Lu Cai climbed up from the pile of rocks, feeling dizzy.

She herself wouldn't believe it, but she was thrown out and actually broke through the stone wall—

The child's crying woke her up a little. She turned around and saw Nian Nian, who was affected by the air flow and had hit his forehead on the iron cage.

Noticing the large swelling on Nian Nian's forehead, Lu Cai said weakly, "You're still so fond of crying..."

Niannian stopped crying and stared at the girl lying in the rubble, lost in thought.

Cai Lu clenched his fists, propped himself up, stood up, got into position, and faced the cracked wall again.

On the other side of the hole in the wall, "Zheng Miao" slowly stood up, covering his abdomen with blood flowing out.

"We can work together. Do you really have to do this?" He said with a gloomy expression. "As an NPC, your abilities far surpass those of other players. If we join forces, we can dominate this dungeon world..."

Lu Cai laughed so hard his stomach hurt. "First, I have no interest in dominating the world. Second, if I remember correctly, you were planning to swallow me. So, you realized you couldn't, so you changed your policy to appease me?"

Zheng Miao's eyes were dark and fierce. "What do you think you can get in return? They don't care about you because you are an NPC. To them, you are just a piece of code—"

"You are also a player, how can I trust you?" Lu Cai took a step forward. He had just confronted him and found that his swallowing ability was a little weak. The digital information inside was very messy, and he didn't know what he had swallowed before.

When you become a "Gu", we will meet again——

Refining Gu? Lu Cai thought about how he had been thrown into the camp.

If he swallowed more than just supernatural powers...

"You... are eating zombies?" Lu Cai couldn't help but feel nauseous when he said this guess.

"Zheng Miao" lowered his hands that were tightly covering his abdomen, revealing his clothes that were torn by a dagger. Blood stains were on the fabric of his military uniform, as if it had been splashed with water.

He walked forward slowly, and gradually, the wound began to change. A tender red tumor broke free from the cloth. In just a few steps, the tumor grew wildly, quickly surrounding his waist.

"You absorbed the mutated zombies—" Lu Cai couldn't understand how distorted a person had to be to devour the abilities of zombies.

"I didn't absorb them, I just spread my virus." There was a hint of madness in Zheng Miao's eyes.

Lu Cai stood still: "You're infected? Aren't players immune to the virus?"

"Yeah, I thought so too before I was infected with the virus. Maybe I belong to this world, so—" He raised his hand, his skin dry and peeling, "The virus has perfectly integrated with me..."

When he lowered his hands and walked through the hole in the wall, tender flesh had already covered his legs, and the tumor was moving slowly in a wriggling manner.

Looking at "Zheng Miao" who was getting taller and taller, mucus seemed to be overflowing from his arms, dissolving the sleeves of his clothes.

Lu Cai stared intently at the tumor below his waist. The arrangement of the numbers was similar to that of other tumor monsters, but the sources of the numbers were different.

Within the tumor, a flash of red appeared amidst the interlaced green and orange data. The red rapidly expanded, reaching the size of a palm. A tentacle sliced ​​down, and the red tumor fell to the ground, where it began to curl up and wither.

Lu Cai looked up and saw four bloody tentacles growing from behind "Zheng Miao".

"That's how you dealt with that idiot back then—" His voice was low and unfriendly, and his cold eyes fell on Lu Cai.

There was a rustling sound in the wind. Lu Cai raised his dagger and slashed at the wind, and the blade pierced into the tentacle.

The bloody tentacle didn't stop and hit her left shoulder. Her feet left the ground and she hit the wall.

The tumor slowly squirmed, spreading across the ground not far in front of her.

Lu Cai held onto the wall, the slime on her shoulder irritating her skin and causing a sharp pain. The slime seeped deeper, and her shoulder gradually lost strength. If she hadn't raised her hand and touched her shoulder, she would have wondered if her arm had dissolved.

According to him, it was he who spread the mutant virus...The person in front of him is the ancestor of the mutant zombies.

A gunshot rang out, and Lu Cai looked in the direction of the sparks. It was Qin Yu.

Qin Yu raised his gun and fired rapidly while setting up a mental barrier, intending to form an encirclement and trap "Zheng Miao" inside.

