Chapter 12: The Mischievous Prankster Sent by the Monkeys

That night, Du Yun lay on the hard kang mat, gazing at the sweet sleeping faces of her younger siblings beside her, feeling the warmth of family. Though the pressure of being married off to Dong Yuejin weighed heavily upon her, looking at her loved ones’ peaceful faces, Du Yun’s heart warmed in turn.

Having family—how wonderful this feeling was.

Du Yun grew a little drowsy. With her eyes closed, she habitually tried to access her smart brain. Suddenly, a flash of light burst before her eyes. After the brightness faded, Du Yun felt a wave of comforting warmth envelop her, as if a breeze was blowing over her. Delight surged in her heart—this sensation was so familiar. In her previous life, every time she logged into Skynet, it had felt just like this. It seemed her smart brain could finally be opened.

As she adjusted to the light and slowly opened her eyes, she realized with a jolt that the place she found herself in was strange. She wasn’t in the login plaza of the year 3016, but in a place resembling farmland.

The warmth gradually faded. Du Yun looked around and found herself in a gloomy environment; a tangible mist hung about her, and through it, she could barely make out a small village in the distance, eerily devoid of any sign of life.

“What on earth is this place?!” A gust of wind swept by, and Du Yun shivered instinctively, feeling as if something was lurking in the shadows, watching her. The very air seemed to prickle with unease.

A howl echoed from afar—half human, half beast—sending a chill through Du Yun. The sound was oddly familiar, reminiscent of a game she’d played, that one called Dark N+...

“Ah, ah, ah... zombies! What should I do? Run, run, run!” Before Du Yun could react, a voice suddenly rang in her mind. It was a pure electronic tone, usually flat and featureless, but now it spoke rapidly and urgently, with an emotional intensity that struck Du Yun as oddly discordant.

“Smart brain? Why are you speaking so fast now?” Du Yun was intimately familiar with this flat voice, having heard it for over twenty years—it was unmistakably her smart brain. But what was with this speed? Glancing at the bracelet-like device on her wrist, she muttered to herself.

“Hey, hey, hey, speed isn’t the point! Didn’t you hear the zombie’s howl? Hurry, escape!” The smart brain’s electronic voice piped up again, but now even its usual flatness had vanished.

“Zombie? Zombie!” Du Yun shuddered, an image flashing through her mind: red-eyed, gray-skinned, hideous-faced, filthy and monstrously strong, with a taste for human flesh—or, more precisely, human brains...

Well, these impressions were all from novels and games about zombies. Du Yun, who grew up in peaceful times, had never truly encountered one.

“What’s going on, what’s going on? Why are there zombies?” Du Yun anxiously scanned her surroundings, firing off questions. Her experience from over twenty years in her past life told her plainly: the smart brain never lied. If it said there were zombies nearby, there were definitely zombies.

The threat to her life sent Du Yun into a panic. She watched her surroundings warily—the village still loomed in the distance, and the gray-green cornfield beside her seemed to form a barrier, blocking most of her view, making her even more anxious.

“Master, welcome to the zombie world! Quick, grab your weapon and fight bravely! The village is ahead—go and save the villagers suffering in dire straits! P.S.: This is the real world—if you’re killed or eaten by zombies, you’ll really die. Don’t think this is just a game!” The electronic voice continued, now utterly devoid of the earlier tension, making the frantic Du Yun feel a sudden urge to press her hand to her forehead.

“Are you some clown sent to amuse me? Do you think you’re a game commentator? This is a matter of life or death, okay? Fight bravely—my foot! Why aren’t you telling me to run for my life?” Du Yun’s mind buzzed with annoyance. She couldn’t understand how her trusty smart brain, after so many years, had suddenly turned into such a joker.

But the fear surging in her heart, the goosebumps prickling her skin, made her believe the smart brain’s words. This wasn’t a game, nor a virtual world—if she was killed or eaten by zombies here, she would truly die.

“No, I can’t die! I finally have a family, haven’t enjoyed a happy life yet, haven’t found a handsome guy to start a family—how could I die so easily?” For the sake of survival, Du Yun’s fighting spirit blazed forth.

“That’s right, girl! Quickly, grab your weapon and let’s fight together! A bright future awaits you!” The smart brain’s voice suddenly grew passionate, even accompanied by a marching tune as background music. The once flat electronic tone now sounded strangely human.

“Hey, are you really the smart brain? Not some clown sent to amuse me? I don’t have a weapon! Where’s my weapon? Why aren’t you telling me to run? Fight my foot!” Du Yun kept a wary eye on her surroundings as she carefully retreated towards the fields. If this truly was a zombie world, then by game logic, the density of zombies in the village would be much higher than in the wild. Escaping into the fields was the sensible move.

“Wah, wah, wah, don’t run, don’t run! How can you save the world if you run away? Hey, hey... There are weapons, there are weapons! Open the storage compartment—there’s a weapon inside!” The smart brain, seeing Du Yun actually sprinting along the field path away from the village, shouted in urgent dismay.

“What? A weapon? In the storage compartment?” Du Yun paused in surprise and opened her smart brain to check the storage compartment. Aside from the items she’d stored during her Skynet login, there was now only one extra thing—a hoe.

“A hoe! Are you kidding me? Who fights monsters with a hoe?” Du Yun grabbed the hoe, swung it experimentally, and the strong feeling of a farm aunt made her want to explode with frustration. Caught up in her agitation, she didn’t realize that her fear had quietly faded away.

“Um, Master, please don’t be angry. This is the only weapon you could find here...” The smart brain’s voice instantly turned pitiful, its young man’s timbre now sounding so aggrieved it was almost unbearable.

“Hey, enough already! Why change voices for no reason? Stop acting pathetic! Any more weapons?” Du Yun snapped, annoyed at the smart brain demanding hard work without adequate tools. Who was the cow here? They wanted her to fight monsters and save the world without proper equipment—who would do such thankless labor?

“No, I never agreed to save the world! I want to go back and farm, live a peaceful life! Send me back, now!” Du Yun suddenly realized that she might be here because of the smart brain’s tricks. What a joke—she was a gentle young woman raised in peaceful times, not someone fit for heroic deeds. Let someone else save the world.

“Too late... Zombies are coming! Run! Ah! Ah!” The smart brain’s voice suddenly soared. In the upper left corner of Du Yun’s vision, a small map appeared, with a red dot rapidly approaching.

“What? It’s coming!” As an experienced online gamer, Du Yun instantly understood the meaning of the map—the red dot moving toward the center meant a zombie was quickly approaching her location.

Clutching the hoe tightly, facing the direction from which the zombie was rushing, Du Yun felt herself trembling all over. Her heart pounded, and even time seemed to slow.

Gray-green stalks of corn were parted, and a gray-white human face peered out, its blood-red eyes and hideous expression exactly as she’d imagined. The zombie suddenly burst from the cornfield, making Du Yun shudder violently.

The zombie—had truly arrived!