Chapter 51: Zombie Shanhai (2)
At Obey Me and Win’s current level, he barely qualified to serve as Su Qiong’s health pack.
However, the information he provided was extremely useful.
Any player capable of entering Circle Four—even those who had survived through sheer luck—had once cleared the beginner-zone instances.
That meant they had never been resurrected in the beginner zone, so most players knew nothing about the funeral procession.
Within the entire Circle, there was probably only one person who truly understood it.
Moi, who had once died and later returned to life by sharing her younger sister’s life.
Moi’s condition was extremely poor. A bluish-purple tint had begun spreading across her lips, and the speed of her transformation into a zombie puppet was far beyond anyone’s expectations.
A notification appeared on her bracelet:
[Puppet Transformation: 10%.]
“If the transformation reaches one hundred percent, Moi will probably become a complete zombie.”
“How could that happen… No!” Qiyi panicked, her eyes reddening as she pleaded, “Please save my sister. I’ll take her place. I’ll do anything.”
“No!” Moi hurriedly stopped her. “Qiyi can’t become a zombie.”
“We know you sisters care deeply about each other, but calm down first. This hasn’t reached the point of a final farewell.”
“There are zombies everywhere outside. Let’s find somewhere else to talk.”
“All right.”
The buildings in Zombie Shanhai looked exceptionally gloomy, terrifying, and decayed.
Su Qiong and the others searched for a long time before finally finding a relatively normal detached house.
When they pushed open the door, a faint smell of mildew drifted out, but nothing seemed unusual about the furniture or decorations.
Zombies had no need for lighting, so every electrical facility had been shut down.
An’an took out a red ball. Flames emerged from it, instantly illuminating the entire room.
When everyone looked at him questioningly, An’an explained, “It’s an item.”
The Circle Lord of [Into Nature] had been divided into four fragments, each controlling water, fire, stone, or sand.
An’an had mainly dealt with the fragment that controlled fire and received its item after clearing the Circle.
“You obtained another Circle Lord item?”
“Lucky bastard. I’m so jealous!”
“Speaking of which, I have one of those too.” Su Qiong dug a tiny ocher-colored sand ball out of his pocket. “But I don’t know how to use it.”
Compared with a giant fireball, the sand ball was indeed rather impractical. Even the system had been too lazy to explain its function.
“They were originally quite powerful, but they insisted on splitting up. Even the items they gave us ended up mediocre.”
“It’s still a Circle Lord item. Keep it. It’ll be useful eventually.”
“Speaking of which…” Yu Qimiao looked toward ERROR with faint sympathy in his eyes. “Once again, you contributed the most and received nothing.”
Not having his points deducted was already the system’s greatest mercy toward ERROR.
Seeing how miserable he was made the other players feel much better.
No matter how poor their luck became, ERROR would always remain beneath them at the absolute bottom of the food chain.
Unexpectedly, ERROR raised a finger and proudly showed off.
“I gained an ability in the previous Circle.”
“What ability?” Shi Yuntian asked in horror.
Even ERROR had received an ability. If Shi Yuntian still had none, wouldn’t that make him completely useless?
ERROR answered, “I can transport myself to somewhere within fifty meters of Su Qiong. It’s a lovers’ ability. None of you can obtain it.”
“We know you and Little Pastry are lovers. Stop showing off!”
“Was that ability really given to you? It was clearly meant for Su Qiong. You’re still unlucky!”
“Speaking of fifty meters…” Yu Qimiao considered the number. “Did your intimacy increase?”
“Yes! It reached halfway!” After saying that, Su Qiong muttered worriedly, “It’s increasing so slowly.”
“It’ll reach one hundred percent eventually,” ERROR said unconcernedly.
Su Qiong looked at him.
Even Su Qiong himself had no confidence. Why was ERROR so certain?
“It’s been increasing for so long, but you’re still only halfway there,” Lu Shufan complained. “If Little Pastry had bonded with Yu Qimiao instead, it probably would’ve reached one hundred percent ages ago.”
“That’s entirely possible.”
After seeing how anxious Su Qiong became when Yu Qimiao turned into a fish, no one doubted the depth of their relationship.
No matter how they looked at it, their bond seemed deeper than Su Qiong and ERROR’s.
