"You b*st*rd, Lin Jiu! You really left me behind?!"
Xiao Xuan shouted angrily as she chased after Lin Jiu, who had taken YoonA and run. The muddy ground made her slip and fall face-first.
She got up, ignoring the pain, and continued to run after them.
Behind her, the remaining team members had been surrounded and killed by the zombies. Only the buzz-cut man barely escaped with his life. He exercised regularly and could run faster than most people, so he soon caught up with Lin Jiu and the others.
"Follow me. There's no way to hide here."
He took the lead, running ahead and weaving through the forest. He lifted the lid of a metal drum and flipped open a wooden board on the ground, then jumped down.
Seeing him disappear, Lin Jiu and the others followed.
Once inside, he sealed the wooden board and turned on a flashlight. The tunnel was something he had dug out himself—tall enough to walk while crouching.
He'd secretly dug it out after losing too many times at real-life CS games. Not only was it a perfect hiding spot, but it also led to an ancient tomb he had stumbled upon. He didn't dare touch anything inside, but would occasionally visit just to look around.
After walking about 20 meters, they reached the tomb entrance—a pair of plain stone slabs.
For security, the buzz-cut man had installed a lock on it. He took out a key, opened the lock, and pushed the door open.
Click!
He pressed a switch on the wall, and the tomb lit up brightly.
Lin Jiu and the others were stunned. The tomb chamber was equipped with electric lights, with several car batteries stacked neatly against the wall.
"Who told you to do all this?" Lin Jiu was speechless.
This guy was something else. He even had a folding bed set up next to the coffin.
Neatly arranged porcelain vases with fake flowers were also placed in the tomb.
"Don't worry. I've never opened the coffin. Sometimes I come here to chill and chat with the guy inside. It's warm in the winter and cool in the summer—pretty comfy."
Lin Jiu was impressed. He'd seen gutsy people, but this was a new level of crazy. He gave him a thumbs-up in admiration.
The stone door looked thick and solid. It should be safe to hide here for 24 hours.
Xiao Xuan and YoonA looked a bit scared. "We're spending the night here?"
"Probably. The place outside is crawling with zombies. We'll leave when they're gone."
The buzz-cut man handed out beers from a case nearby and offered Lin Jiu one.
"Brother, what kind of gun do you have? That power's insane."
"Must be the bullets," Lin Jiu said, taking out the magazine to show him.
The glowing green bullets piqued the man's interest. He leaned in to take a closer look.
"Where'd you get these? Got any more?"
"That's it. Only five rounds left," Lin Jiu quickly reloaded, cautious now. The man was armed too—if he got any funny ideas, things could go south quickly.
That night, they nibbled on some snacks and laid out sleeping mats to rest.
After they fell asleep, the lights began to flicker.
The blue-tinted glow revealed a white-robed female ghost who drifted out from the coffin.
She floated over to Lin Jiu and whispered coldly, "You brat, you've got some nerve disturbing my peace."
Lin Jiu jolted awake, a chill running down his neck.
But when he saw the beautiful ghost, he didn't feel fear. "Sis, I'm just staying the night. We'll be gone tomorrow. Be nice, okay?"
He wasn't afraid of ghosts—he'd died so many times already. Plus, the ghost looked quite pretty, like a character from a wuxia drama. Maybe if he sweet-talked her, she'd even give him a secret martial arts manual.
"Hmph. Unless you stay and keep me company, I'll kill that girl."
Her expression twisted, nails growing longer as she reached toward YoonA.
"Wait—she didn't do anything to you!"
Lin Jiu tried to stop her, but his hands passed right through. In a panic, he flailed wildly.
"Ahhh!"
A woman's scream snapped him out of the nightmare.
It turned out he had smacked Xiao Xuan in his sleep. Her cheek was already turning purple.
"You punched me for pinching that girl's nose?!"
Xiao Xuan had gotten annoyed with YoonA's loud snoring and pinched her nose. That's when Lin Jiu, dreaming, had suddenly lashed out.
Tears welled up in her eyes, on the verge of falling.
"Sorry, sorry. I was having a nightmare."
Lin Jiu rubbed his temples and went to smoke. That deep sleep had helped him recover a lot.
Beep beep!Countdown: 10 hours 6 minutes.
It was already 2 AM. He only needed to survive until noon.
Creak creak creak...
Suddenly, scratching sounds came from inside the coffin.
"Crap! Don't tell me it's her?"
Lin Jiu loaded his pistol and had Xiao Xuan wake the others.
They were startled by the noise. Just their luck—trying to hide from zombies and now dealing with a reanimated corpse.
The scratching got more intense.
They backed into a corner, eyes fixed on the coffin.
CRACK!
The coffin shattered, and an ugly zombie crawled out.
Its claws were pitch black, and its head split in two, lined with rows of black spikes inside.
"D*mn, a mutant zombie!"
The buzz-cut man opened fire first. The confined space made the gunshots deafening.
But the bullets bounced off its body like they were hitting metal. One shard even sliced YoonA's arm.
"Ahh... ugh..." She clutched her arm, sobbing.
Lin Jiu wasn't sure whether to shoot its head or its heart.
Bang! Bang!
He fired twice—one shot blasted half its head, the other pierced its chest.
HSSSS...
The zombie hissed, still not dead.
Worse, black slug-like parasites with eight legs crawled out of its chest and scuttled toward them.
"Get out! These things came from the zombie's body. One bite and you might mutate."
Lin Jiu pulled the injured YoonA and opened the stone door.
Xiao Xuan rolled her eyes but followed closely.
The buzz-cut man shut the door behind them.
It was the middle of the night. Inside was a mutant zombie, and outside were zombie hordes—they had nowhere left to go.
Lin Jiu made a quick decision. Better to try escaping than wait to die.
If zombies came into the tunnel, they'd be trapped like rats.
Thunk!
He shoved the wooden cover open and climbed out, the others right behind him.
Thankfully, no zombies were nearby and the rain had stopped.
By the moonlight, they could see zombies wandering around the trenches.
As long as they didn't make noise, they could sneak around until dawn.
But fate had other plans.
At 10 AM, the buzz-cut man went to relieve himself and got bitten on the butt by a zombie.
His scream attracted a swarm.
Grabbing his pants, he ran back yelling, "Run! They're coming!"
Seeing a horde of sprinting zombies, Lin Jiu didn't hesitate—he turned and ran.
They zigzagged through the field, hiding and fleeing for two straight hours.
That night, the buzz-cut man had tried to lead them out, only to discover an invisible barrier had sealed off the entire area.
Lin Jiu realized things had changed—now they were all trapped inside his countdown zone.
Beep beep!Countdown: 10 minutes 15 seconds.
"Huff... Huff... We're almost out. Head for the mall!"
He gasped for breath and led them toward the exit of the real-life CS field.
But just then, the buzz-cut man's voice rang out steadily behind them:
"I'll hold off the zombies. You all go on ahead."