Category: Sickly Girl Doesn’t Die in Zombie Simulator

Chapter 6: A Head-Only Zombie

The woman’s footsteps lingered for a moment before fading away.

After a while, Lin Jiayao heard light footsteps approaching the door, and the wooden door creaked slightly from friction.

It seemed someone was pressing their face against the door.

Lin Jiayao didn’t allow this behavior to continue. She needed to “AFK” in the room for a long time, and she had to ensure no one disturbed her.

Being right next to the door, Lin Jiayao twisted the doorknob, opened the door a crack, and pointed her pistol outside.

“Ah!”

A young boy backed away in fright and fell, startled by the suddenly opened door and the dark muzzle of the gun.

“What’s the matter?” Through the crack in the door, Lin Jiayao raised the gun slightly, staring intently at the child. “What do you want?” she asked coldly.

“I, I, I… I’ll bring you lunch later, and dinner too. I also live next door…”

The boy had almost calmed down, as the camp was relatively safe.

But after seeing half of Lin Jiayao’s face, his speech faltered again.

He couldn’t be blamed for his lack of composure. In this apocalyptic world, even seeing a woman was surprising, let alone such a beautiful one.

“Just leave it at the door,” Lin Jiayao retracted the pistol, not interested in making things difficult for the child. “Remember to knock next time.”

After saying that, Lin Jiayao closed the door.

“Thump—”

Hearing the sound of the door closing, the boy finally breathed a sigh of relief, quickly got up, and walked towards the room at the end of the corridor.

“Big Brother, I went over barefoot just now, didn’t make a sound, but that newcomer…”

“Hmm?” A hoarse male voice replied. “Don’t provoke her. Tell the others too; she might be an Awakened…”

Although they were far away, everything they said was heard by Lin Jiayao, who had her Lurker hearing activated.

“Hoo…”

Lin Jiayao breathed a sigh of relief. Every camp had different “local” gangs. Fortunately, her assertive display just now meant that probably no one would bother her in the next few days.

Now Lin Jiayao was worried about one thing.

If she continued to gain zombie enhancements through the system, what would she eventually become?

But at least one thing reassured her.

As long as she didn’t activate Lurker hearing, the bone spikes would retract, and she could even control where they protruded.

She wouldn’t be stuck in a grotesque state like those zombies.

This way of activating abilities, in Lin Jiayao’s view, was more like a “transformation.”

“Anyway, let’s just make it to tomorrow…”

There was still a long time until the cooldown for the next zombie was over. Lin Jiayao had to calm down and get enough rest.

Soon, the next day arrived.

Having stayed in the room all day yesterday, Lin Jiayao had figured out the camp’s meal delivery times.

Around 1 p.m., a can of food would be delivered, and in the evening, a can of fruit and two fresh vegetable leaves—these vegetables were grown in the football field in the middle of the stadium.

Yesterday at lunch, Lin Jiayao didn’t immediately take the food after the knock; instead, she impatiently told the boy to leave the can outside.

In the evening, the boy knocked twice, greeted her, left the can and vegetables, and ran off.

In their eyes, she was just a bad-tempered weirdo.

Lin Jiayao did this to give herself some leeway—if the next extraction point was too far and she “AFK-ed” for too long, no one would be suspicious.

Lin Jiayao blinked, and the system interface appeared.

Yesterday, Lin Jiayao hadn’t been idle in her room; she had been studying the system.

She had also discovered many things about the system interface that she hadn’t noticed before.

Besides the “Login” interface, there were many dim, almost illegible entries below.

It seemed that besides login, the system had other uses.

Lin Jiayao tried asking the system, but received no response, as if the unlock conditions hadn’t been met.

However, one entry below “Login” seemed to be illuminated by the word “Login,” allowing Lin Jiayao to make out the characters.

「Safehouse」

“Safehouse?”

Lin Jiayao wasn’t sure what this was or how to unlock it.

But soon, Lin Jiayao stopped dwelling on this matter.

Because the “Login” entry was now highlighted, and the countdown timer behind it had disappeared.

There were still three or four hours until mealtime, which was enough time.

Lin Jiayao took a deep breath and silently thought “Login.”

The login interface exploded, just like the first time she saw the system. A virtual map appeared in front of Lin Jiayao.

Without hesitation, Lin Jiayao clicked on the city where she was located. A light emanated from her fingertip, engulfing her.

…

Yangzhou City, Haixin District, once the most prosperous area of Yangzhou, now a zombie-infested zone.

Haixin District, Huangpu Avenue West, Xingyue Building rooftop.

A zombie head slowly opened its eyes in the stairwell on the 35th floor.

As soon as she opened her eyes, a safety exit sign came into Lin Jiayao’s view.

She rolled her eyes slightly and saw a trash can full of cigarette butts, surrounded by rotting corpses.

She was at the top of the stairs, with the chained-off rooftop door behind her.

It seemed that this stairwell had once been a smoking area for some of the offices on the lower floors.

「Inherited [Blood Rage Lv.1] [Bone Spike Lurker Lv.1]」

The system interface lit up in front of Lin Jiayao, followed by a series of notification sounds.

「Extraction Time 2:59:56」
【Extraction Point 154m】

Hmm? Below?

3 hours, 154 meters?

Seeing the extraction point, Lin Jiayao felt a question mark pop up in her mind.

Wasn’t this difficulty a bit off?

The first time she became a Sprinter, with a 2-hour extraction time, she had to cover 9.8km.

The second extraction, because it was daytime, was also about 10km, but the system gave her an extra hour.

Why did moving 154m require 3 hours this time?

Lin Jiayao tried to stand up, wanting to leave the stairwell first.

