Chapter 54: Zombie Shanhai (5)
“The Red-Name Traitor.”
The title clearly referred to the White Attendant who once served beside the Zombie King, yet the moment everyone heard it, they instinctively looked at Su Qiong.
Su Qiong covered his head, innocence written all over his face.
He was not a red-name NPC.
His ID was the one and only beautiful pink name in all of IF.
Even if Su Qiong had failed to carry out a red-name NPC’s duties, how could that make him a traitor?
“Does this Red-Name Traitor have any distinguishing features?” Yu Qimiao asked.
Alice shook her head. “No. He is like a cloud, like mist, and like the wind. Many people have encountered him, but no one has ever caught him. Whether you can find him depends entirely on your luck.”
“I see. Thank you for the clue.”
“Guild Leader Xi, may I ask what your guild plans to do next?”
Xi Huaiji lifted her eyelids at the question. “Continue forward, naturally.”
“Just as I expected.”
Su Qiong said, “We now have three things to do.”
“What three things?” Shi Yuntian’s eyes shone with pure, guileless stupidity.
ERROR took over and said calmly, “First, continue exploring the streets ahead. Second, find the White Attendant—the Red-Name Traitor.”
An’an added, “Since the White Attendant betrayed the Zombie King, he won’t remain at the Zombie King’s side. He may be hiding somewhere we’ve already passed.”
“Since he’s like a cloud, mist, and wind, he obviously won’t be easy to find.”
Shi Yuntian nodded and sincerely asked, “What’s the third thing?”
The others looked back in the direction they had come from and answered in unison.
“Go back.”
“Why?” Shi Yuntian could not understand at all. “It took us so much effort to reach the fifth street.”
“It did. Reaching the fifth street was extremely difficult. But…”
Su Qiong looked serious. “I have a feeling there must be some hidden clue along the path we already traveled. Otherwise, it makes no sense that we’ve come this far without making any progress.”
“Besides,” ERROR said, “doesn’t this feel like a trap?”
“No!” Shi Yuntian answered righteously.
Lu Shufan smacked his forehead. “Boss ERROR, don’t talk in circles with Boss Shi. He can’t understand you.”
Lu Shufan patted Shi Yuntian’s shoulder and explained, “ERROR means that because reaching the fifth street was so difficult, most people won’t want to turn back. Just like you.”
“Exactly.”
“But many clues in games can only be triggered on the second pass. The more reluctant you are to turn back now, the harder it’ll be to return later.”
Shi Yuntian only half understood. “So what? Are all of us going back?”
“Of course not! We worked too hard to reach this point. We can’t waste the advantage.”
“The three tasks ERROR mentioned are equally important. We need to explore ahead, search for the Red-Name Traitor, and go back to find any missed clues.”
“You can’t be serious.” The Extremity experts listened to their plan with expressions that said, Stop joking.
Whenever Extremity carried out a mission, they deployed dozens of players at minimum and sometimes over a hundred.
The Orphan Alliance had only seven members in total, yet they intended to complete three tasks simultaneously.
Were they superhumans?
Besides—
“You’re already missing one member!”
“Thank you for the reminder.” Yu Qimiao continued assigning tasks. “When you go back, remember to check on Qiyi. She’s the only one left in the wooden house, and she still has to protect Obey Me and Win. I’m worried.”
Before leaving, he had instructed Obey Me and Win to protect Qiyi.
But everyone knew perfectly well that with Obey Me and Win’s pitiful abilities, it would be a miracle if he could protect himself.
In a crisis, Qiyi might end up protecting him instead.
“Got it.” Su Qiong nodded. “Let’s split into teams!”
“As usual, Shi Yuntian and I will continue forward with Guild Leader Xi’s group,” Yu Qimiao arranged first.
Shi Yuntian was a battle maniac, and there would surely be many powerful NPCs ahead. It was the perfect opportunity for Boss Shi to enjoy himself.
Yu Qimiao himself was not skilled in combat, but he currently had the highest level of any player present. Even without abilities or weapons, his base attributes far surpassed everyone else’s, so he could still contribute.
