Ch 126: TGCIR

Zombies were chasing a researcher at top speed. As they ran, the crow that was originally just staying in the ventilation ducts finally caught a scent, which actually was ‘a stench’, but in the game was indicated by the direction of an arrow, and started flapping their wings.

The crow flew silently, but in the seemingly empty Research Institute, Xia Jinshi had already reached the monitor. On the screen, he saw a dark shadow flash by the display.

Among the thirty or forty screens, Xia Jinshi suddenly pointed to one showing the corner of the 11th floor and decisively said to the monitoring staff, “Rewind 1 minute.”

Time was rewound by one minute.

This time, the monitoring staff also noticed the lightning-fast shadow, muttering to themselves, “What was that?” Without needing Xia Jinshi to instruct further, they enlarged the frame and slowed down the playback speed.

Slowed down by dozens of times, the originally blurry flashing shadow became clearly visible: a crow-like creature could be seen distinctly.

“Are there crows in the experiment?” the monitoring staff murmured to themselves, still trying hard to recall if there were any such experimental creatures. They were interrupted by Xia Jinshi’s cold voice, “That thing might have the ability to transform. It might have taken on Dr. Wei’s appearance and now looks like a crow. Immediately issue an order: no mice should be released.”

“Yes.”

Xia Jinshi coldly glanced at the screen showing the 11th floor, pondered for a moment, and his smile became even colder: “Hold your position, and follow it to the 10th floor.”

If they weren’t sure about the target before, seeing this strange experimental crow now on the 11th floor made it clear: the target was definitely Fu Yanzhou on the 10th floor.

At this time, Shen Cheng had already flown into the 10th floor.

Just crossing the interlayer between the 10th and 11th floors, Shen Cheng suddenly noticed a few circles appearing in her vision. Experienced gamers knew to avoid circles!

She flapped her wings and narrowly flew to the left, just outside the circle’s coverage area. Suddenly, there was a series of rapid hissing sounds, with three streaks of light closely spaced. As they flew halfway, they split into six parts, scattering and leaving small charred marks on the floor. Shen Cheng estimated that avoiding the initial three streaks made her relax her guard, but there was no way to avoid the splitting streaks: the designer of this mechanism really knew how to exploit psychological relaxation!

Suddenly, she had a guess: could Xia Jinshi have set up this trap?

Guessing this made Shen Cheng view the trap much more favorably: since it was Xia Jinshi who was currently on her hate list, adding some trouble for him was quite satisfying.

Shen Cheng first looked around, ensuring there were no surveillance cameras, then carefully examined the position of the circles in the game screen. She twisted and adjusted the settings for a long time until she managed to move the circle to another direction of entry. She then chuckled sinisterly three times and flew towards the side of the corridor— the further she went, the smaller the laboratory numbers became, indicating the direction of her destination.

The crow had just flown a dozen meters when it saw a room with the number “1” on it.

Room 1’s door had a huge hole, and the inside was a mess. Whatever experiment was conducted there seemed to have ended disastrously.

Opposite Room 1 was a large steel tank with the number “2” on it, and this lab seemed to be intact.

“???”

Shen Cheng was puzzled: Room 2 seemed particularly simple, without any protective measures, completely unlike the high-tech security of the now-destroyed Room 1. But precisely because of its simplicity, how could she get in?

Room 2 was essentially a huge steel can. Shen Cheng circled around it, finding only ventilation and piping; the rest was solid with no gaps!

How was she supposed to get in?

The crow was puzzled.

Even if it wasn’t a crow, even a bear would be like an egg against a stone with this room!

Shen Cheng silently tried pecking the iron a couple of times and then had the crow approach to listen closely: the soundproofing was perfect, not a peep could be heard!

She regretted not having Li Weilan here: having her cut through in situations like this was more useful than anything else!

But Li Weilan was elsewhere.

Shen Cheng pondered, then reopened the mall.

Having already bought the mini-timed bomb, she had exhausted the store’s bomb supplies for the day, so that section was empty. However, there was another high-level weapon available. Although using it to cut this iron tank might make the weapon ‘cry’, she had no other choice at this critical moment.