ERROR curled his lips into a humorless smile, clearly on the verge of anger.
“Enough.” Yu Qimiao signaled for them to stop. “Let’s discuss serious matters.”
Yu Qimiao knew Su Qiong cared for him greatly, almost to the point of dependence.
But that feeling differed from how Su Qiong treated An’an and ERROR.
Yu Qimiao could not clearly explain how it differed.
Lu Shufan still possessed some instinct for self-preservation. He did not continue and instead began discussing the situation in Zombie Shanhai.
“Come to think of it, we didn’t receive a main quest when we entered the Circle.”
“That’s right. The previous Circles at least told us what the quest was.”
“Su Qiong, do you know what’s happening?”
“Mm.” Based on his understanding of the system, Su Qiong answered, “When there is no main quest, there are usually two possibilities. The first is that this is a mystery-solving instance. We have to gather clues and deduce the main quest ourselves.”
Shi Yuntian spread his hands. “That obviously isn’t the case.”
There were mindless zombies everywhere. What the hell were they supposed to solve?
Lu Shufan agreed. “Look, even Boss Shi can see that.”
“What do you mean by that? Are you asking for a beating?” Shi Yuntian nearly drew his sword.
An’an could not be bothered with them and continued asking, “What’s the second possibility?”
“The second possibility is that the main quest is too difficult. The system believes that even if it told the players, their current strength would be insufficient to complete it.”
The room instantly fell silent.
Even Shi Yuntian forgot about chasing Lu Shufan.
The second possibility fit Zombie Shanhai better, but the players could not accept it.
Who would willingly admit they were so weak that they did not even have the right to learn the quest?
“If that’s the case, how do we obtain the main quest?” Yu Qimiao asked.
“First, we escape our current predicament,” Su Qiong answered. “Once the Circle Lord believes we’re qualified to challenge it, it will issue the quest.”
“The Circle Lord…” Someone hesitated. “The lord of this Circle isn’t going to be fragmented again or turn out to be the entire world, is it?”
“No. You should already know this Circle Lord.” Su Qiong pointed outside. “After seeing so many zombies, haven’t you guessed?”
“That’s right—the zombie from the beginner zone!”
Back in the beginner zone, a total of three NPCs had appeared.
Besides the Fairy-Tale Princess, whom they had already met, there had also been a zombie puppet and a blurry black shadow.
The zombie puppet had constantly been controlled by thin strings.
The being controlling it was the lord of Zombie Shanhai—the monster known as the Zombie King.
Besides manipulating puppets, it could also command the funeral procession, ordering them to capture every player who had died inside the game, bring them into this Circle, and transform them into new puppets.
“Even though we know who the Circle Lord is, it still sounds incredibly difficult to handle.”
“Exactly. It must be stronger than every Circle Lord we’ve encountered before.”
An’an activated the full-area scan and expanded its range to the maximum.
Far away, at the center of the zombie world, an impossible-to-ignore crimson presence appeared.
[NPC—Red Name]Zombie King
[Level]500
[Ability]Puppetry: Can control all fully transformed puppets within Zombie Shanhai.
Just as they expected, the Zombie King not only possessed a terrifyingly high level but could also control every fully transformed puppet.
In other words, every player outside who had previously died could be manipulated by the Zombie King.
Qiyi hugged Moi more tightly and trembled in fear.
“Don’t be afraid yet. Its ability has limitations. The target must be a fully transformed puppet. Moi is temporarily safe.”
They comforted the twins, but everyone understood the truth.
Moi was inside a Circle controlled by the Zombie King. Sooner or later, her puppet transformation would become complete.
“I…” Moi lowered her head. Her voice was extremely quiet, but every word was clear. “From now on, I should act separately from all of you.”
“Why?”
“You’re so weak. You won’t survive for long outside.”
“Zombies have no sense of companionship, and you aren’t a complete zombie either.”
To the players, Moi had already begun mutating and would eventually become an enemy. They would naturally want to eliminate her as soon as possible.
But to the zombies, she was not yet a true companion.
Under these circumstances, choosing to act alone was undoubtedly a death sentence.
Moi had naturally thought of that.
But she also knew even more clearly that remaining beside them would only burden everyone and increase the difficulty of clearing the Circle.
