In the dim light, I watched the pale face gradually lose its spirit.
Lu Cai swapped the steel bar for a pistol and quickly loaded it. The monster was startled by the subtle sound of the gun being loaded, but she didn't care anymore. She fixed the small hole on the muzzle of the gun, pressed the trigger, and as the smoke rose, the bullet flew away.
The monster turned sideways and the bullet hit the back of its neck, and it roared.
Seeing the situation change, Cheng Mushen didn't care to be on guard and ran towards the six half-human-high stone caves under the platform.
Lu Cai saw the monster turning towards him, and was immediately attracted by Cheng Mushen's actions. After a moment of calm, the monster suddenly became furious, stood up and ran towards Cheng Mushen.
The shrill snoring filled the entire activity area. The little hyena clucked a few times, then backed away with its head between its legs and hid far away.
The monster stretched out its body, its fur scorched black, its skin wrinkled, and tender red tumors growing on its right shoulder and left back, the surface layer like a layer of transparent flesh armor. But from its strong and towering shoulders, and its hind legs that were shorter and thinner than its shoulders, it was clear that it was a spotted hyena.
Lu Cai took out a steel bar, grabbed it with both hands, aimed one end at the edge of the small hole, and stabbed it hard into the stone wall.
The rebar was firmly embedded in the stone wall, and Lu Cai reached up to pull it out. She planted her feet against the stone wall, leaned back, and yanked the rebar out. She then grasped the rebar and thrust it toward the edge of the hole, repeating this motion.
She will definitely be able to chisel through this stone wall! Her hands moved with a bit of madness.
Having only known Lin Yong for three days at most, Lu Cai didn't know what she was so angry about. But she couldn't help but think of how he had been explaining the game world's settings to her this morning.
He gave her weapons and first aid medicine, and he even saved so many innocent tourist NPCs.
He said he wanted to go home.
Who doesn’t want to go home?
He shouldn't have died in this animal trap!
At the other end, there was a tremor. The monster slammed into the stone wall, collapsing two of the six stone caves, blocking the entrance. Cheng Mushen fell to the side, took out a long spear, and launched a fierce attack.
The bullets struck the spotted hyena, but it didn't fall despite the intense fire. Its howls of pain mingled with the sound of the gunfire as the bullets, lodged in its flesh, were propelled outwards by a force, rapidly sprouting tender red tumors from within the bleeding wounds.
Because of the dense wounds, the tumor also wrapped around the spotted hyena, and its size doubled.
Pale yellow pus overflowed from the tumor, quickly forming a transparent shield around the tumor. Some pus also dripped onto the ground, and once it touched the ground, the pale yellow water stains immediately turned black and yellow, like rotten meat, with a foul odor.
The bullet hit the transparent shield, rubbed the shield and crashed into the stone wall on one side.
The monster pounced towards Cheng Mushen, but Lu Cai kicked away the loosened stone wall. She felt a sharp pain from her arm to her wrist.
But she didn't care about these and just ran towards Lin Yong's body.
Lin Yong was no longer able to react. His eyes only gleamed slightly before fading into darkness forever. His pale face slowly turned into a dull grey, then his hair, his collar, and finally his entire body.
From his right shoulder to his chest, there were scratches from sharp claws. His abdomen was also dug open, and his internal organs were torn and tattered.
He didn't know what others were thinking before they died, but at the end of his life, what he thought about was the last meal he would have with his parents.
It happened to be the Lesser Cold that day, and the weather was very cold in the depths of winter. He sat in the small house where he had lived for twenty years. His mother made his favorite wontons with shepherd's purse and meat filling, but he said nothing and slammed the door and left.
There are still about twenty days until New Year's Eve.
In his eyes, he saw the light that belonged to him among the thousands of lights.
Lu Cai ran over, but missed. The gray body became a shadow, and a string of green numbers floated above the shadow. The numbers jumped twice and turned into a line of large gray text - the player has died.
The gray body shattered into ashes, floating in the air in pieces, and finally disappeared without a trace.
