Chapter 263: City of the Dead (5)

Chapter 263: The City of the Undead (Part Five)

Zhu Ning felt as if a long and massive tongue was gliding through the grooves on the surface of her brain, elegantly and slowly. Wherever the tongue passed, her brain matter was being sucked out, causing her brain to collapse inward, the speed increasing. As Zhu Ning pondered, she lost another chunk of her memory.

What was she supposed to do?

Humans often have this thought or say these words. With age, one's memory deteriorates, and elderly family members ask themselves countless times a day, "What was I supposed to do?"

Zhu Ning found herself in a quiet, dark, abandoned school building. She sat in the first row of a classroom, where an iron sign hung at the door, the words "Grade 3 Class 1" already faded.

Facing Zhu Ning was a blackboard filled with mathematical formulas, and behind it was a bulletin board made by students, written in colored chalk: "Heaven rewards diligence."

What a standard classroom, typical of Zhu Ning's era; classrooms in the cyber world were all high-tech now.

Why was Zhu Ning here? Was this a tomb post mission given by Prometheus? Had she entered some contaminated area again?

But how did she not know about the abandoned school in Zone 103?

Zhu Ning recalled carefully. Her last memory was completing the dentist's office mission, enduring a disgusting rain of teeth, obtaining Gao Zijian's notebook, learning that she was an experimental subject, experiencing a brief mental breakdown, and then having black slime attach to her body. This incident led to her damaging Song Zhizhang's prestigious Queen Shop, costing her fifteen million in compensation.

Fifteen million—just thinking about it made Zhu Ning wince. Song Zhizhang really held her accountable.

But why was she at a school? Was this another clue left by Prometheus? Just thinking about Prometheus made her want to blow up his mainframe.

Instinctively, Zhu Ning opened the system panel, almost blinded by the items and talents listed. Most of the system items and talents were unfamiliar to her, including a new mutation panel.

Zhu Ning had awakened a gray mutation panel, Devour.

How did she manage that? But her frown deepened quickly. The world is fair; what had she paid for this ability?

Zhu Ning must have lost a significant portion of her memory, evident from the system panel.

She wanted to check the helmet's recording function but discovered that the protective suit lacked an internal camera, which was odd. This suit seemed different from the previous ones; had it been updated?

Due to her memory loss, Zhu Ning could only search for clues on her own body. She touched her neck and felt a slight protrusion.

It seemed like she was wearing a pendant. Because of her profession, Zhu Ning rarely wore accessories and had no habit of wearing necklaces. What was this?

The pendant was inside the protective suit. Afraid of infection, Zhu Ning didn't dare to open the suit to check. Feeling the pendant through the suit, she felt inexplicably uneasy, as if it were a meaningful keepsake.

Zhu Ning had a hunch that the necklace was related to her additional system panel, possibly the price she paid.

After losing her memory, she felt a subtle sense of time travel, noticing many changes in her future habits.

Looking around, she saw that she was in a classroom on the second floor. Given that entering a contaminated area required assuming a specific role, her current identity might be a student.

Zhu Ning glanced out the window, as if daydreaming during class. Outside, there was a small forest, and several students in red uniforms were... jumping?

Zhu Ning found it hard to describe their exact actions. Under the shade of the trees, a few students bent their knees and leaped. Their knees were pressed to the lowest point, yet they jumped with incredible speed. Zhu Ning's gaze followed them, much like a cat watching a toy.

One meter... one and a half meters... one and a half meters...

The helmet's level gauge could estimate the height. The students kept jumping higher, reaching two and a half meters?

Zhu Ning remembered the world record for high jump was 2.45 meters. These students seemed to have exceptional athletic abilities. Unable to resist, she stood up and moved to the window to watch. Wait, two and a half meters, three meters?

The jumping student turned his head mid-air, allowing Zhu Ning on the second floor to look him in the eye. He revealed a complete face, the male student's cheeks rosy, with a radiant smile. Ignoring the bizarre high jump and the blood at the corner of his mouth, he would make a perfect star for a school promotional video, exuding youthful vigor.

