Chereads / The Abyssal Garden: No Room for the Idle / Chapter 25 - Chapter 25 Are You Outsiders?

Chapter 25 - Chapter 25 Are You Outsiders?

Tower's twelfth floor.

Night Guards and the others were walking up the stairs, all the while feeling uncomfortable as they looked around. A large number of survivors were peeping out through the cracks in the doors with their eyes, revealing numbness, fear, but also a hint of expectancy.

"Are all these Tower survivors?"

"Why do they all seem so weak, and their gazes so strange?" Ah Qie said softly, "Some seem frightened... yet as if they're expecting something."

The bearded big man leading them into this place looked back at these people and only said, "Because... you are outsiders."

The group looked slightly stunned, exchanging surprised glances with each other.

Outsiders?

What does that mean?

However, Xun Xiaohuan, walking at the back, remained calm, not perturbed by this statement, and instead asked, "Where are you taking us now?"

"To see the Tower's leader; he will explain the situation to you." The bearded man's attitude was a bit odd; he was not very welcoming and even seemed a bit wary, but he also appeared to need something from them.

Their expressions changed again, but they chose not to ask further questions and followed him upstairs.

When they finally reached the top floor of the Tower.

They then entered a rather decrepit spacious room, where an old man in a wheelchair was reading a book by a crude desk. Only when they entered did he gently close the book and look at them.

"Hello," the old man greeted them with a kind smile. "Sorry, it's a little cramped here, and we're short on supplies, so there's not much with which to entertain you."

Night Guard looked at the man: "Old sir, are you the Tower's leader?"

"Yes," the old man spoke slowly. "My name is Loren, and you want to understand the situation of the Tower and the outside world, right?"

"Um..."

Night Guard nodded hesitantly. The other party seemed to know about them and had anticipated their next move.

"I can tell you," the old man spoke gently. "But it will be a bit inconvenient for you..."

"Be careful!" Xun Xiaohuan suddenly frowned and warned.

In that room, roughly a dozen people armed with firearms emerged from hidden places, their dark barrels aimed at everyone's heads.

Everyone's faces changed slightly, and Night Guard quickly spoke, "Respected Tower leader, we mean no harm."

"Neither do we," one of the gunmen rasped out.

Ah Ti couldn't help but say, "You call this meaning no harm, pointing so many guns at..."

His gaze shifted, and he abruptly stopped.

Because in that room, a majority of the armed individuals turned out to be elderly, infirm, diseased, with rotting parts on their bodies; some couldn't even hold their weapons steady.

The few young people there were also bandaged up with wounds.

"Why..." Night Guard was somewhat shocked and puzzled.

"Because we fear you might have malicious intent," the Bearded Man said calmly, "I'm sorry, but let's have our conversation like this for now."

"Understood."

The Night Watch pressed down on some agitated teammates: "We're all ears."

"Thank you for your understanding... cough... cough cough!" The old man's health was not good, evidenced by the coughing fits that spattered blood on his handkerchief. He extended his hand to stop the others, who were getting anxious, from coming closer.

His face, lined like entwined tree roots, reflected on the past, his voice a bit more hoarse than before: "Twenty years ago in this City, Srilan, a terrible infectious virus burst forth, turning every infected person... into those zombies you've seen outside."

"And among these zombies, another terrifying Monster was born, which we call the Night Demon. You must have encountered this powerful creature as well," he continued.

"Mmm... indeed very powerful," Night Watch spoke in a deep voice, noting they had also lost a teammate to it.

"These Monsters are beyond human resistance, but fortunately, they can only move at night and are extremely fearful of the sun. So, we use the Tower as our base, scavenging for supplies by day, and warding off Night Demon invasions with ultraviolet light by night."

The old man kindly looked towards one of the armed young men: "Like this generation, they grew up in such an environment."

"That's not right..." Old Tomato suddenly couldn't help but interject: "On the bus earlier, we saw a decaying dead body, that of the bus driver. If it's been twenty years, logically, he should've been reduced to bones long ago."

"That's the terrifying part of the virus," the Bearded Man said gravely: "All of the zombies it infects never completely die, even if you chop off their heads during the day. But as soon as night falls, those fallen zombies will come back to life!"

The complexions of Night Watch and his companions changed: "It's as if they've been cursed."

Endless zombies, dreadful Night Demons; this was like Hell indeed!

"We have been trapped in this terrible despair for a full twenty years," the old man said, his eyes growing slightly cloudy: "We thought it would just continue like this forever, but then... ten years ago, a group of outsiders suddenly appeared in the City."

Outsiders... their expressions flickered slightly, having already heard this term from the Bearded Man before, sensing something amiss. Now it seemed...

"They appeared abruptly like you, wearing clothes completely different from ours, speaking a language that no one could understand, and every one of them possessed weapons and individual strength beyond ordinary people; many zombies were no match for them."

Everyone except Xun Xiaohuan showed a look of astonishment.

That's right, those people were players like them.

"Back then, we thought the Savior had come. They were so formidable, perhaps they could save us," the old man sighed: "But unfortunately... they failed."

"And every year... such a group of outsiders would appear. Although we don't know where they come from, for everyone in the Tower, this is the only hope, and we naturally gave our full support," the old man said calmly: "There was a time we almost succeeded, but after paying a heavy price, we still faced failure in the end."

Night Watch frowned: "If that's the case, why treat us this way?"

"Because... last year's group of outsiders..." someone clenched their teeth tightly, letting out a low growl: "They were all a bunch of Demons!"

Night Watch noticed the look of fear and anger in the eyes of others.

Unable to hold back, Old Tomato asked: "What did they do?"

If they were players, they usually would follow the main quest line, seeking local force's help, and wouldn't do excessive things to NPCs.

The Bearded Man's voice was hoarse and trembling uncontrollably, his tone filled with anger:

"They... treated all of us as if we were insects, coercing us with their overwhelming force to be bait, taking ordinary lives for experiments for amusement, introducing the infection virus into our food, even leading zombies into this Tower that we've defended for twenty years, and watching us fight to the death as they laughed."

Even as the leader, at this moment his fingers grasped onto the armrest of the wheelchair tightly, but the old man let go with a sense of helplessness, his voice dry and heavy:

"Last year the Tower's population was 311 people, but this year... there are only 139 left."