CH 43

As soon as this thought occurred, a woman’s scream rang through the mall.

The group!

Ba Sang quickly turned his head and Dong Zhi became high on alert! The incident in the underground supermarket just now had tightened his reflexes, so his body reacted instantly. He sent a talisman flying in the dark and it turned into a bright light in mid air as it flew towards the source of the sound. Roars of beasts cried mixed in with the screams of humans.

Since they went from a bright environment to complete darkness, many people’s eyes haven’t been able to adjust. Unfortunately, the monsters had no problems since they rely on smell to catch their prey. Two people died instantly in the dark before Dong Zhi had time to react.

Dong Zhi turned on his phone flashlight and held his sword in his other hand as he kept an eye on the surroundings. Gu Meiren played her flute in an attempt to paralyze the monster’s mobility while Ba Sang gathered the remaining group of people as he stood on the periphery.

With a crack, a small movement sounded, but it was particularly conspicuous in the silence and darkness as everyone was holding their breath. Dong Zhi’s reaction was getting sharper. Almost immediately after the sound was made, he hadn’t had time to see what it was but quickly threw a talisman at the source!

Roar!

Sure enough, there were monsters there and his talisman seems to have hit one as the monster jumped into the partition of the ceiling with a whoosh. Everyone tried to suppress their gasps. A woman who wanted to cry gritted her teeth for fear that she would be the next prey.

Dong Zhi said sullenly: “We have to find the emergency power supply quickly!”

The monsters are smart, and it was precisely when the lights went out that they took advantage knowing that humans cannot see in the dark and chose this opportunity to attack.

Ba Sang said: “I’ll go!”

The teller stammer: “I-I-I’m scared!”

Ba Sang told her: “I’m scared too but if we just stay here, we’re all just waiting to die together!”

Dong Zhi said softly: “Ba Sang is very strong. Don’t be afraid and follow him. When we have light, we can deal with those monsters and protect everyone.”

His kind words seemed to comfort her. The teller followed Ba Sang tremblingly as she held his arm tightly and the two quickly left. Dong Zhi was worried that the monsters would attack while they were alone, but given the current situation, it was impossible for him to come along as the people here needed his protection.

It seems that it hasn’t even been a year since his encounter on the train heading towards Changbai, but his mentality has changed a lot. From trembling like this ordinary group of people who could only wait around and be protected, he had taken the lead to protecting others.

For him to have such progress, Dong Zhi couldn’t help but feel a sense of accomplishment. It would be even better if the male god could see his heroic performance right now. A faint regret flashed in his heart when he suddenly heard a woman’s scream. It was the teller!

His heart instantly seized up as Gu Meiren shouted: “Ba Sang!”

What answered back was the sound of violent fighting and Ba Sang’s whistle. He heard sounds of flapping wings, which he surmised should be a falcon* that Ba Sang summoned.

*Clarity: Previously I’ve been translating the bird Ba Sang summoned as an eagle, then found that it was actually a vulture. I now realize that his abilities are actually communicating with birds, so he summons different kinds of birds and his abilities to communicate with birds, not just one type.

Dong Zhi reminded Gu Meiren: “Play the flute!”

His notion brought her attention back, as if she had just woken up form a dream, and she quickly picked up her flute to play. Dong Zhi frowned, and suddenly remembered something. If there were more than one monster, one of them was probably following Ba Sang, while the others were waiting for them to relax their vigilance before taking the opportunity to attack again…

A faint fishy smell rose from his nose. Without thinking about it, he threw the talisman fire directly above him. The light from the fire illuminated a dark shadow flashing past him, confirming his guess.

Dong Zhi suddenly turned around and saw the dark shadow rushing towards Gu Meiren’s back.

“Get down!” He yelled as he ran towards her at full speed with his sword pointing at her.

Gu Meiren trusted Dong Zhi. As soon as she heard his words, she leaned forward without a second thought. At this moment, the sword was thrust through in the position that she was previously standing in and stabbed right into the monster’s head!

