Surviving the Game as a Zombie - Chapter 95

Tang Yu was a little exasperated. They hadn’t rested for long before their hiding spot was exposed. She didn’t know if it was Song Lengzhu or Li Luo who had led the other players here, but in any case, they could no longer stay in the machine room.

Before the players showed up, Tang Yu made a decisive call, leading her teammates to climb onto the control cabinets and squeeze out one by one through the shattered ceiling.

The sky was, as Tang Yu had expected, not bright. It was gloomy and overcast, just like her mood.

She pursed her lips, her face grim, and walked past where Song Lengzhu was standing, not intending to give the other woman any more of a reaction.

Song Lengzhu stood in the shadows, silently watching her movements. It was hard to tell what she was thinking, as her face showed little emotion, and she made no move to remedy the situation of having attracted other players.

The two brushed past each other, the narrow exit leaving only a fist’s width of distance between them.

Only after she was completely behind Song Lengzhu, certain the other woman couldn’t see her face, did Tang Yu finally relax her tense shoulders. The sharp line of her jaw softened slightly. No matter what, she couldn’t lose her pride in front of Song Lengzhu.

What she didn’t know was that Song Lengzhu was not as silent as she appeared on the surface. After Tang Yu passed by her side, Song Lengzhu quietly took a breath, her soft eyelashes trembling slightly as the disappointment in her eyes leaked out, undisguised.

Tang Yu didn’t see these subtle changes in Song Lengzhu, but Zhou Zhou, who was walking at the back, did. As Zhou Zhou passed Song Lengzhu, she leaned in and whispered, “Miss Song, not a good start, huh? It seems you two aren’t familiar enough yet.”

Song Lengzhu froze for a moment before remembering what Zhou Zhou was talking about. Back in Ghost Valley, Song Lengzhu had asked Zhou Zhou why Tang Yu had turned into a zombie. Zhou Zhou had told her to get to know Tang Yu better and ask the person herself. At the time, Song Lengzhu hadn’t even considered the feasibility of that suggestion. She never expected that she would actually ask, only for Tang Yu to refuse to answer.

To think that Zhou Zhou still remembered this and was in the mood to tease her about it.

Tang Yu heard the muttering behind her and glanced back at Zhou Zhou. “What are you talking about?” she asked, her tone full of complaint.

Zhou Zhou smiled amiably. “I was asking Miss Song to provide some cover for us.” Her eyes were on Tang Yu, but her body was leaning toward Song Lengzhu, making it obvious who the words were for.

Song Lengzhu’s back twitched slightly. She turned her head to look at Zhou Zhou’s smiling face, momentarily at a loss for words. How had Professor Zhou become so shameless after joining Tang Yu’s team?

Zhou Zhou pushed up her glasses and spoke before Song Lengzhu could refuse. She leaned conspiratorially toward Song Lengzhu and said in a whisper only the two of them could hear, “If you want to get closer, you have to show goodwill. Understand? Goodwill.”

What did she mean? Song Lengzhu’s eye twitched. Did she, Song Lengzhu, need to show goodwill to others?

She turned away with a cold face. “The west district has been searched. There’s no one there for now.”

Zhou Zhou secretly gave Song Lengzhu a thumbs-up and then pushed her teammates forward. “Miss Song has given us a direction. Let’s go, let’s go.”

Tang Yu shot Song Lengzhu a complicated look before quickly turning back and making her way over the rubble toward the surface. She didn’t know what message Zhou Zhou had conveyed to Song Lengzhu; she just found Song Lengzhu to be an incredibly strange person. Since their cooperation hadn’t worked out, why would she point the way for her? What did she want? Whose side was she on?

Tang Yu’s thoughts were in turmoil. The more she thought about it, the more it bothered her, giving rise to countless speculations.

It wasn’t until Tang Yu climbed out of the hole and looked up at the increasingly gloomy sky that she realized with a jolt that she had let her mind be completely thrown into disarray by a single sentence and action from Song Lengzhu.

No, not at a time like this.

Tang Yu couldn’t help but scold herself. She patted her head, forcing herself to rein in her emotions.

When the four of them emerged from the hole, avoiding the corpses, there were no other players around the corner. There were only two or three lone Bl00d Zombies raging impotently. Tang Yu rounded them all up and led them away, heading toward the westernmost part of the park through a secluded open area.

The westernmost area housed the pharmaceutical factory buildings, a row of single-story structures divided into many zones for disinfection, washing, drying, testing, and packaging. Each zone was independent and had access control, making it unsuitable for hiding or escaping. Fortunately, this area had already been searched, so no players were likely to come over for the time being.

