Several people stumbled out of the police station and found a nearby residential building. They broke open the door on the third floor, killed the zombies inside, and temporarily settled down.
Having encountered those terrifying, nearly indestructible military zombies, killing these ordinary ones felt much easier. Even the timid Li Yougen was not as afraid anymore. The man named You Yi, however, remained silent, following Xin Meng closely without taking the initiative to act. He only helped when he saw Xin Meng in danger.
Even without a gun, the man’s formidable skills were undiminished. He held a sharp military knife, and with a seemingly effortless slice at the zombie’s neck, its head rolled to the ground. To an uninformed observer, it might have looked like the zombie was made of paper, but everyone present had experienced terrifying battles and understood clearly: it wasn’t that the zombies were weak, but that this man was incredibly strong.
At that moment, everyone was resting in the living room. Dong Xiu and Li Yougen tried to keep their distance from this new, seemingly formidable man, while Xin Meng felt indifferent. Being next to this powerful man gave him a sense of security, especially since he had been protecting him all along. He didn’t particularly want to sit with Dong Xiu and Li Yougen, so he simply sat on the sofa with You Yi.
He even noticed that the man’s gaze often fell on him, more frequently than on others. Yet, there was no special emotion in his eyes, just a calmness that infected Xin Meng, allowing him to relax.
Suddenly, the man spoke, “What happened to your left arm?”
This was the second time Xin Meng heard the man speak. His voice was deep and magnetic, as the saying goes, “it could make your ears pregnant.” At that moment, the man was very close to Xin Meng, as if whispering in his ear. Xin Meng’s earlobe turned slightly red from the sensitivity, and he shifted uncomfortably, “Um… I was interrupted by Jiezi earlier.”
The man didn’t say anything in response. He simply stood up and went to the living room for a moment. When he returned, he brought two wooden boards and a roll of bandages from his backpack. He sat beside Xin Meng, helped him realign his bones, then secured them with the wooden boards and wrapped them with the bandages, hanging it around his neck and securing it on his chest. “Don’t move.”
His movements were quick and practiced. Xin Meng only felt a brief pain when the bones were realigned, but once they were secured, he felt much more comfortable.
Dong Xiu sat on another chair, his gaze shifting between Xin Meng and You Yi. After a while, he suddenly asked, “You two know each other?”
Xin Meng was taken aback. “No, just like you guys, this is the first time we’ve met.”
Dong Xiu looked at the two of them suspiciously, clearly not believing it. In fact, Xin Meng also found it strange that he felt such a familiarity with the man, which he couldn’t explain. But after thinking it over, he realized he had never seen You Yi before. A man as charming as him would definitely be unforgettable after just one meeting. So he was sure he had never met him. This inexplicable sense of comfort and closeness was probably just because they had a good vibe.
Sometimes, people feel inexplicably close to someone who looks familiar.
Moreover, this man had saved him, making him his savior.
As he thought about this, he noticed Dong Xiu still looking at You Yi with suspicion and hostility. Unable to help himself, he explained, “I checked, the armband is real. He is indeed our teammate. Jiezi was the NPC who infiltrated our team to stop us from clearing the game. You Yi is the one who just saved me; he can be trusted.”
“Hmph, can he be trusted?” Li Yougen’s brows furrowed in anger as he rubbed his forehead. Earlier, when You Yi kicked the door, he hadn’t thought to pull him back, so when the door opened, he fell out, hitting his forehead and getting a huge bump that hurt like hell. Naturally, he had a terrible attitude towards You Yi. “Jiezi saved us before too, but in the end, he betrayed us. Who can we trust?”
Xin Meng was still angry about Li Yougen’s earlier actions of pushing the girl to her death and didn’t want to engage with him.
Right, the girl!
He suddenly remembered something and pulled out a white card from his pocket. “She shoved this into my hand before she died. The situation was urgent, and I didn’t have time to look at it, so I just kept it.”
The card looked familiar to everyone; it was the game’s instruction card.
It wasn’t completely dark yet, and there was still some light in the room, allowing them to see each other’s expressions. However, the words on the card were small and required a light source. Xin Meng took out a small laser light to shine on the card, but since he couldn’t move his left arm, he could only hold it with one hand. Just as he was struggling, he noticed the card being pulled away.
You Yi held the card steadily in front of Xin Meng.
Xin Meng was taken aback and smiled gratefully at You Yi, feeling that although this man seemed cool, he was particularly considerate.
He didn’t look at the back of the card first but instead focused on the front.
[To the dear Ms. Qi Xiaokui.]
“Qi Xiaokui? That’s a nice name,” Xin Meng murmured, but suddenly felt a strong gaze from the side. He turned his head to see You Yi staring at him intently. Although his gaze remained calm, Xin Meng felt a bit guilty for some reason.
What am I feeling guilty about?
Why should I feel guilty?
He shook his head, dismissing the inexplicable feeling, and instead gestured for You Yi to turn the card over. He began to read the back word by word:
[The color of the meteorite is so bright, as if blood is flowing; it is the heart of a demon.]
[Avoid it, unless you also want to become a monster.]