She bought a plasma gun.

This weapon can only be obtained from the prize wheel, and the probability of getting it is only 1%. The whole concept of spending money on chances is like a black art; a 1% probability might mean that a lucky person could get it on the first try, while someone with poor luck might not get it even after spending a lot.

In the past, Shen Cheng would never have considered spending money on prize draws. She believed she had terrible luck, thinking she was cursed for generations, with ten consecutive draws leading to nothing, feeling as if she was burning money out of spite. Shen Cheng preferred to grind daily, or slowly save up points with a monthly pass and try her luck then. But this game…

Since she knew she was dealing with the lives of her beloved characters, Shen Cheng no longer hesitated to spend some money: after all, the money was earned by her own cub.

Without blinking, she spent 100 yuan, receiving 10 tickets. When those didn’t work, she quickly spent another 10,000 yuan, buying 100 sets of ten consecutive draws. Fortunately, on the 34th attempt, she finally got this golden epic weapon:

[Plasma Gun: The target you aimed at seems to have disappeared because it was vaporized. What? Missed? There are only two possibilities: either you didn’t hit the target, or it was blown to bits.]

“This description is a bit brutal.”

Shen Cheng didn’t have time to pay attention to the game’s description. Carefully, she switched from the crow form back to human, picked up the gun, and lightly touched the edge of the tank. The seemingly indestructible metal surface vaporized instantly, revealing the darkness inside.

In front of this weapon, any indestructible cage, any sturdy cell, was only marginally more resistant than a piece of cotton.

The extremely sturdy material turned to ash in just a few seconds. The entire floor’s alarm sounded, and the institute’s mechanical sirens blared again: “Room 2 damaged, Room 2 damaged.”

Light gradually illuminated the dark room.

In the almost empty room, a man covered in tubes slowly opened his eyes, revealing an eerie silver pupil.

He blinked slowly, as if he smelled something, his cheeks suddenly puffed twice, and blood vessels appeared in his eyes.

“Fu Yanzhou? Fu Yanzhou?” In the darkness, he heard a girl’s voice.

The voice was so familiar, yet he couldn’t recall who was calling him.

Consciousness drifted in an unfamiliar chaos. He took two breaths, turned his face towards the light, and blinked as the light hit his eyes, feeling something flowing down his cheek.

He felt a presence in front of him.

The voice was filled with fear and distress: “Fu Yanzhou?”

Shen Cheng finally saw his face clearly on the phone screen.

His face was covered with black, claw-like patterns, looking ferocious. His eyes alternated between silver pupils and bloodshot eyes, switching every second between lifeless silver and blood-red.

Although the Q-version art style made him look less frightening and even a bit cute, Shen Cheng felt a sudden wave of sorrow and understanding.

Fu Yanzhou’s lips moved.

Involuntarily, she took two steps closer. Fu Yanzhou’s gaze accurately fell on her. Even in the dim light, he recognized her figure. Shen Cheng heard his extremely hoarse voice: “Go away. I’ve already turned into a zombie.”

Without needing him to say it, Shen Cheng could see he was in a semi-zombified state.

Fu Yanzhou’s head was no longer joyous and trustworthy, but a mixture of yellow and decayed flesh.

Half-dead, half-yellow, with tiny bits still clinging to life, perhaps that was Fu Yanzhou’s last bit of clarity in Noah’s base.

Shen Cheng heard the commotion outside, and in her grief and anger, she raised her hand and fired, causing a “boom.” The group outside, seemingly caught by their own mechanisms and unable to evade, cried out in pain.

Listening to the miserable cries and smelling the blood outside, Fu Yanzhou’s throat emitted a continuous low growl. His gaze regained a bit of clarity, and the question mark and confusion in his eyes gradually faded. He struggled to lift his head and pull out the tubes connected to him, looking up at Shen Cheng and saying, “I still have some consciousness. It seems I have a bit of human awareness left.”

Shen Cheng was stunned.

Fu Yanzhou spoke urgently: “I can’t go back to Noah. Go, and don’t let them find you.”

