CHAPTER 23
In an instant, the tingling and pain sensation on Tang Yu's body disappeared almost completely. However, aside from that, her body didn't undergo any noticeable changes.
Berserk mode? No. Invisibility? Not that either. There were no signs of her wounds healing. She confirmed her solitude.
Tang Yu cursed inwardly and closed the panel. Without the pain, she could only run faster. Was this her ability?
It didn't offer any assistance in her current situation.
For the third time, Tang Yu truly couldn't defend against Xiaoqi's attack.
The opponent suddenly appeared in front of Tang Yu. Tang Yu, who was circling around, couldn't stop her momentum and was about to collide with Xiaoqi's gun. Acting instantly, she reached out to twist the muzzle.
After her fingers touched the gun, Tang Yu forcefully twisted it with her bare hands. The shot veered off and hit the bronze sculpture, causing the casing to eject and graze Tang Yu's cheek.
Tang Yu didn't let go but instead used the opportunity to pull Xiaoqi closer, opening her mouth to bite down.
In the process of pulling, Tang Yu inevitably touched Xiaoqi's hand holding the gun. Xiaoqi knew the consequences of being bitten and swiftly discarded her weapon, disappearing into thin air.
Tang Yu's grip was released too late, causing her to step back. She regretted it deeply, as she had almost managed to injure Xiaoqi.
But her regretful emotions were quickly replaced by astonishment. After touching Xiaoqi, something strange happened to her body.
Her limbs and body felt light, as if there was a sense of transparency in her bones.
Before she could think too much, the twins who were chasing after her quickly arrived and raised their guns to shoot.
Tang Yu's pupils dilated, and almost instinctively, with a single thought, her body seemed to pass through the air, experiencing a momentary sense of weightlessness.
She had disappeared into thin air as well.
The two twins exclaimed in astonishment, while Song Lengzhu, who was observing from a distance, froze in place.
'What is happening?'
Tang Yu was still standing next to the sculpture, maintaining her evasive posture. She looked down at her hand, and her gaze pierced through her palm, seeing the floor directly.
'Damn, it seems like I've gained some incredible ability.'
Tang Yu was certain that this invisibility skill wasn't something she obtained after confirming the panel. It only manifested after she touched Xiaoqi.
Rather than gaining an ability, it felt more like she had copied Xiaoqi's ability.
She suddenly remembered that when she fought the Zombie King before, she also exhibited the exact same berserk mode as Shen Xu. And all of this happened after the Zombie King touched Shen Xu's arm.
Tang Yu widened her eyes in disbelief. So, it meant she had inherited the Zombie King's ability, and this ability was the power to copy?! She moved lightly to confirm that Song Lengzhu and the others truly couldn't see her.
The situation had changed repeatedly tonight, and Tang Yu suddenly had a lifeline. She quickly crouched down and distanced herself from the sculpture, running towards a farther spot.
But after running a couple of steps, Tang Yu stopped again. She wanted to observe the enemy's reactions and get a sense of their tactics.
In one breath, Tang Yu climbed onto the arm of the statue, mimicking the Zombie King's posture, and only poked her head out to observe the situation below.
Xiaoqi appeared next to the sculpture, her face filled with surprise. "How can this zombie turn invisible?"
No one could answer her.
Song Lengzhu coldly scanned her surroundings. She activated her keen sense of smell and could sense that Tang Yu was still in the square. However, in this open area, scents dispersed quickly, and with the pervasive smell of zombies near the church, she couldn't pinpoint Tang Yu's exact location.
Tang Yu couldn't help but sigh. This invisibility skill had its flaws in terms of offense, but it was incredibly useful for survival!
With a moment's respite, Tang Yu nestled within the curved arm of the statue and brought up the game panel to examine it closely.
Her points hadn't changed significantly, only reaching 160 points due to killing Brother Hu and converting Lu Lu. However, there were notable changes in the "Current Objective" and "Special Ability" sections.
The mission to find the Zombie King was now marked as completed. The special mission that had appeared before, joining the Zombie King, had turned gray and was crossed out due to Song Lengzhu's presence. Below the crossed-out line, a new message appeared.
