Chapter 61: Chapter 61: Let’s See How Much Brain the Zombies Have Left
Faye Yardley could hardly get more than twenty minutes of rest at a time. Every time she found a place to lean against and catch her breath, more zombies would appear.
It wasn’t that she was physically exhausted, but she felt herself growing more impatient and irritable as time went on.
After finishing off a few more zombies around her, Faye Yardley quickly ducked into a small corner.
Gavin Donovan had taught her a mantra to calm her mind, so Faye Yardley sat down cross-legged against the wall and began to silently recite it, trying to perceive that profound and mysterious sense of Energy.
Faye Yardley didn’t clearly feel the so-called sense of Energy, but after chanting the mantra three times in a row, she did feel her mind become much calmer.
Prolonged, continuous slaughter really took a toll on one’s state of mind.
’No wonder I’ve heard that Ancient Martial Artists don’t just train their external skills; they have to cultivate their Inner Strength as well.’
’I never thought it would be the same here in this survival game world.’
’Looks like getting this coach was more than worth it. In peaceful times, he probably wouldn’t have even given me the time of day.’
’But now...’ Thinking of her deal with Gavin Donovan, ’...the price she paid was probably something an ordinary person with average luck could never afford.’
After silently reciting it two more times, Faye Yardley felt her mind clear up.
After replenishing a bit of her energy, Faye Yardley proactively went to kill zombies with her long blade. She had no choice. After her bullets ran out, the guns were nothing more than decorations.
Earlier, the zombies had forced her back to the third floor. Then she fought her way back down to the second. Now, she planned to set foot on the first floor.
After rushing to the second-floor escalator and killing two zombies in quick succession, she heard a system prompt. [You have completed Clear Condition 1. You may choose to leave the Dungeon now. Leave?]
"No!"
’You’ve got to be kidding me. Collecting fragments is getting harder and harder. No one’s willing to part with them even as the asking price goes up, as if just holding onto them will make them rich.’
’I’ve already come this far, and it’s not like I can’t beat the zombies. There’s no way I’m leaving just like that.’
’Kill them. Kill every last one!’
’I might even trigger a hidden reward for doing this.’
’Isn’t that worth pulling an all-nighter to kill as many as I can?’
’Even if it was just a possibility, it was well within her means. It was worth a shot.’
Meanwhile, the people outside the Dungeon were beginning to encounter monsters spawning around their rafts.
The unlucky ones faced many, while the lucky ones might have only seen one or two so far.
In any case, besides the rafts of those who had entered a Dungeon, all the others were guaranteed to have a spawn.
From a distance, Logan Langdon had actually noticed a faint glow coming from the direction of Faye Yardley’s raft. However, monsters were spawning on his own raft quite quickly. He didn’t complain about this; on the contrary, he was excited, because the more he killed, the more he would gain.
Picking up the loot from the monster he had just killed, he took advantage of the brief lull before a new one spawned to glance over at Faye Yardley’s raft again.
He frowned slightly and muttered to himself, "Could Faye Yardley have entered a Dungeon before the monsters started spawning? Otherwise, with so many monsters appearing over here, I haven’t seen a single one that glows continuously for this long. Besides, if you don’t kill a monster, will it just stick around forever?"
He was puzzled by this question, but he had no intention of testing it himself.
So, he turned and went back onto his raft, leaving messages for people on his friends list and in the groups he had joined, asking what would happen if you didn’t kill a monster that spawned.
Just as he sent the question, a video call came in from his cousin, Hugh Langdon.
"Logan, I know about that," Hugh said. "Hailey Miles has been on her raft this whole time. After I persuaded Mr. Thatcher, he deliberately didn’t kill the monster closest to Hailey’s raft. The monster didn’t come after us while we were off the raft; it just started attacking her raft directly."
"Okay, and then?"
"The monster doesn’t attack the raft continuously. After it causes a certain amount of damage, it stops to rest. Hailey Miles has been using wood to repair her raft. The monster just finished resting and has started its second round of attacks."
"Alright, you keep an eye on the situation over there. And stop Xavier Thatcher from going over to help. Let’s see how many rounds the monster will attack on its own."
"You got it. I’ll let you know as soon as there’s a result, bro."
Hugh Langdon hung up and immediately jumped off his raft, running quickly toward Hailey Miles’s raft.
’I have to stop Xavier Thatcher, who has a tendency to be a bit of a white knight. He can’t be thinking about playing hero saves the damsel all day. Some damsels don’t necessarily need saving.’
[Help, help! I’m running out of wood! Does anyone have any extra? I’ll trade food and water for it!]
[Dude, calm down. Anyone who can still answer you right now is stuck on their raft, too scared to go down and kill monsters. Who has enough wood to spare for repairs? It’s not like we’re actively trying to die.]
[Exactly. Just hang in there. If you can survive three attacks, there’s good news. The monster will stop attacking. The bad news is that it doesn’t leave either.]
[Hey, to the person who just posted, let me ask: do any other monsters spawn besides that one?]
[Nope. At least not here, for now.]
[Thanks, man. In that case, I just need to survive one more round before I can breathe a little easier.]
[Eleanor Jonas: Everyone, after attacking three times, the monster will briefly enter a weakened state. I suggest you take this opportunity to grab your weapons and kill it. The resources you get will be much more abundant than what you’d find in a treasure chest.]
Hailey Miles watched the regional channel while keeping an eye on the monster that was relentlessly attacking her raft. She was so nervous she felt like she was going crazy.
Fortunately, the message from Eleanor Jonas and the others eased her mind considerably. If nothing else, she still had 507 pieces of wood, which should be enough.
But when Eleanor Jonas mentioned killing the monster, Hailey Miles fell silent.
’Eleanor Jonas is a woman, and she looks even thinner than me. If she can do it... then I... I should be able to do it too, right?’
Zachary Pierce reposted Eleanor Jonas’s message three times in the regional channel. It was quickly pinned to the top due to all the likes, so that anyone who returned to their raft to rest after killing a wave of monsters would see it as soon as they opened the chat.
’This so-called survival game really dragged people from Aquaria here just to make them struggle to survive. It gives you no chance to just lie low and build up your strength.’
’If they don’t dare to kill the monster this time, who knows what will happen next time?’
’I hope they can all find their courage.’
Faye Yardley leaned on her long blade as if it were a crutch, panting heavily. Beads of sweat dripped from her forehead, and her clothes had long been soaked through with perspiration several times over.
Now, besides her, there was nothing left standing on the first floor.
But even so, she still hadn’t received the system notification for a 100% clear rate.
’So, there must be zombies still hiding somewhere in this massive superstore.’
Although she had no idea how intelligent the zombies were, Faye Yardley deliberately made herself look utterly exhausted, as if she might collapse at any second.
’As for why she could remain standing despite looking like this, well, that depended on how much brain the remaining zombies had left.’
After confirming there were no moving zombies within her line of sight, Faye Yardley had quickly chugged an Energy Potion and a Physical Potion. So, despite her wretched appearance, her Spirit and stamina were actually at their peak.
TAP, TAP-TAP...
The sound of footsteps approached from a distance. Faye Yardley slowly lifted her head and looked in the direction of the sound.
