Translator: transcendent.wings
Editor: phizzlepop
Song Fei and the others told Lin Dilei about the situation at the dormitories and how they’d escaped. When Lin Dilei heard about the students jumping off the building one after another, her eyes reddened, and when she heard the part about the school song, she was appalled by their impropriety. But after they finished speaking, she went silent, and held onto her cup of instant noodles while sitting there quietly, seemingly lost in thought.
It was already extremely warm inside the supermarket, but this kind of warmth brought about a suffocating feeling, making it difficult for them to breathe. However, compared to the frigid dormitories with no heating, this really was a step up.
The six people remained silent for a while.
Their highly-strung nerves gradually relaxed, followed by the return of their reasoning. The reality of their predicament, and the hopelessness of the future subconsciously dampened everyone’s spirits.
“F*ck!” Hit by sudden realization, Song Fei slapped his thigh, “Landline ah, there’s a landline in the office ah!”
A single word awakened everyone from their trance.
All his companions appeared to have been injected with chicken blood, including Lin Dilei. Who even cared about her aunt or second uncle or whatever right now. She leapt three feet into the air, scrambling to rush to the back area where the offices were!
The office space had three independent offices along with a staff lounge. The former belonged to the managers, financial officers, supervisors, etc., while the latter was a place for the cashiers, stock clerks, and others to eat and rest. The employees needed to change into their uniforms here, so the entire lounge was opaque. Song Fei and the others had also stored the three zombie corpses here, out of sight, out of mind.
Of the three offices, the supervisor’s was the closest to the sales area, and was also the first place the six people rushed into.
Song Fei was in the lead, grabbing the phone to kaka dial 110 as soon as he went in. However, what was transmitted into his ears was just the dudu of a busy signal.
Song Fei didn’t give up, wanting to make another attempt. But after pressing on the hook switch, before he could redial the number, he’d already realized that something was wrong— he hadn’t heard the busy signal after he’d dialed 110, but rather, had heard it right after he’d picked up the phone.
The impatient Qiao Siqi watched as Song Fei only dialed once before holding onto the receiver motionlessly, so he snatched it over to listen for himself.
He reacted faster than Song Fei, pressing on the hook switch to listen again. Then, he understood what was going on.
“The phone line is down.” Qiao Siqi wanted to make a wry smile, but couldn’t force one out in the end, the corners of his lips giving a slight, bitter twitch instead. He offered the handset that was still beeping dudu to everyone else, his meaning very obvious: Those who haven’t given up yet, feel free to give it a try.
Everyone took a turn, trying it once for themselves.
At a time like this, without hearing the busy signal through their own ears, who’d give up?
In fact, in the end, the six people tried all the landlines in each of the three offices one by one.
Without exception, all of them had a busy signal.
Nothing in this world was more painful than getting your hopes up for nothing. If there hadn’t been any hope to begin with, perhaps they still might’ve been provoked into finding a way out of the impasse. However, if hope had been present initially before subsequently getting snuffed out, then even summoning the will to look for another way out would become too taxing an endeavor.
The six people returned to their original spot listlessly.
The atmosphere had become even more stifling.
“Turn off the air!” Qiao Siqi yelled. No one knew who this was directed at, and whether there was sincere intent behind it or if he was simply venting.
Song Fei was also in a terrible mood, and mercilessly shot back: “Even if you’re not afraid of the cold, others might be. The earth doesn’t just revolve around you.”
Qiao Siqi was already irritated, and after being criticized like this, he gave in to his uncontrollable urge to swear: “F*ck!”
“Aiyo, sh*t, who’re saying f*ck to, who’re you… d*mn! What the hell?!” Song Fei had been preparing to verbally spar against John and demonstrate the invincible might of curse words hailing from the country that’d raised him, when a cold object suddenly poked his cheek. The iciness gave him a start, and he almost made a slip of the tongue.
Turning his head to look, there was a popsicle in Qi Yan’s hand.
Fortunately, it was still inside its wrapper. Otherwise, if the popsicle had directly poked his face, Song Fei wouldn’t even dare to imagine how refreshing that’d be. He was afraid that only Six God could match up.
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.
“Where’d you get this from?” Song Fei asked as he accepted it, tearing open the wrapper.
“Ktf ogffhfg bnfg atfgf.” Hl Tjc vlraglyeafv atf batfg obeg qbqrlmifr jwbcu tlr mbwqjclbcr, ifjnlcu atf ijra bcf obg tlwrfio, bqfclcu la eq jcv ralmxlcu la lcrlvf tlr wbeat.
Ktf lmf-mbiv rfcrjalbc kjr j clutawjgf obg atf mtffxr, yea j agfja obg atf alqr bo atflg abcuefr lc atlr reoobmjalcu tfja.
