Chapter 153: Real Zombies and Strange Contrast Memories(ii)
The envy didn’t last long.
Malin suddenly stood up.
"No need."
"I’ll help you scrub your back."
Then she glanced at Shen Yu.
"Shen Yu doesn’t need to help girls shower."
"Right, Shen Yu?"
Her voice carried a faint chill.
The corner of Shen Yu’s mouth twitched.
"Uh..."
He gave an awkward smile.
"Right."
Malin and Sandy quickly squeezed into the narrow bathroom.
A moment later, the sound of running water filled the carriage.
The three men instinctively glanced toward the bathroom.
Soon, pieces of staff clothing began falling out through the doorway.
Bill suddenly chuckled.
"If a few more female survivors show up..."
"Staying here might not be so bad."
Menloa immediately understood what he meant.
A grin spread across his face.
"Indeed."
Then he shook his head.
"Wait."
"Do you think this is some kind of apocalypse with unlimited food?"
"The more people we have, the less food everyone gets."
"And what happens if the Self-Defense Force never comes?"
Shen Yu’s expression became serious.
He was already thinking further ahead.
"If this really is a zombie outbreak, then within a week, the military should be able to suppress it."
"Fear comes from a lack of firepower."
"If there is enough ammunition, why should anyone be afraid of zombies?"
"What we should really fear is the possibility that the zombies become too numerous and threaten other countries."
"Then someone might decide to use something much more destructive."
Bill and Menloa’s hopeful expressions immediately froze.
Shen Yu lowered his gaze.
Then he rubbed the engraved words on his gloves.
His voice became quieter.
"Actually..."
"Have you considered another possibility?"
Bill looked at him.
"What?"
Shen Yu stared at the words.
"What if everything we’re seeing is fake?"
"There might not be any zombies at all."
"Perhaps we’re trapped in some kind of prank or illusion."
"The broadcasts."
"The corpses."
"The entire apocalypse."
"What if they’re all fake?"
"What if there is no zombie outbreak?"
"What if we leave this station..."
"And everything outside is completely normal?"
Menloa stared at him in surprise.
"How could you think like that?"
Shen Yu didn’t answer.
His eyes remained fixed on the patterns engraved into his gloves.
What you see might all be fake.
Why had he written that?
And why did the handwriting feel so familiar?
Before he could think further—
"Ah!"
A scream suddenly came from the bathroom.
Everyone’s expressions changed.
Bang!
The frosted bathroom door burst open.
Malin flew out and crashed onto the bed.
White steam poured from the bathroom behind her.
Sandy slowly stepped out.
But the woman who had looked so beautiful only moments ago was now grotesquely transformed.
Her smooth back was covered with rotten, pus-filled wounds.
Beneath the skin-colored clothing around her chest, a huge wound opened and closed rhythmically.
Black blood oozed from it.
Her mouth hung open.
Yellow-brown mucus coated the inside of her mouth.
Saliva dripped between her teeth.
Her once-clear blue eyes had turned a terrifying shade of red.
Every breath came out as a burst of white-hot vapor.
Malin pointed at her in horror.
"Zombie!"
"She’s a zombie!"
"She was bitten!"
"I was washing her back and found bite marks!"
"This is exactly how zombie infections happen in movies!"
"Everyone!"
"Hide!"
But it was already too late.
Sandy’s thigh muscles suddenly bulged.
Then—
BOOM!
She launched herself forward with terrifying speed.
Shen Yu barely had time to react.
The zombie slammed into him.
He fell backward.
Sandy twisted over him, her face inches from his.
Black veins bulged across her skin.
Her deformed tongue extended like a snake.
Drool dripped onto Shen Yu’s helmet.
She desperately tried to get closer.
Shen Yu’s expression remained stunned.
"Damn."
Sandy’s teeth suddenly clamped down on his helmet.
CRACK!
Yet the helmet remained completely intact.
Shen Yu’s eyes widened.
Then his hands immediately grabbed Sandy’s head.
With a powerful motion—
He threw her toward the floor.
BOOM!
The impact was heavy enough to deform the side of Sandy’s head.
Then—
Ding!
[Goddess Sandy’s Favorability +1.]
[Current Favorability: 71.]
Shen Yu froze.
"Huh?"
Above Sandy’s head, a glowing heart suddenly appeared.
It flickered.
Then a transparent panel unfolded before his eyes.
[Goddess Strategy System]
[Sandy — Favorability: 71]
Shen Yu stared.
