Lu Cai ran frantically in the aisle, the wound on his shoulder burning with pain.

Finally unable to bear it any longer, she stopped, took out the hemostatic medicine and spray, swallowed the medicine, felt a little cool, and casually sprayed it on her shoulders a few times.

This side storyline is too unreasonable. The NPC forced the mission on her, and now there is an inexplicable man in black who wants to kill her.

She brushed away the clutter in her mind and pursued the source. Lu Cai had fallen into this place to rescue Zhao Manman, and Zhao Manman was caught by the skinning zombies.

Where did the skinned zombies come from?

They entered the old building and inspected it inside and out. Qin Yu even used her telekinesis to investigate. Unless those zombies were ghosts, she was dreaming.

What if we look at this incident from the perspective of the essence of the game?

Everything in the game is data code. Those skinned zombies are like a piece of data that appears out of thin air, just like a hacker implants a virus into someone else's computer through certain data connections.

Could it be the red-eyed man in black from before?

If he represented the main system, then Qin Yu was a player, and Zhao Manman, Xiao Yue, and Zheng Miao were all NPCs, so why did the other party choose Zhao Manman?

Using Zhao Manman's data, he implanted zombies into the old building where they were, and then used Zhao Manman to involve her in this side storyline.

Why? Why did the main system bring her to this place?

Could it be that NPCs also have three chances to resurrect, just like players?

Lu Cai pinched her nose bridge, feeling a headache. No matter what was going on, she still had to find a way to go back.

Lu Cai continued walking forward. After a few steps, she heard footsteps trotting ahead. As the sound gradually approached, she saw a figure stumbling towards her...

——

"Lu Cai!" Qin Yu screamed and jumped up, watching the falling figures of Lu Cai and Zhao Manman.

Her screams woke up the other two, and the sound of something heavy falling was heard downstairs.

What's going on? Qin Yu was frightened. A burst of gunfire rang out behind her. Without even turning her head, she rushed down the stairs.

As soon as she landed, the skinning zombie next to her pounced on her, but unfortunately his spine was broken and his movements were very slow.

Qin Yu shot and killed the zombies, then lowered his gaze to the ground.

Zhao Manman lay there, her light blue T-shirt and floral dress stained with blood. She closed her eyes, and a large pool of dark liquid flowed from the back of her head.

Zhao Manman's face was ashen.

Qin Yu couldn't tell what he felt for a moment. All players knew the rules of the dungeon world.

Even if Zhao Manman died, she would wake up again after this game ended and the copy world was reset.

But at this moment, Qin Yu felt a little unwilling. Ever since she met Lu Cai, she began to change her view of NPCs. It turned out that there were NPCs like Lu Cai.

In the game dungeon, showing mercy to NPCs is fatal because they have infinite reincarnations, while the player only has three resurrection cards that cannot be used in side stories.

But she recalled the scene when she had witnessed Lu Cai trapped in the car explosion. At that time, Zhao Manman cried heartbrokenly. Qin Yu could feel that it was not just an expression of her grief at the disaster, but a genuine sadness.

Not knowing what he was expecting, Qin Yu squatted down and reached out to feel Zhao Manman's breath.

The breath was so weak that it was almost unnoticeable——

Qin Yu didn't dare touch her. He simply took out a small medicine bottle, poured three pills into his palm, and carefully fed them into Zhao Manman's mouth. Then he slowly moved the back of Zhao Manman's head and sprayed the wound on the back of her head a few times with the spray.

There were two sounds of footfalls beside him. Xiao Yue walked forward and looked at Qin Yu's actions with some surprise.

"What's going on?" Xiao Yue asked.

Qin Yu didn't want to pay attention to him, but after thinking about it, she responded: "I fell down the stairs and was injured." She put her hand on Zhao Manman's forehead and injected a trace of mental power into Zhao Manman's consciousness.

Nowadays, the injured person's desire to survive is also very important. I just hope Zhao Manman has a strong desire to survive...

Qin Yu used the spray to check Zhao Manman's hands and feet. After waiting for a while, the serious injuries had healed under the effect of the spray and pills.

"Where is Cai Lu?" Zheng Miao frowned as he looked at the mess on the ground.

Qin Yu shook his head: "I don't know."

"How could a living person disappear for no reason?" Zheng Miao said in an aggressive tone.

