Salted Fish Zombie

Chapter 43.2: Manman (16)

June 14, 2023 by Wyrd

“President Shi doesn’t allow us to resist in the castle using aggressive methods. It’s to protect the castle, but it doesn’t mean we can’t fight back.”

Ning Su said, “Let’s guard the garden and drive them away.”

“...”

They hadn’t really considered this approach, and many people in the castle probably hadn’t either, as they were only thinking about passive defense.

But why hadn’t they thought of it? Wasn’t it because this method was... bold?

“With so many creepy monster children, how can we drive them away?”

Ning Su replied, “Well, they don’t eat people, anyway.”

The three of them were stunned.

Yes, the monster children didn’t eat people; their goal was to destroy ghost friends.

Even during the incident with Qian Dongfang and the scarecrow, a player on the fifth floor said that the straw on the scarecrow ghost friend was taken by the monster children, and that’s why Qian Dongfang turned into a pile of bones.

Because each time a player died, it was a gruesome sight, and combined with the eerie and terrifying appearance of the monster children, they naturally feared them. They had never thought about driving away this countless horde of monster children.

“Alright! Let’s give it a try. Let it be our final gamble. Success or failure, life or death, will depend on fate!” Zhu Shuangshuang said.

Meng Jiang clenched his teeth and said, “We have no choice but to give it our all.”

Ji Mingrui said, “Then let’s come up with a thorough plan.”

For three consecutive days, the fifth floor had opened the windows, and today it was finally the turn of the fourth floor.

The players on the other two floors were curious about what they would do or, in other words, who would die.

“Is it that newcomer named Ji Mingrui? It’s his first time entering the instance without any skills or weapons.”

“Who knows? I heard that the other three people besides Meng Jiang entered the horror game on the same bus. Maybe the three of them will team up and trap Meng Jiang.”

“Anyway, it won’t be Ning Su. He has the lily vines and the Heaven-Piercing Silk.”

On the fifth floor, when the windows were opened, every player on that floor reinforced their room’s doors and windows, afraid of being a step behind the other players on the same floor.

As for the fourth floor, not a single player reinforced their room’s doors and windows. Instead, they all started creating fireballs and fire lines together.

“They want to use fire tactics? Last time, they indeed confirmed that the monster children are afraid of fire.”

“It’s useless. The fire tactics can only be executed in the garden in front of the castle. However, the monster children are attacking from all sides. We can’t leave, and the bare walls on the left and right sides cannot be utilized. Unless they start a fire near the walls, but that’s not possible, as it would burn down the castle.”

When they first learned that the monster children were afraid of fire, who would have not thought of using it?

All they needed to do was to build a high fire wall around the castle to protect it.

But this dungeon wasn’t that simple. To construct a sufficiently high fire wall to surround the castle and block the monster children, they would need to go outside.

They couldn’t go outside.

Their activity area was only the garden between the castle and the iron gate, so they could only operate in the garden in front of the castle, effectively blocking the monster children coming from the castle’s front.

The left and right sides were not viable options.

On the right side of the castle, facing the iron gate, there were arched windows on each floor, and that side also had a large number of monster children climbing through it.

According to the system’s setting, they were still ‘unborn’ and couldn’t go outside through the iron gate, so naturally, they couldn’t jump out of the windows on the right side of the castle. The narrow space on the left and right sides was only enough for players to climb the wall, and any attempt to go further would result in being bounced back.

During the days when the windows on the fifth floor were opened, the players on that floor had already tried.

However, igniting a fire that could obstruct the monster children within such a small space would inevitably burn down the main castle. Not feasible.

Unless they walked out of the door and started a fire further away.

But that brought them back to the initial problem—they couldn’t go outside.

So, this method was useless.

On the fourth floor, the four players used thin lily vines and oil to create a very long fire line that could be ignited.

By lunchtime, they had just finished because it took too long.

Anyway, they couldn’t have lunch anymore, so the four of them added enough vine ropes.

Ning Su stuffed two lily flowers into his mouth and said, “You move it to the iron gate, and I’ll go to the fifth floor.”

It was difficult to cut the lily vines, but once it was severed, the vine itself was not heavy, especially since they had chosen the thinnest ones. Meng Jiang easily carried two vines, each several hundred meters long, to the gate, placing one on each side.

Soon after, Ning Su brought the oil-painted wooden puppet down from the fifth floor.

On the hand holding the puppet, a continuous flow of dark energy was being transferred into its body. By the time they reached the iron gate, the wooden puppet’s wooden body had visibly improved, with a faint layer of light passing through.

Ning Su squatted down, supporting its shoulders, and said, “If you feel tired or unable to continue, come back immediately.”

The oil-painted wooden puppet looked into his eyes and replied, “Ha ya.”

It bent down and grabbed the head of the rope on the right side of the iron gate, walking out through the gap.

Inside the gate, Meng Jiang released the rope line until the oil-painted wooden puppet had walked about six or seven meters outside, standing at a distance where even an ignited rope would not reach the castle.

Ning Su said, “That’s enough.”

The oil-painted wooden puppet brought a stone and wrapped the vine rope around it, then began pulling the vine towards the right side of the castle.

The players on the fifth and sixth floors were all stunned.

They had never thought that the ghost friend could go this far. It’s not that they hadn’t considered it before. Although they had seen it, they never deeply pondered this issue or thought that the ghost friend could solve the problem of distance.

Now they all knew what the people on the fourth floor were going to do.

