Surviving the Game as a Zombie - Chapter 83

Zombie A heard Tang Yu’s muttering. It tilted its head, its eyes narrowing slightly. On its already stiff and dull face, its two round eyeballs were lifeless and vacant. It seemed to be carefully examining Tang Yu’s face, reacting to her words.

But the other party didn’t make a sound, nor did it stop its attack. In just a couple of breaths, its ferocious nature was revealed. It ignored Song Lengzhu and reached out to grab Tang Yu’s collar.

No, it doesn’t seem like a player. As Zombie A’s face loomed closer, Tang Yu could tell the difference. Although its movements were no different from a living person’s, its rigid face and gaze, just like a string puppet, clearly exuded the aura of a dead person, completely different from Jin Ye and Lu Lu.

It’s a real zombie.

Tang Yu hadn’t expected her question to turn her into a target. She quickly raised her hand to block Zombie A’s claws, swung her knife with the other, and twisted her body to evade its attack. Then, she swiftly lunged forward, the tip of her knife pointing straight at Zombie A’s throat.

Tang Yu couldn’t be sure if Zombie A understood her words, but one thing was certain: she had captured its attention.

This was not a good thing.

Zombie A completely gave up on attacking Song Lengzhu and instead pressed Tang Yu relentlessly. Its fingers formed claws, its nails grew explosively, and it aimed straight for Tang Yu’s neck, intending to restrain her.

Tang Yu was slightly startled. With Song Lengzhu drawing some of the fire before, she hadn’t found it too difficult. Now that she was Zombie A’s sole target, she realized she couldn’t hold her ground at all. As she turned to retreat, Zombie A grabbed her backpack. Tang Yu immediately unbuckled the waist strap of her hiking pack, executing a “golden cicada sheds its shell” maneuver. She abandoned the backpack and, using it as cover, spun around to thrust.

The opponent was no pushover either. It tossed the backpack aside with a flick of its hand, and the iron sheet in its hand slashed toward Tang Yu’s throat, its movements even faster than before.

Tang Yu had no choice but to give up her attack and focus on retreating. As a result, she lost the initiative and was forced into a corner by Zombie A.

At this moment, Jin Ye and Xiao Li were too far away, completely surrounded by Bl00d Zombies. They could barely protect themselves, let alone lend a hand.

Right now, only Song Lengzhu was close to her, but Song Lengzhu was being besieged by six other Bl00d Zombies and couldn’t spare any attention for her situation.

Tang Yu steeled herself. A weakling had to admit they were weak; there was no shame in asking for help in a moment of danger. She let out a yell.

“Ao-wu-zhu!”

But could Song Lengzhu clearly hear that she was calling her name?

From the moment Zombie A suddenly changed its target, Song Lengzhu had sensed that Tang Yu must have said something to attract its attention. It was from that moment that the six Bl00d Zombies behind it seemed to have been assigned a task, surrounding Song Lengzhu completely. They probably knew how skilled this woman was, so the Bl00d Zombies didn’t get close. They only pinned her down, attacking intermittently, their goal being to separate her from Zombie A.

But that wasn’t enough to stop her.

Just as Tang Yu uttered the three syllables, Song Lengzhu broke through an opening in the Bl00d Zombies’ encirclement. Hearing Tang Yu’s call, her heart stirred slightly. When she looked up, she saw Tang Yu being forced back against a glass tank by Zombie A.

Was she asking for help? Or was she cursing someone?

The little zombie holding the knife was dodging left and right, all her attacks failing, her fighting form already in disarray.

It looked like she was asking for help.

Her movements lack polish. Song Lengzhu commented internally. At the same time, she pushed off with her toes and, before the Bl00d Zombies could close in again, burst out of the encirclement and headed straight for Zombie A.

The zombies in the restricted area were indeed tough to deal with. Tang Yu urgently activated her precognition ability, but Zombie A still managed to grab her by the throat. She didn’t even know how it had attacked. In the blink of an eye, it had dodged her blade, seized her neck with one hand, and its overgrown nails dug vertically into her flesh, pinning her against the glass tank. If she were an ordinary person, she would have been infected by now.

Surrendering was out of the question. With her back against the metal frame of the glass tank, Tang Yu bent her knee and slammed it into Zombie A’s abdomen, simultaneously bringing her knife down on the arm that was choking her.

Zombie A didn’t dodge. The moment Tang Yu struck, it clamped down on her knife’s hilt. With a hard squeeze, just as Tang Yu lost her grip in a flash of pain, it freed a hand and quickly pressed something on the glass tank.

