Zombie UniversityCh12 - Grasping Hope

Translator: phizzlepop

Editor: mantou Vnpuwr


If any chapter has excessive gore or potentially triggering content that may not be expected of a traditional zombie novel, I’ll be putting content/trigger warnings at the beginning of the chapter, so please be sure to read them first if you need to.

CW/TW

suicide

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“Zhou Yilu?”

“Song Fei?” wsgpJf

Qi Yan-tongxue hadn’t managed to find any food, but had brought back yet another mouth to feed instead. Now things were really fantastic. They could get together for a game of mahjong.

Just that, he hadn’t expected for the one from 640 to actually be acquainted with this one from 440.

Qi Yan felt that he and Song Fei might be truly incompatible with each other, so that even with such a fitting backdrop for a scene straight out of “Love in a Fallen City”, light bulbs, like zombies, were increasing by the day instead.

“What happened to your face?” His down jacket may have been scratched up while escaping, so Song Fei didn’t mind it too much, but the wound on Zhou Yilu’s face was definitely fresh out of the oven.

Kh0gqv

Ai, let’s not bring this up.” Zhou Yilu didn’t want to recall such matters.

Qi Yan shared on his behalf: “Three people broke into his room and stole all the food.”

Song Fei and Qiao Siqi were silent. Although yesterday, they both would’ve kicked up a fuss about how f*cking inhumane this kind of thing was, now, they really didn’t know what to say.

Song Fei sighed, then patted the other person on the shoulder: “You hungry, how about I crush up some crispy noodles for you?” YyueH8

For Zhou Yilu, this was the warmest his heart had felt in the past three days.

Their stock of food in 440 had also gotten pretty low, which Zhou Yilu realized at a glance, so in the end, he couldn’t bring himself to actually eat the noodles, and opened up a pack of shrimp crackers instead.

It was said that puffed food wasn’t filling, but Zhou Yilu really became full after just one bite—

“What exactly is this, ah…” bk4mP

“Shrimp crackers ah, a genuine Thai import.”

“Really? ”

“Of course, the authentic taste of Tom Yum Goong.”

“…” aJCMHO

There were no boundaries before hunger. In the end, Zhou Yilu still finished that bag of shrimp crackers. As for how refreshingly sour the taste was, he expressed that he had no comment.

After bringing Zhou Yilu back, Qi Yan went out again. This time, he directly ran into a mutant, then fled back in a hurry, and didn’t dare to go out again.

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When night fell, there was little food left in the 440 reserves, so the four of them didn’t dare to eat too much. Each person could only grab a handful of melon seeds, nibbling on them while lying in bed.

The residential area shifted from the liveliness in the daytime to another kind of dismal dreariness as the quiet was restored. bmjTde

Zhou Yilu: “Qi Yan, I don’t think you need to go out again tomorrow. Any available food has probably been claimed by other people already. It’ll be pointless no matter how much Spiderman-ing you do.”

Qi Yan: “We’ll see, ba.”

Qiao Siqi: “Actually, so what if we do find some. As long as there are still zombies outside, we’re basically just waiting for death.”

Song Fei: “Since the water and electricity haven’t been cut, doesn’t it mean that there are still people in the city. Although our university town is far from the city, at least there are many flowers of the motherland here.” lJd8qj

Qiao Siqi: “Those things outside are flowers of the motherland?”

Zhou Yilu: “Yes ah, piranha plants.”

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.

Qi Yan: “Probably even the sun can barely protect itself at this point. Us flowers should just save ourselves, ba.”

Hljb Vldl: “Qtja vb sbe wfjc? ” EJXaR3

Hl Tjc: “Kbwbggbk, P kjca ab rff jybea jlwlcu obg atf reqfgwjgxfa.”

Hljb Vldl: “Gb sbe kjca ab vlf?!”

Song Fei: “I agree with Qi Yan. John, didn’t you say that we’re basically just waiting for death here, ma. Then, we should just charge out, and break through the encirclement!”

Dong WCteS

Pa kjr atf rjwf jr atf xcbmxlcu rbecv ogbw atf vjs yfobgf sfrafgvjs!

Vbcu Mfl lwwfvljafis rtea eq.

Ktf batfg atgff kfgf lcfzqfglfcmfv, jcv ygbxf bea lc j mbiv rkfja.

After holding their breath for a long time, until the outside seemed quiet once again, Qiao Siqi asked in a hushed tone, his voice quivering, “Zo, zombies?” TIM5ka

Song Fei replied almost inaudibly, “En, they also rammed on the door like this the night before last.”

Qiao Siqi really wanted to cry: “But they didn’t do this last night, ah?”