"Xiao Yue, carry her on your back." Qin Yu pointed at Zhao Manman on the ground and ignored Zheng Miao.

Xiao Yue was stunned for a moment, then smiled: "Okay..." He squatted down, took off the equipment on his back, and handed the things to Qin Yu.

Qin Yu raised an eyebrow, then looked at Zhao Manman lying on the ground. He looked up and saw Xiao Yue's bright smile, which he found a bit annoying. But in the end, he restrained himself from punching her, and instead reached out to take the ammunition.

Xiao Yue carefully helped Zhao Manman up, carried her on his back, and looked at Qin Yu inquiringly.

"There was gunfire here and the noise was too loud, so we need to move to another place." Qin Yu answered lightly.

Zheng Miao looked at her gloomily: "Lu Cai is your companion, are you just going to abandon her like this?"

Qin Yu also looked back at him: "As the captain, you know better than me what is the most correct approach in this situation."

Zheng Miao confronted her for a while before turning around and walking towards the gate.

Qin Yu frowned, feeling something was wrong. Whether it was Zhao Manman or Zheng Miao, they were all violating the original setting of the NPC - to have an initial good impression of the player.

Compared to the player Qin Yu, they care more about the NPC Lu Cai, which is very abnormal.

Perhaps Lu Cai is really a "virus", affecting the NPCs around him and even the players all the time.

She lowered her eyes. Xiao Yue, who was about to go out in front, noticed that she did not follow him, and turned back with Zhao Manman on his back.

"Are you okay?"

Qin Yu responded, turned his head to look at the bloodstained floor, sighed softly, and looked away.

——

Hearing the footsteps approaching from afar, Lu Cai wanted to hide, but the area around him was narrow and there was no corner to turn, so he could only prepare for fighting.

The other person ran over. He was a middle-aged man in his forties, wearing a white coat and round-frame glasses. You could tell at a glance that he was a researcher.

Seeing that Lu Cai was alive, the middle-aged man smiled and stumbled closer: "You are the intern for this project, right—"

Lu Cai frowned. Does she look like she has the intelligence to intern on a deep-sea submarine like this?

But the middle-aged man didn't care, he was full of joy: "Take this, remember to send it to the 'Aix Paleontological Institute'——"

What was forcibly stuffed into his hand was a tube of dark blue liquid.

The liquid was contained in a glass container, only as big as a thumb. Under the dim light, the blue liquid shone brightly.

After the middle-aged man finished speaking, before Judge Lu could ask any questions, his face twisted, he twitched, and began to vomit.

"Go! Go quickly..." The middle-aged man struggled in pain and waved frantically at Lu Cai.

Lu Cai, holding the blue liquid, dodged past the middle-aged man. Suddenly, his wrist was grabbed. Lu Cai turned around in surprise, resisting the urge to punch him.

"Remember, go find... find Cao... Cao..." The middle-aged man wailed, pinching Lu Cai's wrist with his five fingers, his back bent and his body hunched and twisted.

Lu Cai pulled his hand back with force and watched him fall to the ground. Bloody mucus oozed from his skin, and his wails of pain filled the narrow corridor.

Lu Cai finally understood where those skinned zombies came from.

She left here and ran inside.

“Snap—”

A gunshot rang out, and her injured shoulder was hit hard, but the bullet did not penetrate the flesh, but landed beside her toes.

Cai Lu rubbed his shoulders and looked up.

Another gunshot rang out, and the smoke dissipated gently. The bullet sparked and rushed straight towards her head.

Lu Cai dodged and the bullet flew past her side, leaving a light green system mark that she was very familiar with.

Cheng Mushen!

In an instant, the motivation to escape and survive turned into a rage for revenge.

She ran away without even taking the dagger. The wound on her shoulder had finally stopped bleeding, but her large movements caused it to bleed again.

Cheng Mushen saw that his two shots missed and turned and ran.

Unfortunately, he overestimated himself. After running for a while, he was kicked hard in the back. He stumbled forward, and before he could stand firmly, he felt a pain on his face.

He was hit hard on the nose by someone.

Watching Cheng Mushen fall to the ground, Lu Cai watched him stagger and try to get up with a cold face. When he propped himself up, Lu Cai kicked him and watched him fall down again.

Lu Cai lowered his eyes to meet his, only to see that his eyes were filled with vicious hatred.

