CHAPTER 29

Upon hearing this, everyone in the room quickly stood up, drawing their weapons. Jin Ye's finger was already on the trigger guard.

Tang Yu promptly gestured for Jin Ye not to shoot blindly and stepped aside to let Jin Ye and Xiaoli get closer.

The person inside the cabinet must have sensed their arrival long ago but had not retaliated, either because they lacked the ability to fight back or simply didn't want to.

Tang Yu licked her lips, the faint human scent wafting from the cabinet hinted to her that a person, not a zombie, was hiding inside.

With a creak, the cabinet opened slightly.

A thin beam of light squeezed into the cabinet, illuminating a pair of blue eyes.

Upon seeing the situation, everyone was taken aback, and Jin Ye slowly lowered her gun.

It was a little girl, around five or six years old, huddled in the corner with a teddy bear. Her eyes were fixed intensely on these unexpected guests, and her whole body trembling slightly from fear. Despite her fear, she remained composed, not uttering a single scream, even upon seeing the two zombies.

Xiaoli sighed in relief, holstering her gun and slumping down on the small bed, no longer paying attention to the girl, while Doctor Zhou turned to rummage through her own suitcase.

Tang Yu was somewhat surprised. She pointed at the little girl, looking puzzled. "Is she a player too?"

She had never seen a child player on her journey.

Jin Ye shook her head and explained, "She's not a player, players must be at least 16 years old to enter the game. This is an NPC."

"NPC? There are human NPCs in the game?" Tang Yu realized that all she had seen were players, and she had thought there were no other beings in this world.

"Yes, there are natives. At the beginning of the game, you could see many of them, they served roles like shop owners, doctors, and nurses. However, their numbers have dwindled significantly now."

Jin Ye glanced at the little girl in the cabinet and continued, "They can't level up their physical abilities, so they often end up being the first to d!e in confrontations with zombies. Aside from doing missions, players don't pay much attention to their well-being, so there are rarely any NPCs wandering the streets now. Most of them just find a place to hide and just try to survive."

Tang Yu squatted down to meet the little girl's gaze. She reached out her hand cautiously, but the little girl shrank back, her fear intensifying.

Tang Yu turned to Jin Ye and asked, "Do they have self-awareness? Or are their actions and speech all pre-programmed?"

"These people's basic data are coded, but they do have self-awareness. This isn't surprising, most entertainment-based artificial intelligence today has some degree of self-awareness." Jin Ye replied, seeing that the little girl posed no threat. She turned her attention back to organizing her backpack.

Tang Yu turned back to continue looking at the little girl, who was being stared at intently by a zombie, her fear reaching its peak. Unaware of this, Tang Yu smiled, showing her teeth. "Don't be afraid, I'm not a bad person."

Finally, the little girl couldn't hold it in any longer and burst into tears.

Tang Yu immediately panicked, flustered as she tried to comfort the child. "Oh no, I'm not trying to scare you. Please stop crying, don't cry!"

But to the child, Tang Yu's frantic gestures only appeared even more threatening, causing her to cry even harder.

Tang Yu glanced at Xiaoli with a pleading look in her eyes and sent a voice message in their group, "She doesn't understand what I'm saying, help me!"

Xiaoli laughed so hard she almost fell over. "It's okay! Just ignore her, she'll calm down on her own in a bit. NPCs are like that."

Tang Yu was hesitant, but at that moment, Zhou Zhou suddenly stood up, pushing past Tang Yu, and handed a candy-coated oval pill to the little girl.

"Don't be afraid, they won't hurt you. Here, have a candy." Zhou Zhou said with a warm smile, her voice softening.

"What are you giving her?" Xiaoli asked curiously, leaning in.

"Vitamin D." Zhou Zhou replied.

"Did you trigger a mission? Did you give it to her because of the points?" Xiaoli asked seriously.

Zhou Zhou paused for a moment but didn't answer Xiaoli's question. She pulled out a bl0od sampling needle and gently asked the child, "What's your name?"