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Zhou Yilu also thought it was strange: “Why haven’t I heard anything like this before?”

Qi Yan looked at the compact fluorescent lamp overhead, and suddenly had a flash of inspiration: “Could they be reacting to our voices?” DNsqMk

Song Fei: “But we’ve been talking all day.”

Qiao Siqi: “No, your voice was especially loud just now.”

“Hold on,” Zhou Yilu thought back carefully, “When I was getting beaten up yesterday, I may have also heard a similar sound then.”

Qiao Siqi followed this conjecture: “So only their intelligence has declined, and their agility has deteriorated, but their vision and hearing are still intact?” Yl2 k4

“No,” Qi Yan narrowed his eyes. “Their vision is uncertain, but their hearing must’ve also deteriorated. Otherwise, they should’ve also heard us when we were speaking at a normal volume, and wouldn’t have waited until it was louder to hit the door.”

Fear came from the unknown.

The greater their understanding of the mutants, the greater the fear in their hearts would be reduced.

However, when the fear was too strong, such a reduction was merely a drop in the bucket. 440 ended their discussion and fell silent. The entire residential area became terribly quiet. PKOUwl

At eleven o’clock in the evening, lights-out happened on schedule in the dormitories.

The moment the lights disappeared, the entire residential area seemed to actually be dead.

In the dark, the entire 440 room had sunk into silence. Song Fei knew that the other three weren’t asleep, and were probably all lost in thought. They might be pessimistic, might be optimistic, might be dispelling the clouds to see the sun, or might be imagining a bloody end. But no matter what, having someone by your side in times like these was already their greatest source of strength.

Solitude was the cruelest accomplice of despair. GDAZix

Song Fei couldn’t remember which elective course teacher had said this sentence, and even before this very moment, had completely forgotten such a sentence even existed. But, on a night like this, these words seemed to have gained a consciousness of their own, prancing about like a ghost, and whispering into Song Fei’s ears.

They’d probably die tomorrow if they charged out, ba. Song Fei thought, spending their entire lives studying, what a f*cking waste of time.

Guangdang

The dull sound of a heavy object hitting the ground shattered the dead silence, but also instilled the night with a spine-chilling quality. lQ1ib4

The sound had come from outside the balcony.

The four people practically got up at the same time. The impatient Zhou Yilu directly leapt to the ground, then rushed to the balcony sliding door, pasting himself against the glass to take a look around.

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It was practically a black hole outside the dormitory building. He couldn’t see a single thing.

GuangdangHMQJD8

Yet another sound.

Zhou Yilu blinked a few times, unsure if he was seeing things, or if he’d actually caught a glimpse of a human figure.

The other three people also got out of bed and crowded over.

“What’s going on?” Qiao Siqi asked. ySnOMo

Zhou Yilu shook his head: “I can’t see too clearly. How about… we open the door and take a look?”

The balconies had always been rather safe, but it wasn’t the same at nighttime as during the daytime. No matter how safe it was, anyone would feel disconcerted exposing themselves to the pitch-black outdoors.

With a pa, a strong beam of light illuminated the entirety of 440.

Qiao Siqi looked back, and was immediately so dazzled he screwed his eyes shut: “F*ck, the hell is that?” dL7UVA

Song Fei looked down at Ren Zhe’s high-end product, feeling a bit regretful for not using it earlier: “A flashlight.”

Zhou Yilu was at a loss for words. He’d almost been blinded even with his back facing this strong beam of light: “That’s a f*cking searchlight, ba!”

With light, came peace of mind. After confirming the balcony was safe, the four people cautiously slid open the door, then walked into the frigid night.

No matter how powerful Song Fei’s flashlight was, its rays still dissipated into the darkness with the wind. Fortunately, the corridor windows on the opposite building weren’t affected by lights-out, and reflected the brilliant light within. Together with the moonlight, they outlined faint silhouettes in the inky night. KftYDp

Their eyes finally adjusted to the dark.

Another figure plunged down from the sixth floor across from them, drawing an arc in the air.

In the blink of an eye, that person hit the ground with a thud, flesh splattering on contact, bones fragmenting to pieces.

—Someone had jumped off the building. alJnN0

The four people stood on the balcony. The night wind was piercingly cold, but they didn’t seem to be able to feel it.

The mutants were attracted by the smell, and effortlessly divvied up their free meal on the spot.

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

Just when the mutants were enjoying themselves, a fourth serving fell from the sky.

PawXMCIv

Without exception, the four of them began to tremble. Zhou Yilu even covered his ears, not wanting to hear this kind of sound ever again in his lifetime.

