Chapter 140
Chapter 140
It was deep into the third watch of the night. Seeing how exhausted his teammates looked, the self-proclaimed merciful King had originally intended to keep a low profile.
Unfortunately, Ning Shuo’s sharp ears picked up some unusual movement.
Now that his body had recovered, his senses were far sharper than before.
“Smack, smack, smack.” Ning Shuo slapped several deeply sleeping teammates awake and whispered, “The zombies are here to eat you.”
Rao Lin rubbed his eyes. “Don’t worry. Your boyfriend’s on watch.”
The moment he finished speaking, Ning Wang jumped down from the second floor. “Get ready. Time to fight.”
He looked at Ning Shuo. “How’s your body?”
Though he didn’t quite understand why he was asking, Ning Shuo answered quickly, “I could take on ten Rao Lins.”
Rao Lin: ???
They kept their voices low as they talked and headed up to the top of the abandoned building.
After rescuing Rao Lin and the others that day, they’d run into Rong Xi and his group on the way back.
Ning Wang complained in a low voice, “Rong Xi hit me. It really hurt.”
Ning Shuo shuddered all over.
Only one day apart… and the Knight had turned bashful!
Ning Shuo immediately soothed him, “Fight again after we get back. I want to see which of you wins.”
Soothed him? No.
Egged him on? Yes.
He just didn’t know whether the apocalypse still had popcorn.
Standing nearby as the commentator, Rao Lin wore a complicated expression. “You were unconscious and wouldn’t wake up, so Rong Xi wanted to check on you. But Ning Wang was holding you like some down-and-out domineering CEO in a wife-chasing crematorium arc and wouldn’t let anyone look. And he was the one who struck first, all because Rong Xi insisted on seeing you.”
He sighed. “Good thing there weren’t other NPCs there at the time. Otherwise, he would’ve gone OOC on the spot.”
Ning Wang, whose dark history had just been ruthlessly exposed: “…”
Qin Genan said cheerfully, “The three of us and those guys on the other side all watched the two of them 1v1 beat each other up. It was actually pretty fun.”
The only reliable one, Song Zhu, then explained why they were here wiping out zombies.
Because they’d started fighting not far from the base, and because they’d gotten way too into it, the person in charge of the base had seen them. Figuring they had too much strength and nowhere to use it, he specially assigned them a mission: Team A and Team F would each have one day. Whichever side could collect more spirit cores within the time limit would be awarded the title of Zone X’s number one squad.
Yes, in the Script, Team A and Team F had a longstanding grudge, so the person in charge assumed they were fighting for the same reason as always: the title of top squad.
Rao Lin’s spicy take: risking their lives to play house.
To NPCs, it really was just playing house. Once the Script refreshed, they were the kind of beings that started all over from the beginning.
Ning Shuo pointed at the few of them in confusion. “Us,”
Then he pointed at the vast black mass of zombies in the distance below. “Wiping out zombies?”
Song Zhu didn’t think there was anything wrong with that wording at all and nodded with complete certainty.
Ning Shuo: “…Ha ha.”
The 001 in his memory, the one who used to say, “Emotions really are a burden,” had successfully been assimilated into a lunatic too.
Speaking of memories, Ning Shuo asked, “Do you still remember 002?”
Song Zhu shook his head, then thought for a moment and nodded again. “A coworker. These past two years, when I secretly went back to the Main System to look for flaws in the Main God, I never saw him once. Something must’ve happened to him.”
That data retrieval back then, although Song Zhu hadn’t gone through the transport passage, had probably still greatly affected his data reserves, which was why he’d forgotten 002’s fate as well.
Ning Shuo recounted what had happened to 002. The atmosphere in the group grew heavy for a moment. After a long while, Qin Genan raised her gun. “We’ll avenge him.”
But the sorrowful mood didn’t last long.
The moment Qin Genan finished speaking, Rao Lin suddenly turned to Song Zhu. “Teacher Song, why did you say you ‘secretly’ went back to the Main System? Didn’t you tell me you went to chat with the Main God?”
