What's it like to feel brave one moment and stupid the next?
Lu Cai, who was hung on the side of the building, had experienced this.
The zombies on the rooftop were roaring, and helicopters were whistling overhead. The air currents were so strong that she didn't dare to let go and slide down. Because of the loud noise, a group of hungry zombies had gathered downstairs.
There was a burst of gunfire, and she felt a flash of fire overhead. Soon, the gunfire died down, and so did the roaring. The sound of the plane was still overhead, but the fuselage was gradually moving toward the rooftop.
The air currents had died down a bit, and Lu Cai hesitated. The people in the helicopter didn't attack her, which was a good sign.
Feeling Nian Nian trembling in her arms, she sighed and climbed back up by grabbing the water hose.
Climbing to the edge of the railing, a hand stretched out from above. Lu Cai looked over and saw the man wearing a camouflage uniform, a protective helmet, and all the equipment wrapped around him, revealing a tough, angular face.
Since he was unfamiliar with the man, Lu Cai didn't return his hand and simply climbed up the handrail, holding the hose. The man didn't feel embarrassed when he withdrew his hand, his expression calm.
"Year after year!"
Lu Cai climbed over the guardrail and a young man in military uniform came over from the side. She felt Nian Nian in her arms startled for a moment, and then burst into tears.
"Uncle——" the child started crying and spoke incoherently.
The young man had a handsome face and dark skin. He stepped forward to hug Nian Nian. Unfortunately, Nian Nian's arms were tightly wrapped around Lu Cai, so he didn't force her to hug him. Instead, he gently stroked the little girl's head.
Lu Cai naturally believed the other party's identity, because after hearing his voice, Nian Nian immediately relaxed and no longer looked like she was trying to be obedient and not be afraid.
"Okay, Nian Nian, your uncle is here, come home with him—" Lu Cai slowly let go of the little person in his arms, as if he was going to hand her to the young man.
Niannian grabbed Lu Cai's clothes and sniffed: "Sister——"
"I'm really sorry, you're injured, and we can't take you away from the disaster area." The tough guy who was about to pull her said, and then gestured to Nian Nian's uncle, "Take Nian Nian to the cabin for inspection."
Lu Cai looked at her bandaged right arm and expressed his understanding. They didn't blow her head off when they saw her wrapped in bandages, probably because they saw Nian Nian.
Uncle Nian Nian could only hold Nian Nian in his arms and coax her softly, but the little girl still clung to Lu Cai's sleeve tightly.
Lu Cai touched her forehead helplessly: "How can you cry so easily, Little Bumblebee? If you want to fight alongside Big Bumblebee, you must learn to face difficulties alone..."
Her tone was very calm, not at all like she was coaxing a child, but the word she used sounded very childish.
Niannian seemed to understand, but finally she slowly let go: "Sister——"
"Next time we meet, remember to call me 'Aunt Bumblebee'—" Lu Cai said very seriously.
Bumblebee probably couldn't believe that not only his age was tampered with, but even his gender was changed.
Nian Nian was carried away, and Lu Cai said to the tough guy: "There are still many tourists over there, can you take them away?"
The tough guy looked at Lu Cai, and only then did she realize that the tall soldier in front of her was good-looking, with regular and tough features, and a leader's rationality and calmness between his brows. He was also younger than she had expected from a quick glance just now, about twenty-eight or twenty-nine years old.
But Lu Cai's mind was focused on his equipment. I was really...envious...
Look at her, with tattered clothes and a pistol, and the rest is done by hand-to-hand combat and running wildly...
"Can you bring them here?" the tough-faced man asked her.
Lu Cai looked at him as if he had heard a joke.
"We can't stay here for long—" Uncle Nian Nian came down again. He said to the tough guy, then turned to Lu Cai, "Thank you for saving Nian Nian. From what Nian Nian described, my sister—" He didn't say anything else and paused, "I'm really sorry that I can't take you away."
Lu Cai didn't care. Even if she had to leave, she could only follow Lin Yong.
"What should we do with those tourists?" she asked with a tough face.
The other person looked at her and finally waved to Uncle Nian Nian. The two said something, and Uncle Nian Nian ran into the helicopter. After a while, he ran towards them again. He was holding a ring device in his hand, which was connected to a single ear wire and a small machine.
