Trembling At A High Altitude

The back is not easy to smear, so everyone exercised the spirit of mutual help and assistance, smearing each other's backs as well, and then their hair, faces, and necks.

When seeing these scenes in movies and TV shows, one might not feel much, but it was truly disgusting and hard to accept when doing it oneself.

But in order to advance to the next level, everyone had no choice but to do so.

After everything was smeared on, Li Teng pulled out the zombies' belts one by one, tested their strength, and then tied them all around his waist.

"What are you doing?" No. 3 asked Li Teng.

The others were also puzzled by Li Teng's actions.

Li Teng just smiled without answering; this was a competitive advancement performance, and he was under no obligation to serve as an enlightenment teacher for these people.

Since Li Teng didn't speak, nobody could guess, and it wasn't good to ask too many questions.

Moreover, the most important thing at the moment was to cross through the throng of zombies to the safe house on the other side of the river while the stench of zombie fluid on their bodies was at its freshest and strongest to secure better rankings for themselves.

On the issue of who would go out the door first, people started to hesitate again.

What if the stench didn't work?

The first one out would be taking a huge risk.

In the end, it was Li Teng who resolved this issue.

He was the first to go out the door, holding a stool.

He stepped out cautiously, then walked a few more steps.

The zombie nearest to him didn't notice him at all.

It worked!

The plot device of smearing oneself with zombie stench in those movies and TV shows also worked in this advancement performance!

After seeing Li Teng take a stool, the others followed suit, each grabbed a stool, and swarmed out of the teahouse.

A large group of people suddenly appearing on the street still drew the zombies' attention, and some zombies began to move closer to them.

A few people were so scared that they stood by the street, not daring to move at all.

But there were still the brave ones, like Li Teng, No. 3, and No. 5, who pretended to walk like zombies and continued toward the direction of the Great Iron Bridge.

Seeing themselves falling behind, the rest of the people couldn't care less and hurriedly quickened their pace to chase after Li Teng and the others.

No. 2, who was running too fast, bumped into a zombie. The zombie seemed to realize something and suddenly extended its claws to grab No. 2, then pushed him to the ground and started to gnaw frenziedly.

The other zombies swarmed over, and amidst No. 2's screams, they began a feast.

"No. 2 is dead." The voice of the commentator came from the drone in the sky.

Obviously, No. 2 would have to return to the teahouse, spend five minutes to resurrect, and then set out again.

This was, of course, good news for the others.

But now no one dared to walk so quickly, and while moving, they tried to avoid colliding with other zombies to prevent another tragedy like No. 2's.

The closer they got to the Great Iron Bridge, the denser the zombies became.

Not being able to collide too intensely with the zombies forced everyone to slow down their pace again and again.

Those in the lead, Li Teng, No. 3, and No. 5, also saw their lead diminish as the density of zombies increased, their earlier advantage becoming less and less apparent.

The bridge surface of the Great Bridge was packed with zombies, shoulder to shoulder, leaving scarcely any space to pass through.

Underneath the bridge, the water probably only measured one or two meters deep, and it was visible that there were also many zombies in the water, making swimming across an absolute impossibility.

If one dared to enter the water, the stench on their bodies would wash away once they submerged, and then they would become a meal for those zombies in the water.

Thus, it was only Mount Hua ahead, they had to force their way across the bridge!

That's when a very tragic scene occurred.

The sky, which had been clear, suddenly became overcast without any warning, and then it began to rain, a pouring rain at that.

All these impossible events unfolded within just a few minutes.

The crowd, too late to react, watched in horror as the stench that covered them was washed away by the torrential downpour, leaving them clean.

They wanted to curse out loud but did not dare to make a sound.

Being smeared with stench while in the midst of a zombie horde then experiencing rainfall is a common trope in zombie films, and clearly, the director of this level-up performance maliciously added this scene into the plot.

They deliberately increased the difficulty for everyone to pass the test.

Without the stench for protection, the people stuck in the center of the zombie tide were like lambs among wolves; numerous zombies clawed their way toward them.

Screams attracted even more zombies to the spot where they had fallen.

"Number 8 is dead."

"Number 3 is dead."

"Number 7 is dead."

"Number 1 is dead."

"Number 4 is dead."

"Number 5 is dead."

Announcements of death resonated in the teahouse and from drones hovering above.

Number 2, having just resurrected in the teahouse, was quite pleased upon hearing these announcements.

He thought he was a goner! But it turned out everyone was coming back to keep him company.

Soon enough, Number 2 realized something wasn't right.

What about Number 6?

There hadn't been any announcement about Number 6's death!

...

At this moment, Number 6, Li Teng, was hanging below the Great Iron Bridge.

The Great Iron Bridge was made of a steel frame structure.

Underneath the bridge were steel girders welded together.

During the rain, Li Teng had been at the head of the Great Iron Bridge, and seeing that he was going to be bitten to death anyway, he decided to make a daring move. Swinging his wooden stool, he rushed down toward the River Embankment, smashing a few zombies in his path, and then climbed down to the underside of the Great Iron Bridge along its fixed steel pillars.

He hung from the steel frame, suspending his body underneath the Great Iron Bridge.

Then, he alternated hands to swing forward toward the opposite bank.

He had made several belts pulled off the zombies into rings, one latched onto another, fastened together with the belt he wore.

When his arms began to tire, he unfastened the foremost belt and hooked it onto the upper framework, allowing his arms to rest and recover their strength, and then continued swinging forward.

The others, after being resurrected, had all gathered inside the teahouse.

The rain outside had stopped.

Discovering that Number 6 wasn't dead, everyone was confused, not knowing where he could have gone.

"I know where he went!" exclaimed Number 3, slapping his forehead as he looked toward the Great Iron Bridge, and remembered the belts Li Teng had taken from the zombies. He also figured out what those belts were for.

"Where did he go?" the others turned to Number 3.

Number 3 suddenly regretted speaking up and decided to keep quiet.

After all, he still had to compete with these people for the subsequent rankings.

"Don't be so mysterious—do you think you're the only one who realizes? He must have gone under the bridge," said Number 2.

Anyone not too foolish would just have to observe the direction of the Great Iron Bridge for a while longer, and considering the belts Li Teng had taken, it wouldn't be hard to deduce Li Teng's escape route.

"Number 6 is too cunning!"