Chapter 1856: Chapter 1854: Shambling Dead
In the end, everyone reluctantly had to spend the night in this village.
Of course, Misaka Mikoto was scared to death, after all, this was a village where someone had just died, and what Fang Zheng mentioned about the body, dead for over a decade, still moving was terrifying. So, Misaka Mikoto dragged Kuroko Shirai, Saten Ruiko, and Lei to run into a guest room, while Alisa and Feli stayed in another room. As for Fang Zheng... he slept in the living room.
But Fang Zheng didn’t mind, as he was busy checking the players’ progress!
After three rounds of selection, apart from those whose ranks were not high enough, and players deemed to have failed the trial, most max-level players entered this "new instance." Of course, Fang Zheng also used his divine power to increase players’ level cap from 70 to 80, since they needed some room for leveling up and fighting creatures, right?
And Jernie became the first main city for players entering this post-apocalyptic world. Currently, after helping protect and repair Jernie, players, as Fang Zheng envisioned, started expanding towards the surroundings. Of course, this wasn’t easy, as these players were undocumented in this world. To go to other mobile cities, official paperwork was needed, meaning players had to complete certain tasks in Jernie, apply for proof documents, and only then could they leave Jernie and take the wandering bus to other cities.
Fang Zheng also used Little Hei to distribute two different task branches to the players: one being the main storyline where players needed to visit other mobile cities, establish good relations, and utilize various methods to explore their core reactors.
The other task was hunting wild monsters—basically, searching for cores in abandoned mobile cities. Considering the high danger in these wasteland cities, players viewed them as instances.
Most players chose to follow the main storyline in an orderly manner, traveling to other mobile cities, while some players, seeking thrills, directly went to explore the wilderness for abandoned cities. So far, although no player has successfully accessed a core reactor, it’s just a matter of time if everything goes smoothly.
So next...
After checking the current progress on his personal terminal, Fang Zheng casually picked up a book from the table and began flipping through the pages.
On Monday, God created the world.
On Tuesday, God divided orders and chaos.
On Wednesday, God adjusted subtle values.
On Thursday, God allowed time to flow.
On Friday, God gazed upon every corner of the world.
On Saturday, God rested.
Then, on Sunday, God — abandoned the world.
"The underworld is full, and this world will soon reach its end. Ah, messed up."
The Deity suddenly appeared before people, leaving only this sentence, then vanished without a trace. From that day forward, humans ceased to die. Even if their hearts stopped beating, their bodies decayed, the dead continued to move. No new humans appeared, and soon, this became a world for the dead.
However, Tomb Guardians appeared.
The Tomb Guardians were the last miracle given to humans by the Deity. They built graves, buried the dead, allowing them eternal sleep. Meanwhile, the living could sleep peacefully, and that was the work of the Tomb Guardians.
"What a strange story."
Flipping through the story in front of him that could not be easily classified as either a fable or a record, Fang Zheng furrowed his eyebrows. This was definitely not an ordinary fairy tale, more like a record of how this world was created. After all, if it were a human fantasy creation record, terms like "division" and "fine-tuning" wouldn’t appear—they’re very professional terms. This seemed more like an experiment record, similar to "add three drops of solution B from A to test tube C to obtain reagent D"... it’s just that the recorder might not understand science themselves, hence, they recorded what they saw this way.
But, does this world really have deities?
After reading the records from the Golden Nightmare King, Fang Zheng knew the core system of this world sent backup data to several worlds before its self-detonation. But, only the AI that became the Golden Nightmare King possesses self-awareness.
Or perhaps data was corrupted by Chaos in this world, causing it to turn into this state?
Even if it wasn’t corrupted by Chaos, the current death loop situation is quite problematic.
Fang Zheng could guess that one day, the "program" responsible for this world’s operation encountered a "BUG" in this area, similar to how certain game regions infinitely respawn or freeze. This area clearly didn’t follow the "transition rhythm" of other places.
So, it wasn’t corrupted, and creatures from other parts of the world wouldn’t enter because no information exchange could occur. Whether Wild God or Contaminated Beast, corresponding data and texture resources don’t exist in this isolated "instance," so even if you input the data, it would self-destruct.
Just like Fang Zheng’s Star Spirit Warship.
Thus, the people here would not die.
"What a troublesome place... why does the Goddess of Order always leave me with such messy troubles...?"
Closing the book in his hand, Fang Zheng complained and then looked out the window.
Yet, it wasn’t entirely bad, if integration is done correctly, perhaps... this world could indeed be saved.
Of course, it’s only a possibility.
Thus, another night passed.