Cheng Mushen stuffed a bomb into the monster's mouth. With a deafening explosion, the monster shook twice, and its entire head exploded into a pool of rotten flesh. The tumor on its body also shattered on the ground and turned into rotten meat in an instant.
Cheng Mushen lay in the distance, waited for the sound of the bomb to pass, then climbed up the uneven stone wall and climbed onto the platform.
Only scattered remains of the monster remained. It lay there for a while, then stood up shakily. The tumor grew rapidly again. Without the restraint of the spotted hyena's body outline, it became even more unscrupulous.
Cai Lu tightly gripped the steel bar in his hand, suppressed his anger, and looked at the irregular outline of the monster's tender flesh.
Lin Yong had said his mission was to find his companions and the source of the zoo zombie virus. He and Cheng Mushen found the spotted hyena habitat and discovered the mutated spotted hyena zombie.
According to the game settings, is this tumor monster the side quest boss?
If we kill it, will we be able to find a way out?
Players had no other options except fighting, and as an abnormal NPC, she had no other options either. Besides, she didn't want to go back to being an NPC who knew nothing and lived in a daze all day.
Not only does she want to survive, she also wants to find out the secrets of this world.
Since she has the ability to think and judge, how can she just be a puppet to assist the plot?
Lu Cai stared at the tumor monster. It no longer formed shield armor, but thick yellow mucus oozed out of the tumor.
The tumor monster regained consciousness. The person who had angered it was no longer there, but it could sense a richer and more delicious smell.
The aura fluctuated extremely violently, like a perpetual energy reservoir.
The half-chewed prey had disappeared, but it didn't care. A more tempting meal was already in front of it, so who would care about a plate of appetizers?
There is no other flavor when chewing bones like that.
The tumor monster pounced forward, and seeing the food right in front of her, the girl jumped and dodged to the side.
It missed, growled in anger and shame, and chased after her.
After walking the tumor monster around the field twice, she found that the monster's movements were not agile and its thinking ability was far inferior to that of the three spotted hyenas that attacked her at the iron gate.
But its ability to repair itself and the tendency for the tumor to grow rapidly after injury are really difficult to deal with.
Lu Cai used the momentum to step onto the stone wall. When the wart monster rushed towards her, she turned around and jumped, and the wart monster's body hit the stone wall. She stepped on it, turned around and stabbed it hard at the monster's brain.
No matter how it mutates, it is still a zombie at its core.
If you want to make a zombie lie down, a headshot is the only way.
The tumor monster was furious and shook its head wildly.
Lu Cai knew that he had made the right bet.
The monster ran madly around the playground, rubbing Lu Cai on its back against the stone wall.
Lu Cai steadied himself, grabbed the steel bar, and continued to thrust into the tumor. The tumor beneath his feet twitched slightly, its speed slowly decreasing.
The only sound in the room was the monster's wheezing breath, followed by the sound of splattering meat juices. Lu Cai frowned, lowering his eyes to see strands of tender red fibrous material silently covering the entrance of the tumor from where the steel bar had penetrated.
From a distance, the steel bar still looks the same as before, but when you look closely up close, you can see that a subtle red has spread to the lower end where Lu Cai is holding it.
Her heart suddenly trembled, and she quickly loosened her hand. The tender red fibers had already pierced into her palm.
A piercing pain exploded from her palm, and Lu Cai leaped to the ground. Her feet went numb, and she felt dizzy. A sea of red clung to her eyes, and she shook her head.
I saw a large area of red numbers changing rapidly, and a string of orange numbers mixed in, slowly eroding the data nearby.
She squatted on the ground and tried hard to open her eyes. Finally, the redness dispelled and she could see some vague shadows.
Lu Cai fell to the ground after being hit hard from behind. She turned over and a big mouth that seemed to have been torn out from a tumor pounced on her head.
She bent her knees to support it, placed her right arm on its throat, and scratched the side of its face with her left hand.
It was as if thousands of tiny fibers were piercing her flesh, like conscious living worms, causing her severe pain all over.
