Tan Xinger's eyes darted around, suddenly meeting the gaze of their superior, Qiao. He slowly averted his eyes, making Tan Xinger appear somewhat guilty.
"He looks very mysterious, could he be some kind of hidden bigshot?"
Tan Xinger whispered, fearing that others might overhear. She leaned towards Gu Jingyong, the two of them close together, their breaths intertwining, inseparable.
"Don't worry about it," Gu Jingyong's tone was casual, indicating for Tan Xinger to switch hands.
Tan Xinger looked down at her slightly warm hand, the medicinal oil being absorbed from the pressure, leaving behind red marks where Gu Jingyong had rubbed.
Mixed in with the still-fading bruises, it looked like she had been abused.
"Sigh."
Tan Xinger sighed suddenly, prompting Gu Jingyong to glance at her, as if he wanted to say something, but only moved his lips without speaking.
Tan Xinger didn't notice his gesture, continuing to lament her unfortunate fate. She had sustained more injuries in the past few days than in the previous eighteen years of her life.
"Xingzi, when do you plan to leave?"
Jiang Qiqi approached, her gaze subtly falling on Gu Jingyong.
"We'll leave in a moment. What about you?"
"We're getting ready to leave too. Qiao asked me to ask if you want to leave with us?"
Qiao?
Seemingly sensing Tan Xinger's confusion, Jiang Qiqi pointed to Qiao, who was dressed in black.
"Together."
Gu Jingyong answered for her, causing Tan Xinger to look at him in surprise.
"Okay, it'll be good to look out for each other on the way."
Jiang Qiqi was happy to meet Tan Xinger. She was only twenty-one years old and hadn't fully developed an adult temperament yet. Song Qing was cold, so she was naturally happy to meet Tan Xinger.
Tan Xinger also had a good impression of Jiang Qiqi, so they naturally got closer.
After quickly packing up, Gu Jingyong watched Tan Xinger walking with Jiang Qiqi, the two of them intimately holding hands as if they had known each other for a long time.
The person who had originally stood by his side walked towards someone else, and Gu Jingyong withdrew his gaze indifferently, walking alone ahead.
"What's wrong?"
Jiang Qiqi asked nervously as she saw Tan Xinger suddenly shiver.
"Nothing, just felt a sudden chill."
Tan Xinger waved her hand to indicate that she was fine.
"Is the medicinal oil working?"
"Shouldn't it cause a warming sensation?"
"Right."
Their conversation fell into Qiao's ears, his gaze briefly falling on Tan Xinger before quickly moving away, as if nothing had happened.
Perhaps because the journey had been too smooth so far, shortly after they left the convenience store, they encountered the first wave of zombies.
The zombies were evolving, and the initially pungent smell that could mask the scent of living humans to evade the zombies was now almost useless.
Almost as soon as they approached the horde of zombies, some zombies noticed them and started approaching, following the scent.
"We need to find a way into the building. Everyone, make sure to protect yourselves and avoid getting hurt."
Gao Xin said, and Jiang Qiqi nodded quickly to show her understanding.
Tan Xinger looked at them, then turned to Gu Jingyong and nodded heavily, her eyes full of earnestness.
Protect yourself!
—I won't let you get hurt.
Tan Xinger frowned, feeling that Gu Jingyong didn't quite understand her intentions. She felt like she wasted her encouragement.
Jiang Qiqi handed her a knife, and Tan Xinger gratefully held it, feeling like her life was now guaranteed.
With determination in mind, Tan Xinger and Jiang Qiqi found themselves surrounded by several people when the real killing started.
As the group of people rushed out while the zombies were still relatively few, a zombie rushed towards them, roaring and baring its sharp teeth.
Qiao stabbed a knife into the zombie's mouth and forcefully slashed to the left. Instantly, the zombie's mouth was cut open, blood spraying everywhere.
Gu Jingyong watched the zombie's viscous fluid spewing out, then, with disgust, he leaped onto a zombie's shoulder and jumped into the midst of the horde.
The dagger's sharp edge gleamed with a cold light as one zombie after another fell, each with blood streaming from their chests, all felled by a single strike.
Gu Jingyong kicked a zombie blocking the way, clearing a path.
Jiang Qiqi pulled Tan Xinger towards the entrance of the building, with zombies closely following behind them, relentless and unrelenting.
Gao Xin waved his hand, instructing Sun Hao to lead a few girls to go ahead first, while they covered the rear.
With too many zombies to kill, they could only seize the opportunity to hide.
Sun Hao swung his newly sharpened long knife, piercing through several zombies' hearts with one strike before kicking them away.
Tan Xinger watched with a pounding heart, inadvertently catching Jiang Qiqi's admiring gaze.
