Chapter 112: Silent Land of the Living Dead (1)
"Ah!——"
Sharp screams rose one after another, and hair-raising terror and despair rushed into her ears in a desperate flood.
Ji Ning's senses returned as she emerged from the white light of teleportation. Once she came to, everything she saw was a shocking and brutal sight of blood and savagery.
She was now sitting in the back half of a stationary bus. The windows were smeared with chaotic bloody handprints, and a group of horrifying figures—beings that could no longer be called human—were clawing at the glass, trying to attack Ji Ning, who was sitting right beside the window.
Some of them had their cheeks and noses chewed to ruin, others had arms eaten away like ham hocks, exposing stark white bone.
All of their eyes had lost their light, turned a dim, lifeless gray.
Ji Ning realized at once that these were the zombies from movies and games—Living Dead that could no longer be called human.
The window beside her was open a crack, and the Living Dead, in their fumbling, had found the opening. Pale, bloodless fingers were already squeezing through.
Ji Ning mustered her courage, shoved the fingers back out with her bag, quickly pushed the window tightly shut, and drew the curtain.
After all, she was nothing but food in their eyes right now. Something she'd learned from TV shows—block their line of sight, and you block their urge.
Having dealt with that, Ji Ning surveyed the bus interior. There were roughly a dozen people. Several of them were shoving together against the double back door, where a large horde of Living Dead were straining madly to force their way inside.
Among those on the bus, only one was a real person—Player No. 3, a male player from the Werewolf Game. The rest were all NPCs.
Looking further ahead, the driver was slumped over the steering wheel. He looked like he had already been infected with the virus and could mutate at any second.
At that moment, the system prompt panel finally deigned to appear before her eyes. Ji Ning carefully read the text.
【Welcome to the "Erotic Survival Game." This instance is "Silent Land of the Living Dead." Instance difficulty: four stars.】
【Instances above four-star difficulty cancel character role-play and preset systems.】
【Instances above four-star difficulty lift moral restrictions, allowing players to harm their own kind.】
【Game Rules: Act according to the Clearance Condition. Those who fail to clear will be completely eliminated.】
【Game Taboos: None.】
【Clue Hint: Kaimao Building】
【Clearance Condition: All players must move to the tallest building within a five-kilometer radius and wait for rescue on the rooftop. A rescue plane will arrive in three days. Those who secure a rescue opportunity clear the instance and receive a reward of 450 points.】
This was her first time facing a four-star difficulty instance. Ji Ning saw that the rules were quite different from before, especially the bit about allowing players to kill each other. Her heart couldn't help but feel a little uneasy.
Still, she quickly collected herself and joined the effort to hold the door.
While pushing against the door, she looked outside. Ji Ning discovered that it wasn't just their busload of living people that was in dire straits—the outside world was a mess everywhere.
Cars had crashed violently on the road, abandoned items were scattered all over the ground, and pedestrians were fleeing from pursuing Living Dead. It looked like a very real, apocalyptic end-of-the-world scene.
And their bus, because it was filled with so many people who couldn't move, was as tempting to the Living Dead as a tin can. Because of the constant screaming, it had attracted a large horde of Living Dead to surround it, leaving them completely stuck between a rock and a hard place.
The back door of the bus was being slammed with loud bangs. Even with so many people holding it shut, more and more Living Dead were swarming over. There was no telling when the door would be broken open.
The bus was surrounded on all sides. There was no break to be found, no escape route.
Ji Ning felt that things couldn't go on like this. They had to find a way to break through the encirclement. There was still the mission, after all—they had to get to the Kaimao Building, and she didn't even know where that tower was or how far away it might be.
She also didn't know where Xing Ye, Song Weiyang, and Sheng Churan were right now. If she could regroup with them, the four of them could cooperate, which would be a big advantage.
Ji Ning was just about to free up a hand to search the map on her phone when she saw Player No. 3 walk over and say something to her.
"If you tell me that clue, I'll get you out of here."
Player No. 3 had been a Villager in the Werewolf Game and hadn't received any game hint. Proposing this kind of trade for information was a perfectly normal tactic.
But Ji Ning wasn't a naive little fool. She replied, neither servile nor overbearing, "I can tell you, but not until we've gotten out of here."
You couldn't blindly trust a stranger. What if he stabbed her in the back right after getting the clue?
Anyway, the clue wasn't something Ji Ning would lose by telling someone else, so Player No. 3 didn't need to worry about her going back on her word afterward.
She never expected that even this kind of mutually beneficial trade-off would make Player No. 3 frown with displeasure after he heard it. He muttered a curse under his breath: "Bitch!"
Seeing the motion of his hand, Ji Ning reacted very quickly—retreating, crouching down, stepping up onto the raised platform, and gripping the railing tightly. The whole sequence was smooth and fluid.
At the same time, Player No. 3 yanked open the door with one hand, and with the other, he shoved out the people who had been standing right where Ji Ning had just been.
It was like a piece of cake dropped into a lake full of wide-mouthed, ravenously hungry carp. The shoved-out NPCs were quickly surrounded and devoured by the Living Dead.
The screams and the fresh scent of blood rapidly drew the surrounding Living Dead to gather at the back door.
Player No. 3's action also shattered the united front that had been holding the door. Once a gap was opened, it was very hard to restore the original formation. Only a few people were still desperately bracing it.
Watching Player No. 3 leave that spot and run toward the front door, Ji Ning immediately let go of the railing, jumped down, and joined the NPCs in bracing the door.
She looked up toward Player No. 3 and saw him yank away all the NPCs blocking the front door, pull it open, and flee through the front, where there were precious few Living Dead at the moment.
Use the living people as bait, draw the Living Dead away from the front door, then escape through the front. So that was Player No. 3's exit strategy.
With the danger at the front door reduced, the NPCs still on the bus ran after Player No. 3.
Seeing that the commotion of their escape was drawing the Living Dead from the back door toward them, and they would be swarming onboard any second, Ji Ning made a snap decision. She took a few large strides to the front door, shut it, and threw her entire strength against it.
Just in the nick of time!
Ji Ning let out a breath. Her pounding heart calmed down a bit.
"Ccrrr… eeeek…"
Unfortunately, right in front of her, the pudgy middle-aged driver who had been slumped over the steering wheel twisted his neck and rose shakily to his feet.
He suddenly stared at Ji Ning. His pupils were dull gray, and foul, dirty bloody froth dribbled from his wide-open mouth.
Just beyond the door, the Living Dead behind her were still forcing their way in with all their might, making the door rattle with loud bangs.
Oh no! Ji Ning panicked, and her breath stopped completely.
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