Chapter 87: There’s Fun to Be Had!
How… how do I kill myself?
Lin Jiayao, logged into An Xiaoxi, pondered for a while.
After dismissing options like bullets, explosions, and fire, she finally settled on a relatively painless method.
Just don’t extract.
She glanced at the extraction timer: one hour, standard. She was slightly relieved.
The extraction times and distances for fungal zombies were always relatively short.
With an hour to spare, Lin Jiayao decided to see if she could buy anything useful in Survivor’s Light.
Before logging in, she had put a blood crystal in the safehouse.
She didn’t bring more because it would limit her carrying capacity.
With only four slots in the safehouse, carrying three blood crystals meant only one slot left for other items.
And she doubted four slots would be enough to carry everything she could buy with three blood crystals.
After all, even automatic rifles were sold by weight at the Hengyang Stadium camp.
So, ignoring the extraction point just a kilometer away, she headed towards the “market” in An Xiaoxi’s memory.
She wanted to see if she could find any decent weapons to “modify” at the Workbench in her Hideout.
Due to the limited safehouse space, she could only buy smaller items like knives or pistols.
Perfect for testing the “modification” function.
Survivor’s Light’s market was located in a twenty-story office building called “Xinhe.”
Without a functioning ventilation system, all the windows on the first five floors had been removed, making the building look like it was under construction.
But now, the market seemed less lively than in her memories.
It used to sell everything: weapons, homemade tools, furniture, anything and everything. It was a dedicated marketplace.
Entering the building, Lin Jiayao quickly bypassed the stalls on the first floor and headed for the second.
The first floor mostly sold bulky furniture and household items; the second floor was where she would find what she needed.
Reaching the second floor, she saw a wide array of firearms and weapons.
Many were sold by ordinary people on behalf of Awakened explorers, so there were weapons and equipment from various sources.
She bypassed the rifles and vests, focusing on the few pistols available.
After all, rifles, firing full-power cartridges, were better for dealing with zombies. Even submachine guns were rarely used, let alone pistols.
Take Mask, for example. Lin Jiayao’s FN-57, even a full magazine, couldn’t guarantee a kill against an Armored zombie, unless all the bullets hit the same spot within a meter.
So, she was just browsing, not expecting to find anything particularly useful.
She couldn’t possibly find a Desert Eagle in China…
Holy shit, there actually was one!
A gleaming black pistol caught her eye.
Noticing her gaze, the stall owner picked it up and began his sales pitch.
“A Desert Eagle! What do you think? A certain exploration team found it in a safe in a mansion…”
“…Not much ammo, though, only one magazine, eleven .50 AE rounds. Mostly for collection. Xiao An, if you’re interested, 3g… no, 2g will do.”
Recognizing An Xiaoxi, the stall owner seemed eager to make a sale.
After all, many people listened to An Xiaoxi’s calming voice on the radio every night; she was the camp’s sweetheart.
“Uh… I’ll look around a bit more,” Lin Jiayao smiled and declined, despite the discounted price.
Although the gun looked impressive, it was useless to her.
This was for her main body. Without the support of bone spikes, the recoil would probably send the gun flying before the zombie even fell.
Excessive recoil, poor accuracy, complex mechanism, low reliability – any one of these would be enough to dissuade her.
Instead of searching blindly, it would be better to utilize this body’s… popularity.
“Boss, do you know where I can find a smaller, more… manageable pistol?” she asked with a smile. “Or a combat knife, perhaps?”
“Uh… what do you need those for…?” the stall owner muttered, then, seemingly remembering something, took out a black knife handle with chipped paint.
“If you want it, I can give you this switchblade. I used it to open cans. If you don’t mind…”
He pressed a button on the handle, and the blade sprang out, gleaming, seemingly well-maintained, not just a can opener.
Lin Jiayao accepted the gift without hesitation, played with the knife for a bit, pressed the blade back into the handle, and the lock engaged with a click.
“Thanks.”
She smiled at the stall owner, put the knife in her pocket, and asked, “Do you know any other stalls selling pistols?”
“No,” he shook his head. “Apparently, there’s a rule now; exploration teams aren’t allowed to bring back pistols for sale. Rifles are fine, though.”
“Oh… thanks.” Although An Xiaoxi was an Awakened, she hadn’t been part of an exploration team and didn’t know about this rule.
It made sense. In such a large camp, conflicts were inevitable.
Carrying a rifle was one thing; it was visible, a deterrent.
But someone suddenly pulling out a pistol… that was a different matter. This rule was likely a safety precaution.
The Desert Eagle was probably classified as a hunting weapon, hence being allowed.
Knowing she probably wouldn’t find anything suitable, and with forty minutes left until extraction, Lin Jiayao decided to just browse.
This body, An Xiaoxi, had already been completely consumed by the fungus before she logged in. She wasn’t planning on keeping it.
