Surviving the Game as a Zombie - Chapter 9

Gunshots soon rang out. Tang Yu and Jin Ye moved swiftly, running at the very front, but Jian Wu wasn’t so lucky. His skills were a bit lacking, and a subordinate had already grabbed him by the back of his collar.

Jian Wu steeled himself, perhaps out of guilt for leading them astray, and yelled, “Run! I’ll buy you some time.” He turned and threw himself at the person holding him, opening his mouth to bite.

In that moment, the young man finally understood that no good comes from blindly trusting others.

By now, Tang Yu and Jin Ye had already burst into the last two rows of single-story houses and vanished from sight.

“Aren’t we going to save Jian Wu?” Jin Ye asked as she ran.

“We can’t. You were behind me, so you probably didn’t get a clear look. The woman in that house is the one who killed your teammates this morning.”

Jin Ye’s gaze darkened. “Song Lengzhu. We really can’t beat her.”

Only then did Tang Yu learn Song Lengzhu’s full name.

Damn it. How could she run into this unlucky person everywhere she went?

They squeezed behind a rotten wooden shelf. The wall on one side of the shelf had collapsed, creating a chaotic scene. Outside the wall, the sounds of guards running around were everywhere, punctuated by a few sporadic gunshots, though it was unclear who had been hit.

Tang Yu pressed a hand against her wildly beating heart and held her breath in the cramped space.

On several occasions, footsteps approached them. Someone with a short knife stabbed blindly into the gaps of the wooden shelf a few times, then moved on to search elsewhere after finding nothing unusual.

The tip of the knife grazed Tang Yu’s skin, leaving several cuts. Thanks to her zombie constitution, it took a long time for a trace of bl00d to seep out. She didn’t make a sound or move an inch. Jin Ye’s situation was no better.

After waiting for a while, just as the two thought the danger had passed, two sets of light footsteps echoed in the adjacent alley.

The people outside were different from the searching guards. Their footsteps were unhurried, and the faint sound of conversation drifted closer.

Through the dilapidated wall, which had crumbled to half its height, Tang Yu and Jin Ye overheard the conversation outside.

“Miss Song, are these mutated zombies the people you’re looking for?” a male voice asked.

“Yes.” Song Lengzhu’s voice was devoid of warmth. “Although their faces are covered, I recognize them. Two of them have fought me before.”

“That’s strange. How is it that all the zombies you fight end up mutating? Could it be that you’re the problem?” the man chuckled.

“Shen Xu, I don’t like to joke.” Song Lengzhu stopped walking and stood before the broken wall.

Shen Xu didn’t seem to mind and changed the subject. “In your opinion, are these three abnormally behaving zombies connected to the Zombie King in the neighboring Y-City?”

“I doubt it. The Zombie King’s mutation isn’t this… human-like. It’s more brutal and savage. It wouldn’t flee; it would only attack,” Song Lengzhu said, then asked, “The Zombie King has taken over the central square of Y-City, right? When is your camp planning to eliminate it?”

Shen Xu laughed. “That, I can’t tell you. Miss Song, you’re also interested in that Zombie King, aren’t you? I heard long ago that its kill score is 500, the highest for any zombie so far.”

“I am interested.”

“In that case, I have even less reason to reveal the operational details. We are competitors, after all. Although I can’t kill you right now, I’ve wanted to for a long time. If you were in my shoes, would you give intelligence to an enemy?”

“Then forget it.” Song Lengzhu didn’t press the matter. The reason she had come to Shen Xu’s camp was that she had overheard vanguard patrols on the opposite mountain discussing a captured mutated zombie. As it happened, she and Shen Xu had crossed paths before and were acquainted, so she came over to have a look. The fact that Shen Xu received her politely was already giving her enough face.

Hearing this, Tang Yu felt a sense of relief. It seemed Song Lengzhu wasn’t friends with Shen Xu.

Furthermore, judging by his status, Shen Xu was very likely the leader of this camp.

