The sky was covered with dark clouds, and it was dark and gloomy.
The city's industrial park is lined with factories. The road stretches endlessly as far as the eye can see, dusty and dusty. A sunken groove in the black asphalt reveals the traces of a heavy truck.
There were a few unsteady birds flying in the sky, circling and finally landing on the tilted electric pole.
A red van drove into a secondary road. Further ahead was the warehouse area of the logistics company. A van carrying packages was parked across the middle of the secondary road, blocking the way.
The red truck stopped, the passenger door opened, and a girl with a high ponytail and a long-sleeved leather jacket and short leather pants jumped out. She slammed the door shut and walked away, looking at the car blocking the road.
The birds on the telephone pole suddenly rushed towards the girl, falling straight down from the sky like a few arrows shot from a bow.
Snap——
A crisp crash sounded half a meter above the girl's head.
Several flying birds seemed to have hit the glass and turned into pieces of meat.
She opened the door of the truck blocking the road and instinctively ducked back when she heard a roar. The driver, who was making a lot of noise but not much action, was pinned to his seat by the steering wheel and seatbelt.
The girl closed the car door and walked back to the red truck. She jumped into the passenger seat and said to the big man driving, "There are zombies in the car ahead. Either take a detour or kill the zombies and move the car—"
"It's so funny. Points are delivered right to my door, who would be happy to give way?" The big guy was about to turn off the engine, and the rose tattoo on his arm was particularly eye-catching.
The girl rubbed her brows: "Zhao Yan, calm down. If we rush over like this and trigger another side story, we really can't handle it-" Who would have thought that they fell out of the side story seven days ago, but went to the mall to find a supermarket and spent another four days in another side story.
As if in response, a scream was heard from the factory warehouse not far away, followed by a burst of gunfire that resounded throughout the factory area.
Zhao Yan glanced at the girl and said, "From the noise, it seems like it's a player. Can't we get through?" At this time, even if you go over and save someone, you will easily be hated by other players, because in the eyes of the players, this is called stealing points.
Qin Yu listened for a while and the gunshots became more and more intense.
"Let's go down and take a look. If they can handle it, we'll leave." She opened the car door. "If they can't, we'll do a good deed that day." As for what the other party thinks, it has nothing to do with her.
After crossing the wall and several warehouse bungalows, the iron shutter door of a warehouse was pried open, and a large number of zombies rushed into the warehouse, screaming incessantly. The five armed people were suppressed by the zombie group and could barely protect themselves.
"Brother Jia! Let's retreat—" someone shouted, "We can't save these NPCs anymore. It's not worth wasting a resurrection card for such a small amount of points!"
The short, sturdy man on the other side thought for a moment and said, "Retreat—"
As soon as he finished speaking, a slender white hand grabbed his shoulder from behind.
"Are you going to abandon these unarmed, ordinary people?" The girl's voice was clear and reminiscent of the thud of ice colliding on a lake in early winter as the thin ice breaks apart. It was crisp and pleasant, yet chilling.
Brother Jia was holding a long spear when someone grabbed him. He was startled and when he turned around, he saw that it was a girl from the group of NPCs they were with.
Chin-length, straight black hair, a loose black T-shirt with a small collar, worn, baggy camouflage overalls, and a pair of stained black sneakers. When she turned around, she could still see the big white letters "BT" on the back of her T-shirt.
The most eye-catching thing about her was her right arm, wrapped in white bandages from palm to shoulder, which stood out against her black sleeves. If they hadn't tested her and found her to be infection-free, they wouldn't have dared take her with them just based on the bandages.
Brother Jia put away his fright and said angrily, "Stay away from me, I'm going to collapse, believe it or not!"
The girl glanced at him and said nothing more.
Brother Jia snorted coldly and was about to lead a few teammates out of the warehouse when he heard a burst of gunfire that did not belong to them.
At this time, his first thought was that someone was coming to steal points again!
When he turned around, he saw the short-haired girl pull out a pistol from somewhere and shoot at a nearby zombie. Before the zombie fell to the ground, she turned to the other side. Her movements were clean and neat, and she was obviously an old hand.
