"She found the suit, so it belongs to her." The ponytailed woman immediately came to the short-haired girl's rescue, harshly criticizing Sun Weiqiang. "You weren't proactive in looking for things, and you have the nerve to ask for it after seeing someone else find it?"
The short-haired girl also weakly argued for her rights: "I-I don't want to give you the suit."
Sun Weiqiang's eyes remained fixed on the suit, but under the ponytailed woman's wary gaze, he ultimately refrained from demanding it.
Gu Chen then spoke up, "I think we should go downstairs and check the situation first."
The other three glanced at Gu Chen.
Gu Chen continued, "A smooth escape is ideal, but in reality, we may not succeed all at once. We need to confirm the situation outside so we can adjust our next plan."
Of course, he had another reason.
From the floor plan, he had already determined the location of the medical cold storage: it was on the first floor of this building.
Whether he was escaping or finding the ZV virus solution, he had to go downstairs.
"I agree," the ponytailed woman said immediately. "We can't just rely on the smooth sailing. We have to be prepared for repeated attempts and plan changes."
The short-haired girl swallowed and stammered, "Then, then I agree too."
Sun Weiqiang's expression turned sour. He stared at Gu Chen and said unkindly, "Since we're going to explore the route, why not let you go alone? It just so happens that you have a weapon, so you have more self-protection capabilities than the others."
Now, of the four people, he was the only one without protective clothing, and the risk he would have to take was greater than the others.
He didn't want to do that.
"Okay," Gu Chen agreed readily, then changed the subject. "But if I'm lucky enough to escape immediately, I won't come back."
Sun Weiqiang's expression froze.
Gu Chen sneered inwardly.
He thought it was impossible to take no risks at all, letting others take the lead while he easily completed the game? How could such a thing be possible?
Did he look like a selfless victim?
"I don't want to wait here," the ponytailed woman immediately declared. "From the beginning, I suggested we explore the route first."
The short-haired woman didn't say anything, but a silent nod was enough to make her point.
Even Sun Weiqiang, no matter how dumb, could tell Gu Chen was warning him. The ponytailed and short-haired woman's choices only made him feel isolated.
He was furious, but he knew this was not the right time to lash out, so he held it in.
He didn't want to take any risks, but if he were alone here and encountered danger, he'd be doomed.
After a moment's hesitation, he compromised and made a new request: "Then we can only go downstairs and investigate the situation. Don't go out without permission."
Gu Chen didn't respond, but simply stood up. "Then let's go immediately. We'll save time."
"Wait," the short-haired woman said, hurriedly opening the plastic bag. "I want to put on this protective suit first."
The ponytailed woman also immediately began to put it on.
Gu Chen didn't rush him, quietly returning to his computer desk and waiting.
Sun Weiqiang, unwilling to give up, searched through the cabinets again, trying to find a piece of protective gear he'd forgotten.
While everyone else was busy, Gu Chen, using his body as a cover, slipped Liao Xiaojuan's work ID into his pocket.
Soon, the girl with short hair and the girl with ponytails were both wearing their protective gear.
Gu Chen immediately headed out,
the two girls following close behind.
Sun Weiqiang, finding nothing and fearing he'd be left behind, had to keep up, complaining.
Gu Chen noticed that the girl with ponytails subconsciously turned to glance at the computer screen as she passed the desk, then walked out again without a word.
Her expression remained unchanged throughout the entire process, as if she was casually glancing at the computer, not really paying attention.
But Gu Chen knew she probably wanted to see what was on the computer.
However, he had already shut down the computer, and the screen was completely black, revealing nothing.
Gu Chen said nothing and headed for the stairwell first.
No one spoke along the way, so quiet that only the rustling of protective gear and the soft patter of footsteps could be heard.
After entering the stairwell, the ponytailed woman suddenly approached Gu Chen and casually asked, "You said before that you saw files on the computer related to virus experiments."
Gu Chen nodded, "Yes."
"Did you find anything special?" the ponytailed woman asked, adding, "I'm thinking that if there were better ways to deal with zombies, our chances of escaping would be higher."
Gu Chen shook his head. "You should all know how to kill zombies and dispose of their bodies. The files cover the same things."
The ponytailed woman gave him a look of regret and asked, "Aside from zombies, did they mention anything else?"
"Just zombies and the zombie virus," Sun Weiqiang couldn't help but interject, complaining, "It's full of technical terms. I don't understand a single word."
