Surviving the Game as a Zombie - Chapter 66

At Chen Deming’s roar, the liquid at the bottom of the human-shaped pit stopped rising, but the strange fluid continued to flow from the rock walls on both sides. The mechanism was still active.

The escape route above was sealed. Not only could they not get out, but the two giant snakes could no longer climb the stone walls to escape the cave.

The collected liquid had slowly crept over the broken rocks, gradually converging toward the center. Not all of Chen Deming’s men were dead; some of the heavily injured ones were still clinging to life on the ground. Seeing the liquid flow toward them, they scrambled to crawl toward Tang Yu’s group.

Fearing these men might cause more trouble, the group split into two and acted decisively, eliminating all of them.

Tang Yu looked at her palm. She had seized Chen Deming’s wrist when he activated his ability and had heard the sound of successful ability replication. She should be able to teleport now, but she couldn’t test it in front of so many people.

Tang Yu thought for a moment, quickly opened her game panel, scrolled to the ability section for a quick browse, then nonchalantly closed the panel, feigning a pensive state.

As expected, this ability also had its limits; the teleportation destination had to be within her line of sight. The octagonal stone slab above had already closed, rendering the ability useless for now.

They still needed to stop the mechanism in this cave.

Tang Yu shifted her gaze to the spot where Chen Deming had first drawn the bagua diagram. There were four cylindrical holes there.

She recalled Chen Deming ordering his men to retrieve the bronze pillars. The pillars from the giant snakes’ mouths numbered exactly four.

With that, things became clear. The tomb’s owner was exceedingly malicious. To disable the mechanism, one had to kill the two giant pythons to obtain the bronze pillars and then offer a living person as a sacrifice. The difficulty of such a task was immense when considered in detail. Chen Deming had come so close to succeeding.

But now, they couldn’t possibly kill these two pythons. Setting aside the rapport they had built while cooperating with the snakes, even if everyone here combined their strength for a head-on confrontation with the two freed pythons, they weren’t guaranteed to win.

Tang Yu looked at the giant snakes behind her, her expression troubled. Coincidentally, four serpentine eyes were looking right back at them.

Meeting the giant snake’s eyes directly once more, Tang Yu still felt her breath catch. The patterns within the snake’s eyes were clearly visible, its gaze chillingly cold, inspiring a sense of awe and fear. It was the spiritual pressure of an ancient creature crushing an ant.

The red-eyed giant snake stared at Tang Yu for two seconds, then turned its head to nuzzle its companion’s neck. Under everyone’s watchful eyes, it raised its massive head, extending it before Tang Yu and Song Lengzhu, and suddenly opened its enormous mouth.

The writhing gullet still revealed the half-swallowed body of a person. Tang Yu’s muscles tensed, and she instinctively assumed a defensive posture.

But the snake’s head merely hovered in the air, showing no sign of attack.

The two bronze pillars were right there, within arm’s reach of Tang Yu and Song Lengzhu. Everyone stood frozen in place.

Song Lengzhu asked softly in disbelief, “You want us to take them out?”

The red-eyed giant snake neither moved nor responded, but its posture strongly suggested that Song Lengzhu’s guess was correct.

Song Lengzhu glanced at the liquid still spreading on the ground, took a deep breath, and murmured an apology before taking out her small golden dagger and positioning herself in front of Tang Yu.

This was not a task for Tang Yu. It would be disastrous if she infected the snake instead of retrieving the pillars.

Song Lengzhu’s blade pierced the snake’s mouth along the pillar’s length, then carved a few times around the seam between the bronze pillar and the snake’s flesh. She had experience removing a snake fang, so she was somewhat familiar with the process. Furthermore, the bronze pillars were not as sturdy as the fangs, making them easier to remove. The fangs grew from the skull, whereas these two bronze pillars seemed to have been artificially welded onto the snake’s bones.

While removing the pillars, Song Lengzhu was mindful of one thing. The tool pouch at her waist kept the mother snake’s fang she had previously taken securely wrapped and hidden. Although she didn’t know the connection between the snakes under the altar and the mother snake outside, their striking resemblance meant they had to be related.

As Song Lengzhu’s blade sliced through the tender flesh of the snake’s mouth, foul-smelling bl00d trickled down the bronze pillar. Soaked in bl00d, the dragon engravings on the pillar came alive, exuding an indescribable eeriness. The red-eyed giant snake’s body trembled violently, stoically enduring the excruciating pain of having its bones scraped.

For some reason, Zhou Zhou, standing nearby, impulsively reached out and stroked the red-eyed giant snake’s neck. “There, there, it’ll stop hurting in a moment,” she cooed, as if comforting a child getting a shot.

Everyone was taken aback, casting strange glances her way. Even the two snakes couldn’t help but shoot her a look.

Song Lengzhu’s hands never stopped moving. The process of removing the pillars took a full minute. By the time the liquid had covered two-thirds of the cavern floor, Song Lengzhu had cut off all four bronze pillars, each as thick as an arm.

The four pillars were identical. She didn’t bother trying to match them to specific slots and simply inserted them into the four holes on the ground.

Under everyone’s expectant gaze, a series of clicking sounds echoed through the cavern. A moment later, the liquid on the rock walls indeed stopped flowing, securing the ground where they stood. At the same time, the octagonal stone slab above them flipped over, once again revealing the exit to the altar.

However, the stone slab in front of Tang Yu, the one with the bronze pillars, suddenly sank downward, revealing a new cavern out of thin air.

A gust of stale air rushed out from the cavern. Tang Yu covered her nose and took two steps back. The smell wasn’t particularly foul, but it carried a damp chill that seemed to drill right into one’s neck.