“Lu Shufan, you and An’an…”
“We’ll search for the Red-Name Traitor,” An’an volunteered.
An’an had received professional training and excelled at locating traitors, spies, and people in hiding.
As for Lu Shufan…
If they truly could not find the target, they could let him cast his strange charm on the zombies.
“Then we don’t have a choice.” ERROR looked toward Su Qiong.
“That’s fine. I wanted to go back and check anyway.” Su Qiong picked up his wand and smiled brightly. “Leave triggering clues to me!”
“What about Moi? What will you do?”
“I want to separate from all of you.” Moi clutched her clothes and said weakly, “I can feel my puppet transformation accelerating the farther we go. It’s already reached fifty percent.”
“That fast?!”
“It’s only been one day, and she’s already caught up to ERROR and Little Pastry’s intimacy.”
ERROR: “???”
Stop insulting me! Please stop!
“I don’t know when I’ll become a zombie, so I can’t continue staying beside you.” Moi thought for a moment before adding, “Qiyi and I share life and death. It’ll be all right.”
“But becoming a zombie doesn’t count as death,” An’an reminded her.
His unspoken meaning was clear:
Are you certain Qiyi can still share her life with you?
What was harder to cross than the boundary between life and death was the boundary between species.
“…It’s fine.” Moi tightened her grip over her chest. “I prepared myself for this long ago.”
Ever since entering the game, Moi had already decided.
If only one of them could leave alive…
She hoped it would be Qiyi.
“I say…” Seeing her fragile and sorrowful expression, Xi Huaiji was about to suggest that an Extremity member take Moi along.
Before she could speak, Alice said indifferently, “If it’s only her, then it’s fine.”
“What do you mean?”
Alice rolled her eyes and stated it plainly. “She can stay in my little cottage, as long as this girl is willing to become my servant.”
“But I’m going to turn into a zombie!”
“So what? I live in a place like this. Do you think I haven’t seen enough zombies?” Alice waved a hand and said casually, “I can’t completely purify the zombie virus like the White Attendant, but I can slow the puppet transformation.”
“Really?!” Moi was overjoyed. “Thank you! I’ll do my best to repay you!”
“…You’d better not go back on your word.” Alice was startled by how obediently she agreed, then added, “Even though I can slow the transformation with magic, I can’t stop it entirely. Five days at most. If you fail to find the White Attendant within five days, there’s nothing else I can do.”
“Don’t worry.” An’an pushed open the window and stepped onto the sill. He told her casually, “Three days at most.”
Lu Shufan pressed two fingers diagonally to his temple and winked at her. “I’ll make the White Attendant obey my every command.”
After saying that, he followed An’an out the window without the slightest fear of the zombie army outside.
Alice and the Extremity members stared in stunned disbelief.
Who had given them that confidence?
The Zombie King?
“We should leave too.” ERROR slowly rose with one hand braced against the table and casually ruffled Su Qiong’s soft curls. “I look forward to working with you, my exclusive NPC.”
“All right.” Su Qiong nodded obediently.
“We know he’s your exclusive NPC! Is it necessary to repeat it eight hundred times a day?” Shi Yuntian cursed as he hoisted his heavy blade and urged Yu Qimiao to hurry.
Yu Qimiao finished the last sip of tea and politely thanked Alice. “Thank you for your hospitality. The tea and desserts were delicious.”
“Just leave. It would be even better if you never came back to bother me.”
“Please take care of Moi.”
Before Shi Yuntian left, he turned back toward Moi, who was staying in the cottage.
“I promised I would protect both you sisters.” After speaking, Shi Yuntian turned away and waved a hand. “I’ll come back.”
Moi escorted her companions to the door and bowed.
“May all of you return safely.”
After leaving the cottage, Xi Huaiji led the Extremity members forward, while the Orphan Alliance split into three teams.
Su Qiong and ERROR turned around to face the route they had come from.
The zombies they had previously defeated had long since reassembled their bodies and revived at full health.
ERROR was still in the mood to whistle and tease, “Going back won’t be any easier than coming here.”
