Surviving the Game as a Zombie - Chapter 70

Jin Ye lowered her voice and recounted what they had encountered in Ghost Valley. At that moment, her voice was so gentle you could wring water from it. Xiao Li listened, captivated, the pain in her body seeming to lessen.

Tang Yu sat to the side, watching Jin Ye and Xiao Li with a grin, not feeling like a third wheel in the slightest. She even lamented to herself that all she was missing was a bag of sunflower seeds.

When Jin Ye got to the part where Tang Yu and Song Lengzhu were separated, she seemed to remember something and looked up. She asked Tang Yu, “When you and Song Lengzhu were alone, nothing happened, right?” Her gaze swept over Tang Yu from top to bottom, her expression serious. When Tang Yu had updated her on the situation in the tomb, she hadn’t mentioned the details of her time with Song Lengzhu. Other than Song Lengzhu losing at rock-paper-scissors, Jin Ye knew nothing about what had happened between the two.

Hearing this, Xiao Li also tilted her head up to look at Tang Yu.

Tang Yu’s expression faltered slightly, surprised that the drama had turned to her. She didn’t react for a moment, then quickly waved her hands. “Nothing happened, don’t overthink it. What could possibly happen between us…” Yet, what surfaced in her mind was the image of Song Lengzhu desperately reaching out to grab her hand the moment the stone door flipped.

Jin Ye looked at the slightly flustered Tang Yu with a strange expression. “I mean, did she ambush you? Are you hurt?”

Tang Yu’s waving hands froze in mid-air. Oh, so that’s what she meant.

“No, the injuries I have are all from the insects and snakes.” Tang Yu pressed her shoulder and rotated her scapula. “One of my ribs in the back might be dislocated. It’s not a big deal, but it needs time to heal.”

Her and Jin Ye’s injuries were neither severe nor light. Fortunately, Professor Zhou had entered the camp with both her skills and her medicine. They didn’t lack medication for promoting bl00d circulation, removing stasis, or relieving pain, so they could recuperate slowly.

Jin Ye grunted in acknowledgment. Although she was surprised to see Tang Yu’s hair tie on Song Lengzhu’s head, she didn’t think much of it. She refocused her attention and continued telling Xiao Li about Ghost Valley.

When she mentioned the Snake King and Snake Mother following them out of the tomb, Xiao Li looked up and asked nervously, “Hiss, the Snake King and Snake Mother, how big were they?”

Jin Ye raised her hands to indicate their thickness.

Just then, Aunty Zhu, having finished boiling water, knocked and entered. Seeing Jin Ye gesticulating, she asked, “What are you talking about?”

Xiao Li’s eyes widened. “We’re talking about pythons. They were this thick.” Xiao Li mimicked Jin Ye’s gesture.

Aunty Zhu was startled and hastily made a “pei” sound three times. “You can’t just gesture the length and thickness of a snake! The snake will come find you at night.”

The three of them were stunned for a moment. Xiao Li recovered and laughed. “What kind of saying is that?”

“It’s an old saying from the countryside. You can’t gesture a snake’s thickness, and you can’t point your finger at the moon,” Aunty Zhu said, then added with an embarrassed smile, “I don’t know the reason behind it. You all are more knowledgeable and probably don’t believe in this stuff. Just take it as a joke.”

Tang Yu said to Xiao Li, “Hey, she’s not wrong about that. The Snake King and Queen might really come looking for us.”

Xiao Li pulled the blanket up higher, revealing only her eyes, and whispered, “I’m afraid of snakes.”

Tang Yu giggled. “It’s fine. Jin Ye will protect you.”

Jin Ye glared at Tang Yu and pursed her lips, saying nothing.

Aunty Zhu didn’t understand their banter and just said, “The water is boiled. You kids should all go wash up. If it’s inconvenient for Xiao Li, I can help her with a sponge bath. She shouldn’t get her wounds wet.”

Aunty Zhu said it naturally, as if she were just taking care of her own children. Besides, she had been the one to help Xiao Li change into clean clothes.

But while the speaker had no particular intention, the listener had other ideas. Jin Ye waved Aunty Zhu away, pointed at Xiao Li, and then at herself. “I’ll help her.”

Xiao Li’s eyes widened for a second. For some reason, her ears burned bright red. She hesitated for a long time before translating Jin Ye’s words to Aunty Zhu.

Aunty Zhu was puzzled. “Jin Ye has wounds. Won’t you infect each other if you touch?”

