Chapter 33: The Malicious Plan

Chapter 33: The Malicious Plan

In the blink of an eye, another four days had passed. Half of the time limit for this secret realm, 20 days, had already elapsed. During these four days, Chen Ye and Tang Zichen encountered only one zombie. This indicated that zombies preferred hiding in the mountains and forests rather than venturing near rivers.

One morning, after eating breakfast (fish), Chen Ye and Tang Zichen gathered to discuss their strategy.

"Today is the 11th day. In the past 10 days, we have killed a total of 8 hopping zombies, including the African guy we encountered on the first day," said Chen Ye.

Actually, this achievement was quite impressive for an average team. However, both Chen Ye and Tang Zichen were somewhat dissatisfied, especially Chen Ye, who was very unhappy. Killing only 8 zombies, even if each provided 6 potential points, amounted to a total of only 48 points. After splitting these with Tang Zichen, each person only had 24 points, which was not enough for Chen Ye. He could gain more attribute points from just a couple of days of training.

Despite Tang Zichen being the one killing the zombies over these ten days, with Chen Ye acting as a hands-off leader and reaping the potential points for free...

"Monitor, I think we need to change our strategy," Chen Ye suggested. "Continuing to rely on luck to find hopping zombies might not yield many kills by the time this ends."

Tang Zichen, curious, asked, "Didn't you already try to attract hopping zombies with fresh blood last time? Do you have another method?"

Indeed, on the third night, Chen Ye had tried to attract zombies by cutting himself and letting some blood out. Unfortunately, the plan did not work, which Chen Ye guessed might be due to the abundance of blood scent in the secret realm since people had been dying almost daily since its opening.

"Actually, I do have another idea," Chen Ye hesitated before saying, "But, this plan might be a bit inhumane..."

Tang Zichen's brows furrowed, seemingly guessing what he was about to suggest, and then asked, "Are you thinking about capturing others we encounter, letting a hopping zombie bite them to turn them all into monsters, and then killing them one by one to gain a large amount of potential points?"

Chen Ye was taken aback. He quickly realized that someone must have done this before, or Tang Zichen wouldn't have guessed his plan from a phrase like "a bit inhumane."

"Has someone done this before?"

"Yes!"

"And what happened to them?"

"It didn't end well. Their family became pariahs, and the perpetrator was eventually tortured to death by enemies seeking revenge. The country had to pay a large amount of compensation, and the person was publicly executed."

This outcome was indeed grim.

"That incident caused a huge uproar because the casualties among the freshmen in the same year as the perpetrator were extremely severe," Tang Zichen recalled. "The person had an S3 talent and had collaborated with several other S-rank talents to execute this malicious plan in the secret realm, using humans to nurture gu (a type of venomous creature)."

"The plan was initially very successful. No team could stand against them. Anyone who encountered them was almost certainly captured... It's said that they harmed hundreds of people!"

"Later, the hopping zombies they controlled evolved after consuming too much human blood."

Hearing this, Chen Ye was slightly startled. He hadn't expected zombies in the secret realm to be capable of evolution. Well, zombies in movies could indeed evolve... But why hadn't Old Liu mentioned such crucial information to them?

"The evolved hopping zombies became extremely terrifying, their combat strength increased more than tenfold, and alloy weapons were completely ineffective against them."

Tang Zichen continued, "That person and his companions couldn't control the hopping zombies anymore. Instead, they were chased and hunted by them, and the plan spiraled out of control..."

"Although it's unclear how that person escaped, the evolved hopping zombies rampaged through the secret realm, slaughtering many newcomers."

"After the 20 days were over, less than one in ten of the newcomers survived, and many of them were so traumatized that they ended up in psychiatric hospitals."

"Some survivors spoke out about that person's actions, causing a huge uproar."

"The higher-ups of the supernatural associations across various countries were extremely enraged upon hearing the news. With government support, they pressured the perpetrator's home country to hand over the criminal and compensate for the losses."

"It was said that the situation almost spiraled out of control, and the outcome could have been the annihilation of the perpetrator's home country by those powerful entities..."

After finishing her explanation, Tang Zichen calmly looked at Chen Ye.

Chen Ye was embarrassed. He had thought about specifically targeting foreigners to avoid harming his own compatriots.

He hadn't expected someone had already done so, with such a tragic end.

Upon reflection, the risk of the plan was indeed significant! Although Chen Ye was confident that he could manage even if the zombies evolved, being discovered and exposed would likely result in a fate similar to that of the perpetrator.

If the world's masters applied pressure, even a powerful country like Xia would not be able to withstand it. His father, Chairman Chen, definitely wouldn't be able to protect him!

If it were three years later, Chen Ye would still be confident in fighting his way out. But now, with his current strength, facing such a situation would mean certain death.

The consequences were too severe. For the sake of mere potential points from one secret realm expedition, taking such a huge risk was not worth it at all!

"I seem to remember that there's no information about this on the internet. The contents of the secret realm aren't allowed to be shared online..."

Chen Ye asked Tang Zichen, "So, how did you know about this?"

"Teacher Liu told me," Tang Zichen said calmly. "He thought I had the capability to execute such a plan, so he told me in advance to prevent me from making a mistake."

"Such plans have now become a universally recognized taboo, and no one dares to touch them."

Hearing this, Chen Ye felt helpless. Since the plan was too risky and could not be executed, he didn't know how to find a large number of zombies anymore.

Movies and TV shows about zombies mentioned many weaknesses of zombies but never how to attract a large number of them. Although some zombies could be lured by specific conditions, such as certain music or direct relatives, these were rare cases and not applicable in the secret realm.

Without a large number of zombies to farm for potential points, the trip would be a waste for Chen Ye.

...

Meanwhile, a few hundred meters away from Chen Ye and Tang Zichen, in a forest, a group of about a hundred people had gathered. These individuals appeared to be from different countries, but they shared a common goal: to assassinate Tang Zichen.

(End of Chapter)

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