Song Zhu looked puzzled. “When did I say that…?”
“Ah! I get it now!” Rao Lin suddenly lit up. “Teacher Song, you love me! You’re madly in love with me! That’s why you said that-you didn’t want me to worry!”
Song Zhu: “…”
Song Zhu: “As long as you’re happy.”
Just like that, the tension eased. Watching the zombies surge toward them, everyone drew their weapons-those with guns raised their guns, those with blades readied their blades-and the air instantly filled with a grim, bloody killing intent.
Ning Shuo looked at the sword Ning Wang had shoved into his hands. “Where’d this come from?”
“Swiped it when we left the base. There were tons of swords like this. The Main God has it out for me-the NPC would only let me take a knife.”
The machete wasn’t exactly hard to use, but it still wasn’t as comfortable as a sword.
Ning Shuo gave it an experimental slash.
The wall beside him suddenly collapsed.
Everyone was stunned. Ning Wang asked in confusion, “How much inner force did you use?”
Ning Shuo looked embarrassed. “It’s been so long since my body’s been this healthy. I instinctively used a little too much inner force.”
In any case, the collapsing wall caused quite a stir. The zombies that had still been hanging back instantly locked onto them. The group-people who could each carve out a world of their own, but become a disaster for everyone when united-immediately split up. Rao Lin shouted, “Let’s see who gets more crystal cores-holy shit! Zombie drool got on me!”
…
Things were loud on this side, and no quieter on the other.
Rong Xi sat on the ground as a vine curled several crystal cores into his hand. In the surrounding area for quite a distance, the ground was strewn with mangled corpses.
For the time being, there were no zombies left nearby to kill. His teammates were bandaging themselves up, and Fei Jinnian leaned against a tree smoking, his back looking bleak and lonely.
Rong Xi said, “Uncle Fei, are you acting deep again?”
In a solemn tone, Fei Jinnian said, “Child, you don’t understand. The opening shot of war is about to be fired.”
“Uncle Fei, we’re out of bullets. Also, smoke can’t be fired.”
“Then the first shot against the System is about to be fired.”
“Uncle Fei, guns can’t be stored in the Backpack, and guns can’t be used in the Rest Area either. So no shots are getting fired.”
“Our souls will no longer wander.”
“Uncle Fei, we’ll reincarnate.”
“…” Unable to take it anymore, Fei Jinnian smacked Rong Xi on the head. “Kid, why are you so damn literal?”
Rong Xi rubbed his head and took over the serious-role act. “The strong have no need for excuses.”
Fei Jinnian: “…”
He decided to skip this part and pointed at a burlap sack full of crystal cores by the tree. “Think this many can beat their side?”
Rong Xi said, “Of course not. Brother Ning is really strong.”
The way he looked right then strongly resembled a certain group described in the files, and Fei Jinnian hesitated before asking, “Back in the modern world, would you also respectfully call him King?”
Rong Xi looked surprised. “Brother Ning has a nickname that cool now?”
“What’s with that expression? You look like you’ve just learned something new.”
Rong Xi brushed him off. “Do I?”
Fei Jinnian: “…”
They still hadn’t found the Notary Office, and they were still in the Murder Mystery Game scenario anyway. They weren’t planning to tell Zone F who the Murderer was so soon. That would be way too boring.
Once they found the Notary Office, it probably wouldn’t be long before they got out.
Grinning, Fei Jinnian said, “When the time comes, we’ll still need that team’s help. Don’t go getting killed by the Clown.”
Rong Xi looked up at the pitch-black night. “But in this round, the Clown might be that host. He’s probably not going to be easy to deal with.”
“If he’s not easy to deal with, then don’t deal with him. He won’t be alive much longer anyway.”
—
Ning Shuo had discovered something: sometimes, their Captain’s emotions really were written all over his face.
For example, when Qin Genan stayed on the front line even though the right hand was injured, Rao Lin was practically screaming himself hoarse: “Nan-ge, you’re hurt, so get to the back and have Teacher Song heal you already!”