Salted Fish Zombie

Ning Su responded with a cheerful voice, “Yes, big brother, I know him.”

“Wow, impressive, brother,” the man said enviously. “As neighbors, don’t forget me when you became rich and prosperous!”

Ning Su was lying at the bridge cave, drawing a map of the “Ghost Animal” dungeon. He echoed, “Sure!”

He looked up and glanced at the three sharp corners of the palace in the center of the base, listing the possible entrances to the inner world on paper: “The incinerator, the northwest corner of the slaughterhouse warehouse, and the riverbed next to the funeral home.”

***

In the highest room of the palace, a long-haired woman was sitting on a sofa.

A young and handsome man was kneeling beside her, massaging her ankle.

A slightly graying old man stood next to her, respectfully saying, “I came to find you immediately after receiving this NPC invitation card. I didn’t know that you’re in the instance again.”

Shi Tianzhu held a small red square card with her slender and fair fingers. The unknown material of the card had a row of shimmering numbers: 4-0326.

The old man said, “We didn’t know who he was at first, but later found out that he was Ning Su, who went into the ‘Ghost Animal’ instance with the black-robed man.”

Shi Tianzhu stared at the card and sighed. “It’s been so long since an NPC sent out an invitation card on their own initiative. It’s been at least ten years, right?”

The old man nodded. “Indeed, it’s not something small.”

“Chen Tian and Chen Qing are not a match for the black-robed man. It’s just a second-level instance, and the black-robed man shouldn’t have died.”

“You mean...” The old man was cautious. “Is the death of the black-robed man related to this young man named Ning Su?”

Shi Tianzhu didn’t say anything.

“The NPC of a fourth-level instance actively sent out an invitation card to him, and even the black-robed man couldn’t handle him. This young man...” The old man said, “I’ll send someone to follow him into the next instance. If he’s really talented and hostile to our Yinhua Guild, then kill him.”

Shi Tianzhu said, “I’ll go myself.”

The elderly person looked up in surprise and said, “There’s no need for that. He’s just a newcomer who has passed a level two instance.”

Shi Tianzhu raised her cold peach blossom eyes slightly and said, “Do you want another Ning Changfeng?”

The elderly person was taken aback and lowered his head.

Shi Tianzhu held a red card in her hand, her expression inscrutable. “It’s another person surnamed Ning.”

She handed the card to the elderly person, who took it and left.

The person kneeling on the ground continued to carefully massage her ankle.

Shi Tianzhu was very thin, and her ankle bones protruded. The thinnest and most slender parts of her ankle were marked by clear, winding blue veins.

A mannequin had bitten her ankle off in a dungeon instance, and even after she recovered outside the instance, she was left with a sequelae, not only physical but also occasional feelings of coldness and nausea.

A warm palm massage would make her feel much better.

Staring at that slender ankle, the person on the ground moved his hand up slightly and said, “President...”

His hand only moved a bit, and Shi Tianzhu lowered her eyes to look at him.

She had a pair of very beautiful standard peach blossom eyes, which was the representative of a charming and affectionate eye shape. But these eyes were on Shi Tianzhu’s face, not like the peach blossoms blooming in the spring, but more like the ones blooming in the snowy mountains.

Clear, stubborn, and with bone-chilling coldness.

Suddenly realizing what he was doing, the person slowly let go.

This ankle was indeed thinner and more slender than that of an average woman, but she was not an ordinary woman.

She was the one who came out of nearly two thousand terrifying dungeon instances and lived in the highest part of the Yinhua Palace.

The Yinhua Guild had a large area and high floors. The hierarchy here was strict, and there were clear rules about who lived on each floor.

Those who dare not lift their heads in front of him dare not make any rash movements in front of her.

Just as he began to sweat in his palms, Shi Tianzhu withdrew her gaze and asked him in a soft voice, “What’s your name? How old are you?”

The man, as if granted amnesty, trembled and said, “Yan Nuo, 23 years old.”

“What did you do before entering the game?”

“I was a singer.”

***

When Ning Su finally finished drawing the map and was ready to sleep happily, beautiful singing came from the palace at the center of the game base.

Ning Su patted the little child’s head lying on his chest, and fell asleep after two breaths.

The next morning, Zhu Shuangshuang brought buns and milk and came to find Ning Su under the guidance of Chen Qing.

When they arrived, Ning Su and Gui Sheng were sleeping soundly.

As soon as they approached riding the small boat, Ning Su sniffed and opened his eyes.

“...”

Zhu Shuangshuang said, “Let’s go to my place and eat. It’s warm there.”

In horror games, players never knew when they would face death, so the atmosphere in the game base was one of indulgence.

Under this influence, Zhu Shuangshuang bought a high-rise apartment last night with the help of Chen Qing.

Ning Su and Gui Sheng were taken aback by what Zhu Shuangshuang said.

There were buns, milk, and a large bag of candy here.

The small dining table was by the window, and Ning Su and Gui Sheng sat together, eating with their heads down. Zhu Shuangshuang told him, “Ning Su, I have decided to join Chen Tian and Chen Qing’s Mutual Aid Guild.”

Ning Su stopped eating and looked up at her.

Despite being invited by the top-ranked club in the game base, Zhu Shuangshuang chose to join the Mutual Aid Guild.

Since they met, Ning Su had learned a lot about Zhu Shuangshuang’s past.