"This has a positioning system and can contact us at the same time," the tough-looking man explained. "Once we find a suitable landing spot, we'll arrange for the tourists to evacuate."
Lu Cai took the thing. She knew it was a throat microphone. She had seen it in movies. It was said to detect the throat vocal system to transmit voice and could block noise in very noisy environments.
The product was good, but in her opinion, the ring looked like a pet leash...
She put it on obediently, then made an OK gesture and ignored them. Amid the loud noise and airflow of the helicopter, she jumped onto the handrail again and slowly climbed down holding the water hose.
The loud noise slowly faded away. She looked up and saw the helicopter flying away from the rooftop, while the roar downstairs became more and more obvious.
Lu Cai withdrew his gaze and continued to descend.
The closer it got to the ground, the more the hose began to sway, because zombies were swarming underneath, some of them directly grabbing the hose and tearing it apart.
Still one floor above the ground, she glanced down and saw the corridor right before her. She shook it gently, then let go as the hose swung out slightly.
With a passionate roar, as her body curved, the swarm of corpses pounced under the corridor.
Lu Cai stepped on a horizontal pole, leaned forward, and supported the horizontal pole in front of him with his left hand. Through the gaps in the vines, he saw a face with no chin.
The zombies stepped on their companions' bodies, grabbed the vines in their hands, and kept pushing upwards. When they saw Lu Cai's face, they roared and stretched out their arms through the gap to grab her.
Lu Cai dodged, quickly stood up and jumped over, jumping without stopping.
In front, a zombie was standing precariously on a horizontal pillar. It took a step with its body tilted, and its foot missed the target and got stuck in the gap.
She raised her gun and shot. The zombie leaned back and fell in half. Her spine felt the pain for it.
A few more zombies climbed onto the roof of the corridor. Lu Cai shot and ran wildly at the same time. As he passed by their corpses, he felt that many more zombies were climbing up behind him.
Just as I was about to run to the end of the corridor, a voice came from the headphones.
"Hello, Bumblebee, we have found the docking point. There is a high mountain viewing platform in the southeast direction. In two hours, you will lead the tourists there--" The voice sounded like a tough guy.
She leaped across the last gap. "Where is southeast?"
The other party was silent for a moment. "You were running from northeast to east. The observation deck is on your left."
Cai Lu jumped onto the shop's awning, squeezed into the alley, stepped on the messy railings and jumped onto the narrow road, and soon disappeared into the complex of buildings.
——
The quiet darkness always amplifies fear infinitely.
Lin Yong leaned against the cabinet, listening to his own breathing and the roars coming from outside.
Many of the tourists were sobbing quietly. At first it was the children, but later even the adults joined in, and the crying became louder and louder.
Lin Yong closed his eyes, feeling a little tired.
Bang--
There was a loud bang, a sound familiar to everyone; it was zombies banging against the iron gate.
The crying stopped instantly, except for one child who couldn't hold it back and hiccupped as he stopped crying.
Lin Yong gripped his submachine gun tightly, fully alert.
There was another burst of collisions, probably several of them colliding at the same time, and they were discovered -
Just like Lu Cai said, if this place is breached, there will be no way to retreat. He squatted against the cabinet and could only hold on!
A drop of sweat slid down his forehead, and he turned to face the tourists inside. There were eighteen people in total, including the children. Excluding the four children, he remembered there were six men.
"Two people come up and hold up the cabinet!" Lin Yong lowered his voice.
Three people came out hesitantly from the crowd: two young men and a tall girl.
The collision became more and more violent. The thin man at the edge was knocked aside. A low cabinet moved, and the cabinet on it tilted and became obviously loose.
The young man at the side quickly used his body to prop up the two cabinets. There was another violent collision, and the outermost cabinet fell down at an angle. A ray of light was projected into the room, followed by a roar, and the iron fence was shaken and made a loud noise.
The crowd began to exclaim and burst into uncontrollable crying.
Lin Yong called the fallen man to come over to him and lean against the cabinet, ready to shoot as many people as he could with his gun.
At this moment, a burst of gunfire rang out, and the sound of hitting the iron gate became smaller, but the zombies seemed to be enraged and ran away roaring.