“After becoming a zombie, I’ll lose my ability to think and indiscriminately attack everyone around me. Any player injured by a zombie—even if it’s only a tiny wound—will also become a zombie,” Moi told them. “I can see hidden information. The zombie virus is contagious. Besides attacking players, exposing them to the virus will infect them too.”
“No wonder.”
Aside from the players, everyone in this world was a zombie, and their numbers were enormous.
A normal player needed only to be touched by a zombie or its virus to become infected.
After becoming a zombie, the player would turn into the Circle Lord’s puppet—a monster serving the Circle Lord.
No wonder Circle Four had not issued a main quest.
The Circle Lord was surrounded by layer upon layer of zombies. Before players could even reach it, they would already be transformed.
Who would still possess the ability to complete the main quest?
“We still can’t leave you alone.”
“Su Qiong said there are no guaranteed-death instances. There must be a solution.”
“Until we find a way to avoid infection, stay inside this room.” Su Qiong picked up his wand. “I have a way to avoid the virus. I’ll go outside first and gather information.”
“I’m coming with you.” ERROR stood as well.
“You?” Su Qiong frowned and carefully examined him from head to toe. “What if a zombie bites you?”
“Am I that weak?”
“You aren’t weak, but you’re unlucky.” Su Qiong looked faintly disgusted. “If I go alone, I probably won’t encounter any powerful zombies. But if I bring you, every giant zombie in the area will surround us!”
ERROR: “…”
Although Su Qiong’s words were deeply hurtful, they made perfect sense.
Inside the game, ERROR truly was a walking disaster.
Seeing the two reach an impasse, An’an stood.
“I’ll go with you.”
“You?”
An’an displayed his enormous collection of items.
“Great!” Su Qiong agreed instantly.
ERROR felt deeply insulted and looked coldly at Su Qiong.
“Su Qiong, when did you learn to be so biased?”
What should have been a two-person game had inexplicably become a party of three.
He was angry.
After the Orphan Alliance entered the Circle, Moi failed the scan and began showing signs of zombification.
Together with the information provided by Obey Me and Win—whom Su Qiong had killed countless times—they immediately understood that zombification was connected to the funeral procession.
The other players were not so fortunate.
Most had never truly died and had never encountered the funeral procession.
After passing the entry scan, they began exploring the environment of Zombie Shanhai, just as they had in previous Circles.
In truth, there was nothing wrong with that approach.
Whenever Su Qiong’s group entered a new instance, they also began by exploring the surroundings and understanding the Circle.
But throughout Circle Four, mindless zombies wandered everywhere like walking corpses and attacked players on sight.
The entry point lay near the outskirts, so the zombies there were only low-level creatures. Forget the Zombie King—even the great puppets surrounding it could defeat several of them at once.
Any player who had survived until Circle Four possessed an average level of seventy or eighty. Fighting beginner zombies was like bullying helpless beginners. One ability could cut down an entire group.
The problem was that zombies could not be completely killed.
Even if their heads were severed, their remaining bodies would pick the heads up and press them back onto their necks.
Sometimes they put them on backward and continued glaring at people with the backs of their skulls.
Whenever a zombie was injured, zombie venom sprayed from its body.
Players contaminated by the venom were effectively infected with the virus and began transforming into puppets.
If a zombie bit them, its venom would infect the wound as well.
By the time the players who had entered earlier realized this, it was already too late.
They had killed far too many zombies, spraying venom everywhere.
The game had barely begun, yet they had already become offerings to the Circle Lord.
Su Qiong closely followed behind ERROR. Seeing the venom everywhere, he immediately guessed what had happened.
“Ugh…” The little clean freak made a disgusted sound. “There’s nowhere to walk.”
The ground was covered in mottled pools of venom.
Not only was it the kind of filthy liquid Su Qiong hated most, it also emitted a rotten stench and was highly infectious.
ERROR had always been fearless, constantly testing the boundaries of death.
He crouched and examined a freshly spilled patch of venom.
After staring for two minutes, he took out a clean bottle, absorbed some of the venom with a scrap of fabric, then sealed it inside.
Su Qiong immediately retreated two steps.
“Why are you collecting that?”
“Don’t we need to understand our enemy?” ERROR repeated Su Qiong’s own words.
“…”
They did need to understand the enemy, but not like this.