"Is that so?" the ponytailed woman said nothing more, silently following Gu Chen downstairs.
Gu Chen didn't speak again.
However, even though the ponytailed woman tried to appear casual, her repeated probing and detailed questions only made him more certain that her advanced mission was related to the virus concentrate.
It's just that I'm not sure if it's the same mission as his.
As for Sun Weiqiang...
Sun Weiqiang's advanced mission is most likely unrelated to the virus.
After all, Sun Weiqiang didn't even know there were zombies here at first.
Even without seeing the test subject's profile, the mention of "virus" in the mission, combined with the impending apocalypse, would have made even the dumbest person think of a zombie virus.
While Sun Weiqiang's specific advancement mission wasn't clear, it was certain it wouldn't conflict with Gu Chen's.
The only thing Gu Chen couldn't figure out was the short-haired girl's.
Most of the time, she quietly followed the ponytailed woman, speaking very little.
Throughout, she was the only one who hadn't proactively challenged them.
Perhaps, for her own safety, she had simply abandoned her advancement mission.
Gu Chen was analyzing the situation of his temporary teammates when he heard a faint rustling sound below.
He paused.
The three people behind him also stopped, their expressions wary.
They were about to reach the first floor.
The sound was like metal scraping against wood.
More importantly, it came from the direction of the exit.
Gu Chen peered down, only to see the stairwell door.
He had to exit through it to see the exit.
Gu Chen did not hesitate and continued to walk down, but his steps were lighter and his speed was slower.
The other three also followed slowly and carefully.
The frequency of the sound was not high, and after a few sounds, it soon became quiet again.
Sun Weiqiang's expression relaxed a little, and he couldn't help but whispered: "Maybe the wind blew something..."
Before he finished speaking, the rustling sound appeared again, accompanied by two strange "ho ho" sounds.
Sun Weiqiang was instantly frightened and silent.
Gu Chen and others stopped again and stared at the direction of the stairs vigilantly.
They were all sure that this was definitely not the sound of the wind.
It sounded more like the breathing of a human.
Actually, that didn't sound like a normal human breathing.
Gu Chen's eyes narrowed slightly.
Sun Weiqiang's voice hadn't been loud, but in such a quiet environment, it could definitely be heard from the nearby entrance.
Even if the words couldn't be clearly heard, it was clear that someone was in the stairwell.
If the other person was human, they would either come out and greet him or remain quiet and hide.
It's unlikely that they would suddenly make a few strange noises.
Therefore, the possibility of them being zombies was very high.
But if they were zombies, and they heard Sun Weiqiang's voice, why didn't they rush towards the source of the sound, but instead made noises in their place?
Was it because they became zombies, their reflexes were slow, their ability to locate subtle sounds was poor, or... their movements were restricted?
Gu Chen was still thinking when he felt a sudden push on his left shoulder.
His body staggered, and he almost fell.
Fortunately, his quick reaction caught him quickly.
After regaining his balance, Gu Chen looked back and saw Sun Weiqiang looking at him with confidence.
Seeing Gu Chen looking at him, Sun Weiqiang immediately signaled him to go and check the situation.
Gu Chen narrowed his eyes slightly.
Sun Weiqiang glared back without a trace of guilt.
In his opinion, since Gu Chen had protective gear and an axe,
he should have gone ahead to explore the area. It was impossible to let someone with nothing do that, right?
Gu Chen didn't get angry, or even say anything. He simply turned and headed downstairs.
Reaching the stairwell door, he cautiously peered in the direction of the entrance.
As expected, there were zombies there.
Two of them.
Chains were tied around their waists, the other end of which was hooked to the doorknob.
The sound of metal rubbing against wood was the sound of chains clacking against the door panels as the zombies moved back and forth.
Seeing how securely the zombies were tied, Gu Chen didn't try to hide himself, but instead poked his head out.
The two zombies faced Gu Chen directly, but didn't make any drastic moves.
Apparently, their eyesight had deteriorated significantly after becoming zombies.
Gu Chen, axe in hand, slowly walked out of the stairwell and approached the zombies.
The friction of the protective suits made the two zombies react immediately.
They made a "ho ho" sound and turned their heads around, as if trying to locate the source of the sound. It was not
until Gu Chen walked three meters away from them that they suddenly faced Gu Chen, as if they had finally locked onto their target.
Now Gu Chen was sure that these zombies had average hearing. They could not locate the slightest movement and the distance of more than three meters.
