Surviving the Game as a Zombie - Chapter 92

The dim screen showed only a single beam of light illuminating a notebook. Beyond it, the B-Class Zombie King’s head could be seen hanging in the darkness, much like the opening scene of a horror film, lacking only the background music.

Xiao Zhao moved her office chair further away. Looking at it from too close was unnerving.

Dense white bullet comments streamed across the light screen, their numbers having multiplied several times over. The live viewership had also exploded in the past hour, reaching one million.

This was because the hunt for the B-Class Zombie King had featured a scene with four top-ranking players in the same frame.

The audience was still buzzing about the previous hunt. After all, opportunities for four of the top ten players on the leaderboard to appear in the same scene were rare.

Someone had posted the rankings in the live stream’s comment section, and a massive thread had formed under that single comment alone. On the image, besides the familiar sight of Song Lengzhu ranked fifth, Li Luo’s name was also prominently listed.

The rankings were officially released by Star Research for the live stream audience, divided into team and individual rankings. The list only contained names, with no point displays or any other information. It was updated in real-time with the game, and the rankings on the list changed almost daily.

For some unknown reason, such a ranking list had yet to be implemented within the game itself and was only available to the audience.

Someone lamented in the comments: “So this Li Luo is actually that strong, only one rank behind Song Jie.”

“She was originally one rank higher than Song Lengzhu. Now that Song Jie has completed the kill mission, her rank has moved up.”

“She’s very powerful, and also very well-mannered. I heard her interstellar identity is quite high, probably the daughter of some financial magnate.”

“So you’re saying… she’s a rich lady?! Rich lady, look at me.”

“Wake up. Just because she’s well-mannered doesn’t mean she’s not picky.”

“Dude above, what you said really hurts my heart.”

On the list, two other names were circled by the commenter.

“This Kong Tianhe and Lou Yi are pretty capable too.” The four of them were ranked consecutively, occupying the fifth to eighth spots.

“Help me, Xiao Tang managed to escape even in that situation. If you say she’s lucky, turning into a Zombie King on the spot seems too tragic. If you say she’s unlucky, I feel like she’s actually quite fortunate.”

“I think so too. She’s constantly jumping between being lucky and unlucky.”

“That’s because Song Lengzhu and Li Luo didn’t make a move. If the four of them had really teamed up and were determined to kill her, it would have been very difficult for Xiao Tang to escape.”

“Why didn’t Song Lengzhu make a move? Don’t tell me she’s fallen for our Tang Tang?”

“Probably out of consideration for their professional camaraderie? It’s hard to act against an acquaintance. Li Luo probably recognized Xiao Li too and didn’t understand the situation.”

“Something’s not right, I feel something’s not right. Friends, are you really not shipping them?”

“You again, up there! Get him out of here!”

“But speaking of which, Tang Jie’s situation will become extremely dangerous from now on. Transforming in front of four top players and so many other players… now the rumors about the Zombie King on the forums will turn from false to true.”

“It’s fine. There are benefits to becoming a Zombie King. Look, she can control zombies now. It’s a blessing in disguise.”

“I don’t think it’s that simple. The B-Class Zombie King’s ability is to control bl00d zombies and mutated creatures, right? Those creatures are only in the Zone 2 Restricted Area. Could Tang Jie’s ability be region-locked? There are no bl00d zombies outside, nor is there this liquid for soaking zombies.”

“Hiss, now that you mention it, that’s true…”

“Huh? No way, wouldn’t that make this ability totally useless?”

Xiao Zhao’s heart also tensed up. She was now completely seeing things from Tang Yu’s perspective, as if she were one of Tang Yu’s teammates. In a way, this was true; she relied on Tang Yu to meet her KPI. Tang Yu’s life and death were directly related to her.

While the comment section was buzzing, the number of bullet comments was also increasing. The players attracted by the hunt hadn’t left yet, and the content of the stream had sparked a new round of heated discussion.

Because Zhou Zhou was flipping through Du Jiexu’s notebook.

As the notebook was opened page by page, a story from another perspective was revealed to the audience.

“I’ve been infected. They’re all dead.”

Starting with this sentence, the rest of the notebook became a series of diary entries. The entries were incomplete, with long gaps between them, and no dates were written. It seemed the person wrote whenever they remembered.

“Why am I okay?…”

“This place is a complete hell now. Is anyone going to save me…”

“…I don’t know when I’ll lose my mind. I can only rely on writing in this diary to judge if I’m still sane.”

