Surviving the Game as a Zombie - Chapter 81

These two footprints were exceptionally different. One could tell at a glance that they were left by someone wearing shoes. The shoe shape was very small, and the ground only showed mud mixed with water stains, no bl00d. Amidst all the distinct, five-toed bloody footprints, they stood out conspicuously.

A guess immediately formed in everyone’s minds: it was the Leader.

The Leader had once stood right at their door.

Without a word, Song Lengzhu gestured to her teammates. Xiao Qi and the twins understood, and the group swiftly pursued the footprints, racing towards the stairwell.

Tang Yu froze for a moment. Song Lengzhu was truly bold and skilled, giving chase at a moment’s notice. They hadn’t even decided whether to act together yet. So now, should her team follow or not?

In the span of a few breaths, Song Lengzhu’s figure was quickly swallowed by the darkness. Judging by the sounds, she was already in the stairwell.

Tang Yu looked at Jin Ye. Their eyes met, and they read the same message.

To hell with it. Find the Leader first.

Tang Yu grabbed her backpack from the chair and charged out with a great stride, leading the way. Within moments, she was back in the original stairwell.

The stairwell was silent. Song Lengzhu had gone either up or down, but it was impossible to tell. Her team hadn’t turned on any lights, perhaps accustomed to moving in the dark within the restricted area. Now, not a single trace of them could be seen.

Tang Yu’s steps faltered, a baseless resentment welling up in her heart. As expected, Song Lengzhu didn’t want to work with them. Did she run so fast because she was afraid they would hold her back?

Following the resentment was a sense of loss that pricked at her heart. It was indescribable and subtle, yet it itched like a mosquito bite, impossible to ignore.

Tang Yu steadied herself. Forget it. She didn’t want to travel with Song Lengzhu anyway. She had been about to reject Professor Zhou’s proposal; she just hadn’t had the chance to say it.

She refused to believe that they couldn’t find the Leader without Song Lengzhu.

Jin Ye bumped Tang Yu’s shoulder. “Where did they go?”

“I don’t know. Zhou Zhou, come take a look.” Tang Yu made way for Zhou Zhou. Following behind, Zhou Zhou still kept the camping lantern muffled in her hat. By its faint light, everyone saw that the bloody footprints in the stairwell were a chaotic mess, so jumbled it seemed many bl00d zombies had passed through, making it impossible to discern a direction.

“Looks like a ghost army marched through here,” Zhou Zhou couldn’t help but mutter.

Jin Ye pondered, “Were the bl00d zombies summoned away by something?” She peered towards the third floor. The turn in the stairwell was pitch-black, with the faint outline of a handrail barely visible, making it hard to tell if it was part of the building or a living creature. It felt as if a beast could charge out at any second.

Zhou Zhou muffled the light even more tightly. Even on its lowest setting, the camping lantern’s beam was quite strong, capable of piercing the darkness for a meter around them. There were other mutants in this restricted area; they couldn’t be too conspicuous.

Tang Yu took a step toward the third floor. Just as she set foot on the first stone step, a faint sound abruptly echoed from the first-floor hall.

It sounded like a piece of glass on the floor being stepped on, a crunching noise that was very brief but particularly jarring in the current silence.

“Let’s go.” Tang Yu immediately retracted her foot from the third-floor stairs and darted down.

When they returned to the hall, there was nothing unusual, as if the sound just now had been Tang Yu’s imagination.

Suddenly, a figure flashed at the edge of the dim light. A dark silhouette appeared to the right of the broken electronic screen. Tang Yu hastily raised her knife, only to see the shadow raise a hand and wave. “Over here.”

It was Song Lengzhu’s voice. They hadn’t left.

Tang Yu secretly breathed a sigh of relief. The faint itch in her heart vanished, replaced by a growing sense of security.

It was better to act together. There was strength in numbers, and their chances of success would be higher.

Tang Yu saw no problem with her 180-degree turn in thinking. A woman’s got to be flexible.

The group quickly followed and found another small hall behind the electronic screen. This hall also contained research exhibits. Further ahead was a sliding glass door that led directly to the cluster of buildings behind.

The glass door was already shattered, leaving only a bare frame and handle. Xiao Qi and the twins were squeezing through the gap, examining the tracks on the ground.

Tang Yu glanced at the glass shards at Song Lengzhu’s feet, confirming that the sound from earlier had been made by them, not some other creature.

That was a relief.

Tang Yu avoided the broken glass on the floor, approached the back door, and peered out into the campus grounds. The area behind was vast. Judging by the silhouettes of the other buildings, they were some distance from the main building, with uneven dark shapes in between—it was unclear if they were structures or living things.

Song Lengzhu reminded Zhou Zhou, “From here on, you can’t use the light. This used to be a green belt.”

Tang Yu didn’t understand at first what a green belt had to do with not using lights. But upon further thought, her muscles tensed. It meant that this rear area originally had many living creatures, which had likely all mutated.

Anywhere there was a green belt, there would be no shortage of insects, birds, rats, and ants.