It was disgusting.
Knowing that ERROR was carrying a sample of the venom, Su Qiong temporarily did not want to stand near him.
ERROR rose and looked straight ahead.
“We can’t travel along this road.”
“Agreed.” An’an had excellent eyesight and could see players battling zombies in the distance.
After witnessing enough examples, the players already knew that zombies sprayed venom when injured and could not be killed.
Therefore, they could only restrict the zombies’ movements without harming them—an extremely difficult task.
Some players adopted the attitude of avoiding what they could not defeat and tried walking around the zombies.
However, the zombies possessed no intelligence. They knew only to attack players, driving them into desperate situations before infecting them with venom.
The best solution was to lock the zombies away and restrict their movement.
Although their levels were low, their numbers were vast.
Controlling so many zombies was easier said than done.
“If we keep moving forward, we’ll definitely encounter the zombie army,” An’an told Su Qiong. “I don’t particularly care, but what about you?”
An’an possessed extremely strong physical abilities.
To restrain him, the system had thrown him into a solo hospital instance in the beginner zone.
That instance contained countless mutated humans who had drunk radioactive wastewater. They had been even harder to handle than zombies.
An’an had killed tens of thousands of them and had already become a merciless dragon-slaying warrior.
But Su Qiong could not do the same.
Whenever he saw the mutated humans’ sticky bodies, he always feared getting dirty.
Now they had been replaced by zombies, which were not only sticky but also ugly.
Su Qiong shook his head.
“I can’t.”
“But we’ve only explored…” ERROR turned and looked toward the room where their companions were hiding before announcing, “Five meters.”
“…”
Su Qiong choked.
What was wrong with five meters? Five meters was still impressive!
“Is there any way to move forward without touching the zombies?” Su Qiong asked weakly.
“Yes.” An’an scanned their surroundings and quickly answered, “They can’t fly.”
Su Qiong looked upward.
Most of the buildings here were two or three stories high, with balconies and eaves.
As long as they moved across the upper levels, they could gradually approach the city center where the Zombie King was located without touching the zombies.
“Let’s go.” ERROR climbed onto the balcony of a nearby building first. He grabbed Su Qiong’s bandage and pulled him upward.
“Whoosh, taking off~”
As ERROR lifted him, Su Qiong spread his arms like an actor suspended on wires and even provided his own sound effect.
An’an wrapped his long whip around the balcony railing and was about to climb when he heard Su Qiong’s voice.
His hand nearly slipped.
As expected of Su Qiong.
The World of Order had chosen the perfect setting for him. This marshmallow truly belonged in an amusement park.
If IF became a children’s game or a dress-up game, Su Qiong would undoubtedly be far happier.
Su Qiong’s feet landed on the balcony. His body swayed slightly before he regained his balance.
He followed ERROR forward like a little doll.
ERROR noticed that Su Qiong’s light body made him feel insecure at high elevations.
He constantly seemed afraid that a slightly stronger gust of wind would blow him away.
Standing amid that precarious fear, he took every step with exceptional caution.
It was rather cute.
Thinking this, ERROR freed one hand and extended it behind him.
“Hold on to me.”
“All right.” Su Qiong gripped his hand and released a breath of relief.
Thank goodness.
Now he did not need to worry about falling.
ERROR suddenly turned his hand over and clasped Su Qiong’s wrist.
Then he looked away, stretched his long legs, and jumped directly onto the neighboring balcony.
“Wow.” Su Qiong sighed admiringly. “Being tall is wonderful!”
Whoever had given him this body had not made it tall enough. His legs were too short. He needed ERROR to pull him across merely to make the jump.
Seeing An’an leap over neatly behind them was especially damaging.
It seemed he was the only short person in the entire world.
How depressing.
“Su Qiong, look.”
ERROR’s voice brought Su Qiong back to his senses.
He looked downward and saw several high-ranking members of Extremity surrounded by zombies.
The IF system adjusted encounters according to a player’s strength.
High-level players easily encountered high-level NPCs.
Since those experts had gathered together and formed such an obvious target, they naturally drew several zombie NPCs around Level Fifty or Sixty.
Compared with the low-level zombies, these creatures attacked with clear strategy rather than blindly charging.