After a few pages of fragmented, emotional venting, the handwriting gradually stabilized, and the content became more organized.

“Sometimes I wonder if the virus in the base came from me. Thinking back, I had an argument with the driver of the car in front of me when leaving the residential complex’s parking lot. We pushed and shoved when I got out to argue. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but I noticed a cut on my wrist when I changed into my sterile suit. The first person to show symptoms in the base was Sister Jing. She shared some vegetables with me…”

“Yesterday, the government sealed off the entire base, designated it a restricted area, and stationed heavy troops outside. No news can get out, and no one can get in. Damn it, they’ve completely abandoned us. I watch my colleagues, my team members, slowly turn into zombies, into these things that are neither human nor ghost. Now there are only three living people in our center. To avoid infecting them, I haven’t been with them.”

…

“I killed someone. I just grabbed her during a scuffle, and she turned into a zombie. It’s not my fault, not my fault. They came at me with knives first.”

“How many days has it been since the lockdown? Ten days? I don’t remember. It seems something has happened to the outside world too. The projection TV in the conference room can’t get any signal. Only my lab has backup power. The cafeteria has a lot of stored vegetables. I don’t seem to need to eat much, nor do I feel hungry. I only consume a few raw vegetables each day.”

“I can’t get out of the base. The high-voltage electricity hasn’t been turned off. There are no exits here. Those zombies eat people. They wander outside every day. There are no living people left in the base. I don’t know when this lab will be breached.”

“A month… maybe. I only slept for an hour yesterday. When I woke up, I had a crazy idea. I carry the virus but haven’t turned into a zombie. I should have antibodies. Should I try to develop a cure? There’s ready-made lab equipment here. Maybe there’s a way to cure these zombies… Thinking this probably means I’m going crazy, but it’s worth a try. Only when I’m doing experiments do I feel alive.”

“Several mixed serums I extracted have all failed. But something very strange happened today. I was chased by two zombies to the sterile lab on the second floor while looking for food. During the struggle, I accidentally spilled some inorganic strong acid solution. The zombie grabbing me was severely corroded. The corroded zombie suddenly stopped moving. I wanted it to go away, and it actually did.”

“It’s confirmed. Zombies corroded by strong acid can really understand my commands. Something must be wrong with my body. Have I mutated? I never thought that after years of studying brain science, my brain function would be enhanced in such an unscientific way. These zombies can help me bring other zombies over to be soaked in the solution. This way, I can corrode all the zombies in the base, and all of them can obey my commands. They were my former colleagues, but I felt no guilt while soaking them. I’m probably mentally unstable too.”

“Without the threat of zombies, the serum research has progressed. I tested it on an assistant. She began to regain her ability to think. Unfortunately, she can no longer be considered human. She still eats other zombies when hungry. Most likely, the frontal cortex, amygdala, and striatum in her brain have suffered irreversible damage. But strangely, these serums seem to have created a mental link between her and me. I can control her. The connection is much tighter than with the soaked zombies. Why? Neural electrical signals?”

“I don’t know when the base’s high-voltage power went out. I climbed over the wire fence and walked for half a day without seeing a single person. There were zombies everywhere. I couldn’t control these zombies and almost died out there. I managed to go home to check, but my family and child were long gone. Well, this world is finished, everyone is finished. I plan to live in the base for now. The base is safer than outside.”

“It’s been about three months since the incident. Today, two strange people came to the base. I thought there were no living people left in the world, but they didn’t show any joy when they saw me. Their behavior was strange, and their conversation was incomprehensible. What points, what mission? They attacked my assistant, and they even had guns. When I stepped forward to stop them, they shot at me without hesitation. It’s crazy, this world has gone crazy.”

“It’s been six months. Many people have come to the base during this time. Every one of them attacks me and my assistants on sight. They are more agile than soldiers, so strange. I’ve come to understand that this group of people are no longer the original humans. The way they look at me is clearly like looking at an insignificant object. These people’s bodies are similar to humans, but their behavior is incredibly arrogant, like monsters possessed by an unknown virus.”

“My assistant was killed. These parasitic monsters deserve to die.”

“I’ve reanimated two new assistants, but we are too weak to resist the attacks of these parasites. People come to the base every few days now. I’m afraid the outside is full of these parasites. We must arm ourselves. I thought of the unfinished brain development experiment. If I can enhance brain function, I can strengthen our physical functions. Experimenting on zombies doesn’t carry such a strong psychological burden. Speaking of which, since I joined this experimental project, I’ve long been free of moral burdens.”

