Surviving the Game as a Zombie - Chapter 80

Xiao Qi chattered on, “We’ve been in the park for two days, tracking that Leader. Tonight, we heard screams from the main building and followed them from the biological experiment building. We happened upon Zombie A and Zombie B fighting with some players. See that corpse next door? That was their team. There were originally five people in that player team. By the time we arrived, three players had already been assimilated. Then, we were also besieged.”

Zhou Zhou interrupted Xiao Qi, “Wait, Zombie A and Zombie B? Are you referring to the mysterious person’s two zombie allies?”

Xiao Qi said, “Ah, the mysterious person. So that’s what you call her. We call her the Leader. Based on our two encounters, her team composition is different from yours. The human is the leader, and the two zombies, A and B, are her subordinates. The taller zombie is called A, and the shorter one is B. You’ll know when you run into them.”

Zhou Zhou nodded and gestured for her to continue.

Xiao Qi continued, “Zombies A and B are sentient. They use weapons, employ tactics, and even team up with other wandering zombies to attack us. That player team couldn’t hold on and quickly kicked the bucket. The last one to die was disemboweled on the spot by Zombie A, who then ate in front of us.”

Xiao Qi felt sick just thinking about it. They were tied down by numerous bl00d zombies at the time and couldn’t spare the attention to save anyone else. Zombie A had provocatively gnawed on the corpse, and the gurgling sounds of flesh being churned and smacked around had dealt a significant mental blow to Xiao Qi.

“The fight happened in another room. Before you arrived, three waves of zombies had already besieged us, drawn by the light. That’s why we turned off our flashlights and moved to this conference room ten minutes ago.”

“The terrifying part is, at some point, that corpse was placed neatly on the sofa in the reception room. It must have been Zombie A. This is a provocation. It knows we’re here.”

Zhou Zhou’s expression turned serious. “You mean, they’re nearby right now?”

“Very likely. But they haven’t launched an active attack in a long time. Just now, we thought it couldn’t hold back anymore and was breaking in,” Xiao Qi said.

Xiao Li couldn’t help but interject, “Only Zombies A and B? You didn’t see the Leader?”

“The Leader wasn’t there,” Song Lengzhu replied. “Did you see her?”

“It was like… we saw a shadow, which is why we chased her all the way here. You’ve met her face-to-face. Is she about my height?” Xiao Li asked.

Song Lengzhu glanced at Xiao Li’s height and nodded. “Yes, about the same as you. She’s small, but her face doesn’t look young. She’s probably in her forties.”

Everyone was a little surprised. They had initially assumed the so-called Leader was a young person like Xiao Li. If she was an older player, their greatest fear was that her experience and strategy would far surpass their own. They had met a formidable opponent.

The Leader had also disappeared here, which meant she and her subordinates were likely lying in wait nearby.

Tang Yu looked at the two doors of the conference room. The twins had propped a few chairs against them. These chairs certainly couldn’t stop zombies; they were just an early warning system. Outside the door, wandering zombies occasionally passed by, their footsteps fading into the distance.

Neither team planned to make a rash move. If the Leader really did burst in with her subordinates, they weren’t afraid. It would save them the trouble of searching the entire restricted area for her.

Tang Yu refocused her thoughts. She pointed at Song Lengzhu’s attire, then habitually curled her index finger into a question mark above her head. This was a common communication method they had used in the ancient tomb, and Tang Yu had done it subconsciously.

Song Lengzhu hadn’t expected to see Tang Yu make that gesture again. She was slightly stunned for a moment before answering, “A protective suit. There’s a high-risk area in the biological experiment building behind the main building.”

Upon hearing this, Zhou Zhou slapped the table. “No wonder there was a biohazard symbol on the wire fence! What’s the lab’s hazard level? Is it marked?”

“Level 2.”

Zhou Zhou relaxed. “That’s a relief.” A Level 2 biohazard is common in basic biological diagnostics and fundamental medical research. Most agents at this level cause acute illness through airborne, skin, or mucous membrane transmission. Generally, they aren’t immediately fatal, which was much less severe than Zhou Zhou had anticipated.

Tang Yu thought of something else. Song Lengzhu’s team were all accustomed to using firearms, but no one had used a gun during the recent fight. The question was written on her face, and she formed her fingers into the shape of a gun.

Xiao Qi caught sight of Tang Yu’s gesture and teased, “Doesn’t your team have someone who can talk? Translate for me, I don’t understand.”

But Song Lengzhu had already answered, “Gunshots are too loud. They’ll attract a lot of mutated creatures, not just zombies.”

Xiao Qi hissed and sheepishly retracted her head. Since when could their captain communicate with a zombie?

Tang Yu ignored Xiao Qi. After hearing Song Lengzhu’s answer, she suddenly recalled Li Luo’s words. Li Luo had said that all living things in the restricted area had mutated. They had been lucky enough not to encounter any yet, but Tang Yu had no idea what kind of mutations these creatures had undergone.

Fortunately, her companions all had handy melee weapons.

“By the way,” Song Lengzhu suddenly added as a reminder, “even late at night, there are still some players active in the restricted area. I think it’s best for you to keep a low profile.”

