Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Biochemical Virus

Murong Dragon City was brooding in the square. This time, his Dragon City Clan had spent more than three hundred thousand credit points, which was over forty thousand yuan, all in hopes of making a splash during this quest to attract new recruits and grow stronger. Yet, the two squads sent by Blue Company and Qimen Company had intervened, and all forty thousand yuan had gone down the drain, not even a ripple left behind.

“10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5…” The system’s voice grew urgent.

The players were all bewildered, lost and helpless, though many felt a shadow flit across their hearts—a premonition that something terrible was about to happen.

Sure enough, the system’s voice first echoed in Murong Dragon City’s mind:

“Player Murong Dragon City, you have been infected with the bio-T virus. You are now the mother zombie. You can no longer use your original weapons, your communication receiver is automatically shut down, and you may use your claws to wound other humans. The virus will infect your targets, turning them into subordinate zombies. You possess human stamina and defense, HP +100,000, defense +1,000, ordinary resistance +70%, movement speed +200%. For each human you eliminate, you gain 10,000 experience points. If you are killed by humans, you will lose a level, and all your experience will be transferred to your killer. After the quest ends, you will return to your original form. Victory condition: eliminate all humans. Repeat…”

Murong Dragon City had no idea what was happening, but when he glanced down, the scene straight out of a sci-fi film finally played out upon his own body:

His entire body was wracked with pain. His skin began to harden and mutate, spreading like a liquid over his body. A strange force was swelling inside him, and his body expanded along with it. His energy sword, armor, and boots automatically retreated into his spatial backpack. The greatest change was in his hands: within ten seconds, they doubled in length, each hand now with only three fingers, the nails turning black, growing longer, sharper, deadlier…

Perhaps he didn’t feel anything in particular, but to the players nearby, it was a terrifying sight: Murong Dragon City’s body had swelled to twice its former size, his clothes shredded, his height towering at three meters. Black blood oozed from his mouth, his face bloated and ruined, flesh mangled, his expression twisted and ferocious, a low, wolf-like howl escaping his lips… a demon struggling in the depths of hell.

Several female players nearby screamed in unison, a piercing sound that can only be uttered in moments of extreme terror.

Murong Dragon City wanted to speak, but the sounds from his mouth were bizarre and incomprehensible, even to himself.

He tried to grab the deputy commander beside him. His claws merely scratched the man’s wrist, but the same thing happened. Within half a minute, the deputy commander had transformed into a zombie like him, though remaining normal human height.

System voice:

“Eliminated one human. Experience +10,000.”

A strange melody played. Murong Dragon City found himself upgraded to level 26. HP: 110,000. Defense: 2,100. Ordinary resistance 70.1%…

Murong Dragon City was overjoyed. At last, it was his turn to revel. “Come on, boys, hand over your experience.”

The crowd descended into chaos, utterly routed. Many fled in all directions, but it was pointless. The zombies moved with astonishing speed, chasing down victims in moments. With a swipe of a claw, a blood-curdling scream rang out, and the victim underwent swift mutation. The infection spread like a wave.

Of course, some players mounted a counterattack. The gunners’ MP5s inflicted only around -60 damage upon the zombies, their power reduced tenfold. Some level-25 Controllers unleashed powerful spells like “Chain Lightning,” “Frozen Sphere,” “Burst Wall,” “Storm Blade,” which normally dealt around 1,200 damage, but against the zombies barely reached 400. The damage wasn’t the most frightening thing—it was the zombies’ sheer resilience.

A combat squad made up entirely of Controllers—about ten in total—unleashed their spells simultaneously. Within a second, fire and ice flew, thunder roared, and one infected zombie instantly lost 3,900 HP, yet the zombie paid it no heed and lunged forward. Not a single member of the squad escaped; all became zombies.

Murong Dragon City was nothing if not shameless. Spotting a pretty medic trembling by a boulder, clearly unused to such horror, he ambled over slowly.

“Please… don’t… don’t grab me… I’m scared… let me go, please…” The medic was crying, streaming snot and tears.

Murong Dragon City chuckled darkly. Rather than grab her elsewhere, he reached for her plump chest. Her medical uniform tore instantly, a bloody gash appeared on her pale chest, and she fainted. Within half a minute, she awoke, now a ferocious female zombie.

Murong Dragon City laughed boisterously. “I am invincible!”

With the outbreak of the T virus mutation, the canyon mouth became the best escape route, but all the players crowded there. Without crowding, things might have been fine, but in the crush, a single infection doomed them all.

Thus, the thousand-plus steps of the pyramid became the safest haven. The survivors from the two companies reacted faster than most. “Shoot Without Guilt” was the first to fire his M249 heavy machine gun, standing at the base. He only cursed that the gunshot was too slow. Even his “Mad M249,” a top-tier weapon, inflicted only about 300 damage to ordinary zombies. His eyes were bloodshot with rage.

The two captains had long since abandoned their duel, scrambling to the top. Now was not the time for infighting; everyone could see these zombies’ HP was sky-high, rivaling small bosses.

To survive, humanity had to unite.

Wu Hua now understood the true meaning of the quest’s name. The Road of Survival was precisely this—the blast center he’d destroyed was actually a bio-virus research lab.

“The system’s design for this quest is truly fiendish…” Wu Hua dashed toward the blast center.

With the battle at this stage, warriors were useless. Controllers and mutants displayed their true power.

“Wandering the Rivers and Lakes” stood at the summit, brandishing his energy staff. Three lightning balls arced down at a forty-five degree angle. He was likely terrified by the scene, afraid the lightning balls wouldn’t hold, so he layered a chain lightning spell atop them.

Su20 stood beside him, arms raised skyward. Suddenly, he slammed his hands down, and a warped ring of psychic energy floated downward, stopping at the broken step where “Earth Lump” had self-destructed. It drilled into the crack, and under Su20’s powerful control, a massive boulder burst from the earth moments later.

“Go!” Su20 roared. The boulder plummeted, crushing five zombies surging upward.

“-787, -774, -796…” These were the highest damage values humans had managed since the zombie outbreak. Yet this wasn’t the key point—the massive boulder knocked the five zombies down nearly a hundred steps, breaking their advance. The route was cut off, and the zombies were jammed together. “Wandering the Rivers and Lakes’” lightning balls paralyzed them, and the frenzied zombie horde became a tangled mass on the mountainside, howling and struggling desperately.

Su20’s move was ferocious, but now no one had time to marvel at his prowess. Many players fleeing halfway up the pyramid dashed upward with reckless abandon, never looking back. The zombie army roared, their speed a hundred meters in nine-point-nine seconds. Truly, life is forged under pressure…