Numerous short bursts of orange data squeezed into the red data. The orange and yellow data connected, enveloping the nearby red data. The engulfed red data stopped pulsing, and this self-sufficient digital world fell into chaos.
The tumor oozed a sticky, smelly liquid, completely enveloping Lu Cai. She closed her eyes, feeling the slippery texture of the liquid clinging to her arm. The tumor enveloped her, engulfing her.
She refused to accept it! Why?
Why did she wake up? It was definitely not to die at the hands of this monster who knew nothing!
The whole person was wrapped in the tumor, but his hands were drilling deep into the tumor with the idea of dying together.
She won't die! She doesn't want to die!
The wrapped red data gradually shrank, then suddenly, the nearly shrunken red data began to pulse again. The orange data tightened its grip, but the red pulses pulsed faster and faster, igniting a wave of heat that ignited the orange data.
Lu Cai felt the inside of her right wrist, a burning sensation branded into her pulse, causing her blood to surge and burn.
She filled her limbs with strength and thrust her right hand deep into the tumor.
Huh? In the darkness, the back of her hand touched a cold handle.
He grabbed it without hesitation, and it was a dagger.
Holding the dagger, Lu Cai made up his mind and continued to stab the blade inside.
A mess.
The tumor trembled violently, and Lu Cai heard a low but mournful gurgling sound, as if it was taking its last breath.
Then there was dead silence.
Lu Cai noticed that the tumor on her body had died and stuck to her skin like a puddle of mud.
She pulled out the dagger with all her might, swung the blade, and cut a slit. Finally, she saw the light and rolled sideways out of the tumor. The night breeze blew past, coating her in a sticky, foul-smelling liquid.
He was retching violently and feeling dizzy. His arms were covered with small bleeding cuts, with tender red fibers covering the cuts, like blood-sucking leeches.
Lu Cai lay on the ground weakly. He wanted to raise his hand to brush the fibers on the back of his hand, but he saw that in his right hand he was tightly holding the dagger that Lin Yong used as a mark.
He said his name was on it.
Lu Cai lowered her eyes, and her vision gradually became blurred. She saw the neat regular script "Lin Yong" engraved on the blade of the dagger.
She closed her eyes and fell into chaos. A faint gurgling sound came from her ears, and her sleeve was pulled, as if trying to pull her in one direction.
After lying there for a while, she opened her eyes and saw the dark night sky.
Turning her head, she saw the little hyena biting the cuff of her black short-sleeve shirt and kicking desperately, trying to pull her away, but unfortunately the effect was not very ideal.
She raised her hand and held its little head. It looked up and saw Lu Cai open his eyes, and jumped for joy.
In the dim light, Lu Cai saw that the tender red fibers on her wound had disappeared. She propped herself up and looked around. After defeating the boss, shouldn't he have given her some hints?
She thought of Cheng Mushen and quickly turned her gaze towards the platform. There was no one there. She was not surprised. It seemed that he had found a clue.
Thinking of this, Lu Cai's eyes turned cold. He almost died here, but a spectator took advantage of the situation.
The little hyena grunted twice, signaling Lu Cai to go to the six stone caves that were half a man's height. Two of the stone caves had collapsed, but the little hyena still jumped excitedly.
"Where is the way out?" Lu Cai didn't know why he was talking to a spotted hyena cub, but his eyes were already looking at Shi Xue.
This should be the cave where the hyenas usually rest.
She took a few steps and looked back at the place where Lin Yong disappeared. Suddenly, her eyes stopped. There was a white silk handkerchief lying on the muddy ground.
Lu Cai dragged her still numb legs and slowly moved to the handkerchief. She picked it up and unfolded it to see a topographic map.
It was a map of the zoo's carnivore area, with various routes drawn on it. Although the lines were rough, the paths were clear. The most conspicuous part was an entrance circled in blood and marked with a cross.
The entrance was marked - Spotted Hyena Area.
Lu Cai frowned. She carefully confirmed that she had come from the opposite direction. Following the map's direction, she rotated it and looked up, her eyes locked on a collapsed stone wall.
The intersection was filled?
