Where's the cute girl we were promised? She's completely wiped out S-rank dungeons!

"Who?!"

Cui Xiaofei was timid, and he would never dare to go up and open the window in this situation. But the sound didn't stop after it had been made once; it rang three more times, "thump thump thump," and then a delicate female voice came from outside: "It's me."

Cui Xiaofei was stunned for a moment. He recognized the voice and quickly went to open the window.

A petite girl with red hair and purple eyes was curled up on the windowsill—it was Ye Yingming, whom he had met with An Xiaoyou when they went out together before.

After jumping down, Ye Yingming quickly pulled her cloak tighter, wrapping herself up tightly, and retreated to a corner with unease. Because of her experience in the [Gods Guild], she always felt involuntarily flustered when she was in a room with a strange man.

Cui Xiaofei scratched his cheek, though he didn't know why she was so scared, he still tried to keep his voice down:

"Why is it you? Did Chairman Qi send you? You... your team didn't have any inhibitors, how did you manage to get here all by yourself?"

Ye Yingming huddled in the corner and whispered, "Yes, the president sent me. My skill can replicate virus inhibitors, but this skill was used to make energy crystal cores before—so the inhibitor replicated this time only lasts for twelve hours, but that's enough for me to keep up with you guys."

Her journey was relatively smooth—she had come by motorcycle, which was, after all, her forte. Fortunately, the road Song Yuan and her companions were on had few forks, so Ye Yingming didn't even need to determine her direction. She simply followed the highway Qi Lian had pointed out, occasionally checking for tire tracks... and soon she saw the town. After some searching, she found Song Yuan and her companions' vehicle.

Ye Yingming explained to Cui Xiaofei, "The chairman asked me to join your team. He said there's a very important thing that I have to do."

Cui Xiaofei let out a long "Oh—", carefully retreated to sit on the edge of the bed, making sure she was far enough away from Ye Yingming so as not to frighten her, and then tentatively asked:

"Um...may I ask, what exactly does this 'very important matter' refer to?"

Ye Yingming didn't intend to hide it from him, and said softly:

"He assassinated your guild leader. He even gave me some tools that I might need..."

Cui Xiaofei gasped. After lowering his head and remaining silent for a while, he rubbed his hair in distress, looking troubled:

"Does your guild leader have some misunderstanding about our abilities? She keeps giving us impossible missions! Why would they keep you around for no reason?"

"That's why the president sent me to find you."

As Ye Yingming spoke, he suddenly loosened his grip on the cloak, rolled up his sleeves, and pulled down the hood. Cui Xiaofei was immediately stunned:

He suddenly understood why Ye Yingming had wrapped himself tightly in a cloak after coming in—it wasn't just out of fear, but also to conceal something.

At this moment, the cloak was loosely draped over her body. It was clear that her neck and wrists bore shocking finger marks and ligature marks—it was unimaginable how many more such marks lay beneath her clothing.

Seeing the astonishment in his eyes, Ye Yingming's expression calmed down instead:

"It's okay, I'll do it. As long as I use my personal talent to show them these things... they'll waver. Do you know who's the most soft-hearted person in your team? Starting with that person will greatly increase the success rate."

Ye Yingming's personal talent allows her to make a specific person unconsciously empathize with her current pain.

This talent seemed rather useless when she first entered the game—back then, she was a happy and cheerful young girl. Her entry into the game was also due to a recent creative block in her art. Because she experienced little or no pain, she couldn't possibly beg for pity from others.

But ever since she joined the Divine Guild, especially after the original guild leader died and Qi Lian took over, she has completely fallen into hell.

The deeper her suffering, the greater the influence of this talent.

"...Okay, I'll cooperate with you!"

Cui Xiaofei gritted his teeth and agreed. He was sorry, but no matter how good Song Yuan and the others were to him, he still needed to live. He was like a turtle in a jar; Qi Lian could kill him at any moment if she was in a bad mood. What did conscience matter? Survival was more important!

"As for the most soft-hearted person on their team, let me think..."

Cui Xiaofei no longer dared to say "our" team, because that would make him seem like he was part of a group with Song Yuan and the others, so he simply distanced himself. He answered the question almost without thinking:

"Xu Tai'an, do you know this player?"

"Hmm...I know."

Ye Yingming nodded. Of course she knew Xu Tai'an; she had read the player's basic information before the match began. The last time they met, when Xu Tai'an was about to kill her, he even gave her a pitying look—this kind of player was the easiest to deceive emotionally.

Ye Yingming: "Could you create an opportunity for me to meet with her alone? If there are other people interfering, the effect of my talent will be greatly weakened."

Cui Xiaofei: "This might be a bit difficult, but I'll do my best. Until I think of a solution, why don't you find somewhere to hide for now?"

Ye Yingming nodded, seemingly wanting to say something more. Just then, there was a knock at the door.

"Cui Xiaofei, Cui Xiaofei?!"

It was Qiao Ran's voice.

Cui Xiaofei felt a chill run down his spine and frantically signaled to Ye Yingming to hide. Ye Yingming's expression changed, and she quickly turned and climbed out the window, hiding on top of the air conditioner unit. Cui Xiaofei closed the window, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and ran to open the door for Qiao Ran.

"Hey! I'm here, what's up?"

"So you're still awake?"

Qiao Ran, dressed in freshly changed, clean clothes, seemed like a walking air purifier, leaving a trail of expensive perfume in his wake. He leaned against the doorframe, his left hand covered by a layer of toilet paper—to avoid getting dirty—and looked Cui Xiaofei up and down, puzzled.

"Hey, you look terrible. And you went to bed without showering? Are you really that tired?"

"I...I forgot, I'll go in a bit."

Cui Xiaofei guiltily tossed his hair aside and changed the subject, saying, "What's wrong? Is there something you need me to do? Just say it!"

"Okay, we just decided." Qiao Ran finally got down to business. "Tonight we can't be as carefree as we were last night. One person has to stay up to keep watch so the others can sleep. We just decided on the order; you're last. I'll wake you up when we need you to, understand?"

Cui Xiaofei quickly nodded in agreement, but soon became nervous again: "Okay! But... why did I sleep so well last night, and suddenly I have to keep watch tonight?"

Could it be that Song Yuan noticed he and An Xiaoyou went out last night, and is therefore being wary of him?

"No particular reason, just in case," Qiao Ran yawned lazily. "Don't you think there's something particularly strange about this small county we're in right now?"

Seeing that it wasn't his fault, Cui Xiaofei secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He revealed a sincere look in his eyes and humbly said:

"I don't see it. What's wrong with it?"

"The ground here is severely cracked. And the sewer system is very complicated," Qiao Ran said, her tone becoming unusually serious. "Ever since we entered this city, the ground has looked like it's about to collapse."

Besides that, there were actually many other reasons. For example, when Qiao Ran took a shower, the water flowing from the pipes was pitch black, as if it had been dyed, and it also emitted an indescribable stench. Fortunately, the system store had filters available for purchase, and Qiao Ran used up ten of them before the water could barely be used to wash her body.

Moreover, the buildings here are extremely old and dilapidated. Logically, the apocalypse should be a world of plants, but this city is devoid of any greenery; vegetation refuses to grow here. The infrastructure is covered with unknown bite marks—judging from the teeth marks, they weren't made by zombies.

This entire city is a breeding ground for the virus. If it were just zombies, that would be one thing, but the real danger lies in other threats besides zombies!