Translator: phizzlepop
Editor: mantou
At noon, the sun was shining brightly, yet there wasn’t a sliver of warmth. The icy north wind gusted hulala in the sunlight. Occasionally, a few currents would mischievously burrow their way through the seams of the 440 balcony sliding door, singing an eerily merry tune.
Inside the room, under Qiao Siqi and Qi Yan’s attentive gaze, Song Fei was opening the closet, then pulling open the desk drawer, emptying out all of 440’s food reserves— Xiang Yang’s four packs of instant noodles + three ham sausages + two bags of sichuan vegetables, Ren Zhe’s single Swiss chocolate gift box + five packs of Southeast Asian prawn crackers, Song Fei’s two packs of instant noodles + one large bag of melon seeds, and Wang Qingyuan’s three apples.
For the male dormitories, this amount actually couldn’t be considered small. But, if their staple food consisted at most of these six packs of instant noodles, how long would it be able to sustain the three of them for?
“Say, just why didn’t we get into the habit of hoarding food earlier,” Qiao Siqi had never been as remorseful as he was right now for not being a foodie. Then, as though he’d thought of something, he suddenly looked out the window in the direction of the female dormitories that were completely separate from the male dormitories, belonging only to the Elysian Fields of dreams for male students. “I heard that each and every one of the female students are all small hamsters who like to hoard snacks. Some of them even go grocery shopping and secretly cook for themselves in their dorm rooms…”
Since time immemorial, countless indecent students in the male dormitories had lost their wits over that unattainable, female residential area.
But, Qiao Siqi was probably the first to do so with no lust on his face, only a desire for food.
“The regret for not eating enough comes once it’s time for a meal,” Song Fei opened the chocolate gift box, and tossed a heart-shaped piece into his mouth, then casually handed another heart-shaped one to Qiao Siqi. “Stop eyeing them greedily.”
Daydreaming about plums could quench your thirst, but the longer you daydreamed about food, the hungrier you’d get.
Qiao Siqi withdrew his gaze in disappointment, then accepted the chocolate and tossed it into his mouth, the rich, aromatic cocoa temporarily suppressing the starving beast within.
“Ke,” Standing beside him, a perfectly healthy Qi Yan let out a cough.
Song Fei looked askance at him, instantly picking up the hint. He rolled his eyes, and reluctantly turned around to grab another piece of chocolate, then stuffed it into his hands.
Qi Yan looked down at the small square piece in the palm of his hand, thinking that it definitely wouldn’t be as sweet as those two heart-shaped ones.
Song Fei totally couldn’t understand why Qi Yan had asked for chocolate, but was only staring straight at it instead of eating it. But, Qi Yan had always acted crazy from time to time, so he’d also gotten used to it. His stomach was already feebly protesting. Since he rarely ate breakfast, it was just about time for him to start feeling hungry. But, he wasn’t at the point where his stomach was gurgling with hunger yet, so facing the limited supply of food, choosing became a deep dilemma.
“In my opinion, if you’re not too hungry, then just eat some snacks or fruits, and save the instant noodles for when you really can’t stand the hunger anymore, for maximum utility,” Qiao Siqi offered some scientific advice.
Song Fei felt that this made a lot of sense, so he browsed for a bit, then picked out Wang Qingyuan’s apple.
Qi Yan watched as Song Fei picked up the apple, and had just wanted to say “don’t”, but he’d already taken a big bite with a kacha, and was smacking his lips with apparent joy.
“What?” Song Fei finished half the apple in three bites, before sparing Qi Yan his attention.
Qi Yan saw him eating so happily, and figured he might’ve been thinking too much, so he shook his head, “It’s nothing.”
Song Fei couldn’t make heads or tails of this, so he took another three bites, finally gnawing the apple core clean, and that was the end of it.
“You two aren’t eating?” Chowing down while these two classmates didn’t budge an inch made Song Fei feel a bit awkward.
Qiao Siqi, however, burst into laughter with a puchi: “You forgot where we just ran back from?”
Song Fei made a face. The canteen, and it had been mealtime yesterday when the doors to the canteen had been locked. Weren’t the back kitchens behind the windows filled with food.
“If you’re not hungry, then what were you drooling over the female dormitories for!”