If she could do it, she would definitely dig out these eyes first.

Cheng Mushen took out a pistol and pointed it at Lu Cai.

She didn't hide, but just smiled coldly, her eyes full of mockery. After the gunshot, there was a series of clangs, and the bullets fell to the ground, cold and icy, like an endless sneer.

Lu Cai raised his hand and wiped the non-existent cigarette ash from his forehead, then shook his hand away and sneered at Cheng Mushen's horrified gaze.

In fact, the moment he fired the gun, Lu Cai used layers of barriers to reduce the impact of the bullet, and the bullet did not hit her forehead just now.

After all, there is no need to risk your own head. Who knows if the barrier on your body, which is sometimes effective and sometimes not, will get out of control.

There was a loud noise and crackling sound coming from the direction she came from, as if some creature was running towards her.

Both of them guessed what it was, but their expressions were completely different.

When Cheng Mushen met Lu Cai's smiling eyes, he knew what she was thinking.

"You bitch! I should have shot you when I met you!" His face was ferocious and he wanted to get up, but was kicked down by Lu Cai again.

"How did Lin Yong feel at that time?" Lu Cai said calmly, "You will soon understand—"

Cheng Mushen stood up again and rushed towards Lu Cai. This time he was not kicked down. A red fluorescent barrier blocked the two of them, and he crashed directly into the barrier.

The collision sound was getting closer and closer, and Lu Cai looked at the aisle behind him.

Cheng Mushen stood up, changed his submachine gun, and loaded it quickly.

Lu Cai stared at the green data on Cheng Mushen's body, and finally his eyes fell on the gun.

At the other end of the aisle, the rustling stopped and silence fell all around.

Cheng Mushen's forehead was covered with sweat as he watched the surroundings with vigilance. Behind him, on the other side of the barrier, Lu Cai frowned.

"Bang--"

The muffled sound shook the entire corridor, and the submachine gun in Cheng Mushen's hand was seen emitting black smoke and exploded into two pieces from the barrel.

He was startled and didn't have time to change his gun when a blood-red figure, seemingly skinned, rushed towards him. He quickly dodged sideways and dodged past the skinned zombie. Just as he was feeling smug, he was about to turn around and run away.

The path of the skinned zombies was also blocked by a red barrier.

This is an arena, and the beasts trapped inside have no choice but to fight. They will either be killed as losers by their opponents, or be killed as winners by the controller of the arena.

Whether he fights or not, the outcome is already foreseeable.

Lu Cai was even prepared. If the red-eyed man in black came again, she would definitely deal with Cheng Mushen first.

As long as the distance is close, the energy transformed into shield armor can also be used as a weapon of attack.

Cheng Mushen had nowhere to retreat in the narrow aisle. He dropped the gun in his hand and was about to take out another weapon, but found that the system had no response.

At this time, he was really scared.

As the skinned zombies approached, he panicked and tried to block them with his bare hands. His palms pressed against the sticky flesh, which exuded a red, smelly mucus from the inside out. When it came into contact with his palms, his skin quickly burned away.

Beneath the skin, fat, muscles and meridians are exposed to the air.

Cheng Mushen wailed loudly, the pain piercing his bones. He fell against the side wall and saw a trace of blood at the corner of the mouth of the sneering girl opposite him.

Lu Cai raised his hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth and swallowed the blood that was rising in his mouth.

Blocking Cheng Mushen's player system just now was harder than she had imagined. While Cheng Mushen was operating the props, she found the string of numbers in the pile of green data that connected to the player's consciousness.

But blocking their infection made Lu Cai feel pain in his internal organs.

The system is the most authoritative controller of this game world.

Her gaze fell on Cheng Mushen, whose eyes were wide open and his fingers were dug into the flesh of the skinned zombie.

Cheng Mushen watched as Lu Cai's figure became blurred, and slowly...overlapped into a fair and tall young man.

The young man was furious. He rushed forward and lifted up the gangster who was pressing on Cheng Mushen.

A group of hooligans who had insulted and beaten Cheng Mushen surrounded the boy and started a fight again. The boy shouted to Cheng Mushen in the gap of the crowd, "Xiao Han, let's go" -

Cheng Muhan is Cheng Mushen's disappointing twin brother.