But soon, she understood why the system gave her 3 hours for 154m.

Lin Jiayao couldn’t feel her hands or feet.

She was an extremely weak zombie, only a head remaining, gradually entering brain death.

Her mangled neck was stuck in the stair railing. No matter what Lin Jiayao tried, she couldn’t move even a millimeter.

What to do?

A feeling of suffocation instantly enveloped Lin Jiayao.

Was she supposed to stay here for three hours and wait to die? And then wait another 24 hours for the system cooldown?

No, she needed to get stronger quickly. She still needed to search where her sister had disappeared. She couldn’t be useless anymore.

But reality was cruel; this zombie, like her, was a “legless” cripple.

Wait…

A spark of inspiration flashed in Lin Jiayao’s mind.

Why was she fixated on “legs”?

Why be limited by human thinking?

Four bone spikes slowly protruded from Lin Jiayao’s chin and the back of her neck. With a gentle push, she broke free from the railing.

Four bone spikes supported the terrifying zombie head, hopping down the stairs step by step.

Chapter 5: Bone Spike Lurker

Just as the outline of the stadium came into view, the zombie behind Lin Jiayao could barely move.

The sunlight was approaching its fiercest point of the day.

The zombie slowly knelt behind the wheelchair, blood crystals beginning to precipitate from its mangled body.

The girl in the wheelchair’s eyelashes fluttered, and she slowly opened her eyes, surprised to see the reward selection interface in front of her.

Evolutions could be retained even without extraction?

Lin Jiayao thought back. Indeed, the system had only said that extraction could preserve the zombie; it hadn’t said that evolutions couldn’t be retained without successful extraction.

This was a kind of safety net.

Even if the next zombie was unlucky enough to “die on arrival,” she wouldn’t have to worry about not gaining anything.

Lin Jiayao bent down, picked up the fingernail-sized blood crystal that had solidified on the ground, and carefully placed it in her pants pocket.

Then, she pushed the slightly wobbly wheelchair towards the stadium…

…

“Brother, have you heard? The entire squad from the neighboring resort camp is lost…”

“Of course, I went to exchange supplies yesterday; I’m the one who spread the news…”

“Oh, oh, so they can’t hold that resort now? That’s a good place.”

“Let’s just worry about ourselves…”

Two guards were chatting idly inside the main gate of Hengyang Stadium.

The weather was exceptionally good today. Many explorers and scavengers had gone out together in the morning after they opened the gate.

If they could find some useful supplies or kill a couple of “sheep” in this good weather, they’d be set for the next few days.

“Sheep” referred to low-level zombies stuck by obstacles, directly killed by ultraviolet light, or unable to move.

If they were lucky, they might yield 1-2g of blood crystals.

“Ha—”

One of the guards yawned and casually glanced into the distance.

Their job was the most boring.

The surrounding zombies had all been cleared, posing little threat.

They just had to guard the gate until dusk.

In previous years, they would occasionally encounter wanderers or people escaping, but they had hardly seen any in the past year.

Suddenly, the guard who had been squinting into the distance froze, pointing stiffly ahead.

“Is that…”

In his line of sight, a strange-looking object was slowly moving towards them.

He and his companion quickly raised their rifles and aimed at the strange “object.”

After a while, when the “object” got a little closer, they finally saw what it was and lowered their guns, looking at each other in bewilderment.

A… wheelchair?

A wheelchair in the apocalypse?

Someone still using a wheelchair in the apocalypse?!

It was the fifth year of the apocalypse!

Even most healthy people hadn’t survived this long, how could someone in a wheelchair?

Something was definitely fishy…

Before they could solidify their thoughts, they froze again.

They saw the wheelchair user’s appearance.

Long hair, slightly yellowed due to long-term malnutrition, cascaded casually down her back.

Black short sleeves and sweatpants, which looked remarkably new compared to other people in the apocalypse, clearly well-maintained.

But the most striking feature was her angelically perfect face.

By the time they came to their senses, the beautiful girl had already pushed her wheelchair to the gate.

This caused the two guards’ adrenaline to surge. They hadn’t even realized how the girl had gotten so close.

It was as if they had been bewitched.

“Speak!” The guard in charge raised his rifle and shouted at the girl in the wheelchair.

The other guard placed his hand on the alarm.

If the girl made any sudden movements, he would sound the alarm and notify the Awakened inside the camp.

“I’m from the resort,” Lin Jiayao said as she slowly reached into her pocket.

Because her movements were slow, the guards’ tension didn’t continue to escalate.

In fact, after hearing the girl’s sweet voice, they no longer thought the girl in front of them could be a Mimic.

And the girl’s words “from the resort” reminded the guard who often went to exchange supplies of something.

“I remember now. A few years ago, wasn’t there talk of a girl in a wheelchair going to the resort, but no one saw her much afterward? Could you be…” The guard in charge said, slowly lowering his rifle.

“If we’re talking about the same resort villa, then it should be me.” Lin Jiayao gave a harmless smile and held up the blood crystal. “I accidentally offended the Blood Gang, so I’m changing residences.”

Hearing the girl’s words, the guard’s expression turned to one of understanding.

No wonder she didn’t stay at the good resort and came to the stadium; it turned out she had offended the Blood Gang.

Seeing the pistol on the girl’s lap, that was probably her reliance for coming here alone from the resort.

He wondered how she had evaded the Blood Gang; he could ask when he went to exchange supplies next week.

“9 grams.” The guard took the blood crystal, weighed it on a small electronic scale, and announced the number. “You have an 18-day limit.”

The stadium was only guarded by three Awakened, and the accommodation and food were much worse than at the resort, so 1g of blood crystal could buy two days here.