“I’m looking far ahead, ah. Even if I’m not hungry now, it doesn’t mean I won’t be hungry in the future. How many days can these few things even last us for. Let me tell you, over at the female dormitories, I guarantee you that they’ll be perfectly fine even if they’re trapped there for three months!”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Song Fei looked into his eyes earnestly: “I’m especially, especially hungry right now.”
Qiao Siqi had a breakdown: “Didn’t you just eat an apple?”
Song Fei had a bigger breakdown: “That must’ve been an apple-shaped digestive tablet!”
Qi Yan facepalmed. He knew it. How could a fruit with high acidity like an apple actually be filling, you’d only get hungrier the more you ate.
Lunch was spent just like this on Song Fei’s crisp noodles. As he ate, Qi Yan and Qiao Siqi weren’t idle either, and searched the entire room for anything that could be used as a weapon. In the end, Qiao Siqi retrieved Ren Zhe’s Swiss Army knife, while Qi Yan found Wang Qingyuan’s fruit knife. Both knives were very small, and could be folded up, the overall lethality about the same at a glance— although the one in Qiao Siqi’s hands had the addition of a variety of fun functions, like a screwdriver, small scissors, bottle opener, etc.
When Song Fei finished eating, he saw each of his two companions holding on to a knife. As a permanent resident of 440, he knew very well— sh*t, the knives were gone.
“Aren’t you two embarrassed ma, running back from the back kitchens in the canteen just to come here and snatch some knives from me?”
“Buddy, the back kitchen is for cooking, not an armory. There were only a few kitchen knives, did you think the two of us would be able to snatch one up?”
Song Fei was unwilling to give up, his eyes sparkling as he looked towards Qi Yan, as though he was working a bit of his charm.
Qi Yan very much enjoyed being looked at like this, the corners of his eyes crinkling: “Just hide behind me.”
Song Fei was unimpressed: “F*ck off.”
Looking around, the only available objects left in 440 were Ren Zhe’s guitar and Wang Qingyuan’s English-Chinese dictionary. Song Fei felt that he might as well just compose his epitaph right now.
Qiao Siqi struggled to hold the heavy dictionary, and passed it over to Song Fei: “I really think this’ll do. Think about it, the power of knowledge, ah, who can handle it?”
Song Fei’s temple pulsated, and he secretly ground his teeth.
He swore that if Qi Yan dared to pass over the guitar, he’d absolutely make him this dictionary’s first sacrifice!
Qi Yan, of course, didn’t pick up the guitar. What he passed over to Song Fei was the bright red Tai Chi fan.
“Are you sh*tting me?!” This thing wasn’t even as good as the guitar!
Seeing Song Fei not take it, Qi Yan flicked his wrist, unfurling the fan with a huala, actually seeming quite valiant.
Song Fei raised an eyebrow: “What, you want to dance for us?”
Qi Yan smiled faintly, then with a pa, smacked the pleats right on Song Fei’s face.
Qi Yan didn’t use much strength, but… this wasn’t a matter of strength at all, okay!
Song Fei furiously slapped away the edge of the fan, just about to go off, when he heard Qi Yan say: “Just block them like this if they want to bite you.”
Song Fei froze. He looked at the stainless steel fan ribs in front of him, then looked at the sturdy bright red silk. Finally, with some doubt, he lifted his hand and took the initiative to smack his own face with the fan, then suddenly opened his mouth. But, no matter how wide a mouth was opened, how could it possibly be wider than the surface of a fan, and unless they directly went around the sides of the fan, it actually was impossible to get bitten in a frontal attack!
Upon seeing this, Qi Yan smiled, as he raised an eyebrow and asked: “Now, do you still think I’m kidding?”
Song Fei didn’t say anything, and only snapped the fan shut with a huala. He continued to scrutinize it as he fiddled with it in his hands, as though it wasn’t a fan, but a magic weapon.
Food was settled for the time being, and all the weapons were in hand, so the only thing left was to discuss their escape route. Perhaps the zombies wouldn’t breach the entrance to the dormitories, but if they didn’t plan an escape route in advance, once it was breached, they’d be sure to die.
Qi Yan: “First of all, if they break in, we definitely won’t be able to go into the corridors. If we want to escape outside, we can only climb down from the balconies.”
Qiao Siqi: “Climbing up requires some arm strength, and not necessarily everyone can do it, but with going down, as long as you’re careful and don’t miss a step, then it’s not a big problem!”
