Mu Shan did not act without reason.
She used up one character card from the card album, which was essentially a gamble.
First, office rookie. As a newbie who entered the game with a built-in profession, he successfully hid in the bookstore without any cover at all. He must have something special about him.
Second, this was not a monster that could be handled by a single person.
Third, the presence of zombies in the house could provide some camouflage to a certain extent. The smell on the zombies could also mask some human scents. She needed to increase her own survival rate.
Fourth, she was betting that the mutant zombie had some thinking ability and would rule out the location where its ‘companions’ were.
Under the premise that her body could not move, her brain kept running at high speed. But the longer the time dragged on, the more this anxious feeling made her lose her rationality and calm.
The sky had completely darkened, and the sound of rain blurred the outside noises. In the bookstore, there was only the faint sound of the skinny zombie dragging its leg as it walked.
Mu Shan was both tired and hungry. Were they going to stay here for the entire night?
She did not know how much time had passed; she even suspected that the newbie had already fainted.
The fishy smell of rainwater and the pitch-black environment without light completely blurred her senses.
In the sky, lightning flashed by in an instant. In that light source lasting only a fraction of a second, Mu Shan saw the black shadow outside the door.
She got a fright. Her body trembled instinctively, her pupils contracted sharply, and her muscles tensed instantly.
A humanoid thing stood quietly outside the door, its ear pressed against the glass, as if listening to their movements.
With a “creak,” the door was pushed open by its flexible and tough long tongue.
For a monster without eyes, there was no difference between day and night. It crawled in on all fours, its slender tongue probing along the counter and bookshelves like a snake’s forked tongue.
The summoned little zombie still stood foolishly in place, even making “gurgle gurgle” sounds from its throat.
The monster’s tongue circled around the little zombie once, slowly identifying its scent.
It remained calm throughout, seemingly truly deceived by the ‘fellow kind,’ and did not discover the humans hiding in the house.
Three meters away
, Zhang Haiyang’s heart almost jumped out of his chest. He crouched behind the bookshelf not far from the monster, close enough to see the human flesh residue on its claws.
He did not even dare to blink.
However, a few seconds later, the monster retracted its tongue, bypassed the little zombie, and turned in another direction.
It was really fooled! They succeeded!
Zhang Haiyang was overjoyed. Before he could catch his breath, he suddenly saw the monster whip its head back fiercely. Its long tongue lashed out, directly toppling the frontmost bookshelf.
With a “bang——,” a loud noise echoed as various sundries clattered to the ground. The heavy bookshelf fell like dominoes, one after another.
To avoid being crushed into a meat patty, Zhang Haiyang hunched his body, protected his head with both hands, and dodged with all his strength.
A whooshing sound came from beside his ear, and he rolled away in a sorry state.
Only a “bang” was heard as a blood-red tongue stabbed into the wall beside him, punching a big hole.
The tongue was only ten centimeters from his head.
Zhang Haiyang was stunned. “Ahhh！！”
He frantically grabbed a broken wooden stick from the ground and smashed it hard at the wriggling tongue.
The monster let out an enraged roar. Unable to rampage in the narrow bookstore, it could only swing its massive claws, tearing books and wood to shreds all over the floor.
Just as it seemed the bookstore was about to be completely demolished, the skinny zombie that had been standing foolishly suddenly changed its demeanor. With a howl, it pounced onto the monster’s back, clawing and biting at its neck.
That was not all. Another taller zombie appeared from nowhere and hugged the monster’s waist.
The three zombies instantly tangled together.
However, the strength of ordinary zombies could not compare to the mutant zombie at all. The skinny little zombie’s arm was yanked off by the monster, yet it persisted in tearing at the mutant zombie’s flesh with its teeth.
Zhang Haiyang held the wooden stick, dumbfounded by this chaotic scene.
Mu Shan’s voice came from behind. “What are you standing there for? Use all your skills now!”
Zhang Haiyang waved his hands hurriedly. “But I-I don’t know how!”
【Player Zhang Haiyang (Office Rookie) uses skill: Rookie Doesn’t Understand
As long as I don’t understand it, it can’t hurt me
Reduces one monster’s attack power by 10% indiscriminately, lasts for three turns
“Boss, I don’t know!”】
“Awoo awoo awoo——”
The monster seemed bound by some invisible force, its movements stagnating for an instant.
Zhang Haiyang finally saw the system panel and was overjoyed. “I I I found it!”
【Player Zhang Haiyang (Office Rookie) uses skill: Rookie Thick Skin
As long as my skin is thick enough, I can navigate the office unscathed
Player’s physical and mental defense increased by 20%, lasts for five turns
“Boss, I’ll learn it!”】
He roared and lifted the desk in front of the counter, charging at the mutant zombie. With brute force, he pushed it toward the door.
The other two zombies bit the monster’s arms from left and right. The three zombies and one human devolved into a chaotic melee.
