Peach Haven Village (31)

Although several people had already died for violating the third rule, Ding Shi still could not determine Ghost Third Lady's third killing rule. As for Zombie Third Lady, as long as one did not get in her face and held their breath immediately, there would be no danger. After all, she was a brainless zombie and easy to deal with.

It was three in the morning on the seventh day. There were about thirty hours left until eight in the morning on the eighth day. During those thirty hours, he could not sleep. Or perhaps he needed to take shifts keeping watch while his companions slept.

Could these two companions be trusted? Ding Shi did not trust Zhang San. Sun Qi was decent enough, but she was not smart enough.

Zhang San picked up the kettle and poured four cups of water. "As long as we figure out Third Lady's killing rules, we can hold out until the sacrificial day is over," he told the village chief, placing the water before the three of them.

Ding Shi did not touch his cup. Before figuring out Ghost Third Lady's killing rules, he tried his best to refrain from doing anything he had not done before.

The village chief grew agitated at those words and looked at Zhang San. "You already know Third Lady's killing rules?"

Zhang San shook his head, picked up the water with two fingers, and took a sip. Just as he was about to speak, Ghost Third Lady suddenly appeared behind him.

The four sat around the table. A candle stood upon it, while darkness surrounded its edges. Ghost Third Lady's face emerged from the darkness, instantly terrifying Ding Shi, the village chief, and Pan'er into stunned silence.

Zhang San found it strange that everyone's eyes had widened. He turned to follow their gazes and came face-to-face with Third Lady. His body shuddered, and Third Lady's ghostly hand pierced through his chest from behind, plucking out his heart.

Zhang San stared blankly at the heart in Third Lady's hand, then collapsed to the floor, dead.

The moment Zhang San died, Third Lady vanished. Pan'er then let out a scream, while the village chief anxiously coaxed and cursed at her. Bracing one hand against the table, Ding Shi picked up the cup and studied it in the candlelight for a while.

Ghost Third Lady's third killing rule had been identified: whoever came into contact with liquid died.

Wet your pants, die. Step into a flooded rice paddy, die. Drink water, die.

And among the people murdered at Haitang's home, every one of them had more or less been splattered with the victims' blood.

There was another detail here. Take Haitang having her head removed, for example. Her blood sprayed onto Zhang San, but that whole process counted as a single event, so Ghost Third Lady could not kill Zhang San because of it. Once the event ended, although blood remained on Zhang San's body, it was already there and would not trigger the rule.

Pan'er gradually calmed down. Now that he had grasped the rule, Ding Shi prepared to head out and do his task. The school was next door anyway. He had just stood up when knocking sounded outside. It was neither three knocks nor four, but an irregular pattern: knock, knock-knock, knock, knock.

The village chief and his daughter-in-law crawled beneath the bed together. Ding Shi walked to the window, picked up his flashlight, and shone it toward the side.

Putting away the flashlight, Ding Shi snapped his fingers and took out the blunderbuss. He loaded steel pellets and a paper packet of gunpowder, then opened the door. Blind Zhao's purple face appeared before him.

The next second, the blunderbuss boomed. Dozens of steel pellets tore through Blind Zhao's neck. Half his neck had already been gnawed away, and the tearing force and impact of the pellets sent his head dropping straight to the ground.

Ding Shi shoved Blind Zhao's body aside, then kicked his head away. A mere purple zombie dared cause trouble for a firearm.

Ding Shi reloaded, slung the blunderbuss over his shoulder, and headed out. The moment he stepped through the front gate, he saw zombie Auntie Li wandering down the road. Ding Shi did not tangle with her. Holding his breath, he brushed past zombie Auntie Li and kicked her down the steps.

Having bullied two zombies, Ding Shi was in high spirits. He climbed over the school wall and saw Zombie Third Lady standing in the schoolyard.

Sorry, wrong place!

Ding Shi immediately held his breath, hurriedly poured the steel pellets from the blunderbuss, removed the paper packet of gunpowder, and turned the blunderbuss back into a card. Then he climbed back over the wall, retreated ten meters, climbed onto the village chief's wall, and watched the schoolyard again, monitoring Zombie Third Lady's every move.

Zombie Third Lady slowly wandered away a few minutes later, but Ding Shi did not move. He remained crouched there for over half an hour, until drowsiness washed over him. He checked the system time. It was already five in the morning. Looking at the sky, which was still dark, Ding Shi felt a sense of foreboding.