But the moment he turned, Zhu Ning immediately hid behind the curtain, surprised by how fast she reacted.

Zhu Ning frowned, her heart pounding. What was that?

Just then, she noticed a corpse lying among the jumping students in the forest, the body already reduced to bones. Zhu Ning had been so focused on the students' jumps that she hadn't seen this obvious issue.

Bang—

Outside, the jumping child's limbs were uncoordinated, and after jumping too high, he fell stiffly to the ground, looking anything but normal.

Hiding behind the curtain, Zhu Ning noticed more problems. Amplifying her hearing, she heard continuous footsteps, as if something was wandering around.

And those footsteps didn't sound like those of normal humans. People walk with purpose, while those without purpose move mechanically and numbly. The group walking outside seemed... like zombies.

This reminded Zhu Ning of zombies, a long-forgotten memory.

Zhu Ning knew herself well; she would definitely make some judgment and leave information in such a situation.

Leaning against the wall, she sat on the floor, holding a student ID card with no photo. The name on the card was An Shi. Was her task to find this student? Was this the role she needed to play?

Putting the photo-less student ID aside, Zhu Ning explored further. She reached into the pocket on her right thigh and stiffly pulled out a handful of paper notes, as if grabbing candies.

What was this?

Zhu Ning used to chat with her desk mate using paper notes during class, filling her drawer with them by the end of the day.

Zhu Ning felt a sense of urgency; time was running out, and if she delayed any longer, something terrifying would happen. Leaning against the curtain, she unfolded the paper notes one by one, recognizing her handwriting.

The first note: "My name is Zhu Ning, my mother is Zhu Yao."

Such a bold opening. Of course, she knew who she was and who her mother was, but with her constant memory loss, she might truly forget everything. The notes were likely left as reminders.

The second note: "This is the City of the Undead."

Were the things outside zombies? It was unexpected but reasonable. She had suspected as much earlier, but the zombies in the contaminated world were strangely different, suggesting a unique method of virus transmission.

The third note: "Unknown creatures will eat your memories. Record your current status at all times and leave information for your next amnesiac self."

This note had the most text, explaining the current situation.

Eating memories? Memory is a crucial part of a person; losing it is like becoming someone else. Was this contaminated area so challenging?

Zhu Ning thought the information was already explosive enough, but she didn't expect the fourth note to be even more shocking. It read: "You are outside the wall. Your companions are Pei Shu, Lin Xiaofeng, and Bai Cheng. Please find them as soon as possible, inform them of the danger, and leave immediately."

Lin Xiaofeng, Zhu Ning could just about understand. She remembered adopting her from the aquarium, and Lin Xiaofeng became Zhu Ning's first employee.

But wasn't Pei Shu Liu Niannian's bodyguard? Why would he become her companion? She couldn't fathom why that old dog-like Pei Shu would follow her, let alone escape the wall together.

Who was Bai Cheng? The name was completely unfamiliar; she had no recollection of it at all.

Regardless of what mission required her to go beyond the wall, the immediate problem was getting out of this hellhole.

Zhu Ning quickly unfolded the fifth note: "Do not listen to the dripping sound, do not look for bodies, evacuate immediately."

Drip—

Just as Zhu Ning was thinking about what bodies, she heard a drip, like a tap that hadn't been turned off properly. She immediately disabled the auditory function of her helmet.

She acted on instinct, following the warning on the note. The second the dripping sound rang out, the world fell into absolute silence. For a moment, she heard nothing, not a single sound.

After shutting off the sound source, the eerie world seemed even stranger. She didn't forget that she was outside the wall, where things were bound to be more chaotic than inside.

She needed to figure things out quickly; the notes must have instructions for her next move.

Zhu Ning continued to unfold the notes, the rustling of the paper echoing in the classroom. If an outsider saw, they might think Zhu Ning was insane, with crumpled notes scattered around her.

