After receiving that baffling system prompt, Zhang Qi mentally commanded the interface open, eyes wide, trying to figure the damn thing out. He scoured the system menus back and forth, but aside from that confusing message and his current status bars, he couldn't find any useful clues. Frustrated, he scratched his head.
"This is exactly like those anti-friendly-fire rules in online games!" Zhang Qi cursed inwardly while checking the system. "Hurting your teammates gets you punished. How annoying. This lousy system clearly wants me to play by its rules. Can't harm zombies, have to turn others into zombies instead. What kind of messed-up idea is that?"
"But I can't, for the life of me, figure out what the creator of this system wants. Who or what are they? Aliens? Some shadowy organization pulling the strings?" Zhang Qi grew more puzzled, a chill running down his spine. "For now, the penalty doesn't matter. I'm starting from zero anyway. Lost XP? Still a big fat zero. But long-term, it's trouble. If leveling up requires XP later, I'm screwed. I bet I'm not the only one like this. Probably more people out there willing to convert others to level up and get stronger. Like a damn pyramid scheme."
"If I run into them, it'll be real trouble. A fight to the death." Zhang Qi shivered involuntarily, palms sweaty. "But it's too early to think about that. Gotta focus on the present. Take it one step at a time."
"O-okay, we're done." He Yu said, gagging slightly. The metallic, rotten smell was overwhelming, making his eyes water. While Zhang Qi was buried in the system, Zhang Dalong and He Yu had followed his instructions, smearing zombie gore all over themselves. Now they were both covered in dark, bloody stains, looking like they'd crawled out of a slaughterhouse.
Chunks of viscera wouldn't stay on, constantly dropping off, but it achieved Zhang Qi's goal: masking some of the living scent. From a distance, at least, the underlying sweetness was harder to pick out, muddled by the other foul odors—like a badly burnt stew.
Up close, they'd still be detected. Living scent wasn't that easy to mask. They couldn't fully pass as zombies, just buy some time.
"Being a zombie is like having cheat codes. I know all the tricks," Zhang Qi thought, a hint of smugness creeping in. "This way, we make fewer mistakes. Better survival odds than blindly stumbling around."
[User Physical Status has deteriorated to 96%]
Seeing this message, Zhang Qi instinctively clenched his fist, nails digging into his palm. He didn't feel it yet, could still move fine, but the rate of decay was worrying. Like sliding down a chute. It might have only been a few hours since he last checked. At this rate, he wouldn't last a month.
Now that his companions' scents wouldn't draw a horde, they could move. But before leaving with Zhang Qi, the other two prepared, like gearing up for a journey.
They wore thick clothing, layers upon layers, bundled up tight. Zhang Dalong even wrapped several shirts around his forearms for makeshift armor. Finding clothes that fit his frame was hard; this would at least provide some bite protection.
For weapons, they mainly chose small knives scavenged from various dorm rooms. Because of this, Zhang Dalong needed the armor—close combat would be too risky otherwise. Zhang Qi had suggested longer weapons, like mop handles, but Zhang Dalong felt more secure with a long kitchen knife, swinging it with practiced ease.
He Yu insisted on keeping the frying pan, refusing to let go. According to him, it was for defense—something to block with if things got hairy. Better than bare hands.
They worked their way down floor by floor, checking each hallway for remaining zombies, like sweeping for mines. Zhang Qi didn't want to get caught in a pincer attack later, trapped and helpless.
He'd rather deal with one or two stragglers now than let them gather into a crowd. But they encountered almost no active zombies or living people. The building was eerily quiet until they reached the third floor. Finally, they heard something.
This time, the banging was loud, thud-thud-thud, audible even to Zhang Dalong and He Yu, who flinched. Looking over, they saw a zombie repeatedly smashing its arm against a door, as if trying to break it down.
It hammered tirelessly, completely disregarding its own body, arm likely fractured but still pounding. None of them were surprised. Zombies were single-minded like that.
"What's it doing? Gone crazy?" He Yu asked, voice trembling.
"Who cares! Let it bang!" Zhang Dalong barked, wiping sweat from his bald head. "We're on the third floor. Two more to go and we're out. Let's just run! Why are we dawdling?"
"I don't think that's a good idea," Zhang Qi countered, eyes still on the zombie. "First, we don't know what's outside. Could be worse. Second, in this building, the directions they can come from are at least limited. Better than being surrounded outside."
As Zhang Qi spoke, he glanced at the knives on Zhang Dalong's belt. "Lend me something, will you? That longest kitchen knife."
Zhang Dalong had rigged several slots on his belt, carrying multiple knives like a street vendor. Zhang Qi wanted to run an experiment. Zhang Dalong handed one over without question. Then, signaling the other two to stay put and not move, Zhang Qi proceeded.
At this moment, Zhang Qi quietly approached the zombie, steps light as a cat's. In his right hand was the borrowed knife, gleaming coldly. In his left, the homemade stake. He assumed a combat stance.
"When those two attacked me earlier, I noticed something…" Zhang Qi thought as he closed in. "Need to verify if it's true. If I'm right, things get a lot easier."
Zhang Qi walked almost on his tiptoes, making no sound, even his breathing softened. The two watching held their breath, palms sweaty, watching him get closer. They thought he'd throw the knife or charge for a quick kill. But he did neither, just inched forward, like a thief.
Finally, Zhang Qi was within a meter of the zombie. He could smell its decay.
"Hey… I'm right here…" Zhang Qi said in a low voice. "Can't see me?" He spoke just loud enough for the zombie to potentially hear, but the others couldn't make out the words. He didn't expect it to understand speech, just wanted its attention. But the zombie completely ignored him, continuing to thud against the door, as if deaf.
"Just as I thought." Zhang Qi felt a wave of relief. "Those two earlier weren't after me. Their target was He Yu and Zhang Dalong. These things see me as one of their own. My zombie status actually works." He raised the knife, took aim, and threw it with force. It flew straight, embedding itself with a thunk in the zombie's head.
The blade cleaved cleanly through the temple, the tip chipping as it exited the other side due to the hard bone, clattering to the floor.
[-2 XP]
The system prompt appeared again. Zhang Qi couldn't help a bitter internal laugh.
"Looks like in this world, I'm different. Less danger, at least from zombies," he muttered to himself. "But this XP penalty is a real pain."
Once the zombie was down, the other two hurried over, panting. Zhang Dalong stared at the broken knife on the ground, wincing in loss, then at the wound, wondering if he could pull off a throw like that. The accuracy was impressive.
"You broke my knife," he finally said, crouching to pick up the two pieces. "This was a good one! From the cafeteria!"
"Plenty more," Zhang Qi replied dismissively. "Just find another in any room. This building isn't short on kitchen knives."
"Hey! Hey! Is someone out there?!" a trembling voice suddenly called from behind the door. "Help us!"
Looking at the dented, battered door, Zhang Qi understood: the zombie had been pounding on it because it smelled the living people inside. Like a cat drawn to the scent of prey.
"More people right now, when I haven't figured things out yet… just complicates things," Zhang Qi thought, frowning deeply. "Times like these bring out the worst in people. They'd kill each other for a scrap of food. More people means my secret's harder to keep. If they see me as a monster, it's trouble. But…" a thought occurred, "…maybe it's also a chance. A chance to test this damn system. See what it's really after."