They even consciously cooperated. Although their teamwork was not as coordinated as that of players, they already understood concepts like encirclement and defeating enemies one at a time.
They could even spit venom from their mouths without first being injured.
Although the Extremity experts completely surpassed them in level and abilities, avoiding the venom left every one of them in a miserable state.
One expert hid in the middle and frantically messaged Xi Huaiji, begging the guild leader to save them.
But Xi Huaiji did not respond at all. She was probably entangled with something even more troublesome.
Seeing this, Su Qiong took out his wand.
“You’re going to help them?” An’an asked.
The lesson from Everyone Survives persecuting Yu Qimiao was still fresh, yet Su Qiong had somehow retained his admirable willingness to help others.
“That’s normal.” ERROR’s tone carried faint teasing. “He’s an honorable guide NPC.”
“What are you talking about?” Su Qiong extended his bandages and casually replied, “I merely want to test my new item.”
“New item?”
ERROR and An’an did not understand and both looked toward the bandages.
The bandages reached the trapped players and separated.
Only then did everyone discover a small sand ball wrapped inside.
The sand ball was a reward from the previous Circle and seemed rather useless. However, it could manipulate the surrounding sand and roll it into a giant sand monster.
Before the zombies could react, countless grains of sand surrounded them.
Then they were buried beneath it, completely bewildered.
The desperate players finally escaped danger and looked gratefully toward Su Qiong.
“Beautiful Circle Lord, thank you!”
“You’re welcome.” Su Qiong did not care about their strange form of address and happily replied, “You only need to become my emergency food.”
The Extremity experts: “…”
They could only comfort themselves with the fact that Su Qiong now possessed offensive abilities and could at least grant them a quick death.
Seeing the Orphan Alliance members traveling across the balconies, the Extremity experts climbed up as well to avoid the zombie army.
Under ordinary circumstances, Yu Qimiao or Lu Shufan would have found some way to extract useful information from them.
But neither had come today.
ERROR and An’an rarely communicated with other guilds.
Furthermore, in the previous Circle, the two of them had worked together to manipulate the two largest guilds in IF.
Everyone Survives was one thing, but Extremity had been nothing more than a tool. Naturally, its members still held some resentment.
The Extremity experts had originally resolved to protect their information. No matter how their enemies threatened or tempted them, they would reveal nothing.
But after traveling peacefully for quite some time and realizing that neither ERROR nor An’an intended to ask questions, they became unable to sit still.
“Actually, we entered the Circle earlier and obtained some information.”
“Oh,” An’an answered dryly.
ERROR spoke sarcastically. “Congratulations.”
As for Su Qiong, he walked along the narrow eaves with his arms spread, enjoying the excitement of crossing a balance beam.
“If you possess clues, we can exchange information.”
An’an remained sparing with words.
“We don’t.”
ERROR said steadily, “For major matters involving cooperation between guilds, please contact Yu Qimiao directly.”
The Extremity experts: “???”
It was true that exchanging information between guilds was a major matter and usually required the guild leader’s decision.
But the Orphan Alliance had only seven members!
Although Yu Qimiao was the guild leader, every member was effectively an executive.
ERROR and An’an in particular were their primary combatants. They were perfectly capable of making decisions.
One Extremity expert tentatively asked, “Could it be that you don’t want to exchange information with us?”
“Oh dear, you noticed.” ERROR smiled in an exceptionally irritating way.
An’an remained consistent inside and out. “I don’t care.”
The Extremity experts collectively fell silent.
They had humiliated themselves.
The atmosphere became extremely awkward.
Su Qiong finally finished enjoying his balance beam and turned around.
“We possess unique information. Yu Qimiao said we may exchange it only if your clue is more useful than ours.”
“As expected of Yu Qimiao.” The Extremity experts were not surprised.
Even without his item, Yu Qimiao still found ways to control every other player completely.
“Understood. We’ll reveal ours first. Is that acceptable?”
When the three offered no objections, the Extremity experts disclosed their clue.
“There are still some uninfected original inhabitants in this world. But they’re surrounded by zombies and rarely reveal themselves. Guild Leader Xi Huaiji has already gone to find them and may obtain further clues.”
“Uninfected original inhabitants?” After hearing the information, Su Qiong fell into thought. “That means Zombie Shanhai was probably originally inhabited by humans. It became like this only after they were infected by zombies.”
