Chapter 170: Zombie Siege Practice
Come? Where to?
The girl froze for a second before reacting, sniffing and continuing to type:
[All Are My Husbands: Wuwuwu thank you sis. Even though I still haven't successfully met you offline, you're a good person. Thank you for your kindness, but I probably can't make it.]
[There are too many zombies in the dormitory area. Even if I successfully get downstairs to your building, I won't be able to get inside alive, wuwuwu.]
Maybe wandering around and then dying miserably outside was her fate.
The message Tang Xinjue sent remained brief, but her tone was firm:
[If you can successfully reach the vicinity of Building 33, we can get you up here.]
[Want to gamble on it?]
[All Are My Husbands: ???]
[Really!!!]
Because she was too shocked, the girl completely failed to notice the word “we.” After repeatedly asking several times whether it was really possible and confirming that the other side wasn't acting on impulse while actually incapable of helping, she finally wiped away her tears and snot and sincerely replied:
[Thank you.]
Although she was afraid of dying, although getting caught by a zombie on the way would mean instant death, at least there was still a final hope. She knew very clearly that continuing to drift around outside was the true dead end.
Looking at the fog gradually rising outside, the girl gave a determined answer:
[I want to try.]
“Why did you suddenly decide to save her?”
After the conversation ended, Zhang You asked.
Tang Xinjue replied: “Because we changed her original fate.”
From their conversation, it could be seen that if they had not accidentally discovered the existence of this “friend” of Guo Guo's earlier, she would have died silently the moment she entered the dormitory area.
Guo Guo rubbed the tip of her nose: “Actually, we didn't really help her much at the start. We just happened to make her hide for a bit...”
Tang Xinjue said: “And then she happened to survive.”
The emphasis on the word “happened” immediately made Zhang You understand something:
“This NPC's connection to us is special?”
Just as Guo Guo said, they hadn't actually given the other party much help, nor had they placed much hope in her slim chances of survival back in the security room.
Yet precisely because of their involvement, her survival trajectory had undergone a huge change, as though...
“As long as we interfere, she can survive!”
Guo Guo herself didn't know why such a completely illogical thought had appeared in her mind. She had merely followed Tang Xinjue and Zhang You's train of thought, and then subconsciously arrived at that conclusion. Reading it again, even she felt it sounded absurd.
Tang Xinjue, however, nodded: “In a certain sense, you can understand it that way. This is actually the connection between special NPCs and examinees.”
Guo Guo: “...I feel like I understand, but also don't.”
“An example.” Tang Xinjue explained unhurriedly. “Do you remember the Headless Ghost dungeon from Classic Film Appreciation?”
The dungeon's plot revolved around a special dormitory, and to them, the four girls Jin Wen, Wei Xian, and the others in that dormitory were special NPCs to them.
Likewise, Grandma Mayas from the highway dungeon, the original dormitory ghost from the hygiene inspection dungeon, and so on, were the same.
“Our actions may not be able to change these NPCs' final outcomes, but they will definitely affect them to some degree. Similarly, their outcomes will affect our dungeon progress and evaluation. From the moment we enter a dungeon, we're bound together.”
This time, Guo Guo finally seemed to grasp it.
“So [All Are My Husbands] is also a special NPC? But what does that necessarily have to do with saving her?”
By that standard, shouldn't the class monitor and Fangfang and Qiuqiu from the neighboring dormitory also count as special NPCs?
Tang Xinjue shook her head.
“This is also something I only just realized: the special NPCs we've encountered before didn't require us to actively search for them. As the main plot advanced, they naturally appeared before us.”
But what if it was a survival-type dungeon like a zombie siege, where the main plot was merely background scenery?
“So I'm wondering: could there be a kind of special NPC who won't appear on their own and instead requires us to trigger them ourselves? If we never discover them, they'll die just like all ordinary NPCs. But once they're triggered, a special connection forms and appears before us through dungeon hints. Only then does the part of the story they belong to begin operating.”
“In games, we call that: a side quest.”
[All Are My Husbands: Potato potato, this is Eggplant. I've successfully left the supermarket and am now hiding in a corner of the small garden near Building 3. I'm checking the map, over.]
The girl's adaptability and acceptance were even higher than the four people of 606 had expected. From the moment the plan was decided, she moved rapidly between locations while somehow not slowing down her messaging speed at all.
She even remembered to ask:
[Do you have enough food and water in your dorm? Need me to bring anything over?]
[Sigh, this is our first surprise offline meetup after all. Showing up without a gift would be way too embarrassing. I originally prepared a box of homemade egg tarts, but I was in too much of a hurry while escaping and ended up smearing them all over zombie faces.]