"Fuck, she's holding a novice player item—" a tall, thin man cursed. "A player pretending to be an NPC? How did she do that?"
"A novice's tool can kill one zombie with one shot? An upgraded one——" Another person shot and blew up a zombie.
Jia Ge also continued to defend himself: "She is definitely not a player. This must be a prop given to her by a player."
"But she has a system!" the tall and thin man shouted, "Otherwise, how could we not have noticed she was carrying a gun for all these days?"
Lu Cai also heard the conversation between the two people and realized that the gun was a beginner's prop, or an upgraded beginner's prop. When she got the gun, she shot one zombie after another. She thought that zombies could be killed with a single shot to the head, but it turned out that it was related to the power of the weapon.
She had left the "Crazy Zoo" side storyline a week ago, searching for traces of Cheng Mushen's system along the way, even finding time to change a T-shirt at a clothing store in the mall. Until two days ago, she ran into this group of people in a roadside store in a small town.
They were going to escort the NPCs to the nearest refuge camp in City C, and Lu Cai followed them since they were going the same way.
Players can recognize each other, and it would be too conspicuous for her to kill all the way by herself, so she simply let them escort her.
Unfortunately, these guys are too weak. They can't stand up to the small waves of zombies and want to abandon the NPCs and run away first. Well, in their eyes, NPCs are just points. If you lose points, you can earn them again, but if you lose your life, there is nothing to talk about.
Lu Cai cleared the way and walked steadily to the rolling door. She took the opportunity to pull the power switch of the rolling door, and the rolling door swung up and opened.
"What are you doing!" Brother Jia was anxious. This behavior was simply like opening a warehouse and releasing grain.
But he was answered by a burst of gunfire.
The girl reacted quickly and moved quickly, almost forming a battle line by herself.
"Aren't you leaving?" Cai Lu said coldly as he looked at the five people whose movements had obviously slowed down.
Jia Ge was the leader and the first one to understand what she meant: "Protect them out—"
He knew that the girl was not saving them.
Two people joined the cleanup, while the other three went to organize the NPCs to leave. They planned to find a truck that could transport the NPCs for a long time.
"Fuck! What the hell is this thing!" The tall and thin man had just hit a zombie's left knee. The zombie's leg was broken, and a tender red tumor grew from the broken part, holding him to the ground.
Lu Cai also saw it and lowered his eyes slightly.
The mutant spotted hyenas in "Crazy Zoo" are in this state. She also encountered two of them when she first left the side story. Just like human mutation, zombies are also constantly evolving.
When she realized that not only had her physical strength increased, she also discovered that an inexplicable power had awakened in her body.
When she enters combat mode, her arm strength increases, and her skin seems to trigger some unknown defense system. She looks just like an ordinary person, but her skin is much tougher than normal. At least, even the scratches of zombies' nails won't leave any marks on her body.
This is all related to the battery symbol on her right wrist.
Therefore, the evolution of zombies is not random. Originally a boss in a side story, the tumor monster was also a powerful monster, but now it keeps appearing in the main world.
She suddenly realized that this was a strange balance rule. The game system would never allow the human camp to be much stronger than the zombie camp.
"Xiao Jiang, be careful!" Brother Jia yelled.
The zombies pounced on the young man closest to them, who was protecting the NPC. He was the youngest in the group, barely eighteen years old, barely entering his third year of high school. As a result, the others in the group usually looked after him. After all, who doesn't have a high school-aged brother or sister?
Seeing that the mutant zombie was about to pounce, several people nearby were dragged down by the zombie in front of them and had no time to move forward.
A thin black figure ran through the gaps between the zombies.
Several players were shocked by Lu Cai's amazing movement when they saw her bend her arms, jump slightly, and hit the mutant zombie's temple with her elbow.
The mutant zombie was suddenly knocked down and pressed down the zombie next to it. Lu Cai raised his gun and killed the zombie that was pressed down, then grabbed the mutant zombie's short hair on the back of its head and dragged it to the outside.