Gu Meiren only felt the heat radiating from the back of her head as fishy liquid splashed on top of her. The strange smell made her retch. Dong Zhi panted, as his legs gave out and he fell to his knees.

If Gu Meiren’s reaction had been any second slower just now, it would’ve been her head that the Qingzhu Sword pierced. He almost took the life of his companion.

Suddenly the lights turned on indicating that Ba Sang was successful in turning on the emergency power supply.

He said: “Thank you for trusting in me.”

Gu Meiren: “Happy to cooperate.”

When Ba Sang came back, he was dragging his feet and there was no joy on his face. Everyone knew why. Most likely the teller was killed by the monster or Ba Sang had to end her life in order to prevent her from turning into a zombie.

“A piece of her flesh was torn off by the monster, so I had to kill her.” Ba Sang said.

“You did your best,” Dong Zhi wanted to pat him on the shoulder, but he avoided him as he slowly turned around.

Gu Meiren took a deep breath to calm herself down as several of the orindary people subconsciously took several steps backwards. Ba Sang’s shirt had been slashed and there were blood marks that was slowly bleeding out form the upper left to the lower right of his back. While the wound wasn’t fatal, the monsters was poisonous. Once bitten or damage, what awaits will be the fate of becoming a zombie. There was no exception.

Gu Meiren stared at his wound in a daze, unable to speak for a long time. Dong Zhi reluctantly put on an ugly smile as he said: “Maybe- Maybe there’ll be an exception!”

Basan said sadly: “I saw that woman got hurt with my very own eyes and she started to change so I had to kill her.”

Dong Zhi said: “But you are a practitioner, and your body is stronger than ordinary people…”

“Which means after becoming a zombie, I’ll be even more difficult to deal with than an ordinary zombie!” Ba Sang interrupted him: “Kill me. I don’t want to become a zombie.”

Dong Zhi didn’t even want to think about it: “No!”

Ba Sang stretched out his hand, seemingly to pat his arm but drew back halfway. This Kangba Tibetan man was reckless and always been rough but sharp. His unwillingness to hurt his friends made Dong Zhi’s eyes sour.

“It’s nice meeting you all, truly. In fact, my master disapproved of me trying to join the Special Administration Bureau. I wanted to see the outside world and had been cheated many times that I thought the people on the outside were all really bad, but after meeting you, I felt my thoughts were too naïve. If there are bad people in the world, then there must be good ones as well. I’m very lucky and as soon as I came out, I had two more friends who are as close as brothers that we can live and die together.”

Gu Meiren covered her mouth with a whimper to muffle her sobs. Dong Zhi couldn’t help it anymore, so he stepped forward and hugged him tightly.

“I originally wanted to invite you to visit my place on vacation. Our butter tea is the best brewed in that area, but if you have the opportunity in the future, I have to trouble you to help go back and tell my parents and master the news of my death!” Ba Sang patted him on the back and motioned for him to let go.

Dong Zhi: “Stop talking!”

Ba Sang suddenly broke away from him with force causing Dong Zhi to be pushed away several steps away. He was off guard, so he didn’t notice that Ba Sang had pulled out a short blade from his waist and inserted it directly into his throat.

“Ba Sang!” Gu Meiren rushed up.

Ba Sang smiled at them as blood gushed from the corners of his mouth and his eyes gradually became lax. His hand slowly loosened from the place where he held the knife, eventually falling down limp. Moistness spread quickly to Dong Zhi’s eyes and his throat choked up as if there was a stone lodged in place. He couldn’t move and couldn’t speak at all.

“Zombies! There are zombies coming in again from outside!” Someone shouted in panic.

Looking back, Dong Zhi saw a few more figures slowly wandering towards the entrance of the mall. At first there was only one or two, but after a closer look, he found a string of them was slowly wandering in, seemingly attracted to the remaining vitality here.

