Chapter 10: Highway Survival 7
The zombies broke through the service area after all. Chu Yun relentlessly eliminated the thirty zombies leading the pack, but as soon as one died, a new one took its place from behind—an endless, unceasing torrent.
When she reached into her quiver again, it was empty.
[Arrows depleted. Please await cooldown.]
The cooldown time was twelve hours.
Chu Yun: “…”
There were now roughly two hundred zombies, a massive horde crammed into this tiny parking lot. A few zombies were on the verge of rushing the exit.
Without a shred of hesitation, Chu Yun called out to Wang Mao, who was directing traffic in the corridor: “Get in the car, quick!”
She was about to hit her limit and needed to flee fast.
Hearing this, Wang Mao ran back to the car at top speed.
Chu Yun fluidly vaulted down from the roof, opened the door, started the engine, spun the steering wheel, and slammed on the gas, escaping the scene in one smooth motion.
Seeing the big shot Chu Yun leave, the players in the remaining five cars instantly lost their sense of security. How could she just leave? What about them!
Chu Yun couldn’t care less. She drove the sports car down the highway with a clear conscience; she had already done more than enough, and they had to handle the rest on their own.
Zombies felt neither fatigue nor pain, maintaining a steady pace forward. Humans, however, grew exhausted. Many players who had abandoned their cars to flee on foot finally realized the vital importance of a vehicle; they ran until they were gasping for breath, completely winded.
If this continued, they would be killed by the zombies sooner or later. Some players, seeing cars driving up behind them, began scheming to intercept them. A few kind-hearted players let them in, but more often than not, there were either no empty seats or the drivers simply refused to let them board.
It was laughable—at a time like this, everyone was focused on saving their own skin; who would care about your survival?
Zhang Xiaomei was among those who had abandoned their cars to flee. Back in the service area, her car had been parked the closest to the zombies, and she had rapidly fled the scene after giving Yue Shan a shove.
She had initially believed she was the first to escape the zombie hotspot, feeling rather smug at first. But reality proved otherwise. Sprinting was inherently exhausting, and she, a person who loathed exercise, was now entirely drained of strength. Yet the zombies never tired. Looking back at the dense, black mass of zombies behind her, Zhang Xiaomei knew full well that relying on her legs meant she would be overtaken sooner or later. Thus, she prepared to intercept the vehicles driving up from behind. Regardless of whether they were full or whether the drivers were willing, she was going to stop them. If you refuse to help, then I’ll drag down your time, Zhang Xiaomei thought maliciously.
As unluckily as it could get, the person she crossed paths with happened to be Chu Yun.
From afar, she saw Zhang Xiaomei standing in the middle of the road, her arms spread wide to block her path.
“Big shot, what do we do?” Wang Mao turned his head to look at Chu Yun.
Chu Yun didn’t reply, but she answered him with her actions.
Without a hint of hesitation, she kept her foot pinned to the accelerator, showing absolutely no sign of slowing down. The sports car hurtled toward Zhang Xiaomei at high speed. She bet that Zhang Xiaomei would never dare to gamble with her own life.
Twenty meters, fifteen meters, ten meters… getting closer and closer. Zhang Xiaomei’s heart pounded faster and faster, nearly leaping into her throat. Chu Yun hadn’t slowed down, nor had she veered off course. Was she planning to roll right over her corpse? This woman completely disregarded human life; she was going to be crushed to death under the wheels!
Five meters, three meters… Sure enough, at the final second, Zhang Xiaomei finally broke down and frantically dove to the side. Her body trembled uncontrollably; she had been a hair’s breadth away from death.
Chu Yun drove the sports car past her with a roaring whoosh, leaving behind nothing but a cloud of exhaust.
“Lunatic! You absolute lunatic!” Zhang Xiaomei hurled curses in the direction Chu Yun had left, then stubbornly continued to stand in the middle of the road to intercept the next passing vehicle.
But Chu Yun had been among the last few cars to set out. Zhang Xiaomei saw that out of the remaining five cars, only three had managed to escape, and closely tailing the rear of these three cars was a swarm of zombies. Damn it! They could barely save themselves, let alone spare the time to rescue her. Accepting her grim fate, she turned back around and continued to jog forward.
Chu Yun pushed her speed to the absolute limit, nimbly overtaking one car after another that blocked the path ahead. Only when she was far ahead of the very first car to set out did she finally breathe a sigh of relief.
The rules of this game were far too twisted. If the zombies didn’t multiply, she would have absolutely no problem facing a mere twenty of them alone. However, the current situation involved a vast number of defenseless players; the moment they were attacked and died, the zombies would double. She lacked the godlike capability to police every single player, so her only option was to run.
Looking at Chu Yun beside him, who had calmly slaughtered fifty zombies, Wang Mao’s admiration grew even deeper. They were both young people, so why was she so outstanding—and a young girl at that? In comparison, he felt like a total weakling. Wang Mao resolved that the moment he had time, he would exercise and thoroughly improve his physical conditioning.
Chu Yun had no idea she had invisibly motivated someone to better themselves.
The zombies were no longer in sight, but Chu Yun didn’t stop. The system broadcasts overhead announcing player deaths and multiplying zombies were still ongoing. She knew that given enough time, the zombies would eventually catch up.
Two hours later, she and Wang Mao swapped positions. Wang Mao took the wheel while she sat in the passenger seat, closing her eyes to rest.