Gu Chen stepped back a distance again.
The two zombies became headless flies again, unable to determine Gu Chen's location.
Gu Chen did not rush to deal with the two zombies, nor did he return to the stairwell. Instead, he walked towards the corridor connected to the other side.
He wrote down the location of the cold storage marked on the map, walked out of this short corridor, turned left, and walked to the end, which was the cold storage.
Now was a chance to go and see what was going on in the cold storage.
He had said before that if he was asked to explore the way, he could not guarantee that he would go back.
Unexpectedly, just as he walked out of the short corridor and before he could turn the corner, he heard light footsteps coming from the stairwell.
He paused and decisively chose to go back.
The three people were only half a flight away from the first floor, and it was too far for him to walk from here to the cold storage.
He would definitely be discovered.
He didn't want to expose his advanced task too early.
When Gu Chen returned to the vicinity of the exit, the ponytailed girl just happened to stick half of her head out from behind the stairwell door and look out.
Seeing two zombies at the exit, the ponytailed girl was startled, and she was relieved to find that the two zombies were tied up.
She turned her head and saw Gu Chen standing on the other side.
She asked in confusion: "Why are you standing so far away?"
"Testing the zombies' hearing and vision." Gu Chen walked to the side of the ponytailed girl while telling her summary of the situation.
Finally, he asked, "Why did you come down here so suddenly?"
"We waited upstairs for a while, and then we heard those panting sounds getting louder and louder, but there was no movement at all," the ponytailed woman explained. "I was a little worried about you, so I came down to check on you. In case there's any danger, I can still help."
As she spoke, she shook the fire extinguisher in her arms.
It was the only thing left on the stairs that could be used as a weapon, so she took it away.
"I'm fine," Gu Chen smiled. "These two zombies are tied up, so they can't cause much harm. That's why I thought I'd run a few experiments before we finish them off."
"Now that you're done with your experiments, shouldn't we kill them?" Sun Weiqiang urged. "We should hurry and run, not just stand here chatting."
"Wait," the ponytailed woman said before Gu Chen could say anything. "These two zombies are easy to deal with, but I'm worried the zombies outside will hear the noise and gather."
"I looked outside when I was upstairs, but I didn't see any zombies," Gu Chen said. "I guess the zombies in the hospital are probably locked up or tied up in some way."
That would explain why they hadn't encountered a single wandering zombie in so long.
And the zombies they had encountered so far were indeed either confined in rooms or chained up.
The ponytailed woman thought for a moment and nodded. "You make sense. Let's get started."
Gu Chen strode forward and easily dispatched the two zombies.
The short-haired woman walked over to Gu Chen's side and sprayed a small amount of potion on his protective suit, dissolving the zombie blood that had splattered on it.
Meanwhile, Sun Weiqiang couldn't wait to untie the chain wrapped around the doorknob and opened it.
With a few creaking sounds, bright sunlight finally streamed in.
Just as Gu Chen had suspected, there wasn't a single zombie outside.
Even the loud noise of the door opening hadn't attracted any zombies.
Sun Weiqiang was truly thrilled.
He ran out excitedly, not even bothering to wait for the other three.
"Huh? Why is he..." The short-haired woman stopped mid-sentence and sighed.
Everyone present understood that Sun Weiqiang had assumed he wouldn't face any more danger and wouldn't need to rely on his teammates, so he had forgotten about them.
The ponytailed woman frowned, clearly displeased with Sun Weiqiang's behavior.
Gu Chen's expression remained unchanged. He carried his axe and walked out at a leisurely pace.
Just then, a scream erupted from the outpatient building in front of him.
The scream quickly turned into a shriek of agony.
Before anyone could react, roars echoed from further away.
Even from a distance, the deafening roar was palpable.
The girl with the ponytail who was following Gu Chen shuddered with fear. She clutched the fire extinguisher tightly in her hand and asked nervously, "What happened?"
The girl with short hair turned pale with fear and couldn't utter a word.
Gu Chen didn't respond, but just quickened his pace.
Unexpectedly, just after he took a few steps, Sun Weiqiang, who had already run away, ran back with a look of horror on his face.
Gu Chen and the other two stopped at the same time.
Sun Weiqiang stopped when he ran in front of Gu Chen. He gasped and stammered, "There are... a lot of... zombies over there!!"
Gu Chen looked over Sun Weiqiang's body and into the distance.