Su Qiong looked at the filthy zombies with mixed emotions. “Is there a way to avoid fighting them?”
His germophobia was severe. He did not want to touch the zombies at all.
“Yes.” ERROR asked, “Have you heard a certain saying?”
“What saying?”
“If you can’t beat them, join them.”
Five minutes later, a bizarre zombie with shoulders as broad as a double-door refrigerator, two heads, and a body entirely wrapped in bandages appeared openly on the street.
The surrounding zombies wandered back and forth without noticing anything unusual.
After all, zombie arms and legs broke off easily.
After every major battle, zombies had to reassemble themselves. Accidentally taking someone else’s limbs or attaching an extra head was extremely common.
Some headless zombies could not find their own heads and could only steal someone else’s spare one. If they failed, they could still survive without a head, and the horror factor only doubled.
Although Su Qiong’s mimetic cloak was low-level, its deceptive effect increased alongside its user’s level and had already become nearly indistinguishable from reality.
The greatest problem was that the cloak had limited surface area.
To conceal both ERROR and Su Qiong, the two had to remain extremely close together.
Body against body, face against face, pressed together without a single gap.
Su Qiong did not dislike being close to ERROR.
ERROR was very clean and carried a faint pleasant scent. Surrounded by an enormous crowd of zombies, he appeared especially pleasing to the eye.
The problem was—
It was too hot.
Su Qiong had clearly told him that excessive heat would alert the zombies, but ERROR’s body temperature remained impossible to ignore.
It was so hot that Su Qiong wanted to move away, but ERROR and the cloak wrapped tightly around him, leaving no room to escape.
“Do you have a fever?” Su Qiong whispered. “I heard humans need to drink more hot water when they have a fever.”
“…Did the system teach you that?” ERROR sounded disgusted. “So my rebellious child is this much of a straight man. No wonder no one likes it.”
[System: …]
It seemed the restrictions it placed on ERROR were still not severe enough.
“Mm. Besides drinking more hot water, you need to see a doctor and be admitted to a hospital, but IF doesn’t have doctors.”
“Have you ever considered that there are no doctors because no one in the game world can become ill?” ERROR thought helplessly.
There was no metabolism, and every basic bodily function had already stopped. How could anyone get sick?
“Then why do you have a fever?” Su Qiong asked in confusion.
ERROR remained silent for several seconds before giving up and answering, “Inner heat.”
“Huh?”
Su Qiong touched his own chest, then ERROR’s.
Sure enough, ERROR’s chest was much hotter than his.
So human hearts generated energy by burning.
He had learned something new.
Su Qiong tried hard to adapt to ERROR’s temperature. Pressed closely against him, he pretended to remain calm as they passed through the zombie crowd.
They had not traveled far when they encountered a major problem.
The church where they had previously hidden was still surrounded by an enormous horde of zombies.
Those zombies had only just recovered their respective body parts, leaving the scene chaotic.
The strategist had suffered the worst. The zombies who worshiped him helped him stand, then casually reattached his severed limbs backward.
It was only his first day as a zombie, so the strategist was still unaccustomed to his new body and had no idea how to correct his arms and legs. He could only awkwardly walk while supporting himself on his reversed hands.
“Where did those players go?” the strategist demanded.
The zombies answered through body language.
They had left.
“Useless trash! Find them! Turn every one of them into zombies and make them my slaves!”
The zombies agreed in unison and began searching for the players.
In the zombies’ minds, only two categories of beings existed: their own kind and outsiders.
They could not identify specific players.
Following the guidance of body heat, they surrounded several Extremity experts and bared their teeth and claws, preparing to tear them apart.
ERROR and Su Qiong had been walking peacefully when a zombie beside them bumped into Su Qiong.
“?” Su Qiong instantly dodged and looked at it warily.
The zombie extended a withered finger and pointed ahead.
Su Qiong became even more confused.
Then the zombie grabbed a small zombie, demonstrated by twisting off its head, and began gnawing noisily on its neck.
After biting it, the zombie looked at Su Qiong with empty eye sockets, pointed toward the isolated Extremity experts, and made angry huffing noises.