Tang Yu couldn’t stop it in time. She only heard a faint gurgling sound from the glass tank behind her, like water bubbling as it mixed with air. Immediately after, a dampness soaked the back of her collar. The nape of her neck, pressed against the wet cloth, suddenly felt a burning sensation, as if seared by sulfuric acid. The excruciating pain felt like her flesh was melting, and in the blink of an eye, a blister rose on her skin.

It all happened in an instant. Tang Yu had no time to react. The moment her precognition warned her something was wrong, she immediately used all her strength to fight against Zombie A’s grip. She tried desperately to pull her back away from the glass tank, but Zombie A pressed her firmly against it.

Damn it!

Tang Yu gritted her teeth so hard she could have shattered them. She switched her ability to instant movement. At this point, she couldn’t care less that Song Lengzhu was present. If she was discovered, so be it. Any later, and her back would be done for.

Just a second before she acted on the thought, Zombie A’s grip on her suddenly loosened slightly. Tang Yu immediately halted her movement and looked up to see Song Lengzhu’s familiar face.

Song Lengzhu was now standing behind Zombie A. A faintly glowing dagger flicked upward from under the zombie’s armpit, its blade directly severing the lower half of Zombie A’s hand bones.

This was the third time Tang Yu had seen her weapon extend, but now was not the time to worry about that.

As soon as she was free from the grip, Tang Yu immediately scrambled away from the glass tank and Zombie A, and quickly took off her outer jacket.

Reaching up to touch it, she found a patch of small blisters the size of her palm on the back of her neck. They burst at her touch, becoming a bloody mess. A burning sensation swept across half her back. Even with her zombie constitution, she couldn’t withstand the intense pain. Tang Yu had to bite down hard to keep from crying out.

The liquid from the glass tank was still seeping out. Tang Yu glanced over and saw a thin tube extending from below a small dot that had originally been glowing green. The liquid from the tank was dripping down through this tube. The flow was very small, not a steady stream.

It seemed to be a dispensing device for the apparatus.

It was a good thing the flow hadn’t formed a stream, or her back would have been a bloody, rotten mess by now.

The green light next to the tube had turned red. There was also a recessed button nearby. With quick eyes and fast hands, Tang Yu pressed it, and the thin tube finally retracted.

Looking up again, she saw the lab was in shambles. In the dim light, the bodies of Bl00d Zombies were scattered everywhere. Except for Song Lengzhu, who still seemed to be handling things with ease, Jin Ye and Xiao Li were back-to-back, clearly struggling.

Fortunately, not many Bl00d Zombies were left in the lab. Besides the one-armed Zombie A, only about ten others remained. Without a word, Tang Yu turned and rejoined the battle.

With one arm severed by Song Lengzhu, Zombie A’s combat effectiveness was greatly reduced. Tang Yu was furious, the burning pain in her back fueling her rage. She swung her knife repeatedly, coordinating with Song Lengzhu to force Zombie A back step by step.

Whatever its origin, it definitely has ill intentions.

The two of them only defended against the other Bl00d Zombies, focusing solely on dealing with Zombie A. After fighting for a while, Zombie A revealed an opening. Song Lengzhu struck, piercing its abdomen, and it began to show signs of defeat.

Suddenly, Zombie A stopped attacking, turned, and ran toward the wall.

The two couldn’t stop it in time. A gap appeared in the wall ahead—it was the secret door Tang Yu had partially destroyed earlier. Unknowingly, they had retreated to the area beside the glass tank. Seeing it was outmatched, Zombie A opened the secret door and slipped into the space behind it.

Tang Yu and Song Lengzhu didn’t hesitate, raising their knives and giving chase.

The moment the two of them stepped through the secret door, the faint light vanished from before their eyes, and darkness once again consumed their vision.

Tang Yu activated her enhanced vision ability again, only to see Zombie A suddenly leap out and swipe at her, still attempting a sneak attack.

Tang Yu leaned her head back, and by the time she turned back, Zombie A was already sprinting away, fleeing into the darkness.

It ran extremely fast. Tang Yu gave up the chase and immediately tapped her left hand to summon the game system. When the “Add Ally” scan box appeared, she aimed it at the dark figure two meters away.

The game panel showed no reaction.

Tang Yu was finally completely certain: Zombie A was not a player.

If the other party had the same identity as her, the system would have shown the “Add Ally” confirmation box, but it hadn’t.

