least risk. Snapping back to the present, Tang Yu suddenly took a step backward.

This move completely baffled Zhou Zhou. “Where are you going? Run forward!”

The red earthworms swarmed in ever-increasing numbers. The group at the very front recoiled their necks, preparing to leap.

Tang Yu had no energy to reply. Grabbing Jin Ye, she leaped to the left the instant the red earthworms jumped, landing on another rock.

Jin Ye was filled with guilt. Having come to her senses, she didn’t dare make another mistake. She focused intently, following Tang Yu closely.

As Tang Yu moved, the red earthworms followed. A gap appeared on the large rock that had previously been blocked by them. To successfully escape to the forest, they had to cross several steps to reach this rock.

Seeing her chance, Tang Yu took a long stride, bent low, and leaped. The tips of her feet touched down amidst the swarm of snakes. Without pausing, she pushed off again. Several small snakes that were about to bite were sent flying by her movement.

By the time Tang Yu landed on the large rock, four small snakes were already hanging from her pant leg. Jin Ye was in no better shape.

Tang Yu could feel the red earthworms gnawing at her flesh and bone. In her prediction, they had already died once, and through that, she learned that as long as they weren’t covered by more than ten snakes, the wounds wouldn’t be too severe.

These small snakes were venomous; a bite would quickly paralyze a human. But they were zombies. It was uncertain who would poison whom first.

Tang Yu swung her knife, chopping off the small snakes on her leg that were gradually turning into zombies. She leaped again, darting to Li Chengjian’s side in a single bound.

“Hurry, the snakes are catching up,” Tang Yu urged. The group scrambled to run.

The zombified snakes, cut in half, moved even more ferociously. Their severed limbs leaped and tumbled across the rocks with slapping sounds. A few seconds later, they charged toward Zhou Zhou and the others like rabid dogs.

The infected animals didn’t distinguish between friend or foe. They attacked humans and zombies alike.

The group made it to the forest without further incident, but they weren’t safe yet.

The swarm of snakes didn’t stay by the water as they had expected. They followed them onto the land, weaving through the grass and leaves, their movements hidden by the vegetation, making them difficult to spot.

A few explosions echoed from the forest ahead. Tang Yu looked up and saw Song Lengzhu and the others doubling back from the woods.

“Don’t go into the forest. It’s easier to get attacked when you can’t see the snakes,” Song Lengzhu warned, proactively jumping back onto the exposed rocks by the stream.

Zhou Zhou asked, “Where’s the Old Blind Man?”

Xiao Qi said furiously, “He’s gone! I don’t know if he abandoned us and ran off on his own.”

The group didn’t dare to linger and fled downstream along the rocks by the stream.

Watching the swarm of snakes grow larger and larger, impossible to shake off, the twins clutched their remaining three grenades, hesitating.

This was stuff they were saving for the tomb. What would they do later if they used it all now?

Just as they were agonizing over it, several bird cries suddenly echoed above the stream. Tang Yu looked up and saw about twenty eagles that had appeared from nowhere, circling above the swarm of snakes.

After a long cry that pierced the air, a large eagle swooped down, its massive talons piercing the bodies of three red earthworms.

The Old Blind Man, riding the white monkey, appeared again from out of nowhere, clutching a large handful of long, green-stemmed leaves. Wherever he went, the swarm of snakes suddenly scattered, not coming near him, but not leaving either.

The Old Blind Man rushed to the group and stuffed a handful of leaves into each person’s hands. The leaves were of various shapes and emitted a pungent odor.

Zhou Zhou said in surprise, “Paris polyphylla?”

The Old Blind Man replied, “Snake repellent. I don’t have any sulfur. I followed the scent and found some in the forest. It’ll have to do.”

He put his fingers in his mouth and let out a loud, clear whistle. The eagles circling overhead, as if given a command, swooped down.

The critical situation was instantly reversed. They had thought the Old Blind Man had betrayed them and run away, but it turned out he had been looking for a scientific way to deal with the snakes while escaping.