“D-did I offend it?” Wrapped in the cloak, Su Qiong trembled.
“I think it’s teaching you to attack humans,” ERROR analyzed. “Or rather, it’s teaching you how to become a qualified zombie.”
The small zombie whose neck had been twisted off picked up its head again.
The head it retrieved did not quite fit, so it had to make do. It hung unsteadily from the thin neck.
The little zombie seemed entirely unaware and raised its fragile neck to look at Su Qiong.
“It appears zombies may lack intelligence, but they retain an instinct to care for young.”
“Young?” Su Qiong looked at himself, then at the little zombie on the ground.
No matter how he looked at it, he did not resemble a child.
“In their eyes, we’re newborn zombies. Newborn zombies count as young.” ERROR leaned close to Su Qiong’s ear and whispered, “Since large zombies protect their young, we can use the opportunity to rescue those unlucky fools.”
“How?”
ERROR and Su Qiong discussed a plan, then pretended to have lost their minds as they slowly approached the Extremity experts.
The Extremity experts trembled in terror, believing they had encountered some mutant zombie species.
The larger zombies merely assumed they were newborn zombies unfamiliar with their work whose bodies had been reassembled incorrectly after reviving.
Only when Su Qiong and ERROR came close enough for the Extremity experts to see their faces did they nearly cry out.
“Why is it you?” the Extremity experts asked in disbelief.
“I was about to ask why it’s you again.”
Su Qiong recognized them as the same unlucky players who had first been surrounded by zombies and whom he had kindly rescued with the sand ball.
“Do you deliberately attract zombies so they can surround you?”
“Are you spies planted among the zombies?”
The Extremity experts examined their appearance and could not resist retorting, “Look at yourselves. Who actually resembles a zombie spy?”
“Oh?” ERROR raised an eyebrow. “I suddenly feel tired. Perhaps we should hand you over to the other zombies after all.”
“Don’t! Boss ERROR, I was wrong! I was truly wrong!”
“The two of you look like sacred works of art!”
To survive, the Extremity experts completely abandoned their dignity and said every absurd thing they could think of.
ERROR did not hold it against them. He moved closer and made a feint, pretending to attack the Extremity players.
The players cooperated beautifully.
First, they convulsed and collapsed. Then they slowly crawled back to their feet and pretended to have been controlled.
Su Qiong sincerely believed Extremity should change its name to the Actor Training Academy.
Their performances were far more convincing than his own.
“Zombies identify players by body temperature. Lower your temperatures to avoid most danger. This is as far as I can help you.”
While “attacking” them, Su Qiong thoughtfully left behind the clue.
The surrounding zombies were very satisfied to see the newborn, two-headed mutant zombie already capable of independently transforming outsiders into zombies.
They dispersed one after another, and the Extremity experts finally relaxed.
“Thank you, Su Qiong and Boss ERROR. If our guild leader sends us any information later, we’ll definitely share it with you.”
“That won’t be necessary.”
Su Qiong pointed forward. “Guild Leader Xi has already crossed the fifth street. I just separated from her group.”
The moment he finished, the Extremity experts’ expressions became even more miserable than when zombies had been chasing them.
“How could this happen…”
“How many years will it take us to catch up with our guild leader?”
“Well, do your best.” ERROR offered a completely insincere word of encouragement, wrapped one arm around Su Qiong’s waist, and continued pretending to be a two-headed mutant zombie.
They safely returned to the third street, which the system classified as the Basic Survival Zone.
Su Qiong removed the cloak and could finally create some distance between himself and ERROR.
ERROR withdrew his hand, strangely feeling a little regretful.
The streets beyond the third were mainly populated by beginner zombies.
After chatting and joking with high-level zombies, ERROR and Su Qiong had already understood their behavioral patterns.
In comparison, these low-level zombies were like fragile infants and posed no threat.
“There are many buildings here. Earlier, we only focused on moving forward and never properly investigated them.”
“Mm. And that plaza is strange.”
“Exactly.” ERROR looked toward the broad plaza and also found it far too conspicuous.
It was enormous and empty yet served no apparent purpose.
