Chapter 107 The Living Dead - Test

Because people had been gathered together before, there was no telling when someone in the crowd would start getting violent, looking for trouble, turning into a Red-Eyed Person, and hurting others.

Everyone was scared; once they reached the sixth floor, they didn't dare gather anymore. Instead, they split into small groups of twos and threes, with only those who knew each other staying close.

The sixth floor was originally the cinema's food court. The cinema's main doors had long been locked, and the food court had been abandoned for a long time, leaving only piles of old iron frames stacked high.

As a result, the space on the sixth floor was directly reduced by two-thirds, leaving only a small area to the left and right of the escalators.

There were more usable items on the cinema's side for blocking the escalators; after everyone finished moving things, they simply stopped to rest in the cinema's front lobby.

Once safe, people occupied small patches of space to sit on the ground, immersed in the complex emotions of having survived a disaster.

It was unclear who started sobbing softly first. The sound was very quiet, as they didn't dare make a noise, but then several more cries joined in, and the sound showed a tendency to grow louder.

"Stop crying! Do you want to lure that group of monsters from downstairs up here?!"

Someone warned in a low voice.

"How unlucky, what a crappy game. How could I end up in a place like this the moment I opened my eyes? If I had known, if I had known, I wouldn't have chosen it."

"Wife, what are you talking about? Why is everything you say so broken and incoherent?"

The woman turned her head to look at her husband in the game. After the morning's events, she already understood that the person in front of her was not from the same world as her but was an inhabitant of this world. They seemed unable to hear information about the game clearly, so she said impatiently, "Don't worry about it, just rest."

Not only could these inhabitants not hear information about the game, but any special actions or conversations by players regarding the game would be rationalized in their eyes.

Furthermore, if their identity was paired with a player, they were mostly quite obedient, somewhat like robots or dummies, with straightforward behavior and a low sense of presence.

In the eyes of the players, they were NPCs. When they were fleeing just now, many players had ruthlessly pushed them into the crowd of Red-Eyed People at critical moments to buy themselves time and a chance to escape.

"Friend, did you come in from the outside too?" someone approached and asked the woman.

The woman nodded in admission. With her admission, surrounding people also joined in, searching for their own kind as if they were looking for long-lost relatives.

Of the forty or fifty people who escaped to the top, about thirty were players, and the rest were NPCs.

The crowd faintly split in half, with clear distinctions between the groups, each huddling together.

The players didn't know if those who suddenly mutated were local inhabitants or if there were players among them as well; there was no way to interrogate the Red-Eyed People downstairs about this question.

Most people's thought was that since they were players here to clear the game, it was highly likely that the NPCs were the ones mutating to create difficulties for the players. Therefore, as fellow survivors who fled to the sixth floor, the NPCs were gradually being marginalized.

Only a few people whose identities were matched with players were still pestering them with questions. The players had no choice; afraid of causing a huge commotion, they could only temporarily pacify them.

"Are you a player?"

A young man walked up to Bai Xiao and asked her.

While people were scrambling to confirm each other's identities and communicate, Bai Xiao did not join them. Instead, she sat alone by the wall, not far from the corridor.

She had no interest in participating in the players' recognition meeting; at the moment, her mind was entirely focused on the Red-Eyed People and the Transfer Point.

The cause of the Red-Eyed People's condition still hadn't been figured out. Why did they attack those who hadn't fallen ill? Why did some people suddenly fall ill after being attacked, while others did not?

Also, after falling ill, the Red-Eyed People clearly couldn't speak and lost their sanity. So, what did they rely on to find their targets, and why didn't they attack their own kind, yet found ordinary people so precisely?

After falling ill, their bodies became cold and stiff, yet they moved quickly and were as strong as bulls. Did they have no weaknesses? Were they afraid of anything?

There were too many questions that weren't understood, and if this information could be known, it would be crucial for escaping and avoiding the tide of Red-Eyed People. Unfortunately, so far, not a single thing had been figured out.

Then there was the most critical Transfer Point. Where exactly was this so-called Transfer Point? This information was even more of a mystery than the questions about the Red-Eyed People.

Based on previous game experience, game maps always had boundaries. If such a definite clear point existed, any attempt to leave the game map's range would fail.

This could be seen from the game in the Ancient Town. This Transfer Point also wouldn't be like the previous Park Game, where the gate was the island and leaving the park meant leaving the island.

The game had clearly stated there was such a Transfer Point, so it wouldn't be as simple as just leaving the city limits.

If the outbreak of the Red-Eyed disease was nationwide, even escaping the city would just mean entering the attack range of the mutated in the next city.

Therefore, the existence of this Transfer Point was more like a safe zone. There would definitely be clues pointing to it; either she hadn't discovered them yet, or critical game information hadn't been released.

As such, she could only first find a way to understand the issues regarding the Red-Eyed People. Now that the information channel with the outside world was cut off, the question of the Transfer Point had to be temporarily set aside.

It was also at this time that someone came forward to ask her if she was a player.

Bai Xiao looked up at the stranger who was some distance away and replied indifferently, "Is whether I am or not important?"

Hearing her words, the man nodded and said, "If you say that, then you're a player. NPCs can't understand talk about the game."

He then added, "We are discussing the next plan. You should come and listen too."

Bai Xiao had no interest in this, but since the other party was just inviting her and meant no harm, it wasn't right for her to drive him away. She simply said, "Sorry, I'm not very interested. You guys just discuss it yourselves."

Saying this, she stood up and walked to the other side, away from the escalators. That side was the open space of the Food Street, far from the crowd here.

She wanted to test the reactions of the Red-Eyed People to see if she could find the way they locked onto ordinary people.

The Red-Eyed People downstairs were wandering aimlessly, occasionally bumping into each other. Clearly, they either couldn't see or their vision was severely impaired.

Vision didn't need further testing, and smell couldn't be tested for the time being. Separated by a floor, the only thing that could be tested now was hearing.

Bai Xiao rummaged through the refuse in the Food Street and found two fragmented parts from a food cart.

She leaned over the glass railing of the sixth-floor corridor, looking for a test subject.

Right below her on the fifth floor, there happened to be three Red-Eyed People walking slowly. Bai Xiao picked out one person's head, aimed, and threw the cart part in her hand.

Her sequence of movements was very fast; before anyone could figure out what she was doing, she had already finished her action.

The part hit the Red-Eyed Person's head and then fell to the floor with a dull thud. The sound wasn't loud, but it successfully attracted the attention of everyone on both floors.

"Are you crazy?!"