Although several people had already died from violating the third condition, Ding Shi still hadn't been able to piece together Ghost San Niang's third killing rule. As for Zombie San Niang, so long as one didn't run face-to-face into her and held their breath right away, there was no danger. She was just a brainless zombie after all, easy enough to deal with.
It was now 3:00 AM on the seventh day, roughly thirty hours away from 8:00 AM on the eighth day. During these thirty hours, he couldn't sleep. Or rather, he would need to take shifts with his companions to watch over each other while sleeping.
Could he trust either of those two companions? Ding Shi didn't trust Zhang San. Sun Qi was decent enough, but not particularly bright.
Zhang San picked up the kettle, poured four cups of water, and said to the village chief, "As long as we can figure out San Niang's killing rules, we can hold out until the sacrifice day ends." He set the water down before the three of them.
Ding Shi didn't touch the cup. Before figuring out Ghost San Niang's killing rules, he restrained himself as much as possible from doing anything he hadn't done before.
Hearing this, the village chief looked at Zhang San with a touch of excitement. "You already know San Niang's killing rules?"
Zhang San shook his head. Pinching the cup between two fingers, he took a sip of water. Just as he was about to speak, Ghost San Niang abruptly appeared behind him.
The four of them sat gathered around the table. On the table stood a candle; beyond its edges lay darkness. Ghost San Niang's face emerged from the shadows, instantly freezing Ding Shi, the village chief, and Pan'er in terror.
Zhang San wondered why everyone else's eyes were wide with shock. Following their gazes, he turned his head—and came face-to-face with San Niang. His body shuddered as San Niang's ghostly hand thrust through his chest from behind, plucking out his heart.
Zhang San stared blankly at the heart in San Niang's hand, his eyes glazing over, before he collapsed to the floor, dead.
The moment Zhang San died, San Niang vanished instantly. Pan'er let out a shriek, while the anxious village chief alternated between coaxing and cursing. Leaning one hand on the table, Ding Shi picked up the cup of water and examined it against the candlelight for a moment.
He had Ghost San Niang's third killing rule now: anyone who touched liquid died.
Pee your pants—dead. Step into a paddy field—dead. Drink water—dead.
Moreover, the people killed at Haitang's house had all had varying amounts of victim blood on them.
There was another detail here. Taking Haitang's decapitation as an example, blood had sprayed onto Zhang San, but that process was part of a single event, so Ghost San Niang couldn't kill Zhang San for it. Once the event ended, even though Zhang San had blood on him, it was preexisting blood, which wouldn't trigger the rule retroactively.
Pan'er gradually calmed down. Having grasped the rule, Ding Shi prepared to head out and do quests; the school was right next door anyway. Just as he stood up, a knock came from the door. It wasn't three knocks, nor four, but an erratic series: tap, tap, tap-tap, tap, tap.
The village chief and his daughter-in-law scrambled under the bed together. Ding Shi walked to the window, turned on his flashlight, and shone it out to the side.
Putting the flashlight away, Ding Shi snapped his fingers, took out his fowling piece, loaded the steel shot, slipped in the paper cartridge of gunpowder, and opened the door. Blind Zhao's purplish face loomed into view.
The next second, the fowling piece boomed with a deafening blast, dozens of steel pellets tearing straight through Blind Zhao's neck. Half of Blind Zhao's neck had already been gnawed away; between the tearing and impact of the steel pellets, his head dropped straight to the ground.
Ding Shi shoved Blind Zhao's body aside and kicked his head flying. "A mere purple zombie, daring to pick a fight with firearms."
Ding Shi reloaded, shouldered the fowling piece, and stepped out the door. The moment he walked outside, he saw zombie Aunt Li wandering along the road. Ding Shi didn't bother tangling with her; holding his breath, he brushed past zombie Aunt Li and kicked her tumbling down the steps.
Having bullied two zombies, Ding Shi was in high spirits. He vaulted over the school wall, only to spot Zombie San Niang standing in the middle of the school playground.
*Sorry, wrong place!*
Ding Shi instantly held his breath. In a frantic scramble, he dumped out the steel shot, removed the paper cartridge of gunpowder, converted the fowling piece into a card, and stowed it away. Then he vaulted back over the wall, retreated ten meters, climbed up onto the village chief's courtyard wall, and peered back at the school playground, monitoring Zombie San Niang's every move.
Zombie San Niang leisurely drifted away after a few minutes, but Ding Shi didn't move. He crouched there for over half an hour until a wave of drowsiness washed over him. Checking the system time, he saw it was already 5:00 AM. Staring at the sky, which remained pitch-black, Ding Shi had an ominous premonition.