However, twenty-odd eagles couldn’t catch all the red earthworms, and the snake-repelling herbs in their hands were only a temporary solution. Although the red earthworms didn’t approach them, they still reared their heads on nearby rocks and in the water, watching them covetously.

The most important thing now was to leave this area as quickly as possible.

The group didn’t stop, rushing downstream along the stream. The swarms of snakes and eagles followed them from a distance. These snakes were extremely tenacious, impossible to shake off no matter what.

The farther downstream they went, the more turbulent the water became. Soon, the rocks in the stream were half-submerged, making it difficult to find a place to step.

They had no choice but to go ashore and walk along the sloping mountainsides.

The Old Blind Man, clutching the monkey’s fur, said, “Be careful of snakes in the grass. The ground is slippery and wet. Don’t fall into the stream. If you fall in, the current is so strong it will sweep you away in an instant.”

Before going ashore, Tang Yu took out two rolls of bandages from the pack on Jin Ye’s back. She wrapped the wound on her ankle, then wrapped it again with a layer of waterproof tape. Jin Ye did the same.

Their wounds weren’t deep. The small snakes had lost their minds as soon as they bit, so they hadn’t gnawed off much flesh. Only a tiny bit of bl00d had seeped out. They wrapped the bandages purely to prevent infection from the water.

Just as they lifted their feet, the red earthworms that had been following them suddenly became unusually agitated. They began to make that grating, ear-piercing sound again, their heads rearing higher and higher until their entire bodies were almost vertical.

Zhou Zhou rubbed the leaves, stimulating the snake-repelling herbs to release a stronger scent, but the swarm of snakes didn’t retreat. Zhou Zhou asked in confusion, “Have they developed a resistance?”

“I… don’t think so.” As she spoke, Tang Yu’s pupils suddenly dilated. Without a second thought, she grabbed the sleeve of the person next to her and lunged to the side. The two of them plunged into the water with a splash.

The turbulent current hit them with immense force. Tang Yu struggled to surface. Where they had just been standing, a massive tail as thick as a wrist swept past. The others, still on the rocks and unable to react in time, were all swatted away.

A python, so red it was almost black, materialized from the water. It looked just like the red earthworms, but it was a full four or five meters long. Its golden pupils were vertical slits, staring at them with a chilling gaze.

The stream wasn’t deep enough to hide a snake this size. Where did this thing come from?

The white monkey shot far away, dodging the attack. The Old Blind Man shouted at the top of his lungs, “It’s the mother snake! Stop staring and run!”

As soon as he finished speaking, the python’s upper body suddenly slammed into the water, sending up countless splashes. Tang Yu lost her footing and was swept into the rapids.

As the water crashed over her head, Tang Yu saw Jin Ye, who had been thrown by the impact, hit a rock in the distance.

Jin Ye? Why is she so far away from me?

Then who was the person I grabbed?

Before she could get a good look, the bone-chilling waves submerged Tang Yu. Holding her breath, she was tumbled downstream by the force of the water for several dozen seconds.

When she recovered, Tang Yu struggled to open her eyes. She looked at her hand and saw that the windbreaker she was clutching belonged to Song Lengzhu.

Tch, what bad luck.

Tang Yu subconsciously let go. What if she was attacked at such a close distance?

But at that moment, Song Lengzhu grabbed the back of Tang Yu’s shirt, holding her fast. At the same time, she wedged her other hand into a crevice in a nearby rock, steadying herself in the water.

Thanks to that pull, Tang Yu wasn’t overturned by the waves again. They both broke the surface, clinging tightly to the nearby rock. Only then did they realize they had been swept a long way downstream.

“Consider us even.” Song Lengzhu let go of Tang Yu’s shirt. Her tone was calm, but her eyes weren’t on Tang Yu. Instead, they were fixed on the water’s surface, unmoving.

Tang Yu had no time to pay her any mind. This close to the water, she could clearly see something moving beneath the surface.

The giant mother snake was catching up.