“Damn it!” After hearing the contents of the card, Li Yougen immediately cursed, “If that woman had shown us the card earlier, how could we have ended up like this? Xiong Jiabao wouldn’t have died!”
Dong Xiu’s expression was also extremely grim. After all, if he hadn’t been smart enough to let Xiong Jiabao go first to test it, he would have been the one to turn into a monster.
Now that he thought about it, Qi Xiaokui had been so far away from everyone; it wasn’t necessarily that she wanted to keep her distance but rather that she knew the meteorite was dangerous, so she ran far away to avoid it. Unfortunately, no one noticed!
Xin Meng sighed, “It’s because we didn’t earn her trust.”
And it was impossible to earn it now. When Li Yougen pushed her towards the monster, their team probably lost any chance of gaining that girl’s trust. Even if she had pushed Xin Meng away in the end, it was only because Xin Meng wanted to save her, and she didn’t want to owe anyone anything.
“To hell with distrust! Can distrust kill us?” Li Yougen continued to curse, scratching his thigh angrily. “She didn’t tell us, and in the end, she got herself killed! She deserved it!”
Xin Meng was furious upon hearing this. Was it her fault she died? It was clearly you who pushed her towards the zombies! He was about to retort when he saw Li Yougen’s arrogant and selfish expression, so he dropped the thought.
There was really nothing to say to someone like Li Yougen. He would never admit he was wrong, and arguing with him was pointless. So he coldly said, “Actually, it doesn’t matter whether she told us or not. As long as we aren’t greedy, we can still avoid danger.”
“Not being greedy” was directed at Dong Xiu, but Dong Xiu was staring out the dark window, seemingly not listening at all.
Li Yougen nodded, after all, he hadn’t intended to take the risk of touching that obviously strange object today.
Perhaps wanting to change the subject, Dong Xiu turned back and coldly said to the silent You Yi, “What about your card? Don’t tell me you lost it too!”
“How do you speak?” Xin Meng was extremely annoyed by Dong Xiu’s arrogance. Or rather, after everything that had just happened, his tolerance for Dong Xiu and Li Yougen had significantly decreased.
He thought of that poor girl who had opened the supermarket door for them, saving them from starving, only to be repaid with betrayal and die so tragically…
Even if he was usually gentle, after everything that had just happened, he felt extreme dissatisfaction towards these two selfish people. He was about to stand up and argue with Dong Xiu when he suddenly noticed a card appearing in front of him. It was You Yi, who had not reacted to Dong Xiu’s words at all, neither angry nor disgusted, still wearing a calm expression as he silently took out the card and held it in front of Xin Meng.
It was like a bucket of cold water poured over him, calming the rare outburst of emotion he had felt due to the girl’s death. Xin Meng took a deep breath, pushed aside his irritation, sat back down, and picked up the laser light to look at the words.
[This is hell! We are surrounded by demons!]
[God, if we worship towards the place where the sun rises, will we be redeemed?!]
“What does this mean?” Li Yougen irritably scratched his hair. The terrifying experiences of the past few days had made it impossible for him to maintain his previous polished appearance. His expensive suit jacket was gone, his white shirt was stained with dirt, sweat, and zombie guts, and his pants had torn holes, with the crotch still wet, emitting a foul smell. This feeling was simply terrible; he couldn’t calm down to think about what the hint was saying, only wanting to escape this damned game and return to his normal life!
“It’s simple; it means the exit is in the east,” Xin Meng said almost without thinking.
Dong Xiu nodded as well. “Worshiping towards the place where the sun rises means moving eastward, which gives hope. So this is the correct direction.”
It was completely opposite to the direction Jiezi had given them before.
He had deliberately misled them and led them into a dangerous trap.
“But isn’t that a question? What if it’s wrong?” Li Yougen scratched the back of his thigh, questioning doubtfully.
Xin Meng replied, “Based on the content of each card, the hints given by the game are very purposeful and won’t be useless. So this ‘direction of the rising sun’ must be an important hint. If it’s not correct, it must be completely opposite. For example, if it says to go left, it could be the correct left or the opposite right. The only meaningful deduction must lead to a unique answer. But this is different; if we assume this is a false guiding indication, and east is wrong, then the other answers wouldn’t be unique. At least there are three other directions: south, west, and north. Just saying east is the wrong direction doesn’t accurately deduce which of the other three is correct. So it must refer to east. Even if it’s a question, there are no other possibilities.”
Li Yougen listened, dumbfounded, and couldn’t help but admire Xin Meng’s intelligence.
Dong Xiu snorted in dissatisfaction, his eyes filled with gloom. “Such a simple thing, you could know without thinking. What’s there to show off?”
Xin Meng knew he was being looked down upon and didn’t respond to that. You Yi’s reaction, however, seemed much more endearing (in Xin Meng’s eyes). He straightforwardly praised Xin Meng, “Very impressive.”
For some reason, when Jiezi had praised him before, Xin Meng felt more embarrassed, but now, being looked at so seriously and focused by You Yi, even if he only said three words, it made his cheeks flush. Fortunately, it was already dark, and the others couldn’t see; otherwise, Xin Meng wouldn’t know how to explain it.
What was wrong with him?