There were no zombies chasing after him.
And the roars that came one after another were gradually weakening.
He immediately had a guess: "Those zombies are locked outside the hospital gate?"
Sun Weiqiang nodded repeatedly.
He swallowed hard before continuing, "Oh my god, I'm so scared! There are swarms of zombies outside the gate, three layers deep. There's no way out!"
Gu Chen said nothing more and headed back toward the main entrance.
Sun Weiqiang called from behind, "What are you doing? I told you there's no way out!"
Gu Chen didn't respond.
The woman with the ponytail hesitated for a moment before quickly following.
Seeing this, the short-haired girl trembled and followed the woman's footsteps. Sun Weiqiang,
feeling completely ignored, flashed a gleam of annoyance in his eyes. "You ungrateful people, don't you dare believe what I say? I'm not leaving. You'll definitely have to come back soon!"
Gu Chen walked around the outpatient department and saw the hospital main entrance a hundred meters away.
As Sun Weiqiang had said, the gate was densely packed with zombies.
Forget about getting out. He was afraid that as soon as he reached the door, he would be grabbed by countless hands.
He wouldn't even have a chance to escape; he would be gnawed to the bone.
"This..." the ponytailed woman gasped. "There's no way out."
She turned to look at Gu Chen. "Should we try another exit?"
"We'll talk about it later," Gu Chen paused, then added, "But I imagine the situation over there is similar to this one."
He turned and looked towards the outpatient department. "Besides, the remaining players should be in the outpatient department. I want to go see what's going on there first."
With that, he hurried inside.
If it weren't for those two screams, the zombie swarm wouldn't have been in a commotion.
The first scream was one of fear.
The second screamed more like an attack.
Everyone had been in this dungeon for two or three hours, and there had been no major commotion until then, which was enough to prove that the zombies in the outpatient department were also locked up.
Either a player accidentally opened the door and was ambushed by a zombie lurking inside.
Or, this hospital harbours some other unknown danger.
The former is not a big deal. If it's the latter, they'll have to investigate.
Under the current circumstances, players can't easily leave the hospital.
They needed to understand the dangers within the hospital to avoid losing their lives without knowing what was happening.
Although Gu Chen didn't explain much, the ponytailed girl followed him without a second thought.
She'd read a fair share of novels, and she knew one thing: acting alone in a dangerous environment meant a quicker death.
She also felt the need to join the other players; there was strength in numbers and a greater sense of security.
Seeing Gu Chen and the ponytailed girl leave, the short-haired girl hurriedly followed. Left behind,
Sun Weiqiang waited for a long time until the zombies in the distance had quieted down, but Gu Chen and his companions didn't return.
He suddenly panicked.
Although there were no zombies roaming outside and he was safe, he felt an inexplicable fear.
He'd abandoned the group because he felt he could escape immediately, which gave him the courage to act alone.
But now, he had no way out of the hospital. The thought of being alone here was terrifying.
Sun Weiqiang didn't bother to act pretentiously, and quickly ran around the outpatient building, heading for the door.
But where were Gu Chen and his companions?
Sun Weiqiang's hands and feet suddenly felt cold. He looked around frantically, then thought for a moment before deciding to go into the outpatient department.
Meanwhile, Gu Chen and the other two had already arrived at the scene of the screams. They were
at the entrance to the second-floor bathroom.
Two women lay bloodied on the ground, their heads and bodies severed.
Nearby stood three men and one woman, each with a grim expression, whispering something.
Gu Chen immediately noticed the blood stain on the fire axe held by one of the men, a bald man in his forties.
He glanced calmly at the two bodies, then quickly averted his gaze.
It seemed the two deceased had indeed been bitten by zombies, and the other players had chosen to behead them to prevent them from turning into zombies.
The three men and one woman heard footsteps and turned in unison.
Upon seeing each other, they immediately confirmed they were all players.
Gu Chen asked, "What happened?"
The bald man sighed and replied, "They were bitten to death by zombies."
"We've encountered zombies before; they're not that difficult to deal with," the ponytailed woman said suspiciously.
There were no zombie corpses to be seen. Apparently, the zombie had not only killed two players but also escaped unscathed.
The three zombies she had encountered previously had impressed her as fragile and weak.
Even in a one-on-one fight, as long as a player had a weapon, their chances of victory were very good.
Unless it was a zombie swarm attacking them.
But... if it was a zombie swarm, these four people wouldn't be as relaxed as they were now; they would have been chased and killed by zombies.