Qi Yan: “Next, run straight for the supermarket. That’s the closest place to the dormitories where the door can be locked.”
Qiao Siqi: “No, when we were running back from the canteen, someone tried to hide there and was bitten to death as soon as they entered.”
Qi Yan: “That was before. Haven’t you noticed that they not only attack people, but also eat humans, and oftentimes many of them feast together on a person. I feel that their desire to attack is driven by hunger, so once all the students in the supermarket are killed, they won’t stay there for long, and will go hunt for other prey.”
Qiao Siqi: “Won’t there be those that just ate their fill and haven’t left yet?”
Qi Yan: “Yes, but the amount must be less than those wandering outside. If we can’t even deal with them, we’ll die sooner or later.”
Qiao Siqi: “Okay, then Fen Duo Duo it is!”
Song Fei: “…I’d like to ask if my speaker session wasn’t included as part of this conference?”
In the dead of night, the wind was even stronger.
After the heating had shut off, it’d become bitterly cold inside the dorm room. Song Fei had tightly wrapped himself up inside his blanket, and had also added two more pieces of clothing on top, but still felt like all four of his limbs were frozen. He didn’t dare to move, because the chill seemed to be all-pervading, like with a single movement, he’d become even colder.
“Are you all asleep?” In the darkness, Qiao Siqi called out softly.
Song Fei lowered his voice, and responded: “No.”
After a long time, Qi Yan, who was laying head to head next to him, made a sound: “En.”
Qiao Siqi made a face. Since none of them were asleep, he had no qualms about returning to a normal volume, but his tone was still hesitant: “Can we… make it out alive?”
Qi Yan was silent.
Song Fei didn’t want to think about this problem rationally, and preferred to rely on intuition: “Of course.”
Qiao Siqi was amused: “Who gave you this confidence.”
“You two.” Song Fei didn’t even think about it, “If I was alone, I probably wouldn’t have lasted until now. Isn’t there a saying that goes, death isn’t terrifying, what’s terrifying is waiting for death. But now there are the three of us, so if we work together, we’ll definitely be able to make it!”
Qiao Siqi choked back the rest of his wisecracks.
He used banter to conceal his terror, used jokes to disguise his fear, and even professionally educated Song Fei on zombies to keep up appearances. But actually, he was scared to death. He knew that Song Fei was also afraid. Faced with such a situation, not being afraid would really be unscientific. Yet, Song Fei’s fear was real, Song Fei’s conviction was also real, and he wasn’t posturing like he was. He really believed that they could do it. This conviction was not only admirable, but also allowed others to draw strength from it.
“En, we’ll definitely be able to make it,” Qiao Siqi whispered softly, not only to his companions, but also to himself.
Qi Yan, who’d listened from the beginning till the end, quietly looked up at the ceiling in the moonlight, the corners of his lips curving up into an almost imperceptible smile. He knew that he liked Song Fei, but he also regularly battled with this, because he couldn’t identify the source of his feelings. That person had a bad temper, had bad grades, and even his looks weren’t actually his type. Apart from being bewitched, Qi Yan downright couldn’t think of a reason why he was attracted to the other.
Until just now.
What had initially attracted him had probably been this, ba. At a glance, what appeared to be completely unwarranted and incomprehensible self-confidence, upon closer inspection, revealed itself to be the tenacity and optimism to courageously move forward through thick and thin. Just like a sunflower, forever beaming at the sun.
When Song Fei woke up naturally, the day was just breaking.
The power was already back on in the dormitories, and Qi Yan was currently sitting at the desk, reading a book with the small desk lamp on. Qiao Siqi was sitting on a chair next to him, nibbling on instant noodles. Seeing him get up, he greeted him unintelligibly: “Gwood mwoning…”
Song Fei was sitting there in a daze, when a thought struck him: “Why is it that the school can barely fend for itself, but hasn’t forgotten about lights-out?”
Qiao Siqi stopped nibbling on his noodles halfway when he heard this. Evidently, he’d neglected to take this overly familiar routine under consideration, his mouth wide open in a thunderstruck “who am I, where am I, what happened” expression. After a long time, he mumbled: “Right ah, why is that. Could it be that even though the school has already fallen, in some mysterious, dark corner, there’s a lamplighter still holding their ground?”