Guo Guo, who had managed to stay calm until now, finally broke down when she saw this message:
“What? Egg tarts!”
Without realizing it, she had missed an entire box of freshly baked egg tarts!
Guo Guo angrily bit twice into a biscuit. Looking outside, that emotion turned into concern: “The fog's getting thicker and thicker. She won't be affected, right?”
Zhang You examined the photos the girl had sent: “The ground visibility is still okay. At the moment, the fog seems to be increasing at a constant rate. At this speed, it won't reach a concentration that makes roads impossible to see until the next radio broadcast begins.”
As long as the girl could arrive in time, they could handle the rest.
As soon as that concern was voiced, another immediately replaced it.
Swallowing her biscuit, Guo Guo asked seriously:
“Can we... do it?”
She looked toward the washstand area.
In front of the mirror, Tang Xinjue wiped down the toilet plunger. The freshly cleaned plunger head made a popping sound. It did not disturb the little white ball sleeping in the sink like a dead pig in the slightest.
“Yes.”
She enunciated clearly.
...
[All Are My Husbands: I've successfully left Building 3 and have now arrived inside the bicycle shed near Building 21. There seem to be some people nearby, but I'm not sure whether they're infected. Over.]
[Guo Guo: Very close now. Building 33 is straight south to the end.]
[All Are My Husbands: Okay!]
The girl repeatedly reviewed the map file on her phone, confidence overflowing.
[I've memorized the map by heart this time. I definitely won't get it wrong!]
“This time?”
Guo Guo had only just been distracted by that wording when a new message immediately pulled her attention back.
[All Are My Husbands: Crap crap crap! Those people are coming toward me!!!]
She sent several pictures. They were blurry from the haste, but a row of crooked figures could be seen in the distance. It was difficult for normal people to walk with such twisted gaits.
Without needing anyone from 606 to tell her, the girl immediately slid into a crouch and hid in a nearby corner, crawling behind several bicycles. Her thumbs flew across the screen at lightning speed.
[I'm dead I'm dead I'm dead, my great undertaking may collapse before completion... By the way, did I ever tell you my name? I'm Yu Wei. If you burn paper offerings for me after I die, remember to write my name on them or I won't be able to grab them...]
[Holy crap holy crap, they're coming over!]
Afraid of making noise and affecting the girl, no one in 606 dared send any messages.
The phone remained silent for so long that Guo Guo's heart nearly turned cold before a photo suddenly appeared.
In the picture, a group of people surrounded a first-floor window, their hands reaching inside as if pulling something.
Dark blood trails ran down the windowsill. Chunks of flesh or limbs piled beneath the window. The people's arms were also mangled and bloody, and tiny droplets of blood seemed to be splattering through the air.
A second photo arrived. This one was much clearer. A human-shaped figure was being forcibly dragged out through the window, his face was still screaming and crying. Several hands inside the room were gripping his legs, as if two groups were engaged in a tug-of-war.
Tang Xinjue observed for a few seconds.
“It's the dorm supervisor's lounge on the first floor of Building 21.”
This university's dormitory area was very similar to their real school's. The first floor contained no student dormitories, only hot water rooms, laundry rooms, garbage rooms, and rooms for dorm supervisors.
The young-looking boy being torn apart in the photo was probably a student hiding in the supervisor's lounge.
Guo Guo let out a sigh of relief. Being able to send photos meant the girl was still alive.
A while later, the words “typing...” finally appeared again in the chat box.
[All Are My Husbands: Thank heavens, the danger's temporarily over. I've already moved away from that building. I should be arriving at your place soon.]
[All Are My Husbands: By the way, did you see the photos I sent? If you'd been there just now, you'd definitely have been scared to death like I was. Because those people were all alive. Alive!!]
The people of 606 were momentarily stunned before immediately understanding what she meant.
Tang Xinjue typed: [You mean the people gathering outside the window and dragging others out weren't zombies, but students who hadn't been completely infected yet, right?]
Yu Wei nodded frantically.
[Exactly! That's what I mean. They could still walk and talk. That window was originally locked, but they kept persuading and deceiving the people inside from outside until it got opened.]
[The moment the window opened, they suddenly attacked. They tore off fingers and arms, smashed through the window, and squeezed inside. I bet nobody in there escaped. It was terrifying.]
She had fled in such a hurry that she still couldn't figure out whether those people counted as zombies or not.
“Some people are still alive, but they're already dead.”
Tang Xinjue patted Guo Guo's head, knocking away the goosebumps covering her body.
“The class monitor's appearance was only a preview. Next, we're probably going to face a lot, lot more of these kinds of 'people.'”
