Surviving the Game as a Zombie - Chapter 76

Xiao Li carefully went through the posts and found they were all vividly described, but none offered a detailed description of the zombies’ faces. One poster claimed that the zombie trio moved too fast to get a close look at them.

The people on the forum were horrified. It had only been a month or so, and the zombie trio had already become this strong?

Xiao Li shared this gossip with Tang Yu and Jin Ye for their amusement. They were munching on green plums, each carrying a hiking backpack and wearing a baseball cap as they walked along the dirt road toward the reservoir.

The truck and van they had left at the reservoir were still there. Jin Ye took on the role of driver and started the truck.

Contrary to the speculation of the livestream viewers, Tang Yu had put the matter of the restricted area out of her mind. Her goal was clear: head straight for A-City. The three of them cheerfully made their way into the urban area.

Some players were stationed in the city. Tang Yu and the others avoided them whenever possible, only resorting to long-range gunfire when an encounter was unavoidable.

When they occasionally ran into wandering zombies, Xiao Li would proactively take them out to earn points.

Following the list of items, they moved between various construction sites, hardware stores, and furniture malls, grunting and groaning as they hauled goods. They swept through like a whirlwind, resembling a gang of bandits.

The list the aunties had given them was incredibly long, and the quantities were large. Tang Yu collected even more than required to have a surplus, which took some time.

However, thanks to Jin Ye’s “Historical Footprints” and Tang Yu’s “Material Search” skills, they were already finding supplies quite rapidly.

During this time, they frequently encountered players trying to rob them of their supplies. After all, a large truck, piled high with goods and covered by a tarp, was a very conspicuous sight in broad daylight.

Fortunately, supplies in A-City weren’t abundant, so most of the players who remained were in small teams. Some players tried to sneak up to the truck at night while the trio took turns resting, hoping to steal some food or weapons. But once they climbed onto the truck, they were dumbfounded.

What is this? What the hell is this?

Utility poles, bags of cement, pliers, paint buckets…

An uninformed observer would think some player had lost their mind, collecting all this useless junk.

Tang Yu, who had been lying in ambush, emerged from under the tarp with a grin and swiped at him with her claws. Unfortunately for the thief, he instantly turned into a mindless zombie. Xiao Li popped her head out and immediately delivered the finishing blow.

A player was turned into 20 kill points, split between the two of them.

This method gave them a new idea, and they took turns working together whenever more players came looking for trouble.

However, they didn’t proactively provoke the teams stationed there. Their mission on this trip was to find supplies, and Tang Yu swore she would not get sidetracked.

The reason she had made this decision and ignored the information on the forums was that the camp’s food supply was truly running low.

Tang Yu had also considered making a trip to the restricted area, but if something went wrong and they couldn’t return for half a month, the aunties in the village would go hungry. If the aunties couldn’t wait and formed their own team to enter the city, they would be in trouble if they ran into players trying to steal their supplies.

So, Tang Yu decided to obediently gather the supplies first and transport them back before doing anything else.

They spent three days continuously collecting. They gathered all the necessary tools and daily necessities, but food was more difficult to find. On their previous trip back to the camp, they had nearly emptied the supermarkets of all edible goods, and with other players scavenging as well, there was nothing left to eat.

Tang Yu set her search target to “rice” and circled A-City twice. In the end, she found the rice she was looking for in the warehouse of a courier company.

This warehouse was on the basement level, likely an extra space rented by the courier company for transit, which was why there was no sign on it. If it weren’t for Tang Yu’s item-locating ability, they would never have found this place.

The warehouse was sealed very tightly. There was an outer roll-up door, a steel bar gate in the middle, and an electronically controlled iron gate at the very back.

These obstacles couldn’t stop the trio’s blades. With some effort, they cut a small hole in the side of the door.

Before they could even step inside, they were met by a foul-smelling zombie companion. Its rotting face squeezed through the hole, trying to bite them upon seeing people. But after extending its neck halfway, it hesitated.

Tang Yu and Jin Ye also looked like zombies.

However, for zombies, the two of them were quite clean. They had no rotting flesh, so their scent was faint. The zombie only hesitated for half a second before resuming its attack.

Xiao Li, at the side, quickly dealt with the zombie that had stuck its body out.

Tang Yu moved the zombie’s corpse aside and stepped into the warehouse.

They discovered that the zombie seemed to have been guarding the gate. Even while attacking, its hand had remained on the gate lever on the wall.

A closer look revealed its intention. About a dozen zombies in work uniforms were wandering inside the warehouse. Their clothes were stained with bl00d, a clear sign that some tragedy had occurred here on the day of the infection.

This worker guarding the gate probably didn’t want the zombies to escape onto the streets, so he had pulled the gate down with all his might.

Unfortunately, his efforts were in vain. The world outside had long since changed.

Xiao Li dealt with the zombies that rushed toward them one by one. These zombies had not been in contact with their kind outside, so their movements were even more sluggish.

Therefore, Tang Yu guessed that the zombies were indeed evolving. These isolated ones still retained the appearance of first-generation zombies.

The three of them surveyed the large warehouse. There were no signs of humans or players having been here. It was piled high with stranded and unopened packages, all of which were now ownerless.

Not only did they find the oil, rice, and flour they had been searching for, but there were also many daily necessities.

The three of them spent a long time sorting through the items, tossing aside packages on the surface that might have been touched by zombies and taking the ones from the inside and bottom.

