Chapter 13: Twelve - s -

Chapter 13: Twelve Chapters - "Come and play games with me

"Bang!" Su Ming’an knocked out a zombie hiding in the corner with a steel pipe, splattering brain matter and dark blood everywhere.

He followed the route in his mind and proceeded to head from the fourth floor down to the archives in the basement.

As he killed the zombie, he saw his experience bar increase slightly, estimating that killing about ten more would level him up.

"Help, help..." A player trapped in a ward, too scared to come out, spotted the two daringly advancing and quietly cracked open the door a sliver wanting to follow them.

Su Ming’an didn’t mind, he continued down the stairs, passing by several corpses mangled beyond recognition and wandering zombies.

Suddenly, from a blind spot in his vision, a zombie plunged from above, clawing straight towards Su Ming’an’s head—

A silver longsword, with extreme precision, pierced through its eye socket.

The girl wearing a cat-ear hat produced a very pretty rapier in her hand, her wrist flicked, and the zombie dropped to the ground powerlessly, hardly spilling much blood.

In her left hand, she held the remains of a chocolate bar from the morning, her eyelids drooping as she nibbled delicately on the wrapper, her right wrist moving leisurely.

"Swoosh—" Suddenly, a snowy white arc flashed, and the other zombies following suit were pierced through the forehead by the sword.

The longsword swung, flinging a beautiful crescent of black blood onto the ground as the girl holding the chocolate bar advanced with the sword in one hand, her scattered black hair dancing lightly behind her.

Just then, the combat power displayed on the team panel for the girl seemed to be suddenly activated, surging upward.

She hadn’t added any attribute points.

Her prediction dreams stemmed from innate sensitivity, and her points were invested in the sword in her hand.

[Caoine’s Snow (Blue Level, Capable of Growth): The Illusion and Reality, the Futile Dream of Shattering

Attack Power: 10~20

Durability: 18/20

Equipment Requirement: One-Handed Weapon, Strength Requirement 2 and above

Special Attributes: The snow that cuts down all nefarious arrogance, any being tainted by her frost shall never reincarnate. Comes with Ice Attribute, Darkness Suppression Attribute.]

While Su Ming’an was slaying zombies left and right, the silver sword always managed to be at the most needed spot with the utmost precision, leaving no gaps for defense.

The two coordinated perfectly, quickly overpowering the zombies on the crowded first and second floors, reaching the archives below.

Some people wanted to follow them, but seeing that the zombies on the stairwell had been mostly eliminated, they opted not to follow and instead turned to flee toward the main entrance.

Yuanyuan arrived at the archives, glanced at the iron lock hanging on the door.

"Clang—" with a swipe of Su Ming’an’s finger over it, the lock fell automatically to the ground, and the iron bars creaked open.

A multitude of bookshelves and countless books came into view.

The girl, seemingly moved, walked towards a bookshelf,

"La~ La~ La~"

Suddenly, a girl’s singing voice gradually arose.

The girl in the blood-stained dress had crossed the closed gate, abruptly appearing behind the two of them. Her eyeballs turned, looking somewhat stiff and stagnant.

"Wow, big brother and big sister, you did really great!" She suddenly saw the corpses of the Dean and his wife lying on the ground and her face showed genuine joy.

"Those are your parents," Su Ming’an said.

"It’s okay~" Duoduo laughed and spun around, walking up to Su Ming’an with a smile:

"When Daddy was still the Deputy Dean... he used uncles and aunties who died in the White House to cultivate a very tasty kind of mushroom.

He said it was a ’vaccine’ for the ’virus’."

But daddy’s ’vaccine’ seems to have failed..."

Duoduo’s voice became a bit melancholic: "He always talked about stock prices or something, but Duoduo didn’t understand, when I asked about it he would hit me and force me to eat mushrooms... the kind that really isn’t tasty..."

Her body gradually started to show more black spots.

"Later, later..." Duoduo spun in place: "It seemed like everyone around had eaten those tasty mushrooms, only Duoduo had the untasty ones... Duoduo really hates mommy and daddy, really really hates them... and then, then..."

Her normally smiling mouth gaped even wider, resembling the greedy old man driven by money, but unlike him, her eyes were filled with a longing for love:

"Mommy and Daddy, they...they killed Duoduo."

The surrounding music became louder.

The lighthearted nursery rhyme melody gradually twisted into something eerie. The clean, tidy walls seemed to also start showing streak after streak of bloodstains; bloodied handprints pressed onto the walls, the trails of blood slowly dripping down.

"My story is over," Duoduo shook her head, her eyes innocent as she looked at Su Ming’an and Yuanyuan: "Big brother and big sister, do you know who the mushroom picking girl really is?"

Su Ming’an faintly had a suspicion, but he suddenly realized something was wrong with the girl next to him, and hurriedly looked over, only to find Yuanyuan had already turned her body away.

He suddenly remembered the hericium cookies Yuanyuan had eaten earlier.

All who had eaten the mushroom-based food had already transformed into zombies; could it be she...

"Clang—!"

The silver sword fell to the ground, emitting a dazzling burst of light from its snow-white blade.

"Come here." He saw large patches of black on her body.

Black blood oozed from the corners of the girl’s mouth, her eyes brimming with tears as she looked at him.

"It’s a bit... uncomfortable." Her voice trembled uncontrollably as she looked at Su Ming’an, slowly pulling up her cat-eared hat, as if retreating into a safe haven.

Su Ming’an’s hand touched her skin, which was nearly desiccated.

Yuanyuan leaned harder toward him, as if she could no longer support her own body, her eyes filled with a blood-red light like the setting sun.

"—As long as Big Brother gives the correct answer, I’ll let this cute big sister go~" The little girl happily jumped in place, humming a tune, her expression filled with anticipation.

...She was anticipating the death of everyone.

Time ticked by, and the eerie singing continued around them.

Su Ming’an’s thoughts raced, and at the last moment of the countdown, he announced his long-deliberated answer:

"The little girl picking mushrooms, the mushrooms she wanted to pick are all the people who have turned into zombies in X City, she is the only one who ate the bad-tasting mushrooms, she has been, from the start, a petri dish cultivated by the superintendent for virus research."

He saw the little girl’s joyous smile.

...Did he get it right?

He hurriedly looked to the side.

The next moment, his vision was filled with blood red.

The comforting look in the girl’s eyes still rested on him, but the light within them had scattered into the oblivion of the night.

Blood burst forth.

In the next instant, the headless body of the girl plummeted down, blood spraying from the severed neck, drenching his face and head.

"Congratulations, Big Brother!" Duoduo opened her hands, smiling mischievously at him: "—Guessed, wrong, oh—!"

Su Ming’an’s eyes stayed open.

Hot, dark red blood slid down from his slightly parted lips, carrying a warmth.

He caught Yuanyuan’s gradually chilling body, his thoughts plunging into a profound and eerie silence.