Did Lin Yong follow this map to enter the spotted hyena activity area?
She saw the edge of the handkerchief tear, silk was pulled out, and a wisp of light green system numbers floated up.
This number looks familiar—
Lu Cai took a deep breath. She had only seen traces of two players' systems. This handkerchief definitely wasn't Lin Yong's...
Cheng Mushen!
She practically gritted her teeth, clenched her hands, and felt a throbbing pain in her wrist.
Lu Cai looked at the dagger and handkerchief, then turned and walked towards the hyena Shixue.
The little hyena jumped to the edge of the rock cave and barked twice at Lu Cai.
She walked closer and saw a layer of sticky liquid residue on the ground, which was not obvious. Was this a clue?
Lu Cai squatted down and was about to get in when the little hyena behind him suddenly clucked twice. The sound was weak, with a mixture of fear and sadness.
She turned sideways and saw that the little hyena outside the cave was not about to come in, but its eyes were full of eagerness.
The girl raised her hand and touched its head, then turned and crawled deeper into the cave. It stopped at the entrance of the cave, not knowing why it stopped, but it felt that this was not a place it could enter.
The girl walked away and never looked back.
......
Lu Cai crawled for a long time. At first, there was still the stench of corpses, but gradually, the smell faded. Even the smell of her mucus disappeared.
She climbed for a while and found that she was no longer in that narrow cave, but it was still dark all around.
Just as she was about to stand up, her feet felt empty and she fell forward onto the cold concrete floor. It was dark all around her.
Lu Cai rubbed his knees and elbows. The bandage on his arm was still there, but the stains and blood on the bandage had disappeared.
She slowly stood up and found herself standing at the gate of the zoo. There were scattered bloodstains on the ground. She was facing the intersection leading to the straight national highway.
She slowly turned around and looked at the dilapidated gate sign. Was she leaving the side story?
This is what it means to find the source of the zoo virus.
So the spotted hyena was the first to be infected with the virus, and it was also the clue pointing to the exit of the side story.
With a clatter, a transparent card fell at her feet. Lu Cai picked it up and saw a few pixelated words on it: Memory Fragments I Crazy Zoo.
She held the transparent card and looked around, but there was no trace of the gray city off-road vehicle.
It was expected. Anyway, she had a white silk handkerchief as a data sample, so she was not afraid of not being able to find Cheng Mushen.
Lu Cai checked his memory card slot and found the phone he'd snatched from the zombie was gone. Perhaps items from the side story weren't allowed out.
But why was the bandage still on her hand? She couldn't figure it out, so she stopped thinking about it.
Without the cell phone and steel bars, there were two more slots for the card slot, and she put the white silk handkerchief and Lin Yong's souvenir dagger in. Looking at the memory fragments in his hand, Lu Cai was a little embarrassed.
Eight card slots are totally not enough. I don’t know if the game system has an operation setting for picking up backpacks.
Finally she took out the small black fountain pen and put it in her pocket.
She stretched her arms and legs, and the pain in her body disappeared. She recalled the burning pulse in her wrist. She raised her hand and touched the bandage, and the bandage wrapped around her right arm quickly loosened, finally forming a neat, clean roll that lay in her palm.
At this time, the backpack reminds you that the card slot is full.
This is actually a prop?
She saw a blood-red empty battery symbol on the inside of her right wrist. When she touched it with her thumb, she could not feel any difference from the skin around it.
The night wind blew by, mixed with a foul smell.
Lu Cai tore off the bandage and was about to wrap it back around her arm, but it seemed as if it understood her thoughts and automatically wrapped itself around her right arm.
Looking at the road ahead, she sighed and started on her journey.
She hoped there was a supermarket on the road. She hadn’t eaten for two days and she didn’t starve to death.
——
[Ding Dong——]
[Memory Fragment I Crazy Zoo, loading...]
[——I recently received an invitation from H City Animal World to check on a sick spotted hyena, and unexpectedly discovered a mutated virus. Remembering Professor Cao's years of research on this topic, I wanted to ask him for advice.]
