“Dong—dong dong—”
At nine o’clock, most players were still out scavenging.
He chose to knock during the daytime today, and compared to last night, it was even more urgent and impatient. Did this mean he had fallen into an even more dire situation?
Mu Shan gripped her axe with both hands and slowly approached the iron door.
Without last night’s panic, she even felt a sense of “finally here.”
The “dong dong” knocking suddenly stopped. In the stagnant atmosphere, Mu Shan straightened up and peered through the cat’s eye.
What came into view was a distorted, magnified face.
Mu Shan jerked back half a step, breathing rapidly without a sound, the hairs on her back standing on end.
It was a man!
He was crouched at the iron door just like her, peering inside!
This man was indeed wearing a raincoat, raindrops striking the smooth surface and making crisp sounds.
But his head and face were still drenched by the rain, disheveled greasy short hair plastered to his sunken face, dark stubble, and those bloodshot eyes bulging as if they might pop out of their sockets at any moment.
He didn’t look human anymore.
Mu Shan was frightened. Her hands tightly clutched the axe handle, not daring to make a sound.
What did this guy want? Food, or help?
Just as she hesitated whether to answer the door, a loud bang suddenly came from the iron door overhead.
“Clang—”
The previously paused survival time started counting down again, red exclamation marks filling her vision.
【Your safe house is under external demolition.
Sturdy basement iron door · Durability (99/100)】
【Main God System Warm Reminder:
Once the safe house is breached,
the player loses qualification to continue the game and will be physically erased.】
The man outside paused for a moment, then resumed smashing two seconds later. This time, he had clearly switched to a different weapon, and the iron door let out a huge “clang clang” wail.
Durability dropped by 2 points, 3 points.
Even the entire ceiling began to sprinkle powder “pitter-patter,” and visible cracks and dents appeared on the thick iron plate.
In just two or three seconds, Mu Shan snapped out of it, anger overriding her initial fear.
She roughly gauged the man’s height and position outside and decisively issued an attack command.
The next instant, the man let out a cry of pain: “Ah—! Who sneak attacked me!”
Before returning home today, she had been extra cautious.
She had placed the Peashooter in a paper cup on a tree not far from the safe house, concealed by branches and leaves.
The Peashooter was small and hard for most people to spot. It had both auto-attack and manual modes, and as long as it was within 10 meters of her, she could control it with her mind for targeted strikes.
“Fuck!” the man roared in fury.
But he wasn’t dead; the pea hadn’t hit a vital spot, only injuring his back.
Mu Shan’s view was obstructed, so she could only direct the Peashooter to fire blindly, but she got no further hit feedback—perhaps the man had used some defensive item.
Still, the harassing sneak attack wasn’t without effect; his demolition speed had clearly slowed.
Iron door · Durability (87/100)
As the cracks widened, rainwater even began seeping down the iron door onto the stairs.
Mu Shan paced anxiously in circles. What should she do? How could she protect the safe house?
The man outside started cursing in a hoarse, ugly voice, spewing filth.
“So there’s someone inside, huh? Hiding in the house waiting for me? Stinky bitch, didn’t you hear someone knocking!? Get the fuck out! Fuck…”
Hearing his panting mixed with insults, Mu Shan calmed down.
Due to the elevation difference, she couldn’t open the iron door for a direct confrontation; she’d be taken out all at once.
As the iron door’s durability dropped lower and lower, something suddenly occurred to her. Mu Shan quickly opened the system mall and searched for items.
【Spend 150 gold coins to redeem [Safe House Escape Passage x1]?】
Typical doomsday bunkers had two entrances: a main one and a backup escape route, kept far apart to avoid both being destroyed or buried at once.
Mu Shan confirmed without hesitation.
After two seconds of hammering sounds, a row of iron ladders appeared on the opposite wall from the iron door, leading straight to the ceiling.
Mu Shan put on her helmet, tucked the axe and kitchen knife into her waistband, and climbed the ladder with all her strength.
The backup passage’s exit was on the other side of the safe house, also behind an iron door that had never been opened, covered by a layer of camouflaged turf outside.
The opponent hadn’t noticed the new entrance.
Iron door · Durability (60/100)
Mu Shan clung to the final rung of the iron ladder and took a deep breath.
Time to fight him!!!
She shoved open the escape passage door and poked her head out, while mentally directing the Peashooter to attack. At the same time, she swiftly released 【Environment Card · A sedan car filled with zombies】.