Then why did it suddenly attack after she spoke? Tang Yu couldn’t figure it out.

In the moment she paused, Song Lengzhu had already taken the lead in pursuit. Unfortunately, Zombie A was very familiar with the layout here and quickly vanished into the darkness.

The moment Zombie A disappeared, the Bl00d Zombies remaining in the lab seemed to have their souls snatched away, reverting to ordinary Bl00d Zombies. The battle formation they had previously formed instantly collapsed, and their combat effectiveness plummeted. It was obvious that the mutation of these Bl00d Zombies was inextricably linked to A; they were puppets controlled by Zombie A.

This method of control was different from the C-Class Zombie King Tang Yu had encountered before. The range was much smaller, but the controlled Bl00d Zombies had strong autonomy and could think up their own tactics.

Could Zombie A also be a Zombie King? Tang Yu judged that with its abilities, it could at least qualify as a C-Class.

The ordinary Bl00d Zombies in the lab were quickly killed by the group who had returned. Looking at everyone’s injuries, none were light. Some were scratched by steel rods, others had suffered heavy blows. Jin Ye and Tang Yu, in particular, had been careless with their defense and had been clawed by zombies several times.

Everyone stopped worrying about the pursuit. Zhou Zhou rummaged through her backpack, pulled out some antibiotics and hemostatic medicine, and tossed them to the group to bandage themselves. She was quite generous, even offering some medicine to Song Lengzhu’s team.

Xiao Qi silently mused, Professor Zhou seems much more generous than before.

Tang Yu treated the wound on her hand and stood in front of the secret door, asking Jin Ye to help check the injury on her back.

Wearing only a tank top, Tang Yu exposed a large area of the back of her neck. The ends of her tied-up hair brushed against the festering wound, causing a ticklish, stinging pain.

She lifted the ends of her hair, revealing her neck. A palm-sized patch of skin was covered in small blisters, which oozed a white fluid when broken.

Zhou Zhou and Xiao Li also came closer. Zhou Zhou took out her camping lantern, shielded it with her hat, and shone a faint light on the wound. “This is a burn from a highly corrosive liquid.”

Hearing this, Song Lengzhu, who was returning from the secret door, stopped in her tracks. Her searching gaze fell on the back of Tang Yu’s neck. After staring for a moment, her expression changed. “Professor Zhou,” she said, “look at the signs of corrosion. Aren’t they exactly the same as the skin of the Bl00d Zombies?”

At these words, everyone was a bit stunned. No one had thought of that.

Zhou Zhou quickly took two steps, crouched beside the corpse of a Bl00d Zombie, and examined it carefully. “Now that you mention it, Miss Song is right.”

The Bl00d Zombies’ burns were extremely severe, with almost their entire bodies festering, making it difficult to connect them with Tang Yu’s injury at first. But with Song Lengzhu’s reminder, Zhou Zhou could see it: the way the wounds festered was the same.

The Bl00d Zombies here had all been corroded by this liquid. No wonder when they first entered the park, they thought these zombies looked like they had been fished out of sulfuric acid.

Song Lengzhu mused, “In that case, there was a reason Zombie A was chasing and attacking you. It probably took a liking to your zombie identity.” She said this to Tang Yu.

Tang Yu pursed her lips, her face showing displeasure. This was her first encounter with Zombie A, and it seemed to have just discovered she was a zombie. It probably hadn’t understood her words earlier; rather, her strange language had caught its attention.

Just as humans can’t understand the meaning of chicken and duck language, but can distinguish the two species by their calls.

Then why douse her with the liquid? Do all zombies have to be doused?

Tang Yu’s gaze fell on the glass tank. They hadn’t paid much attention to the liquid before, but looking at it now was somewhat horrifying. This wasn’t ordinary water, but a highly corrosive solution.

Thankfully, Tang Yu hadn’t been exposed to much of it.

Zhou Zhou stood up and knocked on the glass tank. “It’s normal for a pharmaceutical factory to be equipped with strong inorganic acid solutions. Even sulfuric acid can be used in the production of antibiotics. But for the volume to be this large is truly strange.”

Xiao Li said, “A controls Bl00d Zombies, and I’ve never seen these Bl00d Zombies anywhere else. It must have something to do with this solution.”

She added, “Could it be that ordinary zombies mutate after being soaked in the solution? A can control these mutated Bl00d Zombies, so it wanted Tang Yu to be corroded by the solution to make her easier to control? Is that what’s happening?”

