Chapter 24: Ambush (iii)

“You…”

Gao Yifei hurried down from upstairs, Liu Shan following behind her.

“Downstairs is filled with zombies. What do we do? We’ve been surrounded, it’s completely covered with them down there, we can’t escape,” Gao Yifei said rapidly. Half of her face was still covered in Zhao Liansheng’s blood, making her look even more dishevelled.

“They’re coming!”

Lin Jue looked back. Two zombies were shakily squeezing up the stairs, their heavily rotted body even more terrifying than before. Lin Jue instinctively sweeped the zombies back down but Liu Shan looked terrified and turned to run with a scream.

Gao Yifei pulled him back. “Don’t run, it’s too dangerous!”

The four looked for a way out in the dark building. At last, Song Hanzhang suggested that they leave to the neighboring languages building, which was also where Lin Jue’s card had led him to earlier.

Smashing open the glass door to the sky bridge, the opposite building seemed silent, seeped in darkness like it was completely empty.

The wind on the sky bridge cut into Lin Jue’s face like daggers. He turned back and looked at the other three. Song Hanzhang was at the very back, with Gao Yifei and Liu Shan between the two. He relaxed a little. Even if those two made any strange moves, there would be nothing to worry about. Just to be safe though, he decided to move separately from them once they escaped the ambush.

A dull thud sounded behind him, followed by the sound of something falling down.

Lin Jue turned around in shock. Song Hanzhang had already collapsed onto the ground. Liu Shan held the shovel that had previously belonged to Zhou Yuxiu, his face pale.

“What are you doing?!”

Awakened by Lin Jue’s shout, Liu Shan shakily took out a small knife and held it against Song Hanzhang’s neck.

“Lin Jue, listen to me, you’ve been lied to, Song Hanzhang is the Judas!” Gao Yifei was pale, but she stared firmly into Lin Jue’s eyes.

“Impossible!” Lin Jue immediately cut her off. “It’s impossible to prove who the Judas is, but you two, I’ve had my suspicions about you two for a long time. Even though Liu Shan had the easiest Ace, he took the longest to get here, and he somehow had Zhou Yuxiu’s shovel when she only had a small fruit knife on her…”

“You saw Zhou Yuxiu?!” Gao Yifei asked in surprise.

Realizing his slip of tongue, Lin Jue guiltily went silent.

“Why did you lie to us? You saw her right? You knew right?! What did you people do to her? Did you, did you… kill her?” Gao Yifei stumbled back and looked at Lin Jue in disbelief.

Finally, she started sobbing. “It’s all my fault, I shouldn’t have told her about the antibody… It’s all my fault… Zhou Yuxiu’s gone, Liu Shan, she’s dead…”

LIu Shan still held his knife against the unconscious Song Hanzhang’s neck and hissed, “I told you, they’re worth nothing!”

Lin Jue turned his face around and muttered, “I can explain that, let go of Song Hanzhang first.”

“No! He is Judas, we have to kill him!” A spiteful glint shone in Gao Yifei’s eyes. “Lin Jue, wake up, don’t you realise why he always brought you along? He’s lying to you! Can you say that he never talked you into doing something that went against your morals? Did Zhou Yuxiu’s death really have nothing to do with him? During the card game, when he was speaking to you in the corner, his eyes… terrifying, terrifying, he really wanted to kill me!”

“I don’t believe you.” Lin Jue drew in a deep breath and said, word by word, “I don’t trust you. Compared to Song Hanzhang, I’m more suspicious of you two.”

“I can prove myself,” Gao Yifei said, her lips quivering.

Lin Jue looked down at her as Gao Yifei shakily took off her small backpack, revealing a perfect easter egg in front of him.

——Be careful, they’re getting stronger.

“I got the egg from the girl outside the canteen. I have an easter egg, but what about Song Hanzhang?” Gao Yifei looked at LIn Jue, her eyes bright. “Have you ever seen Song Hanzhang’s easter egg?”

He had not.

“… You guys never saw my easter egg either, it’s normal not to bring it around with you.” It took a while before Lin Jue got his voice back as he drily protested for Song Hanzhang. “Plus, what about Liu Shan’s easter egg?”