After monitoring for another half an hour, Ding Shi still saw no hint of dawn. As a flying zombie, Zombie San Niang didn't fear the sun, but she likely disliked fighting under it. And as a ghost, Ghost San Niang was obliged to vanish before daybreak.
What if daylight never came?
Waiting another half an hour, Ding Shi accepted reality. There was no sun, no daylight. Over the next twenty-five hours, he couldn't drink water, couldn't sleep, and had to stay on constant guard against sudden zombie attacks. There was no telling how many people Zombie San Niang had bitten to death by now, nor how many zombies were wandering the village.
Entering the school, Ding Shi headed straight for Sun Qi's dormitory. Tapping on the door, he called softly, "Sun Qi." The door swung lightly inward.
Before Ding Shi could get a clear look, a white zombie lunged at him—none other than Sun Qi!
Zombie Sun Qi snapped at Ding Shi's arm. Ding Shi clamped his left hand around zombie Sun Qi's throat, shoving his head back. After transforming, zombie Sun Qi's strength was roughly equal to Ding Shi's; the two grappled in a stalemate for five seconds, neither able to overpower the other.
Ding Shi lashed out with a kick to zombie Sun Qi's abdomen, knocking him into the dorm room while tumbling to the floor himself. Just as Ding Shi scrambled to his feet, zombie Sun Qi lunged again. Ding Shi caught him with a shoulder throw, slamming him to the ground outside, and took the chance to dart inside the dorm room, slamming the door shut behind him.
Zombie Sun Qi began banging against the door. Holding his breath was useless now; the zombie had already locked onto its prey's location. The only way out was to escape the dormitory.
The dorm had glass windows in the front and back. Ding Shi raised a chair, smashed the back glass window, and was just about to leap out when a purplish face appeared at the window.
It was Tiezhu—Tiezhu, who had been in charge of the bridal procession.
Zombie Tiezhu was only a purple zombie, unable to hop over a windowsill more than a meter high, and could only drape his body over the sill to crawl inward.
Watching zombie Tiezhu, Ding Shi took two steps back. His foot stepped on something, and an idea struck him—wasn't this the bomb Sun Qi had asked him to make?
Sun Qi had died without taking the bomb card with him. The system stated there was no death penalty in a casual instance. Could that absence of penalty apply only to the player themselves, and not their items?
After a player died, items in card slots dropped—would skills in skill slots drop as well?
It also couldn't be ruled out that Sun Qi simply hadn't converted the bomb into a card.
Now was no time to ponder. Ding Shi pulled out a lighter, ignited the bomb's fuse, sprinted forward, stepped up onto a desk, and kicked zombie Tiezhu in the head, booting him out the window before leaping out the window himself.
Ding Shi bolted, running roughly thirty meters before a massive explosion went off. Glancing back, the darkness prevented him from seeing very far. Ding Shi brought out the fowling piece, loaded it, and waited a moment. Zombie Tiezhu appeared ten meters away, limping forward. Zombie Tiezhu moved slowly, but his steps were steady, heading straight for Ding Shi.
Ding Shi stepped forward, shoved the barrel into zombie Tiezhu's mouth, and pulled the trigger. The striker hit the paper cartridge, igniting the gunpowder, and a dozen or so steel pellets blasted upward, blowing a gaping hole through zombie Tiezhu's head.
Ding Shi kicked zombie Tiezhu away, reloading his powder while keeping his eyes fixed on him. A zombie wasn't a walker; even with his head blown apart, zombie Tiezhu hadn't lost mobility, struggling back to his feet. Ding Shi fired a shot at zombie Tiezhu's left leg, obliterating the left knee.
Zombie Tiezhu tried hard to stand, collapsing midway several times until the sound of snapping bone came from the wound on his left leg. Zombie Tiezhu no longer insisted on standing; instead, he dragged his body and mangled legs along the ground with his hands, crawling forward.
Next, Ding Shi tried putting a shot through zombie Tiezhu's heart, but it made no difference.
Ding Shi used two shots to blast through zombie Tiezhu's neck, severing head from body. Even so, zombie Tiezhu's mouth kept opening and closing, and his torso crawled about aimlessly.
In the end, Ding Shi stepped down on zombie Tiezhu's torso and set his clothes on fire. The flames caught the body fat, finally destroying zombie Tiezhu once and for all.
Without lingering, Ding Shi turned and left.
Chapter 33