Judging from the suit it wore, it must have been a respectable office manager. Unfortunately, its white shirt had been stained dark red and black with blood, its tie was crooked, and its sole was a bloody mess, even its leather shoe had fallen off.
Brother Jia watched from the side, feeling a throbbing pain in the back of his head. This girl was too fierce. She just grabbed the zombie and calmly walked around the figure that was rushing towards her. In the middle of the fight, the mutant zombie also put up a strong resistance. She grabbed the hair and knocked it to the ground twice, probably knocking it unconscious.
Arriving at the relatively empty wall, Lu Cai tossed it aside. The zombie finally regained consciousness, roaring and trying to get up. She stuffed the pistol into her trouser pocket, took out Lin Yong's dagger, and stepped on its back, using its body to press down on its left hand. She then stepped on its flailing right arm, crouched down, gripped the dagger with both hands, and stabbed it hard in the head.
Sarcoma mutants would constantly regenerate and grow, rejecting any foreign objects that penetrated their flesh during this process. Simply insert a weapon into their brains and hold them down hard to prevent them from regenerating and replenishing their cells. Within five minutes, they would be completely dead.
But these few minutes were also torment, with red tender flesh constantly oozing out from the wound in his brain. The tender flesh wrapped around the dagger and continued to grow upwards, quickly wrapping around Lu Cai's hand holding the dagger.
She released her right hand and pulled out her pistol. With her back against the wall, she could observe the zombies coming from three sides.
The mutant zombies under her command struggled violently, but were unable to break free as she stepped on them. She took out her gun and shot the approaching zombies, creating a safe zone.
The tender flesh covering her left arm was sticky and cold, rising and falling slightly against her skin as if breathing.
If it weren't for the mutated skin, she wouldn't have dared to touch the tender flesh. The pain she'd felt the last time she'd killed the mutated spotted hyena had left a deep impression on her mind, and she could only wait for the next, more terrifying memory to replace it.
The zombies nearby began to gather towards her. The dagger held tightly in her left hand vibrated violently, and mucus began to overflow from its skin. Tender flesh broke through the zombies' skin and directly covered Lu Cai's feet.
The tumor grew until it reached her ankle, then it quickly became necrotic and her struggling movements gradually subsided.
After a brief stalemate, and confirming it was dead, Lu Cai pulled out his dagger and put it in his backpack. The backpack had a nice advantage: it automatically reset itself, and even stains could be removed with a single click.
After getting rid of the mutants, the other zombies were no big deal, and the few of them quickly wiped out the remaining zombies.
After cleaning up, those players didn't come up to talk to her, but Xiao Jiang came over.
"Thank you for just now..." He had fair skin, clear eyes, and a student-like look between his eyebrows. He was a little embarrassed at the moment. "My name is Jiang Yan, thank you for just now..."
Lu Cai looked up and replied politely, "It's okay."
"You're awesome." Jiang Yan's face was full of admiration, and it didn't look like he was trying to get close to her.
"You've fought enough, so you can do it too." Lu Cai was unfamiliar with him and had no intention of continuing the small talk. "Tell your boss I won't be following you from now on."
She was worried that if she continued to follow them, she would attract more troublesome mutant zombies, and... She looked at the faint light green digital traces in the air. There were two strange players nearby. Their system traces were different from the player systems she had seen so far. She wanted to meet those two people.
"You're not going with us?" Jiang Yan was a little surprised.
Judge Lu saw his sincerity, glanced at the other four players, and smiled: "I have other things to do."
As a player, you would definitely feel uneasy if you have an NPC who has great abilities but pretends to be an ordinary person following you.
Seeing that she was not joking, Jiang Yan said, "Wait a minute." He ran to Jia Ge's side, and the two exchanged a few words before Jia Ge came over.
"Miss Lu, are you ready to leave?" Brother Jia changed his rude attitude and became somewhat polite.
Lu Cai nodded and said, "Thank you for your care along the way. I have something else to do, so we'll go our separate ways."