There were simply too many supplies. They decided to take everything they could use back in one go. The gate here was already broken, and it would soon be discovered by other players. If they came back next time, all that would be left for them would be cardboard boxes.

Tang Yu stared at the cardboard boxes. No, wait, the cardboard boxes were useful too. She gathered the dismantled boxes and loaded them onto the truck parked on the ground level.

She hadn’t noticed when they first came in, but while moving things, Tang Yu discovered several large cargo trucks parked at the warehouse’s basement exit. They were presumably the courier company’s transport vehicles. These fully enclosed trucks had enormous capacity and were perfect for transporting goods.

The three of them conferred. With so many goods, why not just have each of them drive a truck back? There were operating instructions, after all.

They immediately got to work, transforming into movers. They worked from morning until night, even finding dollies and other tools in a corner to help transport the goods. In the end, they just took the dollies back with them too.

And so, they cleared out two-thirds of the massive warehouse, only stopping when they truly couldn’t fit anything more.

Under the cover of night, two large, fully enclosed cargo trucks and one semi-enclosed large truck drove stylishly along the roads of A-City. Tang Yu’s face beamed with the joy of a bountiful harvest; she was incredibly happy.

Once the dirt road to the camp was cleared, they could drive directly to the area below the village. The road was a bit difficult, but they reached the mountainside with a few scares but no real danger.

The sky was still dark. Lu Lu woke up all the sleeping aunties, not missing a single one, and they all went to the village entrance to move the goods.

At first, everyone was still groggy with sleep, but the sight of three whole truckloads of supplies instantly woke them up. The aunties were grinning from ear to ear, exclaiming in amazement. Their voices, along with the chirping of the early morning birds, made the entire village unusually lively.

The group spent almost the entire day unpacking packages and organizing items. The haul was much larger than they had imagined. The construction materials had been painstakingly scavenged by Tang Yu, Jin Ye, and Xiao Li, and there were few tools among the packages, but there were a great many daily necessities.

Things like oil, rice, flour, dish soap, body wash, cat food, dog food, vitamins, and all sorts of clothes—a miscellaneous collection that would last the aunties for a very long time. Lu Lu recorded the items designated as public supplies in a ledger, and the disposable consumables were distributed among everyone.

Besides these non-perishable items, there were also a considerable number of rotten fruits and foods. These were no longer edible and were buried in the ground, but the foam boxes and cardboard that held the fruit were kept. No one wasted a thing.

Tang Yu was very happy. The food they had scavenged this time would be enough to feed everyone for a good while.

After dinner, the group sat in the courtyard petting the little black cat, watching as the “hydroelectric team” of aunties strung up wires and installed electric lights. They had brought back plenty of wires, power strips, and light bulbs this time. The aunties decided to install lights in the courtyard, kitchen, and shower room first.

Before, everyone had to rush to finish their meals and daily routines before dark. Now, they finally didn’t have to be in such a hurry. They could even install a light bulb in every room. The generator Tang Yu had “stolen” earlier was powerful enough to supply electricity to the entire village.

As Xiao Li watched, she suddenly let out a cry and shot up from her stool.

Tang Yu and Jin Ye looked at her, puzzled. Xiao Li quickly said, “Quick, look at what I sent to the camp group! Someone saw Song Lengzhu in the Zone 2 Restricted Area.”

Tang Yu’s heart skipped a beat. She quickly opened the camp group to check. Sure enough, someone had posted that they had seen Song Lengzhu’s team in the restricted area. The poster’s conclusion was: “Since Song Lengzhu also showed up, those three must be the zombie trio, no doubt about it.” And, “Song Lengzhu is definitely connected to the zombies.”

Not many players knew Tang Yu, but a great number knew Song Lengzhu. Since someone had seen her, it was possible she had really gone there.

What for? A mission? Tang Yu’s brain couldn’t figure it out.

Xiao Li was clearly thinking along the same lines. She said, “Wherever Song Lengzhu is, there’s a mission. Looks like there are points to be earned in the restricted area. Should we go?”

Ever since she had recovered from her injuries, Xiao Li had become particularly enthusiastic about earning points.

Neither Jin Ye nor Tang Yu spoke. No one here knew much about the restricted area. They weren’t sure what kind of threats they would face.

Just then, Xiao Li cried out “Ah!” again. She copied a new post. The post stated that the zombie trio was slaughtering players who entered the restricted area with extreme cruelty. The poster had discovered that not a single body left by the players was intact; their internal organs were mostly gone, obviously having been devoured by the zombies.

The post described the details with great vividness. The number of replies surged in an instant. They cursed the zombie trio for their vicious methods, wondering how the human among them could stand by and watch her own kind be eaten by zombies. At the same time, they grew more fearful of the zombie trio.

These people certainly didn’t have such a high sense of morality when they were killing others themselves.

Jin Ye frowned. “This is making enemies for us.”

Not only was it making them enemies, but it was also exaggerating their strength. In the future, if any players encountered them, they would surely not hesitate to use their strongest defenses and most ferocious firepower to attack first. They wouldn’t even have the chance to pretend to be weak.

With certain people fanning the flames, the forum’s front page had been flooded with posts related to the Zone 2 Restricted Area for the past two days. Even players who didn’t care about the zombie trio would start to take notice of their existence.

Tang Yu’s expression turned serious. She couldn’t figure out where these three impostors had come from or why they were making such a big scene. She said grimly, “Let’s go. We’ll go to the restricted area and see for ourselves.”