Struggle

"Watch out behind you!" Heming jumped down from the ventilation duct and shouted to the Black woman.

"Bang, bang, bang!" Heming quickly shot the three zombies beside her.

"Give me the knife!" Heming moved closer and asked the woman for the knife in her hand. She understood and handed it to him.

Heming grabbed the kitchen knife and charged at the zombie approaching them, hacking it to the ground. To deal with zombies, you had to aim for the head first. If you couldn't hit the head, go for the hands. Either way, as soon as you landed a blow, you could see the effect.

Unlike in movies, the zombies here couldn't run or jump, nor could they attack people all at once. They had no consciousness and were cold-blooded. They could only see people with warm blood in their bodies, so they only attacked those people. Here, if you cut off a zombie's hand, it would die before long.

Heming still hadn't figured that out. His target was the head. Clearly, having learned the Pitch Black Heart Method made him much stronger at the game than an ordinary person. In just a few swings, he had killed all the zombies attacking the Black woman.

Heming looked at the kitchen knife in his hand. Good thing this game didn't have a durability system, or he'd be in trouble.

"Wow, you're really good, young man. I'm Sheni, an American, and I work as a tour guide. If you ever go to the United States, I can show you around for free for a day." The Black woman introduced herself.

"Ah, it's nothing. I'm Heming, from China, and I'm a clerk. I think we should find some decent weapons and a map. Do you know where there's a supermarket or department store?" Heming answered Sheni, keeping an eye on their surroundings.

"A department store? Oh, no, no. I know there's a gun shop over there. I just saw a lot of weapons inside. Really, a lot—even plenty I couldn't name." Sheni looked outside as she spoke.

"Lead the way. We can't keep going like this." Heming quickly reloaded his gun, then left the small room.

Outside, Heming could clearly see a few zombies wandering not far away. They should be able to run over without being spotted.

"Now!" Heming and Sheni dashed out. The few zombies were out of luck—they hadn't noticed a thing.

"This is it!" Sheni pointed at the little shop across the street.

It really was a gun shop, stocked with everything from broadswords and spears to daggers. Heming even spotted two suits of ancient knights' armor...

"Pick something you can use. Once we're ready, we'll go find the police station," Heming told Sheni as he looked over the weapons.

Hmm, first, he needed a dagger—one he could strap to his calf. Right, he'd carry one in his left hand too. Then he needed a weapon for direct attacks. Hmm, a Japanese sword. Of all these weapons, it was the one he knew best. Back in that place, the Japanese man had used one to train him.

Sheni picked a dagger, then chose a small machete. It was just the right kind for a woman.

"Ready? Then let's take on the smaller groups. Once they're dead, we move on. We'll keep working our way down!" Heming said, watching a few zombies slowly approach outside.

Sheni rubbed the machete. "No problem!"

Japanese swords really were satisfying to use against people. One slash, one zombie. They didn't stand a chance of fighting back. Just as Heming finished off the few that had charged at them, a dozen more came up from behind.

They should've taken the elevator earlier. Sigh. For safety, Heming had ultimately chosen the stairs, but he hadn't expected to be surrounded by zombies before they'd even descended a few floors.

"There seem to be more and more of them. Let's fight our way down instead of standing here!" Heming came up with a plan. If they managed to make it down, they could find somewhere to hide and wait for the zombies to spread out before coming back out...

Heming fought with all his might when the radio suddenly crackled...

"Hello... hello... This is Rie... Heming, can you hear me?... This is Rie... Heming, can you hear me?..."

But there were too many zombies. Heming couldn't spare a hand to reach for the radio, so he could only keep hacking at them...

"Are you fighting right now?... I'm at the police station... There are a few other survivors here... If you can, please come over as soon as possible..."

"Be careful... Contact me as soon as the fighting's over..."

The police station? That really was a good place. At least they'd have plenty of guns and ammunition...

Fortunately, after Heming and Sheni fought desperately, the waves of zombies charging at them began to thin out. Neither of them had been hurt, but they were nearly exhausted.

"We should be safe here, right? Let's rest for a while!" Heming and Sheni took shelter in a small grocery store. Sheni was clearly close to collapsing. After all, she was a woman, and she had much less stamina than Heming.

Heming picked a sturdy-looking shelf and used it to barricade the door, then took out the radio.

"Hello, hello, this is Heming. Rie, can you hear me? This is Heming. Rie, can you hear me?"

"Heming... Heming... Rie here... Where are you now... Where are you now..."

"I'm trapped in a tall building. All I can tell you is that it has lots of different shops inside."

"Wait a moment while I check the map..."

"There are only three fairly tall buildings in this city, and only one of them is commercial. You're there."

"You still have a ways to go before you reach the police station... Yes... When you leave the building, there's a gun shop directly across the street... There's also a travel agency nearby... Go to those two places to pick up some useful supplies, then contact me again... There are already more than thirty survivors at the police station... Someone spotted Zeng and Deng... They're over by the Chemical Factory..."

"Okay, I'll head out and take a look. I'll contact you later."

"Mm... Stay safe... Be careful."

"You too..."

Heming put the radio away. It looked like his situation was much more dangerous than Rie's. He was still more than ten floors above ground. If he rushed down, he'd be walking straight into his death. What should he do?

"Heming, why don't we take the ventilation ducts? We can come out through the parking garage and get to the street. It'll be safer that way," Sheni suggested.

"Taking the ventilation ducts could work, but coming out through the parking garage won't. If we get surrounded in there, we'll be trapped with no way out. Maybe we can make our way down through the ducts and look for other survivors along the way!" Heming was right. If they got surrounded in the parking garage, they'd be done for. It was far too open...

"Oh, you're so clever. If I hadn't run into you, those awful things might've eaten me already..." Sheni was deeply grateful to Heming. She had absolutely no experience with games. She'd only entered this one on a whim after making a bet with her husband. She'd thought her physical condition would keep her from passing the mental screening before entering the game, but she'd passed with ease in front of her family. With no way to back out, she'd had no choice but to enter the game.

"Let's rest a little longer, then head out. There's a ventilation duct not far over there." Heming glanced outside at the wandering zombies...

Heming and Sheni had already made their way a good distance through the ventilation ducts. They stopped for several minutes at every place where they might find survivors, but each time, only zombies slowly wandered by.

On the fourth floor, Heming heard the roar of machinery. It might be a survivor's weapon...

"Hey, Heming, don't go down! That thing isn't human!" By the time Sheni shouted, it was too late. Heming had already jumped down from the ventilation duct. Now he was facing a high-level zombie with a chainsaw in its hand...

"Heming... Heming... This is Rie... This is Rie... A new type of enemy has appeared... These enemies can use weapons to a certain extent... So far, they don't seem to know how to use guns... Be careful... Their arms and legs can't be cut off directly... Ordinary firearms don't have much effect on them... Be careful..."

Damn, this time he'd run into a real problem...