Zombie Virus

"Ah?"

Lu Bai tore a slit down the middle of the pant leg over his thigh.

As he looked at the wound that should have been a bloody mess but had now healed completely, a few traces of clear-eyed bewilderment inevitably flashed through his gaze.

When he had been unable to feel pain before, he had thought he had simply gone numb from it.

But upon closer inspection, he realized there was not even a bite mark left on his thigh.

Only the bloodstains on his pants, gradually drying up, reminded him that being bitten earlier had not been an illusion.

Seeing this, he uncertainly raised a hand to touch his neck.

Sure enough, the wound on his neck had healed itself just like the one on his thigh.

"Super Regeneration?"

Of course, he had not forgotten that he had chosen [Super Regeneration (Gold)] from the Ability Pool, but he truly had not held out much hope for it.

After all, this was his first encounter with such supernatural power. Without having tested it, it was hard to confidently factor it into his plans.

He pursed his lips and used the Eight-Sided Han Sword for support as he stood up.

Turning toward the field, his gaze seemed able to see through the old banyan tree and make out the situation there. "What an unexpected bonus."

The school's main gate was on the other side of the field.

After leaving the corner by the old banyan tree, Lu Bai did not choose to force his way across the field. Instead, he returned to the Teaching Building the way he had come.

After all, the zombie outbreak had happened right as school let out at noon, and the field had been packed with people.

Even knowing he possessed an ability like Super Regeneration, Lu Bai was still no match for the zombies wandering all over the field.

Compared to forcibly charging through a horde of zombies, finding an opportunity to climb over the wall behind the Teaching Building and leave the school was obviously more reliable.

Teaching Building, first-floor restroom.

Whoosh—

Lu Bai stared blankly at the mirror above the sink, lost in thought.

The face in the mirror was exceptionally handsome, with sharp brows and bright eyes.

Perhaps because he had spent an entire lifetime as a Taoist priest in his previous life, he also carried a faintly otherworldly air.

After a simple wash, he looked even more refreshed.

Squeak—

He turned off the tap and let out a long breath.

"Young people really are young... Mm..."

He had barely gotten halfway through his nonsense when intense pain suddenly surged from his head through every inch of his body.

The indescribable agony came in wave after wave like a flood. His entire body—even every individual cell—seemed to be letting out uncontrollable cries of anguish.

Thud!

His body collapsed to the floor out of his control, and his limbs gradually began to twitch involuntarily.

At that moment, Lu Bai's consciousness remained clear. He desperately tried to suppress the jerking of his body.

Thump... thump...

He felt his heartbeat become incredibly distinct, while his vision grew increasingly blurred.

Based on his earlier observations of the Delinquent Youth, Lu Bai quickly realized what was happening to his body.

But that realization left him with nowhere to direct his strength.

Zombie Virus!

Because the bite wounds had healed, Lu Bai had unconsciously overlooked this point.

A zombie's infectiousness was its most terrifying trait.

Veins bulged on Lu Bai's forehead, and his expression turned ferocious.

He did not intend to give up.

There was still hope.

If he remembered correctly, the description of [Super Regeneration] said it was a cellular-level healing ability.

So, in theory, this ability should work against the Zombie Virus too.

As long as he did not lose consciousness and become completely zombified before then, he should not be eliminated.

He just did not know how long this process would last.

Remembering how quickly his wounds had healed earlier, Lu Bai truly had no confidence. He could only grit his teeth and endure.

One minute, two minutes...

There was no room left for thought. His mind was completely blank.

Under the seemingly endless pain, Lu Bai eventually lost track of how much time had passed. He had completely lost all sense of time.

His thoughts were muddled, and it seemed only a thread separated him from losing consciousness altogether.

Fortunately, just as Lu Bai could no longer help wanting to give up, the pain covering his entire body abruptly vanished without a trace.

His breathing slowly evened out.

Whether because he had been tortured by pain for too long or for some other reason, Lu Bai felt unbelievably good now.

It seemed like he was even stronger than before?

And it was not just the sense of power filling his body.

He could even clearly hear the deliberately suppressed breathing coming from the stall in the corner of the restroom.

Hmm...

Hmm?

There was actually a living person hiding in the restroom?

"Classmate? Want to come out and talk?"

As he spoke, Lu Bai climbed up from the floor and stared at the locked door of the corner stall, smiling indifferently.

If they did not want to come out, then so be it.

After all, whether one remained human or became a zombie was one's own choice. Outsiders had no right to interfere.

He no longer paid attention to the reclusive Survivor.

He tore a long strip from his school uniform jacket and wrapped it around the lower end of the Eight-Sided Han Sword's guard. He slung the sword over his back, then brought both ends of the cloth around to his front and tied them into a knot.

After finishing his preparations, Lu Bai's seemingly assured movements suddenly froze.

Honestly, he had no idea what he was supposed to do now.

He could basically confirm that this was a "game." Even if zombies really tore him apart, he would merely be eliminated. He most likely would not actually die.

But the problem was, when would this game end? And what were the conditions for winning?

He was not completely clueless about those questions, but he was not far from it.

He glanced at the Data Panel before his eyes.

[Current Points: 1]

[Current Rank: 31/384]

Following normal game logic...

"So, I should just try to survive as long as possible?" Lu Bai murmured thoughtfully.