But before she could fully exhale, Tang Yu heard the person outside the wall speak again. “Boss Shen, you go on ahead. I’ll just look around myself. Perhaps I can help you catch the escaped zombies.”

Shen Xu let out a soft laugh. “Alright, feel free to look around. But remember not to go where you shouldn’t.” After he finished speaking, his footsteps faded into the distance.

Song Lengzhu, however, did not leave. Her knuckles tapped rhythmically on the broken wall. The faint sound vibrated straight into Tang Yu’s heart, making her scalp tingle.

Outside the game, the streamer Xiao Zhao’s heart was in her throat. It’s over, it’s over, this is it. Tang Jie’s life was about to end here.

The viewers who shared Xiao Zhao’s sentiment were also in an uproar, because those who frequented the stream all knew that Song Lengzhu had already unlocked a special talent.

“Sensitive Smell.”

Even though Dark Earth prided itself on a realistic experience, it was still a game. And as a game, it had an upgrade system. The more points a player earned, the more advanced skills and abilities they could unlock. Otherwise, there would be no player retention.

Tang Yu didn’t know any of this, but the audience did.

Xiao Zhao anxiously ran her hands through her hair. Streamers and viewers couldn’t communicate with those inside the game; they could only watch and discuss, but not offer any hints.

Some players, like Tang Yu and the first batch to enter the game, were unaware that their gameplay was being broadcast. By that logic, Song Lengzhu, who had been a player since the closed beta, might not know about the live streams either.

In the discussion area on the right side of the light screen, someone asked, “Just got here, dumb question, but why is Tang Jie doomed? What’s this ‘Sensitive Smell’ you’re all talking about?”

“Because zombies smell different from normal people. One of Song Lengzhu’s abilities is an extremely keen nose that can detect minute differences in scent. Once, she wiped out an entire ambushing rival team because she smelled the faint scent of tobacco in the air. The guy had the cigarette tucked behind his ear; it wasn’t even lit.”

“One of her abilities? How many more does she have?”

“According to the research of the Song-ologists, at least eight or more. There are still some she hasn’t shown, so we don’t know about them. After all, no one streams her directly; it’s all pieced together from other streams.”

“Whoa, that’s awesome.”

Xiao Zhao pursed her lips as she watched the discussion. Working at the streaming company, she knew more inside information than others. Song Lengzhu’s background was not simple. The company had issued a clear directive forbidding streamers from privately broadcasting Song Lengzhu, for reasons unknown.

The development company behind Dark Earth was called Star Research, and it had a powerful background. Many streamers were directly assigned by the company, and the live-streamers would then share the feed, all without needing the player-streamer’s consent.

Although it sounded like a gross violation of privacy rights, their company had been doing it for a long time without receiving any punishment from the Interstellar Central Government. Gradually, everyone came to tacitly accept it as legal. After all, privacy rights were a more or less negligible concept in the interstellar era.

But Song Lengzhu was someone Star Research had specifically forbidden from being streamed. Xiao Zhao hadn’t paid it much mind before; a player like Song Lengzhu had nothing to do with her. But things were different now. This person was constantly threatening Tang Jie’s safety, and her curiosity was thoroughly piqued.

Tang Jie was her cash cow, after all!

Amidst the pile of discussions, Xiao Zhao also noticed a comment that strayed from the topic: “By the way, I’m really curious what zombies smell like? The smell of rotting flesh? So gross.”

Someone replied to her: “Ah, no. Eliminated players have described it. A faint smell is like rotten oranges, while a stronger one is indeed the smell of rotting flesh.”

“Hmm… I guess that’s a little more acceptable.”

“It’s not that acceptable, hey!”

“Captain Song must have found Tang Yu. Why is she just lingering by the wall and not leaving?”

“It’s better if she doesn’t leave. Drag Xiao Tang out for a head-on confrontation. I want to see it.”

“I don’t want to see it. Praying Tang Jie survives this ordeal.”

As the audience discussed with great enthusiasm, Xiao Zhao thought for a moment, then cleared a space on her light screen and began searching for information on Song Lengzhu.