He closed his eyes, and in a trance, he returned to that night five years ago. He and his brother were walking in a mottled, cluttered alley, both of them with bruised faces and noses, their black and white school uniforms wrinkled and covered in dust.

My brother was carrying a schoolbag and a plastic bag, and he kept scolding me: "What did you do again?" His tone was full of anger and disappointment.

He didn't answer, having long been accustomed to responding to reprimands with silence.

"The college entrance exams are almost here! Why aren't you in school, running out to fool around?" Unable to hear his brother's reply, the older brother grew angrier. "It's always like this! You get into trouble and never say a word!"

He felt annoyed. Yes, his elder brother was an excellent student with good grades, who was obedient and sensible, but his younger brother was a trouble-making and capricious little gangster!

Sometimes, he would feel sick when looking at the face in the mirror.

Everyone said that his brother was gentle and sensible, but his brother always scolded him with cold words. Everyone looked at his brother with praise and joy, but looked at him with disgust and avoidance.

Only he knew that his brother was the most hypocritical person. He could talk to others with a smile, but as soon as the person turned around, his face would turn gloomy and full of impatience.

Just because she was born a few minutes earlier than him, she is superior to him in everything.

If my brother were no longer here—if my brother were no longer here—

There was a sharp pain in his neck, his flesh was torn apart, and the red-eyed, peeling zombie began to gnaw on his flesh.

At that time, he prepared a knife for fighting with others, a folding fruit knife.

The incident happened in an instant. The fruit knife fell to the ground, and bright red blood splattered. The elder brother opened his eyes in disbelief. He grabbed his brother's sleeve and slowly squatted down.

The street lights were cold and white, and the boy's delicate face was filled with shock, but there was a rare lack of anger.

My brother dropped the plastic bag he'd been carrying on the trip, and the contents spilled out. It was a blue jersey with the number "12" written on it in white.

No. 12, that day was No. 12, which was the number of my brother’s favorite player and also their birthdays.

......

Lu Cai watched Cheng Mushen's face gradually harden, his eyes gradually losing their luster. Skinning zombies tore at his flesh, and deep red blood flowed all over the ground.

The vivid colors faded to gray, like an old black and white photo, forever frozen in this moment.

——The player has died.

The black and white body turned to ashes, drifting and dissipating in the narrow corridor. She watched in a daze, unable to tell the difference between sadness and joy.

The skinning zombie found that the flesh on his hands had disappeared. He slowly raised his head and saw the girl standing on the other side of the red barrier. He roared and rushed forward.

Bang--

The bloody flesh body crashed into the barrier, and slime splattered everywhere. It fell to the ground, lying there spinning, making a "ho ho" sound from its mouth.

Lu Cai pulled out his pistol and loaded it. The red barrier before him slowly receded. The skinned zombie also noticed the red barrier had vanished. It leaped up, gunshots rang out, blood splattered against the side walls, and its bright red body fell to the ground.

His hands and feet twitched a few times, and Lu Cai raised his gun again, pressed the trigger, and loaded a few more bullets into its head.

Blood spread all over the ground.

......

A white and slender hand picked up the blue jersey on the ground. The white short-sleeved shirt and the white numbers on the jersey contrasted with each other.

"12." The boy's fingers lightly touched the torn corner of the jersey. A faint white light passed through the torn fabric, and the hole in the jersey was restored to its original state.

"Xiao Jiang, what's so good about this jersey?" The tall and thin man stood aside, looking at the high school student squatting beside the shelf.

The boy raised his head and smiled, his eyes clear. "Nothing, I just like the number '12'."

The tall and thin man also laughed: "I heard that there is a grocery store specializing in selling second-hand props in the shopping area on the sixth floor of the community area. The name of the store is 'Twelve'. When the dungeon is released, Brother Liu will take you there-"

Xiao Jiang loosened his jersey and stood up: "Okay, you must remember to go..."

The sunlight outside the store was so bright that it stung my eyes. Some words, after all... after all, became the unswallowed breath that would linger in my throat forever.

Happy birthday, Xiaohan. And goodbye.

——

On the empty streets, Qin Yu and Zheng Miao searched car after car, but could not find a car with keys.

Xiao Yue carried Zhao Manman on his back and followed the two of them all the way. It was already bright and sunny, and he could feel sweat on his forehead as they walked.

After walking a few more steps, the person on his back moved, and Xiao Yue stopped.