Zheng Miao ignored her and continued to approach Lu Cai. The barrier tightened, halting Zheng Miao's advance. A tentacle stabbed forward, making the telekinetic barrier seem fragile in comparison.

No! Qin Yu can't stop him!

At that time, outside the research institute, Qin Yu's barrier was dissolved by the tentacle monster's mucus.

"Zheng Miao" can be regarded as the "mother source" of mutant zombies. The mucus on his body is much more toxic than those mutants!

The three tentacles broke through the barrier in front of Lu Cai, like glass breaking. A slight crisp shattering sound reached her ears, and Lu Cai saw many tiny cracks appearing on the barrier.

The tentacles stabbed towards Lu Cai.

She held the dagger and slashed fiercely. The severed tentacles kept regenerating, and the broken tentacles on the ground turned into rotten meat.

Taking advantage of the opportunity to look up, a single tentacle over there pierced through the mental barrier and went straight towards Qin Yu's head——

The gunshots were mixed together.

Lu Cai slashed fiercely with the dagger in his hand, and the surroundings seemed to be silent. The shattered mind barrier, the snarling tentacles, the hideous face of "Zheng Miao"... mixed into a colorful picture.

New muscles slowly grew from the broken section of the tentacle, but the girl in black had already left the ground.

As if in an instant, the noise returned to her world.

The tentacles that regenerated behind her followed her closely. The tentacles that stabbed Qin Yu were already within reach!

Puff——

It was the muffled sound of tentacles piercing through the body.

Xiao Yue pushed Qin Yu away, he jumped up slightly, and the tentacles passed through his chest.

The telekinetic barrier instantly shattered and disappeared. Qin Yu stood firmly on one side, looking at Xiao Yue in a daze.

Xiao Yue's face was ugly. He stared at the tentacles on his chest and closed his eyes helplessly: "Too stupid——"

Lu Cai chopped off the tentacle with one knife, and after landing on the ground, he turned around to cut off the three followers behind him.

Xiao Yue fell to the ground. Qin Yu went to help him up, watching the tentacles on his chest slowly disappear, turning into a pool of foul-smelling sewage. She looked at Xiao Yue, being protected by an ordinary NPC with his life. This was the first time she had experienced such a thing since entering the dungeon.

Even if Lu Cai saved her, it was because Lu Cai's body contained a huge unknown power. What was Xiao Yue's purpose in protecting her at the cost of his own life?

His expression changed, his mouth opened slightly, his eyes widened, and the black pupils seemed to be gradually stained by the whites of his eyes.

evil Dead!

Remembering something, Qin Yu took out a small medicine bottle and poured a few pills directly into his mouth.

Bang--

Not far away, a wooden box was smashed into pieces by a thin figure.

Lu Cai fell into the wooden debris, then turned over and rushed towards the four tentacles.

Without the restraint of telekinesis, the tumor expanded rapidly.

Qin Yu looked at the tumor that was about to fill the entire room and used his telekinesis again.

This time, it's not just about restriction. She's also going to attack—

The tentacles slammed into the barrier, cracks opening up like a spider web. Qin Yu concentrated on filling the cracks, but the tentacles slammed in again.

The opponent was held back by Qin Yu, and Lu Cai finally had a chance to catch his breath.

Looking at the crack in the telekinetic barrier, her gaze fell directly on "Zheng Miao's" head.

Fighting the tentacles all the time is just wasting your energy.

To kill zombies, of course, you have to shoot their heads!

But how could she get close to "Zheng Miao's" head?

There are tumors and tentacles. It is simply a pipe dream to want to go straight to his head.

But, which of her battles was not dangerous?

Lu Cai breathed a sigh of relief, watching the crack being filled by Qin Yu. But then—the tentacle slammed into it again, widening the crack even further.

She took a deep breath and rushed forward, stepped on a large piece of stone wall on one side, jumped upwards, and drilled through the mental crack.

"Lu Cai——" Qin Yu shouted.

She ignored him, and the moment her feet touched the ground, she felt a soft, squirming tumor. Without a pause, Lu Cai charged towards "Zheng Miao's" body.

It is mentioned in martial arts novels that the only martial arts that cannot be defeated is speed.

Lu Cai felt that this sentence was also applicable here and now.

As long as she is faster than the tumor wrapping around her, as long as she is faster than the tentacles stabbing at her!