Lin Yong walked to the crack in the light and peered out. The sun was bright, the air was hot, and the dust from the ruins stood out against the sun. The ground was covered in blood, and the corpses lying scattered about were already emitting a foul stench.
With a clang, a zombie lunged towards the iron gate. Lin Yong fired rapidly, and at the same time, bullets came from the other direction, hitting the zombie's head.
After a while, there was the sound of someone stepping on the ground, and Lu Cai poked his head out from the side: "Come out, I'll take you to a safe place."
Lin Yong was so happy that he grinned from ear to ear. Seeing the black ring around her neck, he asked again, "Did you meet someone from the military?"
He didn't recognize it as a pet ring, and Lu Cai was relieved: "Yes, I told them about this group of tourists. They planned to pick someone up at the observation deck-"
Lin Yong moved a cabinet, leaving a passage large enough for one person to pass through, then opened the iron gate and walked out of the house.
"How many people are there in there?" Cai Lu asked him. When the tough-looking guy had asked her earlier, she had given an estimate based on the size of the delivery point she'd seen, saying there were 20 people.
Lin Yong stepped aside to make way for the people inside: "There are 18 people in total, including 4 children."
Seeing them come out, Lin Yong said to them: "We have contacted the army, and someone will come to pick you up later, but before that, we have to get to the observation deck first."
When they heard that the army was coming to pick them up, their tired faces flashed with joy, but when they heard that they had to hurry on, they became visibly depressed again.
At this time, a man who was less than 40 years old stood up. He was wearing a neat sports suit, his figure was in good shape, and he had a pair of metal glasses on his face.
The man said, "How do we know you are not lying?"
Lin Yong frowned. He didn't like this man with glasses. He always looked superior. He was obviously strong, but he would hide behind others when something happened.
"What would I gain by lying to you?" Lin Yong has always had a good temper. Although his tone was a little cold at the moment, he did not angrily confront anyone.
"Who can know what you're up to—" the man with glasses said sarcastically, "Didn't the three guys who went out with you before never come back?"
After hearing this, Lu Cai looked over and saw evasiveness and fear in the eyes of many tourists.
Lin Yong was also a little angry: "If you don't want to go with us, we won't force you. You can stay here or go on your own. It's up to you—"
The man with glasses snorted coldly, "Of course we want to leave on our own. How can we leave with our bare hands?" He glanced at Lu Cai and said, "You two have two guns. We will leave separately. Give us one gun."
Lin Yong became furious and opened his mouth to retort, but a figure passed by him.
Cai Lu kicked him on the knee. The man with glasses screamed and tilted his body. He felt the hair on the back of his head being pulled. Then his eyes flashed and his whole face was pressed against the rough wall, with the back of his scalp being pulled tightly.
"Brain damage is a disease, and it can easily harm your body." The girl said this with a smile, but it sent a chill down your spine. "It seems society hasn't cured your disease yet. Do you want to experience the harsh beatings of society?"
The glasses-wearing man's frames were already askew, and he was clearly trembling with fear, yet he still shouted in a timid voice, "I told you you're no good!" Then he yelled at the tourists, "Don't follow them! They're scammers. They might be human traffickers selling organs—"
Lu Cai was amused. Selling organs? To whom? To zombies? They seemed to really like offal.
"You can leave if you want, but if you want to cause trouble, get out of here as soon as possible!" Cai Lu clenched his hands, pulled the man with glasses hard amid his screams, and threw him to the side, right next to a zombie with a headshot and brains splattered everywhere.
On the other side of the zoo, high in the sky, in a helicopter that was scanning for other living people, five well-equipped soldiers were silent.
In front of them was a voice communication device, broadcasting every word Lu Cai said in real time. Since they couldn't hear what others were saying, the girl's words seemed full of arrogance.
After a long time, Uncle Nian Nian looked at the tough guy's face on the side and said, "Brother Sanshui, is this Lu Cai a gang member?"
Look at her gun, look at her skills, look at her gangster temperament!
Tough Guy didn't answer, continuing to keep an eye on the situation outside. Sitting in the corner, Niannian pouted, thinking, "Sister must have run into some bad guys!!!"
