Surviving the Game as a Zombie - Chapter 90

Tang Yu had no time to be angry with Song Lengzhu. She turned, planted a foot on an aluminum box, and vaulted away, leaving Song Lengzhu to watch her back, lips pressed together.

The moment the Zombie King stepped on the aluminum box, it was met with a barrage of attacks from Li Luo and other players. Its white clothes were now stained with bl00d and dust, making it look somewhat disheveled. The gash on its back from Tang Yu and the bullet hole from Song Lengzhu were clearly visible. This finally prompted the players who had been holding back to unleash their full strength.

The Zombie King was now at a disadvantage. This was the moment for high-ranking players to snatch the kill.

Only the ordinary players, who couldn’t even touch the hem of the Zombie King’s clothes, were forced to deal with the mutated creatures, bl00d zombies, and their assimilated companions in the rear.

Tang Yu followed in Li Luo’s footsteps, bringing Jin Ye and Xiao Li along, and they pressed forward one after another.

She couldn’t just pin her hopes on other players killing the Zombie King. Other players had time; she did not.

It was only then that Tang Yu discovered there were indeed many hidden experts among the players who had come to the restricted area. Besides Li Luo, there were two or three other powerful-looking players. All sorts of strange abilities were being used; one middle-aged man directly transformed into a wolf’s body. Tang Yu hadn’t encountered these people before and didn’t have the mental space to observe them closely, but she got a rough assessment of their strength.

As expected, no ordinary people came to the restricted area.

The people gathered here were a whole level stronger than the opponents Tang Yu had faced in previous missions.

The three of them found it a bit strenuous to keep up with the other players’ offensive pace. The difference in stamina was now laid bare on the table; Jin Ye and Xiao Li fell far behind.

Tang Yu understood this, so she stopped chasing closely. Instead, she calmed her mind and began to predict the Zombie King’s landing spots, preparing to intercept it head-on.

The number 98% hung constantly above her head, and there was no telling when it might change.

After waiting for two seconds, Tang Yu’s pupils constricted. She suddenly roared, “Jin Ye, Xiao Li, stop! Don’t move! Guard the left side!”

At that moment, Jin Ye and Xiao Li were passing by the jars containing human tissues. Hearing Tang Yu’s words, they immediately stopped in their tracks, weapons ready.

Tang Yu was farther away. She quickly propelled her legs, weaving around the debris on the ground and running toward her teammates. Due to the sudden exertion and extreme tension, the veins on Tang Yu’s forehead bulged, the black bl00d vessels now appearing particularly prominent. It was clear she was using every ounce of her strength.

Before she could get into position, with a loud “crash,” a glass jar was smashed by a heavy object. The Zombie King had been thrown by another player, crashing straight into a row of glass jars and rolling to the ground.

The chopped-up human tissues spilled onto the floor along with the liquid, emitting a foul stench.

Jin Ye and Xiao Li, who were already waiting, opened fire and drew a sword respectively, striking at the Zombie King as it tried to get up from the ground.

Before the sword could even advance an inch, the fallen Zombie King twisted its body, about to rise.

Not enough time, still four steps away, the thought flashed through Tang Yu’s mind. In her prediction, the Zombie King would soon stabilize itself at a bizarre angle. Jin Ye and Xiao Li lacked the ability to predict and wouldn’t be able to block it in time.

It was at this very moment that the value on her panel jumped from 98% to 99%.

Damn it.

An opportunity to kill it like this was too rare. If she missed this one, the progress bar wouldn’t wait for the next chance. Tang Yu’s heart pounded, her face flushed with bl00d. She ignored the players chasing after it, steeled her heart, and gritted her teeth. Right in front of everyone, she teleported.

Her eyes were now fixed solely on the Zombie King, completely blocking out all external sounds. Everything in the laboratory seemed to move in slow motion. Tang Yu didn’t transport herself to the ground but appeared directly above the Zombie King’s head.

The instant she appeared, Startling Dragon slashed down like a bolt of lightning splitting the sky.

The Zombie King subconsciously looked up at the air. Those eyes, as silent as the dead of night, met Tang Yu’s gaze through the semi-transparent panel.

Profound, like hell itself, and filled with a chilling cold.

It was the gaze of a dead man.

A cold sweat suddenly broke out on Tang Yu’s back, and a bad premonition rose in her heart. The next moment, the blade of Startling Dragon sliced past the Zombie King’s front, only managing to cut off a corner of its clothes.

It had actually dodged.

Tang Yu’s rationality exploded. With the change in her strategy, the content she had foreseen had already changed. She didn’t know where the Zombie King would appear next.

It was too late to switch to her precognition ability now. Tang Yu decided to go all in. Before landing, she hastily activated her teleportation again, charging fiercely toward the Zombie King’s current position.

She refused to believe it.

Barely five seconds had passed since the Zombie King was thrown. Other players had arrived, surrounding Tang Yu and the Zombie King.

Perhaps Tang Yu’s reckless attack and the sudden display of her ability had spurred the other players on. Fearing she would snatch the kill, they all unleashed their full power at once.

The next moment, people charging from all directions collided.

Tang Yu only felt warm, scalding bl00d on her hand.

She didn’t know whose it was.

The air fell silent for two seconds. Tang Yu looked up and assessed the situation before her.

The cornered Zombie King had been run through. Bullet holes, stab wounds, everything was there. Four or five players were standing or kneeling, and one player’s bestial claws were clamped tightly around the Zombie King’s neck.

In the moment Tang Yu had pinned down the Zombie King, these players had seized the opportunity and attacked simultaneously.

Ding. Mission progress jumped from 99 to 100. The “Join the Zombie King’s Faction” mission was marked as complete.

