"I lost track of Qiqi and the others. I should have arranged a way to stay in touch beforehand, even if it was just a code word," Tan Xinger paced around the room, standing by the floor-to-ceiling window, unable to see the countless zombies or the shadow of the black car.
"Gaoxin is a mid-level member of the Southern faction. Dealing with this instance should be manageable for him. There's no need to worry too much," Gu Jingyong said, knowing that Tan Xinger was concerned about Jiang Qiqi. He added, "Si Qiao is ranked in the top five hundred players. With him there, nothing should go wrong."
"What level of skill is required to be in the top five hundred?" Tan Xinger noticed the number and thought about Gu Jingyong's displayed skill level, feeling curious about his rank.
"Players in the top five hundred have cleared at least twenty level-three or higher instances and are core members of their respective guilds."
"The difficulty of this instance mainly lies in the number of zombies and their mutated attributes. As long as you've looked at the strategy beforehand, you can plan your route to avoid large numbers of zombies," Gu Jingyong explained.
"Is the route we've taken planned out as well?" Tan Xinger thought about the zombies they had encountered along the way, sometimes more and sometimes fewer, which seemed inexplicable.
"Yes, this is the third time I've planned out the route. It should help us avoid areas with an explosion of zombies. For players entering this instance for the first time, it's easy to get lost in those areas, and practically no player can come out unscathed."
Gu Jingyong rarely spoke so much, but the information he provided was substantial. Tan Xinger couldn't help but feel grateful that she had encountered Gu Jingyong.
It was also fortunate that she was the person Gu Jingyong was looking for; otherwise, she would probably have respawned in the instance hundreds of times by now.
"It's terrifying," Tan Xinger thought about the mountains of corpses and seas of blood they had avoided, feeling her scalp tingling. She suddenly felt uncomfortable and rubbed her arms nervously.
"Are all survival instances this terrifying?" Tan Xinger thought about the novels she had read before, which mainly featured zombies, bio-crises, and a very few mutations among animals and plants. She couldn't help but become interested in the survival instances Gu Jingyong had experienced.
"After leaving the instance, you can choose to experience it yourself," Gu Jingyong said, looking at Tan Xinger's face full of interest, extinguishing her budding thoughts with a single sentence.
"Let's forget about that. I'll continue to be an NPC. Hehehe." Just facing a zombie crisis was enough to make her fearful. Her hair had fallen out more than before these days, let alone the quality of life.
She only wanted to listen, not to experience it herself. She'd rather continue to be a silent and anonymous tool, triggering plotlines for players. Anything else was out of the question.
Gu Jingyong watched her suddenly become an ostrich, not saying anything, just smiling. The survival skills in the instance might not be suitable for her.
Gu Jingyong rarely looked at her directly. Tan Xinger was pulling at the loose threads on her clothes. If not for her disheveled appearance, she would probably be taking an exam in the classroom right now. After all, according to the normal timeline, she would be taking the college entrance examination in less than a month.
College.
The word suddenly popped into Gu Jingyong's head. A long time ago, it seemed that someone had excitedly told him that they had been accepted to their desired university.
The red admission letter was more suited to her than the blood and gore strewn across the ground here.
Gu Jingyong watched Tan Xinger lost in her memories. She called his name several times without noticing.
"Gu Jingyong!" Tan Xinger snapped back to reality, feeling curious about what could make him so lost in thought.
Gu Jingyong was brought back from his reverie by her call, looking at Tan Xinger's face with a momentary hesitation.
Quickly regaining his composure, as if nothing had happened, he asked, "What's wrong?"
"There was a commotion outside just now, and it seems like some of the zombies have been attracted away. Should we take advantage of the opportunity to break out?" Tan Xinger walked to the door, pressing her ear against it to listen for any noise outside.
The chaos outside had subsided considerably, and the sound of the zombies' footsteps had noticeably decreased. They should have moved away quite a bit.
"Take the dagger," Gu Jingyong took out a dagger from his bag and handed it to her. He continued to use the wooden stick he had before, its tip already stained black with zombie blood.
"I can't easily use my skills right now, so you must stick close to me, understand?" Gu Jingyong's hand, which had been on the door handle, suddenly withdrew, and he placed both hands on Tan Xinger's shoulders, looking at her seriously.
"I... I understand," Tan Xinger met Gu Jingyong's gaze and felt a flutter in her heart, stuttering in response.
"I can't be sure if you'll remain conscious like this after being respawned again, but I hope you'll always be someone with autonomy, not just a rigid NPC," Gu Jingyong spoke slowly, and Tan Xinger understood his meaning. If her current state wasn't just a coincidence, she would become an ordinary NPC again after dying once more.
Experiencing a different ordeal before returning to their previous state is not easy for him and her to accept.
"I understand. I'll protect myself," Tan Xinger's eyes were firm as she spoke each word.
"Good." Gu Jingyong finished speaking, released her hand, and quickly opened the door. The zombies lurking outside rushed towards them, their undead bodies seemingly filled with even more vigor.
Tan Xinger was in an extreme state of excitement. The thought of being reset after dying was something she resisted vehemently.
Gu Jingyong took the lead in clearing the way, while she was responsible for finishing off the zombies. Whenever a zombie was knocked down by Gu Jingyong, she immediately rushed forward, although she couldn't kill them, she could hinder their movements.
The two of them cooperated seamlessly and quickly cleared a path of blood.
But Tan Xinger was clearly a bit exhausted. She was knocked down by zombies several times, almost stabbing Gu Jingyong with her knife, which made her feel a bit powerless.