Qin Yu looked through the barrier and saw that the four tentacles were like stamens closing inward, and the tumor was like petals, wrapping everything up.

This is the scene of a vicious carnivorous plant hunting.

"Do you think you can defeat me by risking your life?" "Zheng Miao" grinned, his eyes vicious and fanatical.

Lu Cai's face was indifferent: "I never thought about defeating anyone—" She jumped up, "I just want to survive!"

The knife shadow fell.

Her figure paused, her hands tightly grasped by his peeling, flesh exposed to the air. But his smile froze on his face. In the hands before him, besides a dagger, there was also a loaded pistol.

The tumor at her feet wrapped around her, and the tentacles behind her caught up and entangled her.

Even though his left arm was infected by the poison and it was difficult to lift it up due to the pain, Lu Cai just smiled and said, "Goodbye, Captain Zheng..."

A gunshot, a spark, and a wisp of thin smoke.

The tentacles on his body wrapped tighter and tighter, and dark red blood flowed from the center of "Zheng Miao's" forehead.

She continued to press the trigger, the sound of gunfire continued, and she just kept firing randomly.

Even as the tumor completely engulfed her, she continued to pull the wrench. The shackles on her wrist gradually loosened, and Lu Cai grasped the dagger and slashed fiercely.

The tumor stopped growing and the tentacles became limp and powerless.

As she cut along, the sound was muffled in the thick tumor and there was a buzzing in her ears.

He desperately chopped in one direction, his foot stuck in the tumor, making it difficult to move forward. Lu Cai pumped his feet forward, and finally, he saw a faint light in front of him.

She finally squeezed the tumor out, half crawled, half moved, and almost rolled to the ground. She smelled her own body again, and the stench was so strong that she almost vomited.

When Lu Cai looked up, he saw Qin Yu half-hugging the dying Xiao Yue. His eyes had returned to normal, but his face was full of pain and fatigue. It seemed that he was not going to survive.

"Niannian--" he muttered to himself. In the distance, Niannian saw her uncle injured and started crying.

Qin Yu was about to put Xiao Yue down when Lu Cai stopped her: "I'll do it—"

She walked to the iron cage, grasped the iron lock, and pulled hard, breaking it. Pulling open the iron door, Lu Cai picked up Nian Nian and ran towards Qin Yu and Xiao Yue.

My left arm still hurts a little, but it seems much better than before.

"Ah——" a scream came from the door.

Lu Cai looked in the direction of the sound and saw several skinned zombies attacking a middle-aged man. The man struggled hard, but was bitten even more fiercely in return.

The screams were endless and the sounds of biting were particularly clear.

Niannian shuddered in his arms, and Lu Cai raised his hand to gently soothe her back.

She continued walking towards Qin Yu, but saw a line of text pop up above Qin Yu's head -

The copy has been cleared and data is being transferred...

Qin Yu also looked confused.

Is the one being bitten outside Cao Zhongzheng?

Lu Cai quickened her pace and saw a few light green traces rising from Xiao Yue's body.

Suddenly, she stepped on empty air, and Nian Nian, the girl she was holding tightly in her arms, vanished into the air. She stood firm, surrounded by a sea of ​​orange data—numbers that kept jumping, numbers that alternated...

Lu Cai saw a tall and thin shadow and hurried forward.

"When did you replace Xiao Yue?" Cai Lu grabbed the back of his neck and asked harshly.

None of her men struggled, and her hands suddenly felt empty. Not far away, orange data enveloped him.

"You found me." The other person smiled, but his face couldn't be seen clearly.

Lu Cai understood.

Why did the red-eyed man in black use Zhao Manman when he pulled her into the submarine branch? Because Zheng Miao was occupied by the alienated player, and Xiao Yue was invaded by the stranger in front of him.

So, among a room full of NPCs, according to the system's evaluation, only Zhao Manman is a normal NPC.

"Who are you? Why did you risk your life to save Qin Yu?" In fact, just because he saved Qin Yu, Lu Cai would not really hurt him.

But that grab just now made her realize that the person in front of her was no ordinary being. After all, he was a being that could invade and occupy the bodies of NPCs.

How many secrets does this KB game have?

"It wasn't me who wanted to save her." The other person said with a smile, "It was Xiao Yue's original consciousness. At that moment, I couldn't control him."

