Escalating Chaos

Tap~ tap~ tap~

Crisp footsteps echoed through the corridor outside the laboratory. A slightly observant person would have noticed that the intervals between these footsteps were perfectly uniform, without the slightest hint of panic.

Hearing the commotion, the four soldiers guarding the isolation room grew alert, simultaneously aiming their weapons at the laboratory entrance.

Agu pressed his forehead against the glass of the isolation door, observing the situation outside with great interest.

The footsteps in the corridor grew closer, sounding as if they had already reached the laboratory door.

A heavy atmosphere hung inside the laboratory; the soldiers were prepared to open fire the moment anyone appeared.

The next second, a boy dressed like a high school student turned the corner from the corridor. He walked straight toward the isolation room as if the fully armed soldiers were completely non-existent.

In Agu's field of vision, this scene was extremely irrational.

After all, the mission of those four soldiers was to guard Agu, who was hiding in the isolation room.

Under these circumstances, when a stranger suddenly appeared, they should have at least called out to interrogate him, if not gunned him down on the spot.

Yet, they did nothing. Judging by the expressions on the soldiers' faces, they seemed to be vigilantly staring at the laboratory entrance, eerily ignoring the refined-looking high school student walking in.

The entire process was so bizarre that it felt suffocating, making Agu instinctively want to flee.

Truth be told, Agu had anticipated being tracked down by a Deathmatch Participant, but he hadn't expected the first one to show up to be this strange.

What unsettled him most was that he couldn't even guess what type of ability the other party possessed.

It was certain that it wasn't as simple as invisibility, but if it were large-scale cognitive modification... that clearly didn't fall within the scope of a Silver Ability.

Is it the effect of combining two abilities? Agu felt he should say something.

The boy suddenly vanished from before Agu's eyes, then suddenly reappeared.

The other party's eccentric behavior inexplicably made Agu relax quite a bit; whether it was a hint or a show-off, it clearly carried an intent to communicate.

The high school student winked provocatively: "Open the door."

Click~

Agu did as he was told, trying his best to appear relaxed: "How about we cooperate?"

"Cooperation won't be necessary. If you don't want to be eliminated right now, just tag along with me."

"District 23, which way was it again?"

Lu Bai, carrying a cold, gleaming Eight-Sided Han Sword on his back, leaped onto the high wall of the military base and looked around.

He did not go to find Wu Ya and the others immediately. Instead, he left the military base first to dig up the Eight-Sided Han Sword he had buried by the roadside before heading back.

When it came down to it, he was only repaying the goodwill Wu Ya had shown him; he was not their babysitter.

He did not mind protecting others, but that had to be based on the premise of his own safety.

Over a hundred Deathmatch Participants had already gathered in this temporary shelter. Even though Lu Bai knew he was definitely stronger than the other Deathmatch Participants, he did not believe he could recklessly steamroll the entire military base.

Lu Bai summoned his System Panel, confirmed that Agu had not moved, and then closed it before leaping down from the high wall.

Calculated, he hadn't delayed for too long between retrieving his sword and returning, but the chaos within the settlement had already spread to an uncontrollable degree.

On his way to District 23, all he could see were panicked crowds fleeing, with the occasional figure of a zombie appearing.

After all, the population density of the settlement was too high. Once zombies broke in, the viral infection would cause their numbers to rise exponentially.

It was impossible for Lu Bai to slaughter every zombie he saw; he could only deal with the ones that blocked his path at most.

The closer he got to District 23, the fewer citizens he encountered along the way, replaced instead by one blood-soaked monster after another.

What this signified went without saying.

Although he did not want to be too pessimistic, Lu Bai felt that the chances of Wu Ya and the others still being alive were indeed slim to none.

With one swing of his sword, he decapitated two zombies, and the entrance to District 23 came into view.

Rat-tat-tat!

The dense sound of gunfire had not yet ceased; soldiers were still putting up resistance at the passageway.

However, both the front and back of the passage were blocked by a large number of zombies, making it difficult to break out. This kind of resistance was nothing more than a slow death.

Gaps in the color-steel tile partitions that separated the settlement could be seen everywhere, and large sections of the partitions had been violently crushed.

"Damn it! I'll fight you bastards to the death!"

Sun Chuan held an automatic rifle, standing behind a comrade with a riot shield, continuously pouring out fire.

He felt he was very unlucky. At this rate, he would likely be eliminated without even earning a single point.

As a Deathmatch Participant, being randomly assigned a soldier start had made him briefly excited for a while.

When the virus broke out, he watched the number of Deathmatch Participants on his System Panel rapidly decrease and decisively decided to keep hiding in the military base, thinking he might be able to survive long enough to make the top ten.

It was just a pity that things did not go as he wished. He hadn't been hiding for long before he was transferred into the newly formed Rapid Response Force.

No matter what incident occurred, his squad had to be the first to arrive at the scene.

Especially tonight, as soon as he received the order to blockade the passage, he felt a faint sense of unease. However, his comrades were all around him, and he could not find an opportunity to run away.

Sun Chuan touched the magazine hanging from his shoulder, his heart trembling with fear.

He swallowed hard, knowing he could no longer sit and wait for death.

Once the final magazine was spent, he would be instantly swarmed by the zombies.

He had to escape; even if there was only the slightest possibility, he had to try.

Taking advantage of the moment his teammate, who was firing in rotation, stopped to reload, he tensed every muscle in his body, reached out to grab the back collar of the comrade in front of him holding the riot shield, and yanked him backward with all his might.

The riot shield soldier lost his balance and fell backward.

The zombies, previously suppressed at the perimeter of the corridor, naturally did not let this opportunity slip by and lunged frantically at the fallen soldier.

Seizing the gap while the zombies were distracted by his comrade, Sun Chuan dashed toward a direction where there were fewer zombies.

It must be said that Sun Chuan had seized this fleeting gap perfectly; he now only needed to take out the two outermost zombies to successfully break through.

For someone armed with an automatic rifle, this was not difficult.

But his luck, as always, was not very good.

The tent to his side suddenly collapsed, and a zombie flew out, slamming directly into him.

"Damn it!"

The terrifying force sent Sun Chuan flying a full six or seven meters. With a hit like that, a fracture was the least of his worries, let alone getting back up to continue fleeing for his life.

In his desperation, the corner of Sun Chuan's eye caught a figure standing behind the collapsed tent.

"Save... save..."

He couldn't even finish a complete sentence; as he opened his mouth, blood surged from his throat.

Lu Bai did not reach out a helping hand, merely standing in place and scratching the back of his head, a harmless smile on his face.