Song Lengzhu picked up a flashlight from the ground and shone it into the newly appeared cavern. Everyone else curiously craned their necks to look. The new cavern was only three meters high. The beam of light revealed a square tomb chamber. A massive coffin was placed diagonally below the entrance, surrounded by hundreds of large and small jade and gold artifacts that glittered and gleamed under the light, a scene of extreme luxury.

Li Chengjian gasped in astonishment. “Nine dings and eight guis—it’s an emperor’s tomb. Look, that three-meter-long black lacquered coffin with colored paintings! Could this be the main burial chamber?”

Tang Yu straightened up and sighed softly. No wonder Chen Deming had been so determined to descend into this cavern. The main tomb was actually located beneath the giant snakes’ lair.

Song Lengzhu’s group moved swiftly. Xiao Qi pulled a length of climbing rope from her backpack, secured one end to a nearby broken rock, and dropped the other into the main tomb. The twins led the way, sliding down the rope without a word.

Tang Yu’s group watched them, remaining silent. The two teams had originally been at odds, and launching a sneak attack now would be easy. But since entering the great tomb, they had helped each other to some extent. So now, they tacitly maintained a respectful distance, neither getting in the other’s way.

Because of her leg injury, Song Lengzhu was the last to go. Before getting on the rope, she gave Tang Yu a meaningful look. Then, as if remembering something, she took off her hair tie and offered it to Tang Yu.

The climbing axe she had borrowed had already been returned to Tang Yu, but she had forgotten to give back the hair tie.

A strange feeling stirred in Tang Yu’s heart. Ever since their teams had joined forces, she and Song Lengzhu had reverted to their previous state, as if their day of camaraderie had been nothing but a dream. Now, with the dream over, they were once again two separate teams, keeping their distance.

Tang Yu did not reach out to take it.

Song Lengzhu waited for two seconds. Seeing no reaction from Tang Yu, she said nothing more. She took the hair tie, tied her hair back up, and then slid down the rope.

Both were silent, with no conversation or any change in expression.

After a dull thud echoed from the tomb chamber below, Tang Yu turned her gaze to the unconscious Xiao Li. She discussed with her companions, “We’ve found Xiao Li, so our objective is complete. Do you want to enter this main tomb?”

Li Chengjian’s face lit up with joy. “I’m going.” This was his line of work. It was like a mouse falling into a rice bin; there was no way he would pass this up.

The others, however, seemed uninterested. Zhou Zhou didn’t immediately give her opinion. She first walked over to Xiao Li, examined her from head to toe, and said, “She has a lot of scrapes and three knife wounds. The one on her wrist is fatal—it hit a major artery. But strangely, the bleeding has stopped and it’s starting to heal. Is that an ability?”

Zhou Zhou looked at Jin Ye. She didn’t yet know about Xiao Li’s or Tang Yu’s abilities, but she wasn’t truly interested. Before Jin Ye could answer, she continued, “Judging by her complexion and pupils, there are no signs of poisoning. Her breathing is weak but steady. Her body is self-repairing. She should be back to normal after some rest.”

Her light tone reassured both Tang Yu and Jin Ye. Jin Ye bit her lip, holding back tears, and nodded.

Tang Yu guessed that Xiao Li’s resurrection ability had been active for some time. She had touched Xiao Li’s skin while rescuing her but hadn’t replicated the resurrection ability. This power likely only saved a player’s life. To fully recover, one still had to rely on the body’s natural healing and bl00d production functions, which was why Xiao Li remained unconscious.

Li Chengjian, standing to the side, asked doubtfully, “Can’t you turn her into a zombie? She might recover faster as a zombie.” He pointed to his own neck, where the gash had already scabbed over.

Tang Yu looked at Jin Ye. She had considered turning Xiao Li into a zombie, but she respected the wishes of Jin Ye and Xiao Li. They had tested it on Fu Mengqing; becoming a zombie would cause one’s ability to disappear, leaving Xiao Li with only one life.

Jin Ye shook her head firmly. “She can’t become a zombie.”

Li Chengjian was puzzled. “Why?”

Gazing at Xiao Li’s face, Jin Ye spoke slowly. “Tang Yu, have I told you? Xiao Li… she’s like Fu Mengqing’s sister. She can’t leave the game.”

Tang Yu was stunned for a moment. “What?”

Jin Ye let out a long sigh, as if trying to dispel the gloom that had long shrouded her heart. “Xiao Li’s real body is in an even more serious condition than Xingyue’s. Her consciousness has been in a deep sleep. She can’t go back. Even if she did, she wouldn’t wake up. That’s why she so decisively accepted the resurrection ability.”

A thunderclap went off in Tang Yu’s mind. When Jin Ye had first told her about Xiao Li’s ability, she had wondered why any ordinary player would accept the condition of being unable to leave the game just to gain an ability. Thinking back, it was no wonder Xiao Li had acted so strangely and sympathetically when Fu Mengqing spoke of her sister’s situation.

For a moment, no one spoke. Jin Ye composed herself and sighed. “Xiao Li and I don’t know each other in real life. Her brother told me a little about this after she had an accident when we first teamed up. Please, don’t mention it in front of her in the future. Just act as if nothing happened.”

Tang Yu nodded, grateful that Jin Ye had told her. Otherwise, if she ever had a disagreement with Xiao Li, she wouldn’t have understood the gravity of the situation.

Jin Ye pointed toward the cavern entrance. “Since Xiao Li is out of danger, you all should go down and take a look. Pick out a couple of good weapons if you find any.” She gestured toward Tang Yu’s chipped Startling Dragon with a look of regret.

Jin Ye didn’t plan to descend into the tomb. She had to stay by Xiao Li’s side.