"Huang Qianqian." the little girl replied, taking the candy while watching the others warily but obediently answering Zhou Zhou.

"Do you have any discomfort in your body?" Zhou Zhou asked as she reached out to examine the little girl's arm, then after a moment, she pulled her out of the cabinet, pinched her knee joints.

Huang Qianqian shook her head, not fully understanding.

"I'll draw a bit of your bl0od. In exchange, I'll give you a jar of candy like this."

Once pulled out of the cabinet, Huang Qianqian felt exposed, standing awkwardly while tightly clutching her doll. She looked a bit malnourished, with her legs not quite straight when standing. Seeing that the people in the room really weren't going to hurt her, she hesitantly nodded.

As Zhou Zhou drew bl0od, she instructed the little girl, "You can only eat one candy from the jar each day. You lack sunlight, and your bones haven't developed well. Eating this can help you replenish vitamin D, okay?"

Huang Qianqian nodded obediently, though it was unclear if she truly understood.

Tang Yu crossed her arms and watched the two with interest. Zhou Zhou could show such a friendly smile to players, but she never spoke so gently. Tang Yu wasn't sure if Zhou Zhou was treating Huang Qianqian as a test subject or for some other reason.

"She's quite patient with NPCs." Tang Yu joked with Jin Ye.

"Yeah, and she even gave her medicine. I rarely see players who care about NPCs." Jin Ye remarked, somewhat surprised.

After drawing bl0od, Zhou Zhou placed the vial in her bag and began talking to Huang Qianqian.

From the little girl's fragmented story, they learned that her whole family used to live here. After the virus outbreak, her father became infected and turned into a zombie, while her mother had managed to keep her alive until now.

That explained why the room was so clean and tidy.

A few days ago, her mother went out to look for food and never returned.

Huang Qianqian's mother had told her to hide in the cabinet when she was alone at home. She and her black cat had been hiding in the cabinet for two days, watching several groups of people pass by outside, but there was no more food to be found in the shop, so they didn't stay long.

The black cat also ran away last night, leaving her all alone now.

After thinking for a moment, Tang Yu rummaged through her backpack and pulled out a cold baked sweet potato, handing it to Huang Qianqian. This sweet potato had been roasted in the village before they set off and was meant as food for the journey.

Huang Qianqian was very hungry, but she still restrained herself and quietly said thank you. After receiving Tang Yu's permission, she quickly devoured the sweet potato, even eating the skin. She hadn't eaten for two days.

The others exchanged strange glances at Tang Yu, and Jin Ye couldn't help but remind her, "She's an NPC, she's not like a real human."

Tang Yu tilted her head in confusion for a moment. "But if she doesn't eat, she'll die, right?"

"...That is true."

Once the little girl swallowed the last bite of food, a crisp system notification sound flashed in Tang Yu's mind. She exclaimed softly and looked up to meet the similarly puzzled gazes of the others.

Clearly, everyone had triggered something.

Tang Yu opened her game panel and found a new mission had appeared.

"Villager Favorability in Huang Village has accumulated to 2, triggering the 'Life-saving Medicine' mission. Current objective: Find the lifesaving medicine."

Once again, it was a mission prompt with very little information.

Tang Yu asked Jin Ye and Xiaoli about their missions in the group chat and found out that their objectives were the same, which relieved her.

However, Zhou Zhou stared at her panel for a long time. Normally, one would finish reading the content of a single sentence quickly, so there was no need to scrutinize it so closely.

Unable to contain her curiosity, Tang Yu urged Xiaoli to ask.

Zhou Zhou didn't hide anything and informed them, but her tone was filled with confusion. She said, "My mission should be different from yours. I need to formulate a medicine, but the recipe is really strange, it contains several chemicals that can be lethal in doses of just 5 grams. Is this... really a medicine?"

Xiaoli, however, noticed something else, "Do you have hints for the recipe?"

"Yes, the more points you earn, the more different basic skills you can unlock. It's kind of like a cheat code."