[Special Mission 2: Kill the Zombie King. -]
[The mission has been completed and settled. Settlement details:]
[1. Acquired Zombie King's 'Copy' ability: This ability is an active skill that allows the rapid acquisition of the abilities being used by others through touch. The ability remains permanently.]
Tang Yu felt ecstatic in her heart. What an incredible ability! She continued reading.
[But be aware: The corresponding flaws and costs of the ability will also be copied, and the flaws cannot be known before copying. After copying, the details can be viewed through the game panel.]
Upon reading this, Tang Yu's surging excitement diminished slightly. As expected, this game had a strict balance. Initially, this ability seemed unbelievably powerful, but with this limitation, she had to act cautiously.
'If I copied a fatal flaw, wouldn't that be a huge loss?'
Tang Yu glanced at the ground, where Song Lengzhu and the others were searching for her whereabouts.
She shifted her gaze back to the messages on the panel.
[Settlement details:]
[2. Completed intermediate special mission, physical fitness increased to 50 (initial value was 20).]
[3. HP increased to 20 (initial value was 10).]
[4. Healing ability increased to 10, agility increased to 10.]
[*As a zombie, no points awarded for killing the Zombie King, without acquiring the mycelium sac, the ability to control zombies cannot be obtained.]
In the special abilities section, there were now two abilities, "Copy" and "Invisibility," and the description for invisibility was marked as well.
[Invisibility: The whole body turns transparent, including but not limited to weapons and carried belongings. Flaws: (1) Carried living creatures cannot be hidden, only oneself can turn invisible. (2) Physical damage is still received when hit. (3) The form is revealed one second before launching an attack.]
Tang Yu sighed as she closed the panel. Despite the numerous restrictions, obtaining two special abilities at once still put her in a great mood.
She poked her head out and looked down. At that moment, Song Lengzhu was standing under the statue, hesitating.
A thought flashed through Tang Yu's mind: What abilities would I gain if I touched Song Lengzhu?
At that moment, Song Lengzhu seemed to sense something and looked up at the statue.
Through the darkness, Tang Yu's gaze met Song Lengzhu's.
It was the first time Tang Yu had seriously looked into Song Lengzhu's eyes. Song Lengzhu had clear deep brown pupils, slightly tinged with a blue shimmer in the moonlight, making them appear profound and bright.
Tang Yu's heart tightened, and it skipped a beat uncontrollably. She couldn't tell if it was due to being mesmerized or startled.
At this moment, the determination in Song Lengzhu's eyes was evident. She fixedly gazed at the face beneath the statue, her gaze landing on the statue's raised arm.
Tang Yu held her breath and shrank back, even though she was currently invisible. She still had a sense of unease, silently repeating in her mind: Can't see me, can't see me.
Song Lengzhu's gaze remained fixed for a long time.
Just as Tang Yu's mental pressure reached its peak, Song Lengzhu suddenly made a move.
She raised her hand, aimed, and fired in one swift motion.
The bullet sliced through the air and firmly lodged itself near Tang Yu's ear.
Hiss. Tang Yu took a deep breath and slowly moved to a different spot.
Then came the second shot, which coincidentally hit the exact spot where Tang Yu had just been.
Tang Yu was astonished in her heart: What's going on? Can she see me?!
Tang Yu was so scared that she almost fell from the statue.
After two unsuccessful shots, Song Lengzhu seemed to confirm that there was no one on the statue and holstered her gun.
Tang Yu breathed a sigh of relief, but before she could fully relax, she heard Song Lengzhu speak.
"No matter where you hide, I will find you."
Tang Yu's heart skipped a beat again. This statement sounded so terrifying.
She patted her chest and raised her eyes to see the twins and Xiaoqi spread out left, center, and right, searching in the square. Tang Yu couldn't help but sigh. This team was really tough. Even if they encountered unexpected situations, they maintained an efficient course of action.
It's never too late for a 'gentleman' to take revenge. Tang Yu had no intention of crouching down again. Seeing Song Lengzhu heading towards another statue, Tang Yu immediately climbed down from the statue and slipped towards the direction of the tower.
She needed to find Jin Ye and Xiaoli.
