Chapter 161: The Good Show Is About to Begin

"This move is truly a bit slick."

Bao De looked at the player named AI Drinking Carbonated Drinks and said to the audience in the live stream.

Earlier, after that player brushed past Someone Under the Tree, Bao De had a gut feeling that this fellow was going to stir up trouble, so he had switched his spectator perspective to AI Drinking Carbonated Drinks.

And sure enough, it turned out this guy was indeed up to no good.

At the same time, he also wanted to let the viewers witness the effectiveness of the trap designed by Someone Under the Tree.

After all, having watched so much resource scavenging for a while now, some excitement was definitely in order.

And then came the scene currently unfolding before everyone's eyes.

AI Drinking Carbonated Drinks had disguised himself as a player who had just arrived late.

Triggered by the alarm system set up by Someone Under the Tree, a total of four players, including AI Drinking Carbonated Drinks, quickly gathered on the floor where his spawn point was located.

They eyed each other with mutual suspicion.

At the same time, they were surveying the floor.

Searching for the source of the sound.

Although the radio had only blared once, there were still two closed doors on this floor.

Therefore, after sizing each other up for a moment, no one made a move, nor did anyone take any further action.

Finally, the player who had arrived last broke the silence: "What was going on on this floor just now?"

Hearing the question, AI Drinking Carbonated Drinks immediately replied, "You'll have to ask these two. They got here before me."

"We aren't sure either."

"We'll find out once we open the doors."

"What if someone's in there?"

"Scared? Then go back down."

After a brief discussion, the four players reached a consensus: pry the doors open together.

And split the loot evenly.

As for the potential threat of other players, anyone brave enough to rush over immediately upon hearing a commotion was certainly no pushover.

Witnessing this scene, Bao De shook his head and said to the audience, "Brother Under the Tree's original plan must have been to make the other players tear each other apart."

"But now it looks like he's going to suffer a massive loss."

With that, Bao De felt there was no further need to watch this side and immediately switched his perspective back to Someone Under the Tree.

Meanwhile, over on the side of AI Drinking Carbonated Drinks, the door-prying operation commenced right after Bao De's spectator camera drifted away.

Soon, the remaining two doors were pried open by them.

A harsh, grating sound pierced the air once more.

It was loud enough to make the eardrums of everyone present ache.

The radio that had emitted the sound sat right at the doorway.

Spotting the radio, one of the players squatted down, reached out, and pressed the switch on it.

"Hiss~"

The player who turned off the radio felt a sharp pain shoot through his finger and instinctively flung the radio away.

This abnormal reaction immediately drew the attention of the other players present.

"What's wrong?"

AI Drinking Carbonated Drinks asked, while his gaze shifted to the radio the other man had thrown.

Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, he bent down, picked it up, and examined it closely right in front of his eyes.

"Got pricked by a thorn on the button."

Hearing this, AI Drinking Carbonated Drinks immediately looked at the radio's switch.

He quickly spotted the thorn the other player had mentioned.

It was the tip of a sewing needle, wedged tightly between the gaps of the button.

Seeing this, he pulled the needle right out.

And then slipped it into his own mountaineering backpack.

The player who had been pricked looked on somewhat glumly.

The radio was, by all accounts, a piece of high-tech gear.

Yet he had just handed it over to someone else on a silver platter.

It was deeply frustrating.

This minor episode didn't draw much more attention from the group.

Once they entered the room, they immediately began searching.

And they quickly struck gold.

These were the items Someone Under the Tree had deliberately left out in the open—tools he found of little use to himself, along with a few days' worth of food.

"Looks like he kept everything right here."

None of them doubted that Someone Under the Tree might have hidden other resources elsewhere.

After all, when they had searched their entire floor, this was roughly the extent of what they found.

"How should we split this?"

The food was easy enough to divide, but the tools were clearly unbalanced.

AI Drinking Carbonated Drinks looked at the remaining magnifying glass after everything else had been divided up and asked the others.

"If anyone wants this magnifying glass, they should give up their share of the food and let the others have it," one person suggested.

Everyone nodded, but...

No one spoke up to claim it.

Because in this instance, the importance of food in this copy was undeniably greater than that of most tools.

Just as the group was debating how to distribute the magnifying glass, the expression on the face of the player whose finger had been pricked suddenly froze.

Then, the color rapidly drained from his face.

Within mere seconds, his skin turned deathly pale.

And this subtle change went unnoticed by the others at first.

...

Shifting the perspective back to Someone Under the Tree.

After descending to the first floor, he slowed his pace.

Once he had surveyed the surrounding terrain, he crept stealthily toward a supermarket not far from the building.

There were three zombies along this route that he couldn't avoid.

However, Someone Under the Tree had come prepared.

He had retrieved the crossbow he found in one of the earlier rooms, and now it finally proved its worth.

After a few attempts, he successfully lured the first zombie over.

Although the crossbow's power was decent, expecting it to pierce a zombie's skull from dozens of meters away was somewhat unrealistic.

Therefore, he had to wait until the creature got close before striking to finish it off.

Practice makes perfect; soon, all three zombies were successfully dispatched.

He even recovered the crossbow bolts he had fired.

Arriving outside the supermarket, Someone Under the Tree didn't rush right in.

Instead, he circled the perimeter of the store, peering through the gaps between the shelves to observe the interior conditions.

In such a tight space, even two zombies would be enough to plunge him into mortal danger.

After observing for a while and confirming there were no zombies in sight, Someone Under the Tree finally felt secure enough to step inside.

He began scavenging the supermarket for high-value supplies.

After all, his backpack was only so big, and it was impossible to carry everything at once.

Chocolates, compressed biscuits, water, a Chinese kitchen knife...

Before long, his children's schoolbag was packed to the brim.

With the bag fully loaded, Someone Under the Tree did the math.

The food in here roughly amounted to a week's worth of rations for him.

Combined with what he had at his spawn point, he would need to make one more trip.

"Once I have enough food stockpiled, I should figure out a way to block the stairs leading upstairs, and then I can probably clear the third quest."

This process of accumulating supplies had turned out to be much easier than Someone Under the Tree had imagined.

Even so, he didn't let his guard down, because he knew that the threat posed by zombies was far inferior to the danger other players presented.

After all, some players simply refused to act like human beings.

With that thought in mind, Someone Under the Tree immediately packed his things and prepared to head back.

He was afraid that lingering too long would lead to unexpected accidents.

Just as Someone Under the Tree was heading back to the building, a heavily built zombie, moving without the bizarre, rigid stiffness of the others, walked into the residential compound.

It watched the retreating figure of Someone Under the Tree entering the building, but chose not to give chase.

Instead, it turned directly and walked toward the supermarket where Someone Under the Tree had just scavenged his supplies.

It concealed its form within the shadows.

And stood completely still.

Like a hunter lurking in the dark, waiting for its prey to arrive.

And every bit of this scene was broadcasted live by Bao De.