Before he could finish speaking, his cheeks suddenly grew a pair of huge fangs. Fu Yanzhou groaned, and when he looked up again, his eyes were filled only with chaos and hunger.

He roared and lunged at her. Shen Cheng blocked with her arm, but she heard a “crack” sound from her arm. Despite his frail appearance, Fu Yanzhou had immense strength. His sudden rush made Shen Cheng stagger, unable to withstand the force.

While in shock and contemplating how to knock him out and carry him away from the institute, gunfire erupted from outside. A group of strong men wearing uniforms and protective gear, armed with various weapons, rushed in!

Leading the group, Xia Jinshi adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses and said solemnly, “Don’t kill him.”

His fingers moved rapidly, as if countless threads were being woven from his fingertips. When those around them touched the threads, they stiffened momentarily. Shen Cheng saw their previously moderate expressions turn sharp and determined almost instantly.

The leader, a power-type ability user, roared loudly. Shen Cheng, already injured in the wrist, instinctively retreated three steps. Her vision blurred, and a “Dizzy” debuff appeared over her head. She didn’t know if it was a skill learned in the post-apocalyptic world like Lion’s Roar, but it made Shen Cheng dizzy just by looking at the screen, causing her to stagger through multiple circles on the ground. After avoiding three circles, she was hit by the fourth, making her screen dim and her character getting scorched on the cheek.

At that moment, she suddenly heard Fu Yanzhou’s voice behind her: “Get down!”

She dodged, and a liquid shot out towards the group.

It was an acid.

Whatever it was, it seemed highly feared by the group, causing them to retreat quickly.

Behind the group, Xia Jinshi’s smile vanished, replaced by a serious look as he met Fu Yanzhou’s rare moment of clarity.

Shen Cheng thought for a moment and cast a ‘Recovery Spell’ to remove negative debuffs on Fu Yanzhou.

She hoped the zombie virus would be considered a debuff by the game system and could be removed.

Black mist flashed across Fu Yanzhou’s face, and he let out a painful roar as his body emitted black smoke.

Xia Jinshi’s confident expression turned anxious, especially when he saw Shen Cheng’s powerful weapon pointed at Fu Yanzhou’s neck, making him hesitant. After all, Fu Yanzhou was the only successful experiment.

Despite signs of failure in Fu Yanzhou’s experiment, it seemed he retained some human rationality.

Fu Yanzhou suddenly shouted at Xia Jinshi, “Let them go!”

He turned to Shen Cheng: “I chose this voluntarily, really. My senior brother was right; the only way to atone is to end this world filled with chaos and death. It’s the only way to make amends. Go, tell them that Fu Yanzhou no longer exists in this world.”

“Fu Yanzhou…” Shen Cheng hesitated. She noticed that after using the ‘Recovery Spell,’ the constant switching of colors in his pupils had lessened. If the experiment’s goal was to stabilize Fu Yanzhou’s mind, did she unintentionally help them?

The chaos and bloodlust in his pupils were replaced by stability and clarity.

Upon hearing Fu Yanzhou’s words, Shen Cheng suddenly recalled countless times in the game where she had seen Fu Yanzhou silently watching Li Weilan’s back.

He never apologized to Li Weilan.

But it seemed that from the moment he joined Noah, he had always said that he would one day make it up to Li Weilan.

What kind of compensation was this?

When Fu Yanzhou looked at Xia Jinshi, Xia Jinshi waved his hand, signaling the others to clear the way.

A sharp light flashed in Fu Yanzhou’s eyes, looking more rational than ever. He glanced at the now calm and composed Fu Yanzhou and then at the beautiful girl who had restored his sanity. Remembering her face, he instructed those on both sides, “Let them go.”

A girl who could restore Fu Yanzhou’s sanity at a critical moment…

“But, Director…” someone hesitated.

Xia Jinshi’s cold gaze swept over them, and the path was immediately cleared.

Shen Cheng remained silent and had no choice but to control her character to leave.

Surprisingly, there was no obstruction on the way.

The dramatic confrontation she had anticipated did not occur.

🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋

Thingyan: Girl, your bf gonna be pissed when he found out you went out to do these things alone 🫢