Just as he was muttering to himself, he suddenly noticed shuffling Footsteps in the corridor outside the restroom. They seemed to have been drawn over by the sound of his voice.

Lu Bai slowed his breathing.

His hearing was exceptionally sharp now, and he easily identified the Footsteps as belonging to two zombies.

One on the left, one on the right, around ten meters from the restroom entrance.

And they were gradually drawing closer.

Lu Bai bent slightly and slowly rubbed the tip of his shoe against the floor.

Although he was not yet sure exactly how much the Zombie Virus had enhanced his body,

Still...

Lu Bai suddenly stomped down. Borrowing the powerful recoil, he shot out of the restroom entrance like a tiger unleashed from its cage.

During that motion, his right hand had already reached up to grip the sword hilt on his back.

He unleashed the blade's edge!

Thud! Thud!

A flash of sword light passed, and two zombie heads with gray-white eye sockets dropped to the floor.

Blood burst from the two zombies' severed necks, splattering the corridor walls in a radiating pattern of gore.

One of the heads rolled twice across the floor, and its face still wore an expression of confusion.

"...I can't let you draw even more zombies over."

Lu Bai glanced at the two corpses and flicked the blood from his blade. "Though it seems I'm pretty seriously sick."

He could tell that he did not feel even the slightest hint of nervousness. On the contrary, he could barely resist laughing.

When making decisions, he had become so decisive that even he found it frightening.

Come to think of it, the restrooms in the Teaching Building were always located on the far right, regardless of the floor.

Since there were stairwells on both sides of the Teaching Building, he did not need to risk passing through corridors full of zombies just to go upstairs.

Lu Bai certainly was not about to deliberately make things harder for himself.

He poked his head around the corner to take a look. There were no living people left in the corridor now, only zombies wandering around.

Drying bloodstains could be seen throughout the corridor, especially the bloody handprints smeared across the white walls, which were particularly conspicuous.

Without alerting the zombies in the corridor or classrooms, Lu Bai swiftly darted onto the stairs.

The stairwell could accommodate at most four people walking abreast.

In such a narrow space, if he got blocked in, he probably would not escape without taking a few bites.

To be safe, Lu Bai slowed down and climbed the stairs carefully.

As he rounded the stairwell corner, a figure's back appeared before him.

It was a Female Classmate. As her body swayed from side to side, the horrifying bite marks on her calves churned with exposed flesh and blood.

Lu Bai silently apologized and raised his hand, preparing to rush up the remaining dozen or so steps and finish her as quickly as possible.

However, these zombies had extremely sharp hearing, and his hurried Footsteps alerted the Female Classmate.

She spun around abruptly, and a beastlike savagery appeared on her face, veins bulging beneath the skin.

This was bad!

Lu Bai's heart skipped a beat.

The Female Classmate did not disappoint him. She immediately let out a shrill howl and lunged at him with claws bared.

Naturally, Lu Bai was not worried that this zombie could hurt him.

What truly worried him was how many zombies this "girl" would attract by screaming so loudly.

This Teaching Building had eight floors, with seven classrooms on each floor.

Even if most of the students had gone to the cafeteria when the zombie outbreak began,

It would still be child's play for the entire building to hold several hundred zombies.

In any case,

He could not get trapped on the stairs!

Lu Bai reacted quickly.

He lowered his body and swung his sword upward.

While avoiding the Female Zombie's pounce, he precisely sliced through the center of her head.

The Eight-Sided Han Sword truly was quite sharp.

He barely felt any force on his wrist before the zombie's entire body was split in two.

But this was clearly not the time to praise a sword.

The commotion of a large number of zombies stirring had already reached his ears.

With the bloodstained Long Sword in hand, he took the remaining stairs two at a time,

Then turned toward the second-floor corridor, where dozens of frenzied zombies were surging toward him, shoving against one another.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

One zombie after another crashed through classroom windows. Even with their ankles twisted from the falls, they still charged at him with shrieks and roars.

The chaotic Footsteps coming from below meant that the option of retreating the way he had come had also been cut off.

Looking at the small "zombie tide" that had formed almost instantly, Lu Bai had no intention of cutting his way through it.

Before the encirclement could close in, he decisively turned and continued running upstairs.

As he neared the third floor, he saw three zombies already waiting at the stairwell entrance.

To avoid being blocked in the narrow stairwell, Lu Bai did not hesitate to throw the Eight-Sided Han Sword. He followed right after it like an arrow released from a bow.

The zombie in the middle was instantly impaled through the head.

Thanks to the Zombie Virus enhancing his physical abilities, Lu Bai's short-range burst speed was not much slower than the Long Sword. He quickly reached out with both hands and pressed them against the foreheads of the zombies on either side.

Then he abruptly exerted force, slamming their heads hard against the steps.

Without caring whether those two zombies lived or died, he picked up the Eight-Sided Han Sword and rushed onto the third floor.

Despairingly, the third floor was not much better than the second.

In the corridor, the zombies rushed toward Lu Bai one after another, terrified they would miss out on a bite of warm flesh.

He could not stop here.

Just as Lu Bai was about to turn and continue fleeing upstairs...

Click—

Less than three meters away, the security door of a room marked "Office" opened halfway.

A pretty Girl looked at him anxiously. Without making a sound, she rapidly beckoned to him.