Several people in the opposite building had also come out onto their balconies. Some people were even shouting tearfully, “Don’t f*cking jump!”

Despair was an even more terrifying infection than the zombie virus.

After the seventh student hit the ground, the serial jumping finally stopped. MQolub

But, no one knew whether this was a conclusion, or merely a brief respite.

The residential area was even quieter than before. However, when you knew that all the living people were standing on their balconies in the night breeze, and could imagine how their faces either had looks of astonishment, or shock, or horror, or sorrow, but just weren’t making any sounds at all, this quiet became even more alarming than a blood-curdling scream.

The wind blew between the two buildings.

Song Fei looked at each and every one of the shadowy figures on the balconies across from them, as though he was seeing himself. cad5Nl

The sliding door behind him was suddenly closed by someone.

Song Fei turned his head in surprise, and saw that Zhou Yilu had gone to retrieve Ren Zhe’s guitar at some point.

Soon, the melody of a guitar sounded in the quiet night.

The mutants separated by the balcony doors + dorm room doors probably weren’t able to hear it, but the students on the balconies of the two buildings could hear it very clearly. NjaDw2

This was a sound that could be heard without fail on a number of their usual, uneventful nights. Perhaps it’d be a literary boy from the Chemistry program with a guitar, voice cracking, daringly expressing himself in front of the entire world. Or perhaps, it’d be a Douban girl from the Department of Liberal Arts with a guitar, voice pinched, affecting a fresh and sprightly bearing.

But at this moment, the melody encircling their ears was neither literary nor fresh, but tough and powerful—

Where exactly is the world full of flowers
If it really exists, then I’ll definitely go there
I want to stand atop the highest mountain
Whether or not there are steep cliffs there
Live hard and love hard, even if I end up dashed against the rocks
Not seeking approval from others, just doing right by me
I’ve never given up on my ideals
Even in my darkest hours

Zhou Yilu didn’t dare to sing the chorus too loudly, because the climax of the song was too violent, and he was afraid of encouraging something that shouldn’t be encouraged, resulting in actual dashing against the rocks. But after deliberately lowering his voice, his singing actually gave off a greater feeling of determination. 2J1QYf

Running forward, facing cold looks and ridicule
How can the immensity of life be experienced without first going through hardships
Fate can’t make us get down on our knees to beg for mercy
Even if our arms are drenched in blood

—The song ended.

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Qi Yan’s tense look had relaxed.

Qiao Siqi had even hummed along during the second half. geu8Vr

Song Fei raised his head. A river of stars was scattered across the night sky in magnificent splendor.

Zhou Yilu hugged the guitar tightly. He’d played this song, not just for the others to hear, but also for himself. His heart had settled down alongside the melody. If there was still a tomorrow, then hope was not yet dead. But, he wasn’t sure if he’d managed to convey such a feeling to the others. Whether it was his own building or the opposite building, there was still a blanket of desolate silence.

Song Fei suddenly scooted closer to Zhou Yilu and whispered into his ear.

Zhou Yilu listened in bewilderment. GQRoOd

“You sure?”

“Just sing, ba.”

Zhou Yilu was somewhat skeptical, but still plucked at the guitar strings, and sang for a second time: “A verdant northern mountain~~A clear lakefront~~It’s my beautiful campus~~Hoping for self-improvement~~Tolerance and open-mindedness~~It’s my…”

A gust of wind arose, and the world lost all light! 8F9J2T

“Don’t—”

“Stop!”

“The hell, who asked you to sing the school anthem!!!”

Laozi will fight you to the death—” cj THh

On the third night of the zombie siege, the survivors in the two boys’ dormitory buildings had their first good night of sleep. Many of the people who’d been having nightmares the past two nights continued to have nightmares, just that the contents of their dreams had changed from the fear of being surrounded by zombies, to being dominated instead by the fear of repeatedly rehearsing the school anthem for the school anniversary celebration last semester.

However, the latter made them feel truly alive once again. So vivid, and so warm, that they didn’t want to give it up.


The author has something to say:
Note: The song quoted in the text is “Chasing Dreams and Hearts” by GALA.


Author’s Chapter Summary:
Don’t beg for mercy in front of fate, even if your arms are drenched in blood! B0IdcN


The translator has something to say: mahjong table, assemble! Zombie Uni Musical: Act I

Translator’s Little Theater:
Qi Yan: hi, i’d like to get a refund. yes, for 2 light bulbs.
Song Fei + Zhou Yilu: ???
Qiao Siqi: [chokes on dog food]

Chrysanthemum Garden.