He kept watch for another half hour, yet still saw no hint of dawn. Though Zombie Third Lady, as a flying zombie, was not afraid of sunlight, she probably did not like fighting beneath it. And Ghost Third Lady, being a ghost, was supposed to disappear before daybreak.

What if dawn never came?

After waiting another half hour, Ding Shi accepted reality. There was no sun and no daytime. For the next twenty-five hours, he could not drink water, could not sleep, and had to remain constantly alert for zombies that might suddenly appear. He had no idea how many people Zombie Third Lady had bitten to death or how many zombies were wandering through the village.

Entering the school, Ding Shi went straight to Sun Qi's dormitory. He knocked on the door and called softly, "Sun Qi." The door slowly opened inward.

Before he could see clearly, a white zombie pounced at him. Wasn't that Sun Qi?

Zombie Sun Qi bit toward Ding Shi's arm. Ding Shi clamped his left hand around zombie Sun Qi's throat and forced her head backward. After transforming, zombie Sun Qi was about as strong as Ding Shi. They remained locked in a stalemate for five seconds, neither able to do anything to the other.

Ding Shi lashed out with a flying kick, striking zombie Sun Qi in the abdomen and kicking her into the dormitory, while he himself fell to the ground. Ding Shi had barely risen when zombie Sun Qi pounced again. He threw her over his shoulder and slammed her onto the floor, then seized the chance to slip into the dormitory and shut the door.

Zombie Sun Qi began ramming the door. Holding his breath was useless now; the zombie had already locked onto her prey's location. Unless Ding Shi could escape the dormitory.

There were glass windows at the front and back of the dormitory. Ding Shi raised a chair and smashed the rear window. Just as he was about to leap through, a purple face appeared outside the window.

It was Iron Pillar, the Iron Pillar in charge of the wedding procession.

Zombie Iron Pillar was only a purple zombie and could not jump over the meter-high windowsill. He could only sprawl across it and crawl inward.

Ding Shi stepped back two paces while staring at zombie Iron Pillar, then felt something beneath his foot. A thought struck him. Wasn't this the bomb Sun Qi had asked him to make?

Sun Qi was dead, but she had not taken the bomb card with her. The system had said there was no penalty for dying in a casual instance. Could that lack of penalty apply only to the player, not their items?

When a player died, the items in their card slots dropped. Would the skills in their skill slots drop as well?

It was also possible that Sun Qi had never turned the bomb into a card.

Now was not the time to think about that. Ding Shi took out a lighter and lit the bomb's fuse. With a running step, he vaulted onto the table and kicked zombie Iron Pillar in the head, sending him out the window. Ding Shi jumped out after him.

Ding Shi sprinted away, running about thirty meters before a thunderous explosion sounded behind him. He looked back, but the darkness prevented him from seeing very far. Ding Shi took out the blunderbuss, loaded it, and waited. A moment later, zombie Iron Pillar limped into view ten meters away. Zombie Iron Pillar moved slowly, but his steps were firm. He was coming straight for Ding Shi.

Ding Shi stepped forward, shoved the barrel into zombie Iron Pillar's mouth, and pulled the trigger. The firing pin struck the paper packet of gunpowder and ignited it. More than ten steel pellets blasted upward, blowing a massive hole through zombie Iron Pillar's head.

Ding Shi kicked zombie Iron Pillar aside and reloaded while keeping his eyes on him. Zombies were not the living dead. Even with his head blown apart, zombie Iron Pillar had not lost his ability to move. He struggled to stand. Ding Shi fired at zombie Iron Pillar's left leg, shattering the knee.

Zombie Iron Pillar tried desperately to stand, but fell midway. After repeating this several times, the sound of bones breaking came from the wound in his left leg. Zombie Iron Pillar stopped insisting on standing and began dragging his body and badly injured legs across the ground with both hands.

Next, Ding Shi tried shooting zombie Iron Pillar in the heart. It was pointless.

Ding Shi used two shots to sever zombie Iron Pillar's neck, separating head from body. Even then, zombie Iron Pillar's mouth continued opening and closing, while his body crawled aimlessly onward.

Finally, Ding Shi pinned zombie Iron Pillar's body beneath his foot and set his clothes on fire. The flames ignited the fat in his body, eventually destroying zombie Iron Pillar completely.

Ding Shi did not linger and turned to leave.