Jin Ye said with a serious face, “Don’t worry, I’ll avoid her wounds.”

Tang Yu covered her mouth, trying to stifle her laughter. She gestured for Aunty Zhu to leave with her. The rest was not for them to worry about.

Tang Yu discovered that during the three days they were away, the aunties had continued to work on the village’s construction in an orderly fashion. The camp’s public bathhouse had already been built. The temporary washroom they had made from old wooden planks had now been replaced by a small cabin made of logs. To make carrying water easier, it was built near the cooking stove.

The bathhouse was even divided into two sides: one for Tang Yu, Jin Ye, and Lu Lu, and the other for the aunties, Xiao Li, and Zhou Zhou. The wooden tubs and shower gels were kept separate, greatly reducing the risk of infection.

Moreover, the large cooking stove was complete. They had even used the leftover cement to build a simple kiln for baking and keeping food warm. At that moment, firewood was burning in the kiln, and though she couldn’t tell what was cooking, there was a faint aroma of meat.

Before long, the sky began to darken. Tang Yu changed into a set of clean clothes, her hair already dry. Li Xishi gave Tang Yu a new hair tie, which had a pink glass cherry charm dangling from it. It was clearly something spared from little Li Qianqian’s supplies.

Tang Yu cut off the pink cherry, returned it to Li Qianqian, and then tied her hair up high with the plain black hair tie, making her look energetic and spirited.

Aunty Zhu called everyone for dinner. The large group of villagers gathered in the courtyard, chattering away. The few tables and stools newly crafted by the tool group were put to use. The tables weren’t painted and felt rough to the touch, but they gave off a faint woody scent.

To Tang Yu’s surprise, four kiln-baked chickens were placed on the table. Aunty Zhu, exclaiming how hot it was, broke off the mud and ash caked around the wild chickens. A rich, meaty aroma instantly wafted out. The golden-brown chicken skin glistened with hot oil, making one’s mouth water.

Tang Yu’s eyes lit up. She hadn’t eaten anything good for days.

Besides the roasted chicken, there were also some stir-fried wild vegetables and crucian carp soup, served with fragrant white rice. It was pure bliss.

Aunty Zhu had intentionally made a lot of food, thinking of helping Tang Yu and the others recuperate. The wild chickens had been caught by the tool group. With Xiao Li and Tang Yu from the kitchen group both out of the village for the past two days, everyone had helped Aunty Zhu find food. The iron cages brought back from North Stream Camp had been cut open and made into simple hunting traps, which were placed on the back mountain. As it turned out, they had managed to catch quite a few wild chickens and rabbits.

Aunty Zhu used a clean bowl and chopsticks to set aside a little of each dish. She was still thinking of the immobile Xiao Li and Zhou Zhou, who had left the village. “Leave some for the two girls. You all eat slowly. I’ll take this to Xiao Li… Huh? Why isn’t Jin Ye out for dinner yet?”

Tang Yu stopped Aunty Zhu, who was about to go into the room to find Jin Ye. She gestured with some hums and grunts, then pushed Aunty Zhu back to the table, telling her not to worry. Aunty Zhu, confused, was pressed onto a stool and had no choice but to pick up her bowl and chopsticks and start eating.

After a long while, Jin Ye finally emerged from the room. A faint smile played on her lips, and she seemed lost in thought, looking as if she had just been fished out of a pot of honey.

Tang Yu waved. “Jin Ye, come eat.”

Jin Ye picked up the portion set aside for Xiao Li. “I’ll take this to Xiao Li first, before the food gets cold.”

Tang Yu, her cheeks puffed with rice, turned her head back, feeling amused. Xiao Li had just had such a large bowl of fish soup; she couldn’t be hungry.

Tsk, these two were really too much to watch.

Just as they were finishing their meal, Zhou Zhou rushed back to the village. She was covered in bloodstains and carried a thick, foul smell. Her sudden appearance at the dinner table was somewhat frightening.

Tang Yu put down her chopsticks and asked Zhou Zhou with a serious expression, “Are you hurt?”

Zhou Zhou smiled. “No, this is snake bl00d that splashed on me when I was removing the iron anchors. The anchors were fused with the snake flesh, and I had to carve out a large chunk of meat to get them out. The bl00d, it was like a fountain.”

Tang Yu relaxed and asked, “How did it go? Was the surgery successful?”

