Tap~ tap~ tap~
Crisp footsteps rang out in the corridor outside the laboratory. If you listened closely, you could tell they were evenly spaced, without the slightest hint of panic.
At the sound, the four soldiers guarding the isolation room grew alert and, as one, aimed their rifles at the laboratory door.
Agu pressed his forehead against the glass of the isolation door, watching what was happening outside with keen interest.
The footsteps drew closer and closer. It sounded as though they had reached the laboratory entrance.
A tense atmosphere hung over the laboratory. The soldiers were ready to open fire the moment their target appeared.
The next second, a boy dressed like a high school student rounded the corner. He acted as though the four fully armed soldiers weren't there and walked straight toward the isolation room.
From Agu's perspective, the scene made no sense at all.
After all, those four soldiers were there to guard Agu, who was hiding in the isolation room.
In a situation like this, if a stranger suddenly appeared, the soldiers should at least have stopped him and questioned him, if not shot him on the spot.
But they didn't. In fact, judging by their expressions, they were still warily watching the laboratory entrance, eerily ignoring the clean-cut high schooler who had walked inside.
The whole thing was so strange it felt suffocating, and Agu instinctively wanted to get away.
To be fair, Agu had expected a Deathmatch contestant to come looking for him, but he hadn't expected the first one to show up to be this bizarre.
What unsettled him most was that he couldn't begin to guess what kind of ability the other boy had.
One thing was certain: it wasn't as simple as turning invisible. But if it was large-scale cognitive manipulation... that clearly wasn't within the scope of a Silver Ability.
"Is this the result of combining two abilities?" Agu felt he ought to say something.
The boy suddenly vanished from in front of Agu, then just as suddenly reappeared.
The boy's strange behavior inexplicably put Agu at ease. Whether it was a hint or a boast, either way, it showed he wanted to communicate.
The high schooler gave him a provocative wink. "Open the door."
Click~
Agu did as he was told, trying to look relaxed. "How about we work together?"
"No need for that. If you don't want to be eliminated right now, stick with me."
"Which way was District 23 again?"
With the gleaming Eight-Sided Han Sword strapped to his back, Lu Bai leaped onto the military base's wall and looked around.
He hadn't gone to look for Wu Ya and the others right away. Instead, he had first left the military base to dig up the Eight-Sided Han Sword he'd buried by the roadside, then returned.
In the end, he was only repaying Wu Ya for her kindness. He wasn't their babysitter.
He didn't mind protecting other people, but only if his own safety came first.
More than a hundred Deathmatch contestants had gathered at this temporary shelter. Lu Bai knew he was stronger than the other contestants, but he still didn't think he could rampage through the entire military base without restraint.
Lu Bai summoned the System Panel, confirmed that Agu hadn't moved, then dismissed it and leaped down from the wall.
From the time he'd retrieved his sword to his return, not much time had passed. Even so, the chaos within the shelter had already spread beyond control.
On his way to District 23, he saw panicked crowds fleeing everywhere, with the occasional Zombie among them.
The shelter's population was simply too dense. Once Zombies got inside, the virus-like infection would make their numbers multiply exponentially.
Lu Bai couldn't kill every Zombie he came across. At most, he could deal with the ones blocking his way.
The closer he got to District 23, the fewer civilians he encountered. In their place were one bloodied monster after another.
What that meant went without saying.
He didn't want to be too pessimistic, but the chances that Wu Ya and the others were still alive were indeed next to nothing.
With a single sword stroke, he decapitated two Zombies. The entrance to District 23 came into view.
Rat-tat-tat!
The rapid gunfire still hadn't stopped. Soldiers were still holding their ground at the entrance.
But both ends of the passage were blocked by hordes of Zombies, leaving them no way to break out. Their resistance was nothing more than a slow death.
The sheet-metal barriers separating the shelter were riddled with gaps, and large sections had been crushed down by force.
"Damn it! I'm taking you bastards with me!"
Sun Chuan gripped an assault rifle and stood behind a comrade holding a riot shield, pouring out a steady stream of fire.
He thought he was incredibly unlucky. At this rate, he'd be eliminated without earning a single point.
As a Deathmatch contestant, he'd been randomly assigned a soldier's starting role, which had excited him for a while.
Then the virus outbreak began. Seeing the number of Deathmatch contestants on the System Panel plummet, he'd decided to keep hiding in the military base, hoping he might scrape his way into the top ten.
Unfortunately, things hadn't gone his way. He hadn't been able to hide for long before he was assigned to the newly formed Rapid Response Force.
No matter what happened, his squad had to be the first on the scene.
Especially tonight. As soon as he received the order to seal off the passage, he'd felt uneasy. But with his comrades all around him, he couldn't find a chance to run.
Sun Chuan felt the magazines clipped to his shoulder and couldn't help but tremble with fear.
He swallowed hard, knowing he couldn't just sit there and wait anymore.
As soon as he fired off his last magazine, the Zombies would overwhelm him in an instant.
He had to escape. Even if there was only the slightest chance, he had to try.
While his teammates took turns firing and one of them was reloading, he tensed his whole body, grabbed the back of the riot-shield soldier's uniform, and yanked hard.
The soldier lost his balance and fell backward.
The Zombies that had been pinned down outside the passage naturally weren't about to let this chance slip by. They all lunged at the soldier on the ground.
While the Zombies were distracted by his comrade, Sun Chuan charged toward an area with fewer of them.
He had to admit, Sun Chuan had seized that fleeting opening perfectly. Now he only needed to take out the two Zombies on the outermost edge to break through.
That wouldn't be difficult for someone with an assault rifle.
But his luck really had never been very good.
The tent beside him suddenly collapsed as something crashed into it. A Zombie flew out and slammed straight into him.
"Fuck!"
The terrifying force sent Sun Chuan flying six or seven meters. Even a broken bone would have been the least of his worries after a hit like that, never mind getting back up and running for his life.
Desperate, the corner of Sun Chuan's eye caught sight of a figure standing behind the collapsed tent.
"Help... help..."
He couldn't even get the words out. Blood welled up from his throat as soon as he spoke.
Lu Bai didn't offer a helping hand. He merely stood there, scratching the back of his head, a harmless smile on his face.
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