Had it been built merely for zombies to gather?
Impossible.
Before the Zombie King was born, who could have predicted that so many zombies would appear?
Even if someone had predicted it, they would never have placed such an important location inside the Basic Survival Zone.
“Although these buildings don’t contain clues, they hold many objects left by humans.” Su Qiong entered one of the buildings and pushed out a child’s bicycle with training wheels, his eyes shining with wonder.
“You want to ride it?” ERROR asked.
Su Qiong looked at the sparkling bicycle, then at the long street. He said regretfully, “There are too many obstacles.”
The low-level zombies were harmless, but there were so many that Su Qiong could barely move.
“That doesn’t matter.” ERROR casually picked something up and threw it ahead.
Flames immediately erupted along the street, forcing the low-level zombies to scatter.
A path opened through the fire, perfectly wide enough for Su Qiong’s little bicycle.
“An item?”
“Mm.” ERROR answered indifferently. “It appeared to be a high-level item. It doesn’t matter. It refused to let me use it anyway.”
So you destroyed it?
If the system knew that the item it had painstakingly prepared was being wasted like this by ERROR, its heart would surely bleed.
But what did the system’s bleeding heart have to do with Su Qiong?
He happily sat on the child’s bicycle, gripped the handlebars, and then—
Placed both feet firmly on the ground.
Compared with his teammates, Su Qiong was not tall, but he was still within the normal range.
For a child’s bicycle, however, his legs were too long. Pedaling would definitely be uncomfortable.
Besides, Su Qiong did not know how to ride a bicycle.
He only knew that the object could replace walking and roll forward.
The moment ERROR saw Su Qiong’s expression, he knew he was struggling. A faint smile curled his lips.
“Get up.”
“Do you want to ride?” Su Qiong obediently stood.
“If you feel cramped, I’d have even less chance.” ERROR casually showed off his height.
He adjusted the seat beneath Su Qiong to a higher position, then raised the handlebars accordingly.
When Su Qiong sat again, he had much more room to move.
The bicycle had been designed for young teenagers learning to ride. It had two training wheels in the back, and they even lit up.
Whenever the wheels moved, they flashed in many colors.
Su Qiong loved them.
Yet even with the training wheels, the bicycle still swayed uncontrollably when he pressed the pedals.
He felt as though he might fall at any moment and cried out repeatedly in alarm.
“Ah! I’m going to fall!”
“ERROR, what do I do?”
“Help me!”
“You really are…” Enthusiastic despite being terrible.
ERROR swallowed the disdainful words, freed one hand, and held the back of the bicycle seat.
“Keep the handlebars steady and go straight forward.”
“All right.” Following his instructions, Su Qiong firmly controlled the direction.
“I’m behind you.” ERROR moved closer, his voice sounding inexplicably reliable. “You don’t need to look back.”
“Mm.” Su Qiong nodded, a powerful sense of security blooming inside him.
Players passing nearby were attracted by the bicycle’s glowing training wheels.
When they saw the scene, question marks appeared over their heads.
“What are they doing? Learning to ride a bicycle in the world of IF?”
“Do those two understand that zombies surround us and we could die at any moment?”
“Shh! Look at who they are. They’re the two people from the guild least afraid of death—the ones who court death constantly yet somehow never die.”
“If we rode a bicycle here, we’d be seeking death. Those experts are merely entertaining themselves. Let’s go.”
“I’m jealous. Would it help if I went over and clung to their thighs now?”
“Dream on. Don’t you know they’re the only lovers officially recognized by the system? If you rush over there as a third wheel, not even the Zombie King could save you.”
“…Uh, forget I said anything.”
Su Qiong was an intelligent marshmallow.
After riding for one street, he completely learned how to cycle.
Naturally, only with the training wheels attached.
Cycling truly was faster than walking.
Su Qiong rode the bicycle with its flashing training wheels to the zombie-filled plaza and completed an entire lap around it.
The low-level zombies saw him and chased after the glittering rear wheel, creating an extremely spectacular scene.
“I didn’t trigger any notification!” Su Qiong returned to ERROR and shouted.
