During the monsoon, the video found in the communicator was played, causing a shiver to run through the crowd. The man in the video exhibited symptoms shared by vagrants and administrators — cloudy white eyes, pallid skin veined with a bluish hue, clamoring to sink his teeth into his wife.
"The video was recorded a month ago."
In contrast to the terror displayed by the others, Ji Yushi's tone remained indifferent. He portrayed bravery and maturity, as if the person struggling to unscrew a bottle cap just moments ago wasn't him.
"It's a zombie!!" "If it truly is a zombie, how many of them must be out there!"
"Damn, no wonder things have been so odd around here!"
"This video is from a month ago!"
Familiar words echoed in the office.
Amidst the teammates' discussions, Ji Yushi silently took another sip of water, gradually dispelling the dreadful sense of helplessness. He spoke slowly, "The communicator has no network, but I just received a new message, presumably intended for us."
"The message is on the deceased's communicator, but it's meant for us?"
"Yes."
"Open it," Song Qinglan instructed.
Ji Yushi projected the message.
[Welcome, Guardians from the year 1456 of Star Yuan, welcome to PU-31.]
[Jump lock initiated, unlock upon successful mission completion.]
[Mission Mode: Tail-Biting Serpent.]
[Mission Rule: Death Elimination.]
At that moment, Tang Le exclaimed, "Look!"
Outside the window, a black wall suddenly emerged between heaven and earth, spreading from the direction they had just come.
"Drip—" the communicator displayed the final prompt.
[Mission Objective: Dark Pursuers.]
The crowd was filled with shock.
Amidst the hubbub, Song Qinglan found a broom and thrust it into the black wall. When she pulled it out, the portion of the broom inserted into the wall had vanished without a trace, cut cleanly as if devoured by the black wall.
"What did the mission rule say again?"
"Death, death elimination," someone answered.
"Good to know," Song Qinglan said solemnly. "Get your gear ready. I'd prefer not to lose a single one of you. Since we can't go back anyway, whatever this PU-31 is, we'll face it together."
*
"What's wrong with Advisor Ji?"
Duan Wen glanced back at Ji Yushi, who was now walking in the middle of the group, standing tall and straight-backed, appearing silent and composed, giving no hint of the panic he had shown at the management office.
On the private channel, Song Qinglan responded somewhat absentmindedly, "Why don't you ask him yourself?"
Duan Wen sighed and said, "Forget it, what if he asks me to unscrew a bottle cap again?"
Song Qinglan's tone subtly shifted, "So?"
Feeling the pressure, Duan Wen abandoned his joke, "Well, I'll still help if he needs it, assisting teammates is our responsibility."
Song Qinglan remarked, "Enough with the nonsense."
Duan Wen continued, "Actually, I just hope that when we go back to write the report, we can be more amicable. I don't want team discord to lower our rating..."
While Duan Wen rambled on, Song Qinglan suddenly halted, making a fist gesture.
"Wait."
His voice resonated through the public channel.
Everyone looked ahead.
On the desolate and deserted city roads, a group of people appeared.
It was late summer, 6 a.m. in the morning, sunlight pierced through the steel and concrete forest, casting a golden beam onto the black asphalt, forming a line of golden light.
That glaring light seemed like a boundary, dividing the mortal realm from hell.
It was a horde of zombies.
Unaware of the quiet team sneaking by in a secluded spot, they were focused on surrounding a mangled corpse, emitting excited "heh heh" sounds from their throats, devouring it like wild beasts.
Flesh, limbs, and entrails were torn apart, amidst horrifying crunching sounds, clearly audible to every member of the team just seven or eight meters away.
"Ah!!!"
A scream pierced the air.
From behind the team, a woman dashed out of a building, running frantically, followed by twenty or thirty zombies, closing in on her.
This scream startled the feasting zombies in front.
The team, caught in the middle, watched as the feasters dropped the corpse and swiftly charged toward them!
"Damn it!"
Someone cursed, and another shouted, "Save her!"
"Bang! Bang! Bang!" Gunshots rang out. Three or four zombies behind the woman fell, and simultaneously, another teammate opened fire, killing the charging zombies.
The gunfire echoed in the silent, desolate city, like a drop of water falling into a boiling oil pan, instantly erupting into chaos as countless zombies poured out from the shadows!
"Move! Move! Move!"
"Hurry!"
The gunfire was deafening.
"Captain Song?!" Duan Wen shouted, "Hurry!"
Song Qinglan stood still, seemingly waiting for something, emitting an icy aura.
When the woman was just a few steps away from him, a cold glint flashed, and she suddenly dropped to her knees, collapsing onto the road.
With the cover of his teammates, Song Qinglan strode forward and withdrew his military knife from the woman's forehead. Blood trickled down her wide-open eyes, her once-grayish eyeballs now mirroring the pursuing zombies in a matter of seconds. A chunk was missing from her ear, bearing evident bite marks.
As Song Qinglan sheathed his knife, Ji Yushi, turning around, swiftly dispatched a zombie lunging towards his back, his efficiency surpassing Song Qinglan's expectations. He had assumed that those firing their guns for the first time in real combat would hesitate.
