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Chapter 52: OP Garlic (VI)
At about 3PM at Allerbmu Corp. Tower, Pan Feng and Hua Xiong had set out together with Lil’ Tan, leading the way to the top floor.
Inside the Tower, the elevator that ran directly to the fifty-second floor was unusable and the stairs for the emergency fire escape had already been blown up, but there were a few elevators which led to the other floors that were still working.[1]
They had to change elevators several times: riding from the first floor to the seventh, then from the seventh floor up three floors, once more transferring to another elevator on the tenth floor, and so on. After many detours, they finally fought their way to the forty-second floor.
Along their journey, they met with the assaults of their second mini-BOSS leveled monster. But in front of Pan and Hua’s fighting prowess, the BOSS only had the strength to ward off their attacks, it was completely unable to strike back. In under two to three minutes, it was just chopped up and left to flop on the floor. There was even less to discuss about those ordinary Blood Wolf Zombies; they were neatly dealt with just like cutting melons and dicing vegetables.
Following behind him, Lil’ Tan could be described as having eyes-wide open; he was gasping in amazement. As far as the fighting was concerned, there basically wasn’t even any room for him to join in. He felt just like a mob boss bringing around two gold-medal, hired thugs to wipe out a place. The whole time his only role was to standby and watch.
“These two big bros….” in the staircase between the forty-second and the forty-third floor, Lil’ Tan could hold back no longer and asked, “I mean, are you guys planning to kill your way from the ground floor to the top floor and then once again from the top floor back down?”
“Nay, certainly not,” Hua Xiong replied, “We mean to save that Doctor Ashford.”[2]
Lil’ Tan blanked as he heard this. “Uh…that…I don’t know if it’s too late to say this but on the first floor I glanced at the building directory and the research facility is underground, not upstairs….”
It’s fair to say that since they had already killed their way up the 42nd floor only to hear someone tell them that they went wrong the wrong way that they retort with something like “Why didn’t you say so earlier?”
But unexpectedly those two were still displaying calm and collected demeanors. Hua Xiong only turned around to chuckle, “Ha ha, Little Brother. We too know that the research facility is underground. However, that Doctor Ashford may not necessarily be there, in the research facility, correct?”
Lil’ Tan thought to himself, “If Dr. Ashford isn’t in the research facility then where would he even be? It’s not like he’d hide in the restrooms, right?” Based on the conventional science fiction movie formula, after a virus outbreak, important research personnel like this guy would generally look for a relatively safe and isolated room/area to protect themselves. Afterwards they would look for a way to control the virus or call for help and such and such. The directory for this skyscraper only marked the top floor as ‘Offices’. If Dr. Ashford were really there, then I’m afraid he’d have been eaten a long time ago.”
Though he had some doubts in his heart, Lil’ Tan did not speak them. In anycase, he didn’t have to fight the monsters and only needed to follow behind these fighters. Even if moments later it’s proven that this was a wasted trip, at the very most he’d just have to follow these two uncle as they murder their way all the way back down.
…………
Several minutes earlier, Feng Bujue had also smoothly arrived at the big building. Along the whole way he examined the wounds on the corpses he’d passed, as well as the bloody footprints left behind and had basically already come to the conclusion that of the two people with Lil’ Tan, one used a heavy bladed weapon and the other used something that seemed to be like a pike or similar. Not only did these two have very powerful fighting abilities, but also against these little mobs they basically one-hit-killed them all.
Since the path ahead was cleared thanks to those three’s impressive display, Feng Bujue’s trek forward was also a lot more carefree. By the time he reached the building, there were only very few monsters inside. He took a moment to look at the building’s directory and soon after headed right for the research laboratories underground. It didn’t even cross their mind that the other three guys might be in the middle of rushing their way to the top floor. He just thought that his teammates would definitely have headed underground.
And so, after Feng Bujue found elevator in some random corridor that led to the basement, he got right on.
This elevator was quite spacious, and frankly, it was really similar to the Login area, except that there wasn’t a mirror on the back wall nor was there a touchscreen on the side. There were some bloodstains inside, but contrary to expectations, there weren’t any corpses nor severed limbs. Since this elevator could only go from the first floor to research labs downstairs, the elevator panel only had five or six buttons. Feng Bujue hit the basement level button, then the close door button, and soon after the elevator began to move.
Based off their “successes” he saw earlier, he believed that it would be highly difficult for monsters like the Blood Wolf to escape from the clutches of the Pan Hua duo in such a confined space. But his hand clenched around his pipe wrench anyway to ward against the minute chance that a few stragglers that might jump him the moment elevator doors open….
Right as the elevator doors opened the sudden sound of a zombie cry caught Feng Bujue somewhat off guard. But right as one arm shot through the gap in the door, another followed….
Before the door even fully opened, three or four zombies had already rushed in, shoving at each other to be the first one in. He looked behind them, and crammed in the corridor beyond the doors were about twenty to thirty monsters. Most of them wore white coats or security uniforms but they groaned while saliva dripped from their mouths. Their bodies emitted the foul odor of rotting corpses.
Although Feng Bujue was caught by this unexpected onslaught, his subsequent response was still just as calm and befitting as always. At once, he bit into the piece of garlic that he had been keeping in his mouth while he brought out his kitchen knife, raising the blade to match the pipe wrench he wielded in his other hand. Straight away he went after the head of the closest monster.
