99.98%
Du Pianjian stood before Li Kuo's body, looking down at him with his eyes lowered and his silent demeanor resembling mourning.
Yu Zou stood outside the door, originally intending to ask about the situation, but upon seeing this scene from afar, he immediately changed his mind and stood outside patiently waiting for Du Pianjian to come out.
Emotions can manifest as tangible oppression.
The air around the paper felt dry and oppressive.
Under the blood moon, the two walked one after the other. Yu Zou, wanting to say as little as possible, followed far behind him, his feet half a step away from his shadow.
The dark figure suddenly stopped, and Yu Zou lifted his foot and then pulled it back, and the dark figure slowly climbed up his shoe.
"Is the blood moon about to arrive?"
Yu Zou raised his wrist; time had long passed, yet the blood moon still hung high in the sky.
As if confirming their suspicions, an eerie chime rang out, mixed with the sound of mechanical bells.
The projected seawater began to surge, gradually engulfing the floor. The infection level spiked rapidly, and the two immediately sensed something was wrong, running towards the rooftop.
The drones are neatly arranged and linked together to form a dark sky, with a red moon hanging high and casting a false reflection in the open-air swimming pool.
Zhao Junjie stood at the highest point, arms outstretched, bathed in the blood moonlight. His once magnificent clothes were now tattered, the white hem stained with different kinds of blood, and the diamond earrings on his ears were also tinged with dark red.
The creatures on the lower level of the pool were chained to the four corners of the pool, with chains extending to the center of the pool and tied to the same totem cylinder, the top of which had a receiver that shone with an eerie light.
“I knew you’d be among the people coming.” Seeing Yu Zou raise his gun, Zhao Junjie lowered his arms and smiled, saying, “That won’t work on me.”
"Oh! You're quite clever!" Yu Zou still held his gun, somewhat expecting this development. How could he let someone else steal the spotlight in a place like this?
Zhao Junjie showed off the ornaments on his chest, large, round pearls strung together, emitting a lustrous sheen: "Of course, I am a high-level zombie! Moreover, every time I kill someone, I take off their nose bone, grind it into powder, and make pearls to decorate my clothes."
"One shot isn't enough, how about ten?"
Zhao Junjie smiled brightly: "A hundred shots wouldn't have helped!"
"What are you doing?" Yu Zou put down his gun, took a step closer, and spoke in the same tone as when they were chatting normally.
"When the blood moon is high in the sky, the device will be activated, and I will be able to devour their genes and gain four times the life force."
Zhao Junjie feigned a dazed expression, and with his blood-soaked makeup and clothing, he truly resembled a madman. The swimming pool had become his crimson altar; the blood moon moved slowly, its reflection in the water only five or six meters from the pillar.
With a loud bang, the door was kicked open and slammed against the wall before shuddering and coming to its right. A blood-soaked pirate rushed out, bent over, clutching his legs and gasping for breath. After a while, he slowly straightened up, shouting, "Elementary school multiplication and division! Zero multiplied by any number equals zero! You won't succeed! You haven't paid us our wages yet!"
The pirate pointed at Zhao Junjie, still a little angry but full of arrogance: "We planted an electromagnetic pulse bomb at the bottom of the pool a long time ago, hahaha, even if you gather four immortal zombies, the light of the blood moon, the sub-zero water, the heart of a good person, the tears of a bad person, the blood of an Alpha, the brain of a Beta, and the pheromones of an Omega, you will not succeed!"
"Because of me!" the pirate shouted, holding up a remote control. "It's a remote control with a bomb! We won!"
Zhao Junjie, intrigued, asked with great interest, "Really?"
The calm water surface suddenly erupted wildly as the four bound zombies swung their arms, sending countless pale arms piercing the crimson pool water, wrapping around seaweed and stretching into the night sky. One by one, heads appeared, some sliding towards the shore, others disappearing back into the water.
Yu Zou immediately understood their intention and asked loudly, "Can the bomb be defused?"
The pirate, pale-faced and clearly unprepared for this turn of events, hurriedly replied, "I don't know, I didn't do it."
As the zombies drew closer to the shore, Yu Zou had an idea and quickly instructed Du Pianjian, "I'll take care of it."
Before Du Pianjian could answer, Yu Zou had already plunged into the water. Below, the zombies' legs were densely packed; for every head on the surface, there were twice as many legs underwater. In this final, decisive part of the battle, the bomb wasn't hard to find; it was near the cylinder. Yu Zou dove nearby, his crossbow piercing the device. A simulated electric current projected from the cylinder, like a reversed lightning rod.
None of the ordinary zombies survived; after violent convulsions, they were completely over. The successful zombie was also severely damaged, collapsing on its last legs, and the pool finally returned to calm.
A minute passed. Zhao Junjie looked at the pool, and the pirate looked at the pool too. Finally, he couldn't help but say, "The bomb can only hurt zombies. Why isn't he coming out yet? Did something happen to him?"
A few bubbles rose near the cylinder, visible only to Zhao Junjie, who was standing on high. He laughed, his dimples resembling parentheses, and clapped his hands above his head, saying, "I was worried you had other props, but now it's all good. You've traded a pool of zombies for this, so I'm not at a loss."