When Qiao slit open the zombie's mouth earlier, both of them had instinctively covered their mouths in panic. But now, looking at Sun Hao, the admiration in Jiang Qiqi's eyes was real, not like before.
It wasn't the time for random thoughts, Tan Xinger quickly regained her focus, bent down, and ran with Jiang Qiqi past the turnstile to the elevator.
"The elevator is still running!"
Song Jia exclaimed in surprise, watching as the elevator slowly descended to the first floor, Tan Xinger had a bad feeling.
"Quick, let's go!"
Tan Xinger pulled Jiang Qiqi's hand and ran to the side, but they were still a step too late.
The elevator doors slowly opened, and a group of crowded zombies poured out, rushing towards them.
"Ah!"
Jiang Qiqi was grabbed by a fallen zombie, unable to break free. She could only stab down repeatedly with her knife. The zombie's back slowly stained her clothes red with blood. Sun Hao rushed over, kicked the zombie away, and pulled her towards the stairs.
"This way."
After Sun Hao shouted, Tan Xinger pushed aside the zombies in front of her and ran over in a sorry state.
Song Qing was running at the back, her long hair messy on her shoulders, her previously calm face now in disarray.
"Hurry!"
Sun Hao pushed Tan Xinger in, and the heavy door to the corridor slowly closed, isolating the zombies outside.
"Phew..."
"That scared me."
Jiang Qiqi covered her heart, still feeling the sensation of the zombie in her arms, making her uncomfortable as she kicked her legs.
"Should we wait for them?"
Tan Xinger leaned against the wall, zombies continuously banging against the door, more and more being attracted.
"No, they'll find their way here. Let's go quickly."
Sun Hao swapped his long knife with Jiang Qiqi's knife, holding the knife tightly as he walked in front.
"Or should I give you the long knife? I'm not going to use it anyway."
Jiang Qiqi looked at the knife in Sun Hao's hand, feeling a bit guilty.
"You keep it. Your height suits it better."
Sun Hao glanced at her and continued to lead the way.
"Tch."
Jiang Qiqi clicked her tongue and didn't say anything more.
Their conversation dispelled some of the tension. Tan Xinger wasn't worried about Gu Jingyong's safety, but it still felt insecure without him around. She silently prayed for him to catch up soon.
"Qing Jie, you're a mid-level member of the Southern Society. Do you have any insider information, like where the emergency exit is?"
Jiang Qiqi felt the atmosphere was a bit heavy and looked at Song Qing, who had been silent.
"The location of the emergency exit is not fixed, but it's only confirmed to be on the top floor of the financial building."
Song Qing glanced at Tan Xinger before speaking, her icy face returning to its previous calmness.
"Okay."
Jiang Qiqi sighed helplessly, her mood falling.
Sun Hao cautiously stared at the upper floor, suddenly stopping when he turned a corner, reaching out to stop them.
"What's wrong?"
Jiang Qiqi, walking at the back, hadn't seen anything unusual on the ground.
As they rounded the corner, the scene on the ground came into view. Several bodies lay sprawled on the ground, their grotesque faces unmistakably those of zombies.
However, these zombies had all been killed by being pierced through the heart. One zombie had even been impaled to the ground by a knife through its heart.
"This kind of technique for killing zombies, could it also be a player?"
Jiang Qiqi covered her mouth in surprise, looking at Sun Hao with some unease.
"Regardless, let's go up first and talk later."
Sun Hao's face also darkened. The corridor door on the first floor was closed, and there were dead zombies inside the corridor. If there were indeed survivors on the rooftop...
"Let's hope it's not the North Society's Killing God."
Jiang Qiqi clasped her hands together, silently praying.
The North Society? Tan Xinger caught the fresh term, Killing God? That sounds terrifying.
Tan Xinger's look of surprise and confusion was too obvious, prompting Jiang Qiqi to explain, "You've just arrived, so you might not be aware of the power struggles in Si Fang City. The North Society is one of them. They're all lunatics, targeting players specifically to lower the completion rate of dungeons and increase their points. Encountering them is never a good thing."
Jiang Qiqi seemed indignant, as if she had been persecuted before.
Sure enough, her next words confirmed it, "In my previous dungeon, I was almost killed by someone from the North Society. Luckily, Sun Hao saved me. Don't let me encounter that player again; I won't let him off!"
"Alright, enough talk. Let's hurry up and go upstairs."
Sun Hao kicked the bodies aside and urged them to go upstairs.
"God bless, God bless!"
Jiang Qiqi muttered like she was chanting a mantra.
Tan Xinger followed behind her, inadvertently sliding past one of the zombies that had been nailed to the ground, drawn to something on its wrist.