The crowd surged like a wave, akin to the apocalypse. Ji Yushi glanced back at the woman on the ground, then looked at Song Qinglan in astonishment. This glance finally confirmed the reason for his hesitation. Ji Yushi's delicate eyes ignited with intensity, as if he had finally acquired a spark of humanity. He yelled angrily, "Left front! Convenience store! Move quickly!"
With the increasing horde of zombies, the scene resembled doomsday. They weren't too far from the convenience store, where they could clearly see the intact iron fence. Discovering cover had bought them precious time.
Pooling their efforts, amidst a hail of bullets, they quickly rushed to the store's entrance.
Ji Yushi didn't bother to look, but with a gunshot, he targeted the store's recognition panel. Amidst the piercing alarm, Li Chun and Zhou Mingxuan pulled open the iron gate with all their strength!
As soon as there was enough room, Ji Yushi slid in like a slippery fish.
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"
In an instant, several gunshots rang out from within the store.
The gunfire subsided.
Ji Yushi reappeared behind the iron gate, his fair face stained with blood, even his eyelashes bearing traces of it. He breathed slightly heavily, his voice somewhat unsteady, "Come in!!"
Everyone: "???"
As they entered the store one by one, faced with the sight of fresh corpses strewn across the floor, they murmured in disbelief. Was this really the same Ji Yushi who struggled to open a bottle cap?!
The convenience store was chaotic, the shelves empty, yet relatively safe — dangers, if any, were swiftly dealt with by Ji Yushi alone, before anyone could react. His speed and decisiveness were as if he had foreseen the situation in advance.
To be honest, even the best Guardians could only aspire to such proficiency. The group felt as if they were about to pay a tax on their intelligence.
"Where's Captain Song?!" Zhou Mingxuan suddenly asked.
Present were Li Chun, Duan Wen, and Ji Yushi, but neither the twins nor Song Qinglan were visible.
Ji Yushi frowned, "Open the door, wait for them!"
No sooner had he spoken, than a dense barrage of gunfire erupted from outside.
Song Qinglan, with Tang Le under the cover of the others, rolled into the store. Tang Le looked dazed, while Song Qinglan's complexion was grim. With a clang, the iron gate slammed shut. Someone shouted, "We still have to wait for Tang Qi!"
"No need to wait," Song Qinglan stood up, bloodstained all over. "Tang Qi was bitten. After infection, mutation occurs within... not more than ten seconds."
Tang Le burst into tears.
No one knew what had happened outside, but upon hearing this answer, everyone was shaken to their core. Just a stone's throw away, countless zombies pounded furiously on the iron gate, jaws gaping, gray pupils fixed on the living inside, as if they would tear them apart the next moment.
Ten seconds. The infection rate of this virus was incredibly fast. Coupled with a one hundred percent mutation rate after being bitten, there was simply no city in the world capable of defending against such a virus.
"We can't just sit and wait to die. This gate won't hold for much longer," Song Qinglan's voice was icy. "There's a false wall built of lightweight bricks in the store's warehouse. Blast it open and escape from there."
Ji Yushi suddenly looked up. Their eyes met precisely.
Now was not the time for conversation. Ji Yushi's blood-stained face was illuminated with an intense light in his eyes.
While Song Qinglan remained composed, his question carried deep implications, "Advisor Ji, what's behind the wall?"
Ji Yushi clenched his fists, his nails digging into his palm. Even in front of clueless teammates, he remained calm, "It's the alley behind."
The others didn't understand, nor did they comprehend the silent exchange between the two. But as long as there was a way out, there was no time to consider anything else.
The iron fence bore immense pressure, swaying and emitting terrifying sounds; they must escape from here at any cost. As the wall was blasted open, light flooded in. With the last teammate leaping out of the window, a thunderous crash ensued, and the heavily strained iron fence finally collapsed!
Zhou Mingxuan provided cover fire, spraying the zombies in the alley. "Get in the car quickly!" Song Qinglan shoved the almost collapsing Tang Le into the back seat. The zombies stormed into the convenience store, then leaped down from the warehouse window through which they had escaped. Zhou Mingxuan also got into the car, cramming six burly men into the not-so-spacious vehicle, pressing against each other tightly.
Suddenly, Duan Wen shouted, "The ID card! Hurry, find it!" Song Qinglan and Ji Yushi were separated by Tang Le. However, the sunlight streaming through the window allowed them to clearly see the fine down on Ji Yushi's fair nape. Ji Yushi squeezed past to open the storage box and handed over the ID card. "Here!" Li Chun, in the driver's seat, took the ID card and immediately started the car, speeding away. The car roared, emitting white smoke as the tires rubbed against the ground, leaving dark red bloodstains from the zombies they ran over.
They raced out of the alley. But before they could catch their breath, as they reached a crossroads, Ji Yushi's face suddenly changed, shouting, "Turn left!" Not far away, a giant space vehicle was hurtling towards them! Ji Yushi's timely shout prompted Li Chun to reflexively jerk the steering wheel, and the car plunged straight into a building! "Bang! Bang! Bang!" The car brakes screeched, colliding with several glass doors before finally coming to a halt.
The windshield shattered into a spider web, smoke billowed from the front of the car, and everyone was jolted by the impact. After a moment of silence, Song Qinglan kicked the back of the driver's seat, "Pure, it seems you haven't got your driver's license yet."
Li Chun weakly replied, "I'm not arguing, boss, but right now, we really shouldn't focus on these details."
Everyone: "..."