After browsing for about thirty minutes, finding nothing of interest, she reached the seventeenth floor, broke a window with the switchblade, put the knife back in the safehouse, and waited for the extraction.
At the last second, she jumped, the wind whistling past her ears as her consciousness returned to darkness.
「Extraction Failed」
The stark message appeared on the screen. And An Xiaoxi’s slot was now on a 12-hour cooldown.
Lin Jiayao wasn’t too concerned. Compared to the fate of Survivor’s Light, she was more worried about whether they could go to Kun City in Yun Province.
That was the more pressing question, the one that would determine their future.
Exiting the consciousness space, just as she was about to put the switchblade from the safehouse into the warehouse, she saw a red “①” on the login screen.
①?
Didn’t that only appear when the fourth zombie, the Hunter, extracted successfully?
What did it mean?
Curious, she clicked on the login interface, putting aside the thought of experimenting with the Workbench.
「[No.4] is under system autopilot and about to be attacked. Do you wish to log in?」
The fourth zombie was under attack?
Wasn’t the extraction point supposed to be safe?
「Extraction points are only relatively safe, not absolutely safe」
“Oh…” Lin Jiayao mentally acknowledged the system’s explanation, then couldn’t help but mutter, “You’re so useless… System…”
The system didn’t respond, simply repeating its question after a moment.
「Do you wish to log in to [No.4] and manually avoid the danger?」
“No.”
Lin Jiayao declined.
If it was under attack, there was nothing she could do.
She couldn’t control the fourth zombie properly; it would just run around randomly. She couldn’t even make it go to the extraction point.
The system’s autopilot, at least, would guide it towards extraction.
If the fourth zombie died, so be it. She still had Goldie, the lucky number three, and her old buddy, Mask, more than enough for collecting blood crystals and supplies.
Maybe the next randomly assigned zombie would be even better.
Quickly dismissing the thought, Lin Jiayao opened the Hideout interface, ready to experiment with modifications. Unbeknownst to her, after she declined the login, the fourth zombie automatically activated.
…
“Whoosh—”
“Boom!”
An RPG hit the skyscraper, shattering the windows nearby.
Zombies roared from within the building, several Biters running out into the sunlight, charging towards the humans.
“Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang…”
As soon as they emerged, they were met with a hail of bullets and a barrage of curses.
“What the fuck is this shithole? Nothing but weaklings! Damn it!”
A woman with a green mohawk, chewing on something, her rifle resting on her shoulder, complained loudly.
Their sweep team had just arrived at the outskirts of Fuzhou City.
After refueling all the vehicles, the tanker remained outside, a small detachment securing the area and setting up a temporary camp, while the others, armed and equipped, entered the city.
A city was large; even with the blaring music attracting hordes, clearing it would take time.
And the Boss had ordered them to leave no survivors.
Seeing the scattered Biters, the green-haired woman sighed again.
This sweep was going to be boring. She hoped they’d encounter a camp; then things would get interesting.
“Rat-tat-tat-tat—”
“Two vehicles per team, spread out, accelerate! Use flares for communication! Regroup at nightfall.” After firing a burst into the air to get everyone’s attention, the mohawked woman issued her commands.
Splitting up was risky, of course.
But fast.
And if you died, fire a flare first; they would be grateful for the entertainment.
Following her orders, the convoy dispersed, two vehicles per team, speeding down different streets, car stereos blasting various tunes, like a bizarre street dance competition.
After the others left, only two vehicles remained: the mohawked woman and the bespectacled Wei.
“Hey! Four-eyes! Aren’t you going to warm up?” The woman shouted at the vehicle in front, leaning out the window.
But the four-eyed man didn’t respond.
“Tsk…”
Looking at the Biters, drawn by the music, she jumped out of the car.
“Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat—”
After emptying her magazine, she discarded the rifle, took a small test tube from a special pouch on her waist – it contained a bone fragment and a small blood crystal – and uncapped it.
“What the fuck… what kind of bone is this again? I forgot to label it… whatever, lucky dip.”
She poured the contents into her mouth.
“Aagh—”
Her veins bulged, and she clutched her head, howling in pain.
Her fingers and toes sprouted sharp bone spikes, her back splitting open, revealing a fleshy, wing-like bone structure.
“Damn it… so it’s a bird…”
She straightened up, stretched, and then, lunging forward, grabbed the heads of two approaching Biters.
With a sickening crunch, the skulls shattered. The feeling of the warm, viscous fluids on her hands excited her, a primal bloodlust rising.
“Whoosh—”
“Bang—”
A firecracker-like explosion in the air; one of the Voodoo Cult’s signals.
Both the woman and the bespectacled Wei turned towards the sound, one with excitement, the other with apprehension.
“There’s fun to be had!”
“There’s trouble…”