Tang Yu didn’t know how Song Lengzhu would handle the other players—whether she would team up with them or just watch from the sidelines. She had no idea.

After waiting for a while, no players headed toward the west district. Instead, Tang Yu recruited several more Bl00d Zombies, forming a small team of ten, and hid in the labeling area of the pharmaceutical workshop.

The sky outside grew darker and darker. Before long, they heard the sound of raindrops hitting the concrete floor. Tang Yu went outside to take a look. A torrential downpour had begun.

Heavy clouds blanketed the entire restricted area. Raindrops the size of beans pelted down with a crackling sound. The puddles on the ground, which emitted a pungent odor, grew larger and larger with the rain. Soon, thunder rumbled and lightning flashed. A sudden, fierce early summer storm had arrived.

Through the curtain of rain, Tang Yu noticed many mutated creatures, which had seemingly appeared from nowhere, scurrying through the puddles, soaked to the bone.

Not only that, but several human figures also appeared in the rain. They were running hastily toward the pharmaceutical workshop, apparently unable to bear the heavy downpour and looking for a nearby place to take shelter.

Someone spotted the Bl00d Zombies standing under the factory eaves. Under Tang Yu’s control, they were just standing there quietly, not running or roaring, which made them particularly conspicuous.

Tang Yu hadn’t wanted to cause any more trouble, but when she took a closer look with her enhanced vision, she saw that the opposing team had no experts. On the contrary, they were the very same players from the laboratory who had boasted about killing the B-Class Zombie King first and then Tang Yu. They talked a big game but hadn’t contributed much during the battle.

Those who shout the loudest are usually the weakest.

Tang Yu simply moved her figure, which was hidden in a corner, out a little so that these people could see her. Then she ducked back into the pharmaceutical workshop with the Bl00d Zombies.

“Son of a… did I see that right?” someone shouted. “Is that the D-Class Zombie King? We’ve been looking all over, and she’s here!”

Someone shushed him. “Keep it down! Don’t attract other teams, or we’ll just be handing over the points again.”

The group tiptoed forward, crouching as they slipped into the entrance of the pharmaceutical workshop. There were five of them, all with young faces. Except for one burly man, the others were not particularly large and were each carrying a firearm.

The entrance they were at was the logistics inlet/outlet for the packaging room. The door was open, and a sliver of gloomy daylight allowed them to make out the surroundings. A large set of labeling and packaging machinery was neatly arranged, likely the final step in the sterile packaging process for powdered injections.

The burly man peeked his head in from the doorway. Inside the packaging room, he could only see a few Bl00d Zombies standing in a corner, as motionless as mannequins, which was incredibly creepy in the stormy weather.

They were quite bold, however, striding through the doorway and firing several shots at the Bl00d Zombies. The gunshots were muffled by the thunder, barely causing a ripple in the restricted area.

As the last player stepped through the entrance, the two doors slammed shut with a bang. The burly man looked back and saw two more Bl00d Zombies behind the door, closing it like doormen. It was beyond eerie.

The burly man yelled at the top of his lungs, “Son of a… stop playing tricks! Come out and fight me one-on-one!”

A one-on-one fight was out of the question. The moment his voice fell, countless mutated creatures swarmed out from every nook and cranny, catching the five of them completely off guard. The Bl00d Zombies in the shadows also received their orders in that instant and launched their attack.

Before the group could adjust their rhythm, a black shadow flashed past. There was no gunshot, no human sound, but one of them had his arm slashed. The man looked down and saw not a knife wound, but a scratch mark.

Before the scratched man could warn his teammates, he was eliminated from the game. Then, another small figure darted past, a sharp dagger in her hand slitting a zombie’s throat.

The burly man finally panicked, realizing they had walked into a trap.

Unfortunately, it was too late. They were finally experiencing what Tang Yu had felt, being outnumbered and besieged by more than ten enemies. This was no laughing matter.

Tang Yu and Zhou Zhou were crouched behind the labeling machine, peeking their heads out to watch. Jin Ye and Xiao Li were hard at work earning points, coordinating with the Bl00d Zombies and mutated creatures, and holding their own in the fight.

Tang Yu was happy to be idle. These lone players walking right into her trap finally let her experience the joy of being a Zombie King.

They were taken care of without her even needing to lift a finger.

Jin Ye had chosen to assimilate the players rather than kill them directly, with the intention of feeding kills to Xiao Li, but this had also indirectly earned Tang Yu a lot of points. One person working to support three others—Jin Ye was truly a model worker.

Tang Yu decided she would be good to Jin Ye for the rest of her life.

The booming thunder masked the gunshots. No one knew what was happening here.

