As it turns out, a lot can be done in two minutes. For example, getting Fang He to contact Qiao Liao, or getting Qiao Liao to find Su Xin and Xu Chu, and then getting them both to come and save the day.

Xiao Cheng: "..." So stop wasting time like this, damn it!

Su Xin's excited voice came from outside: "Everyone, stay out of the way! I'm about to make my move!"

Before Xiao Cheng could react, a huge iron hammer smashed through the wall with a thud, embedding itself deeply. The sharp iron spikes on the hammerhead stopped abruptly in front of her, no more than ten centimeters away.

Bricks and stones flew everywhere. Fang He kindly pulled Xiao Cheng aside and dragged her to a corner further back.

After three consecutive blows, they finally saw the light again. The slightly dazzling light shone into the ruins, and fine dust floated in the air, making it seem somewhat dreamlike for a moment.

Xiao Cheng squinted slightly, feeling a bit uncomfortable. Before he could say a word, Su Xin stood against the light, carrying a giant iron sledgehammer taller than a person, and waved vigorously at him: "Come out quickly! Otherwise, the house might collapse again in a little while!"

Xiao Cheng: "..." This is a bit too dreamy.

Fang He reacted even faster than her, clearing away the scattered bricks and stones in front of them and pulling her through the hole in the wall.

Xiao Cheng then realized how utterly destroyed the house was. They were lucky; this was practically the only corner that was still somewhat recognizable. If they had moved any further to the side, the house would undoubtedly have been completely destroyed.

She breathed a long sigh of relief, still shaken, and was about to ask something when Qiao Liao chuckled and spoke before she could, "I told you before, I know where to meet you."

“Yes! Xiao Cheng, you can’t believe it! This charlatan is really amazing! At first, Xu Chu and I thought we were doomed!” Su Xin seemed to have been holding back for a long time, and she started chattering away as soon as she caught Xiao Cheng, unable to stop.

"What the hell are these zombies?! They even do human modification! They even modify themselves!" Su Xin got so excited that she started gesturing with her hands, but she didn't notice the big iron hammer she was carrying, and she was pulled backward by it.

Xu Chu swiftly grabbed one of them with each hand, then, with a speechless expression, put the hammer back into her hands: "Be more careful, Hammer Sister."

“You’ve changed. Now is not the time for you to beg me to use your materialization. You used to call me Sister Su all the time, but now you call me Iron Hammer Sister.” Su Xin slammed the iron hammer on the ground, tears welling up in her eyes.

Xiao Cheng looked at the large crater that had been smashed into the ground, seemingly wanting to say something but stopping herself. "That's great," she thought, "today is another day of friendly interaction among my teammates."

“The clues we have now should match up.” Fang He looked up at the sun, which was almost directly overhead. “Time is running out, Qiao Liao, do you know where the zombies are?”

"I know." Qiao Liao held his whisk, his face was a little better than before when he was hanging on by a thread, but it was still sickly pale. "I can take you there, but as for what will happen next, I will not be able to see it."

"It's normal that we can't see it! Otherwise, living with spoilers every day would be so boring!" Su Xin patted his shoulder casually. "We should enjoy the fun of the unknown every now and then. Don't look so gloomy, young man. We're doing something really interesting! Cheer up!"

In fact, of everyone present, she was the only one who looked energetic for the time being.

As for Qiao Liao, it's a miracle he's even standing.

Xu Chu was seriously injured, with most of his body covered in blood. His left upper arm had a deep gash that exposed the bone, with the flesh turned outwards, as if something had crawled in and been pulled out by him.

Fang He and Xiao Cheng were almost buried alive, covered in dust and dirt, but fortunately they didn't suffer any obvious harm.

However, the departure of the mother insect took away almost all of Xiao Cheng's experience points. She now feels as if her body has been hollowed out; to put it simply, she is completely empty.

"Let's go, it's not like we can't fight," Fang He said, trying to comfort her.

"But my special ability..."

Before he could even speak, he said in an unquestionable tone, "Forget about it, Xiao Cheng. Don't be bound by the established rules. After all, in previous instances, you didn't have any so-called special abilities either, did you?"

Led by Qiao Liao, they left the ruins and headed towards the newest hunting grounds.

It was closer than they had expected, and based on the previous refresh patterns, it was clearly getting closer and closer to the zombie building.

This also confirms that the so-called hunt was nothing more than a trap set by the zombies.

The new hunting grounds were a large, sunken basin, resembling a specially designated arena. The elevation difference was significant; Xiao Cheng and his companions, standing on the edge, couldn't find a way down and could only run while observing the situation below.

There weren't many players left alive. Scattered around in the encirclement by the zombie horde, they were mostly fighting against dozens of zombies.

The zombie horde was fearless; before one had even completely fallen, another was already charging forward. The players were struggling to keep up, but fortunately, they could continuously replenish themselves using crystals, their experience points soaring, and their abilities growing stronger with each passing day.

Number 66 was clearly the strongest attacker among them, and received special attention from the zombie horde. She was almost completely submerged, with only the raging flames indicating her survival.

“The zombies are also leveling up,” Fang He suddenly said. “The energy fluctuations generated by players using their abilities are feeding back into them.”

"Raising Gu?" Xiao Cheng's gaze quickly swept across the scene, but she couldn't see A009 at all. "It seems... did a zombie just come back to life?"

She wasn't quite sure, after all, these zombies all looked like grotesque ghosts at first glance. If it weren't for that one that was missing an arm and a leg and stubbornly stood on one leg scratching people, looking particularly unique and cheeky, she wouldn't have noticed it.

"Damn! It really is!" Su Xin exclaimed in surprise. "They don't seem to have noticed! They're having a harder time fighting! Let's hurry over there!"

It was indeed strenuous.

Player number 66 seemed to be running out of energy, and the flames gradually dimmed, disappearing for a few seconds, but even those few seconds were quite fatal.

The zombies roared with ecstatic joy, wildly waving their arms and opening their foul-smelling mouths to tear at her.

The players' painful screams began to echo throughout the arena. One man collapsed to the ground, almost instantly buried by layers of zombies.

Blood and flesh splattered everywhere. In just a few seconds, the zombies scattered like satiated locusts, their mouths smeared with bits of flesh and blood, joining the encirclement of other players.

Only a nearly disintegrated skeleton remained on the ground.

A tiny, faint will-o'-the-wisp slowly rose from it.

"Damn it! It's that bastard again!"

Xu Chu's face instantly turned extremely ugly. He suddenly tore off a strip of cloth from the corner of his clothes and quickly tied it around his left upper arm, tightening it around the still bleeding wound. He was in so much pain that he broke out in a cold sweat.

"Su Xin!" His eyes were as sharp as a wolf king's. "Use materialization! What are we wasting time for? Let's get this thing!"