"She's awake!" Xiao Yue called out to the two people in front.

Qin Yu walked over and placed her hand on Zhao Manman's forehead. Her temperature was normal. As she lowered her hand, she saw Zhao Manman slowly open her eyes.

"This car can be used--" Zheng Miao got into a black car and looked around the car.

He was probably attacked by zombies when he was about to drive. The keys were still hanging on the car, but the zombie-like owner was nowhere to be found.

Qin Yu helped Zhao Manman into the back seat of the car, but Xiao Yue slammed the back door and sat in the front passenger seat.

The car started, moved out of the parking space, and drove around the crooked cars on the street and got out of the street.

Zhao Manman opened her eyes, her face completely pale and her eyes dim. She turned around to look at the situation around her and woke up in shock: "Lu Cai! Lu Cai, she—"

"She's missing." Qin Yu sat beside her.

Zhao Manman opened her eyes wide: "Missing?"

"When we woke up, we saw you falling from the second floor, and Lu Cai's whereabouts are unknown." Qin Yu's tone was calm and almost ruthless. "Can you tell us what happened last night?"

Only Qin Yu saw Lu Cai falling from the building with Qin Yu, but she had no idea what happened before that.

The car drove slowly and Zhao Manman began to recall last night.

......

"A skinned zombie?" Qin Yu asked her in a deep voice.

Zhao Manman nodded. "It was dragging me downstairs, and then Chief Lu came over to pull me up. He was clearly holding me, but suddenly the floor collapsed—"

Qin Yu didn't respond. She stared at Zhao Manman's expression, trying to determine whether what she said was true or false.

"The floor didn't collapse—" Qin Yu stared intently, trying to discern the subtle changes on Zhao Manman's face.

Zhao Manman was stunned: "It didn't collapse?"

Qin Yu frowned. Zhao Manman didn't seem to be lying, and with all those injuries... there was no need to make herself half dead just to lie.

She raised her hand and rubbed her eyebrows, then raised her eyes and met Xiao Yue's inquiring gaze.

Xiao Yue didn't avoid it and looked at Qin Yu with his eyes wide open, a little confused, but he didn't ask any questions.

['Lu Cai' applied to add me as a friend. Was it approved?]

Qin Yu's gaze froze, the corners of his mouth curled up slightly, and then he suppressed the smile.

[yes. ]

She saw an extra column at the bottom of the system friends list.

[Arbitrator Lu: Pay attention to 0589.]

[Qin Yu: What's wrong?] (Message cannot be delivered)

Qin Yu raised his eyebrows. The signal of this dog game was really outstanding.

——

[Lu Cai: Please check Xiao Yue and Zheng Miao's military numbers.] (Message undeliverable)

Lu Cai sat in the operating chair of the "Emergency Brake Room". In the red system box in his mind, there was an exclamation mark behind the only name in the friend list.

Last night, she and Qin Yu discussed the KB game system and learned that the player system has many functions. Most of these functions are connected to the main system and the copy world system, and are used for the release of game tasks and reward settlement.

Lu Cai didn't dare connect to the main system, but she was very interested in the "Friends" function. Qin Yu was also willing to cooperate and generously let her study the player system.

Unfortunately, after studying for a long time, I only analyzed the data of the "Friends" function, but failed to copy it successfully.

She closed her eyes and studied for most of the night before she hastily set up a friend list, but who knew she would encounter a skinning zombie.

At the moment Lu Cai and Zhao Manman fell, Qin Yu almost instinctively used his telekinesis to encircle them, but he was no match for the unknown force that interfered with the development of the game.

Lu Cai only had time to convey the words "system friend function" to her through Qin Yu's telekinesis before he fell into the submarine.

If she hadn't analyzed Qin Yu's player system, she wouldn't have been able to successfully block Cheng Mushen's system.

What a pity, I didn't expect that the signal of this stupid game is even stupider than its own mechanism. No wonder there was no other news after Qin Yu and Zhao Yan agreed to meet in the imperial capital.

At this moment, the door was pushed open with a bang.

A young man with a stubble on his face came in from outside and was obviously stunned when he saw the girl sitting in the operating chair.

"You're here?" 0589 looked puzzled. "Why didn't you pull the emergency switch?"

"Because I want to see you again, number 0589—" Lu Cai slowly raised his eyes, "What's your name?"