The tall and thin man also came over: "Brother Jia, this NPC is really weird, it has props and can fight monsters--" He said this without avoiding the question, and his eyes never left her.
Lu Cai knew this was a test, so he pretended not to know. If people knew he was a bug, who knew what kind of trouble he would get into.
Seeing that she looked normal, Jia Ge felt relieved: "She might be some special NPC, perhaps related to the main storyline."
"Can we let her go?" The tall and thin man was a little anxious.
Brother Jia sneered: "If she is programmed to leave now, do you think you can stop her?"
He was silent.
Brother Jia turned to Lu Cai and smiled. "Miss Lu is quite skilled, but we were blind to her. Since Miss Lu has something to do, please help yourself."
Lu Cai nodded, and without further ado, he walked away with a swagger.
——
Qin Yu opened the car door and got in. At the other end, Zhao Yan also got in the driver's seat.
"I was wondering why that NPC looked so familiar!" He raised his voice.
Qin Yu turned his head and waited for him to continue.
Zhao Yan recalled: "When I first fell into the dungeon! That supermarket——"
Qin Yu also seemed to have some impression: "That cashier."
Zhao Yan slapped his thigh: "That's her!"
"It hasn't been long since she became so strong." Qin Yu recalled the first time he met the girl. She was indeed a timid and inconspicuous ordinary cashier.
But today, outside the factory warehouse, that thin girl in black clothes and short hair acted ruthlessly and quickly.
"The world is invaded by zombies, you have to allow them to grow—" Zhao Yan didn't care and prepared to drive the car.
Qin Yu, however, was worried: "In half a month, she went from a weak little sister to a strong big sister. That's called growth. But from Lin Daiyu to Lu Zhishen, that's called metamorphosis." After thinking for a moment, she added, "The biological term is 'metamorphosis'."
Zhao Yan laughed: "What do you want to say? She is a superman? If you ask me, there are also Lin Daiyu who uprooted the weeping willow tree. Why bother with stereotypes——"
Bang, bang, bang—
The two paused and looked at each other warily.
Then, there was another knock on the door, coming from the passenger door.
Qin Yu tilted his head to look out of the car, and a pale, sickly face appeared before him. The girl outside the window waved her tightly bandaged hand, gesturing for them to roll down the window and chat.
"Fuck! How did she get here?" Zhao Yan turned sideways and saw the girl outside the car.
Qin Yu frowned slightly. The two of them had never shown their faces from beginning to end, but this cashier actually caught up with their truck.
After thinking for a while, Qin Yu rolled down the car window.
"Hello." She poked her head towards the window.
Lu Cai smiled: "I've seen you before. You wanted to save us then, right?"
Qin Yu frowned and pretended not to remember.
Cai Lu raised his neck and said, "That gentleman pointed a gun at my head last time." She was also quite surprised that it was a player she knew. She still remembered that before the zombies attacked, she mistook them for robbers.
Zhao Yan's performance was most like that of a thug and a villain. Now that there was no need for a fight, he felt somewhat awkward facing a girl whom he was not very familiar with and who was younger than him.
Qin Yu's brows relaxed, as if he remembered something: "Oh, is there something wrong?"
Lu Cai smiled amiably, "There are zombies everywhere. I'm a little scared to be alone. Can you give me a ride?"
Thinking about how this girl had just crushed the mutant's forehead to the ground, the zombie must have been quite frightened. Qin Yu was speechless, but she couldn't show it. After all, she had just pretended not to know her...
"Where do you want to go?" Qin Yu did not open the door.
Lu Cai breathed a sigh of relief, as if Qin Yu had already agreed to take her on a trip. "My friend and I got separated. They were planning to go to the refugee camp in City C, but they didn't know where to go—" Then he suddenly remembered something. "This gentleman said he would take me to the refugee camp. Do you know how to get to City C?"
Qin Yu watched the girl ponder. Actually, it wasn't impossible to bring her along. She could fight. Although her purpose was unknown, this kind of NPC definitely had a hidden storyline. Perhaps they were triggering the main storyline. As long as they weren't leading her to a side quest, it would be fine.