After quickly dispatching several monsters, he noticed one alarming thing: the monsters currently throwing themselves at him were just normal zombies, they lacked the distinct pale faces, sharp fangs, and even werewolf fur.
The most critical thing was…they weren’t afraid of garlic!
This abrupt and unforeseen situation put Feng Bujue at a huge disadvantage. He expected there to be but a few monsters and never thought that there would be this many; he even got himself stuck in an elevator and forced to retreat into this small and narrow area he couldn’t actually retreat into. Even more worrisome was that the garlic lost its deterrent effect, and these normal zombies here underground were even faster than the Blood Wolf Zombies above ground and were no different in strength and speed to that of normal humans.
Feng Bujue already used up【Slowing Quicksand】in the previous Scenario. He used the item on Roderick Usher’s ghost to stop the surprise attack from all those objects. So now, he basically had no other means (to protect himself).
If he were a normal person who’d been trapped in an elevator by over twenty zombies, then unfortunately the best conclusion would be–if the situation allowed it–to take a gun and commit suicide.
But Feng Bujue didn’t even have the time to pull out his gun now, both his hands were swinging his melee weapons incessantly while he relied on the passive effect of【Cerebral Concussion】to barely maintain his current position. But the outstretched arms of the monsters and the limitations from the size of the elevator made it incredibly difficult for him to get a headshot with every swing.
And unsurprisingly, he was bitten not long after and not just once either. The feeling of pain wasn’t particularly intense, but he knew that he was probably infected already.
When he finished clearing through all the zombies before him, Feng Bujue stepped into the hallway. Piled behind him were the bodies of over twenty dead zombies; a bloodbath. He examined the wounds on his body…his arm, his leg, each had two bites for four places in total.
Apart from some sensitive areas and the clothing and items around them, it was possible for a player’s clothing to be damaged. As long as the damaged area was less than 10% of the entire article of clothing, the System would not repair or rather it would delay in repairing it. As a result, Feng Bujue’s sleeve and the pant leg on his calf, were both exposed, revealing wounds he got from the zombie bites.
Furthermore, his Status beside his Health displayed【Infected】which just directly confirmed that he’d been infected.
Feng Bujue gave a sigh, took out the Winchester from inventory, loaded it, and continued forward. Why this research lab had normal zombies he didn’t have an answer for yet, but he knew that it would take some time to change after being infected. Before he felt flu-like fever or other such symptoms, he still had some time that he could take advantage of.
He wanted to try and look for a cure (or something of the like) in the research lab while investigating whether Lil’ Tan and the other two were here or not. If they weren’t here, then that meant those three punks headed for the upper levels of the tower for some unfathomable reason; if they were here, then there must be some reason behind the onslaught in front of the elevator.
…………
Meanwhile, at the entrance of the munitions store.
Atobe-sama and Lil Name simply went and moved a big sofa and lined it up in the middle of the street. The two sat on it and used the slowly encroaching Blood Wolf Zombies in the distance as target practice.
Of course, all fun and games aside, they still maintained a dose of precaution. After all, with their marksmanship in mind, getting a headshot from such a long distance was still quite challenging. So every so often, the two of them would both go over to every zombie that had its legs blasted or struck down to see if they’d were completely dead; if they weren’t dead then they’d serve it a nice big headshot.
The guns in the munitions store were basically all interchangeably usable by F (ranked users). The prerequisite to equip them were even lower than the ones for the M1911A1 that Feng Bujue picked up when he was level 5. Clearly in these kinds of Scenarios those at Level 10 or higher had their restrictions on firearms lowered. Those who had yet to unlock the Shooting Proficiency would then have even more chances to unlock this proficiency.
“Hey, what’s that look like to you?” Lil’ Name suddenly noticed a somewhat strange silhouette in the distance.
Atobe-sama who was looking out in a different direction, turn his head around at the question and gave a glance, “Is it…a player?”
The silhouette’s movement was obviously not like a zombie which was why it caught Lil’ Name’s attention. Along with “her” slow approach, the two were now able to see a bit more clearly.
She was a young woman, lithe and graceful, with long hair hanging to the shoulders, an elegant and pure oval face, skin was smooth and pale, eyes bright and clear, a charming nose and a petite mouth. She wore a black tuxedo. Her clothes clung tightly to her body, leaving nothing to the imagination and showing off her slim and delicate figure which contrasted well with her full and taut breasts.
“In anycase, her clothes are definitely not the System’s default ones.” said Lil’ Name.
“Hm…makes sense, and looking at her appearance I don’t think she’d choose a name like Matchless General Pan Feng or Hua Xiong Beheader of Thousands,” said Atobe. “That Feng Bujue told us earlier that Wang Tanzhi was his friend and also a male player so there shouldn’t be a female player in this Scenario.”
“She doesn’t look like a monster to me, maybe an NPC?” replied Lil’ Name.
“Then just try interact with it.” Atobe-sama raised the TMP in his hand, aimed it at the beautiful woman, and yelled, “Halt! Who are you?”
She didn’t answer but gave a smile, and a few moments later her smile quickly morphed into a smirk and fangs slid out of her mouth at the same time….
Footnotes:
[1]I don’t know how many people go to fancy places with fancy elevators, but there are elevators which go straight to specific floors without stopping at any of the others.
[2]In case my attempts have not been clear, these guys talk in like old Chinese. I think I’m failing at converting it to “Ye Olde English” here. Newt has tried.
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*prostrates to the translator*
I really missed this, thanks a lot!