Creak—

Focused on reading the notes, Zhu Ning had blocked out sounds and didn't notice the old door of the classroom being pushed open. A figure stood in the doorway, silently watching her.

...

What was he planning to do?

Pei Shu sat in an abandoned noodle shop. There were several bodies at his feet, but he couldn't remember how he had killed them.

One of the bodies had half its brain blown out, yet the skull was empty. Pei Shu examined the head closely, noticing the edges of the skull were clean, as if someone had wiped them clean with a hot towel.

In the middle of the pile of bodies was one without a head, which seemed particularly out of place. Pei Shu didn't recall having a habit of decapitating people.

Pei Shu's world was silent; he didn't know when he had disabled the auditory function of his helmet. Logically, investigators outside the wall wouldn't take such a dangerous action, as closing off their hearing could easily prevent them from judging the source of danger.

Tap tap tap—

Footsteps sounded at the door. Pei Shu remained motionless, watching as a group of people shuffled past, like zombies, numb and bizarre.

Staring at the figures, Pei Shu's first thought wasn't about the danger but the possibility that he might become one of them.

He was outside the wall, Pei Shu deduced immediately. He didn't need any instruments to analyze; he could smell the pollution levels exceeding standards just by his nose. Outside the wall, there was no need for traditional pollution level testers; everything was always over the limit.

The air outside the wall was heavy.

How could he be outside the wall? Given Pei Shu's understanding of himself, it was hard to imagine him voluntarily leaving the wall.

Analyzing the situation, he held a man-made device in his hand, something he had taken from somewhere, an extremely old pollution shield that had been modified by some genius.

This was evidence of human manipulation, and the complexity of the situation was escalating.

Pei Shu opened his secondary brain, hoping to find communication records with others for more information. But when he opened it, the screen was full of static, and he couldn't retrieve any records.

The static continued to flicker, making him feel slightly disoriented. Pei Shu had a strange feeling that it wasn't just his secondary brain that was polluted, but also his primary brain; something was wrong with his mind.

He was certain that a segment of his memory was missing, but the problem was he knew only that he had lost memory, without knowing how much—was it an hour? A year? Ten years?

If it was ten years, those ten years of memory erased like chalk on a blackboard, would he still be himself?

Without any monster attacks, Pei Shu felt a chill run down his spine, as if there was a vortex somewhere disrupting his perception. This was outside the wall, his right hand trembled involuntarily, and he had to use his left hand to hold his right wrist. Unfortunately, he had no ball of yarn to squeeze to relieve the pressure.

Stay calm, it can't be that bad. Find clues, then go back.

The last coherent memory Pei Shu could recall was Zhu Ning infiltrating Genesis Tech's consciousness cloud. The young miss had caused a major disaster, nearly ruining Genesis's future.

The consciousness cloud was not a sanctuary; it could also be contaminated, something Pei Shu had known for a long time, but he didn't care. Why should a lackey of the rich care about how the rich made their money?

Lu Yao appeared in time to clean up the mess, and the young miss was put under house arrest.

Previously, whenever the young miss got into trouble, she would contact him immediately, but this time, surprisingly, she didn't. Pei Shu didn't even know how she was doing; the place where she was confined was off-limits to him. However, he didn't worry too much about the young miss of a wealthy family; at worst, Lu Yao would keep her under house arrest for a while, and she would be out again soon for more adventures.

One of the intruders was Zhu Ning. Pei Shu had once told her that if she harmed the Lu family's interests, he would have to become her enemy.

When he said this, he had a vague premonition that Zhu Ning would eventually provoke the Lu family.

It was a pity; the young miss rarely had a true friend, and Zhu Ning had great talent. She was a good candidate for going outside the wall, and Pei Shu admired her.

In his memory, Pei Shu received a mission from Lu Yao. The Lu family had locked onto Zhu Ning, and based on Pei Shu's professional understanding, Lu Yao intended to kill her.

Looking at the gun and the shield in his hand, Pei Shu made a reasonable guess: Was he on a mission to assassinate Zhu Ning?