A plea for votes; I'm pushing for ten chapters tomorrow. ...

"Don't move!" The pistol spun once in Ye Chen's fingers, then he held it steady, aimed at Tony's forehead, and slowly stepped back, widening the distance. Tony froze, staring into Ye Chen's icy eyes, daring not to move a muscle, terrified he might fire.

Bauer and the man and woman beside him gaped in shock, utterly unable to believe the firearm Ye Chen held. In their entire team, Tony's combat skills were unmatched; he had just thrown Bauer across the room barehanded, yet in the blink of an eye, Ye Chen had forcibly wrestled the gun from him!

"Don't be rash!" Tony gritted his teeth. "If you kill me, 100 points will be deducted.

If your points are negative when the mission ends, you'll be instantly erased!" "Threatening me?" Ye Chen raised an eyebrow. Tony glared back intently.

"I'm still useful; I can help you kill the zombies. Furthermore, I'm an elite captain from the Blue Mountain Guild.

As long as you don't kill me, I can pretend this never happened!" "I'll let you go!" Ye Chen glanced toward the hardware store outside. "Go get us some knives." Tony's face flushed with anger.

"How can I possibly charge through alone!" "Then what use are you to me?" Ye Chen gave him a cold look, his finger twitching, ready to cripple him and toss him to the zombies. By that logic, he wouldn't be the killer, and the System wouldn't hold it against him.

Just then... Roar!

The zombies outside, alerted by Tony’s gunshot, had stopped. They turned their grotesque faces toward the people inside the building, roaring as they charged.

Everyone’s expressions shifted dramatically. Ye Chen didn't hesitate; he pulled the trigger.

A bullet struck Tony in the thigh, followed instantly by another shot to his arm. He shouted loudly, "Flee upstairs first!" Though stunned, Bai Long and the others quickly turned and ran.

Bauer and the others, terrified by the sudden turn, didn't have time to think and scrambled to follow. "Ah..." Tony cried out in pain, watching the approaching horde of zombies behind him.

His heart pounded with fear. He never expected that the tactic he used on newcomers would be turned back on him by Ye Chen.

He glared back at Ye Chen with pure venom. "I will have my revenge!

You are dead! You are absolutely dead!!!" He drew the pistol from his waist, not aiming at the zombies behind him, but instead at Ye Chen and the fleeing group led by Bai Long.

How could Ye Chen allow him the chance to pull the trigger? Seeing him raise the gun, Ye Chen swiftly fired.

The bullet struck with extreme precision right in his palm. The firearm possessed immense power, shattering his entire backhand.

The next moment, he was enveloped by the zombies. "Ah..." The shrill screams were enough to make one's scalp crawl.

Ye Chen's arm was numb from the recoil of the pistol, but he didn't pause, quickly turning and sprinting away. The speed of this group of zombies wasn't as terrifying as those in the real world; some managed to keep pace, but they ran sluggishly, as if their limbs were uncoordinated.

Soon, Ye Chen and the others were gasping for breath as they reached the 12th floor of the high-rise. Along the way, Bauer and the man and woman fired their weapons, clearing the zombies bottlenecking the stairway and forging a path.

When they reached the 12th floor, everyone was winded and their legs felt weak. Ye Chen burst onto the landing.

Bauer and the others glanced behind him, not seeing Tony, which made their hearts clench, wariness clouding their eyes. Ye Chen ignored them, quickly urging Bai Long and the others, "Don't stop!

They're catching up fast!" Sensing the faint rustling footsteps below, everyone’s scalps tingled. They could only grit their teeth and struggle upward.

By the time they reached the 18th floor, they were dizzy and slightly hypoxic, panting heavily, barely able to speak. Roar!

At the stairwell entrance, a zombie charged forward. Ye Chen's eyes turned cold.

He raised his gun and fired one shot, blowing its head apart! Bang!

The zombie collapsed! A System notification sounded in his ear: "Low-level zombie eliminated, one point gained!" Ye Chen paused for a moment, then a flicker of joy crossed his eyes.

He hadn't expected killing zombies would earn points. He glanced at Bauer and the others; they must have known this all along but deliberately kept quiet.

"Let's find a room first," Ye Chen commanded quickly. He strode into the hallway, selected a room, and kicked the door open.

"Roar!" Five zombies stood inside, faces contorted in grotesque snarls, blood staining their lips, charging at Ye Chen. Ye Chen's gaze was icy.

He rapidly pulled the trigger of his pistol, scoring headshots with every shot. He quickly dispatched all five zombies, hearing the continuous chime of System notifications, instantly accumulating five points.

He darted inside, scanning the space. Finding no other threats, he finally let out a slight sigh of relief.

Bai Long and the others, along with Bauer's group, followed inside and quickly closed the door. Bauer's face was ashen, trembling, "Can we hide here?" Ye Chen looked at him.

"There's no other way. If we keep running to the top floor, we’ll eventually be cornered and forced to jump.