Gu Meiren panicked as she picked up the flute and began playing it. Dong Zhi gritted his teeth; his hungry and weak body was filled with anger over Ba Sang’s death as he clenched his sword and strode forward. The talismans he had left weren’t enough to deal with this hoard of zombies, but he didn’t need talismans. He can be like Liu Qingbo and use only his sword. As the sword rises and falls, whenever it goes, zombies fell one after another, as if they were taking the initiatives to make way for him. They crawled on the ground looking as if they were his slaves and servants.

Gu Meiren watched Dong Zhi walk among the zombies in a daze slashing his sword wildly and with ease. Under the light, the young man with black hair and fair skins, a face that was calm and indifferent, looked as if he was doing something extraordinary. But in the eyes of others, it was completely shocking. Gu Meiren never knew that killing zombies can create such a sense of artistry.

Dong Zhi had discarded everything and gave zero fucks. He was simply holding on to a single breath and all he knew was that his hands began to tremble and the sword in his hand seemed to weigh like thousand pounds.

A zombie had grabbed his shoulder from behind, opened his mouth and was about to bite him and he almost didn’t have the strength to turn around and defend himself

Too tired. I really miss the big bed in the Special Administration dorm. I really want to lie down and get some sleep.

Zombies poured in from outside one after another, as if they were endless. At such a critical moment, Dong Zhi suddenly remembered that night in Long Shen’s dormitory, he had received a call from Gu Meiren saying that Hui Yiguang encountered an accident, so he hurried out and Long Shen stopped him and asked him to bring the Qingzhu Sword with him.

He still remembered that the light in that room was warm and pleasant and Long Shen under it seemed a bit softer. His heart wasn’t as cold and unkind as it seems.

Suddenly the ceiling broke with a bang and a dark shadow fell from the sky into the throng of zombies and leap towards him with great force!

Monster!

Unfortunately, Dong Zhi didn’t have the strength to react. He could only watch the monster approach him at lightning speed. In one-thousandth of a second, the monster appeared right in front of him about 2 meters away and reached out to grab him with its sharp claws!

I can’t dodge in time!

Though Dong Zhi realized this, his body could no longer keep up with the reaction of his brain. Even his spirit had dulled. After fighting fiercely all night, he was extremely tired that his eyes could barely keep open, and he felt he was seeing doubles when he looked at things.

Forget it. Fighting to the death means you’re worthy like Ba Sang. Furthermore, there was Gu Meiren and those ordinary people behind him…

In this moment the sky was bright outside as dawn finally arrived. Dong Zhi wanted to turn around and help them escape, but he was completely exhausted, so he could only watch as the monsters got closer and closer.

In the next moment, the surrounding scenery was suddenly distorted and blurred and there was a big light in front of him. The oncoming monsters had all suddenly disappeared and the bloody aura and fishy smell that filled his nose was gone as well.

Together with the shopping mall and all the zombies that were pouring in, they were all gone. He felt only dizziness and his legs were soft that he couldn’t help but sit down on the ground. Dong Zhi closed his eyes, feeling that he might have been too tired and was hallucinating. Otherwise, how could he suddenly see Wu Bingtian and Long Shen?

He was not the only one who was in a dazed. Everyone was sitting in the classroom, all had pale faces, or expressions of pain. Some were gasping for breath, while other had faces full of vigilance. It seems that they haven’t recovered from the doomsday crisis they’ve all experienced just now.

Wu Bingtian stood in front of them clapping his hands and said coldly: “I announce that of all the 20 people who participated in the training, only ten survived. They are Li Ying, Liu Qingbo, Dong Zhi, Gu Meiren, Zhang Song, Xie Qingling, Liu Si, Ou Yangyin, Zuo Xingui, and Zhaun Rongrong! All those who “died” in the simulation training will be noted on their file. During the next training, if you are eliminated, you must leave the Special Administration Bureau and take the exam again next year!”

So, the night that just passed was really training?