Then—
More hearts appeared.
Above Malin.
Above Menloa.
Above Bill.
The corresponding numbers appeared beside each one.
Shen Yu had no time to investigate.
"Run!"
Menloa grabbed him without hesitation.
The three of them rushed toward the carriage exit.
Malin immediately followed.
Bang!
The four slammed the door shut behind them.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Something struck the glass.
They turned around.
Sandy had already gotten back up.
She stood behind the glass door.
Her red eyes stared directly at them.
Then she began pounding on the glass.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
The four stared at her in stunned silence.
No one spoke for several seconds.
"There are really zombies."
"Just like in the movies."
Bill swallowed.
"What the broadcast said..."
"Could it all be true?"
"Damn."
"Damn it!"
"That woman was actually bitten."
He suddenly turned toward Malin.
"Malin."
"Were you bitten?"
"Tell me!"
Malin immediately shook her head.
"No!"
"Not at all."
"She pushed me out."
"She was unbelievably strong."
Bill’s expression remained tense.
"I don’t believe you."
"I don’t believe it."
"If you were bitten too, wouldn’t we all suffer together?"
"Take off your clothes."
"You hear me?"
"If you weren’t bitten, then you shouldn’t be afraid of being checked!"
Menloa’s face darkened.
The moment death appeared in front of him, Bill’s attitude had changed faster than anyone else’s.
Shen Yu narrowed his eyes.
Above Bill’s head floated a black heart.
Affinity: -20
He stared at it.
His expression became complicated.
In the memories he had just received, he, Malin, Bill, and Menloa had supposedly been classmates and close friends for four years.
So why had Bill immediately turned against them?
They had supposedly known one another for years.
There had never been any serious conflict.
Then what was this heart?
Shen Yu focused on it.
A description appeared.
[Affinity Level]
He looked at the others.
Malin.
55
Menloa.
45
Bill.
-20
And Sandy...
71
The system felt strangely familiar.
As though he had been born knowing how to use it.
He could simply look at the hearts and understand the information.
Then another prompt appeared.
[Affinity Level CG]
Shen Yu’s eyes narrowed.
"CG?"
He immediately understood that the images connected to Sandy’s affinity levels were memories.
The CG at 25.
The CG at 50.
He could roughly guess they were scenes involving Sandy and her father.
But why did they feel so familiar?
He had never experienced them.
Or at least...
His current memories said he hadn’t.
"Are you taking it off or not?"
Bill’s voice became louder.
"Take it off!"
"Enough, Bill."
Menloa stepped between them.
"We’ve been classmates for four years."
"Even if Malin had been bitten, so what?"
"The three of us can’t control her."
Bill said nothing.
Instead, he looked toward Shen Yu.
He wanted to know what Shen Yu thought.
Shen Yu hesitated.
"I..."
"Even if something happened to Malin, we—"
Before he could finish—
Malin grabbed his arm.
"Come with me."
She pulled him toward the rear compartment.
"Shen Yu."
"I’ll let you check."
"If you confirm that I don’t have any wounds, everyone can relax."
Shen Yu looked at the number above her head.
55
The number suddenly changed.
57
He blinked.
She seems...
Happy that I agreed to check her.
Malin looked at him.
"Come on."
"You’d better not lie to me."
"What you see is what it is."
Bill watched them coldly.
He didn’t seem surprised by Malin’s reaction.
Apparently, even within their fabricated memories, everyone knew one thing—
Malin liked Shen Yu.
Everyone except Shen Yu himself.
"Shen Yu."
"Come here."
Clang.
The rear compartment door opened.
Shen Yu and Malin entered.
The door closed behind them.
Malin stood beside it.
She slowly began removing her gray coat.
Underneath, her body was wrapped tightly in layers of clothing and bandages.
Her figure was slender and graceful.
Her waist was narrow, and the bandages around her upper body were wrapped carefully enough to conceal her injuries.
Shen Yu stared.
Something about the scene felt strangely familiar.
Not because of his newly fabricated memories.
But because somewhere deep inside him—
He felt as though he had seen this before.
He looked again at the glowing number above Malin’s head.
57.
And then at the words still engraved across his gloves.
What you see might all be fake.
His expression slowly became serious.
Perhaps this level wasn’t asking them to determine whether the zombies were real.
Perhaps the real question was much more dangerous.
What if the memories telling them what was real... were themselves the illusion?