WEF - Chapter 26
Chapter 26: The Good Friend Heaven Sent Me
In the lightless darkness, two pairs of eyes lay hidden where the naked eye could not see them.
With Ying's help, Ning Dali had become one with the shadow.
The sensation was extraordinary. Her consciousness remained, but she could no longer sense her original body. Whether she spoke or moved, she did so by instinct.
"I can keep you company while you observe for another fifteen minutes," Ying's voice said directly in Ning Dali's mind. "This is my limit."
Here, the limit referred to the time Ying could spare amid all she had to do, not the limit of how long she could maintain her Ability. As a Single-Character Ability User, Ying could keep this state indefinitely for as long as she wished.
Fifty meters away, more than a dozen Zombies shambled around in a daze, wholly unaware that two people were observing them from the shadows.
Ning Dali watched the scene without expression, because she had no distinct facial features now.
"Won't the virus they carry infect us if we get this close to them?" she asked.
The question appeared to concern the Zombies, but Ning Dali was really probing the effect of Ying's Ability.
"Not now," Ying said proudly. "You are a shadow now, and shadows cannot be targeted. That Zombie just threw an Ability at your face, and nothing happened to you, didn't it?"
A shadow could not be targeted, so the virus could not infect it, and no Ability could attack it.
In other words, they were invincible.
"That's incredible," Ning Dali said, half flattering and half sincere, without letting her reaction show. "I always thought you specialized in offense, but I never expected your defense to be flawless."
"Heh, don't make such a fuss," Ying said disdainfully. "You have no idea how well-rounded this girl is."
Her only weakness was that her attacks were not strong enough. Apart from that, Ying was top-tier in every respect. She could do what others could, and what others could not.
Something stirred in Ning Dali's mind, and she found herself thinking of something else.
After she returned to the Federation, she was sent back to this world. If she were in the untargetable shadow state she was in now, would she still be sent back?
Perhaps not.
Ying was already a Single-Character Ability, and the Ability that had sent her back was at most a Single-Character Ability as well.
When she had the chance, she would try again... Ning Dali kept the thought in mind.
She shifted her attention and, taking advantage of the fact that she could not be attacked, moved into the shadow beneath the Zombies' feet to observe them at close range.
There were two types of Zombie. One looked dry and leathery, with tough, black skin. It was a Leathery Zombie.
The other was swollen, its skin white and wrinkled, as though it had been soaked in water. It was a Waterlogged Zombie.
Leathery Zombies had high defenses and were very agile.
Waterlogged Zombies moved slowly and had low defenses. Their bodies would explode just before they died, and they were highly contagious.
Both types could use Abilities, and every Zombie possessed a different Ability.
They were difficult to deal with, but fortunately Zombies had no brains. They fired off Abilities at random and even attacked one another.
Ning Dali only had to stay alert to avoid their Ability attacks.
After spending ten minutes observing them and gaining a basic understanding of their attacks, Ning Dali heard Ying say at an unhurried pace, "Plague is already on her way."
There were two groups of Zombies nearby. Plague had just dealt with one group and was about to come deal with this one.
"She doesn't rest, so she'll probably be here in about ten minutes," Ying helpfully estimated.
Ning Dali's words had reminded Ying of something, and her attitude was now completely different.
Unless something unforeseen happened, Ning Dali would become a Single-Character Ability User within the next year or two.
She currently possessed two Abilities, [Nirvana] and [Strongman].
Ying had never heard of a Single-Character Resurrection Ability, so she assumed [Strongman] would be the Ability to upgrade. Ning Dali's final Ability would therefore most likely be [Power].
Its name alone suggested tremendous attack power.
Ying fell silent while turning over the possibility in private.
Although she herself could not be targeted, her Base could be.
And though being untargetable sounded invincible, put less kindly, it meant she could do nothing but run.
If she kept treating Ning Dali as before and failed to show her the respect she deserved...
The image of a gorilla tearing a house apart flashed through Ying's mind. The shattered Base and the exploding RV overlapped in her vision.
Ying gave a violent start. "Dali."
Ning Dali was taken aback. "?"
"What's wrong? Did something unexpected happen?" Ning Dali asked, instantly alert.
"Nothing's gone wrong," Ying said gently. "But if you encounter any danger, you must tell me right away. Never try to handle it alone."
Ning Dali fell silent for a moment, then asked, "Have you already been hit by [Plague]?"
Like [Fate], [Plague] belonged to the sort of Ability that was impossible to defend against.
Ying's sudden change in temperament was very likely the effect of Plague... Ning Dali considered it gravely.
Ying thought, "..." If she got any gentler, she really would be out of her mind.
Ying snorted through her nose, and the two of them emerged from the shadow.
"I'm leaving. Take care of yourself."
With that, Ying streamed down to the ground like water and merged with the shadow there as one.
In the desolate countryside, Ning Dali was the only living person left.
