The Perfect Path To Insanity-Chapter 39: Cat And Mouse Chase

Helena kept the blue energy sword pointed at Fateless. Its edge hovering two centimeters from the side of his neck. Skin along his carotid showed faint white pressure lines where the flat of the blade had rested earlier.

Fei Ming stood motionless. His shoulders stayed relaxed, hands open at his sides. Any wrong move and she may actually infect him with the zombie virus.

What if he killed her instead?

He hated to admit it but the risk of still getting infected limited him.

What if Helena was just as infected? He couldn’t tell.

She remained in eye contact with him, searching for any twitch or flicker. She found nothing. His face held the same flat calm it had carried since she pinned him with her sword.

After a while, he spoke with a dry deadpan voice. "Why aren’t you doing anything? Any more restraint and I’ll take it you’re mesmerized with a killer’s face."

Her jaw clenched so hard the muscles along her cheek stood out. Gritting her teeth, she replied, "Enough. You’re lying. You wouldn’t just tell me outright that you did."

"You killed seven zombies, didn’t you?" he asked.

Her grip tightened a fraction. The sword edge dipped closer. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"I’m only taking into consideration how contradictory you are right now. You judge me for killing an already dead player. Then you do it yourself."

Her hand on the sword hilt trembled once, then steadied. "Don’t you fucking call me a hypocrite. It hurts... but you’re right." Her voice dropped, cracking on the last word.

"The players are already dead when they’re infected," she paused, scanning his dark eyes, then continued.

"But... but I couldn’t bring myself to admit I was wrong. I don’t want to kill infected players while feeling guilty. Infected players are dead. I don’t even want to win this game anymore. I just want the remaining players to be safe."

"So you kill now?"

"I kill when I must." She leaned in until her breath touched his face. "Don’t lie. Where are the two girls?"

Fei Ming’s gaze slid down to the sword, then back up to meet her eyes again. "You still don’t get it, do you? Helena, aren’t you fucking stupid?"

The system originally infected three players with the Game mechanics. Two of which he killed.

However, the virus spread even without being bitten. Now with many zombies on the loose, no one would risk being alone in case of a zombie attack.

Nevertheless, why would Eris and Nyx separate themselves from her group?

The original third infected player was announced not long ago. Yet, they were nowhere to be found.

No one in their right mind would want to hide all alone— especially when they were backed up and protected by a strong player Helena.

[Time Remaining: 18 minutes 15 seconds]

Helena gasped. Her forearm slackened.

She caught on.

Fei Ming continued. But dear, could he not laugh at her shocked reaction.

Her eyes widened. "If the rest were turned through fluid transmission, and the third original carrier is still missing even now—"

The blue blade pointed downward to the cracked concrete floor. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

"—then either Nyx or Eris is the third original."

Air left her lungs in a short, sharp exhale.

"Oh. You did figure it out. Now, get your object off my face."

He pushed her away.

She staggered back two steps, boots scraping grit.

"...Eris... Nyx..."

’I need to find them.’ Her shaking eyes met Fateless’. Just then, she spotted a faint red glimmer flash through his. ’What the—?’

A small grin crept to his face. "Theirs would be fun to look at."

He raised his right hand. The sword of Justice duplicated into five identicals. They arranged themselves in a loose arc and drifted forward with him as he walked past her.

Helena spun. ’No. Wait. He’s—he’s going to—’ "Wait—! Fateless stop!"

But he was already gone. Running at full speed in search of the last infected player.

When she realized the distance between them was already six meters and growing.

Her pulse hammered at her temples.

"This fucking bastard!!! Why’s he so pressed on winning this Game?!"

She broke into a run.

A wild cat and mouse chase.

"NYX! ERIS!" Her voice bounced off the concrete walls. "Come out! I won’t hurt you! I swear—I won’t hurt either of you!"

She turned left at the first junction, boots pounding. Dust kicked up behind her.

Down the next broken building, she shouted again. "It’s Helena! Please—just come to me! We can figure this out together!"

...

No one answered.

Breathing hard, she skidded to a stop.

But what she didn’t know was that her shouting had called the herd of wandering zombies.

Their snarls and grinding of teeth made her talk a step back. Now surrounded, she had no other choice than to fight her way out.

She heaved. The idea of killing zombies didn’t sound so bad to her now. After all, they were dead players. Pounds of decomposed flesh being controlled by parasites.

But she was more concerned about a fact she failed to realize until it was late. ’Ah... I fell into his trap, didn’t I? Rapid movements and loud sounds attract zombies. I just screamed Nyx’s name while he ran.’

The blue sword vibrated in her hand, then it sloshed down like jelly goop in her grasp. It swayed for a while, and then reconstructed itself into a sledgehammer.

"I hate him," she cursed under her breath, tightly gripping the transformed glowing blue giant sledgehammer, taking a sharp look at the zombies in disgust. "Fucking zombies."

—

[Time Remaining: 9 minutes 35 seconds]

[Number of Infected Kills: 23!]

Finally, he found it. After searching almost everywhere for where the two girls could have hidden. He finally found the building.

A burnt building with a barricaded entrance. Blocked with metal sheet scraps.

He was out of breath. Luckily his immediate calculation paid off.

Helena would clear up the remaining zombies, maybe with help, but he couldn’t any care less.

Winning this game would bring an end to his bounty. Giving him a little space to breathe without the Krats on his neck.

’I must win no matter what.’

[Number of Infected Kills: 25!]

[Remember. The Player With The Last Kill Wins!]

[Failure To Kill All The Infected, Prizes Will Be Null!]

[Stay Alive Till Then!]