Chapter 20: Keep Playing

"Bang!"

With a single swing of his steel rod, Brother Snake knocked a zombie to the ground.

Seeing Qiangshe's ferocity, the players' morale surged. They brandished their wooden clubs and poured out of the shelter, standing behind Qiangshe, prepared to fight the zombies to the death.

If the shelter was attacked and destroyed, everyone would die here.

Qiangshe's eyes were filled with killing intent.

But even with the determination to fight to the death, he didn't dare step outside the range of the light cast by the wooden cabin.

The zombies gathered toward the door one by one.

The two sides remained in a stalemate for a full ten seconds.

Qiangshe felt his hands, gripping the steel rod, becoming clammy.

The psychological pressure was too great; he was incredibly nervous.

His palms were drenched in sweat.

To his surprise, after the brief stalemate, the zombies surrounding the small cabin actually retreated like a receding tide.

What did this mean?

Why did they suddenly pull back?

As Brother Snake was wondering, someone behind him shouted.

"Brother Snake is awesome!!"

"They ran! Haha! They all ran away!"

Hearing the discussion from the players behind him, Qiangshe breathed a sigh of relief. Despite being scared to death, he struggled to maintain his dignity as a leader in front of everyone.

He adjusted his stiff facial muscles, turned around, and gave a disdainful laugh. "I thought it was something else. Just this? No matter how many come, it's not enough for me to kill!"

...

[Prompt: Your zombie clone is under attack and is attempting to dodge.]

[Prompt: Your zombie clone failed to dodge.]

[Prompt: You have gained Basic Agility skill experience +1.]

[Prompt: Your zombie horde is retreating.]

[Prompt: Your zombies have completed the retreat command and are standing by.]

Inside the small cabin, Fang Heng added a piece of firewood to the bonfire and pulled a can of coffee from his backpack.

*Gulp, gulp, gulp...*

After finishing the can of coffee in one go, Fang Heng let out a long breath.

"Phew!"

Refreshing!

In terms of taste alone, the coffee in the game was much better than coffee in the real world.

It even left him wanting more.

Fang Heng opened another can of coffee for himself.

"Uh..."

Seeing Fang Heng's extravagant way of drinking, Liao Bufan felt a bit envious. He said, "Brother Fang Heng, drinking coffee this late? Aren't you afraid you won't be able to sleep tonight?"

The effects of coffee in the game were staggering once consumed; one can would keep you awake all night, and it even provided a buff called 'Excitement,' which slightly increased the recovery rate of a player's stamina.

"Sleep? I told you, I'll take the night watch alone tonight. You guys should get some rest early." Fang Heng smiled, giving off an air of profound mystery. "I have plenty to play with tonight."

Jimmy glanced at Fang Heng. Seeing his composed and confident demeanor, he nodded with a smile. "Alright, then I'll trouble you tonight. It's time for me to sleep; I'm getting old, I can't pull all-nighters anymore."

With that, Jimmy lay down on his makeshift bed and logged off.

Liao Bufan blinked and exchanged a look with Liu Lin.

These two were incredibly carefree!

In a crisis like this, they could actually sleep!

"You guys should log off quickly."

Fang Heng crushed the empty can into pieces, sorted them as scrap metal, threw them into his storage box, and began ushering people out.

"I need you to work tomorrow during the day! Are you trying to slack off?"

"Alright, alright."

Liao Bufan was a bit reluctant, but on second thought, he didn't have much use staying here. It was better to log off and recover stamina to prepare for tomorrow's battle.

Besides, maybe Fang Heng really did have a plan?

Liu Lin gave Fang Heng a worried glance. Seeing him waving his hand to urge her to log off, she sighed silently in her heart.

She hoped nothing would happen to him.

After two cans of coffee, Fang Heng, sitting before the bonfire, felt invigorated, his body filled with the will to fight.

"Come on, brothers, let's keep playing. This is just the beginning."

Fang Heng muttered to himself as he opened the game log and began controlling the zombies idling in the outside world.

...

"Brother Snake is mighty! As soon as they see him, those zombies run for their lives."

"They're just zombies. With Brother Snake here, what is there to fear? Kill as many as come!"

"In a few days, when Brother Snake leads us to raid a shelter, we'll rule this game!"

Qiangshe was still shaken by the recent situation, but on the surface, he forced himself to maintain a calm and indifferent appearance.

"They say zombies at night are terrifying, but they're actually nothing special."

In truth, Brother Snake still couldn't figure out why that group of zombies had retreated voluntarily.

After chatting for a bit, Qiangshe felt a hint of drowsiness. He waved his hand. "Who's on watch tonight? Everyone else, get some rest early. It was just a bit of harassment, no big deal. Why get so worked up? Tomorrow morning we have to..."

*Thud!*

The sound of a hammer strike.

The players who were about to return to their beds to log off and rest froze in place.

Almost simultaneously, everyone fell silent.

No way!

Could it be...

The entire room suddenly became deathly quiet. Everyone remained motionless, not making a single sound, secretly praying they had misheard.

*Thud! Thud!*

The familiar hammering sound rang out again, as if striking against the heart of every player.

They hadn't misheard!

Those zombies were back!

"Fuck! Is there no end to this? They're back again?"

Instead of stopping, the hammering sound seemed to intensify, continuously echoing from various directions around the shelter.

Qiangshe gritted his teeth and grabbed his iron rod. "Let's go! Let's fight!"

Pushing open the door, Qiangshe swung his rod, knocking aside a zombie that was using a small stone hammer to attack the shelter.

Upon being hit, the zombie staggered back two steps.

Instead of attacking, it slowly pushed backward, disappearing into the darkness.

In an instant, the surrounding zombies also rapidly retreated into the darkness.

The scattered sounds of stone hammers tapping from behind the shelter also gradually faded away.

The players who had followed Qiangshe out looked into the darkness, their hearts sinking to the bottom.

This darkness felt like the maw of a giant beast, about to swallow them whole.

"Brother Snake, what do we do?"

"Do we chase them?"

Chase my ass!

Can't they see this is a simple "lure the snake out of its hole" tactic?

These idiots!

Qiangshe felt a surge of fury with nowhere to vent.

At night, the visibility in the wild was at most two or three meters.

In such a situation, once surrounded by a zombie horde, survival was impossible.

Why would Qiangshe gamble his life on such a slim chance of survival?

Qiangshe gritted his teeth and said, "Don't chase a cornered foe. We're going back in."

Returning to the room, morale plummeted.

The atmosphere was terrifyingly heavy.

No one spoke, and no one logged off to rest.

They were all worried—worried that that annoying hammering sound would ring out again.

Joanna curled up in a corner, trembling.

In fact, everyone in the room had a premonition that the sound would return.

What you wish for, you get.

Less than five minutes later.

*Thud!*

In the quiet wooden cabin, that single "thud" of a hammer strike was exceptionally clear.

"Dammit!"

It was back!

[Prompt: Your shelter is under attack.]

[Prompt: Your shelter's safety level is decreasing.]

[Prompt: Please repair your shelter and protect it from attack.]

[Prompt: Your shelter's current safety level has dropped to 11. Please repair your shelter level promptly.]

(End of Chapter)