If her teammates were killed by Song Lengzhu, she wouldn't let this group of people off the hook.
Having escaped the danger, Tang Yu remained invisible. She circled around the tower but didn't see the bodies of Jin Ye and Xiaoli falling down.
Tang Yu felt slightly relieved. Not seeing the bodies meant that these two had escaped alive.
She then opened the game panel, attempting to contact Jin Ye through the ally function.
However, after waiting for a while, Jin Ye didn't reply.
Tang Yu could only go around the church again, searching in circles. Finally, in the park behind the church, she found Jin Ye severely injured.
Jin Ye was already in a semi-conscious state, and Xiaoli was sitting in a thicket, holding her and crying with tears streaming down her face.
Tang Yu deactivated her invisibility and softly called out to both of them. She then approached Jin Ye and examined her injuries.
The gunshot wound was not fatal, and the bleeding was slow. However, the gunshot combined with the impact from their fall had caused severe damage to Jin Ye's internal organs and cervical spine. Her initial physical condition couldn't withstand such injuries.
Tang Yu was sweating in anxiety. After a brief consideration, she rummaged through her backpack and took out some scavenged medicine, administering pain relievers and hemostatic medicine to Jin Ye both internally and externally.
However, these conventional medicines were only a drop in the bucket.
Tang Yu knew that she and Jin Ye were different from ordinary zombies. They could feel pain and fatigue, and it was highly likely that they could die from their severe injuries.
The first priority was to find a safe place without any players and rest properly.
Tang Yu took the opportunity to check her own wounds. Among the four shots fired by Song Lengzhu, one bullet hit her forearm and another struck her scapula. Neither were fatal wounds, but they were slowly bleeding. The remaining two shots seemed to have been blocked by the Zombie King.
Tang Yu hastily applied some medicine to herself, but since her physical abilities had been enhanced, she could barely feel any pain from these two wounds.
After tending to her wounds, Tang Yu carefully picked up Jin Ye. Being tall, it was much easier for her to carry someone compared to Xiaoli. She conscientiously took on the responsibility of transferring the injured and left the park with Xiaoli.
......
In the live streaming room.
The previously lively barrage chat was now silent. After a while, a barrage message finally appeared.
[Can I breathe now?]
As soon as this message appeared, the audience seemed to regain their senses and started discussing in a lively manner.
[That was so thrilling! It scared me. I thought Tang Yu would definitely die when she fell off the building.] someone said.
[When Song Lengzhu was targeting her, I thought Tang Yu was done for.]
The live stream presented Tang Yu's perspective in the third person, allowing the audience to immerse themselves in her experiences during the fall and the confrontation with Song Lengzhu.
[What a great show! From the appearance of the Zombie King, the roles of hunter and prey kept switching between players and zombies. So exhilarating!]
[Only Tang Yu's role as the scavenger never changes.]
[Hahaha, let's call her the Scavenging Queen, always finding unexpected treasures.]
[Does she have some innate ability to have such incredible luck? She doesn't die, and she even found a treasure.]
[And she picked up a sidekick too!]
[Doesn't she have more than one ability? I feel like her abilities are not normal.] Someone made a speculation.
[True, how come she's exactly the same as Xiaoqi?]
Zhao, sitting in front of the screen, watched the discussions and let out a deep sigh of relief.
Tang Yu's game panel is hidden during the live stream, and the audience can only see the points and basic skills. Abilities, current targets, and physical values are not visible to the audience.
Because some people who have not entered the game but have game qualifications choose to watch the interstellar live stream first before entering the game. If the abilities of existing players are leaked, those players would be targeted for elimination as soon as they enter.
However, the number of such players is already very small. Game qualifications were determined at the start of the game, and apart from the company's live streamers, players on the main star who are over 16 years old, have no criminal records, and no credit crisis can freely enter the game to play. Therefore, during the initial release, 90% of the players rushed into the game to experience it, leaving only those who had no interest in the game to automatically give up their qualifications.
Among the 90% of players who entered the game, half of them couldn't survive the initial outbreak of the virus and quickly wasted their one chance to experience the game. Now, those who are still interested in the game can only watch others play in the live stream room.