Zhu Shuangshuang was a college student who, under the guidance of her older brother, started writing scripts at the age of 16. She preferred to write scripts about ghosts and supernatural beings.

She told Ning Su that writing about ghosts and monsters was actually writing about the human heart.

Despite writing about so many treacherous and dangerous human emotions, understanding so much about the dark and dirty sides of life, and receiving guidance from game instances and systems, she still decided to join the Mutual Aid Guild that was being laughed at in the base.

Zhu Shuangshuang lifted the white window curtain and pointed to a small building in the southeast direction outside the window, smiling as she said to Ning Su, “Ning Su, do you see it? That inconspicuous little building over there is the Mutual Aid Guild.”

“Chen Qing said it’s the place where the sun first rises in the base.”

Ning Su responded with a grunt.

Zhu Shuangshuang stood by the window, the sunlight shining on her face, making her smile looked especially bright.

Ning Su, who had no sense of aesthetics, suddenly thought she looked very beautiful when she smiled.

Beautiful like a child.

After finishing their meal, Ning Su thanked her and picked up the child to leave.

Zhu Shuangshuang asked him, “Where are you going?”

Ning Su replied, “The game hall.”

“...” Zhu Shuangshuang paused for two seconds and said, “I’ll go to the Guild and then go to the game hall to find you.”

Ning Su agreed and left with the child.

***

The game hall was not far from the Yinhua Guild.

Today was the birthday of the Yinhua Guild’s president. Although they didn’t celebrate it specifically, more people were coming in and out than usual.

Turning a corner, Ning Su walked around to this side of the wall and took out a piece of paper from his pocket. He skillfully folded it into a paper airplane and threw it over the wall.

The paper airplane wrapped in black energy flew higher and higher, landing on the windowsill of the highest room in the palace.

Ning Su was satisfied. “We can enter the instance now.”

When choosing instances before, Ning Su relied solely on his own preferences. But this time, he had to consider the child in addition to himself.

After walking around the game hall, Ning Su stopped in front of a screen.

In this ten-second preview video of the instance, there were not only beautiful houses but also many children.

Gui Sheng was too introverted and had no friends, so Ning Su thought this was a good choice.

He lived in a beautiful house, and Gui Sheng went to play with the other children, so he didn’t need to worry about him.

Ning Su asked him, “Is this okay?”

Gui Sheng nodded, with no objections.

Ning Su had just confirmed this instance on the system when he heard a fast and noisy commotion in the game hall. Then the entire game hall became much quieter.

Ning Su looked up and saw Shi Tianzhu appearing at the door, and he was slightly stunned.

“Many people in the game base know that Shi Tianzhu’s mood is never good whenever she appears in the game hall facing that leaderboard.”

It was the voice of a man in a suit, Ji Mingrui.

Ning Su, who had not paid much attention to the leaderboard during his two visits to the game hall, heard his words but did not turn around to look at him. Instead, he looked up at the leaderboard.

There were two square screens displaying information on either side of the game hall entrance. The left one was for club rankings, and the right one was for individual player rankings.

The first place in the club ranking was the Yongming Guild, followed by the Yinhua Guild.

The first place in the player ranking was Ning Changfeng, followed by Shi Tianzhu.

Ning Su was a bit surprised that Shi Tianzhu, who had cleared so many dungeons, was not in the first place. Moreover, the first place was not the person who had tricked Shi Tianzhu.

“Ning Changfeng is Shi Tianzhu’s mortal enemy. The Yinhua Guild released a message that whoever could kill Ning Changfeng in the dungeon would be given one billion points.”

“...”

It had to be said that Ning Su was a little moved.

One billion was an astronomical number for a poor player, enough for him to lie down on the game base for the rest of his life.

Ning Su turned to look at Ji Mingrui.

Ji Mingrui said, “Do you want to enter this dungeon? I also want to.”

Ning Su said, “Do you want to enter a newly opened level-three dungeon on your first try?”

Ning Su already knew that the first digit of the dungeon serial number represented the dungeon level.

His last dungeon, “Ghost Animal,” was numbered 2-9101, with 2 representing a second-level dungeon.

The dungeon in front of them, called “Manman,” was numbered 3-8761, representing the 8761st level three dungeon that had been opened.

Ji Mingrui said, “Yes, I have been researching here for a morning, and I feel that this one is very suitable. The higher the level, the more difficult it is, but it doesn’t mean that it would be more terrifying and violent.”

Ning Su didn’t have the habit of worrying about others. Since he said so, Ning Su stopped talking.

He just didn’t expect that Ji Mingrui, a newcomer who was entering the dungeon for the first time, would choose this level three dungeon, and that top-level players like Shi Tianzhu would also choose such a level three dungeon.

The person next to Shi Tianzhu said something to her, pointing to this side, and Shi Tianzhu walked over here.

Ning Su was stunned for a moment and stepped aside slightly.

Shi Tianzhu walked over without looking askance. Her gaze lightly swept over Ning Su’s body before hesitating for a moment and turning her head to look at Ning Su.

Ning Su raised her eyes and looked quietly at her.

Shi Tianzhu quickly averted her gaze, staring at the screen without knowing what she was thinking. After more than ten seconds, she finally selected the dungeon.

The dungeon had a capacity for 20 people, but only two had originally selected it. After Shi Tianzhu and the young man behind her made their selections, the dungeon was suddenly full.

All 20 people disappeared simultaneously from various locations in the game hall.