Crack... Crack...
The wooden door emitted a tooth-aching fracturing sound. A gray-white hand, looking like it was breaking a biscuit, forcibly tore off a large chunk of wood from the lock area.
Immediately after, a hideous head squeezed in through the hole.
Even though I had mentally prepared myself, I nearly vomited up the stomach acid from the dinner I hadn't eaten.
That wasn't a normal zombie. Or rather, it looked very... non-compliant.
Its upper body wore a tattered blue work uniform, its skin a necrotic gray festering mess, eyeballs hanging on its cheeks, black drool flowing from its mouth—these fit my understanding of a zombie.
But its lower body... was gone.
Not chopped off, but vanished like a loading error.
Below its waist was a cloud of frantically flickering mosaic made of green pixels and garbled code. It had no legs, yet it relied on those withered arms to crawl rapidly across the floor, dragging a bizarre afterimage behind it and emitting a zzzt static noise.
Roar—
It saw me. That eyeball hanging on its cheek locked onto me, letting out an excited shriek.
"What the hell is that thing? A cyber zombie? Or a model that hasn't finished rendering?"
I was so scared I bounced off the chair, retreating repeatedly, the fire axe in my hand trembling.
In that instant, only one thought was in my mind: Run! Run upstairs!
But just as I turned around, the phone in my pants pocket suddenly vibrated like crazy, becoming so hot it felt like it was about to explode. I could feel the burning sensation even through my pants.
Bzzzt—! Bzzzt—!
Accompanying the vibration was a rapid, piercing alarm sound, like an air raid siren going off in my crotch.
"Damn it! What kind of shit is happening now?"
I shivered from the heat, instinctively pulling out the phone to throw it away or turn it off. The sound was too loud; it was practically a GPS for the zombie!
However, when I brought the phone in front of my eyes, I froze.
The screen lit up automatically, and the camera turned on by itself.
On the screen, the originally dim lobby was overlaid with a faint green filter. And right in the center, the crawling zombie was locked on by a bright red box.
Next to the red box, lines of frantically scrolling data popped up:
[WARNING! Unauthorized data intrusion detected!] [Analyzing target source code automatically...]
[Subject: Low-Level Data Residue (Zombie_Type_C)] [Source: Discarded data deleted by the Main God System.] [Threat Level: E (Very Low).] [Weakness Tag: Head Core Code (Highlighted).]
I looked at the screen, then at the real zombie.
On the phone screen, there was a flashing red dot on the zombie's head.
"Is... is this aim assist? Or a cheat?"
I suddenly realized. This wasn't a phone; this was the Administrator Terminal! I'm the boss here; I have the authority to deal with this "trash"!
Three flashing buttons popped up timely at the bottom of the screen:
[Delete Object] (Insta-kill)
[Modify Attributes] (Slow/Weaken)
[Reset Position] (Kick)
Like a drowning man grabbing a lifebuoy, I was ecstatic.
"So this is how you play! What axe? What fighting for your life? That's for barbarians! I'm the Administrator; I can kill you with a tap of my finger!"
Looking at the zombie that had already squeezed half its body in, I wasn't as scared as before. I took a deep breath, my trembling finger tapping the first button.
"DELETE... YOU!"
However, the next second, a cold red popup ruthlessly crushed my fantasy, like a bucket of ice water poured over my head.
[ERROR!] [Operation Failed.] [Reason: Insufficient Computation Points.] [Executing "Delete" command requires: 50 CP. Current Balance: 0.]
"...Huh?"
I stared at that red "0", my brain short-circuiting for a second.
This thing isn't free?!
"Then modify an attribute? Can you make it unable to move?" I clicked the second option, unwilling to give up.
[ERROR!] [Modifying "Movement Speed" requires: 10 CP. Current Balance: 0.]
"Then just throw it out, that should work, right?!"
[ERROR!] [Spatial Teleportation requires: 100 CP. Current Balance: 0.]
"Fuck!"
I couldn't help but curse, nearly smashing the phone. "So if I have no money, I'm not an Admin? So this system is just a display piece I can look at but not use?!"
This is reality. The cruel, naked reality of a Pay-to-Win mobile game. Without topping up, you can't even break the defense of a tutorial mob!
Roar—!
Just as I was thoroughly beaten down by poverty, the zombie finally squeezed all the way in.
It didn't move slowly like in the movies. Instead, its hands pushed off the ground violently, launching itself at me like a giant gecko, dragging that cloud of sizzling garbled code behind it!
Ideally fast!
"Mommy!"
I let out a weird yelp and rolled awkwardly to the side.
Crash!
The zombie missed and slammed into the chair I was sitting on earlier. The solid wood chair was instantly swallowed by the garbled code behind it, leaving not even sawdust, decomposed directly into scattering data powder.
My scalp went numb watching it.
If that hit me, wouldn't I be directly reformatted?
"Don't come over! I have an axe!"
I scrambled up from the floor, gripping the fire axe tightly with both hands, and retreated behind the counter.
The zombie turned around, a hideous expression on its rotten face. It seemed to be mocking my incompetence. It arched its body again, preparing for a second pounce. This time, it was aiming for my neck.
Although the phone couldn't delete it directly, the [Weakness Tag] on the screen was still there! That red dot was still flashing on the zombie's forehead.
This was my only chance.
If I can't pay to win, I have to pay with my life.
"Calm down... Lynn... You are a tester... You need to find the Bug..."
I forced myself to stare at it. Even if my legs were shaking, I couldn't close my eyes.
Although this thing is fierce, it's a program. A discarded program. Its AI logic must be very simple; there's a high probability it only moves in a straight line!
I looked at the patch of floor in the center of the lobby that looked intact but was displayed as a Red Dotted Box in my "Code Vision."
That was a "Texture Error" area. It looked like floor, but it was actually empty. If stepped on, one would fall directly into the data turbulence below.
I nearly stepped on it when I came in earlier and deliberately walked around it. But this zombie doesn't know that!
A crazy plan formed in my mind.
"Hey! Ugly!"
I suddenly shouted, picked up a pen holder from the counter, and smashed it hard onto the zombie's head.
Smack.
The pen holder shattered. Zero damage, maximum insult.
The zombie was enraged. It let out an ear-piercing shriek and, sure enough, gave up on flanking, rushing straight at me like a cannonball.
"Come on! Come eat me!"
I didn't run upstairs. Instead, calculating the angle, I stood right behind that "Void Hole."
This was a gamble. Betting that its AI intelligence wasn't high enough to recognize terrain traps. Betting that it would step into thin air!
One step, two steps...
The zombie's withered arms frantically clawed at the ground, rushing towards me with a foul wind.
Just as it was about to pounce into the trap area, I gripped the axe in my hand and roared:
"GET... DOWN!"