Of course, like the resort, residents could exchange days for “goods” within the camp, such as guns, bullets, and medicine.

Just like how Grandma Zhang had somehow exchanged 5g of blood crystals for an Explorer badge, which unfortunately was now lost on the slope.

“Mm.” Lin Jiayao nodded, not objecting to the number of days the guard announced.

The guard took out his walkie-talkie and called out, “New arrival, 18 days.” After a while, a haggard-looking middle-aged woman walked to the gate.

“I’ll take you there.” The middle-aged woman was also a little surprised when she saw Lin Jiayao, but didn’t say much, just silently pushed the wheelchair towards an empty partitioned room inside the stadium.

The woman didn’t stop until she reached the door of a former office. “This is the only room left on the first floor.”

Perhaps because it was daytime, there weren’t many people in the corridor, but there were still many prying eyes.

“Thank you,” Lin Jiayao whispered her thanks to the woman.

Looking at the frail, beautiful girl, the woman couldn’t help but move her lips.

“Do you need me to buy you bullets?”

From her perspective, even if the girl lived for 18 days, she wouldn’t survive outside the camp afterward.

Subconsciously, she assumed the girl was looking for a place to commit suicide—this wasn’t uncommon, as the camp would at least cremate the body.

Outside, there was no law or humanity. Inside, you were a law-abiding camp resident because of the Awakened keeping order, but outside, no one cared about your life or death.

Perhaps because of her own past experiences, the woman couldn’t bear to see such a beautiful girl suffer any defilement.

“No, thank you.” Lin Jiayao shook her head, offering no explanation, and directly reached out to open the door, pushing her wheelchair into the room.

After closing the door, Lin Jiayao let out a slow breath.

What everyone hadn’t noticed was that a small bone spur protruded from the palm of Lin Jiayao’s left hand, which she had kept on the wheelchair’s armrest.

The bone spur, pressed against the steel armrest, connected to the vibrations from the ground, sensed all the faint footsteps and whispered conversations around her.

【Bone Spike Lurker Lv.1】

Chapter 4: Hengyang Camp

“Huff… huff…”

Lin Jiayao could hear the heavy panting coming from her throat.

Her vision was blood-red.

The feeling of surging strength made her whole body hot, and the buzzing in her brain kept her in a state of extreme rage, unable to focus.

Even the skin ulcerating from the sun’s ultraviolet rays couldn’t bring her a trace of pain or calmness.

She even paused for a second to consider what she was doing.

She only knew that she wanted to kill all living things around her—this thought had filled her mind since activating [Blood Rage].

But Lin Jiayao wasn’t a truly mindless zombie.

In her blood-colored vision: the Blood Gang members who had just run out of the camp gate were frantically pushing back towards the gate, and the camp guards on the simple watchtower had already raised their rifles and aimed at her.

“Roar—”

As if unwilling to give up, the Sprinter roared, picked up the corpse in its hand, and hurled it towards the watchtower.

The crushed corpse flew like a cannonball towards the watchtower, the rag-like body scattering brain matter and blood along the way.

Taking advantage of the moment the camp guards dodged the corpse, Lin Jiayao quickly grabbed Grandma Zhang’s body and chased after the wheelchair that was still rolling down the slope.

The Sprinter quickly caught up to the wheelchair and pushed it into the shadow of the office building.

The panicked crowd didn’t notice what happened in those few short seconds.

They hadn’t even considered the possibility of a zombie “retreating.”

By the time the Blood Gang members ran back to the camp, the guards pushed off the corpse pressing on them, and the Awakened within the camp arrived, the Sprinter was long gone from the slope, leaving only barren trees and weeds, and the silent, dangerous cityscape a few hundred meters away.

…

“Hah… hah…”

Inside the office building, a Sprinter zombie was trembling on the first floor.

At this moment, it had completely lost its previous rage, the blood-red color in its eyes fading.

An endless sense of weakness surged through its limbs, making it want to lie still on the ground like a Lurker.

This was the zombie Lin Jiayao controlled.

In front of the zombie lay the body of an old woman with a caved-in skull and a beautiful young girl lying in a wheelchair with her eyes closed.

Lin Jiayao raised her trembling right hand and looked at her palm.

Last night, under the moonlight, she could still feel that the zombie’s skin was just dry and pale.

But after enduring the ultraviolet rays, the skin all over her body had ulcerated, revealing blood-red muscles.

Just like the ones Lin Jiayao had seen running last night.

However, unlike those zombies, Lin Jiayao had bone spikes that those zombies didn’t—the bone spikes obtained from absorbing the Lurker’s blood crystal.

Could it be that only the zombies she controlled could fuse their abilities?

Without thinking for too long, Lin Jiayao started moving this body.

「Extraction Time 1:55:51」
「Extraction Point 12.3km」

The extraction point was farther than Lin Jiayao had imagined…

And her own body was also out in the open.

Although it was daytime now, she didn’t have to worry about her body being attacked by ordinary zombies.

But the zombie Lin Jiayao controlled couldn’t bring a person to a safe zone during the day and then head to the extraction point.

Not to mention, the system hadn’t specified whether the so-called extraction point was actually safe.

Perhaps it was only safe for zombies?

Lin Jiayao looked at the virtual map in front of her, lost in thought.

Her current situation was extremely dangerous.

Her own body’s combat power was practically zero; she couldn’t survive for long outside the camp, in a place teeming with zombies.

She couldn’t even return to the resort camp.

If she appeared outside the camp now, pushing the wheelchair, she would definitely be mistaken for a Mimic zombie.

That was a type of zombie mentioned on the Survivor’s Light radio broadcasts, possessing the ability to disguise itself as an ordinary human.

