Translator: transcendentwings
Eventually, the moonlight shined from behind the heavy dark clouds after a struggle and the swirling snowflakes brought with it faint flickering sparks of light.
Song Fei retracted his gaze from the window, and saw their new companions in the kitchen, still wallowing in a low mood and remained silent, discomfited in their hearts. They all sat huddled near each other, some near the countertop, some near the corner of the wall, others sat right in front or right by their side. Their clothes were stained with dusty soil, smeared with dark red blood, and despite washing up, they couldn’t mask the fatigue etched into their faces, nor the fear hidden at the base of their eyes. All were products of the hair-raising experiences they had on their journey here that didn’t need to be explicitly pointed out to them for them to be able to perceive it.
Zhao He irritably took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and held one in his mouth, but before he could light it, Song Fei snatched it away. He was completely baffled by that action and his brows furrowed higher than the tip of a mountain: “What’s that for?”
“You’d have to quit sooner or later, better sooner than later.”
Zhao He heard what he was saying, but didn’t understand: “Why would I need to quit?”
Song Fei pondered it for a bit and stated very sternly: “Actually, I have no right to speak on this matter. I suggest you discuss it with John.”
The foreign name that was suddenly mentioned made Zhao-tongxue a little perplexed: “There are also foreign exchange students in your class?”
Song Fei made a face and quickly explained: “Nonono, a compatriot.”
Zhao He also made a face, he didn’t even know where he should begin roasting: “Things are already in this state, can we not show off?”
Song Fei was also innocent in all of this. He didn’t make it his business to create English names, he was only Qiao Siqi’s distributor ah!
Seeing that the conversation between the two was hindered, He Zhiwen, a student from the Physics Department, who had listened in for a long time but still didn’t hear any content of substance, couldn’t help it anymore and interrupted somewhat foolishly: “That, Song Fei?”
“En,” Song Fei decisively gave up on his engagement with Zhao He and looked at the amicable He-tongxue, “What’s up?”
“I just heard you holler Fighting for Survival Class 1 at them down below, are you guys in the Peking Opera major of the Arts Department?” The round eyes behind He Zhiwen’s circular glasses were naive and innocent.
Song Fei: “. . .”
Feng Qibai held his forehead, feeling completely hopeless: “I know the majors in our department are quite varied and incongruous, but this Peking Opera one, really doesn’t exist.”
“We aren’t from the same department.” Lin Dilei didn’t know whether to laugh or cry and helped Song Fei explain, “There are a total of eight of us. Just like you, we gathered together while we were running for our lives. We are all from various departments.”
He Zhiwen: “Then Fighting for Survival Class 1. . .”
Lin Dilei: “Is a name we gave ourselves, that way we’d be more established as a group. It’d feel safer and more solid, after all the strength of a collective force is greater ma.”
He Zhiwen: “En, and the combat power of Students of the Martial Arts sounds more impressive, it’s awesome!”
Song Fei interrupted: “That’s not it, our full name is Mighty and Unyielding Fighting for Survival Class 1!”
He Zhiwen: “. . .”
Lin Dilei: “We also have a class slogan ne!”
He Zhiwen: “Ah?”
Lin Dilei: “Ready— Go!”
Song, Ling: “Mighty and Unyielding Fighting for Survival Class 1, all monsters and demons will be eliminated!!!”
He Zhiwen: “. . . Many thanks, I have no further questions.”
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.
On this side, He Zhiwen needed a break to recover from his internal injury while the companions downstairs were wound up and shaken by that warcry—
Hl Tjc: “Qtja tjqqfcfv?!”
Vbcu Mfl wjvf j ojmf jcv tegglfvis gfrqbcvfv: “Rbatlcu!”
Hl Tjc tjv j wfcaji ygfjxvbkc: “Po cbatlcu’r kgbcu atfc ktja jgf sbe rtbealcu obg—”
Vbcu Mfl yfmjwf lgjaf: “P kjr rtbklcu atfw atf rasif bo beg mijrr!”
Hl Tjc wjvf j ojmf: “. . .”
Vbbc joafg, Qjcu Hlcusejc’r nblmf oibjafv eq: “Pa’r olcf ab vfwbcragjaf la, yea qjs jaafcalbc ab atf fzafca, vbc’a qeii juugb.”
“. . .” Song Fei looked around at his new companions and felt that it was probably already too late.
As if Lin Dilei realized something, she suddenly zipped over to the window like she was flying, frightening Song Fei so much that he broke out in a cold sweat and thought that zombies had scaled the building. However, Lin Dilei who cracked the window open wasn’t gearing for combat, instead she stuck her head out and looked down below, quickly hollering at their comrades below: “Stop shouting, the zombies are already gathering!”