At this, Tang Yu glanced at her own points. After completing the Zombie King mission, her points had accumulated to 160, and with the additional 20 points for establishing a camp, she now had 180 points, very close to unlocking the next basic skill at 200 points.

While 200 points likely wouldn't unlock any advanced skills, it was still better than nothing.

Zhou Zhou asked the group, "I plan to search for the ingredients in the formula tomorrow. These things can be found either in hospitals or chemical factories. What are your plans?"

Tang Yu took another look at the mission, which only stated to find the 'life-saving medicine'. It didn't provide any hints about where to search or what the medicine was, leaving them without a clear direction like Zhou Zhou had. They could only explore step by step.

Moreover, Tang Yu hadn't decided whether to take on this mission yet. After all, her primary focus was on how to get back at Song Lengzhu.

Should she follow Zhou Zhou to assist? But that would merely turn into helping her complete her mission. They knew nothing about the medicine and would only be acting as bodyguards, which seemed rather boring.

Furthermore, considering Zhou Zhou's speed in escaping, it didn't seem like they would be of much help.

Tang Yu's gaze shifted forward, focusing on the words in front of the mission prompt.

The villager favorability had accumulated to 2, unlocking the mission. This was likely due to the food Tang Yu had given to the little girl and Zhou Zhou's medicine. If they could accumulate more favorability, would they receive additional information?

Tang Yu looked at Huang Qianqian, who no longer seemed afraid of her. The girl occasionally glanced toward the door, appearing both anxious and hopeful.

"This child is still waiting for her mother. How about we help her look for her? Maybe we can trigger something." Tang Yu suggested.

"Her mother has likely already turned into a zombie." Jin Ye said. Given that the mother had managed to protect her daughter until now, she wouldn't have left her alone for two days unless she could no longer return. "But it wouldn't hurt to confirm."

After discussing, the group decided that they would split up the next day, and Tang Yu and the others would take care of the little girl since they needed to identify people.

Xiaoli asked Huang Qianqian about her mother, who was described as slim with deep blue eyes, her long hair usually pinned up with a clip, and dressed in all black when she left home with a shovel.

As for other physical features, six-year-old Huang Qianqian couldn't provide any clearer details.

With a child now in the group, Tang Yu offered the large bed to the girl and Zhou Zhou, and she took two chairs with backrests to rest for the night.

Before dawn, everyone woke up to the sound of something scratching at the door.

Tang Yu reached for her weapon, but Huang Qianqian happily ran toward the door. "It's Xiaohei [Little Black!]"

The group cautiously opened the door and found the black cat that had run away last night had returned. It was carrying a packet of instant noodles in its mouth. Upon seeing the unexpected guests, the cat immediately positioned itself protectively in front of Huang Qianqian, lowering its ears and letting out a low growl.

Huang Qianqian squatted down to pat the black cat, calming it down, and then took the packet from its mouth. Inside, there were only a couple of broken pieces of dry noodle scraps, as if they were leftovers from someone else's meal.

It was unclear how long the cat had been out searching to find such a small amount of food, yet it had tirelessly brought it back.

The group was slightly moved. Cats, as creatures, rarely protect their owners, but this little black cat not only protected its owner but also knew to go out and find food to feed the little girl. It seemed like the mother and daughter had taken good care of it.

With its aggressive stance calmed, the black cat sniffed around the group and rubbed its cheek against their pant legs.

Jin Ye chuckled, "It's marking its scent. It will become familiar with us afterward."

Tang Yu crouched down, petting the black cat's head. The fluffy texture made her feel great, and she couldn't help but pet it a few more times.

The black cat's nose was damp as it nuzzled Tang Yu's hand and then ran to the little girl's feet.

"Alright, since we're all awake, we should set off now." Tang Yu tucked the black cat into her backpack, leaving its head poking out, and led the group out of the room.

Xiaoli held onto the little girl's hand as they walked in the middle, and the group slipped out of the small shop under the cover of night. 

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