About ten minutes later, the packaging room fell silent. Tang Yu picked up the players’ weapons and examined them. The quality was decent enough. They would be good for the aunties back at camp, so she unceremoniously pocketed them.

The heavy rain outside hadn’t let up, and the dark, oppressive clouds hadn’t thinned at all. It looked like the rain would continue for a while.

Tang Yu watched the rain and turned to discuss with Jin Ye, “This rain has been a huge help. Should we see if there are any other scattered players we can pick off one by one?”

The tables were turning, and Tang Yu felt she was on a roll again.

Under the heavy rain, the searching players were likely scattered in various places, taking shelter. Now, the enemy was in the open while they were in the dark. Tang Yu didn’t want to miss this opportunity.

Jin Ye nodded. “You shouldn’t show yourself. Let the Bl00d Zombies scout the way. If there are too many, we’ll avoid them. If there are only a few, we’ll strike.”

This was guerrilla warfare at its finest, all about catching the enemy off guard, striking fast, and retreating quickly.

The four of them were in complete agreement and charged into the curtain of rain, pushing their battle line forward from the factory buildings in the west district.

There weren’t many freely roaming Bl00d Zombies left in the park. Tang Yu gathered the scattered ones, using one or two as bait to test the players’ strength.

She used her invisibility to scout ahead with the Bl00d Zombies. If she encountered a large group of more than ten, she would quietly circle around them. If she came across a group of three to five players with abilities that weren’t too high, she would let Jin Ye and Xiao Li take care of the enemy.

The players’ gunshots were drowned out by the thunder and didn’t attract much attention.

After taking out four groups of enemies and collecting a good number of weapons, Tang Yu decided to quit while she was ahead and stopped launching random attacks.

The rain also began to subside at this time, and the sky gradually brightened. Fewer than twenty players remained in the restricted area, most of them clustered together in the main building’s lobby, making a sneak attack difficult.

Using her invisibility, Tang Yu hid behind the large, inscribed stone in front of the main building and peeked into the lobby. The remaining player teams were clearly divided into three groups. They seemed to be standing together, yet they were distinctly separate.

One group was Song Lengzhu’s. The other two were each led by an expert. They stood before the shattered glass doors, seemingly discussing something.

Tang Yu was too far away to hear clearly, but she could faintly sense a tense, confrontational atmosphere from the expressions on their faces.

Xiao Qi was craning her neck and saying something indignantly before being pulled back by Song Lengzhu. Then, all three sides drew their guns, and it looked like infighting was about to break out.

If this had been before, Tang Yu would have definitely clapped her hands in glee, wishing for the three groups to fight it out while she watched from the sidelines.

But now, she couldn’t remain a pure spectator. Was Song Lengzhu being targeted by the other players because of her? The thought lingered in her mind, impossible to shake.

But experts were experts, their emotions more stable than those of rookies. Even with a fight on the verge of breaking out, they could still assess the situation and calm down. The man who could transform into a beast holstered his gun. Although his expression was unfriendly, his action had already made his stance clear: he would not fight here.

Song Lengzhu also stopped her team, leaving only the other man fuming. In front of the calm people, the more agitated he became, the more he looked like a buffoon.

It seemed the fight wasn’t going to happen. Just as Tang Yu breathed a sigh of relief, she saw Song Lengzhu’s gaze shift in her direction.

Song Lengzhu still wore the cold expression from her confrontation with the players. The glance might have been just an unintentional sweep of her eyes, but it still sent a shiver down Tang Yu’s spine.

Song Lengzhu must be angry. Tang Yu had never seen her with such a grave expression. The fury radiated from her gaze and furrowed brows, making one’s heart tremble.

Seeing the rain lighten, the other two teams stepped out of the main building. The beast-morphing man walked a few steps, then turned back to Song Lengzhu, who was standing under the eaves, and cupped his fist. “We’ll meet again.”

His voice was particularly loud, and Tang Yu heard it clearly. She pressed herself closer to the stone, afraid her invisibility ability might be countered by some other ability.

It seemed these two teams were planning to leave the restricted area.

Song Lengzhu didn’t respond to the beast-morphing man’s farewell. Only after the two teams had left did her shoulders relax. It was only then that Tang Yu realized Song Lengzhu had been tense the entire time.

It made sense. Although the other two leaders seemed slightly weaker than Song Lengzhu, if they had teamed up, she would have had a tough time dealing with them.

For the first time, the eavesdropping Tang Yu was glad the fight hadn’t broken out.

At that moment, the rain stopped completely. The clouds in the sky thinned considerably, and beams of light shone down on the puddles in the park, making them sparkle.

Tang Yu straightened up and began to consider whether she should reveal herself to Song Lengzhu.