Chapter 128: Silent Land of the Living Dead (17)
【Male Player No. 1 infected with mutated virus, permanently deceased.】
【Female Player No. 2 infected with mutated virus, permanently deceased.】
Just as Ji Ning and the others were troubled by the situation before them, the system broadcast two new elimination messages.
It seemed that at the same time, other players had also reached the mandatory zones where the difficulty was ramping up.
"I remember there's a commercial district around here. Let me check if there's a supermarket or department store." Sheng Churan took out his phone and zoomed in on the map to check the nearby locations.
Ji Ning leaned in next to him and looked at it with him.
"Got it!" Ji Ning spotted a large, differently colored outlined area densely packed with various clothing brand names and restaurant names. It was a large mall with a concentration of brand stores called "Shihao Plaza," conveniently located right at the center of an intersection.
Song Weiyang glanced at the map, stroked his chin, and said, "Usually at a location like this, there's an overpass nearby. Not sure if there's one here. If we can cross the road via an overpass, that would be ideal. Also, the mall has an underground parking garage. If there aren't many living dead, we might be able to go through the underground route."
Xing Ye lowered his body slightly and looked back. "Moving through the mall's interior to take a shortcut is a very good idea. If the number of living dead in the parking garage is extremely low, we can take the underground route. But if there are many people and vehicles blocking our line of sight, accidents can easily happen."
"Then we'll take the upper route. It's spacious up there, and the visual field is more open." Ji Ning also agreed with Xing Ye's point of view.
After all, they hadn't watched all those disaster movies for nothing. On a doomsday escape route, one must absolutely stay away from areas with many blind spots. It was just too easy for a few living dead to silently and suddenly rush out and take a bite at a vulnerable shoulder, arm, thigh, or ankle, making the character speed-run getting written off the show.
Having confirmed the plan, the four-person squad's next target was Shihao Plaza.
The trouble, however, was that the street ahead of them had no side paths. They could only pull back and charge through with brute force on flat ground.
Before they set off, Sheng Churan suddenly asked, "Have any of you watched The Walking Dead?"
Except for Xing Ye, whose face remained expressionless, Ji Ning's and Song Weiyang's eyes lit up.
Song Weiyang: "Hide the truth from the heavens!"
Ji Ning: "Muddy the waters to catch the fish!"
"What?" Xing Ye felt as if his and their channels had suddenly disconnected.
"It's a really awesome doomsday-themed TV series." Ji Ning quickly explained. "There's a plotline where the main characters smear walker entrails on their bodies to mask their living scent and pass through a crowd of walkers."
"I was thinking about that too. I think we can try it." Song Weiyang immediately sprang into action. "Wait for me here."
"Hey!" Before Ji Ning could call out to stop him, Song Weiyang rushed out from behind the tree.
The three had no choice but to wait where they were and watch as Song Weiyang found a lone living dead, hacked it to death, took off its clothes and changed into them, then cut the living dead open, scooped out its entrails and blood, and smeared them onto the clothes.
This was an image that challenged the nerves just by looking at it. Yet, Song Weiyang merely frowned and dry-heaved a few times while his hands continued to move with deft precision.
From a distance, the entrails of the living dead looked much fresher than the outer skin; they hadn't rotted from the inside.
Song Weiyang quickly finished his "disguise," gripped his axe tightly, and walked out from the corner, mimicking the gait of a living dead as he approached its kind.
Ji Ning held her breath and watched, hoping to see a scene just like in the TV series.
Disappointingly, however, the situation inside the instance was the exact opposite.
Before Song Weiyang even got close, several living dead turned around and walked toward him. It was as if, without seeing him or hearing a sound, they had already discovered their target.
He was even discovered faster than under normal circumstances.
"Xiao Song, danger! Pull out, now!" Xing Ye shouted crisply into the walkie-talkie.
Ji Ning and her companions felt their hearts clench tight as they stood up, ready to provide support.
Song Weiyang, being on the front line, had noticed the anomaly even faster.
Sensing something was wrong, he hurriedly took off the smeared clothes, threw them to the ground, turned, and bolted.
Strangely, these living dead didn't chase after him. Instead, they squatted on the ground and focused on eating the entrails of their "comrade."
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