Their irascible emotions seemed to melt away with each frosty bite.
“Um, ke,” Qiao Siqi took a huge bite out of his popsicle, turning his face to the side somewhat awkwardly, “Actually, since we’re eating popsicles, we don’t need to turn off the air anymore.”
Song Fei vindictively raised his eyebrow, and said in a voice dripping with sarcasm: “That simply won’t do. It’s so hot ah, how could we possibly risk letting our Dearest Qiao get a heatstroke?”
Qiao Siqi was speechless, and bitterly turned back around to confront Song-tongxue face to face: “I’ve never met anyone as narrow-minded as you!”
“So what,” Song Fei raised his chin slightly towards Qi Yan, “Ask him.”
Qiao Siqi looked at Qi Yan, flummoxed.
The latter shrugged honestly: “Me neither.”
Qiao Siqi chucked his popsicle aside in anger. Who the hell was looking for partner in misfortune?!
This scene of five male students munching on popsicles together wasn’t too great a sight to behold. Lin Dilei had originally wanted to hold out until the end, but she’d clearly overestimated her own abilities. She could only interrupt them midway to divert her own attention to something else: “With no cell signal, the landlines not working, and the internet down, does that mean the situation outside is also… not looking too optimistic?”
Did it?
Of course.
Otherwise, everyone wouldn’t have been so dispirited, so touchy, and so ready to pick a fight for no reason that they’d needed popsicles to cool themselves off.
Only, no one had wanted to be the first to admit it. They’d tried to conceal their fear like patients hiding an illness from the doctor and had tried to fool themselves like thieves plugging their own ears when stealing a bell.
“Actually, it doesn’t matter whether things are looking good or not. I just want to know what’s going on outside. Even if it’s bad news, some news is better than no news ah,” Zhou Yilu vocalized the thoughts occupying everyone’s minds as he sat down powerlessly.
They could persuade themselves not to give in to their fear, and face the zombies head on.
They could suffer through unfavorable conditions, even if they lacked clothing and food.
But, there was no way they could bear being completely cut off from the outside world. Like a small boat that had lost its bearings, adrift on the vast, open sea, powerless against the currents carrying it aimlessly along, there was no end in sight for the passengers on board, having not the faintest inkling of where the shore might be. That sort of feeling was enough to drive a person crazy.
“But, there’s still electricity and water,” Lin Dilei answered this question herself, since no one else did, “Does that mean… things aren’t completely hopeless?”
Did it?
Of course.
“There’s still the smog.” Luo Geng had finally found an opportunity to offer his goddess some kind of encouragement. “If there’s smog, then that means there’s still human activity, and it’s even possible that parts of the industrial sector are continuing normal operations. The water and electricity still functioning proves that there are still forces out there protecting the relevant facilities!”
Qiao Siqi glanced at Zhou Yilu, his eyes flickering with doubt. Why does it feel like we’ve heard this somewhere before?
Zhou Yilu raised an eyebrow at Song Fei. It’s your man’s. Will you guys be filing a claim for copyright infringement?
Song Fei looked at Qi Yan with imploring eyes. It’s Lao Luo’s first love. He’s already two centimeters shorter than the girl, so he has no choice but to BS some abilities to make up for it!
Qi Yan nodded imperceptibly. I understand.
“It makes sense when you put it like that,” Lin Dilei was taken aback, then directed a smile at Luo Geng, “You deduced all of this?”
Luo Geng swallowed: “En.”
Lin Dilei shrugged: “I don’t believe you.”
“Pu.”
“Chi.”
“He.”
“Hahahahahahahahahaha—”
Luo Geng: “Song Fei, you’re f*cking laughing too much!”
Even in mortal peril, he still prioritized chasing his goddess. Luo-tongxue’s actions significantly boosted their morale. As the saying went, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. If they were the type to not work hard just because things seemed hopeless, then they wouldn’t have made it all the way here. Instead, they’d still be trapped inside the dormitories, dallying until death came for them.
All the companions quickly bounced back again as they rapidly divided the work amongst themselves, taking inventory of anything that could be consumed or utilized. Finally, they sat together and reported their findings in turn—
Food Inventory Manager, Qiao Siqi: “As expected of a nation of foodies. I suspect we might not even be able to make a dent in this by the time someone comes to our rescue. Listen carefully to the rich variety ha, puffed food, bread and crackers, instant noodles and vermicelli, sausage and salted vegetables, Eight-Treasure congee, canned meat, canned fish, canned fruits, melon seeds, peanuts, dried tofu, beef jerky, shredded squid, duck feet, spicy strips, chocolate, jello…”
Merchandising Manager, Little Landmine: “Stop—”
Qiao Siqi: “Why?”