With that reminder, Song Fei also realized that if they communicated like this with yelling and shouting, it would definitely lure the zombies over, just like how they had initially spoken too loudly in the dormitories and drew zombies over that rammed on the door. It didn’t matter for the second floor kitchen, but the window in the first floor kitchen was easy to bypass by just vaulting in from an standing position on the ground outside. It didn’t matter that it was a full-length tempered glass window with a lock, it was still better to try not to provoke the zombies.
The companions who were battle tempered understood instantly. The wholenreason why they originally hadn’t opened the window and were only yelling while they stood safely in the room was exactly for the purpose of vigilance against the zombies ne. But there was no such thing as an airtight wall in this world and shouting from inside the room still wasn’t a feasible long-term plan.
There were blinds on all the kitchen windows. Seeing that there already were zombies who were lunging over enthusiastically, Luo Geng and Zhou Yilu let the blinds down in a fluster and adjusted them to a fully closed state so that the zombies could no longer view the interior of the kitchen. To a certain extent, the lack of visual stimulation would more or less decrease their urge to hunt.
As they let down the blinds, the other comrades all tacitly retreated slightly further away from the window— after blocking the visual, the next step was to try their best to dampen the smell of their breath from leaking through any possible gaps near the window. Therefore after the two pulled the blinds, they very naturally gave Qi Yan, who was still standing in place, a yank and attempted to shift him further in.
However Qi Yan didn’t budge at all to the tug.
The two were perplexed, but Qiao Siqi on the other side understood it with one look and persuaded carefreely: “Relax ba, didn’t you hear that the two were bursting with energy, the classmates upstairs must be very friendly la.”
Qi Yan’s thin lips moved slightly as if he wanted to say something, but Wang Qingyuan cut in before he could speak: “Not necessarily.”
Qiao Siqi didn’t think that it would be Wang-tongxue who would speak against him and instantly became displeased: “Then pray tell what’s your amazing insight?”
Wang Qingyuan responded lightly: “Those who can listen to them chant the class slogan with such rapt attention aren’t just amicable, they should be called foolishly naïve sweethearts.”
Qiao Siqi: “. . . In the future, if you’re an ally, please reveal your identity first alright!”
Qi Yan was messed around with until he was annoyed and commented darkly: “Even if they are cordial, we still need to find out about the environment they are in, how many people there are, and whether the doors or windows are secure. After all, in this kind of situation, the sort of actions that some would take, can’t be guaranteed.”
The comrades were silent, no one could refute these words.
After a long while, Li Jingyyu weakly piped up: “Now we can’t shout, there’s no cell signal, and no internet connection. Even if you wanted to ask about the situation, there is nothing we can do ah.”
Qi Yan pursed his lips and furrowed his brows as he fell into deep thought.
The comrades exchanged glances helplessly—
[Zhou Yilu: True love ah, not giving up until there is no longer anywhere to go.]
[Qiao Siqi: Won’t cry until he sees the coffin.]
[Luo Geng: Won’t turn back unless he hits the southern wall.]
[Li Jingyu: He who fails to reach the top of the Great Wall isn’t a hero.]
[Qiao Siqi: Song Fei’s nickname is Great Wall?]
[Wang Qingyuan: . . .]
Are there any comrades who won’t drive, if there are, then Wang-tongxue of the History Department wants seven of them. Copy and paste to replace them all in one motion!
“Song Fei—”
Qi Yan, who had been racking his brains, had an epiphany and roared at the sky.
The comrades were all startled and their telepathic conversation through eye contact was interrupted. Song-tongxue’s exasperated response quickly came from above: “What now—”
Qi Yan remained unruffled and got straight to the point: “Turn on bluetooth.”
The companions were so full of admiration that they wanted to prostrate themselves in reverence— who said that people in love were all fools, pei, they’re crazy!
Song Fei on the second floor of the canteen was stunned for a moment before realizing Qi Yan’s intentions. He was preparing to communicate with him via mobile phone. However the question was, was it possible to connect using bluetooth between different floors? Song Fei really didn’t believe it.
But the first floor had already spoken. It must’ve been the organization’s decision made by the class collectively and the trigger must’ve been because they were still worried about him and Lin Dilei. This is what Song Fei naively thought as he took out his phone and turned on bluetooth.
Ideals really suffered a slap in the face by reality.
The search queue was blank, absolutely nothing showed up.
Song Fei kept refreshing over and over again, but still came up with nothing. It made him so anxious that he almost smashed his phone. That’s how things always were. If you don’t do it then it’s whatever, even your reason will tell you that it’s impossible, but if you attempt it with a “maybe it’d possible ne” mentality, if it fails, you’ll be extremely vexed.