Fang Zheng slept well that night, but Misaka Mikoto had two dark circles under her eyes—her biggest mistake was squeezing in with Saten Ruiko and the others yesterday thinking it would be a Girl’s Talk session, leading to an excited Saten Ruiko—because in such a scene, surely, urban myths would be shared.
So poor Misaka Mikoto, after watching corpses half the night, was dragged to listen to urban myths for another half of the night, nearly drove herself to the brink of collapse.
In the end, even Saten Ruiko fell asleep while telling the stories, whereas Misaka Mikoto tossed and turned, unable to sleep. As a result, when dawn broke, Fang Zheng was startled to see Misaka Mikoto come downstairs with two dark circles.
"What the heck, what’s going on with you?"
"Nothing, I just didn’t sleep well last night..."
As she spoke, Mikoto glanced around, then couldn’t help but curl up.
"Let’s get out of here... I feel something really uncomfortable about this place."
"Do you want to take a ride?"
"I feel like taking a walk!"
In the end, at Mikoto’s request, everyone had to hastily eat something and hit the road. But almost everyone had the same thought, and that was they didn’t want to sit in that tank at all. It wasn’t because the tank was fast, but because Fang Zheng’s driving skills scared them!
Basically, under Fang Zheng’s control, the tank just moved straight ahead, crashing into anything in its path, and occasionally veering due to losing balance — what’s more nerve-wracking was Fang Zheng holding the joystick uttering in confusion, "This doesn’t feel like how it is in the games," making everyone tremble with fear. If he accidentally drove into a lake, they’d be doomed!
Thinking things over, the girls felt it was better to soothe their spirits by walking. Conveniently, this area wasn’t like other places full of barren deserts and wastelands. Seeing the endless green grasslands, distant lakes and mountains, and even the fields of wheat swaying in the wind, it was a form of relaxation, wasn’t it?
As long as they didn’t think about the dozen people who died here a few days ago.
And so, chatting happily, the girls set off, with Fang Zheng munching on a meat bun, following behind.
"Clatter!"
However, shortly after the girls just left the village, they heard a soft sound and saw two round black shadows fly out of the grass and land at their feet, leaving the girls, who were just laughing and chatting, startled. When they looked closer, they found grenades at their feet!
"Watch out!!"
Saten Reiko reacted quickly, hastily waving her hand, causing a strong wind to arise and blow the grenades away. Just as the grenades left the ground, they exploded with a "boom," surrounding the group of girls in smoke.
"Hahahaha!!"
At this moment, several non-mainstream youths jumped out of the bushes on both sides of the road, holding various guns, and opened fire at the scene.
"Ah———!"
Hearing gunfire, the girls screamed uncontrollably, but luckily Kuroko Shirai reacted quickly, waving her hand to teleport everyone to the other side of the street. By now, Alisa had already raised her Divine Machine; with a "click," it transformed from a Greatsword into a Gatling gun, instantly rotating and firing a barrage of bullets at the enemies.
"Bang bang bang!!"
Those rusted old guns couldn’t compete with a Gatling; even before Mikoto could act, Alisa’s sweep with the Gatling already took them all down.
Only after confirming there were no more enemies did the chaotically spinning Gatling in Alisa’s hand let out a low growl and slowly come to a halt.
"What the hell is going on!?"
Shaken, Saten Reiko and the others couldn’t fathom why they’d encounter grenades while out for a morning walk.
"I don’t know either, but they didn’t come with good intentions."
Alisa shook her head.
"But they should be all......"
Yet, before Alisa finished, the figures she had mowed down stood back up.
"Hahaha, that was refreshing, more please!"
"How can this be?"
Hearing them still shouting, Alisa looked incredulous, knowing she definitely hit their vital points with that volley. Even if she missed, shouldn’t they be crying out in agony by now? How could they still be laughing?
Meanwhile, as the wind blew, the battlefield’s smoke cleared, revealing the true identity of their attackers to the girls.
They were a group of non-mainstream youths, looking about twenty-something, with both men and women among them, wearing shabby leather jackets and trench coats, holding rifles and handguns. But their appearance was what mattered now.
Alisa’s attack didn’t miss; their hearts, shoulders, even heads were blasted open by the Divine Machine. One man’s head was half blown off, revealing the grey brain matter inside. By rights, they should be dead, yet...
"Oh wow, these chicks are quite fierce."
"I like this, hahahaha!"
"Come on, young lady, or want to taste my bullets?"
Watching these people with pierced hearts, torn bodies, smashed heads, yet still chatting and smiling like living people left the girls dumbfounded.
"What, what the hell is going on here!"