Everyone looked around blankly at each other and couldn’t help being surprised when they saw their companions who had already “died” last night. Dong Zhi looked at Ba Sang. He just gotten up from the ground and touched his throat with a painful expression, as if he was afraid of being pierce by his own dagger again. Gu Meiren burst into tears as she was unable to suppress her emotions and covered her mouth as her shoulders trembled slightly.

The others weren’t much better, and some were even more emotional than them. Some people touched their chest and muttered to themselves: “I’m not dead. I’m really not dead!”

Wu Bingtian and Long Shen didn’t stop them and allowed them to continue venting. Dong Zhi couldn’t help but look at Long Shen. The latter seemed to notice his gaze and glanced back at him, giving him a slight nod.

Dong Zhi heart that was seemingly exhausted and deflated had suddenly been infused with vitality. He could stop himself from returning a self-confident smile. Long Shen’s smile seemed to be a little deeper than his though.

When Wu Bingtian looked over, Dong Zhi’s mood had slowly calmed down. After everyone calmed their emotions, Wu Bingtian said: “The equipment used for the simulation this time is the latest achievement of the Sino-US cooperation. The Americans firmly believe that a Resident Evil situation will happen in the future, so the simulation’s background is a modern city in a Resident Evil setting. For people who died in the simulation training, their bodies will be ejected from the simulation environment, but in the simulation world, their ‘corpses’ still exist and are converted to NPCs. This is the first year we have implemented this simulation. We hope to use this kind of sudden training to test your on-the-spot abilities in each of you.”

Everyone smiled bitterly, obviously fearful of everything just now.

Wu Bingtian’s face was not good: “There are 20 of you yet the survival rate is half. If this number is placed among ordinary people, I would be extremely grateful, but don’t forget, you are the future members of the Special Administration Bureau! You’re not ordinary people! As a national-level practitioner, half of you managed to die in a single night. How can you compete with other countries when we have this kind of survival rating?!”

His voice became louder and, in the end, he angrily reprimanded everyone.

Liu Qingbo couldn’t help but said: “But we didn’t know that it was training since we had already taken a day class at that time…”

Besides, all of them hadn’t even eaten dinner yet.

Wu Bingtian said angrily: “When there’s a crisis, people don’t care if you are hungry or tired! What is a crisis? It just happens without warning! What is sudden training? It’s to test your ability to react to emergencies! Will the zombies call you first before they come out?! Will those monsters and demons drop off a text message first to announce their arrival?!”

Some people couldn’t help laughing out loud, but quickly suppressed their throats under Wu Bingtian’s glare. He glanced at everyone and as far as he could see, many people lowered their heads, not daring to look at him.

He snorted coldly: “I know that you have lived in a comfortable environment for a long time and feel that the world is safe. At most, there are occasional emergencies. However, what I want to tell you is that the world is uneasy, and danger lurks everywhere, especially in the dark. If you’re ignorant and don’t know when and how you’ll die, you’ll be just like an ordinary person. How can you protect others when you can’t even protect yourself?”

This stick* was extremely effective. During the day, Director Jiang lectures made everyone surprised and amused. They couldn’t help think: ‘The Special Administration Bureau is nothing more than this.’ As a result, just when their minds were relaxed, the Special Administration Bureau gave them such a vivid lesson.

*The stick as part of the carrot and stick. Metaphor used of a combination of rewards and punishment to induce a desired behavior.

Most likely everyone will never forget this experience for the rest of their lives.

“You think that after you have passed the written examination and interview, you have already have one foot in the door of the Special administration Bureau, ah? Let me tell you that there will be countless tests waiting for you in the future. If you come here depending only on luck and muddle your way through hoping to pass until training is completed and the practice exam is held, let me tell you that you will possibly lose your life!”

Seeing that everyone was dejected, Wu Bingtian sneered and stared at Chi Banxia: “Chi Banxia, you thought you would be safe if you followed Li Ying, so you went out your way to stick with him. Unexpectedly you still lost your life. Let me tell you, the Special Administration Bureau never raises dodder grass*. If you hold onto the idea of depending on others, reality will teach you what ‘death’ really means, and I hope you can remember this lesson!”