This had been Wang Mao’s suggestion; he said that unless it was an emergency, he would handle the driving from now on so Chu Yun could rest as much as possible. Who knew what kind of difficulties they would face next; the two of them needed to maintain sufficient stamina. Furthermore, compared to Wang Mao, it was far more valuable for Chu Yun to keep her energy up.
Chu Yun strongly agreed with his approach. Some people might not excel in certain capabilities, but they made up for it with diligence, doing whatever was within their power. Thus, when Wang Mao made this request, she happily and gladly accepted.
Sitting in the passenger seat, she leaned her head back, half-reclining comfortably on the flattened seat. Having a little lackey is actually pretty nice! I don’t have to deal with a lot of the chores myself, Chu Yun mused as she watched the scenery slowly pass outside the window.
Wang Mao didn’t drive fast, but his driving excelled in stability—unlike Chu Yun, whose driving felt like a roller coaster, often making the passengers feel carsick enough to vomit from her sheer speed.
At noon, they stopped by the roadside to refuel and rest for an hour. The zombies used this exact hour to catch up, forcing them to hit the road again. Throughout the entire night, Chu Yun and Wang Mao only rested for two hours before being roused by the zombies to re-embark onto the highway. They took turns driving, one driving for a few hours before waking the other.
Lacking sufficient rest, the two looked incredibly haggard, as if they had been drinking fake liquor all night.
Day 12 of the game.
The system broadcasted on time:
[The second wave of zombies has been deployed. Please strive to escape.]
The game’s difficulty was ramping up; the number of zombies today was noticeably larger than yesterday. Chu Yun had already dispatched several small zombie squads blocking the path ahead. Fortunately, the zombie numbers were small enough that she could still handle them.
Wang Mao suggested trading his bow and arrows for Chu Yun’s pocket knife. The bow required advanced technique that he didn’t possess, making it a waste in his hands, whereas he was quite handy with a knife—after all, he had plenty of experience handling fruit knives and kitchen knives.
Thus, the two exchanged weapons. It had to be said that a well-suited weapon boosted one’s combat effectiveness. Chu Yun saw that during her skirmishes with the zombies, Wang Mao also plucked up his courage to slay one or two zombies with the sharp blade.
Today, they also encountered a fleet undergoing a zombie attack. Unfortunately, by the time Chu Yun resolved the zombies, the players in the fleet had already stopped breathing and were teleported out of the instance. Chu Yun scavenged ten small pork floss buns from their vehicle, which was just enough to feed Wang Mao for the remaining few days.
Wang Mao accepted the spoils of victory with a beaming smile. He had originally just wanted to scrape by for another day or two, but he hadn’t expected to run into a big shot and live a life subsidized by her.
Chu Yun looked at the sycophantic grin on her subordinate’s face with a look of utter disdain.
Days 13 and 14 of the game.
The third and fourth waves of zombies were deployed. Previously, not a single soul could be seen on the endless highway; now, zombies could be encountered at any moment.
Before, the large number of players had dispersed a portion of the horde. Now, with barely any players left, the zombie swarms gathered by catching the scent of living humans. Chu Yun and Wang Mao were among those few remaining players.
For the past two days, the two had been playing a game of extreme pursuit with the zombies, never pausing for a single second. Naturally, their complexions weren’t great.
With no time to wash up, Chu Yun was covered in filth, the sweat from her body mingling with zombie blood to omit a nauseating odor. Wang Mao was in even worse shape; unable to match Chu Yun’s formidable martial prowess, his body was covered in numerous cuts. Right now, he resembled a jar of pickled cabbage that had aged for years—foul-smelling, sour, and utterly wretched. Yet he adamantly refused to quit the game, stating he wanted to follow the big shot’s example, temper his willpower, and never give up until the final moment.
“…”
His courage was commendable and worthy of respect.
Chu Yun looked down to sniff the stench all over her body, then glanced at the tattered Wang Mao, expressing a hint of sympathy. If she had remained in the apocalypse, she wouldn’t care about her current state at all. But once a person enjoyed comfort, they would develop cravings and yearnings. She now desperately hoped the game would end sooner so she could return to the relatively civilized Community 135, take a proper bath, and get a good night’s sleep.
Day 15 of the game, the final day had finally arrived.
The spirits of the two noticeably soared.
At 1:00 PM, Chu Yun and Wang Mao made a temporary stop to eat lunch. Just as they finished eating, they saw another wave of zombies catching up from behind. Their bodies were highly decomposed, their eyeballs protruding, and their limbs twisted as they shuffled toward Chu Yun’s position with guttural, frog-like roars.
They were like indestructible cockroaches—as soon as one wave died, another arrived, catching people off guard. There were roughly a hundred or so in this pack behind the car. Chu Yun didn’t intend to go head-to-head with them, so she immediately started the car and sped forward.
After days of maneuvering, the two had completely adapted. When zombies came, they ran; when the zombies vanished from sight, they rested. This process repeated like a simple routine.
Unfortunately, another wave of zombies appeared ahead of the car, a dense mass no smaller than the pack behind them.
As expected, the game difficulty was spiking.
“Big shot, what do we do?!” Wang Mao looked at the pile of zombies not far away, his scalp tingling. If they accidentally fell into that, not even their bones would remain!
With numerous zombies ahead and a pack closely pursuing from behind, Chu Yun judged within a single second of thought that her car couldn’t breach the zombie crowd. Thus, she violently yanked the steering wheel, executing a perfect swerve toward the adjacent desert. Propelled by momentum and massive horsepower, the car traveled a considerable distance into the desert, but the sand’s resistance was far too great. Before it could hold out for long, the wheels sank into the sand, rendered completely immobile.