Cai Lu clenched his fists and saw the orange-yellow data surrounding him.

"Goodbye, Lu Cai." The other party disappeared in the endless data.

Lu Cai took a step forward, and in the pitch darkness, the world was spinning.

Finally, his head hit a bell, and the ding-ling sound was so loud that it shook the earth.

She covered her head and looked up, and saw that she had landed in a narrow, shabby, and cluttered shop.

The glass door opened wide, and the walls were covered with ornaments, clothing, even belts and shoes. When she saw the guns and knives, she was stunned for a moment. Then she looked again and saw yellow talismans and peach wood swords...

What kind of store is this?

"Welcome—"

The counter was next to the door, and a boy walked out from the door frame behind the counter.

Lu Cai turned to look and was stunned for a moment.

The facial features and eyebrows were actually Cheng Mushen! Although his skin was much whiter and tenderer, and he looked a few years younger, his appearance was almost the same.

She drew her dagger, leaped directly onto the counter, and thrust the blade into the face.

The other party shouted: "You can rob me of my wealth and my body, but you can't take my life!"

The tip of the knife stopped in front of his eyebrows. Lu Cai narrowed his eyes. His voice and tone were not right.

Seeing her stop, Jiang Yan swallowed, then raised his eyes to see her face clearly, his expression froze for a moment.

Isn't this the NPC I met in the "Return to Doom" dungeon, who chopped down zombies with her bare hands? How did she get out of the dungeon world?

"Cheng Mushen?" Lu Cai asked him.

Jiang Yan was stunned for a moment, then regained his composure. "The one you're talking about is my brother... but we've severed all ties. Revenge is necessary, and don't harm the innocent..."

Seeing that his expression and tone did not seem to be lying, and identifying the system traces on his body, which were different from Cheng Mushen's, he put away the knife and jumped off the counter.

"Sorry." She apologized to him calmly.

"It's okay..." Jiang Yan also smiled amiably, "In the business world, friction is inevitable, they are all trivial matters..."

Cai Lu saw that he looked like a seasoned businessman, and that his youthful appearance as a high school student was a waste.

"What is this place?" Cai Lu also pretended to look at the items in the store.

Jiang Yan looked surprised: "Are you a newbie? This is the 6th floor... the 6th floor shopping area..."

Lin Yong had mentioned before that players who wanted to earn points could either play dungeons or open a shop. Lu Cai glanced at the shop owner and couldn't tell he was quite wealthy...

Jiang Yan went on to explain: "These are all second-hand props..." After saying that, he turned a wooden sign over and said, "I can also repair the props!"

Lu Cai glanced at the sign and put away his dagger.

This place is about points, and she doesn't have any points at all.

"20 points for five rings!" There was a street vendor selling things in the open space not far from the door.

Jiang Yan also looked over and laughed cheerfully: "Here they are again. We'll have to call the market inspector later..."

"Your market is not allowed to set up street stalls?" Cai Lu was curious.

"You're talking nonsense! We open a shop and pay rent and taxes. They set up a stall without rent or taxes, so why don't the higher-ups give them trouble—" Jiang Yan laughed, his eyes cast outside, "Besides, there's nothing good on their stall... They're actually trying to cheat me out of 20 points..."

Lu Cai smiled, walked out, and looked up. The name of this store was actually "No. 12".

Jiang Yan put away his smile as he watched the girl walk out of the store. He walked around the counter and took down the door bell. He shook it twice but found nothing unusual.

......

This is an indoor shopping street with long tube lights on the high ceiling and many narrow alleys divided by rows of houses.

She walked in the alley. The ground was made of gray-white frosted bricks. There was an alley at the end with shops of various colors on both sides.

Some shops are packed with customers, while others are deserted. Some shops are larger and have enthusiastic staff. Some shops are smaller and have bored owners.

Is this the community area?

This building has a total of thirteen floors. The first floor is the registration office and the sixth floor is the shopping area. What about the other floors?

Lu Cai walked forward. Shop No. 12 was at the innermost side, facing a flowerbed. She walked all the way to the outermost side of the alley.

There is also an open space there, symmetrically corresponding to the flower bed at the innermost side.