“Correct.” The Extremity expert nodded. “According to the information we obtained, the outbreak began only one month ago.”
“One month ago? Then wouldn’t that be…”
ERROR said calmly, “The day IN OFF opened for the second time.”
“Guild Leader Xi Huaiji believes one month isn’t particularly long. Even if the zombie infection spreads rapidly, humans could avoid it simply by hiding at home.”
“So the number of surviving original inhabitants may not be small.”
ERROR had a different interpretation.
“Conversely, the fact that the Zombie King transformed the entire world into this state within only one month means its power cannot be underestimated.”
The Extremity experts nodded dejectedly.
“You haven’t received a main quest either?”
“No.” Their expressions became even more defeated. “Guild Leader Xi Huaiji said the system considers us too weak to bother issuing one.”
“Oh. Your guild leader is intelligent.”
They continued along the eaves and eventually reached a relatively flat street.
There were no humans in sight. Zombies wandered everywhere, looking much harder to deal with than those the sand had buried earlier.
Su Qiong hesitated but did not activate Order Deduction.
He could use Order Deduction only three times.
According to the map, they remained extremely far from the world’s center, where the Zombie King was located. Using one attempt so early would be unwise.
“The guild leader still hasn’t responded. What do we do?”
“Maybe we should wait here. With so many zombies, jumping down would definitely infect us.”
The Extremity experts decided to remain still and looked toward the Orphan Alliance members, about to ask what they planned to do.
Before the words left their mouths, those people answered through action.
They jumped down!
Straight into the horde of zombies!
And these zombies were more than one hundred levels higher than the earlier ones!
During free fall, Su Qiong waved his wand and created a barrier with the pink diamond, protecting himself and his companions.
Hearing the sound, the zombies immediately spat venom toward them.
Seeing the liquid sticking to the pink barrier, Su Qiong nearly cried.
—Would he be able to wash it clean?
Wait. The zombie world did not seem to have any water.
Su Qiong wanted to cry even more.
An’an had followed Su Qiong down without thinking too deeply.
Only after the barrier surrounded him did he find it rather fascinating.
The barrier resembled a pink soap bubble—a thin membrane that looked dreamy and sweet, entirely too suitable for Su Qiong.
He tentatively poked it from the inside.
It was soft yet extremely resilient.
The zombies crowded around them, baring their teeth and claws, but could do nothing to the pink-diamond barrier.
“How lively.” After overcoming his initial disgust, Su Qiong observed the zombies through the transparent membrane.
The open area was exceptionally broad and contained no fewer than ten thousand zombies.
Some had only recently transformed and still retained human characteristics.
Others were ancient zombies, their skin glossy black without the slightest trace of blood.
“The Extremity members probably didn’t deceive us. This world began mutating one month ago, when the second wave of IN OFF players arrived. But these zombies have transformed far too extensively.”
“Indeed. Even thousand-year-old mummies don’t look as ancient as they do.”
“Furthermore, Obey Me and Win said he saw players who previously died and were carried away by the funeral procession. Based on my deduction, the largest group among them should be the players who died in the beginner zone.”
The deceased beginner-zone players existed somewhere between newly transformed zombies and ancient ones.
They still retained obvious characteristics, allowing others to distinguish whether they had been tall, short, fat, or thin as humans.
The older zombies’ former humanity could be inferred only from the shape of their skeletons.
“What do we do?” Su Qiong moved toward the center of the pink soap bubble and realized a serious problem. “I think we’re surrounded.”
He had used this method before.
The pink-diamond barrier was mobile and allowed them to walk inside the bubble.
But now zombies surrounded them from every direction, leaving no room to move.
“…Did you not think of that before jumping down?” An’an asked.
“I thought we could push them away,” Su Qiong answered weakly.
He had assumed that even if the zombies surrounded them, there were three people inside the barrier. Surely they could force open a path.
ERROR could not suppress a laugh.
“They aren’t you.”
Su Qiong felt somewhat embarrassed.
It was true.
In this world, Su Qiong was the only NPC who fell over with one push.
“What do we do now?”
“Two options.” ERROR immediately provided solutions. “We send you somewhere far away, then transport ourselves to your side…”
He paused before adding, “Within fifty meters.”
