Chapter 4 The Long Slope (Part 2)

The car continued down the steep slope, and as the speed got faster and faster, Little Knife shouted, "Good news, I need good news."

Stone replied, "Yes, there is."

"There is?" Lin Wu exclaimed in surprise, "There's still good now..." He was cut off mid-sentence as Little Knife covered his mouth from the back seat.

Stone said, "Activate Eagle Eye mode."

Stone expertly maneuvered the steering wheel, driving the car past a zombie sleeping in the middle of the road. Lin Wu was even more astonished, "Damn, did you top up with some pay-to-win credit?"

Stone, composed and controlled at the wheel, asked, "Why do you think I topped up with credit?"

Lin Wu answered, "Because you avoided the zombie."

Stone asked, "If you could see the zombie, why couldn't I avoid it?"

It made sense! Lin Wu realized that after a long time in the dark, one's eyes adapt, and thus they could make out nearby objects with the help of the faint moonlight.

Little Knife ignored this, "Good news, I want good news."

Stone replied, "We are all still alive."

Lin Wu instinctively asked, "And the bad news?"

Stone said, "The car's speed is about to hit a hundred."

Little Knife was annoyed, she covered Lin Wu's mouth again with a slap. She made you ask, she got you asking.

The speed of the car got faster and faster, quickly reaching 120 kilometers per hour. Little Knife yelled, "Good news, I need good news."

"The emergency lane." Stone turned the steering wheel, and the car left the highway for the emergency lane. As the vehicle hit the sandy track, its speed quickly reduced, soon coming to a stop in the sand.

Stone got out of the car, pushing open the door. The dwindling adrenaline left his legs shaking uncontrollably, and he leaned on the car, gasping with lingering fear, "Should have bought one if I had the money, it's incredibly durable."

Little Knife, still covering Lin Wu's mouth, got out of the car, "Good news."

Stone said, "As long as we work together to push the car back, we can keep going downhill."

Little Knife told Lin Wu, "Don't talk, and definitely don't ask about the bad news, got it?"

Lin Wu nodded repeatedly and only then did Little Knife let go of him. Without the need for Lin Wu and Daiyu's help, Little Knife and Stone managed to lift the car. Despite burning through their stamina in just a few steps, with their unrelenting rest and lifting, the two eventually got the car back on the road.

During this time, Lin Wu wasn't idle either. While he kept watch, he spotted a few zombies attracted by the noise. Lin Wu circled around to get behind one of them, catching up slowly to the zombie. He raised his steak knife and pierced the zombie's skull, killing it instantly. The system continued to guide Lin Wu's actions; he held the steak knife and slowly laid the zombie down on the ground before pulling the knife out. The entire process was silent, except for a slight plop when the stabbing occurred.

When a zombie hears an unusual sound, it will move toward the source of the noise, though not quickly. If a zombie spots a human, it will immediately start howling. The actions of a zombie differ depends on the type. The howling of a zombie can draw nearby zombies; if one can't end the battle quickly or retreat, the Screeching Zombie will soon arrive on the scene.

"What are you doing?" Little Knife saw Lin Wu searching the body of a dead zombie with his hands, and asked in a frightened tone, "I didn't expect you to be like this, Lin Wu."

Lin Wu lowered his voice and replied, "Looking for something."

Something? Little Knife perked up and eagerly asked, "Did you find anything?"

Lin Wu took out a lighter, "Yes."

Seeing a spoil of war, Little Knife also got interested and eyed a zombie about ten meters away, pulling out her Nail-Pulling Hammer. However, after only a few steps, she started to back away, whispering, "There's a screech."

Stone waved from the side of the car, Time to go.

The four of them crept into the car. By this time, the screeching was less than ten meters away. The darkness of the night clearly also affected the already poor vision of the zombies. Stone released the handbrake, and the car began to coast. The nearly dilapidated car made a loud noise as it started, and the Screeching Zombie unceremoniously sounded the horn for attack, with a dozen zombies appearing out of thin air.

The closest to the vehicle was a scrawny female zombie, which, despite its skeletal appearance, moved with great agility, grabbing the driver's door handle. It clawed at the door, vigorously kicking its feet, and before Stone and the others could react, the driver's door was completely ripped off, with the door and the zombie tumbling across the road endlessly.

Stone, with a relieved heart, "I've driven a convertible, but it's my first time driving a car with no door." Without a seatbelt, door, window, or windshield, and descending at full speed, a turn of the steering wheel might just send him flying off the road. If lucky, he'd smash against a rock wall and become a poster; if not, he'd fall off a cliff and end up as a pile of mush.

Fortunately, their luck wasn't bad. The last four kilometers was a gentle slope, and with the cooperation of the handbrake and the footbrake, they managed to keep the car's speed around 50 kilometers per hour. By the time the car finally stopped and was beyond repair, they were only four kilometers from North Town. It had only been 20 minutes, leaving them with 160 minutes to set up a medical station.

...

On their walk to North Town, the ever curious Lin Wu asked many questions. Where did the car come from? How did Little Knife manage to escape the city while carrying a girl? Only after getting the answers did Lin Wu realize the key was in the timing. From the moment everyone left the spaceship to the first roar of a Screeching Zombie, there was a three-minute window. Stone used those three minutes to find the vehicle. Little Knife and her group took that time to avoid the horde, took alleys, killed lone zombies, and ultimately succeeded in leaving the city. After hearing this, Lin Wu felt he was the dumbest, having relied entirely on running to escape.

Lin Wu's ten thousand whys, "Stone, why did you trust me and let me in the car?"

Stone answered patiently, "I didn't have any resources to be conned or robbed, only a car. If you had taken the car, you would still head towards North Town. If you didn't take my car, we would still be heading to North Town."

Stone spoke too loudly, attracting two zombies from the roadside. Little Knife pulled out the Nail-Pulling Hammer, and with Stone, one for each, knocked the zombies down and then smashed their heads. After finishing, Stone apologized to everyone for getting the team into unnecessary trouble.

Continuing on for about a hundred meters, Lin Wu saw a zombie lying in the middle of the road about ten meters away, gesturing for everyone to halt and quickly went over silently, raising his hand and swiftly bringing down the blade on the zombie's head, eliminating it.

Stone said to Little Knife, "Sharp Blade seems more useful than blunt weapons."

Little Knife disagreed, "Sharp blades lack the knock-back and knockdown abilities. In a frontal fight, wielding a short blade puts you at a great disadvantage, making it easy for your hands to get scratched and infected."

Lin Wu checked his interface, waited for everyone to catch up before continuing on, and then asked, "My Agility has gained a star, but why don't I feel any enhancement in my body?"

Stone, being an educated man, explained, "That's not an enhancement, it's proficiency. The system will unlock certain actions after you've increased your proficiency by performing related actions and reaching a certain star level. For example, in reality, most people can't perform a double kick. If you unlock the ability to double kick, you can perform it in the game."

Daiyu, having been quiet for most of the journey, suddenly pointed to the left and said, "There's a street light."

Stone looked towards the street light, "We've arrived at North Town."