Surviving the Game as a Zombie - Chapter 97

Unlike the filthy, unmanaged scrapyard, this recycling plant had many spacious workshops. Discarded solid metals would undergo a series of operations—compaction, crushing, sorting, and solidification—to be turned into reusable resources. Judging by the completeness of the workshops, one could tell that this place had been quite large-scale before the virus outbreak.

Tang Yu deftly vaulted over the wall and briefly updated her teammates on the situation inside. The three of them hugged the wall and crept to the iron gate. Jin Ye casually picked up a short piece of iron wire from the ground, and with a few twists, easily opened the iron chain on the gate.

The heavy lock landed in Tang Yu’s palm, emitting only a faint clink.

Tang Yu pushed open the latticed iron gate. It was quite flexible and didn’t make that terrifying creaking sound. The three of them slipped into the scrapyard like thieves, and Tang Yu was even careful enough to close the lock again.

Only after entering the scrapyard did they truly feel how high the piles of solid waste were. They loomed like small mountains on both sides. Scrapped appliances, car frames, and industrial scrap metal were jumbled together, forming an excellent hiding place.

The winding path in the middle was a concrete road, but since no one cleaned it, it had long been covered in yellow mud, dust, and rust water, its original color obscured. Tire tracks were clearly visible. Tang Yu examined them carefully and found that the only vehicles that had recently entered or exited had the wide tires of a modified car.

The other party probably had only one vehicle, and that modified car was only a four-seater. From this, it could be inferred that the number of people stationed here was not large.

The three of them didn’t take the central concrete road. Tang Yu found a gentle slope, climbed up a garbage hill, and crouched behind a scrapped silver car.

From here, everything before them was clearly visible. Where the modified car was parked, a workshop door was open. Three men were squatting at the entrance, counting the contents of black tote bags.

These three were the man with the floral arm tattoo and the two other lean men from the mall.

No one else appeared while they were sorting their supplies. It seemed their team had no other members.

Tang Yu was slightly disappointed. They were just small fry. Judging by their level of alertness, they were hardly powerful experts.

No wonder she hadn’t seen these three in the restricted area. Xinzhou was so close to the restricted area, yet they hadn’t participated in the hunt. Either they weren’t interested, or they weren’t capable enough.

Considering the current situation, these three clearly belonged to the latter category.

However, Tang Yu did figure one thing out. The straight-line distance between her and the three men was about a hundred meters, and they hadn’t triggered the mission to kill the D-Class Zombie King. This meant that, under normal circumstances, the trigger distance for ordinary players was less than a hundred meters.

As for the minimum value, Tang Yu still needed to investigate further.

As she was thinking, Jin Ye suddenly patted her on the shoulder and pointed in a direction.

Following Jin Ye’s finger, Tang Yu noticed a structure in a distant pile of garbage that blended in with its surroundings.

The structure was too inconspicuous, like a conical shack haphazardly thrown together with scrap rebar and canvas. It was surrounded by waste, and at first glance, one would only think it was a large pile of garbage.

The shack was built on a relatively flat area halfway up the garbage hill. It was a bit far, so she couldn’t see clearly. Tang Yu used her enhanced vision ability to take a closer look.

In an instant, all the details of the shack were clearly presented on Tang Yu’s retina. The door curtain was half-lifted, clearly revealing a wooden bed inside. Beyond that, there was hardly any space for other furniture.

The curtain blocked the other side, making it difficult to see if anyone was inside. The dark gray blanket on the bed was crumpled into a ball, showing signs of habitation.

How strange. There was someone else in this scrapyard. If they were with the other three, why would they live on the garbage hill?

Tang Yu shifted her gaze and carefully scanned the entire area.

This scan revealed several more such shacks. Apart from the first distant one, the others were clustered together on flat ground, enclosed by wooden planks.

But the canvas on those shacks was riddled with holes, as if they had been caught in the crossfire of a battle, and they hadn’t been repaired. It looked like these shacks were abandoned.

This suggested that many people had once been stationed in this scrapyard, but for some unknown reason, only two groups remained now.

Tang Yu retracted her gaze and continued to observe the three players. They had finished sorting their supplies and were stacking them by category. From their appearance, they were mostly valuable consumables like cigarettes, alcohol, and soda.

Tang Yu stood up, told Jin Ye and Xiao Li to wait there, and turned invisible, approaching the three men.

She wanted to test the trigger distance for the “Kill the D-Class Zombie King” mission.