Qin Yu was about to open the car door when a zombie jumped out from the bushes. She concentrated on trying to block the zombie, but saw Lu Cai turn around and kick it in the face, causing the zombie to fall to the ground.
"Shooting will attract other zombies—" Lu Cai raised his eyes and saw that Qin Yu had a long gun in his hand, so he kindly reminded him.
Click——
The door opened.
"Get in the car." Qin Yu put away his gun. The zombies on the ground were struggling to get up.
The truck had three seats, and Qin Yu moved inside. Lu Cai pulled the door open and climbed onto the seat. After slamming the door shut, she said to the two men, "My name is Lu Cai. Thank you—"
Fortunately, this is the warehouse area, the road is wide enough, and the truck can turn around quickly. The red truck drove out of the auxiliary road and drove along the straight road towards the nearest city C.
"My name is Qin Yu, and he is Zhao Yan." Qin Yu pointed at Zhao Yan who was driving, then looked up at Lu Cai, "You got separated from your friend?" She didn't believe what Lu Cai said.
"Yes, we escaped from H City a week ago. We are a man and a woman, two college students, driving a gray city SUV."
"A gray city off-road vehicle?" Zhao Yan responded in surprise. "A week ago?"
Lu Cai shifted his gaze to him. It seemed that they had met Cheng Mushen and Zhao Manman?
"That day on the national highway, no one paid attention to our car--" Zhao Yan reminded Qin Yu.
Qin Yu frowned and thought for a while before he remembered. He looked at Zhao Yan with suspicion: "Why do you always remember these weird things——"
"You won't care, but don't say it's something weird—" Zhao Yan retorted sternly. He turned to Lu Cai and asked, "How did you get separated?"
"We--" Before Lu Cai could finish his words, the car body shook violently and she hurriedly grabbed the handrail at the top of the window.
"Oh shit!" Zhao Yan steadied the steering wheel. The car shook twice and then calmed down. Outside the window was a clear view of the road.
Qin Yu held his breath, and the air seemed to be still.
Lu Cai felt an invisible, oppressive force enveloping her, and even breathing became a terrifying thing.
Qin Yu is a person with super powers.
Lu Cai watched the window warily while keeping an eye on the two players beside him. Their stats were identical. Qin Yu was a psychic power awakener, so what was Zhao Yan's ability?
"Under the car!" Qin Yu suddenly shouted.
But it was too late. The car swayed, the road sank, and the car rolled over, the world spinning.
Lu Cai clenched his fists, and beneath the bandages, the battery symbol lit up again. She looked at the other two people, and the words above their heads made Lu Cai's head throb.
Downloading the side story...
There was another round of turbulence and rolling, and the car window glass was shattered by rocks. In order to avoid being thrown out, she held on to the handle tightly, and Qin Yu beside her suddenly fell on her.
"Fuck..." Lu Cai hurriedly used his free hands to hug her, his voice trembling.
The handle on my hand suddenly fell off -
Was this a forced plot twist?! When the car window rolled down, Qin Yu, pressing Lu Cai, fell directly out of the shattered window.
Lu Cai only felt a tightness at the back of her head and her arms hitting the rocks. She was still thinking that she was not afraid of falling. If this big car fell down together, it would explode!
There was a violent collision on the back of her head, and she fell to the ground. The battery symbol on her wrist went out with a crackling sound, and Qin Yu fell right on Lu Cai.
Then a red car body came crashing down from the darkness.
Lu Cai rolled over, bracing herself against the rock wall with one hand. The battery symbol trembled briefly before lighting up again. Heavy pressure crashed down on her back, and she heard the rock beneath her palm shatter.
Sparks flew from the car body that touched the ground, and Lu Cai almost instinctively sensed the heat that was carried along with it.
She closed her eyes. It was over. It really exploded.
The author has something to say:
Qin Yu + Zhao Yan = Side Story
Arbitrator Lu: QAQ I shouldn’t be here—
"Lu Tailor Style Human-Shaped Meat Pad" has been achieved!
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