“Such a large place, yet there was no notification?”
“The conditions probably weren’t fulfilled, so nothing could be triggered.”
Based on their earlier analysis, Su Qiong found it difficult to believe that such an enormous and conspicuous location contained no hidden prompt.
“Do you want to investigate?” ERROR asked.
“This place is far too large, and there are so many zombies.” Su Qiong thought before deciding, “Yu Qimiao was worried about Qiyi. Let’s go check on her first.”
“That works.”
They would have to pass through the plaza again when they returned anyway.
Both ERROR and Su Qiong shared a feeling.
If retracing their steps truly was necessary to trigger a clue, then something must be hidden at the starting point.
For the two maniacs who had broken through the fifth street, the first street felt like children playing house and posed no challenge at all.
Su Qiong even dared to race his bicycle down the street without fearing that zombie venom might splash onto him.
Through observation, he discovered that the toxicity of zombie venom was closely related to the zombie’s level.
After defeating so many high-level zombies, their resistance to the venom had increased accordingly.
The damage caused by a single low-level zombie could almost be ignored.
Of course, if tens of thousands attacked simultaneously, ERROR and Su Qiong would still be eaten within minutes.
“Qiyi!”
Spotting the wooden house from afar, Su Qiong loudly called her name. His speeding child’s bicycle flashed with brilliant rainbow light.
Qiyi did not answer.
Su Qiong assumed she was hiding deep inside the wooden house and had not heard him, so he moved closer and called again.
There was still no response.
Su Qiong turned to look at ERROR.
“Don’t worry,” ERROR reassured him. “Although high-level zombies roam freely, they shouldn’t come here.”
If high-level zombies camped at the players’ spawn point, the system would be truly deranged.
“Let’s go inside.”
“All right.”
Su Qiong parked the bicycle, entered the wooden house, and called Qiyi’s name several more times.
Still, there was no answer.
The house was deathly silent.
Feeling something was wrong, Su Qiong called for the other player who should have remained inside.
“Obey Me and Win, are you here?”
As expected, Obey Me and Win did not answer either.
“Where did they go? Is this wooden house not safe?”
Su Qiong was extremely worried, and self-blame crept into his voice.
“If only I had returned sooner.”
“This has nothing to do with you.” ERROR walked around the house. “No one has stayed here for at least several hours. Even without our delay, they still would have left.”
“Left?”
“Yes. There are no signs of a zombie invasion or a fight.” ERROR made his judgment. “Qiyi and Obey Me and Win left voluntarily.”
“Forget Obey Me and Win… Why would Qiyi leave willingly?” Su Qiong could not believe it. “Can we contact her through the bracelet?”
ERROR held out his hand and showed Su Qiong his bracelet.
It was the first time he had privately messaged Qiyi. He asked for her location, but received no reply.
“It’s so dangerous outside…”
“Nothing happened to her.” ERROR put away the bracelet and answered leisurely, “If an accident occurred, the bracelet’s functions would be disabled immediately.”
For example, the moment Moi entered Zombie Shanhai, she became unable to use her bracelet, and others could no longer send messages to her.
“That’s good.” Su Qiong released a breath and tightened his grip on his wand. “Either way, we need to find her quickly.”
“Mm.” ERROR agreed. “They wouldn’t leave the wooden house without a reason. They must have discovered something.”
Qiyi was obedient and knew that she carried her sister’s life.
Unless something unexpected happened, she would never step outside the safe zone.
Obey Me and Win needed no explanation.
He had survived until now entirely by hiding.
ERROR truly could not imagine what reason would persuade those two to venture outside.
Eight hours earlier—
The members of the Orphan Alliance had been eating and drinking inside the villa on the third street.
Through their mental link, Moi asked her younger sister what she wanted to eat.
Although food inside the game did not increase any stats, the realism was high enough to satisfy cravings.
Qiyi had not eaten proper food for a long time, but she had never been greedy and obediently answered that she wanted nothing.
If her sister brought food back for her and was targeted by zombies because of it, that would be terrible.
Obey Me and Win had been talking to Qiyi. Noticing her strange silence, he asked curiously, “What’s wrong?”