——
The journey to the observation deck is neither long nor short.
Lin Yong led the way for the tourists, and Lu Cai climbed to a nearby high place. She was good at climbing and jumping, so she could keep an eye on the movements around her.
When they encountered one or two waves of zombies on the road, if the number of zombies was small, Lin Yong and Lu Cai would kill them on the spot. When the number of zombies was large, Lu Cai would open fire to lure them away, and Lu Cai would escort the tourists to move.
The man with glasses finally followed them and didn't say anything more on the way.
When the observation deck was right in front of us, a problem arose.
The entire zoo was built along the terrain of the hill. The observation deck is located at the top of the hill, which can be said to be facing the cliff. It is a very spacious suspended stand. There is a single-story bungalow at the entrance as a reception and rest area.
This place looks easy to defend but difficult to attack.
Just trying to rush through the large, uncovered space outside the iron gate of the rest area... was too dangerous.
But they all walked here, and there was only half an hour left before the military came to pick them up. If they didn't want to enter the observation deck, they could only lie down where they were, but they had to ensure that this open grassland would not be discovered by zombies within half an hour.
Lu Cai sighed inwardly and could only force his way in.
Lin Yong glanced at the clearing and gestured. He planned to follow the two-meter-high railing along the cliff, so there was no need to worry about falling. That route, he could just lean back against the railing, defend the other side, and wait for the team to move to the viewing platform. At the end, he could follow the railing to the rest area.
The rest house is located on a higher ground and has no windows. As long as you guard the iron door, you will be safe inside.
Lu Cai couldn't think of a better way. If she rushed over alone, it wouldn't be scary, but if she brought a group of tourists with her...
She made a gesture - I'll be the last one.
Lin Yong nodded.
They took a short break, and just as the zombie population dwindled, Lin Yong gestured, and a group of them rushed towards the cliff railing. As soon as they left the gently sloping grass and rushed into the open space, the zombies twisted their necks and rushed towards them.
Lu Cai took the lead in attacking, killing three zombies in a row, but the team was moving forward at a snail's pace.
She glanced forward and nearly rolled her eyes. The man with glasses hid behind Lin Yong, tugging at his clothes and gesturing and yelling. Lin Yong's shots were misfired by him.
Seeing two zombies rushing towards Lin Yong, Lu Cai dealt with the two zombies in front of him, quickly turned the gun around, and shot one of the two zombies in front of the team in the head. Lin Yong also blew up the other zombie in time.
Lu Cai cast a cold glance at the still-screaming man with glasses and fired a shot at the iron railing above his head. The bullet struck the railing, sparks streaking across the painted surface and falling over the cliff.
The crowd exclaimed, and the man with glasses looked in the direction Lu Cai was heading, but Lu Cai had averted his gaze, concentrating on dealing with the zombies charging around him. He swallowed, feeling resentful but not daring to cause any more trouble.
Lu Cai continued to clear the way and kept shooting at the approaching zombies, and the team moved much faster.
The number of zombies was still controllable, and the group finally reached the entrance to the rest area.
Lin Yong was guarding the side of the door, and Lu Cai was defending at the end. Just as they were about to reach the goalpost, Lu Cai glanced over and saw the man with glasses guarding the door, and his eyelids jumped.
In a split second, he instinctively raised his gun and fired at the door frame. The man with glasses was frightened by the gunshot and stepped back. It was at this moment that the zombies beside him pounced on Lu Cai.
She couldn't dodge, and before she could turn around and shoot, she thrust her elbow upwards. Her elbow rubbed against a thin layer of sticky, soft skin, and there was a loud crack of bone.
The figure tilted, and she dodged, raised her gun and fired a shot at it.
Looking at its stained clothes, Lu Cai could guess that it must have been a tall, thin, and beautiful girl in its lifetime.
Now her brown and yellow pigtails hung messily on her back, her face was covered with black spots, large patches of rotten skin, and her jaw was knocked off by Lu Cai.
Its mouth was so rotten that no skin, flesh or tongue could be seen, and white and yellow maggots were rolling in and out of its throat.
Lu Cai had a cold face and raised his gun to continue fighting.
From the moment Lu Cai fired that shot, Lin Yong understood what she meant. He turned around and saw the man with glasses with a fierce look on his face. He ignored Lu Cai's warning and pulled the door to close it.
