Chapter 353 - 352: Victims Behind the Holographic Reality Show, Part 5
From when Ah Chen parted from the group, the livestream screen split into two, one side focused on Ah Chen, the other on the others.
But viewers are now more curious about what the powerful zombie Ah Chen is going to do, with all eyes on her.
It didn’t take long for the audience to notice something.
Wherever she passed, those confused zombies seemed to find direction, whatever they were doing, they chased in the direction of Ah Chen. Though they were zombies with no expression visible, viewers sensed their unwavering follow.
[What is Bei Chen going to do?]
[It seems she hasn’t done anything, just passing by here. It’s normal for high-level zombies to attract low-level zombies.]
[Increasingly looking forward to it, curious about how things will develop next.]
[Though Bei Chen became a zombie, she isn’t attacking humans. What is she so eager to do?]
The program team was initially worried about this unexpected incident affecting the show’s effectiveness, but seeing the increased popularity and discussion, they relaxed a lot. Now viewers are curious about what Bei Chen would do, and actually, they are also curious, as this trend was not anticipated.
"When will you open permissions for viewers?" a nearby staff member asked the show director, who had planned that guests awaken superpowers and viewers’ favorite characters relate.
The director shook his head: "No rush, the viewer NPCs haven’t entered the field yet. The guests aren’t in particular danger either, so let the viewer NPCs enter first. They’ve been there for so many days; they should encounter some other survivors. For now, let’s release a wave of young, elderly, and disabled people inside and see what they will do."
Ah Chen turned into a powerful zombie, behaving unusually. Despite seeing this, Wen Group’s technician wasn’t overly confused because this Virtual World had a high degree of freedom. There were countless possibilities on what zombies could become or how they could react, with over a thousand forms possible.
Randomness is significant.
Even they want to know what Bei Chen plans to do.
Ah Chen indeed aims to achieve something, to find big zombies in this world and subdue them all.
Actually, people outside in the real world did not know that when NPCs enter the field, this holographic Virtual World intersects with the parallel world’s apocalyptic future.
At that time, even if they unplug all power or destroy servers, they couldn’t close this world. But some data set in the game is still controllable for now. They haven’t discovered anomalies, so there won’t be any reaction. The show ends when the entire world’s viruses are eliminated, humans defeating zombies and other mutant monsters, ushering in rebirth.
Of course, now 997 has taken over all permissions.
Before the world’s authority is detached, the space she can operate in is large.
Though that world hasn’t merged here yet, Wen Group still has certain permissions over this Virtual World, dependent on their servers. She cannot do too much, lest anomalies are found, otherwise, it’s troublesome.
Thus, letting 997 silently change some data, she must find those big zombies.
Once the apocalypse merges over, worries no longer matter, by then Wen Group truly can’t control this world.
As for preventing the worlds’ merger, it’s unlikely. The two are already overlapped, just short of the final step. This way of merging only comes because Wen Group has this technology. Without Wen Group’s holographic Virtual World, they will still merge in other ways, more uncontrollable then.
Now having this Virtual World as a bridge turns out beneficial, at least for Ah Chen, providing much control.
As long as she does something in this Virtual World before the real merger, dealing with it might not be so troublesome, reducing casualties, even... helping end the apocalypse entirely.
When the Commissioner died, after the worlds merged, people were experiencing apocalypse, not knowing the end. But she has some awareness, besides twisting Wen Chulin’s head off, she hasn’t harmed other humans.
Elsewhere, the group rescued Wen Chulin from the flagpole.
Gazing toward Ah Chen’s disappearance direction, Wen Chulin felt annoyed, realizing the world’s freedom was vastly underestimated.
Now he’s unable to contact outside, even find Bei Chen, lost with nowhere to go.
Initially thought to be perfect planning, unexpectedly blocked right at the start, causing Wen Chulin frustration, wanting to leave. But once entered, to exit requires waiting for the show to end, unless killed. Guests were set to turn zombies upon death unless something turns them to ashes.
The pain here is exceedingly real, when Bei Chen struck him earlier, he genuinely felt pain, imagining vanishing in ashes hurt him even more.
He Guiyun patted Wen Chulin’s shoulder: "Bei Chen doesn’t recognize us now. The living must go on, have a good rest; there’s much to face."
Wen Chulin could only nod, agreeing as there were no other choices.
Wishing to find Bei Chen, but blindly searching proves futile, unlikely finding her. Can’t abandon others for his goal, someone else might say he’s deeply affectionate toward Bei Chen, but more will criticize him for being reckless.
His initial thought was making Bei Chen lose everyone’s favor, not his own.
Wen Chulin hung his head, teammates and viewers perceived him as mourning, offering sympathy.
After resting a day, they collected food and water, setting out for the nearest base. Along the route, commonly encountering zombies and mutated creatures attacking, leaving them in dire straits.
Under Yun Rou’s comfort, Lu Yu already stopped going berserk, even obeying Yun Rou exclusively.
Since turning into a zombie, Lu Yu’s consciousness is muddled, zombie instincts fiercely influencing him. Yet, hearing Yun Rou’s group, gradually calming him, now consciousness clearing up, naturally stops attacking teammates.
But now he can’t speak anymore.
Moreover, his strength grew immensely, facing attacking zombies, naturally helping his group.
With Lu Yu’s aid, their plight became less severe.
[Actually, it’s okay. Two teammates turned zombies didn’t cause substantial harm to the team.]
[If Bei Chen stayed, pacified by teammates, their actions would be much easier.]
[Bei Chen is already a high-level zombie, right? With such level helping, guests aren’t risking too much; certainly, the program team won’t let Bei Chen assist them.]
[Exactly! I figured, Bei Chen didn’t leave; turns out it’s the program team’s doing!]
[Damn the program team, guests won’t get lucky!]
Program team: What? They really didn’t do anything; this technology is Wen Group’s provision.
Indeed, Wen Group’s doing, alright!