Players like Lu Lu, who are newcomers, are actually quite rare. But apparently, she is straightforward and didn't collect information about other players in advance.
Xiaozhao couldn't help but admire Tang Yu's luck. Thank goodness her money-making tree was saved.
The gaze from Song Lengzhu not only intimidated Tang Yu but also successfully intimidated Xiaozhao and other viewers.
Such a fierce gaze is hard to come across among the people on the main star.
Xiaozhao glanced at the screen beside her, where she had collected information about Song Lengzhu.
Inside, there were only four words: "Information is not found."
Xiaozhao tried various search methods, but they all showed no results.
Due to the advanced population registration system, interstellar people do not have duplicate names when they choose their names. Each person's name is a unique code. The people on the main star are accustomed to using their real names for everything, a habit that has developed over hundreds of years. Of course, except when it comes to committing crimes.
Therefore, the names that appear in the game are all real names, even though this is also a requirement of the game.
However, many of these names cannot be found online, such as high-ranking officials from the main government, certain criminals, and even people in special professions.
Xiaozhao couldn't find any information about Song Lengzhu, which is something that commonly happens. But Xiaozhao just felt that Song Lengzhu was not ordinary.
When Xiaozhao regained her focus and checked the live stream situation again, the direction of the barrage completely changed.
[I'm telling you, don't you think Sister Song is very interested in Xiaotang? She's tightly following her!]
[Exactly, it feels like 'wherever you go, I'll follow you!']
[And what's with the tough words like 'no matter where you hide, I'll find you'? Oh my, stop me, I'm about to lose it.]
[Getting high on anything will only harm you. This is clearly a death CP (couple pairing).]
[Add me to the group!]
[I'm already mind-blown, sisters. I've been silently shipping them since their first meeting.]
[I'll say it again, getting high on anything will only harm you!!!]
Xiaozhao couldn't help but laugh and cry. She allowed everyone to discuss, as the more discussions there were about her, the more lively her livestream room would be.
However, not all bullet comments were friendly, and someone untimely popped up:
[Why can she obtain special abilities? Why?] Someone was puzzled. [This doesn't seem like the treatment given to criminals.]
[Why do you care? The game originally had high freedom. Tang Yu might have discovered a new way to play.]
[Even the Zombie King can have special abilities, so it's not strange for Tang Yu, as a zombie, to have them.]
[I've witnessed a criminal player before. When he was thrown into the game, he started as an ordinary NPC without any weapons or supplies. He had to rely on himself to survive. That's not differential treatment.]
[Maybe Tang Yu was already skilled in combat and scavenging, so she took a different path.]
[But I think if it's a criminal, the purpose of entering the game is execution, so the game difficulty should be increased.]
[I think she already has a difficult game, I would have died long ago if I were her.]
[I disagree. Shouldn't Xingyan Research step in and do something?]
Xiaozhao massaged her forehead. As more and more people flooded into the livestream room, everyone had their own opinions, and arguments were common. Some automatically assumed that Tang Yu was a wicked person, so it was difficult for them to accept her identity.
This was understandable.
Xiaozhao looked up Tang Yu's information again. It stated that her crime was "violating the main star's entry rules."
This wasn't a serious crime on the planet. Usually, people would just pay a fine or be sent back to their home planet. The main star was a unified star system, and violating entry rules was at most considered traveling without reporting. In any case, this crime had never resulted in such severe punishment as Tang Yu's case.
This kind of violation punishment can also be found on public websites, so it's not considered confidential.
After giving it some thought, Xiaozhao posted this message in the livestream room, explaining Tang Yu's crime.
Now, the bullet comments quieted down.
[What? Am I reading this correctly? It's just a violation of entry rules?]
[If that's true, it's really unfair.]
[It's true. I just checked on a public website, it's so unfortunate.]
[But wait, I still feel like there's something more to it.]
[Who knows.]
The audience began discussing it among themselves. Xiaozhao's damn curiosity surged again, and she repeatedly checked Tang Yu's information. She dialed a number on her wristband.
"Brother Qi, it's me, Xiaozhao. By the way, you've been to Planet 879 before. I want to ask if you know anyone living in... let me see, in District 17..."
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