P.S. If you’d like to hear what Zhou Yilu in the audio drama sounds like when singing, please use either bilibili or MissEvan, then skip to 4:50. Ep 2 corresponds with this part of the novel, but the song he’s singing is actually the opening theme song “Chasing Light“. Hehehe, the school song following that does match though…

P.P.S. Extras: You can pull up the original by GALA on Spotify or Youtube; in Chinese, the ends of the lines rhyme so it’s more satisfying to hear viejmC

Or, ~shameless promotion for one of my faves Hua Chenyu aka Huahua~ you can go to Youtube and skip to 3:30 for an acoustic cover of this song. When I first read this chapter I imagined this might be what it would sound like if all the other boy’s dorm kids had chimed in.

Lastly, if you’re interested, Huahua also wrote a popular song about coping with depression. It’s called “I Really Want to Love This World”, and can be found on Spotify, or there’s a Youtube video of a live performance, while the best English translations of the lyrics I could find was this video.

Translator's Note

麻将 (má jiàng) – tile-based game developed in 19th century China, normally requires 4 people; this is a reference to how they had 3 people before, so enough for Fight the Landlord, and now the game has been upgraded

Translator's Note

八字不合 (bā zì bù hé) – lit. incompatible eight characters; FYI: refers to the ancient Chinese horoscope based on Yin and Yang philosophy, taking an individual’s birth date according to the lunar calendar to predict their fortune in aspects such as career, wealth, health, marriage prospects, etc.; a traditional practice more commonly adhered to in ancient times, two individuals whose families were in the talks for marriage would bring each child’s eight-characters to be calculated together to make sure their characters were compatible; several possible combinations exist, include being fated, if married, to mutually support each other to success, curse the other to an early death, etc.; commonly known as the Four Pillars of Destiny

Translator's Note

倾城之恋 (qīng chéng zhī liàn) – lit. “Allure of Love”, a famous novella written by Aileen Chang in 1943 about a divorcee and a recently returned bachelor undergoing trials and tribulations as they doubt each other’s true love and commitment during an ongoing war; tldr, Qi Yan is basically referring to this setting typically being suitable for love blossoming through dramatic life-and-death struggles

Translator's Note

冬阴功 (dōng yīn gōng) – a hot & sour Thai soup, specifically with a river shrimp base

Translator's Note

食人花 (shí rén huā) – the large carnivorous plants from the Mario franchise seemingly modeled after venus flytraps, usually found coming out from green pipes; can also refer to Rafflesia, a parasitic flowering plant that (un)fortunately, doesn’t actually eat humans

Translator's Note

文艺男 (wén yì nán) – usually refers to boys who speak poetically and sound deeply philosophical, often dressing as such, like frequent indie coffee shop regulars

Translator's Note

豆瓣女 (dòu bàn nǚ) – usually refers to women around the ages of 25-35 that frequent Douban, a social platform that functions like a mash-up of facebook and twitter; often described as being a bit imaginative, almost naive, and more caught up in their emotions, while also invested in horoscopes

Translator's Note

小清新 (xiǎo qīng xīn) – refers to the style associated with Indie Pop, youthful, natural, simple, tranquil, and very earthy; within this context it’s referring to girls purposefully using a nasal voice to sound cutesy

Translator's Note

肝脑涂地 (gān nǎo tú de) – idiomatic expression, lit. liver and brain dashed against the ground; fig. willing to lay down one’s life no matter how terrible things get; willing to die a cruel death for one’s principles; FYI: translated as such to match being up on steep cliffs in the previous line

Translator's Note

肝脑涂地 (gān nǎo tú de) – reference to lyrics above, please refer to TL note above for “end up dashed against the rocks” for details

Translator's Note

命运面前不求饶,哪怕鲜血洒怀抱 (mìngyùn miànqián bù qiúráo, nǎpà xiānxiě sǎ huáibào)

Leave a Comment

23 comments

  1. shit, the serial jumping part made me start crying but then i started laughing when zhou yilu started singing the school anthem. hate the author for making my emotions go through a roller coaster ride

    • im weak and get affected each time i read over again so i ended up taking the roller coaster ride like 9 times in a row, QAQ. the end sent me though: “…many of the people who’d been having nightmares the past two nights, continued to have nightmares, just that the contents of their dreams had changed…” guys pLS

        • en en, me too! i love how author-dada uses all kinds of idiomatic expressions and hardly recycles them, and not only makes several pop culture references to popular anime, songs, or movies, but also references classics from ancient China and other countries, while the language itself shifts between technical terminology to casual dialogue… the range is so broad it’s so impressive ahhh~~ plus theme-wise i love how a majority of author-dada’s works feature interesting casts of characters with an emphasis on camaraderie… the power of friendship!!! (*꒦ິ꒳꒦ີ)