There were still 20 minutes until the next radio broadcast.
There were also 20 minutes left before the fog completely covered the outside.
And right then, the typing indicator on the other side suddenly appeared, disappeared, appeared again, then disappeared again, as though the person was caught in a deeply conflicted situation.
Guo Guo hurriedly asked: [What's wrong?]
[All Are My Husbands: ...]
[All Are My Husbands: There's something. Um. It seems... I can't find your dormitory building anymore.]
She sent a photo, ashamed.[I could see it originally, but after running here I suddenly couldn't find it. Did the fog block my vision?]
The four of them looked carefully. The dormitory building in the photo was clearly labeled: [Building 13].
After waiting nervously for several seconds, Yu Wei finally received a reply:
[It's not the fog. You ran the wrong way.]
Yu Wei: “...”
Yu Wei: “!!!”
[Building 13 is north of Building 21. Building 33 is south of Building 21. One requires turning left at the parking shed exit, the other requires turning right. They're completely opposite routes.]
The hand holding Yu Wei's phone trembled slightly. At the same time, the person on the other end calmly delivered another blow:
[Are you bad with directions?]
[All Are My Husbands: ...Sorry!!! (kneeling.jpg)]
[All Are My Husbands: I didn't mean to hide it. I thought I wouldn't get lost inside the dormitory area at least. I overestimated myself. (crying.jpg)]
[All Are My Husbands: Don't abandon me. I can still be saved! Let me look at the map.]
Just as Yu Wei tried to calm herself and open the map file, another image arrived.
Zhang You: [This is the route from your current location to our dormitory building. It's a single straight path. If something feels wrong, share your location immediately. We'll wait for you at the destination.]
Yu Wei: [—Sis, what have I done to deserve a best friend as good as you? You're my reborn parent. Wait for me, I'm coming right now!]
This time she finally stopped sending endless messages. The phone became completely silent. Guo Guo took the opportunity to open the route image Zhang You had marked.
If Yu Wei followed this route, then the place she would finally arrive at should be...
She turned and looked out through the balcony window.
—Directly below their balcony!
Ten minutes remaining.
No new messages appeared in the chat software. The entire world seemed to enter a strange state of silence.
Guo Guo counted the seconds one by one before suddenly realizing another problem. “The reason she's not messaging... could it be because her phone ran out of battery?”
Back in the supermarket, Yu Wei had already said her phone battery was critically low. Even with excellent standby time, it should have died by now.
If she'd already reached downstairs but had no way to tell them, what then?
Guo Guo and Zheng Wanqing looked at each other.
Both immediately rushed toward the balcony, nearly crashing into Zhang You.
Extending a long arm, Zhang You blocked them and calmly said: “Don't crowd the balcony. Be careful not to alert the enemy.”
Then she comforted them: “Xinjue and I are here.”
The two instantly felt much more reassured. They had complete confidence in their roommates' scouting abilities.
Just then, a message suddenly popped up on Guo Guo's phone. However, it wasn't from the account named “All Are My Husbands.”
[Neighbor Qiuqiu: Beep beep, I'm almost downstairs from your building!]
Guo Guo: ?
[Neighbor Qiuqiu: It's me, Yu Wei!]
The other side quickly explained:
[My phone died. While running away from Building 13, I accidentally bumped into a zombie group. I couldn't find a power bank. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to contact you, so I decided to go all in and stole one of the zombies' phones.]
[Neighbor Qiuqiu: I was treating a dead horse like a living horse doctor, but somehow a blind cat caught a dead mouse. You were actually in the contact list. Heaven hasn't abandoned me hahahahaha.]
Guo Guo slowly raised her gaze toward the familiar username above.
Combining that with the fact that the person had just run from Building 13...
Wasn't this the “Qiuqiu” from the neighboring dormitory?
Yu Wei quickly sent another message:
[This time I didn't go the wrong way. I'll be there soon. I can already see your dormitory building!]
Tang Xinjue and Zhang You exchanged a glance.
[Good. We'll come down to get you.]
[Neighbor Qiuqiu: Okay, but I think this is the back side of the building. I'll need to go around and find the main entrance...]
[No need to find the main entrance.]
Yu Wei froze.[Then how do I get in?]
Taking the phone, Tang Xinjue replied concisely: [Enter here.]
After sending the message, she hooked the rope around her waist and flipped herself over the balcony railing!
At the base of the dormitory building, at the same moment, the girl hiding in the bushes looked up in confusion, her pupils instantly contracting—
Right above her, a figure was plummeting straight down the wall outside the balcony from the sixth floor?!
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