Chapter Fifty-Four: The Final Battle (Part Two)

As the zombies continued their relentless assault outside, cracks had already begun to appear on the laboratory walls.

At that moment, Qin Fei realized a crucial point.

“No… We can indeed escape to the surface through the ladder in the restroom!”

He analyzed, “Judging from previous waves of zombies, the number of newly appearing mutant zombies in each wave never exceeds three. In other words, once we reach the surface, it’s impossible for another new zombie king to appear!”

Hearing this, Xie Nai Nai immediately reacted.

“That’s true…!”

Whether it was the green-skinned zombies, the bloated military zombies, or the self-destructing soldiers, whenever they made their first appearance, their numbers were almost always three or fewer...

Wait, according to Qin Fei’s reasoning, there are only two zombie kings here, so shouldn’t there still be one more that hasn’t appeared yet...?

“What if, after we escape to the surface, the third zombie king suddenly appears?” Xie Nai Nai asked quickly.

“Impossible,” Qin Fei replied without hesitation, “Based on the patterns of previous zombie waves… only ordinary zombies persist throughout different time periods.

As for the mutant zombies, they only appear in a single burst during a specific period of the blood moon—three or more at once.

These mutants don’t emerge at separate times. So, the zombie kings that have already appeared underground won’t be encountered on the surface.”

Qin Fei’s deduction wasn’t baseless.

Whether it was the bloated military zombies, the fat zombies, or the green-skinned ones, they all appeared all at once during a certain point in the blood moon. Never did they attack survivors in two separate waves.

Therefore, the third zombie king should have already appeared, but perhaps due to some reason, it’s trapped elsewhere.

So much time had passed, and with the digging speed of zombie kings, the third one was likely somewhere underground, tunneling towards Qin Fei and Xie Nai Nai...

That’s why Qin Fei insisted they wouldn’t meet a zombie king on the surface.

The same logic applied to the green-skinned and bloated zombies.

Now, above ground, aside from the ordinary zombies, only zombie dogs might be present.

But with the shotguns Qin Fei and Xie Nai Nai carried, these zombie dogs could be dispatched almost instantly.

Thus, all they needed to do was keep running, leading the ordinary zombies, and endure until six o’clock in the morning—then the mission would be accomplished.

The mutant zombies in the research institute, though capable of easily breaking through walls and floors and chasing Qin Fei and Xie Nai Nai deep underground, couldn’t reach the surface.

Zombies couldn’t fly.

As long as Qin Fei and Xie Nai Nai climbed the secret passage ladder to the surface and destroyed the metal ladder, the zombies would remain trapped below.

The plan was feasible.

Qin Fei shared his theory with Xie Nai Nai.

Then the two of them ascended the metal ladder to the surface.

Actually, there was only one opportunity to use this method to trap the zombies, and it could only be employed at the later stages. After all, if survivors hadn’t endured several waves of zombies, they couldn’t have figured out the attack patterns. Moreover, there was only one underground research institute like this in the Naviqan region.

So this strategy was only applicable during the final blood moon and couldn’t be replicated.

Concerned that their presence might attract zombies to the secret passage exit, Qin Fei and Xie Nai Nai climbed quickly.

Upon reaching the surface, Qin Fei immediately took out a hacksaw and severed the metal ladder.

The exit from the secret passage was still on the snowy mountain.

It was midnight, and the weather was cold. In the sky, the eerie purple moon still hung.

After the two reached the surface, it took only about ten minutes before dozens of zombies surged from all directions.

Fortunately, none of them were mutants.

Qin Fei’s worries were finally laid to rest; his deduction had proven right.

He and Xie Nai Nai began to frantically flee across the snow.

Their supply of stamina-restoring drinks wasn’t abundant, but they had enough; as long as they kept running, making it to dawn would be no problem.

If zombie dogs pursued them while running, Qin Fei and Xie Nai Nai would simply accelerate, widening the gap between themselves and the zombies.

Once they had shaken off the pursuers, they would turn and use their shotguns to eliminate the zombie dogs.

Without the threat of zombie dogs, they continued their flight.

The zombies of the horde couldn’t all be killed.

But as long as they made it to six o’clock in the morning, the blood moon would end.

So they only needed to deal with the fast-moving zombie dogs; the ordinary zombies could be outrun and delayed with their speed and coffee drinks.

On the fiftieth morning, at exactly six o’clock.

As the last blood moon ended, everything around them—including the zombies trailing Qin Fei—gradually came to a standstill.

[You have completed the task: Survive 50 days in the Seven-Day Kill game world!]

[You have earned reward 1: Substitute Doll x1. Cash reward of 1,000,000 yuan has been issued to your real-world account!]

[Reward 2: Return to the real world!]

[Task complete, beginning return, teleportation countdown… ]

As the system prompt appeared, the entire world began to be enveloped by a wash of white light.

It was time to return…

Qin Fei glanced at Xie Nai Nai beside him, raised his right hand, and gave a thumbs-up gesture.

“Farewell!… Take care!”

“You too, goodbye!” Xie Nai Nai replied with a faint smile, mirroring the gesture.

As the white light grew ever more intense, Qin Fei could no longer keep his eyes open...

After a moment, when the light faded, Qin Fei opened his eyes again. Now, he was back in the living room of his home, before his journey began.

Qin Fei was no stranger to completing traversal missions.

He deftly unlocked his phone. After checking, he found a notification confirming that his account had been credited with another million in cash.

[Novice task world completed, you have acquired official game qualifications!]

[You may choose to forfeit your game qualification and never traverse again, or continue with the upcoming survival games…]

According to the system’s prompt, Qin Fei could now quit the game and no longer risk traversing.

With the previous reward, he had earned two million in total. If he gave up the game, these two million would suffice to improve his life and allow him to live comfortably in the real world.

But Qin Fei wanted far more than just this…

“I choose to continue!”

[You have chosen to continue the game… implanting rhombus crystal...]

The system dialog appeared once more.

A blue rhombus-shaped light emerged on his left wrist.

Moments later, the light faded.

On Qin Fei’s left hand, a blue rhombus crystal had appeared.

[Sample implant complete…]

[Greetings, survivor. Welcome to the sandbox survival game, Starting from Zero!]

(Seven-Day Kill arc complete)