Facing the vast game system, she felt that she was too weak. If it weren't for Gu Jingyong, she might have jumped off the roof the next day.
This also inadvertently ignited her fighting spirit. She must leave this instance; she couldn't die here.
With this in mind, Tan Xinger shouted as if she had been injected with chicken blood, then charged forward with her dagger, aiming at a zombie's chest and stabbing it.
Blood wet her hands, and Tan Xinger's heart raced as she looked at her hands, slowly adjusting her emotions.
She followed behind Gu Jingyong, and the two of them efficiently dealt with the zombies, quickly reaching the stairwell.
They fell from the elevator to the 15th floor, and the top floor was the 30th. The remaining floors presented a great challenge for them.
"Are you ready?" Gu Jingyong propped open the stairwell door and looked at Tan Xinger beside him.
"No problem," Tan Xinger nodded, took a deep breath, and waited for the next wave of zombies.
As expected, as soon as the stairwell door opened, they saw the rotten faces of the zombies, with their white bones visible inside.
The overwhelming stench forced Tan Xinger to hold her breath. She didn't know how long these zombies had been in this stairwell, but the stench pervaded the air, making her feel like she was suffocating.
She could only cover her nose and mouth with one hand while seizing the opportunity to stab the zombies with the other.
Although the stairwell was narrow, it was easy to push the zombies down. Seeing Gu Jingyong lifting a zombie and throwing it down the stairs with one hand, Tan Xinger followed suit and pushed another zombie down with her body.
But she didn't control her strength well, and almost slipped herself, nearly falling down the stairs.
Fortunately, Gu Jingyong reacted in time and pulled her into his arms.
"The zombies are dirty. Don't touch them," supporting Tan Xinger, he carried on with her, heading upstairs.
Zombies were coming from both front and rear, pressing against each other. Tan Xinger panted heavily, dodging a zombie, but unexpectedly, another zombie was knocked down by the zombies behind it and pounced from above.
"Damn it." With no way to retreat, Tan Xinger saw Gu Jingyong about to step forward, but he was entangled by several zombies, afraid of accidentally harming Tan Xinger with his air manipulation.
At this critical moment, Tan Xinger had no choice but to take a gamble. Stepping on the corpse of a nearby zombie, she flipped over the railing, avoiding the pouncing zombie.
The zombie missed Tan Xinger and fell straight down the stairs. Tan Xinger didn't fare much better; she threw herself outside the railing and found herself hanging in mid-air.
Looking down at the distance of over a dozen floors below, Tan Xinger felt dizzy. She gritted her teeth and tried to stretch her feet into the gap between the railings.
But she overestimated her arm strength. Just as she shifted her body, her hand slipped down a bit, frightening her enough to stop immediately.
Meanwhile, Gu Jingyong quickly dealt with the zombies ahead and rushed over, seeing Tan Xinger hanging outside was also shocked.
He reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her up.
"That scared me." Tan Xinger leaned against the railing, her legs feeling a bit weak, grateful as she looked at Gu Jingyong, then picked up the dagger dropped on the ground.
There was no time for them to rest; the zombies quickly returned, and the two of them had to join the fight again.
It felt like a century had passed, but Tan Xinger finally saw the sign for the 30th floor.
Before she could rejoice, the door to the 30th floor corridor was pushed open forcefully, slamming into the wall with a loud noise.
Tan Xinger was startled, and before she could react, she thought zombies would rush out. But instead, two men carrying backpacks emerged.
The two men were also stunned when they saw them, but they quickly reacted and prepared to close the door.
Unexpectedly, the zombies inside had already rushed out, and the corridor door was knocked open again, causing chaos.
Gu Jingyong pulled Tan Xinger, preventing them from being scattered in the chaos, and ran towards the rooftop.
The two young men also followed suit, with zombies chasing after them, filling the narrow corridor.
As they approached what seemed like safety, they found that the iron door to the rooftop wouldn't budge.
Tan Xinger frantically tried to smash the door with her hands, but there was no response from the outside.
It was certain that the door was locked from the outside, presumably to prevent any more players from entering.
Jiang Qiqi had told Tan Xinger that many players would target others to lower the completion rate and increase their own scores.
The group led by Hu San hadn't had the chance to do anything to them before being trapped here by another group.
For the first time, Tan Xinger felt the evil in human hearts, and the locked door was a vivid example.
"Damn it, we're locked in!"
The one speaking was a crew-cut man, kicking the door in frustration, but the iron door remained unmoved, only losing a bit of paint.
"Xiao Wu, what now?"
His companion was a middle-aged man, fighting off zombies to buy them some time.
Xiao Wu glanced at Gu Jingyong and Tan Xinger before cursing angrily, "Damn it, the door's locked. These people are as good as dead."
After cursing, Xiao Wu joined the fight with a stick. If they couldn't get in, they would have to find another way.
After exchanging glances with Gu Jingyong, Tan Xinger understood each other's thoughts and joined the fray as well.
The zombies blocked their path, but fortunately, the narrow corridor prevented the zombies from ambushing them.
So the four of them worked together to drive back the zombies, seizing the opportunity to slip into the door of the lower corridor, ready to find another solution.
Gu Jingyong led Tan Xinger, intending to find a room to stay in, but found that this floor seemed to be under renovation, with many walls torn down, leaving only an empty floor.
They had no choice but to close the door on the other side and move a few discarded tables to block the elevator entrance.
After everything was done, Tan Xinger and Gu Jingyong finally had some free time, facing the two people opposite them.