“Unexpectedly, the experiment on the two assistants was very successful. They became so agile. We don’t have to be afraid anymore when someone breaks in.”

“I experimented on myself.”

“Someone was killed by us. When the two assistants gnawed on their corpse, I trembled, but I didn’t stop them. These intruders are not human, just parasites. There’s no problem treating them as food.”

“As expected, after the first kill, doing it again is like cutting a watermelon. They’re just parasites.”

“The zombie virus seems to upgrade itself. The park is like a ‘gu’ pot. The zombies are getting stronger and stronger. The hazardous materials in the high-risk area were not stored properly and leaked out on a stormy night. In the past few days, the plants in the park have visibly withered, and many mutated creatures have appeared. They seem to survive on these biochemical liquids and cannot leave the park. But what reassures me is that I can control these creatures, and I haven’t been affected. That’s good.”

“I’ve tried injecting other zombies with the serum and doing the brain experiment, but the success rate is not high. They either don’t gain strong abilities or die directly. Some even became uncontrollable zombies. Forget it, it’s better to just keep two or three assistants around. It’s hard to understand the principle of mutation. Without theoretical support, the success of experiments is all down to luck.”

“It’s been almost a year. I’ve left the base alone a few times to find food and supplies. I don’t have to worry about clothes; I can just strip them off zombies. There are also several sets of patient gowns left in the lab. Just as I thought, the outside world has become a paradise for parasites. I can tell at a glance that they are monsters in human skin—arrogant, disgusting.”

“The day before yesterday, I woke up to find that my physical functions had improved a lot again, and so had my assistants’. It’s as if our body’s stats were suddenly turned up. Maybe the virus in my body has mutated again. Speaking of which… recently, a lot of parasitic humans have been gathering in the park. I don’t know what brought them here.”

The diary ended abruptly here. The last entry was likely about recent events.

The bullet comments exploded.

“See, Xiao Tang’s ability is region-locked. She can’t control the zombies outside.”

“So this researcher was infected long ago. No wonder Xiao Tang’s scratches had no effect.”

“She’s a ruthless one, experimenting on herself. How ruthless and professional must she be? She probably did it without anesthesia, while directing her assistants.”

“Did you notice? She writes about herself as if she’s an innocent victim, but she doesn’t hesitate at all when killing people and her colleagues.”

“And she calls us parasites, saying we’re arrogant and disgusting. She’s the arrogant and self-important one.”

There were other voices too.

“But… from her perspective, it’s already amazing that she hasn’t gone crazy. To her, we are indeed intruders.”

“Yeah, for an NPC without a leveling system to achieve this much without any help is beyond my imagination. If she didn’t see us as parasites, she wouldn’t be able to get over the psychological barrier. It feels more like a self-protection mechanism of the brain. Of course, I’m not saying her actions are right.”

“She must have mutated, both psychologically and mentally. She’s basically half a zombie herself. After accumulating enough abnormal factors, she triggered the conditions to mutate into a Zombie King.”

Someone posted a bullet comment: “Speaking of which, did anyone notice her last paragraph?”

“You mean about their physical stats changing? It’s because the virus in her body mutated, right?”

“Wait, why do I feel something’s not right? The timing is too coincidental, isn’t it? It seems to be right around the time the ‘zombie trio’ post appeared. She said a lot of players were gathering, isn’t that what’s been happening these past few days?”

“I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but is someone making things difficult for Tang Tang on purpose because she’s living too happily and her stream is getting popular?”

“Dude above, you might as well just name Star Research. Besides the developer, who else could do something like that?”

As soon as this bullet comment appeared, the context before and after it must have triggered some sensitive word, and it disappeared directly from the screen.

Alarm bells went off in Xiao Zhao’s head. Before too many people could start discussing it, she started a password-based lottery event, doing her best to flood the bullet comments and redirect the audience’s attention elsewhere.

It wasn’t that she wasn’t suspicious, but… her job was on the line.

The preceding and succeeding bullet comments were all intercepted. Xiao Zhao processed the information in the background. Someone complained in the comments about why their comment disappeared, but as soon as it was posted, it was drowned out by a flood of lottery passwords.

Xiao Zhao diligently performed her duties, clearing these bullet comments that hadn’t caused a stir one by one in the background, leaving no trace.