Qi Yan looked askance at him, then sincerely advised: “Watch less films in the future.”
Song Fei raised an eyebrow challengingly: “You know why?”
Qi Yan leisurely put down Wang Qingyuan’s “Anthropology of Tourism” book to enlighten his two teammates: “On our new campus, the lights-out schedule is automated by a microprocessor-based control system in the school’s distribution board. As long as the power going to the distribution board isn’t cut off, lights-out will always proceed as scheduled. Understand?”
Song Fei and Qiao Siqi exchanged looks. Their muddled gazes collided in mid-air, igniting sparks of ignorance.
But, it didn’t matter if they didn’t understand the principle—
Qiao Siqi: “Anyway, so even if it’s the end of the world…”
Song Fei: “There still has to be lights-out.”
Instead of starting the day off on the right foot, Song Fei started his day off with infinite sorrow.
He crawled out of bed miserably, wanting to pour himself a glass of water to drink, and ease some of the suffering in his heart. He shook four thermoses in succession, and only one was still sloshing.
“That’s all that’s left, drink sparingly,” Qiao Siqi obviously hadn’t slept well, with two dark circles under his eyes like a national treasure, “But it’s no use saving it anyway, we still have to drink cold water in the end.”
Song Fei shot Qi Yan a dirty look: “Originally, we could’ve just boiled some water ourselves. But, our immersion heater was just confiscated by a certain bastard during a dormitory inspection two days ago.”
Qiao Siqi didn’t know the ins and outs of this and the underlying grievances, but he remembered something else: “Immersion heater? Our dorm room has one, ah!”
Song Fei didn’t know whether he should laugh or cry: “We can f*cking barely survive right now. Boiling water, my *ss, just directly use the faucet. We don’t need to live so exquisitely.”
Qiao Siqi was a little hesitant mainly because of the quality of the tap water in their school. Sometimes, he could even taste hints of a coffee flavor, so the richness of its content could be imagined. He wasn’t reassured even after boiling it, so directly chugging from the faucet, chenqie couldn’t do it, ah!
Who knew if he’d sensed John’s fervent, pleading gaze, but Qi Yan finally looked up from his book: “Which one is your dorm room?”
Qiao Siqi promptly replied: “637, just above here and diagonally over a bit!”
Qi Yan nodded: “After daybreak, I‘ll go to the other dorm rooms to look for food, and grab it along the way.”
Qiao Siqi could only regret that he was a straight man. Otherwise, he’d absolutely fight for his affections!
Author’s Chapter Summary:
Weapons and escape routes are all settled, now only food is lacking!
The translator has something to say: un-shallow, academic tyrant, Spiderman Qi Yan X face-con, academic underachiever, sunflower Song Fei. as a long-time board member of the Outward Appearances Society, stamp of approval.
meanwhile, Qiao Siqi went from #SingleDog to #StealYoMan
Thank you for the chapter~~! 💜💜💜
thanks for reading! <3
Thank you very much and good luck~❤️❤️
thanks for reading, and thanks! 😊
LMAO power of knowledge vs zombies 🤣🤣 I’m surprised they never mentioned stuff about charging pc or phone while power is still available.
QsQ @stealyoman is now online!!!
Thankiew for the chapter, good luck with studying!
hahaha Qiao Siqi has ~jokes~ and Song Fei is not there for them. i like how his first response to that was to be on guard in case Qi Yan made a comment about his “knowledge”
i vaguely remember when he was there by himself he checked his phone once and there wasn’t any service so i guess everyone has just decided… #byephones. i’d be googling 101 ways to survive a zombie apocalypse
thanks for reading, and thanks! 😍
Thanks for the chapter. Good luck with your exam. Jia you 💪
thanks for reading, and thanks!! 🔥
good luck with studying!
thanks for the chapter! <3
thanks!!
and thanks for reading! 🤗
Good luck with your exam!
Thanks for the chapter <3
thanks again! 😍
and thanks for reading!
Hope your pup is better D:
And good luck with your studies (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧
he is, thanks! after his course of antibiotics + food he’s all chipper again and back to wreaking havoc upon my bathroom slippers
thanks!! 🤩
Good to hear :3 lights a candle for your slippers
sunflower bby!! 🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻
a sunflower of the motherland~ ☀
Thank you for the chapter 🥰