And as it happened, most insects like mosquitoes and moths were phototactic. No wonder Song Lengzhu’s group hadn’t even taken out a light.

Zhou Zhou immediately put away the camping lantern, stuffing it into her backpack.

As the only source of light was cut off, a tide of darkness instantly submerged them. Fortunately, visibility was better outdoors than in the conference room.

It was now late at night, and the clouds in the sky had dispersed somewhat. With the help of the flickering starlight, if one looked carefully, it was possible to make out objects an arm’s length away. They weren’t completely blind.

Tang Yu quietly activated her enhanced vision. In an instant, the black cloth before her eyes seemed to become more transparent. She could clearly see the expression on Song Lengzhu’s face two meters away, as well as her deep eyes.

Looking towards the green belt again, Tang Yu discovered that the dark shapes from before were pillars and flowerbeds set up in the park. For some reason, however, the flowerbeds were completely bare. Thinking back, they hadn’t seen a single blade of grass on the campus grounds.

The bl00d zombies that should have been active in the park were nowhere to be seen. From time to time, enormous dark shadows crawled across the ground, their species unknown.

Just then, a beam of light suddenly shone from a building diagonally ahead. It looked like a flashlight, shaking violently and moving quickly, as if someone was running.

Listening closely, they could even hear faint voices.

There were players in that building, likely under attack.

Could it be that the bl00d zombies had all gathered in the buildings behind?

Without a word, Song Lengzhu tapped her toes on the ground, leaped over the broken glass, and led Xiao Qi and the twins toward the source of the light.

This time, Tang Yu was prepared. Almost at the same moment Song Lengzhu moved, she pulled Jin Ye and Xiao Li along and broke into a run. Zhou Zhou followed with ease, not falling behind in the slightest.

Although neither team had verbally confirmed the proposal to “act together,” based on the current situation, they were already doing just that.

While running, Xiao Li lost her footing, tripped by a dark shadow scurrying underfoot. Jin Ye immediately reached out to steady her by the waist. But as she did, her hand touched not clothing, but a pile of furry things that radiated a scorching heat.

At the same time, Xiao Li let out a sharp cry and stumbled back, slapping at her waist and abdomen. A football-sized shadow shot up from her body and, in a flash, lunged at the face of Jin Ye, who was closest.

Tang Yu had already turned her head when Xiao Li stumbled. She saw it clearly: the giant ball of fur was none other than a massive rat. At that moment, the rat’s eyes were red, its sharp teeth bared, and its limbs spread wide. It leaped into the air like a bat, intending to latch onto Jin Ye’s face.

Jin Ye was quick-witted, swiftly crossing her arms to protect her face. The giant rat’s momentum was blocked, and it landed on her arm, its four limbs gripping her sleeve tightly, impossible to shake off. Jin Ye grunted, her movements faltering for a moment. The rat’s overgrown claws had actually pierced through her clothes and embedded themselves in her flesh.

Tang Yu’s knife arrived immediately. As the tip of the blade touched the rat’s body, the creature suddenly changed its attack, scrambling along the blade and turning to lunge at Tang Yu’s face.

Its speed was incredible. Its body was like an inflated balloon, yet its mobility was not hindered in the slightest. Its exposed incisors were pitch-black, and its body was filthy, as if it carried a host of bacteria. It was clearly not in a normal state.

Tang Yu flicked the Startling Dragon, flipping the blade and forcefully throwing the giant rat off. The moment the rat hit the ground, it swiftly climbed up Tang Yu’s pant leg, its claws gripping the fabric as it scrambled upward again.

Tang Yu’s scalp tingled. More than fear, it was disgust. Why did this rat keep trying to climb on people?

She twisted her wrist, reversing her grip on the knife, and stabbed downward along her own pant leg. Heedless of whether she might injure herself, she drove the blade straight through the rat’s abdomen. With a forceful flick, the entire giant rat, along with half her pant leg, was sent flying, landing on its back on the ground.

Before the giant rat could right itself, Jin Ye, who was beside her, quickly followed up with another strike, her thin sword piercing straight through its abdomen.

But the rat did not die. Its impaled body continued to squirm, letting out intermittent squeaks. Soon, everyone noticed that in the surrounding darkness, crawling black shadows were surging from all directions.

The four of them felt their scalps crawl, their palms breaking out in a cold sweat. Song Lengzhu’s group, which had already moved ahead, had also stopped in their tracks, brandishing their weapons. They were clearly under attack as well.

These mutants were completely different from animals infected by zombies. These animals were clearly still alive, their body temperatures strangely high. Judging by their attack patterns, they still possessed the high intelligence of rats, a stark contrast to the zombie animals that could only charge blindly.

These were much more difficult creatures to deal with.

The injured giant rat was still writhing. Jin Ye swiftly withdrew her sword, turned, and swung again, chopping the rat in two. Only then did the giant rat finally stop moving.

The dark shadows closed in. Cold sweat beaded on Tang Yu’s forehead. These shadows weren’t just rats; there were also other insects drawn to the commotion, like ants and centipedes, and there were many of them. The bodies of these mutated animals had nearly all doubled in size. As far as the eye could see, the shadows swarmed, and it was impossible to know how many more were hidden in the darkness.