Mu Shan had been waiting for this moment. She dashed forward in one arrow step, stepped on the pile of books for leverage, leaped up, and swung the fire axe with all her might.
“—Duck!”
Zhang Haiyang strained until his face twisted. Upon hearing her, he ducked his head sharply, feeling a sharp weapon whistle past, barely grazing his scalp.
In the next instant, the axe blade severed the monster’s tongue.
The mutant zombie, in pain, swung its claws madly. The two little zombies were caught in the crossfire, their bellies ripped open. Their already gruesome deaths became even more miserable in an instant.
The blood-red tongue still twitched on the ground. Mu Shan stepped on it and chopped it into several segments with clanging blows.
“Quick, work together to push it out!” she shouted.
Zhang Haiyang held his breath until his face turned pig-liver red. The muscles in his skinny arms bulged, and the broken desk in his hands was nearly falling apart.
Mu Shan hacked at the mutant zombie’s body with “bang bang bang” axe strikes from the side. Under the full outburst from the two humans and two zombies, the tongueless monster finally retreated a step, half its body outside the bookstore.
“What now! The door’s broken, it can’t close!” Zhang Haiyang shouted in collapse.
Beside him, Mu Shan pulled out the leather card album.
【Environment Card · A Zombie-Full Bus (Consumable)
A bus from the morning rush hour on a workday
Rated capacity 49 corpses, actual capacity 89 corpses
Overload warning!】
The instant she used the card, Mu Shan grabbed Zhang Haiyang and leaped back into the room.
With a “boom——,” a massive noise rang out, as if the entire world had collapsed.
A bus weighing at least five tons dropped from the sky, directly pinning the mutant zombie outside the door to the ground and crushing half the bookstore’s entrance.
Dust, rubble, and debris surged like a tsunami. Ashes danced wildly in the air, and the bus’s two stark white headlights emitted blinding light in the darkness.
About half a minute later, amid the “gurgle gurgle” and “ahhh” howls of the 89 zombies, Mu Shan pushed away the garbage debris on top of her head and stood up shakily.
【Injured, HP -1】
The rookie beside her was not much better off. Both of them were covered in dust and grime, their stamina depleted to the limit.
Mu Shan gripped the fire axe and limped through the wreckage, standing in front of the bookstore door, which was now completely blocked by the bus.
…There was no door left at all. The glass door and even the wall had vanished.
The oversized bus had fallen straight down almost flush against the wall, with no more than a 2-centimeter margin of error.
Amid the construction debris, she found the flattened mutant zombie under the tire. The monster was not dead yet. Seemingly detecting her scent, it tried to twist its body to squeeze out, but everything below its shoulders was pinned solidly by the bus body.
Mu Shan straightened up and let out a sigh of relief.
Zhang Haiyang huddled nearby and asked softly, “Is it dead?”
Mu Shan did not answer. She looked up at the sky, where the dark clouds were gradually dispersing and the rain had lessened.
She reached out. “Lend me a light.”
Zhang Haiyang was stunned for a moment. He rummaged through all his pockets and carefully handed her half a pack of crumpled cigarettes and a plastic lighter.
“I’m poor, can’t afford good smokes. Sis, make do.”
Mu Shan held the cigarettes: ……
She walked out, picked up the axe, and began hacking fiercely at the spot between the bus’s front and rear right wheels.
During this time, the zombies crammed tightly together due to the severe overload from the commute all pressed against the windows, baring their teeth at her to show their strong affection.
Zhang Haiyang did not dare approach.
Once the bus side was smashed open and fuel gushed out, Mu Shan shouldered her axe and walked away.
“Let’s go.”
After they had walked a certain distance, she flicked the lighter on.
With a “boom——,” fierce flames erupted rapidly.
Amid a chorus of eerie zombie cries and twisted shadows, they ignited a funeral pyre, sending them to their second annihilation.
The two squatted by the roadside waiting. About ten minutes later, Mu Shan finally received the system prompt.
【Killed zombies, gold coins +91】
Thus, the total of 91 summoned little zombies had fulfilled their role and been squeezed of their last bit of value before retiring.
At the same time, the blood-red three-second countdown above their heads unlocked, returning to normal time.
Mu Shan let out a sigh of relief. Only then did she feel her body so exhausted it was almost beyond her control; even holding the axe required inhuman willpower.
When the bus suddenly appeared earlier, the flying construction debris had bruised her arm. Now, every movement brought aching soreness.
“Bang——” The bus let out one final brief explosion, thoroughly turning into a charred iron frame.
【Player’s first cooperative kill of mutant zombie (Crawler)
Strength +10
Defense +10
HP +10
Agility +10
Gold coins +100
Perfect kill: Gold coins +50, Safe House Gift Pack x1
Crawler: Resident Evil collaboration monster, player approval rating (death rate) 78%】
Screw your collaboration edition.