Amid the applause, Yu Zou stood up, his hair dripping wet. His once-smooth shirt taut with each breath, and ropes mimicking seaweed bound him, rendering his hands immobile.
He tossed his hair back and looked at Du Pianjian, who was standing by the pool, pointing a gun at him.
The ripples caused by Yu Zou spread outwards, unable to conceal the sharp warning on the bracelet on his back: the infection level was soaring, and he was beyond saving.
Du Pianjian warned: "Don't come any closer!"
Yu Zou walked over step by step, his eyes sparkling from the water, his smile still bright: "Kill me before I'm completely infected. I don't want to become a zombie."
Du Pianjian's gun was always aimed at his brow, moving down little by little as he did so.
Until Yu Zou walked to the edge of the pool, raised his head, and deliberately placed the gun between his eyebrows, his eyes staring straight at him as if to say: Do it.
Du Pianjian could feel the pressure transmitted to his palm when the muzzle of the gun was pressed against it. There were two hearts beating alternately at the two ends of the gun, and the sound was so loud that he could not feel the presence of his index finger.
He looked down at Yu Zou for the first time.
The rope heaved and struggled with each breath, the seaweed leaf embedded deep in his neck, water still dripping down, splattering onto his throbbing, bluish-gray skin. A piercing alarm spurred him on, and if his pale amber pupils held a pleading look, he wondered if he should act quickly.
The numbers stopped forever at "99.98%", and after the gunshot, artificial blood stained the pool.
Yu Zou sank into the pool, thinking: A perfect ending. He didn't want to become a zombie and continue playing.
On the water's surface, Du Pianjian loaded a bullet and said, "I am V6."
"V6? So it's 'Crimson Learning' obtained by 'teaming up with a hunter to kill 20 zombies'?"
Zhao Junjie's mocking voice faded into the distance. Yu Zou was taken back to the VIP room to rest by the staff behind the scenes through a secret passage from the pool. The room, which had been messy, was now spotless. He fell asleep in less than half an hour after lying on the bed, until someone knocked on the door.
Yu Zou opened the door with sleepy eyes. Zhao Junjie's secretary stood respectfully outside, conveying the news that the ship was about to dock and that Zhao Junjie had invited him to the tea room to receive a gift.
Everyone was talking about the game. The large screen in the center of the stage displayed the MVPs of each faction: V6 was the MVP of the ordinary human faction, and V24 was the MVP of the hunter faction. Thankfully, they only had codenames.
Yu Zou glanced at it as he passed by, not noticing which side had won in the end. In the tea room, Zhao Junjie was alone, resting his chin on his hand and smiling broadly: "Not bad, still as charming as ever."
Yu Zou pulled out a chair, sat down, and pretended to doze off while leaning on the table: "You're amazing, designing such an incredible game."
Zhao Junjie also lay down: "Why is everyone asking this? Your prize isn't going to be the game designer's prize too, is it?"
Yu Zou kept his eyes closed: "What would I need that for? You can't expect to bleed!"
"But that's exactly what Du Pianjian wants, hehe, to be honest! How did my game become your matchmaker, bringing you two together? I'm really sorry, Hengxun, I promised to remain absolutely neutral in the garden last time."
"Accident."
"I know, I didn't ask you about the process, I asked about your thoughts."
What are your thoughts?
"What do you think of Du Pianjian? I wonder if he's just too competitive? Or... tsk, it's hard to say."
"It's hard to say, so don't say it. I don't want to know." Yu Zou couldn't help but think of Du Pianjian, a strange person who always subverted his impressions. In He Honghan's diagnosis, he should be manic and chaotic, but when they first met, he was gentle and vulnerable. He knew this was his mask, but later he was a brave and competitive player.
"Haha, I watched the replay. You're really interested in C8? Do you want me to give you his information?"
Yu Zou snapped out of his daze, his previously concealed actions unconsciously resurfacing. He scratched his brow and said, "Then why not just use the prize? Wouldn't that be a waste? Besides, you said you'd introduce it to me before the game started."
"Hmph, I take it back. If you don't need it, I won't tell you anymore."
"Seriously, what are your thoughts on the land in the western suburbs?"
"If highly polluted areas are reopened, the only option left is to develop a green economy, like a new energy technology park?"
"The payback period is too long."
"Acquire the land first, then plan the development; only after you're on the ground can you expect a return."
Yu Zou stopped beating around the bush and opened his eyes to look at Zhao Junjie: "Let's talk about something that nobody knows, like how to get in?"
Zhao Junjie hummed in agreement, tracing circles on the fragrance diffuser on the table with his fingers: "There's a ready-made demonstration, just follow it."
While posing challenges, fate also placed the answer beside it all along. Yu Zou looked at the fragrance, took a deep breath, made up his mind, and said, "Cooperation?"
Zhao Junjie put down the fragrance, straightened up, and extended his hand: "Cooperate."
Yu Zou raised an eyebrow and shook hands with him.
Zhao Junjie then said, "Then would you mind if Li Kuo and Chi Hengxun helped me? After all, this thing is too difficult."
"certainly."
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