Xiao Li cried out in alarm, “Song Lengzhu, how do we deal with these mutated creatures?” Song Lengzhu’s team had been here for two days; they must have more experience than them.

A single-syllable reply came from a few meters away, the message simple and clear: “Run.”

Damn it, Xiao Li cursed inwardly. That was as good as saying nothing at all.

As the word fell, Tang Yu’s group of four stopped tangling with the creatures and took off at a full sprint, diving into the cluster of buildings behind them.

Unfortunately, the mutated rats ran even faster than humans. Zhou Zhou, running at the back, felt a claw snag her pant leg. She immediately accelerated, and in the blink of an eye, she shot to the very front of the group of four.

This left Xiao Li and Jin Ye at the rear. Tang Yu’s steps faltered. She fell back a step and urged Jin Ye and Xiao Li to run ahead while she covered the rear.

These giant rats would only die if they were dismembered. Tang Yu took a breath, leaned forward, and swung her knife with both hands. The tip scraped against the ground, creating a shower of sparks that forced back two pursuing rats. After the strike, Tang Yu didn’t linger, turning to retreat.

Tang Yu quickly caught up with the person in front, only to realize it was Song Lengzhu. Tang Yu was surprised. Song Lengzhu was guarding the rear of the team, which didn’t seem like her style. She wasn’t the type to willingly stay behind to rescue teammates; her personality suggested she would only tell her teammates not to drag her down.

But now, this woman was indeed running at the very back.

Tang Yu could only attribute it to her setting a good example for Song Lengzhu.

This park area was wide, with a stone path in the center and two large lawns. At this moment, the lawns were swarming with mutants, while the stone-paved areas had fewer. The group ran onto the stone path, and with just a few more steps, they would be able to rush into the dark building ahead.

The giant rats seemed unwilling to let these humans escape into the building. They suddenly leaped with all their might. Four or five giant rats soared into the air, pouncing directly at Tang Yu and Song Lengzhu.

Tang Yu blocked one, but another latched firmly onto her clothes, hanging from the shoulder of her knife-wielding arm. Its sharp claws pierced through her clothes and into her flesh, a searing pain. Seeing this rat preparing to jump and aim for her face, Tang Yu balled her empty hand into a fist and, with all her strength, struck the rat as it leaped into the air. In the brief moment her right hand was free, she swung her knife, slicing the giant rat in two mid-air.

Warm bl00d splattered onto Tang Yu’s shoes, a disgusting sight. Tang Yu stomped her feet as she retreated.

Looking at Song Lengzhu, she was handling it with much more ease. The giant rats’ claws couldn’t get a grip on the slippery protective suit she wore. Not a single one had managed to get close to her.

Tang Yu finally understood why Song’s group insisted on wearing these ugly clothes.

Ugly, but useful!

The eight of them successfully ducked into the building. The buildings in the back were ordinary rectangular structures. There was no grand hall; entering the first floor led directly to elevators and stairs.

A small number of mutants were still pursuing them into the building. The eight of them quickly ran towards the stairwell. Just as they rounded the corner of the stairs, they ran into the group of players who had been waving the flashlight around earlier.

Someone shouted, “Holy crap! Why are there creepy things on the stairs too? Zombies or people?” Without waiting for an answer, he fired his weapon.

The man was holding a crossbow. The metal arrowhead had extreme penetrating power. Giving Tang Yu and Song Lengzhu almost no time to react, the bolt shot through the gap between them and embedded itself in the wall behind.

The weapon was powerful, but the aim was terrible.

Xiao Qi, at the front, leaped forward and knocked the crossbow out of the man’s hand with her staff, saying angrily, “Are you blind! What zombies, we’re human!” Only after speaking did she remember there was indeed a zombie on their team. With righteous indignation, she kicked the man’s shin to avenge the arrow shot.

The man was furious and was about to jump up and punch Xiao Qi when a burly figure behind him gave him a shove. “Get out of the way! Why aren’t you running, they’re catching up!”

With that, the two of them forcefully pushed past the group and stumbled down the stairs, muttering as they ran, “Eat them, eat them!”

Tang Yu turned to look up the stairwell. By the fading light of the flashlight, she saw the silhouette of a person appear at the top of the stairs.

The silhouette was fully clothed, so it shouldn’t be a corroded bl00d zombie. Based on the height, it wasn’t the Leader either.

“A, it’s A,” Xiao Qi, at the front, whispered before quickly chasing after it. The other seven hurriedly followed, stepping onto the second-floor corridor.

Once they were out of the stairwell, Tang Yu discovered that the A-zombie had already vanished. The things the two players had been shouting about catching up were also gone. There was only empty darkness.

Screams came from outside the building. The two players who had run out probably hadn’t expected the swarm of mutated rats that hadn’t dispersed. They must be scared out of their wits right now.

The howls reached the second floor, echoing far into the distance, but the A-zombie, which had appeared for just a moment, never showed itself again.

Jin Ye said uneasily, “Why does it feel like it’s luring us?”