“I’m speaking with my sister.” Qiyi hugged her knees and smiled happily. “Even when we’re apart, our hearts let us understand each other.”
Obey Me and Win sounded envious. “You sisters must be very close.”
“Mm. We grew up together and have never been separated.” Perhaps because she had gone so long without confiding in anyone, Qiyi unexpectedly began opening up to an unfamiliar adult. “I’ve never told everyone this, but my sister and I were the ones who entered each other’s names into IN OFF.”
“Why?” Obey Me and Win could not understand. “This game is so dangerous!”
If Qiyi and Moi had accessed the official website, they should have known exactly how dangerous the game was.
The clearing rate was so low, yet they had deliberately dragged each other into it.
“Aren’t you good sisters?”
“Yes. We didn’t want to be separated.” Qiyi lowered her lashes, her voice fragile and aggrieved. “At the orphanage, the adults and the other children disliked us. They said we were strange because we never talked to them. Whenever someone wanted to adopt either me or my sister, we cried and caused trouble because we refused to separate.”
“Whenever we were bullied, only my sister protected me. But everyone kept telling us that sisters couldn’t remain together forever.”
“We wanted to stay together forever. So before those people we hated submitted their registration forms, my sister and I wrote down each other’s names.”
“If we couldn’t leave alive and had to remain inside the game forever, that would have been better for us.”
“You two…” Obey Me and Win did not know how to judge them.
Moi and Qiyi’s decision had indeed been extreme.
But they were two fragile young girls who could depend only on each other, while the entire world repeatedly told them, You will inevitably be separated.
Under those circumstances, it was not difficult to understand why they voluntarily entered the game.
“That was brave. I could never do it. I’m terrified of dying,” Obey Me and Win told her. “Actually, I have an older brother too.”
“Are you twins?”
“No.” Obey Me and Win shook his head. “He’s six years older than me. He was a bad person. Our family was rich, so he often bullied others with his power. Everyone hated him. Understandable, right?”
“Mm.” Qiyi nodded.
“So he was taken into this game a long time ago and never returned. It was karma!” After saying the word karma, his voice suddenly became sorrowful. “That’s what everyone thinks. But I know my brother treated me well. Extremely well. He would’ve torn out his heart for me.”
“When we were children, he fought people on my behalf. Everyone at school feared my brother and treated me with respect. Once we grew older, whatever I wanted—a sports car, a mansion, even a woman—he gave it to me. He even handed me the family inheritance.”
Qiyi reminded him, “Women aren’t objects you can give away.”
Obey Me and Win flushed awkwardly and explained, “My brother and I were both bastards. Why would bastards care about reason?”
“That’s true.”
“…I know I was wrong now.” Obey Me and Win continued, “Do you know? After he entered the game, he briefly woke up once.”
“At the time, everyone believed those players would never wake again. When my brother regained consciousness, everyone wanted to know what he had experienced inside.”
“He gave them a few perfunctory answers, then said he was tired. I think he may have guessed that the system would drag more people into the game. So he called me over privately and carefully explained everything he knew about the game.”
At this point, Obey Me and Win sighed again.
“Unfortunately, I’m useless. Even knowing what the game was like didn’t help me clear it.”
“You’ve survived until now. That’s already impressive,” Qiyi comforted him. “Your brother would be very happy if he knew.”
“How would he know?” Obey Me and Win muttered. “I don’t even know where he is.”
The moment those words left his mouth, a black shadow flashed outside the wooden house.
The two people who had survived entirely by clinging to life immediately shrank into a corner.
Qiyi was slightly braver. Gathering her courage, she asked, “Who’s there?”
The shadow outside did not answer.
“It won’t come inside, will it?!” Obey Me and Win trembled. “You can contact Su Qiong and the others, right? Ask someone to come save us.”
“No. We can’t interfere with their quest.” Qiyi stood and said bravely, “If it comes inside, I’ll find a way to drive it away.”
Qiyi might have been a frail young girl, but she was still a member of the Orphan Alliance.
In a crisis, she absolutely could not disgrace the guild.