Higher-level individuals could even speak human language and were said to be able to fool the bio-detectors made by Survivor’s Light.

Facing this crisis, Lin Jiayao didn’t panic.

She calmed down almost instantly, clarifying her thoughts.

Now that she had the Login Device, she also had the possibility of becoming stronger.

She had to find her sister and take her across most of China to the relatively safe Survivor’s Light.

She also had to kill all those Blood Gang scum.

But all of this required strength as a foundation.

She needed to find a safe place and use the zombies she controlled to help her search for her sister in the city and become stronger.

Soon, Lin Jiayao made up her mind.

She would abandon this Sprinter zombie that had absorbed 9g of blood crystals and not go to the extraction point, but instead take her body to another Awakened camp.

The 9g of blood crystals that would precipitate after the zombie’s death were enough to live in the camp for nine days.

Nine days were enough for Lin Jiayao to control zombies and complete multiple evolutions.

That camp was in the completely opposite direction of the extraction point, about 8km from her current location.

If she completely abandoned this zombie, she could make it there with her body.

This sacrifice was necessary…

After finishing her thoughts, Lin Jiayao mechanically lowered her head and looked at Grandma Zhang’s body lying quietly on the ground.

Back in the camp, Grandma Zhang had often told Lin Jiayao about the flowers and grass of the old world, and the park surrounded by flowers and grass that she loved to visit.

Carrying a large thermos filled with warm water and goji berries, she would go to the park with her old man. He would practice Tai Chi, while she watched her friends play chess.

She had always been stubborn, determined to do what she wanted, and because of this, she often pointed and commented while watching her friends play chess…

Memories flooded Lin Jiayao’s heart, but now there was no Grandma Zhang chattering about the past; only a cold corpse remained.

She wasn’t clutching a large thermos, but a tattered beige boot with spikes.

Lin Jiayao controlled the zombie and found a dust-covered stainless steel thermos in the building, carefully wiped it clean, and placed it in Grandma Zhang’s arms.

She gathered a pile of dry branches and, using a lighter found on a workstation, lit the wood covering the body.

In this apocalyptic world, there was no such thing as a proper burial; those buried were dug up and eaten.

Although this pile of wood couldn’t reduce the body to ashes, it could at least carbonize it, preventing it from falling into the mouths of zombies.

It took nearly ten minutes to completely ignite the body.

After standing quietly by the fire for a while, Lin Jiayao pushed the wheelchair, ignoring the muscle dissolution already occurring in her body, and quickly headed towards the other camp.

As the sun rose higher, her speed slowed, the rusty wheelchair creaking.

Before the zombie completely lost its mobility, she saw another camp on the edge of the city.

Hengyang Stadium.

Chapter 3: Evolving Blood Rage

“Ugh…”

Lin Jiayao rubbed her forehead and slowly opened her eyes.

In the past hour and a half, she had only found three Sprinters, killing them and absorbing 7g of blood crystals.

She didn’t dare stray too far from the extraction point, and as the sky gradually brightened, the zombies’ movements became sluggish.

Nevertheless, she returned to the extraction point ten minutes before the extraction ended and successfully extracted.

After extraction, Lin Jiayao lost the zombie’s perspective and returned to her wheelchair.

She moved her legs, but they were still numb.

「Please retain your evolution」
「1、【Blood Rage Lv.1 (Blue): Rage consumes your mind, doubling strength and speed while granting brief immunity to ultraviolet light, lasting 10s, with strong side effects】」
「2、【Bone Spike Lurker Lv.1 (Gray): Gain the abilities of a Lurker】」
「3、【Robust Lv.1 (Gray): Makes the host’s body more robust】」

“Evolution?”

Lin Jiayao questioned, and this time, she received a response from the system.

「The host can choose one evolution obtained from the zombie body to strengthen their main body」
「The main body’s evolution can also be partially carried over to the next zombie body」

“Robust… can it make me stand?”

「After the Robust level increases, there is a probability it can」

Hearing this, Lin Jiayao’s breathing quickened, and she almost chose Robust immediately.

But soon, she calmed down.

The system only said it was possible, not certain.

But she did have a chance to stand, that much was definite.

“Blood Rage.”

Lin Jiayao didn’t choose 【Robust】, but the blue-quality 【Blood Rage】.

Although ultraviolet light couldn’t kill zombies, it could make most zombies move more slowly.

The ability to briefly grant immunity to ultraviolet light was very important.

「Next random login: 23:59:55」
「1、(Unnamed): Pending login」

“What does pending login mean?”

「After a zombie body successfully extracts, it is retained by the system. The host can log in again at any time and extract again」

Hearing this, Lin Jiayao understood.

As long as she controlled a zombie and extracted once, she could control that zombie again, complete another extraction, and gain new rewards.

And after 24 hours, she could gain control of another zombie…

If only the system had come a few days earlier, she could have gained enough evolutions…

“Knock, knock, knock—”

“Click.”

A crisp unlocking sound interrupted Lin Jiayao’s thoughts.

Two sturdy men in worn-out black tracksuits opened the door and looked at Lin Jiayao expressionlessly.

“Enforcer Li Yi, commencing your expulsion.”

The man in the lead said coldly. He seemed to notice the pistol in Lin Jiayao’s hand, exhaled softly, and reached out to stop the enforcer beside him.

“Need a minute?” Li Yi said.

Although Li Yi sympathized with the girl, he was only following orders. The meager contribution points he earned were only enough to support himself.

Just surviving was hard enough.

Giving Lin Jiayao an extra minute to end her own life was the most he could do.

Dying here was much better than being expelled from the camp.