Tang Yu dazedly withdrew her knife. Her blade had been plunged into the Zombie King’s abdomen, almost piercing through its body. Warm bl00d splattered all over her hand. The Zombie King’s gaze was fixed on Tang Yu, and just as the value hit 100, it breathed its last.

It didn’t even have time to control Tang Yu.

The players’ faces turned ugly. The mission completion notification did not sound in their minds. Who was credited with killing the Zombie King?

Tang Yu’s heart pounded wildly. Her knife had indeed pierced its body and scraped bone, but on her open panel, the information for the sub-task “Kill the Zombie King” had turned gray and was crossed out with a line. This meant she hadn’t been the one to complete the kill.

She had only completed the “Join the Zombie King’s Faction” mission.

The rest of the settlement details were long and complicated, not suitable for close inspection under these circumstances.

Tang Yu only glanced at it, and through the panel, she caught sight of a familiar black-clothed figure. Tang Yu turned her head, her gaze passing over the Zombie King’s neck to see Song Lengzhu.

Song Lengzhu’s golden dagger was almost entirely embedded in the back of the Zombie King’s head. Amidst the players whose expressions had drastically changed, only she remained impassive.

Damn it, could it be that Song killed the Zombie King?

Tang Yu felt a sense of unwillingness. She had put in a lot of effort for this kill, so how did Song Lengzhu get to reap the benefits?

Truly, what goes around comes around. The heavens spare no one.

When Tang Yu looked up again, she found that Song Lengzhu’s gaze wasn’t on the Zombie King, but fixed tightly on her.

From the moment the Zombie King was killed until now, her gaze hadn’t moved.

That gaze was not comfortable. On the contrary, the emotions within it were extremely complex: disbelief, vigilance, and some other indecipherable meaning hidden within.

Tang Yu’s heart sank instantly.

Song Lengzhu must have seen it. She saw Tang Yu’s teleportation ability. With a mind like hers, she would quickly connect the dots, especially since she had been present for every mission.

Something even worse happened. For some reason, the still-open mission settlement panel flickered several times, as if it had malfunctioned. The next moment, the original special mission settlement content disappeared, and a sharp alarm pierced Tang Yu’s mind. On her settlement panel, a few large words appeared that were impossible to ignore.

【Congratulations, you have become the new Zombie King. Level: D-Class.】

Huh?

Before Tang Yu could recover from her shock, she saw Song Lengzhu’s gaze turn icy. At the same time, the surrounding players all turned their eyes toward her.

It was as if they had all triggered some mission at the same time.

Wait…

Wait for what? If she didn’t run now, she’d be dead. Tang Yu stopped pondering and vanished in a flash.

“Zhou Zhou, Jin Ye, Xiao Li, run!” When Tang Yu’s figure reappeared, she was already at the entrance of the laboratory’s tunnel. She let out a howl and broke into a frantic sprint.

On the panel she hadn’t closed, the “Congratulations” was particularly glaring. Congratulations? Congratulate my ass!

Tang Yu was fuming.

This garbage game, ruining my youth, doing me great harm!

Jin Ye and Xiao Li had already retreated to the laboratory entrance the moment their attack on the Zombie King failed, ready to flee at any time.

They understood very well that once the Zombie King was dead, they would become the players’ primary target, just like now.

But why was Tang Yu’s reaction so extreme? And the players’ reactions too?

At this point, about a third of the players remained in the lab, thirty-odd people standing scattered about, staring at Tang Yu’s fleeing back with gradually feverish eyes.

Jin Ye was full of questions, unable to make sense of the situation, but she knew running was the right thing to do now. She pulled Xiao Li along, and they turned and ran into the long, circular corridor, stepping over the corpses of bl00d zombies and mutated creatures.

As for Zhou Zhou… Zhou Zhou was still carrying supplies, standing by the aluminum boxes, a long way from the laboratory entrance.

She was utterly baffled, feeling that her teammates had gotten her into trouble. The situation was not good. Zhou Zhou quickly put down the things in her hands and, while the players’ attention was on the laboratory entrance, found a storage cabinet and squeezed inside.

Those leading players were very powerful. She didn’t know if she could evade them. It was too late to run now, so it was better to hide first.

Tang Yu felt like her head was about to explode. Being a Zombie King wasn’t out of the question, but could it not happen right in front of a crowd of players? This was just making her a living target.

It was a good thing she had an ability to rely on and could run fast, but the distance between her and her teammates was vast.

Near the arched tunnel entrance was a section of shattered wall. Behind the wall, a large area of ventilation ducts was exposed. Above, there was a slanted, collapsed opening leading to the surface. It was very high; easy to jump down, but very difficult to climb up.

In addition, dozens of mutated rats were scurrying around. Without the control of the B-Class Zombie King, they had lost their organization but still retained their strong aggression. These already formidable creatures were still active.

As Tang Yu ran, she met the eyes of one of the rats.

She finally knew what ability she had copied from the Zombie King.

Control.

It was as if a switch had been automatically flipped in her mind. Tang Yu suddenly became self-taught, connecting to the consciousness of the mutated creatures. She could easily give these creatures commands. She didn’t even need to fully form the thought; the moment an idea appeared in her mind, it was transmitted to them.

The remaining mutated creatures in the laboratory became active again, quickly scurrying past Jin Ye and Xiao Li’s feet and charging toward the pursuing players.

These creatures couldn’t cause much harm to the expert players, so the command Tang Yu gave was to obstruct them, not kill them.

As for how to obstruct them, it seemed she didn’t need to worry. The rats had their own ideas.

In short, the general directive was not to fight to the death, but to hit and run, and be as annoying as humanly—or rather, rattily—possible.