She had walked halfway, and the three players still showed no reaction. The man with the floral arm tattoo even stood up, took a cigarette from a pack, and leaned against the workshop wall to rest. He was truly never without a cigarette. In between puffs of smoke, he even glanced distantly at the garbage hill.

The garbage hill was peaceful, just as he always saw it.

Forty meters, thirty meters. Tang Yu’s steps grew lighter. The trigger distance was lower than her psychological expectation, which was a good thing. If players could trigger the mission from far away, she might as well not go out at all.

Tang Yu walked completely down from the garbage hill and stood brazenly on the road in front of the workshop. When the distance was about thirty paces, the three men at the entrance looked up simultaneously.

Then, they tapped their wrists and quickly checked something. The surprise and fleeting panic on their faces did not escape Tang Yu’s eyes.

Thirty paces, about fifteen meters. In terms of car lengths, that was the length of three to four cars. If this trigger range was a fifteen-meter radius with Tang Yu at the center, then the mission could also be triggered from a vertical distance of four to five stories high.

These visual estimates were rough, not entirely precise, but Tang Yu had a basic judgment. Good, good, this distance was very good for her.

She stood still, arms crossed, observing the three players’ reactions.

The man with the floral arm tattoo alertly drew the weapon tucked into his back waistband. It was a short-barreled handgun, inlaid with a flashy golden dragon motif.

With a cigarette dangling from his lips and his brow tightly furrowed, he scanned his surroundings like a hawk. Strangely, he saw nothing unusual. Where did this sudden mission come from? They were just sorting supplies; they certainly hadn’t done anything that could trigger a mission, unless the Zombie King was nearby.

“Lao Li, Ah Qin, go check the surroundings,” the man with the floral arm tattoo ordered the other two in a commanding tone.

One of the lean men had a look of surprise mixed with a trace of reluctance. “I’m telling you, this is a Zombie King, it’s deadly. Have that girl go check.”

A girl? Tang Yu tilted her head in confusion. She hadn’t seen anyone else.

The man with the floral arm tattoo yelled into the building, “Xiao Jian! Come here!” His tone was still uncomfortably commanding.

A woman, or rather, a girl, walked out slowly from inside. She had a ponytail and was holding a spatula, as if she had just been cooking.

Tang Yu sized up the girl. She looked no older than fourteen or fifteen, with proper features but a gloomy aura around her. Her expression was heavy. She pressed her lips together and stared at the man with the floral arm tattoo, her eyes filled with a cold indifference.

This is an NPC, Tang Yu quickly concluded.

So it wasn’t just her camp that had contact with NPCs. This girl named Xiao Jian was also staying at the man’s base, though it was unclear whether it was by force or by choice.

The man with the floral arm tattoo gave an order: “Something seems to be up. Go check if anyone has broken in, especially at the main gate.”

Xiao Jian silently returned to the workshop. When she came out again, the spatula was gone, replaced by a wooden stick.

What could a wooden stick do?

Tang Yu felt a bit conflicted. The man with the floral arm tattoo hadn’t told Xiao Jian about the nearby Zombie King, probably deliberately concealing it. If she really encountered a ruthless Zombie King, what could Xiao Jian do with a wooden stick?

Pick the Zombie King’s teeth?

She was finally certain that in this base, the status of NPCs and players was not equal.

Xiao Jian gripped the wooden stick and walked outside without hesitation. Tang Yu thought for a moment and followed behind her.

The girl’s back was very straight, and her hand holding the wooden stick was steady, showing no sign of fear. She seemed to have a resilient character.

The girl first went to the gate to check. The lock on it was intact, nothing unusual. She pulled hard on the iron chain, making a clattering sound.

Tang Yu curiously circled to the girl’s side to observe her expression. She found that there was no change in Xiao Jian’s facial emotions. She wasn’t relieved by the situation, nor did she have any other reaction.

This was beyond Tang Yu’s expectations. A fourteen or fifteen-year-old child, no matter how composed, was still just a teenager. It was impossible to be this unruffled.

Vaguely, Tang Yu felt a sense of admiration.

After checking the iron gate, Xiao Jian turned to walk back. After just two steps, she abruptly stopped and lowered her head to stare at the footprints on the ground.

Oops. Tang Yu frowned. If the road could leave tire tracks, it could also leave footprints. Although the prints were faint, Xiao Jian had noticed them.

This little girl was quite observant.

Tang Yu wasn’t particularly worried about her tracks being exposed. She was confident she could defeat the three men, especially since they were the type who didn’t even dare to gather intelligence near their own base.