Lin Yong raised his gun and shot him in the arm. The man with glasses screamed and could only step back in pain. Finally, several tourists ran into the house in panic.
Cai Lu also backed up to the door. Just as he was about to let Lin Yong go in first, he saw that Lin Yong was only concerned about being alert to the man with glasses, but didn't notice the zombies slowly approaching from the side.
She turned and shot, and the zombie fell down, but the zombie in front of her had the opportunity to rush forward.
Lu Cai was entangled and wanted to use his old elbow trick again, but this zombie was obviously stronger than the thin girl before. It not only shook her slightly, but also grabbed her two arms tightly.
The cold, sticky feeling on her arm made her shudder. She watched a huge mouth thrust directly into her face as zombies rushed towards her one after another.
The military personnel kept asking her questions in the headset, but she had no time to reply before she heard a sizzling sound, and the headset was ripped off, and the throat microphone on her neck was bitten off by the zombies.
This was the most expensive piece of equipment she had, and it was scrapped after just a few hours—
Lu Cai twisted his wrist, pointed the gun upwards, and pressed the trigger.
With a snap, the zombie's head exploded before his eyes.
She struggled to break free from the zombies, raised her gun and shot, retreating while defending herself.
"Lu Cai! Come in!" Lin Yong shouted.
She blasted the nearest zombie, its back pressed against the doorframe. She quickly turned and squeezed into the room.
Lin Yong quickly closed the iron door and locked it. There was a series of banging noises. But the door looked quite sturdy and should hold up for thirty minutes without any problems.
Cai Lu leaned against the door frame and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. He raised his free left hand to cover his neck. Fortunately, he was not bitten. When he raised his eyes, he met Lin Yong's horrified gaze.
She followed his gaze and looked down to see her raised left arm. A long scratch ran from her elbow to the back of her hand. The wound was not deep, but it was bleeding.
Only then did she feel her arm go numb, and a slight pain slowly emerged from the wound.
Was she captured by zombies?
Lu Cai recalled how she had recovered from being scratched by the zombie golden tiger. She had fallen asleep and encountered the world system. What about this time? Could she still escape?
"Ah—" The man with glasses was close by, covering the gunshot wound on his arm. He saw the blood flowing from Lu Cai's arm, "She was scratched!"
The tourists who had just calmed down started shouting in panic again and automatically retreated away, leaving a large space in the room empty.
The man with glasses gasped: "Kick her out——"
Before he could finish his words, the gun was already pointed at him.
Lin Yong calmed down his nervousness, his chest still rising and falling slightly. He said to the man with glasses, "If I hear your voice again, I'll push you out—"
Although Lu Cai didn't want to die, he also felt that Lin Yong was too impulsive. In this situation, if someone was scratched or bitten, it was the right thing to do to drive them away.
But Lin Yong didn't think so. Lu Cai wasn't a side story NPC, so she couldn't be treated as an ordinary NPC in the side story. Moreover, Lu Cai had saved him so many times, he couldn't just abandon her like that.
Looking at the tourists in front of him, he hadn't felt any gratitude from them since he rescued them. Instead, he felt only fear, vigilance, defensiveness, and suspicion.
Even... He looked up at the man with glasses, and thought of the dead yellow-haired man. They wanted to snatch weapons from him.
The man with glasses originally looked down on Lin Yong, but at this moment, Lin Yong's cold look frightened him.
No one dared to say anything, and someone started crying again.
Lin Yong was really annoyed by their crying and pointed to the door leading to the observation deck: "You guys go to the observation deck and wait. If you are really worried, just block the door."
Everyone was eager to get away from Lu Cai, so they left the house one by one and waited on the observation deck.
The man with glasses walked at the back and slammed the door shut.
Lin Yong put down his gun, turned around and looked at Lu Cai, raised his hand and took out a small medicine bottle: "Take this first, I don't know if it will work. It should be okay, but players won't be infected with the zombie virus, so I can't guarantee that it can suppress the virus..."
He hurriedly poured out two pills, hesitated for a moment, and poured out two more.
Lu Cai only noticed one piece of information: players will not be infected with the zombie virus?
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