*Also known as cuscuta, it’s a type of parasitical plant that attaches itself to other plants and suck the nutrients from its host.

Chi Banxia’s face flushed from being admonished that she couldn’t’ lift her head.

Wu Bingtian: “And you, Ba Sang! At that time, the second-level zombie came from behind you. If you were more flexible and reacted faster, you could have avoided it, but because you were half a second too late, you lost your life. Don’t you feel wronged?”

“Injustice! I will definitely practice my reflexes going forward!” Ba Sang nodded repeatedly.

Wu Bingtian then began commenting on the people who died in the training one by one. Dong Zhi found that their performance from last night was clearly seen by the leaders, including what everyone did, how they dealt with the crisis, how they got along with their companions, how they treated ordinary people, and so on.

Then again, if the future of the backbone elites of the dignified Special Administration Bureau would be wiped out in half when they encountered a crisis, it’s not wonder that Wu Bingtian was extremely annoyed. Not only were the ‘dead’ people scolded one by one, but the survivors who failed escape was also on the chopping block.

Wu Bingtian said: “Liu Qingbo! At that time, you were in a team with Li Ying and the others, why did you have to leave by yourself halfway and run back to the Special Administration Bureau!”

Liu Qingbo defended: “I want to go back and see if anyone else in the bureau had survived…”

Wu Bingtian: “What about the ordinary people in the mall? Don’t you care about them? You just threw them to your companions to deal with! Even if there are still survivors in the Bureau, you should still remember the lessons from the past. Your behavior isn’t bravery, it’s recklessness! Completely brainless!”

Liu Qingbo was unconvinced: “But I survived to the end!”

Wu Bingtian frowned: “So what? If you didn’t pass by the cafeteria and happened to find an electrician’s room, would you be so lucky?”

His voice became sterner: “Don’t forget, you are not the only cultivator. You represent the Special Administration Bureau, which mean you must not only protect yourself, but you’re also responsible for the lives of ordinary people! You are the law enforcers and defenders in another sense! You left your companions and ordinary people who needed protection. Even if you survive in the end, what can you be proud of? You should be ashamed of yourself! If you dare do it again, I would rather have Ba Sang or Chi Banxia than a selfish person like you!”

After being reprimanded so fiercely in front of everyone, Liu Qingbo’s face turned pale from all the embarrassment. Because of his father’s background, since he came to the capital, he has always been taken care of along the way. Whether they were leaders or elders who met him, they were all kind and pleasant towards him, constantly offering praises for his youth and achievements. Even Deputy Director Wu Bingtian’s attitude towards him before was quite amiable. Let alone reprimanding him, he didn’t even say a single serious word towards him. Liu Qingbo, who had always been surrounded by praise, for the first time in his life felt so humiliated in public.

He clenched his fists tightly, but he could no longer say a word of rebuttal.

Wu Bingtian: “Dong Zhi, your abilities are relatively singular. In your three-person group, as soon as Ba Sang died, the combat effectiveness of you and Gu Meiren was greatly weakened. If the simulation hadn’t just ended, there would be one more name on the death list! Also, when Li Ying proposed to separate, not only did you not try your best to persuade him to stay, but you also let him take people away. With a broken-up team and zombies swarming all around, you all would have been wiped out in the end! Your total score ranks first, but you don’t have the corresponding team leadership, what’s the use of a high score?”

What he said was very pertinent, and Dong Zhi accepted it gracefully: “I was wrong.”  

Wu Bingtian glanced at him, then turned his gaze to the others: “And you, Li Ying. You took Chi Banxia and Liu Si to find a large army. You rescued a group of ordinary people halfway, but at the same time you made a fatal mistake. Do you know what it is?”

Li Ying nodded: “When I was saving people, I didn’t carefully check their identities and ignored the dangerous elements hidden inside which got Chi Banxia killed.”

What dangerous element? Everyone looked curious.