“No, thank you, Uncle Li.” Lin Jiayao placed the pistol on her lap and smiled faintly at Li Yi.

Lin Jiayao remembered Li Yi; he was the only person in the camp who still kept a cat, the man and his cat having lived in the camp for four years.

Just as Li Yi was about to say something, he suddenly felt his arm being hit.

“Excuse me.”

A cane separated the two men, and an elderly woman walked in quickly. She paused for a moment when she saw the pistol on Lin Jiayao’s lap, but quickly placed her cane in Lin Jiayao’s hands.

“Hold this for Grandma.”

After saying this, Grandma Zhang, ignoring Lin Jiayao’s reaction, pushed her wheelchair and walked towards the outside.

Li Yi’s heart tightened, but he followed them.

A defenseless old woman and a beautiful young girl in a wheelchair; surviving this long in the apocalypse was a miracle.

At least within the camp, he had to ensure their safety.

After being pushed to the doorway, Lin Jiayao saw the dim morning sunlight—she hadn’t been in the sun for a long time.

But contrasting with the beautiful morning light were the dilapidated buildings and the more than ten men leaning against the roadside, who started cheering wildly upon seeing Lin Jiayao.

They were the thugs from the Blood Gang, unrestrained even before the apocalypse, and even more so now.

Inside the camp, they still followed some rules, but outside, they were the most brutal desperados.

Now, they had set their sights on Lin Jiayao, waiting for the moment she left the camp.

“Damn, Third Brother, she’s even prettier than you said.”

“Fuck, those legs are mine.”

“Hee hee hee…”

Obscene words constantly assaulted Lin Jiayao. Grandma Zhang behind her didn’t speak, just pushed the wheelchair quickly towards the gate.

Although it was considered fast, her speed was only slightly faster than a Biter.

Finally, Grandma Zhang pushed Lin Jiayao to the camp gate.

The camp gates were currently closed; it wasn’t fully daylight yet, so the gates wouldn’t open.

But Grandma Zhang took out a badge from her small bag and flashed it in front of the guard.

That’s… an Explorer badge?

5g of blood crystals could be exchanged for an Explorer badge in the camp, allowing entry and exit at any time.

This was the blood crystal that Grandma had saved by scrimping and saving, picking up scraps, intending to leave it for her son.

She must have exchanged it while Lin Jiayao was controlling the zombie.

“It’s no use keeping it. A few more days won’t change anything. Might as well gamble.” Seeming to sense Lin Jiayao’s gaze, Grandma Zhang grinned, revealing her few remaining teeth.

After pushing Lin Jiayao out of the camp, Grandma started to run, pushing the wheelchair.

Every step Grandma took was incredibly difficult, her breathing like a broken bellows, seeming ready to collapse at any moment on this downhill road.

Lin Jiayao blinked, feeling her eyes welling up.

“Grandma, over there.” Lin Jiayao pointed to the office building a few hundred meters away.

The thugs behind them might also have Explorer badges; they didn’t have much time.

Inside the camp, Li Yi blocked the Blood Gang thugs.

“Don’t rush, one at a time. You first…”

Li Yi leaned against the gate, slightly raised his chin, and slowly began “checking tickets.”

Every second he could delay was a second gained.

400m, 350m…

There were 350m left to the office building. If they got a little closer, it would be close enough for Lin Jiayao to control the zombie, activate Blood Rage, and carry her away.

If she wanted to kill all the thugs behind them, they needed to get even closer…

Blood Rage only lasted 10 seconds; she had to ensure she was as close to her zombie as possible.

Around 100m, she would be confident enough to kill them and bring her body to safety while using Blood Rage.

“Woo!!!”

The sound of the gate opening and cheers came from behind; the first Blood Gang member had come out.

Lin Jiayao could clearly feel Grandma Zhang’s strength waning—she was too old.

“Grandma…” Just as Lin Jiayao was about to tell Grandma Zhang to abandon her and run, she felt a final, weak push from behind the wheelchair.

With that push, Lin Jiayao sped down the gentle slope towards the office building.

“Grandma Zhang?!” Lin Jiayao quickly looked back and saw Grandma Zhang had released the wheelchair.

“Run, Jiayao… Run!” After shouting these words with her last bit of strength, Grandma Zhang turned to face the Blood Gang member charging down the slope.

She didn’t even take her cane.

Lin Jiayao could feel the breeze on her face as she glided, but her heart seemed to have stopped.

She watched in a daze as the white-haired Grandma Zhang embraced the charging Blood Gang member.

After being knocked down, she clung to the thug’s boot with her withered hands.

200m.

Grandma Zhang finally stopped moving after the spiked boot stomped hard on her face.

150m.

The Blood Gang member paid no attention to Grandma Zhang beneath his feet, just looked at Lin Jiayao gliding down alone, and smirked.

100m.

“What’s wrong? Keep rolling! Hahahahaha!!!” He jogged casually, caught up to the slow-moving wheelchair, mocked her from behind, and enjoyed watching her trembling body.

Just as he reached out, grabbed the wheelchair, and stopped it, he saw the dark muzzle of a gun pointed at him.

“Hey, hey, don’t get excited, don’t get excited. Killing me won’t do anything, there are so many more people behind me—”

The thug raised his hands, still grinning, watching Lin Jiayao’s wheelchair roll backward unhurriedly.

She couldn’t escape anyway.

He didn’t know if the pistol would fire, but it didn’t stop him from waiting for his teammates.

“Fuck! Don’t hog her all to yourself!” The gate behind them had completely opened, and more than ten Blood Gang members swarmed out, yelling and charging down the slope.

Like zombies escaping their cage.