After much questioning, we learned that five days ago, a stranger had sneaked into the hyenas' habitat through a cave at night. Seeing no one was looking for the missing person, the zoo kept the incident a secret. The cave's exit was in a rock cave where the hyenas rested. If this news got out, the already struggling zoo would be forced to close and reorganize. But human lives were at stake, so how could they keep it a secret...?
[——The breeder bitten by No. 1 has developed white pupils, salivation, and a fever. The teacher has already sent a reply letter, asking me to send him a copy of the virus analysis...]
[Source: Dr. Joe.]
A gray car stopped by the road for a long time. It waited until Cheng Mushen finished reading the memory fragment before starting the car and continuing on its way.
Looking at Zhao Manman with sad eyes in the rearview mirror, he had to admit that Zhao Manman was a beautiful girl. Even though she was an NPC, she was prettier than most girls he had seen in his previous world.
Unfortunately, in the dungeon world, players are the lucky ones favored by God, and NPCs are just tools to assist the plot.
As soon as he appeared, Zhao Manman screamed and asked him why Lin Yong and Lu Cai didn't come back.
Cheng Mushen knew that Zhao Manman would not remember the memory of the three of them disappearing together. Her waking up at this moment meant that all players had exited the side story.
He told Zhao Manman that Lin Yong and Lu Cai were both dead, and then drove away from H City Animal World.
He didn't think about whether Lu Cai would come out, because every time he thought about it, he was filled with uneasiness.
He had seen it all when Lu Cai attacked the monster. A faint red light shone around her, just like when she closed her eyes in meditation on the observation deck. A ball of bright red light enveloped her, like a solid fortress, like an invincible weapon.
Cheng Mushen gripped the steering wheel tightly. Why could an NPC awaken superpowers?
For players, superpowers are rare and precious abilities. They aren't mere items that can be purchased by spending points; they are untouchable, superpowers that can elevate a person to a powerful position.
The road ahead was dark, with only the front searchlight breaking through the darkness.
"There are two people there--" Ever since Zhao Manman learned that Lin Yong and Lu Cai were dead, she fell into silence.
In her memory, three people got out of the car to check, and then only Cheng Mushen came back.
In this disaster-ridden world, death is inevitable, but she suddenly felt very sad, with a stuffy feeling in her chest. Then she looked up and saw two dark figures standing by the road.
They seemed to be waving, ready to take a ride. Cheng Mushen drove past quickly——
"Fuck - the car drives so smoothly, it's definitely not a zombie." The person who spoke was a tall young man with a buzz cut, a muscular body, and a black thorny rose tattooed on his left arm.
The girl in leather jacket beside him smiled and said, "I understand. Who would want to stop and pick up people in this damn place?"
"Qin Yu, let's take that car away—" The young man stared at the gray car body that had disappeared, with some envy in his eyes.
Qin Yu looked up at his appearance and said, "You can try. If you meet a senior and are beaten by his superpowers, I can't save you—" She pretended to touch her forehead, "My telekinesis hasn't recovered yet—"
The young man slumped his shoulders. "Let's go. The nearest town is still a few kilometers away. Hopefully, once we get there, we can find a working car."
"It would be best to use a sealed truck so that we can load a large truck of food supplies." Qin Yu also sighed. He really couldn't afford to support psychic abilities.
The young man swallowed and said, "Don't talk, I forgot I haven't eaten for three days."
"Honestly, I would rather have a body of steel, the kind that can knock anyone down with one punch and still leave the opponent unable to hurt me. I would be invincible and could dominate the dungeon world." Qin Yu lamented repeatedly.
"Who are you trying to be so rude to?" the young man said angrily. "He's awakened a top-level psychic ability. Anyone else would wake up laughing."
"This 'top-quality' stuff is just useless. It smells good but is hard to eat. After you finish eating it, you still don't get anything—" Qin Yu rubbed his stomach and followed the young man, walking forward with a look of despair.
Two figures, one tall and one short, were moving on the dark national highway. Their swaying postures could be mistaken for wandering zombies from a distance.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
