"Don't worry. Since the system itself says this is a large-scale instance dungeon, we were pulled straight inside. I imagine any other players nearby are in the exact same boat."
Gu Xinghe walked over to the window, glanced out at the noisy street, and frowned thoughtfully.
"Instead of cars, we need to worry about ourselves right now."
Zhou Xu casually shoved the promotional brochure into his jacket. "Should we run? Leave this place?"
"It's probably too late to run now," Gu Xinghe replied.
Even though the system had given them a three-hour time limit, since the townspeople could already see the zombie horde appearing and were warning residents, the distance between the horde and the town could no longer be considered safe.
"If we leave the town now, we're likely walking right into the tiger's den."
"Then what should we do?"
Mao Ruigang pushed his glasses up his nose again. Feeling empty-handed, his sense of security plummeted even further.
"How about we go grab some weapons first?"
Gu Xinghe nodded. "We need weapons, and we'd better find a safe shelter as well."
Judging by the panicked reactions of the townspeople, there didn't seem to be any ready-made shelters available.
Thinking of the appearance of the zombies they'd seen in the previous dungeon, Gu Xinghe had the others pack up whatever they could take from the hotel room. He hastily tied everything into a small bundle using a bedsheet and headed downstairs.
Everyone was currently looking out for themselves, rushing frantically toward the exits. Even if someone noticed them carrying such an odd-looking bundle, no one would spare them a second glance.
The front desk was already deserted, but fortunately, the informational brochures there hadn't been cleared away.
The four of them carefully studied the map on the bulletin board, and Gu Xinghe immediately made a decision.
"It's best if we can set up camp in a basement or a high-rise building, somewhere not too crowded. Ah Xu, you go with Ruigang to check out the situation at the bank and the administrative office. I'll take Caidie to the laboratory and the supermarket. In forty minutes, no matter what we've found, everyone meet back at the base of the tower."
The town wasn't very large, which made their task easier.
The tower was located in the center of the town, equidistant from all the target locations.
Even if none of those four spots met their requirements or something unexpected happened, they could still head to the tower for cover.
At the very least, as one of the local landmarks, the tower went straight up and down. Even if zombies noticed them, holding the high ground would make counterattacking much easier.
Time was tight; each of them grabbed a map of the town and hurriedly headed out.
Meanwhile, just like Gu Xinghe's team, quite a few players had entered the dungeon while it was completely undefended.
"Damn it, which bastard activated this dungeon?! If I ever catch them, I'll make sure they pay!"
The man was muscular, his facial muscles twitching slightly with rage.
Beside him was a player he'd met by chance on the highway.
The two had temporarily teamed up, but unfortunately, they hadn't been cooperating long before being yanked straight into this tense, zombie-infested dungeon.
"Brother Du, what do we do now? Should we just steal a car and get out of here first?"
Li Qun's voice was hoarse.
He had suffered way too many shocks over the past few days, but at least that kept him standing firmly here instead of running around in blind panic like a headless fly with the rest of the crowd.
Du Huo's gaze swept over the surroundings, finally landing on a small building.
"Run where?! Leave aside the fact that we haven't seen a single decent car this whole time—do you really think sheet metal offers more protection than a brick house?"
In Du Huo's view, rather than driving out of town and gambling on an unknown direction of dubious safety, it was far better to find a high spot, hunker down inside a building, and steadily hide out for these three hours.
"Follow me!"
It was a pity the buildings here were at most three stories high; otherwise, he would have chosen the twentieth or thirtieth floor, where even the keenest zombie sense could never detect him.
Li Qun followed closely behind Du Huo, drawing his own carried wooden club the moment Du Huo pulled out a small knife.
Arguments soon broke out in the direction they were heading.
"What are you doing?! Who the hell are you?!"
"Let go! Let go of us! This is our house!"
"Ah!!"
Amidst such chaotic times, arguments failed to attract much attention at all.
The town was in utter chaos.
Meanwhile, back on the highway, the NPCs who had rushed over anxiously after receiving Slime's message found themselves struggling to accept the reality before them.
"No way? How could it be such a coincidence?"
"What kind of dungeon did she enter? Why didn't I get a notification?"
"Yeah. Slug, you better not be messing with us! We aren't going to go easy on you just because you look pathetic!"
Slime was already feeling extremely depressed due to Lin Luyao being suddenly dragged into the dungeon, and hearing these colleagues' remarks made him wilt even further, draining the last of his spirit.
"Why would I lie to you? Besides, her vehicle is still right here."
That was something nobody could fake.
Once a player entered a dungeon, their vehicle would automatically freeze, entering an unselectable state.
In that condition, no one could damage the vehicle.
A dozen NPCs exchanged glances.
"What exact dungeon did she enter? Why didn't the system send us a quest notification? Did any of you get one?"
"No. But I figured out what's going on."
One of the NPCs quickly found the answer on the forum.
"It's a zombie horde dungeon. I heard even the Zombie King was dragged into this one. Since we aren't zombies, naturally we didn't get any notification."
"The Zombie King? Isn't that guy about to go berserk? Dragging him in there now is practically sending him to his death!"
"Sending him to his death? It's practically making sure this batch of rookie players is finished along with him! He's already insanely abnormal when he's normal—does he ever leave anyone a way out once he goes berserk?"
"We're doomed!" The sharp-beaked NPC, who had been unusually agitated from the start, clutched his head, barely able to bear this catastrophic news.
"What about the chef?! Isn't she going to die along with them?!"
Hearing this, Slime's body shuddered, feeling as though his hard-earned green hue paled quite a bit at the thought.
"Raven! Don't say that! The chef is amazing, she'll definitely survive!"
Raven, the sharp-beaked NPC, wasn't nearly as optimistic. Slumping against the tricycle as if every last ounce of strength had drained from his body, he began to cry softly.
"Wuwuwu, we're done for, done for, done for... My sanity value is down to only fifteen points, I definitely won't last until the day she survives, what are we gonna do, wuwuwu..."
The atmosphere turned exceptionally heavy.
After a moment of silence, an NPC covered in thick, tangled long fur—looking just like an oversized Mop Dog head—stepped forward and asked,
"Slug, can the food this chef makes really solve our berserk problem?"
Slime nodded vigorously.
His round body even rolled forward a short distance from the force of that affirmative nod.
"I was saved by the chef! Anyway, she's super strong, she won't die that easily..."
Slime's voice gradually trailed off as he remembered the freakish entity known as the Zombie King, finally dissolving completely into the heavy silence.
Mop Dog said, "In that case... why don't we just go straight into the dungeon to find her?"