Song Fei abruptly sprung up and began to pace around the kitchen, seeking a spot that had thinner flooring.
The companions behind him couldn’t stand it any longer, Feng Qibai even directly just took out his own cell phone: “Isn’t it just bluetooth, I turned it on for you to connect to. You can search for it, the name is Michaelangelo of the Northwest.”
Song Fei: “. . .”
The failure to match was a heavy blow to Qi Yan, but it was improbable to connect between different floors in the first place. Then later when Song Fei quieted down, he also became well-behaved. He sighed in defeat and began to roll up his sleeves to tidy up the kitchen.
When the zombie tide broke out, they just so happened to be preparing for lunch here. Some dishes that weren’t affected by the cold were already completed and served in large square plates, all neatly arranged on the counter, while most of the dishes were still in their respective woks. There was a long and connected kitchen range with more than a dozen stove tops, each had a large wok placed on top with semi-finished products stewing inside. Some of the spatulas used for stir-frying were left haphazardly in the wok, others fell onto the floor, and there were a few where the accompanying spatula couldn’t even be located at all, perhaps because they were used as makeshift weapons by the chefs.
The heating in the kitchen also relied on the heater, as such the interior was now dark and cold. Even so, dishes that were rotting were rotten, those that were spoiling were spoiled, others that were growing mold were moldy, tacking on the zombie corpses that were strewn on the ground chaotically, the combination of the various odors formulated a stench that made one desire to vomit. If it wasn’t that the ground floor kitchen was spacious enough, then it was estimated that they would have been choked to death the moment they rushed in.
Whether it was the skirmishes from before, or rescuing the comrades from the tree or the rooftop, their nerves were already pulled taut, and so they had been numb to it. But now that they’ve calmed down, they started to feel nauseous. So when they saw Qi Yan’s actions, the companions also sprung into action and dragged the empty large plastic bins from the corner, pouring the mess that was in the woks into it. In the end, they put the lids on and covered them with big black plastic bags before pushing them into the farthest corner. Finally, the pots and pans that needed to be rinsed were washed, those that needed to be scoured were scrubbed, and the blood-splattered ground was mopped clean. For a while the sound of water rushing from the faucet was incessant and it was the labor scene depicting the many sacrifices made to achieve all of their ambitions.
Just when the companions on the first floor were sweating buckets, the second floor sunk into a peculiar silence. Although Song-tongxue didn’t successfully connect via bluetooth, he found inspiration from within it. Working with the principle of letting his fellow companions understand their situation and feel at ease, he started kaka typing a memo on his cell phone furiously.
However, he wasn’t completely focused on writing his script. Instead, after typing a few words, he’d glance at his new companions, cycling back and forth as if he wasn’t typing words on his cell phone, rather he was drawing a sketch of Zhao He and the others with his two thumbs. In the end, the six of them were stared at until goosebumps broke out all over and instinctively sat closer together, trying to absorb each other’s warmth.
Fu Xiyuan: “What’s he doing?”
Wu Zhou: “It looks like he’s texting.”
Zhao He: “If he’s texting then he should stick to texting, what is he glancing at us for?”
Huang Mo: “He should be reporting our situation to the others downstairs.”
Feng Qibai: “There is no signal, how can he report?”
He Zhiwen: “He probably already figured out a way ba, just look at his accomplished look.”
“Hei.” The person who had been slandered suddenly called out to them, “What’s your class called?”
The six of them exchanged glances, baffled: “En?”
Lin Dilei smiled, getting the gist of what Song Fei was trying to say, and helped him explain: “Our name is Mighty and Unyielding Fighting for Survival Class 1, so you should also name yourselves ma. It’s such a miraculous predestined affinity for our two groups to break out of the dorms and gather here. Once you’ve formed a class, you won’t be fighting alone anymore. Trust me, it’s a wonderful feeling.”
Song Fei once again asked his friends on the first floor to lure the zombies to the east, then he and Qi Yan opened the western window, sticking their cell phones out to connect their bluetooth. At that time, their sanitation work on the first floor was pretty much completed and Qi Yan had just settled down, crouching in front of the zombie corpse that was next to the bin ready to start investigating, when he had nearly thrown himself onto the corpse out of fright due to Song Fei’s roar.
Qiao Siqi, Zhou Yilu, and Luo Geng just so happened to be bored so they volunteered to strike in the east as they opened the window and started up a deeply touching papapa. Qi Yan waited patiently, aimed for the right timing, then quickly opened the window and stretched out his arm to complete the pairing with Song Fei as swiftly as possible. Li Jingyu watched the whole process extremely on edge and didn’t dare to make a peep. He could only hope in his heart that Qi Yan’s hands wouldn’t tremble, after all, he had only bought this new cell phone less than two months ago.