The zombies are probably on the 14th floor now. Everyone, move things quickly and barricade the doorway!" In this life-or-death moment, Bai Long’s group moved with surprising speed, quickly dragging office desks and other furniture to block the entrance.

After three desks were stacked, Ye Chen estimated the time and urged, "Move away from the door quickly, don't stay too close, lest the zombies smell the blood." Everyone sobered up instantly and backed away toward the walls, clamping hands over their mouths and noses. Dead silence!

All they could hear was the frantic pounding of their own hearts. This moment felt like an eternity, until the faint shuffling footsteps began to echo from the quiet stairwell.

Everyone's breath hitched in their throats, held completely still. Soon, the footsteps climbed upward, swaying erratically, keeping everyone tense.

Moments later, they heard more shuffling sounds rising from below; some advanced upstairs, while others stopped at the stairwell entrance, seemingly having detected something, moving cautiously into the hallway. Closer...

closer... Step by step!

Ye Chen and the others remained perfectly still, muscles taut, only hearing the footsteps pass one room after another before finally arriving at their doorway. Everyone instantly tensed up, but they soon realized the sound was moving past, and they let out a slight breath of relief.

But the next second, the sound turned back, stopping right outside the door. The silence was so profound that even their breathing ceased.

Thump-thump! The zombie paused briefly, then began knocking on the door, the sound loud and sharp, like hammers striking their hearts.

With every knock, Bauer’s body shuddered, his face growing paler. Soon, the zombie realized the room it was knocking on was impenetrable.

After a few heavy blows, it gave up, turning with a shambling gait and moving away. Ye Chen and the others exhaled a collective sigh of relief, only to realize they were drenched in cold sweat, their clothes clinging to them.

If that zombie had managed to break in, it would have alerted the others. Dozens of zombies had poured in from the street below; if they all swarmed in, even bullets wouldn't be enough!

After a period of silence, once they felt the zombie had moved far off, Bauer, beads of sweat covering his brow, whispered quietly to Ye Chen, "What now? That thing is probably still wandering the hallway, or upstairs or down." Ye Chen frowned in thought.

"We don't go out for now." Bauer looked near tears. "Once these zombies lose their target, they usually become sluggish and stop moving in one spot." Ye Chen paused, then slowly stood up and tiptoed to the window, peering down.

The street below was only arm's width away. Numerous vehicles were parked there, with zombies milling about.

Along the exterior wall, there were no drainpipes or anything to climb; the surface was as slick as a mirror. Ye Chen retreated, disappointment clouding his features.

Ye Zhu whispered encouragement by his side, "There will be a way, don't worry." Ye Chen managed a wry smile and furrowed his brow again, desperately seeking an escape route. Bai Long and the others weren't idle either.

They began searching the perimeter for escape options. Soon, everyone had gathered all the items in the office: some electrical wiring, seven or eight computers, pens, books, and a few small tools.

Ye Chen recalled Zhuge Fan's words and powered on a computer. With a soft "whir," the machine sprang to life.

Everyone showed surprise—after a month since the city's virus outbreak, the building's power supply was still active. The software on the desktop was entirely in Russian.

Ye Chen checked the network cable connection status, finding it unbelievable. Bai Long exclaimed with excitement, "Quick, open a browser and search for a map!" Ye Chen stepped back.

"You do it, Bauer." Bauer shot him a look, recalling Tony’s gruesome end, and dared not delay. He quickly sat at the keyboard.

Ye Chen moved to the side, observing the office tools while deep in thought. Mo Feng approached him suddenly.

"Have you noticed that everything in this office is written in Russian?" "En?" Ye Chen didn't grasp his implication. Mo Feng’s eyes gleamed with intensity.

"This trial space was created by the main God of the ruins to train the Inheritors, which implies strict requirements for those Inheritors! Yet, he sets the finish line at 100,000 points!" Ye Chen was sharp enough to grasp the underlying implications quickly.

"What are you suggesting?" Mo Feng’s gaze held a profound mystery. "To achieve 100,000 points, one must possess formidable combat strength—meaning knowledge, battle techniques, equipment!

But if the goal is simply to select a powerful Inheritor, he could just give us a direct opponent and tell us to defeat them. Why make it so complicated?" A thought sparked in Ye Chen’s mind.

"Are you saying there's a special secret within this reincarnation world?" "Precisely!" Mo Feng nodded, then frowned slightly. "However, I can't quite grasp what it is.

People who have been in this longer, like Bauer, probably know more about this." Ye Chen surveyed the entire room, a realization dawning on him. This entire trial space was a virtual world manufactured by the main God of the ruins.

Therefore, everyone and everything within it—all objects, all people—were constructed from data! All logic operated entirely according to the main God System's will.

If it decreed nightfall, it happened instantly! Logic and common sense were utterly overridden in its domain.

Failure to complete the mission assigned by the main God System would result in the circular platform beneath their true forms erupting in flames, leading to instant annihilation. Thus, the System was guiding everything!

And the ultimate objective was far more than just honing Ye Chen and the others' survival skills; it was about... A