Tang Yu hissed. She had no desire to become a Bl00d Zombie with its eye sockets melted together.

Song Lengzhu: “That possibility can’t be ruled out. We’ve seen players assimilated on the spot, and they weren’t immediately controllable by A.”

A probably targeted Tang Yu because she could use weapons and was reasonably skilled. If I were A, Song Lengzhu thought, I would also want to control a zombie like Tang Yu. After all, she’d be a fairly capable assistant.

Tang Yu had Jin Ye sprinkle some antibiotics on the back of her neck to prevent infection. She warned her teammates, “This Zombie A isn’t a player. It must be a researcher from this restricted area. We underestimated its strength. It’s too familiar with the base’s layout, which is a huge disadvantage for us.”

Jin Ye asked, “So, are we still going after it?”

“We’ll chase. We’ve already come this far.” Tang Yu picked up the backpack that had been thrown aside during the fight and fastened it securely on her back. “But we need to be careful.”

If the opponent really was a Zombie King with the ability to control other zombies, then they had even more reason to pursue it.

Tang Yu’s courage grew along with her physical strength. In the past, she might have already packed her bags and prepared to return to her mountain hideout. But now, she had ambition. She wanted to obtain that ability.

Besides, whatever danger there is, Song Lengzhu will be at the front.

Everyone’s gaze fell upon the wide-open secret door. They had no idea how it was operated; there were no buttons at all near the door.

Beyond the secret door was a straight corridor. The walls on both sides didn’t feel like concrete, but like a cold, glass-like material.

Zhou Zhou approached the walls on both sides, holding her lantern. She hadn’t turned it off since she first lit it. There seemed to be no other mutated creatures inside the lab, and since no monsters had attacked despite the light being on for a long time, Song Lengzhu no longer stopped Zhou Zhou from using it.

Under the white light, the group discovered that the two sides were indeed glass walls. Inside the very thick-looking glass, a wall of filthy liquid was stored. The liquid was higher than their necks, and many impurities floated on its surface.

They felt as if they were walking through an underwater tunnel, with water on both sides and only the path in the middle available for passage.

Tang Yu’s doubts deepened. This much solution was far beyond the scope of normal research.

The area illuminated by the light was limited. Tang Yu approached the glass, wanting to see just how large this tank was. She pressed herself against the glass and peered into the depths, only seeing a shadow in the far distance, like a boundary. She estimated the width to be two or three meters.

Just as Tang Yu was about to turn her head, she caught a glimpse of the shadow moving in her peripheral vision. It was probably something alive. Immediately after, a dull thudding sound echoed, like a heavy object striking the glass.

Everyone was terrified. They hurriedly looked to the sides. Under the light, a highly corroded face suddenly loomed large, appearing right beside Tang Yu.

Tang Yu hastily took a step back toward the middle of the corridor.

The scare was no small one. Her heart pounded, and her chest heaved violently. When she calmed down enough to look closely, she saw that the face belonged to a Bl00d Zombie.

The Bl00d Zombie’s entire body was submerged, with only the part above its nose exposed. It no longer possessed any human features. Its face was covered in bloody blisters that would burst and fester with the slightest movement, and its eyeballs looked like a puddle of melted glass beads.

The Bl00d Zombie slapped against the glass wall, palm after palm, sending flesh and bl00d flying.

The sound of slapping against the glass wall grew more frequent. Zhou Zhou quickly swept her lantern around and discovered that the water-filled glass walls were full of corroded Bl00d Zombies. They were either floating or standing on the other side of the wall, with half their heads above the water, mindlessly pounding away.

The zombies’ clothing and skin were gradually being corroded. From their tattered attire, it was clear that several of the zombies were the corpses of recently assimilated players. They let out provocative roars at the light source, and the splashes of water they created poured into their rotting throats, causing a stream of bubbles to emerge.

Originally, Tang Yu had thought the solution could melt human bones, but it seemed that wasn’t the case. She didn’t know if the solution had been highly diluted, but after melting the surface layer of the zombies’ skin, it didn’t corrode them any further. The zombies were thus able to maintain a basic human silhouette.

They looked exactly like the Bl00d Zombies they had just fought.

So the Bl00d Zombies in this park were created by being soaked like this?

At this moment, the zombies were crowding around the light source, their numbers growing. Tang Yu couldn’t help but worry that the glass wasn’t thick enough. It would be disastrous if it cracked.