Wu Bingtian said: “In the simulation, ordinary zombies are generally lethal and may be fatal to ordinary people, but for practitioners, except for relatively large number, they do not pose a threat. The second-level zombies are the evolved bodies encountered by Dong Zhi and Zhang Song. They have no vision, but they have a strong sense of smell, and their mobility is much faster than that of ordinary zombies. They can fly from wall to wall. In large number it’s difficult for even practitioners to deal with. Further up, the third-level zombies have evolutionary bodies that can simulate biological forms in a short period of time, such as humans. This kind of zombies can mix in with the general population and cannot be prevented. This is what Li Ying and the others met.”

That was too unlucky. Who would have expected a zombie that could disguise itself perfectly as a human! According to this, they can also simulate animal and even plants. How can such thing be prevented?

As if seeing everyone’s doubts, Long Shen, who’s been silent this whole time, finally spoke up: “You’re not ordinary people. You have to do better than what ordinary people can and can’t do. The incompetent can only use excuses like ‘negligence’, ‘inattention, and ‘carelessness’ to comfort themselves.”

Wu Bingtian nodded: “Boss Long is right. This sudden training is to teach you a profound lesson and let you know how far you are from truly being qualified to be a member of the Special Administration Bureau! Do you know what the survival rate of the United States was? In the first emergency training, they had a total of 50 people and in the end 29 people survived. The survival rate is 58% which is 8% higher than ours! Among these 50 people, some were ordinary people who are not practitioners, but what about you?”

Everyone was disheartened by the training. Wu Bingtian finally calmed down when he saw that they were all in low moods.

“I hope that through this training, you can discover your shortcomings, instead of blindly making excuses to get rid of your prevarication! A person who doesn’t know how self-examine themselves will never make progress. No matter how much you practice, you can only go so far! Take a day off tomorrow and return here at 9 AM the day after that. Class will be held as usual. You’re dismissed!”  

After that, he remembered that Long Shen was next to him, and hurriedly said: “Does the Boss Long have anything else to say?”

Long Shen said lightly: “Boss Wu have said all that needed to be said so I have nothing to add.”

Wu Bingtian choked: “Then that’s it, dismissed!”

Rumors that Boss Jiang was not good at his job and loves to command blindly have been widely circulated in the Special Administration Bureau. It is said that the impression of him wasn’t as good as before and news of his removal or transfer would surface from time to time. If this news is conclusive, then the position of the head bureau will be vacated.

Wu Bingtian was naturally eager to move into this position and was ready to play the game. He didn’t think Song Zhi was competition, but he didn’t dare underestimate Long Shen, who’s a powerful competitor.

However, these are high-level competitions that have nothing to do with Dong Zhi. Many people haven’t eaten yet, but hunger didn’t strike them when they are too hungry.

The people who ‘died’ during the training were naturally dejected and some ‘survivors’ weren’t so happy either. People with high self-esteem like Liu Qingbo found it more uncomfortable to be scolded than to be killed. He left with an ugly face, and no one dare to go forward to provoke him.

Gu Meiren helped Ba Sang stand up and looked around to find Dong Zhi, only to find that he had disappeared.

“Boss Long!” Dong Zhi had rushed out the classroom to chase him down.

The author has something to say:

Everyone was scolded to death. How inexplicably cool. →_→

Kinky Thoughts:

Well, I should have thought it was a simulation given that it literally was based off Resident Evil. Still, I was very sad with Ba Sang’s death! I hope he joins group two with Dong Zhi.

Also isn’t this test a little bit unfair for some people? Like WTF was Chi Banxia supposed to do? She only knows voodoo and witchcraft. How the fuck is she supposed to fight against zombies which those things have no effect over?

And also, that martial arts dude that could only fight with his hands. Like… hand-to-hand combat has a higher risk of getting yourself injured/bitten so what was he supposed to do? Not fight with his abilities?

There should be a goal or something in mind instead of just survival, like finding the army or find the base, or something. To judge based on whether someone survived or not is too unfair.