"That couldn't be an ordinary zombie. Its speed and reflexes were very fast," said the elderly woman, the only female among the three men and one woman. "I heard the screams and rushed over first, and was almost attacked by the zombie. Luckily, the three children gave chase. The zombie probably saw that it was too outnumbered and fled."
Gu Chen immediately asked, "Did you see the zombie's specific physical features clearly?"
"It was very short and thin," the elderly woman said, gesturing with her hand. "It was probably less than a meter tall, wearing a blue striped hospital gown, and barefoot."
"It sounds like a child." The ponytail girl pondered, "Could it be a mutated zombie?"
"It must be a mutated one, otherwise how could it react so quickly and have such high lethality?" The bald uncle sighed again, "I originally thought this copy was easy, but suddenly such a powerful zombie appeared, and I don't know where it is hiding. I'm really worried about whether I can get through it safely."
Gu Chen looked at the leisurely attitude of the three men and one woman, and realized something. He reminded them, "Let's talk about other things later. We have to deal with these two corpses first. Although they can't turn into zombies to attack us, they have a lot of zombie viruses on them. If they stay in the same space with us for a long time, they may still be infected with the virus."
After hearing Gu Chen's explanation of the ZV virus, the three men and one woman were all shocked.
They had found no information about the ZV virus in the outpatient clinic and had no idea about the characteristics of this zombie virus.
When dealing with zombies, they only used movies and novels they had seen as a reference.
Fortunately, they had only encountered four zombies so far, and for various reasons, they had not stayed in the room with zombie corpses for too long.
Only then did they understand why Gu Chen and the other two were wearing protective suits.
"What should we do?" The young man with a flat head, who had been silent among the three men and one woman, asked anxiously. "We've been here for nearly ten minutes. Will we be infected?"
The others didn't say anything, but their eyes were filled with worry.
They subconsciously stepped back, putting some distance between themselves and the two corpses.
"Ten minutes is not a long time." Gu Chen calmed the emotions of the few people and said, "The best way to deal with the body is to burn it. If you can't do that, just throw it away." "
I have a lighter!" The bald brother standing next to the bald uncle immediately took out a lighter from his pocket, "I found it in the drawer of the service desk on the first floor."
The bald brother looked not yet an adult, about sixteen or seventeen years old, and had a similar appearance to the bald uncle. Coupled with the iconic bald head, people could tell at a glance that they were father and son.
In the case of random matching, it was considered lucky to be matched with someone you knew in a cooperative copy.
Gu Chen took the lighter: "It's a bit difficult to burn with this. It's better to have a combustible material, such as alcohol."
Alcohol should be easy to find in the outpatient department.
"There's alcohol at the front desk!" the bald younger brother said quickly. "I saw several bottles under the cabinet!"
"I think there should be alcohol in every outpatient room," the bald uncle volunteered. "There's no need to go to the front desk on the first floor."
Gu Chen nodded, but didn't move immediately. Instead, he pointed at the two bodies and asked, "Were they attacked while they were together?"
"Yes," the old lady answered this time. "They went to the restroom together, and the four of us stayed there waiting, and then..."
She didn't finish the rest of her sentence, but sighed.
"I guess groups of three or more are less likely to be attacked by mutant zombies," Gu Chen said. "That mutant zombie should have been able to move freely, but it didn't attack you for the past few hours. It obviously felt it was too numerous to attack. It wasn't until those two separated from the main group that it had the opportunity to take advantage."
He had determined the number of people to be "three" because the mutant zombies had already fled when his three-person team entered the outpatient department, making it possible for them to discover them. The fact
they didn't attack them was likely due to the number of people.
The old lady nodded, understanding Gu Chen's point. "As long as the three of us stay together, we can avoid being attacked by mutant zombies."
Gu Chen shook his head. "We can't be sure there's only one mutant zombie, so I suggest that no matter what you do next, don't separate."
The other people's faces suddenly darkened.
They had only seen one mutant zombie and instinctively assumed it was just one.
Gu Chen's reminder made them realize there might be more than one, and they suddenly became nervous.
So, at Gu Chen's suggestion, they all went to the nearest outpatient clinic and quickly found two bottles of alcohol.
With the help of the bald uncle and the flat-headed young man, Gu Chen hung the two bodies by the window, sprinkled them with alcohol, set one foot on fire with a lighter, and then pushed the bodies downstairs.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as the raging flames quickly engulfed the bodies.