Obey Me and Win remained terrified and said shakily, “If a zombie bites you, you’ll become a zombie too.”
“It’s fine.” Qiyi’s gaze became exceptionally firm. “If it truly comes to that, my sister will find a way to survive. She’ll protect me.”
Obey Me and Win could not help roaring, “If she protects you, who protects me?!”
After shouting angrily, he heard a familiar voice outside.
“Little brother.”
The voice sounded strange, as though it had traveled through countless mountains and rivers from another world.
Obey Me and Win recognized it instantly and threw himself toward the door in excitement.
“Brother! Brother, is that you?”
The being outside did not answer. It only called again.
“Little brother.”
Obey Me and Win scrambled to the doorway and was about to fling it open and rush outside.
“Wait!” Qiyi stopped him and scanned the figure with her bracelet.
A glaring red name appeared.
“Its level is higher than both of ours combined! You’ll die if you go out!”
Obey Me and Win lost control of his emotions and repeated frantically, “He’s my brother! My brother came to find me! He’ll protect me!”
After saying that, Obey Me and Win shoved Qiyi aside and resolutely rushed outside.
Qiyi hesitated, gritted her teeth, and followed him.
Although the decision was extremely risky, her level was at least higher than his. Perhaps she could still save him.
Having just heard Obey Me and Win’s story, Qiyi could not remain indifferent and watch him walk to his death.
She ran from the wooden house and drew her weapon, only to discover that the absurdly high-level zombie did not attack Obey Me and Win.
Its mutation was extremely advanced. No human outline remained.
It resembled a walking skeleton that had been shattered and reconstructed countless times.
Yet its empty eye sockets focused on Obey Me and Win with a strange intensity.
It raised a hand made entirely of white bone and touched his face.
Its severely limited speech allowed it to call only one word.
“Brother.”
“Brother! It’s me! It’s me!” Seeing its appearance had frightened Obey Me and Win at first, but after hearing his brother’s voice, he forgot everything else.
The zombies gathering nearby sensed the players’ presence and slowly approached.
Hearing his younger brother, the high-level zombie instinctively shielded him and swept one enormous hand outward, knocking the other zombies away.
“Brother. Come.”
The high-level zombie produced a second syllable and tried to lead Obey Me and Win away.
“All right!” Overjoyed, Obey Me and Win immediately prepared to follow his brother.
Just as he stepped forward, he noticed the young girl who had chased after him and pleaded, “Brother, I promised I would protect her. Can you bring her too?”
Qiyi shook her head. “No. I need to stay here and wait for my sister.”
“You and your sister share life and death. As long as you remain alive, she’ll be fine,” Obey Me and Win said. “Come with us. My brother is this powerful. He’ll definitely protect you.”
Qiyi wavered.
After thinking for a moment, she made her decision.
“I need to leave them a message.”
The high-level zombie involved restricted information, so Qiyi could not mention it.
She repeatedly edited the message intended for Yu Qimiao until it became:
[I’m going somewhere safe. Don’t worry about me.]
Yu Qimiao forwarded the message to ERROR, leaving Su Qiong thoroughly confused.
“Is there somewhere safer than this?” Su Qiong asked. “Could there be a place in this world without zombies?”
“There are two kinds of safe places,” ERROR answered calmly. “One is what you described—a place without zombies. The other…”
“A place protected by someone powerful.”
“That’s true.” Su Qiong became even more confused. “But who would suddenly protect them? Could it be the White Attendant?”
“Probably not. An’an sent a message saying the White Attendant has appeared on the seventh street. They’re trying to reach it now.”
The road from the beginner area to the seventh street was extremely long.
Unless the White Attendant could teleport, it could not repeatedly move between the two locations.
Even if it could teleport, it had no reason to protect Qiyi.
“Surely it wasn’t Moi turning into a powerful zombie and coming to protect her sister.”
“…That is also possible.” ERROR suddenly realized something.
“What did you figure out?” Su Qiong hurriedly asked.
“Didn’t you mention before that Obey Me and Win…” ERROR asked slowly, “has an older brother who participated in the closed beta?”