Su Qiong once again recognized how useless the ability was.
If Su Qiong reached a safe location and ERROR could transport directly beside him, the plan would be excellent.
But fifty meters…
Who could guarantee what existed fifty meters away?
Considering how densely packed the zombies were, ERROR would probably be eaten the instant he appeared.
“What’s the second option?”
“We wait here until they disperse on their own or another player rescues us.”
“How long would that take?”
“In that case…” An’an reached toward the chain at his waist. “We can only fight.”
“Huh?” Su Qiong’s final syllable carried deep resentment.
He had hoped to avoid fighting whenever possible, yet they had still reached this point.
He reluctantly drew his wand.
Before he could decide which function to use, the two figures beside him flew outward.
In an instant, fierce flames erupted to Su Qiong’s left, while thick ice formed on his right.
Caught between fire and ice, Su Qiong looked completely lost.
He knew An’an possessed the fireball.
But ERROR…
“What did you do? Why are all the zombies frozen?”
Fire could drive the zombies back and prevent them from approaching.
But ice completely restricted their movements.
With so many zombies packed together, ice was far more useful than fire.
“Do you also possess a Circle Lord item?”
ERROR glanced at him. “Would an item work in my hands?”
“No.” Su Qiong became even more confused.
If ERROR could not use items, how had he done it?
An’an returned to Su Qiong’s side and glanced sideways at ERROR.
“He borrowed my bracelet,” An’an explained.
When An’an activated the full-area scan, his bracelet produced an infinitely large physical projection.
Every player and NPC inside it entered An’an’s scanning range.
ERROR had suddenly grabbed the bracelet while it was separated from An’an.
The high-level bracelet refused to be used by ERROR and began freezing itself, consequently freezing every NPC within its range.
An’an commented, “In a certain sense, your ability could be considered divine-grade.”
“Thank you for the compliment.” ERROR accepted the praise and “kindly” reminded him, “If you were slightly weaker, your ability would have destroyed itself rather than allow me to use it.”
An’an: “?”
He never should have lent it to him.
With the surrounding zombies temporarily immobilized, Su Qiong withdrew the pink-diamond barrier and quickly crossed the zombie-filled plaza.
Beyond it lay a commercial street lined with high-rise buildings on both sides.
As before, Su Qiong entered one of the buildings, intending to use the upper floors to avoid the zombies.
After climbing only two flights of stairs, he came face-to-face with a crooked-neck zombie.
Fortunately, he reacted quickly and immediately buried it beneath sand.
“Why can it climb stairs?!”
“It’s a higher level than the zombies we encountered before, so it probably possesses more abilities,” ERROR concluded. “Zombies evolve. The closer we approach the Zombie King, the stronger they’ll become.”
An’an looked into the distance.
“Farther ahead, fire, ice, and high ground may all become useless against them.”
Su Qiong frowned and discussed the situation with them.
“There are too many zombies. With only three people, we can’t handle them all. Once we finish exploring this street, we should return.”
“All right. Let’s continue upward for now. Higher-level zombies can climb stairs, but many low-level zombies remain. Going upstairs will still avoid most of them.”
Su Qiong nodded and continued climbing with great effort.
When only a few flights remained before the rooftop, they heard a piercing scream.
“S-save me!”
The speaker’s voice sounded somewhat familiar.
The players accompanying him spoke in terrified voices.
“Why was an NPC lying in ambush on the rooftop? We’re still so far from the center, yet there’s already a Level 150 zombie here!”
“Strategist, hold on a little longer! I’ll contact the vice guild leader immediately!”
“The vice guild leader said he can’t get away. Perhaps you should…”
The player addressed as the strategist panicked and shouted at them, “Where do you think you’re going? You aren’t allowed to run! Otherwise, I’ll never forgive you!”
“Strategist?” Su Qiong repeated the title, remembering several unpleasant events.
ERROR ran to the stairwell entrance and glanced outside before chuckling.
“What a small world. Enemies truly do meet on a narrow road.”
“Who’s there? Great ERROR, is that you? Save me! Please save me!”
The strategist noticed ERROR and desperately begged him for help.
ERROR ignored him and looked toward Su Qiong.
“That’s what he says. What should we do?”