Tang Yu pouted. She wanted to keep a low profile, too. In fact, she was already being very low-key.

Tang Yu put her baseball cap back on. During the fight, both her cap and tool pouch had fallen to the ground. The tool pouch was broken, so she had to put it in her backpack, leaving no place to hang her camping lantern.

Just then, an idea popped into Zhou Zhou’s head. Her gaze darted back and forth between the two teams several times before she asked, “Say, should we team up?”

She turned sideways to face Tang Yu, appearing to ask for her opinion, but her eyes were on Song Lengzhu. After all, teaming up wasn’t something one team could decide on its own.

Tang Yu pursed her lips without speaking. Teaming up with Song Lengzhu had its pros and cons. The pro was that they would essentially be latching onto a powerhouse, more than doubling their overall combat strength. Even if they encountered a tricky situation, they could lend each other a hand. The con was that it would be much harder for them to hide their identities.

Most of the players here would surely recognize Song Lengzhu, and there were plenty who were either friends or foes. If they ran into anyone, their four extra members would definitely attract attention. They would be a bigger target than if they acted alone, hiding in the shadows.

Besides, Song Lengzhu would surely not agree to this. Her own team’s overall strength was on the lower side, and their identities were sensitive. From Song Lengzhu’s perspective, the cons would definitely outweigh the pros. It would also confirm the forum rumors about her “having a relationship with a zombie.”

This was different from Ghost Valley, where the two of them had been forced into an alliance. Now, the other party had a choice.

There was another reason for Tang Yu’s hesitation. During the fight, she hadn’t known the other party’s identity and had used her teleportation ability. Although the distance was very short and it was too dark to see clearly, she was still worried that Song Lengzhu had noticed her abnormality and would develop the intention of eliminating her.

What should she do?

While Tang Yu was deep in thought, Song Lengzhu looked at her, gazing directly into her eyes, which reflected the lamplight.

From beginning to end, the changes in Song Lengzhu’s expression were extremely subtle. After hearing Zhou Zhou’s proposal, her brow furrowed almost imperceptibly for a moment before relaxing without a trace. There was no other hesitant reaction.

Tang Yu felt a lump in her throat. It was this kind of eye contact again. Song Lengzhu could always stare into someone’s eyes so openly, making one’s heart flutter with unease. It was the unconscious gaze of a powerful person; Song Lengzhu herself was probably unaware of the sharpness and pressure in her eyes.

Even someone as extroverted as Tang Yu found it difficult to meet her gaze directly.

The conference room fell silent for a moment. No one spoke.

Song Lengzhu wasn’t in a hurry. She was waiting for Tang Yu to speak, waiting for her to give an answer first, before she would respond.

To agree or to refuse.

“Huh?” The first to break the silence was Xiao Li. “What’s going on? It’s gone quiet.”

Xiao Qi retorted, “Aren’t we thinking? Of course it’s quiet.”

“Tsk, I mean, the hallway has gone quiet!” Xiao Li shot a glare at Xiao Qi, then turned her head to look at the conference room door.

Only then did everyone realize that the hallway had, at some point, become deathly silent. Even the sounds of the zombies that had been shuffling back and forth in the corridor earlier had vanished.

If the conference room hadn’t fallen silent, they wouldn’t have noticed this anomaly.

This large conference room only had windows on one side. The side near the hallway was a solid wall. Other than the one door for entry and exit, there was no way to see the situation in the hallway.

Song Lengzhu reacted quickly. She immediately stood up, stepped over an office chair, and positioned herself sideways by the door, her eyes fixed on the entrance. Xiao Qi and the twins deftly stood beside her, quickly assuming attack stances.

Not to be outdone, Tang Yu immediately led her teammates to guard the other door leading to the reception room.

One second, two seconds… time seemed to flow with excruciating slowness. The situation was mentally torturous. Tang Yu slowly exhaled, then quietly activated her precognition ability.

Strangely, in her premonition, nothing unusual would happen in the next minute. The hallway would remain silent. She didn’t know what was going on.

From Xiao Qi’s account, Tang Yu knew that this Leader and her zombie team behaved very strangely. They played tricks on people, displayed players on rocks as a show of force, and placed mutilated corpses neatly on sofas. The Leader clearly had the ability to launch a major offensive against players, but she remained elusive and unseen, seemingly focused on messing with people’s minds.

A minute later, the situation remained unchanged.

Song Lengzhu suddenly moved the office chair from behind the door, opened the door to the hallway with a click, and leaned out to look into the pitch-black corridor.

There was no attack, no sudden change. The hallway was as quiet as if the air had been sucked out of it, not a single sound could be heard.

Zhou Zhou moved over, covering the camping lantern with her hat to cast a faint light on the surrounding floor.

There were bloody footprints on the ground, as well as brown dirt from the park. They must have been left by the wandering bl00d zombies. The traces of bl00d and dirt were still fresh, and the chaotic footprints overlapped, making it impossible to discern any information.

Growing bolder, Zhou Zhou loosened her grip on the hat, shining the light a little further. On a clean patch of tile, two conspicuous footprints faced the direction of the stairwell.