After finally receiving the complete image, Qi Yan closed the window at the speed of light and ducked back from underneath the blinds. The trio on the other end had already closed the window in advance because the zombies converged faster than they had expected. Fortunately, the information transfer had already been successfully completed.
It was a screenshot of a densely packed memo. The six heads of Fighting for Survival Class 1 drew close together and were collectively updated on Song Fei and Lin Dilei’s current situation—
[To my comrades, reading these words is like meeting face-to-face. Little Landmine and I are currently located right above your heads, all is well. This is the kitchen for the Korean Specialty Food Service Window. It isn’t very spacious, but it had already been tidied up. There are a lot of stone pots, seaweed flakes, raw cold noodles, rice, vacuum-sealed rice cake, pickled radish, kimchi and more, so don’t get hung up on whether we’d have food for dinner. There are six people on the other team who escaped from the dorms yesterday and arrived here. They are united, friendly, and welcomed us pleasantly as well as enthusiastically. I also illustrated our experiences to them and received smiles in exchange for our sincerity. After the sun rises tomorrow, the two of us will return to the unit as soon as possible, no need to long for us. PS. They were unwilling to elect a class name so I’ll just use Mighty and Unyielding Fighting for Survival Class 2 as a placeholder. The members of this class are as follows: Zhao He from the Competitive Sports major of the Athletics Department (dashing baldy!), Fu Xiyuan from the Social Sports major of the Athletics Department (simple and honest), Wu Zhou from the Social Sports major of the Athletics Department (sunny), He Zhiwen from the Physics Department (genuine), Feng Qibai of the Sculpting Department (lively), Huang Mo of the Psychology Department (half-goddess?).]
The six comrades felt completely relieved when they read until the end. Although he didn’t mention it explicitly, in fact in the current situation, whenever they met a new group of people they would more or less be disgruntled in their hearts. They won’t harm others, but they can’t be completely without any safeguards either. However, looking at Song Fei’s state in the screenshot, although they can’t quite describe it as a fish returning to water, it did seem like a home away from home, making them somewhat relieved. Even if they took a step back to reconsider it all and assumed that Song Fei was a bad judge of character as the true nature of the six of them was wicked, it would still be eight against six so they weren’t completely powerless to fight back.
It’s just that—
Qiao Siqi: “Did you guys notice the two punctuation marks in the parentheses. . .”
Luo Geng: “It indeed causes some questions for concern ah.”
Li Jingyu: “The question mark represents uncertainty bei, besides, how can there be such a thing as a real semi-goddess.”
Zhou Yilu: “What about the explanation mark?”
Wang Qingyuan: “It should be the expression of true innermost feelings.”
Five pairs of eyes swept over to Qi Yan simultaneously. The latter pondered it for a moment then suddenly lifted his head and hollered upwards: “Who is more handsome—”
The response from Song-tongxue came promptly from above: “About the same ba—”
Qi Yan: “How great is the difference?”
Song Fei: “Just a bit, he’s someone who’s handsomeness index is the closest to yours that I’ve ever seen so far! Ai, didn’t we agree to not have you shout!”
Qi Yan: “En, it’s all good.”
The four companions watched Qi Yan’s expressionless face morph into an expressionless face that was putting a lot of effort into restraining a happy smile that the muscles at the corners of his mouth twitched. They really couldn’t conjure up the right phrase to ridicule this act of childishness. Only Qiao Siqi didn’t think this was a kind of immaturity or it might be more accurate to say it didn’t matter to him whether or not Qi Yan was immature anymore—
“I really want to burn this gay couple to death. . .”
The opinions downstairs were at odds with each other while those upstairs were exchanging looks. They weren’t like Fighting for Survival Class 1 ne. After all, class 1 read the memo so there was no obstacle to understanding the subsequent brief exchange, but class 2 didn’t view the screenshot from beginning to the end and was only sure that Song Fei wrote about the situation on the second floor. Thus they were completely in the dark and befuddled by the following comment about being handsome or not.
Author’s Chapter Summary
The future possibilities are broad for those who act collectively, the temporary class brings copious joy!
The translator has something to say: Somehow Qi Yan’s childishness is kind of adorable, what to do. . . And haha, Song Fei exposed his true nature, he’s a face-con
Also so sorry for posting so late!
Thanks for the chapter.
I’m ready for our couple to reunite already. Silly Song Fei spending a night out without his husband.
Really smart of Qi Yan to think of Bluetooth to communicate. Also I died at Song Fei’s memo and Qi Yan yelling back up to ask who’s handsomer.
And I completely agree, Qi Yan’s childishness is really cute lol.
Thank you so much for the chapter!