The Zombies caught the scent of a living person and all turned their heads in unison, their dark-red eyes fixing on her.
"That's creepy," Ning Dali muttered, then turned and broke into a sprint.
She ran in long, flying strides, but instead of heading directly toward Plague, she made as much noise as she could while running to draw Plague's attention.
"Help! Haah... haah..."
"What are these monsters? Is anyone there? Help me!"
Ning Dali threw herself into a frantic roll across the ground, dodging the orange-red fireball shot from behind her.
The fireball burst behind her, and the shock wave sent her staggering several steps forward.
At the same time, Ning Dali deliberately removed the Shield covering her so the flames would leave burn marks on her back.
"Hiss!"
The agony of the flames burning her back was far worse than she had expected. Ning Dali drew in a sharp breath, only to catch the foul odor rising from the Zombies.
In less than two seconds, the skin all over her body suddenly tightened, taut as a fish suffering from extreme dehydration.
Momentum carried Ning Dali into a single step forward.
With a sharp tearing sound, that slight movement tore her skin and muscle.
She had been infected with the zombie virus.
Ning Dali was not especially anxious. Her [Nirvana] healed all the damage she had taken every ten minutes, and while the zombie virus took effect quickly, it would not turn her into a brainless Zombie in as little as ten minutes.
Being infected with the zombie virus was also part of the Shadow King's script.
From what the Shadow King knew of Plague... she would deeply sympathize with Ning Dali once the virus had infected her. Plague's heart would ache because she had brought an innocent Ability User into all this.
At that moment, [Nirvana] restored Ning Dali's injuries, giving the self-blaming Plague an enormous surprise. Plague's emotions would swing wildly, and overcome with joy, she would burst into tears, throw her arms around Ning Dali, and say, "So you can resurrect. Then you're the good friend Heaven sent me!"
Ning Dali did not think the plan made much sense, but for now, events did seem to be unfolding exactly as the Shadow King had scripted.
Ning Dali's steps slowed.
The Zombies running after her slowed as well. Drawn by something new, they turned and ran in another direction.
Hearing the movement, Ning Dali followed the sound and saw a woman dressed entirely in black.
Two long scabbards were carried on the woman's back. She held two broken blades in one hand, and several loops of white bandage were wrapped around her wrists, stained with blue-green mucus.
This was Plague.
Ning Dali's faintly reddened eyes settled on the two broken blades.
About twenty minutes earlier, while she and Ying had been watching from the shadows, Plague's blades had still been intact.
Now, they had not only snapped in two but were covered in notches. They looked only two more cuts away from shattering completely.
Plague glanced coldly at Ning Dali, a flash of annoyance at the sight of a fool in her eyes. Then she raised the twin blades.
The Zombie that had fired the earlier fireball brought its hands together and launched another.
The orange-red fireball arced through the air toward Plague's face.
Plague shifted her footing and rose from the ground like a graceful swallow, her movements in the air extraordinarily agile. She swept the two broken blades across each other in an X-shaped slash, cutting the fireball into four pieces.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Plague's strikes were lightning fast. Blade afterimages flickered through the air so quickly that her movements were almost impossible to see, like one phantom streak of light after another. She chopped through the Zombies as easily as splitting melons and cutting vegetables.
The two broken blades trembled continuously, then split apart with a clang.
Plague was left holding the two hilts. She impatiently clicked her tongue, "Tsk!"
She glanced at Ning Dali from a distance, failed to find any weapon on her, and clicked her tongue in irritation once more.
"So annoying. If you're going out to get yourself killed, at least bring a weapon. What else can you possibly do except get yourself killed?"
Ning Dali reached behind herself and drew out a loaded submachine gun.
The zombie transformation made her movements sluggish, but at least her hands did not shake.
Ning Dali raised the submachine gun, aimed at the Zombies' knees, and squeezed the trigger.
"Da-da-da-da-da..."
A hurricane of bullets erupted from the muzzle, shattering the Zombies' knees.
After that single burst, the Zombies around Plague all dropped in height.
"Eh?" Plague's eyes lit up. She pried the bullet out of her knee and eagerly moved toward Ning Dali. "Where did you pull that gun from? I didn't see it just now."
"I drove here. There are some weapons in the car."
She was just beginning to say that her car was not far away, just at...
"Pfft." Plague drove one hand through Ning Dali's chest and pulled out a heart dripping with fresh blood.
"How could someone perfectly fine turn into a Zombie? Don't go running around spreading the virus." Plague instructed her earnestly, then crushed the heart in her fist.
Ning Dali's body fell with the gun still clutched in her hand. Plague flicked the blood from her fingers, picked the submachine gun up off the ground, and turned to finish off the remaining Zombies.
A hand closed around her ankle.
"Wait." Ning Dali pulled herself up from the ground.
"Allow me to introduce myself. I am a scholar with a Resurrection Ability...!"
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