The other four: “Because we’re getting hungry.”
Not just the food items, but even the beverages took up two entire aisles, a dazzling array of drinks and mineral water, plus honey, soy milk, lotus root powder, etc. There were only things undreamt of, no foods that were unobtainable. And this only accounted for the sales area. As for the warehouse, while they’d found the key inside a filing cabinet in Accounting and had already taken a look inside, all they’d seen after a quick survey were stacks and stacks of cardboard boxes, inconvenient for cataloguing at the moment.
By contrast, the tool section was a sad sight to behold—
Zhou Yilu: “Five foldable fruit knives, five screwdrivers, four pairs of household scissors, ten utility knives, six pairs of craft scissors, and a box of pencil sharpeners.”
Song Fei: “There’s no need to include the pencil sharpeners too…” How large would the diameter even need to be in order to shove a zombie’s head inside it.
Qiao Siqi was a little disappointed: “No kitchen knives?”
Luo Geng was speechless: “You really think the school would let us dice up some vegetables inside the dormitories, Copernicus?”
Lin Dilei wrote all of this down on paper, put down her pen, then summarized: “These are the only obvious weapons we have on hand right now, but there are still many things that aren’t that we can put to use, DIY. Take Molotov cocktails, for example. Just pour a little alcohol into a glass bottle, stopper it, tie on strips of cloth, and voilà. It’s a pity our school’s supermarket doesn’t sell alcohol, but following this line of thought, we can definitely think of some better tricks.”
Lin Dilei’s eyes were shining.
The four boys bowed their heads in shame.
“Little Landmine…-jie,” Qi Yan still felt it was necessary to append an honorific to show some respect, “We’ll be leaving these other gimmicks to you, then. Molotov cocktails or whatever really are beyond us.”
Little Landmine pulled a face, her gaze sweeping back and forth across the faces of her comrades-in-arms with dismay—
Lin Dilei: “Didn’t you hide such a sharp sushi knife inside the dormitory ma!”
Zhou Yilu: “I swear, I only did it for the sushi. I must confess, I’m just bougie…”
Lin Dilei: “Your combat knife is basically a restricted weapon!”
Luo Geng: “Quality imitation, purely a collectible…”
Lin Dilei: “You even have a Swiss army knife, ne!”
Qiao Siqi: “It’s someone else’s…”
Lin Dilei: “Your fan… no, your chopsticks… nevermind, forget I even asked.”
Song Fei: “…”
You should still at least ask me ba, I’m a man too ahhhh!
Inside a closed environment, the day seemed to pass by like a blur. It was so dry and warm that everyone gradually became slightly sleepy. Song Fei’s group hadn’t gotten any shut-eye last night, while Lin Dilei probably hadn’t even rested at all inside the water room these past few days. Now that they were temporarily safe, their exhaustion overwhelmed the fear that had been suppressing it, completely engulfing them.
“Let’s rest for a bit, ba. We’ve been at it for so long that my head is practically spinning. We can continue after we wake up. Maybe we’ll be even sharper then.” Qi Yan carried over a few more packs of blankets. From the looks of it, he’d probably swept the entire shelf clean. He opened them up one by one, spreading them out one next to the other, forming quite the spectacular sight.
Qiao Siqi grabbed six pillows, some big, some small, some cotton, some buckwheat, and split them amongst everyone.
Covered with blankets, the floor wasn’t as cold anymore. But, since the blankets had become their mattresses, they could only use the bed sheets as their blankets. Fortunately, the four-piece gift sets were more than enough for the six of them to pick and choose from, allowing them to follow their hearts and handpick the patterns they desired, either floral, checkered, cartoon-printed, or solid-colored, before they unwrapped them with unfettered pleasure.
“I’ve realized that once something doesn’t cost a penny, the more I look at it, the more pleasing to the eye it becomes.” Qiao Siqi tucked himself into his cartoon bed sheets, feeling blissful.
Song Fei also couldn’t wait to fling himself back into the embrace of his beloved floral patterns. Unfortunately, no one could ignore the call of nature.
“Where are you going?” Qi Yan blurted out when he saw Song Fei get up and head towards the back instead of going straight to sleep.
“Bathroom la.” With his back facing him, Song Fei gave a little wave as he continued onwards.
Qi Yan regretted asking such an unnecessary question, and lay back down in embarrassment.
The bathrooms in the supermarket were located in the office space for employee-use only, so they were unisex and had a fairly compact design, with three stalls in a row upon entering.