“Gao Yifei, what are you wasting your time for!” Liu Shan’s knife had almost carved a bloody mark on Song Hanzhang’s neck. He threw Song Hanzhang down and shouted, his face twisted, “Judas’ got nothing to do with me, I just want the antibody!”

“You…” Lin Jue looked at his pale face and the desire to live wavering in his eyes and couldn’t help but be reminded of Zhou Yuxiu.

It turned out Liu Shan had also been infected.

“Liu Shan went to the same high school as me, we knew each other, he can’t be the fourteenth person to be added, and I can’t be either. He got bitten, please save him. I don’t want to see any more innocent people dying, I’ve had enough, I’ve really had enough…” Gao Yifei pulled on Lin Jue’s arm, crying.

Messed up lines of thought twisted themselves into a knot in Lin Jue’s brain. The last person he wanted to doubt was Song Hanzhang. If it wasn’t for Song Hanzhang’s help and suggestions, he was probably already dead, but…

——Who is the Judas？

——Let us separate.

——Apologies. As compared to some illusory thing like a miracle, I’d prefer to believe in medical directions.

——Sorry.

——Kill Gao Yifei.

Song Hanzhang was now lying unconscious on the ground, and Gao Yifei and Liu Shan stood in front of him.

No, there was still something wrong.

It didn’t mean anything that Gao Yifei and Liu Shan knew each other outside of the game. Song Hanzhang also knew Lu Ren, but Judas had to be one of those four.

What if Judas was Zhao Liangsheng, or even Zhou Yuxiu though?

No, he couldn’t count on luck, he needed to first assume that Judas must be within them four. Then what about people who knew each other outside the game?

There were two possibilities. If Judas was one of the fourteen players to have first entered the game, it would be impossible to explain the situation right now. Then, following Song Hanzhang’s previous hypothesis, Judas was an NPC who replaced a player who had died.

If Judas could inherit the dead players’ memory and even their easter eggs…

Then Gao Yifei proved nothing with what she said! She had been misleading him from the very start, Judas wasn’t the fourteenth person, but rather an NPC who joined the game halfway and replaced the dead!

“How long has it been since you were bitten?” Lin Jue asked.

Lin Jue’s sudden calmness made the other two feel a sense of foreboding. Liu Shan paused on his way moving forwards and said hatefully, “It doesn’t matter, give me the antibody!”

“Liu Shan!” Gao Yifei pulled him back before turning back to Lin Jue. “Sorry, he’s too nervous right now, but he really doesn’t have much time left. Please leave the question for after we cure him!”

Lin Jue took a step back before entering a hostile stance. “Sorry, I can’t give you the antibody. It’s the same as what I said before. Compared to you two, I trust Song Hanzhang more.”

“Stop being so obsessed!” Gao Yifei cried anxiously.

“The egg doesn’t mean anything, no one knows who Judas is and how they appear. What if it’s got an easter egg as well? What if Lu Ren is Judas? Why do you keep targeting Song Hanzhang?”

Liu Shan stared at Lin Jue, his pale skin looking strangely unreal underneath the moonlight.

Just as the three were in their stalemate, the sound of footsteps sounded: a zombie had walked to the door of the skybridge along the stairs, and was now advancing towards Song Hanzhang.

Lin Jue felt something squeeze against his heart and instinctively wanted to rush forwards with his wooden pole but he was pulled back by Gao Yifei. Liu Shan pressed the fruit knife in his hand against Lin Jue’s chest and snarled, “The antibody, give it to me!”

Saying that, he reached into Lin Jue’s pocket. It wasn’t in his jacket pocket, but rather, the gun in his pant pocket. He threw down the fruit knife and pointed the gun at Lin Jue, screaming hysterically, “The antibody, where is it? Where did you hide it?!”

The zombie had already lunged at Song Hanzhang, biting down on his calf. 

Everything slowed down. Lin Jue watched dumbly as the zombie landed on Song Hanzhang and turned to look at Liu Shan holding the gun, shaking. He swept the wooden pole out, slamming Gao Yifei onto the skybridge railing in an instant. Liu Shan shakily pressed the trigger and missed, the recoil unsteadying him in surprise.

Lin Jue landed a kick on his stomach, grabbed the gun, and fired twice on the zombie’s head, completely destroying its brain.

But it was already too late.

It was too late.

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