“It was okay. I’ve only removed two of the four anchors so far. There was too much bl00d loss, so it’s not good to remove them all at once. I’ll have to go back in a few days. Both snakes are a bit weak now and will be recuperating at the Old Blind Man’s place for a while.”

After speaking, Zhou Zhou placed her leather case back in her room.

After leaving Ghost Valley, all of them—humans, zombies, and snakes alike—were injured to varying degrees and needed a period of quiet recuperation. It sounded rather miserable, but just being able to return to the village alive was a great fortune.

For some reason, Tang Yu thought of Song Lengzhu’s leg injury. She sighed. Even Song Lengzhu was injured, let alone them.

She wondered if Song Lengzhu would still be pushing herself to do missions while her injury healed. Tang Yu shoveled a couple more mouthfuls of rice into her mouth, then thought that given Song Lengzhu’s personality, she probably wouldn’t care about such a wound. Besides, Zhou Zhou had said they didn’t have a permanent base. They might very well start working to earn points again tomorrow.

So competitive, Tang Yu judged internally.

By the time everyone had finished eating, the sky had turned completely dark. The aunties automatically picked up their guns and stood guard at the village entrance. Zombies had been visiting daily, so everyone had grown accustomed to this rhythm. They could even make small talk during the lulls in shooting, as leisurely and natural as fanning themselves on a summer night.

This was also thanks to the fact that there weren’t many zombies around the village. In this remote, wild settlement, only four or five zombies visited each night, ten at most on a busy night.

Tang Yu looked at the defenses at the village entrance and noticed they had been reinforced. But it was too dark to see clearly, so she decided to take a better look in the morning.

The next day, after the sun rose, Tang Yu found Lu Lu and they took a walk around the village.

Lu Lu excitedly pointed to the defensive line around the village. The simple wooden spikes had been replaced with more advanced wooden fences. At present, the fence was only about half-finished, and many deep pits had been dug beside it.

Lu Lu said with a proud look, “The current wooden spike defense is too weak; zombies can easily climb over. With you guys gone, our firepower wasn’t quite enough, so everyone decided to build these wooden posts. They’re very stable and tall enough. Once the village has electricity, we’ll add a layer of electric fencing outside. Two layers of protection will be super effective.”

Tang Yu looked at the chattering Lu Lu and tilted her head. “Your idea?”

Lu Lu scratched her head, embarrassed. “Ah… yes.”

Tang Yu was very happy. She had noticed early on that Lu Lu had a talent for organizing things. Later, as the administrator for borrowing and returning supplies, she had done an excellent job. Lu Lu kept clear records of all the complex supplies, one by one.

Although the young girl was still a bit hesitant when fighting zombies, she was remarkably adept at camp construction.

Tang Yu squinted, smiling mischievously at Lu Lu. She had made up her mind: Lu Lu would be the general manager of “A Close and Loving Family.”

Walking further, Tang Yu noticed that a large foundation had been dug next to the old earthen houses, to be used for building new wooden ones.

By now it was broad daylight, and the people in the camp were already bustling with activity, each engrossed in their work.

Aunty Pang’s team was standing by the foundation. The group was gathered together, staring at a piece of paper and discussing it animatedly.

Tang Yu went closer for a look. In Aunty Pang’s hand was the blueprint for the house that Jin Ye had drawn earlier. The lines on the paper were crooked and twisted, just like the expressions on the aunties’ faces.

Seeing Tang Yu and Lu Lu approach, Aunty Pang greeted them and pointed at the drawing. “Xiao Tang, we can’t make heads or tails of this thing, so we’re just going to build it as we go, alright? What it turns out to be will be up to fate.”

Almost no one in the village knew how to build a house. Although some had participated in the process of building their own houses in the countryside, constructing a wooden house from scratch was very difficult. No one had very high expectations.

Tang Yu nodded. She had no special requirements; as long as it was livable, it was fine.

Aunty Pang was relieved and waved her hand grandly. “But, after we’ve built one, we’ll have experience. By next year, our construction team will be able to build a big villa for everyone in the village! Three stories, with private bathrooms, and we’ll even put in a swimming pool!” Aunty Pang had always had a great attitude and strong execution ability. Now, even her bragging sounded incredibly convincing.

Everyone roared with laughter. For a moment, they didn’t seem like people struggling to survive in this world, but rather people full of hope for the future.

Tang Yu took a deep breath, her heart filled with warmth. The sense of urgency from constantly being on the edge of life and death was completely swept away. She felt an unprecedented sense of relaxation.

This is great. She liked her camp.