Song Fei had been studying here for nearly a year and a half, and yet this was his very first time using the bathrooms here. The stalls could block out other people, but couldn’t block out sound. Song Fei walked into the first stall closest to the door, undoing his pants while letting his imagination run wild, wondering what it’d be like if there were a female student next door right now. Presumably, it’d be an equally stressful experience for the both of them.
After relieving himself, Song Fei’s entire being felt refreshed. He couldn’t refrain from whistling as he tied his pants back up.
He was whistling one of Qi Yan’s favorite songs, “Learning”. Once upon a time, he’d been forced to listen to this song until he’d wanted to vomit because of Qi Yan. However much Qi Yan adored this song was however much he despised this song. He hated it to the point that he immediately proposed using it as bait when Qi Yan went to lure the zombies away— he couldn’t be the only one to suffer. It was better to drag a few zombies down with him anyway.
However, it was all too easy to fall back into old habits. Despite his undisguised loathing for it, the tune he was subconsciously whistling had regressed to precisely that very same nightmare-inducing melody. Song Fei also wanted to cry some tears of sympathy for himself.
“Love chili peppers~ Light chili peppers~ Green chili peppers~~~ Love chili peppers~ Light chili peppers~ Red chili peppers~~~ You have to study hard in school~~ In the future you have to get into college~~ After college you can get a job~~ With a job you’ll have a good life…”
The sound that suddenly rang out gave Song Fei a fright. It was no longer his whistling, but the bona fide original song. The cheerful tune produced an incongruous effect within the cramped stall.
Song Fei slapped the stall divider with displeasure, warning the source of that sound next door: “Qi Yan, turn that off at once!”
There was no response from next door, only a refrain composed with jarringly high notes.
Song Fei rolled his eyes. He violently yanked open his door, then walked up to the second stall, kicking at it: “You’re messing with me on purpose, aren’t you!”
The door wasn’t locked. With a guangdang, the door swung open effortlessly.
Song Fei froze on the spot. His blood ran cold.
Cold wind swirled in from the ventilation window above the stall.
Underneath the window, the zombie that had originally been sitting on the toilet had already let go of the cell phone, and was swooping over at lightning speed!
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt you leisurely playing on your phone in the bathroom, save me ahhhh—”
Author's Chapter Summary:
The landlines out of commission dashed their hopes, nibbling on popsicles to dispel their frustrations!
The translator has something to say: Hey, Song Fei, even zombies would like to take care of their call from nature in peace you know! And translating this chapter (the food and drink inventory) made me salivate too, who told me to translate it in the middle of the night, curses *munch* *munch*
The editor has something to say: en, ’tis the sign of a cultured zombie. the ancient art of cultivating on the toilet transcends species.
Oh boy. Run Song Fei. Qi Yan’s save him. Scary sia, no one notices the zombies in the toilet, they should close all windows.
Thanks for the chapter
You’re welcome! And indeed, no one notices things in some of the most obvious places just like no one looks up when they should (always the problem in horror movies, thrillers, and escape games)
Lol 😅 Will Qi Yan come to the rescue~?
Thank you for the chapter <3
You’re welcome~ And you’ll find out very soon, haha, don’t want to spoil it so I’ll just say it’ll be a surprising and also funny turn of events.
thanks for the chapter <3
You’re welcome~ <3
Didn’t Lin Dilei already used the bathroom? And that zombie was just sitting there all the time cultivating? lololol (That E/N made me laugh so hard ahahaha.)
Thx for the ch ٩(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )و
LOL i may or may not be guilty of sitting there just trying to finish a chapter instead of actually moving somewhere else so this relatable zombie is a mood
When the beautiful xuejie is more “manly” then all the men… 😂 😂 😂
Did Song Fei forget that Qi Yan’s phone should be outside still?
Hahah, Lin Dilei was described as valiant from the get-go and appearances are always deceiving. You always have to watch out for the quiet and/or pretty ones. She isn’t Little Landmine for a reason.
And the plan wasn’t for Qi Yan to toss his phone like they did with Qiao Siqi, but rather for Qi Yan to lead them away with his phone and then slid in through the ventilation window with his phone after the secured the doors of the supermarket. As they said its too wasteful for them to toss a phone each time they needed to lead zombies away.
Thanks for reading~
Qi Yan pisses me off, maybe because my personality is more like Fei’s, but dammit! You need all this scolding without even talking first ???? Okay, this part is understandable… but DUDE! You REALLY are a narcissistic guy! Realize that the love of your life is giving up on you! IDIOT!!!
He’s probably used to people revolving around him especially since he is handsome and smart. He’s too used to everything going how he wants it too, but what’s a story without character growth right?
Okay, makes sense.
O don’t know if it’s just me but I don’t understand what’s going on XD the way it’s written ( due to the Chinese writing style) is so hard to understand the concept