Then, the bald uncle and his four companions led Gu Chen and the other two back to their previous resting place, the ENT waiting area.
Gu Chen was surprised to see a row of bulging backpacks piled on the chairs in the waiting area.
The bald uncle explained, "There are several vending machines on each floor here, selling not only drinks but also biscuits, bread, milk, and the like. We figured that since we've lost everything in the real world, taking these back would help us live a little longer."
The reason they didn't rush out of the hospital was because they found a lot of food here.
Although food and water could be purchased in the mall, they all required points.
Wouldn't it be possible to save a lot of points if there was free food that would last a long time?
They could spend two days in the hospital, well-fed and well-watered, and then leave when the mission deadline was approaching.
So, each of them found two backpacks, opened the vending machines, and filled them up.
"So, after you entered the dungeon, you were collecting supplies for several hours, unaware of the situation outside?" Gu Chen immediately grasped the key point.
The few of them looked at each other, with a vague sense of foreboding.
The crew cut was the first to react. "I remember. When the screams started, we heard what sounded like zombies roaring outside. It sounded like there were quite a few of them. Are there a lot of zombies outside this building?"
"Outside the main gate," the ponytailed woman finally broke down and spilled everything she'd seen and heard.
After hearing this, the crew cut and the others finally realized the severity of the situation.
Now, even if they wanted to leave immediately, they couldn't.
"Let's burn them," the bald man said, raising his still-unused bottle of alcohol. "Sprinkle it on them, then ignite it with a lighter. Burn them all, and we can leave."
"That's what I was thinking," Gu Chen nodded, then reminded them. "So we need to find more alcohol and lighters, or enough cloth."
There were too many zombies outside the main gate. For safety's sake, they couldn't get too close.
To ignite so many zombies, they'd need a lot of alcohol.
If they didn't have enough alcohol, they'd need something else to help, like cloth.
If that didn't work out, they could just throw lighters.
Everyone agreed and began to search for lighters and alcohol room by room.
During this time, they found several sets of protective clothing, and the bald uncle and his four companions put them on one after another.
With the protection of the protective clothing, the four people felt safer and moved faster.
Occasionally, they encountered one or two zombies in a room, but they were easily dealt with by the bald uncle and Gu Chen.
After a busy day, not only did they not encounter any mutant zombies, they also found five lighters, three boxes of matches and eight bottles of alcohol.
Everyone returned to the waiting room of the ENT department.
But they found a man squatting next to the last row of seats. One of his backpacks was opened, and there were unpacked bags at his feet.
The man's mouth was full of food, and his hand was pulling a bottle of Orange Juice from his backpack.
Hearing footsteps, he looked up. His face didn't show any panic or guilt, but instead he complained in dissatisfaction, "Why are you so late?"
According to the electronic clock in the hospital,
it was 8:00 AM when the players entered the game, and it was already 12:30 PM.
After working so hard for so long, everyone was starving.
Returning to the place where the supplies were stored, they found someone stealing food, which would have been difficult for anyone to face.
"Why did you steal our food?" The bald boy was the first to lose control, rushing forward to grab the backpack and questioning the other party.
The person who stole the food was Sun Weiqiang, who had been abandoned by Gu Chen and the other two.
Sun Weiqiang swallowed his food and nonchalantly asked the bald younger brother, "The backpack wasn't written with your name on it, so how can you say it's yours?"
The bald younger brother frantically replied, "We found this backpack, we collected this food, so it's ours!"
The bald uncle quickly walked over to the younger brother and said, "This is indeed the food we found. If you want, we can share some with you, but it's inappropriate for you to steal it while we're gone."
"How do I know if you'll be back? I have to fill my stomach first." Sun Weiqiang took two more sips of his Orange Juice, wiped his mouth, and continued, "I've already eaten it. You can't expect me to spit it out, right? Now that you're back, I'll let you know when I'm hungry."
His attitude wasn't harsh, but there was a hint of sarcasm in his words.
A less perceptive person might not have noticed his sarcasm, but it would have made them uncomfortable.
Everyone present, whether they noticed Sun Weiqiang's sarcasm or not, frowned at the subtle discomfort.
The situation didn't seem to warrant a fight, but they were still trying to contain their frustrations and unwilling to give in. For a moment
, no one knew what the appropriate attitude was. Sun Weiqiang turned to look at Gu Chen, a hint of defiance in his eyes. "You didn't expect me to find this place, did you?"