Then, the Blood Gang member in front of Lin Jiayao looked puzzled.

Because he saw Lin Jiayao, rolling backward in her wheelchair, close her eyes, the pistol slipping from her hand.

“Roar—”

A furious roar came from the office building not far behind her.

“Crash—”

Glass shattered.

A frenzied zombie, its entire body bleeding from exposure to sunlight, its bone spikes trembling, filled with endless rage, ran on all fours towards the Blood Gang member.

“A Sprinter! How is this possible?!”

The thug hadn’t even had time to stop the wheelchair before he was startled by the zombie behind it.

How could this be? How could a frenzied Sprinter appear in daylight?! And even faster than at night?!

It covered the hundred meters in three seconds. The Blood Gang member, just having turned around, hadn’t even run three meters before a thick hand gripped his head.

“Roar!!!”

“Crack—”

The Blood Gang member’s head was crushed in a single hand.

Brain matter splattered everywhere.

Chapter 2: Successful Extraction

“Map? Login Device? Sys… System?”

Lin Jiayao, regaining her senses, quickly pulled the gun barrel out of her mouth and placed it on the table. Ignoring the silvery strand connecting her lips to the barrel, she began to carefully examine the map in front of her.

“This is… a world map?”

Lin Jiayao could easily locate China, and the province she was currently in. A flashing green arrow marker pulsed over Yangzhou City. This seemed to be Lin Jiayao’s current location.

“System?”

Lin Jiayao tentatively called out.

Over the past five years of the apocalypse, she had countless times fantasized about having a “system.”

But when this panel actually appeared, it gave Lin Jiayao a surreal feeling.

It felt like a dream, but after pinching herself, she was indeed still in the real world.

“System?”

Lin Jiayao called out again, but the system still didn’t respond.

She looked at the “Please select your spawn point” on the system panel, hesitated slightly, and then tentatively reached out and clicked on her current location.

The moment her finger touched the spawn point, the virtual map in front of her instantly collapsed.

「Randomly logging in—」

Shattered points of light continuously converged on her fingertip.

The concentrated light, upon reaching its limit, burst into a brilliant white light.

Then, everything in front of Lin Jiayao changed.

The simple, cozy room, meticulously cleaned by her, vanished along with the candlelight.

In its place was a crossroad bathed in the clear moonlight.

This is…

Lin Jiayao’s pupils constricted slightly.

This was Baiyan District of Yangzhou City, a once-prosperous area on the edge of the city, now filled with abandoned cars, overgrown with weeds and moss.

Although not the city center, it was still extremely dangerous. Sprinters, Corroders, Lurkers, Wailers… all the mutated zombies discovered by humans could be found here.

Lin Jiayao subconsciously took a step back, but soon, she froze.

A step back…

A step back?!

Lin Jiayao quickly looked down and saw her legs.

They were a pair of pale, withered legs covered in scars.

But without a doubt, they were firmly planted on the ground.

She was standing…

“Ugh…”

The sudden growl of a zombie nearby startled Lin Jiayao.

She quickly retreated, bumping into the shop window behind her.

The dust on the intact glass was shaken off. Lin Jiayao subconsciously turned her head and, through the reflection of the moonlight, saw herself in the glass.

A withered female zombie with a missing jaw and long, dry hair reaching her waist.

Lin Jiayao incredulously raised her withered hand, and she saw the reflection in the glass also slowly raise its right hand.

I’ve become a zombie?

The Lurker behind her, seemingly oblivious to her presence, continued to lie flat on the ground, using its deformed bones to sense the surrounding vibrations.

「Extraction Time 1:59:51」

Lin Jiayao noticed a countdown timer in the upper right corner of her vision.

And within her field of view, a green door-shaped marker appeared, with clear Chinese characters written on it.

【Extraction Point: 9.8km】

This seemed to indicate the direction and distance to the extraction point…

Other than that, the system gave no further prompts.

Login Device…

Fuzzy pre-apocalypse gaming memories gradually resurfaced in Lin Jiayao’s mind. She roughly understood what the system was conveying.

She had to use this body to reach the extraction point?

Finally, Lin Jiayao decided to stop pondering why she had become a zombie.

Compared to that, she wanted to experience the long-lost sensation of walking.

She walked step by step towards the extraction point.

Although she couldn’t feel the cool night breeze, Lin Jiayao’s heart gradually became enlivened.

Her walking was slow and limping, but she was indeed walking.

Judging by her speed, she had clearly become an ordinary Biter zombie.

Slow movement, insensitive to sound and sight, acting solely on predatory instincts…

Looking at the unchanging 9.8km and the countdown timer, Lin Jiayao’s heart sank.

At this speed, she couldn’t possibly reach the extraction point.

“Thud—”

Suddenly, Lin Jiayao seemed to have tripped over something, but feeling no pain, she didn’t realize there was something under her feet until she almost fell.

It was a skeleton covered in decaying, blackened flesh. Beside the skeleton’s hand was a rusty crowbar.

She couldn’t make it at this speed…

But zombies could evolve.

And she knew how zombies evolved.

She slowly bent down, picked up the crowbar from the ground, and started walking back.

Lin Jiayao, hunched over, dragging the crowbar, limped back to where the Lurker had been lying.

Sensitive to sound and smell, the Lurker still trembled on the ground, seemingly indifferent to Lin Jiayao’s approach.

Even when Lin Jiayao placed the crowbar against its head, it still made no movement.

“Crack—”

Trying to pry at the crack in its skull, Lin Jiayao easily lifted its skullcap.

Without hesitation, she thrust the crowbar into the opened area and slowly stirred.

The Lurker didn’t resist even until death.