  2. Thanks so much for this chapter! This was so good, good on how realistic it was. I’m not sure that if the apocalypse does happen, I won’t be one of the people that would jump…. Their hope was beautiful though, GAGHHH I JUST CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF THIS NOVEL! it’s so gooodddd thanks for the chapter

    • i love how realistic it is too! the beginning has a bit of a slower-paced start but i feel like so many good aspects of a “realistic” zombie apocalypse are covered! (im definitely team not sure why all these ppl have such a strong will to persevere 🤡) the author-dada is so good at sending my emotions going up and down and back up and down again each chapter as upstairs stated though 😂. Song Fei and his shenanigans… i was rlly touched

      thanks for reading!

    • poor things i imagine rehearsing the song is like the school orchestra playing at graduation… i remember my friends in orchestra told me they counted and for graduation had to play the song 182 times in a row bc we had a lot of students 😱😱😱

      thanks for reading! <3

  3. going for the store is smart. I think getting together with the other kids and driving the zombies out of the dorm should be the next step and then probably sneaking into the canteen.. I’ve seen too many zombie movies. QwQ

    thanks for the chapter <3

    • i feel like the store is also a great idea too… this instant noodle/melon seed diet has me pained + if they wait for too long what if it gets taken by other ppl too. we def do needa bulk up the squad tho, strength in numbers and all (+ gotta uh, catch ’em all, fill up the rest of the pokedex aka find the rest of our ensemble cast members)

      when Qiao Siqi started listing all the zombie movies a few chappies back i (un)fortunately found a majority of them familiar as well hahaha

      thanks for reading!

  4. Qiao Siqi, you’re funny. I thought it was a common thing in zombie movies that zombies react to sound more. Isn’t he the one who watched all that stuff? And they really should go to the store and probably gain/build some weapons.

    Thx for the ch (ㅅ˘ㅂ˘)

    I bet I would be in the suicide squad too lololol Or I’d be one of the first who would die bc I’m unfit like hell x’D

    • hahaha i wonder if he’s watched so many that he’s confused now. personally, im rather partial to the ones that react mostly to smell, so they can do fun things like they did in TWD and start smearing themselves in… all kinds of scents instead. pocket knife + sushi knife + swiss army knife does seem rlly lacking… basically have to get rlly close in to do any damage.

      there’s this amusing dark humor thread on twitter i was reading where ppl were discussing how they had glasses and 20/70 vision, so if they lost their glasses while running it’d be over, or if the wifi was gone so they couldnt keep up with new anime episodes, it’d be time to make an exit. rlly made me think of this haha i cant run for too long either

      • Yeah, a mix of both I think. Eyesight like I guess I could be a zombie too xDDD Don’t give me a gun, I would shoot my own people bc I won’t see who’s human and who’s not.

        Oh, sounds funny. But I understand. My life would be over too if I would loose all my figures >___> Or my manga collection. A nightmare lol

  5. This was both such a depressing chapter and one filled with hope too. And to think, it was only day 3…

    • haha i feel like so much happened in this ch even tho it wasnt one of the long ones at all. the author-dada smacked us with a sad sandwich, cleverly hiding that in between a funny beginning and funny ending. i cackled at the mahjong table comment tho, i can rlly tell Qi Yan is super salty about the lightbulbs increasing by the day.

      they’re having a rather rough start oof. we need to gather more ppl first…

  6. I normally read much more gory or more horror-y stories, but fck…that particular scene made me cry. My hair is still standing.

      • QAQ yeah im used to plain UF horror scenes + gore but i also teared up (many times… basically each time i read over it). it’s very sad but rather realistic too imo which is what makes it sadder. im sure for students at that age, weighing the options, fear of the unknown + knowing that if you do get caught by zombies it’ll be super painful and horrible, it might’ve felt easier to choose their own way out. sigh, im glad they tried cheering everyone up at the end

  7. The jumping peeps reminded me of a chapter/arc in Kaleidoscope of Death– that nurse who keeps jumping down the hospital and dragged her heels along the halls.. eiiii so terrifying D:

    Thank you so much for the chapter and such wonderful translation ❤️ 🙇🏻🙇🏻🙇🏻🙇🏻🙇🏻🙇🏻

    • oh oh oh i think i remember what ur talking about love KoD (+ all UF ofc), yes at first i was scared the zombies were up to something and they’d see something creepy when they went outside to investigate 🙁

      thanks for reading!!! im glad you’re enjoying it~ <3<3<3