People were coming and going in the alley, choosing things and asking prices, which made Lu Cai have a momentary illusion that this was just an ordinary shopping mall.

Walking through the open space, Lu Cai spotted a young man sitting outside the crowd. He was in his twenties, dressed in a light gray linen Tang suit and black cloth shoes, holding a whole string of candied haws.

Looking closely at his appearance, he has short, smooth black hair, fair skin, sharp features, and drooping eyes.

I noticed him because he had a scar on his face. It started from behind his right ear, ran along the side of his face, passed his throat, and finally disappeared into the round collar with pure white lining.

The first thing you notice when you see him is the scar on his face.

Lu Cai was so lost in thought that he stopped walking. The man suddenly raised his eyes and looked over here.

The red pupils caught Lu Cai's gaze, causing her heart to skip a beat and her hair stand on end.

The same red eyes as the man in black, even brighter than the man in black's eyes.

Like blood dripping onto glass, the red color revealed by the light is fresh, gorgeous, yet close to death.

She withdrew her gaze, lowered her head, and pretended that she had only glanced twice out of rudeness.

How many red-eyed people are there in this community? She doesn't know.

She had no idea whether they knew each other.

To her, this is a dangerous and unknown place.

She walked calmly and followed the crowd to the elevator next to the stairs. After turning the corner and avoiding the man's gaze, Lu Cai breathed a sigh of relief.

The elevator was also packed with people, which immediately put her off the idea of ​​taking the elevator. Even if there were ten elevators going up and down, she didn't think there would be any empty seats in the elevator.

She leaned against the innermost wall, reading the floor introduction—

12F Cultural Area

11F Villa Area

10F single-family area

9F Building Area

8F Hotel Area

7F Bank and Real Estate Area

6F Shopping Area

5F Leisure and Entertainment Area

4F Food Area

3F Mission Area

2F Points Insurance Area

1F Registration Hall

......

There is no 13th floor, which is probably the territory of the main system and scavengers.

Lu Cai's heart was filled with emotion. Where should she go? She was now an illegal immigrant, with no money, no land, and no household registration.

Oh, and she has two good friends!

Thinking about it, I quickly opened my friend list and saw that the signal was good.

I opened the chat box of "Qin Yu" and was about to send a message when the broadcast above my head sounded.

"Emergency announcement, all players, close your accounts immediately! Emergency announcement, all players, close your accounts immediately—"

As soon as the announcement was made, there was a panic. Some people rushed to the elevator, and some people ran directly into the stairwell because they saw that it was too crowded.

Looking at this scene, she couldn't help but panic. Could it be related to her?

No, no, who is she? She's not worthy of this grand occasion...

I quickly closed the chat box and figured out the situation first, otherwise I would implicate Qin Yu in vain.

Lu Cai glanced at the floor signs again, his gaze landing on the third floor—the mission area. There was a small note at the back that read, "Mission Collection and Settlement, Points Ranking, and Dungeon Entry and Exit."

If that doesn't work, she'll just try the dungeon!

Thinking this, she followed the crowd to the stairs. While others were going up, she ran all the way down.

The shopping area that was bustling just a moment ago suddenly became deserted, with only the broadcast repeating the voice message "Close immediately".

The young man in a Tang suit sitting on a public chair in the open space did not move, looking at the candied haws in his hand, his hair hanging down scatteredly, covering his indifferent eyes.

He looked at it for a long time, then opened his mouth and bit off the hawthorn fruit on top.

He took it in his mouth, the syrup was so sweet that it made him relax his brows. He bit down hard, and the soft and sticky hawthorn flesh melted between his lips and teeth, and a sour taste touched his taste buds.

He frowned, his whole face twisted into a crumpled piece of white paper.

A pair of clean and shiny black leather shoes appeared in his sight. He raised his head slightly and saw a man in a suit with well-proportioned features and a strong build in front of him.

"666, sir, I want you to go back immediately." The man in the suit had a calm expression, like a robot. But he stared at the young man in the Tang suit with a wary look, not at all as relaxed as he appeared.

666 looked down at the candied haws in his hand and gently turned the bamboo stick. The hawthorn fruit wrapped in bright red syrup was round and cute, and shiny in the light.

He finally stood up, threw the candied haws into the trash can on the side, and followed the man in the suit to the internal elevator on the other side of the floor.