Xiao Jian looked at the footprints on the ground for a couple of moments but didn’t react much. She silently returned to the vicinity of the workshop.

“Nothing unusual at the gate,” she reported to the man with the floral arm tattoo.

Tang Yu raised an eyebrow. Hiss, this little girl lied. She clearly saw the footprints.

The man’s tightly furrowed brow relaxed a little. He pointed towards the deeper part of the scrapyard. “What about inside? Go check inside.”

The other man breathed a sigh of relief and interjected inappropriately, “Brother Teng, maybe that Zombie King just passed by and didn’t come in.”

Xiao Jian’s hand holding the wooden stick trembled. “Zombie King?” Her eyes finally showed another emotion, an unconcealable fear.

As expected, an NPC’s fear of zombies couldn’t be hidden.

The man called Brother Teng slapped his teammate on the shoulder. “Cut the crap, what nonsense are you spouting. Xiao Jian, you continue. Report back to me what you find!” His tone became even harsher to cover his own guilt.

To Tang Yu’s surprise, although Xiao Jian was afraid, she didn’t hide in the workshop like a coward. Instead, she gripped her wooden stick and ran out towards the deeper part of the scrapyard.

This was another surprise for Tang Yu. She followed Xiao Jian and found that the girl wasn’t obediently going to gather intelligence, but was running straight towards the shack on the garbage hill.

As the other half of the curtain was lifted, Tang Yu finally saw that there was a person lying in the shack—a woman.

“Qi Jie!” Xiao Jian threw herself onto the bed, shaking the person from her slumber. “Wake up, they said there’s a Zombie King nearby!”

Xiao Jian’s calm and collected demeanor vanished, replaced by fear. “The Zombie King is here, can you move?”

The woman’s lips were deathly pale. It took a long while for her to open her eyes, but they didn’t look at Xiao Jian. Instead, she stared at the shack’s ceiling, her eyes widening abruptly.

Then, Tang Yu saw the woman struggle to lift her wrist and tap it twice.

Wait, this was a player!

Tang Yu was standing right outside the door curtain, very close. Obviously, the woman had also triggered the mission.

This was truly interesting. The relationships in the scrapyard were so complex.

Tang Yu observed the woman on the bed with great interest. The woman had neat, short hair and an ordinary face, looking to be about twenty-seven or twenty-eight. But her lips were deathly pale, as if from excessive bl00d loss. Xiao Jian helped her sit up, and only then did Tang Yu see the bandage wrapped around her waist, the dark brown bloodstains on it clearly visible.

She was indeed injured, and quite seriously.

“Qi Jie, is the Zombie King really here? I saw footprints at the gate. You should find a place to hide quickly.” Xiao Jian spoke as the woman lowered her arm, clearly aware that this Qi Jie was different from her, an outsider.

The woman shook her head. “In this game, D-Class Zombie Kings already have independent consciousness. In my current state, I can’t go anywhere.”

Xiao Jian earnestly tried to persuade her, “Qi Jie, didn’t you say before that D-Class Zombie Kings are the lowest level in the game? If we hide together, maybe we have a chance to live.”

Wait… wait a minute. Tang Yu’s eyes widened as she sensed something was wrong. This woman was openly discussing the “game” with an NPC.

Even in the “A Close and Loving Family” camp, Tang Yu had never mentioned to the aunties that this was a game. The aunties had their own theories about their situation; they called players “outsiders” and attributed their special abilities to something inherent to them.

For an NPC, knowing this was a game was far more painful than not knowing. It meant their lives, memories, and the very meaning of their existence were completely negated. They were just a piece of data, an AI set with an initial program to automatically evolve.

It would be one thing if they were emotionless AIs, but they were no different from humans, capable of joy and sorrow. It would be very difficult for any NPC to accept such a thing calmly. Once they knew, only two things could happen: either the NPC’s will to survive would plummet—after all, it’s just a game, and death is just a piece of code reaching its final outcome—or they would rise up in rebellion, causing the game to collapse.

But on second thought, the NPCs in this game hadn’t formed alliances, and they were full of a desire for life, at least the aunties were.

It seemed that no NPC knew this was a game. Even a brilliant researcher like Du Jiexu only referred to Tang Yu and the others as parasites.

Tang Yu couldn’t help but suspect that NPCs had been implanted with a cognitive correction function.

So when Tang Yu looked at Xiao Jian again, her gaze carried a different emotion. No wonder she always felt this child was different. She really was different.