Its stupid brain couldn’t comprehend how the lowest-level Biter could use a tool to pry open its stupid skull.

Black blood flowed from the dead Lurker’s mouth, pooling on the ground and coalescing into a small, blood-red shimmering crystal.

A blood crystal. This was a substance formed by the fusion of the zombie virus and blood, which would precipitate after death.

Even 1g of blood crystal had immense value, enough to exchange for contribution points to live in any camp for a day, including food.

And the zombie Lin Jiayao had just pried open had yielded nearly 2g of blood crystal.

Lin Jiayao slowly bent down, and with a “crack,” her old back broke, and she fell to the ground.

However, Lin Jiayao didn’t care. Most biters were on the ground anyway.

She picked up the blood crystal from the pool of blood and directly stuffed it into her mouth.

It had no taste.

But Lin Jiayao’s zombie body, after ingesting the blood crystal, began to transform.

The Lurker’s pointed bones protruded from her body, her broken spine reconnected, and her bones became harder.

Moreover, lying on the ground, Lin Jiayao felt a sensation she had never experienced before.

Every rustle of wind and movement of grass within a hundred meters, she could hear clearly, whether upstairs or underground.

She could even distinguish which mutated zombies were moving.

There was a Sprinter upstairs…

Lin Jiayao slowly picked up the crowbar and stood up, walking towards the upper floor like a machine.

“Clang—Clang—Clang—”

Every time the crowbar hit a stair, it made a crisp sound, but the surrounding zombies remained oblivious to the source.

Soon, Lin Jiayao reached the third floor and saw the Sprinter inside the room.

The Sprinter’s thick muscles were exposed, like a damaged anatomical model.

It glanced at Lin Jiayao with its scarlet eyes, then ignored her and continued to wander.

Lin Jiayao walked directly behind it, raised the crowbar with both hands, and slammed it down hard on its head.

“Crack—”

The Sprinter’s skull was much more brittle than the Lurker’s, and its head instantly burst open.

It didn’t die, but turned around and roared at Lin Jiayao.

But before it could roar a second time, the second blow landed on its head.

Lin Jiayao leaned on the crowbar, quietly waiting for the blood crystal to form on the ground.

2g, lucky.

Lin Jiayao picked up the blood crystal and stuffed it down her throat.

The muscles all over her body began to bulge, tearing through the fragile, decaying skin and exposing themselves.

A tingling sensation. Her body began to feel slight pain and other tactile sensations.

Next… was the extraction point…

Lin Jiayao held her breath, looked towards the extraction point, and charged directly towards the window.

“Crash—”

The window glass shattered as she crashed through it. Just like the real Sprinters of the night, she ran towards the extraction point with terrifying momentum.

The closer she got to the extraction point, the more familiar it felt to Lin Jiayao.

Soon, the city was gradually left behind, and a slope appeared in front of her.

A camp enclosed by barbed wire and shipping container walls appeared before Lin Jiayao.

And the extraction point was in a building a few hundred meters away from the camp.

【Extracting in 7.9】

The extraction timer was counting down, but Lin Jiayao took a step back, interrupting the extraction.

This zombie wasn’t strong enough yet. There was still an hour and a half until the extraction deadline, and this was her free time…

The mindset from her gaming days, of maximizing profits, slowly surfaced in her mind.

Chapter 1: Login Device?

“Zzzt… Zzzt…”
“This is… Zzzt… AM990… Survivor’s Light Radio Station… Zzzt… Apocalypse… Five Years… Zzzt… Believe in the Light…”
“Whether Awakened… Zzzt… Ordinary People… Join…”
“Us… Donghai Province… Zzzt…”

A candle flickered, struggling to dispel the darkness within the room. The intermittent static of the radio was the only background noise.

Inside a nearly 30 square meter empty room, all the daily necessities were neatly arranged, even the floor was spotless.

An oversized double bed occupied the room, yet it still felt overly spacious. The bedding on the bed was folded meticulously.

At this moment, a young girl in a rusty wheelchair sat in front of a dressing table, writing something by candlelight.

“…I’ve written so much, Sister. If you come back and see this letter, don’t be sad. After all, without you, I would have died five years ago.”
“If you really do come back, remember to clean the room regularly, don’t be as messy as before…”
“Without a burden like me, you can also try to go to Donghai Province. The radio says that you can live well there without contribution points…”
“…Oh right, there’s one bottle of Coke left. I hid it in that place, you know where! If you come back, drink it, don’t save it…”
“Also…”

The girl was writing when her hand suddenly stopped. The paper was already full.

“Hoo…”

The girl let out a soft sigh and put down her pen. There was no more paper for her to write on.

She folded the letter, opened the drawer of the dressing table, placed the letter inside, then took something out of the drawer and put it on the tabletop.

Where the writing paper had been on the table, now lay a pistol.

It was a Type 92 modified police pistol, left to her by her older sister. Her sister seemed to have foreseen something before setting out to search for supplies.

The purpose of this gun was not self-defense.

Because there were only two 9mm pistol rounds in the magazine.

For self-defense, two 9mm bullets couldn’t take down a zombie, not even an adult human.

But for suicide, it was enough.

“Knock, knock, knock—”

A soft knock on the door interrupted the girl’s thoughts. She grabbed the pistol on the table and looked expressionlessly towards the door.

“Click—”

The sound of a key turning in the lock. The girl’s eyes flickered, seeming to gain a little life.

But when the door fully opened, a hint of disappointment flashed in the girl’s eyes.

She expertly masked her emotions, forcing a smile: “Grandma, what is it?”

“Jiayao, tomorrow… are you crying?”

Entering was a white-haired, hunchbacked old woman, leaning on a blackened silver-plated cane. She seemed to have immediately noticed the girl’s unusual mood.