The ghost friend, at a distance of six or seven meters outside, surrounded the castle with combustible vines, ensuring that igniting the vines would not scorch the castle.

Those players who confidently analyzed the situation earlier, claiming that using fire wouldn’t work, felt as if they had been slapped in the face, stinging intensely.

They refused to accept that this could work and still insisted, saying, “The vines are so thin, even if they can burn, the flames would be so small. The monster children can easily jump over.”

“Yes, such small flames wouldn’t stop the monster children unless there was a much higher fire wall, but that kind of wall is impossible for a ghost friend to make.”

“That can only provide a sense of comfort.”

“Well, it’s better than just sitting and waiting for death.”

As they guessed, the ghost friend’s abilities were limited at this time. It took a long time for it to go around, while taking a break in the middle.

After the oil-painted puppet came back, it held the boy’s hand at the iron gate and rested for a long time before pulling another vine to the left.

It took two hours to finish going around all of them.

The oil-painted puppet stiffly squeezed through the iron gate, feeling every piece of wood on its body creaking. It was exhausted, and its head felt heavy.

Suddenly, it smelled a pleasant fragrance, and felt a cool sensation around its neck, as if something was hanging there.

It lowered its head and saw a bright red flower hanging down from its chest.

The small red flower was woven onto a thin, tender green vine, hanging around its neck, with the flower perfectly positioned on its chest. It was vibrant and bright, seemingly symbolizing something.

The puppet looked up and saw the boy with sparkling eyes, saying, “You’re amazing.”

Zhu Shuangshuang said, “It’s truly amazing that it protected us even though it’s so small.”

Meng Jiang exclaimed, “Applaud! Clap clap!”

“Ha... ya...“

The oil-painted puppet gazed at them in a daze, as if there was a gleam in its oil-painted eyes.

There was still a layer of dirty oil paint on its face, and the orange-yellow sunset fell on it, but it didn’t feel like an unbearable greasiness.

It was like the oil paint applied by an innocent child, unable to understand the logic of aesthetic beauty, but beneath the messy oil paint, there hid innocence and warmth.

If this scene were printed as an oil painting, the puppet would be the most striking one.

On the fifth floor, the little Gu Witch silently watched this scene until the people in the painting walked into the castle and disappeared from sight.

“What’s this? They’re leaving already? They didn’t surround the castle from the left, right, or back? Just the front?”

“Forget it. Don’t take it seriously. This plan was full of loopholes from the beginning.”

On the sixth floor, someone asked Shi Tianzhu, “President Shi, do you think they can stop the monster children?”

Shi Tianzhu replied, “Whether they can stop them or not, we’ll only know when night falls.”

As darkness began to descend, the players on the fifth and sixth floors, who had stopped eating dinner, were already prepared in front of their respective windows, waiting to see what kind of outcome would unfold in the first batch of players who attempted to resist the monster children proactively.

On the fourth floor, four people were sitting comfortably and relaxed in the corridor.

They could only eat one meal a day, and that was in the morning. Sitting in their rooms all day without exerting energy would make them hungry, especially since they had been busy the whole day.

All four of them were both hungry and tired, completely exhausted.

However, their real battle had yet to begin.

They had to deal with countless, uncountable monster children.

Only Ning Su was eating, consuming lily flowers. It wasn’t that the other three were being picky and refusing to eat at a critical moment; they just couldn’t chew it.

Zhu Shuangshuang gave a rose to each of the two boys, saying, “Have a little bit to eat.”

After the players decided to eat only one meal a day, within half an hour, the roses and sunflowers in the garden were completely stripped.

They happened to be in the garden and immediately rushed to grab a portion.

The three of them struggled to swallow the flowers and plants.

The flowers looked beautiful, but they tasted extremely bitter. As they ate, the bitterness spread to their internal organs, including their hearts.

But they still needed to eat, to replenish some energy because soon they would embark on a battle of life and death, with an uncertain outcome.

This battle would last at least four and a half hours without any external support, and they had to risk their lives.

[Mother’s womb is so warm, I want to tear into hell to accompany.

When I die, it trembles, but its attachment to me?]

The four of them simultaneously raised their heads, feeling a tremor in their hearts.

Ning Su said, “They’re here.”

Zhu Shuangshuang forcefully bit down on the rose in her mouth, and red rose juice overflowed from the corner of her lips.

She turned around and looked at Zhi Zhi, who was nervously pulling at her clothes, touched its head, but couldn’t say anything.

She only touched its rough and coarse paper-like head a few times, and even the corners of her eyes seemed to be stained with rose juice.

Meng Jiang squatted in front of Ai Yi, hanging his head as he said to the mummy doll, “Do you remember what I told you? If we are going to die, don’t give me your luck value. It’s useless for me. Keep it for yourself, in case it can help you in the next life.”

Ji Mingrui and Sui Sui silently looked at each other. The indifferent president wouldn’t say anything sentimental.

Ning Su’s clothes were grabbed, and Gui Sheng lifted his head and said to him, “Protect!”

These were the words Gui Sheng said to him when Ning Su first arrived in this instance. Gui Sheng said he would protect him.

In Gui Sheng’s other hand, he held the Blood Doll, which looked at him silently without crying or making any noise.

Zhu Shuangshuang was the first to push open the door of Room 404, then turned to them and said, “Let’s begin, brothers.”

The first time they knew they were in the same mother’s body, Meng Jiang once said, if they were inside the same mother, would they become siblings after birth?

He desperately wanted to be a brother.

Meng Jiang: “Charge! For our birth!”