Gu Chen remained silent, simply observing Sun Weiqiang.
A flicker of regret crossed his eyes. He
hadn't expected Sun Weiqiang to be so lucky, staying alone for so long without encountering any mutant zombies.
It seemed the mutant zombies didn't attack immediately upon finding a lone player.
He wondered if there was a pattern, or if they simply hadn't encountered any.
Sun Weiqiang seemed irritated by Gu Chen's nonchalant look. He raised his voice, "I know you just want to leave me alone, to fend for myself! I'm telling you, you'll never get your wish!"
"What's wrong with you?" the ponytailed woman couldn't stand it anymore and spoke up for Gu Chen. "You were the one who left us and ran away first, and you came back and didn't want to join us. It was your choice. Don't act like we deliberately left you behind."
At first, she hadn't felt anything for Sun Weiqiang.
But from the moment Sun Weiqiang asked the short-haired woman for protective clothing, her impression of him soured.
Then, when he pushed Gu Chen on the stairs and abandoned them as he opened the inpatient ward door, her dislike for him grew even stronger.
Now, Sun Weiqiang was deliberately looking for trouble, and she couldn't stand it anymore.
"He seemed so good-tempered before, why did he suddenly..." The short-haired woman standing behind the ponytailed woman muttered, but she didn't dare to continue when she saw Sun Weiqiang's look.
Previously, she had thought Sun Weiqiang occasionally showed his ego, but mostly he was kind and consultative.
His sudden display of aggression, particularly directed at Gu Chen, surprised her.
After hearing what the ponytailed and short-haired girls had said, Gu Chen chuckled. "He didn't become like this suddenly. He'd been deliberately pretending to be nice. Now, perhaps he's been overcome by fear and has lost all desire to pretend."
Others didn't know, but he knew Sun Weiqiang's true character.
Ordinary people can only maintain a disguise when they have the energy.
Overwhelming stress and emotional ups and downs can easily reveal their true nature.
Only a few gifted players can maintain this facade at all times.
Sun Weiqiang clearly lacked that talent, so his true nature wouldn't surprise Gu Chen at any moment.
"How dare you speak ill of me in front of me?" Sun Weiqiang immediately gave him a warning look.
"Who wants to bring up your trivial matters?" Gu Chen waved his hand indifferently, then stepped closer to Sun Weiqiang.
There had indeed been some disagreements between him and Sun Weiqiang, but in the end, he hadn't suffered any loss, so there was no need to revisit the past.
"What could possibly happen to me?" Sun Weiqiang said, his right hand raised, pointing at Gu Chen. "I'm warning you, don't think just because I was polite to you earlier, you're going to take over!"
Gu Chen had already stepped in front of Sun Weiqiang. Without a word, he swung his axe and struck Sun Weiqiang's right hand.
Sun Weiqiang hadn't expected Gu Chen's attack, and without even a dodge, his right hand was severed.
His eyes widened in shock, the pain only registering belatedly.
He was about to scream when Gu Chen kicked him in the knee, sending him to the ground.
His voice was caught in his throat.
Only then did the other players realize what had happened, gasping in shock.
But no one dared to intervene.
"How dare you!" Sun Weiqiang's face was covered in cold sweat from the pain, and even his questioning words lacked their previous momentum.
He was afraid, but he had to appear tough, hoping to scare Gu Chen off.
Gu Chen remained silent, swinging his axe again.
Sun Weiqiang sensed the murderous intent in Gu Chen's eyes, and at that moment, he was truly terrified.
He frantically searched for an excuse: "Killing is illegal! They're all watching us! You can't kill me!"
Gu Chen paused.
Sun Weiqiang, believing his words had worked, wanted to say something more.
But Gu Chen didn't give Sun Weiqiang a chance to speak. He stepped on his shoulder and said, in a voice only the two of them could hear, "Don't you realize? This world doesn't work the way it used to. Besides, from the moment you pushed me, you were doomed."
With that, he brought the axe down on Sun Weiqiang's neck.
The axe was so sharp that it cleaved the head like firewood.
Blood spurted from the severed head, spilling all over the ground.
Gu Chen stood to the side, barely stained by the blood.
The others were frightened by the scene and took several steps back in unison.
The short-haired girl and the bald boy were even scared to tears, but the ponytail girl and the bald uncle next to them covered their mouths and prevented them from making any sound.