The girl’s name was Lin Jiayao. The old woman’s name was Zhang Wen.

Usually, the girl simply called the old woman Grandma Zhang, or just Grandma.

They weren’t related in any way.

If there was anything they had in common, it was that they were both considered “parasites” by the survivor camp’s population.

One was crippled and relied on her Awakened older sister for support.

The other was old and frail, relying on her Awakened son for support.

Thanks to the unwavering support of their Awakened relatives, both were able to receive a considerable amount of contribution points from their relatives and live in the camp.

But recently, the situation had changed.

Their camp was located in a resort villa on the outskirts of Yangzhou City.

The former resort, after years of renovations, now resembled a fortress.

As resources around them dwindled, the camp’s search teams had to venture deeper into the city.

Terrifying zombies occupied the major cities, making such expeditions extremely risky.

About a week ago, a search team led by an Awakened member had gone into the city and lost contact.

Lin Jiayao’s sister and Grandma Zhang’s son were the captain and vice-captain of that search team.

Now, the team was 46 hours overdue from their expected return date.

Including the 5-day exploration time, the team had been missing for almost a week.

In another 2 hours, the team would be declared officially “lost.”

“Lost” was simply a more euphemistic term; in reality, it meant they were removed from the list of survivors.

And the families of the explorers…

Lin Jiayao recalled the scene that morning.

The family of a search team member, Uncle Han, his wife, had been declared to have insufficient contribution points and was to be expelled from the camp.

When the enforcers arrived at Uncle Han’s home, they found his wife had hanged herself.

Compared to suicide, being expelled from the camp was more despairing.

This despair wasn’t brought about by the ordinary biting zombies surrounding the camp, but by the other ordinary people in the camp.

Inside the camp, with the C-rank Awakened leader in control, there was still some order.

Outside the camp, it was pure apocalypse, devoid of any law or morality.

In the early years, when the female family members of some deceased explorers were expelled from the camp, that kind of scene could still be seen – a group of beasts like jackals following behind the expelled, their eyes bloodshot, staring intently at the person ahead, waiting for the moment she left the camp.

So later, most families of missing explorers, who lacked the ability to survive, would choose suicide directly…

In this situation, suicide was the best solution.

Grandma Zhang and Lin Jiayao were family members of Awakened, so their expulsion deadline was extended by 24 hours.

But in another 2 hours, the deadline would arrive.

“I’m fine, Grandma.” Lin Jiayao smiled, turning her wheelchair to block the pistol behind her. “Aren’t you asleep yet?”

“Don’t do anything foolish, Grandma is here…” Grandma Zhang’s pale lips trembled, but she couldn’t offer any reassuring words.

She also wanted to comfort Lin Jiayao, but she was in the same situation.

Her son hadn’t returned either.

She was an old woman; those beasts wouldn’t care about her, at most they’d leave her in the wilderness to be bitten to death by zombies.

But Grandma Zhang was worried about Lin Jiayao.

Lin Jiayao was the most beautiful, most sensible and well-behaved child Grandma Zhang had ever met.

When her sister went out exploring, even though her movement was inconvenient, Lin Jiayao would keep the room spotlessly clean.

Sometimes, after cleaning her own room, Lin Jiayao would even come over and help her, who was also mobility-impaired, clean her room, chat with her, and listen to her ramble.

Grandma Zhang had already treated her as her own granddaughter.

“This is all I can do.” Every time Grandma wanted Lin Jiayao to rest, she would reply with this same indifferent sentence.

She was a child so sensible it made one’s heart ache…

If there were no apocalypse, no zombies, a child like her would probably be very popular…

Recalling all the help she’d received from Lin Jiayao over the years, Grandma Zhang seemed to make up her mind.

“Don’t think about doing anything stupid, trust Grandma…”

Grandma Zhang reached out and stroked Lin Jiayao’s soft hair, then turned and left, leaning on her cane, locking the door for Lin Jiayao.

“Tap… Tap… Tap…”

Listening to the sound of the cane fading away, Lin Jiayao withdrew her gaze.

“Surviving for five years in the apocalypse, it’s a profit.”

Lin Jiayao murmured.

If she could, she didn’t want to die either.

But she had no resources to live on, and no faith to live for.

Her sister, who had been so good to her, was missing, and she couldn’t even go look for her.

Grandma Zhang, who often took care of her, couldn’t escape the fate of being devoured by zombies, and she was powerless.

She was just a flower vase in a wheelchair, without even the aptitude to become an Awakened.

“Like a useless piece of trash…”

“Next life, be someone strong.”

Lin Jiayao turned her wheelchair, took the pistol from the table by the candlelight. The entirely black gun body appeared icy cold even reflecting the soft candlelight. Lin Jiayao released the safety and, with all her strength, chambered a round.

“Becoming a zombie is better than being human, at least you don’t have to think…”

Lin Jiayao slightly opened her small mouth and, with effort, placed the barrel of the gun inside, her body trembling slightly.

The small house where the two had lived together for four years, Lin Jiayao had cleaned it for the last time.

She thought, if there’s a next life, she must be a healthy person.

At this moment, her heart became strangely calm, and she made the choice most desperate people would make in the apocalypse—she slowly pulled the trigger.

“Click—”

The atmosphere froze.

The poorly maintained Type 92, lacking care, jammed.

But then, another image, accompanied by a strange sound effect, abruptly appeared before Lin Jiayao.

「Ding—」
「Adjusting parameters…」
「Performing mental synchronization…」
「Login Device bound」
「Please select your spawn point—」

Lin Jiayao stared blankly at the illusory world map in front of her.