The man in the raincoat was grunting away with a large axe on the door and reacted half a beat late to her emerging from the basement.
Before he could run, he was sent flying by the sedan Mu Shan summoned.
“Aaaah!” He tumbled across the ground several times, finally slamming into a tree with a bang.
Mu Shan was delighted. While the man was airborne from the impact, she scrambled out of the escape passage, ran to the safe house iron door, and stored his large axe into her backpack.
Meanwhile.
“Fuckin’ hell… Yours Truly will kill you.”
The man wiped blood from his face. His already terrifying features looked even more eerie as he shakily stood up.
The bad news was that the sedan’s weight wasn’t like a zombie-packed bus; it couldn’t crush him outright, and he hadn’t died from being flung.
The good news was that he was injured now, and in a one-on-one, Mu Shan might not be at a disadvantage.
She also spotted that the raincoat draped over him was tattered, nearly reduced to rags.
If it was a defensive item, it was probably almost useless.
The pattering rain poured down on the two desperately fighting.
Mu Shan’s muscles tensed all over. She mustered her courage, shouted loudly, and charged. The red blade of the fire axe gleamed coldly in midair.
The man also looked up. The instant their eyes met, a system prompt appeared.
【Player Liu Zhuhua uses a skill on you】
Mu Shan felt a chill run through her.
She didn’t know what his skill was.
But the axe was already swinging down, and the man didn’t even dodge. The blade clearly struck his flesh, yet it felt like chopping into cotton—no substance at all—as it sank straight into his body.
A weird, perverted smile crept across Liu Zhuhua’s drenched face, his narrow eyes staring fixedly at her.
“Heh heh heh.”
“Pretty young, a little beauty, huh.”
Mu Shan shuddered and yanked out the fire axe with force, retreating several steps to create distance.
The Peashooter in the tree, hidden among the leaves, kept firing peas nonstop and finally shredded the man’s defensive raincoat.
But even though Mu Shan clearly saw the green peas hit his body, they caused no damage! The attacks seemed to sink into mud.
The ugly man was skinny and gaunt like a living zombie. He clutched his wounded shoulder and stood, his tone calm as he dragged his leg and slowly approached step by step.
“You’re a newbie, right? I like newbies… heh heh heh.”
Mu Shan said nothing.
Without waiting for him to continue, she charged again.
Kitchen knife to the throat, axe to the skull.
Liu Zhuhua didn’t dodge at all, letting her lightning-fast lethal strikes land on him repeatedly, his eyes full of confidence.
Mu Shan felt the blade sink into cotton again. She didn’t linger, retreating with the knife without hesitation.
He let out a sinister chuckle, slowly pulling a large machete from his backpack. He weighed it in his hand; the blade was chipped and covered in bloodstains.
“Little beauty, your attacks are useless against me. Give up.”
“If you’re obedient, big brother can let you live a bit longer…”
The man limped slowly toward her, the rain washing red streams from his blade, while all of Mu Shan’s attacks were nullified. She seemed at the end of her rope.
She wore no raincoat; the icy rain soaked her clothes, her slender body trembling slightly from the cold.
The next instant, the desperate girl threw out a card.
【One elderly zombie (summoned by player [Collector])】
The pale-skinned zombie dropped from the sky and lunged at Liu Zhuhua, biting into the muscle on his shoulder.
Strangely, attacks nullified by the Peashooter and fire axe actually worked on the zombie!
The man let out a shrill scream, even more agonized than before.
The zombie didn’t just eat brains; it devoured flesh too. It really latched onto him, gnawing and biting, sharp teeth tearing at his skin and muscle.
The intense pain drove the man mad with screams. He struggled wildly, hacking nonstop at the zombie on his back with the machete.
But even if he severed the zombie’s limbs, those jaws clamped on him never loosened.
The elderly zombie was bald, one eye socket empty and hollow, its horrifying face pressing straight into Liu Zhuhua.
Its arms were chopped off, but ignoring the resistance, its sole target was flesh and blood!
Mu Shan stayed tensed nearby, waiting until the man fell to the ground, pinned by the zombie. Waiting until his body went limp, no longer struggling. Waiting until he breathed his last, thoroughly becoming zombie chow.
Amid the “chomp chomp” sounds, Mu Shan approached with her axe and severed the elderly zombie’s neck with one chop.
【Gold coins +1】
The rain pattered down, drenching the two entangled corpses.