Translator: transcendentwings
The companions of Fighting for Survival Class 1 didn’t dare to make breakfast because they were constantly on standby in order to receive Song Fei and Lin Dilei at a moment’s notice. They were afraid that they’d be distracted, so they had only hastily consumed some of the snacks they had brought with them from the library to tide them over temporarily. Now that the people they were waiting for arrived, although one was relegated to the corner to draw circles, the companions still generously distributed the snacks to him as well.
The two classmates Lin and Song, who had a stomach full of soup, took the proffered snacks coolly, but then proceeded to dig in with relish.
The companions felt sorry for them and Qiao Siqi couldn’t help but lodge a complaint: “They didn’t even divide any of their food with you ah?”
“Divided and shared,” Song Fei hurriedly restored Class 2’s good reputation, “We drank a belly full of bean sprout soup ne!”
Qiao Siqi slapped the counter and shot to his feet: “That’s too inhuman. At any rate, we are facing the same adversities together, and they just gave two strands of bean sprouts?!”
“Uh,” Song Fei couldn’t bear to reminisce about the bean sprouts tour that they had just completed, “They had the same.”
Qiao Siqi was shocked for a while as the anger on his face instantly morphed into sympathy, muttering to himself: “It sounds so pitiful. . .”
Song Fei wanted to say something else when he heard Wang Qingyuan ask: “Qi Yan, what are you looking at?”
He turned around and found that Qi Yan was squatting in another corner and was currently lifting the arm of a zombie’s corpse, examining it intently. Perhaps he was too focused, but he didn’t respond to Wang Qingyuan’s words at all. Then in the next second, he suddenly brandished the utility knife and made an incision on the zombie’s forearm. After he made the cut, he probably felt that it wasn’t deep enough and so he started to saw back and forth with the blade.
The laceration was on the arm of the zombie, but it numbed the scalps of the companions.
Everyone involuntarily crowded into the corner where Song Fei was scribbling circles, gathering warmth from each other’s body temperature while observing the hair-raising, spine-chilling scene from afar. The wound on the arm of the zombie didn’t bleed so the visual impact was much more graphic, especially the part where Qi Yan was finally satisfied, put down the knife, and began to pry the gash open to take a better look inside. The peeled back flesh practically made their scalp explode with goosebumps.
“Qi, Qi-ge,” Luo Geng’s teeth chattered as he uttered this respectful title from the bottom of his heart, “It’s already dead and didn’t actually hurt us, there’s no need to be so cruel and abuse the corpse ba?”
Looking at the zombie corpse that no longer had any awareness as if he had nothing left to live for, Li Jingyu wanted to cry, he had a sense of impending doom that this would also be his fate: “I shouldn’t have beaten him in the 10 km race. . .”
Qi Yan seemed to have entered some kind of no man’s land and turned a deaf ear to all the racket. He only furrowed his brows and fixed his gaze intently as if a snow lotus would sprout from the wound in the next second.
Song Fei bear-hugged the each and every one of the companions and patted their heads soothingly. After he finished, he abruptly called out to Qi Yan: “Handsome young man—”
These three words were like a burst of electricity. Qi-tongxue, who was completely immersed in his own world before, didn’t hesitate at all when he snapped his head up: “En?”
The companions made a face. Obviously, this compliment and reaction had already become an instinctive response that was carved deep into the bones. It wasn’t difficult to imagine how cloying the two of them were when they had been officially going out.
“Did you discover anything?” Song Fei didn’t think there was anything inappropriate because he was so used to that pet name that it was no different from calling out the one surnamed Qi, hey, or that guy.
“Not sure yet, I’ll need to examine a few more.”
“Good luck.”
“En.”
The conversation ended and Qi Yan continued what he was doing. Song Fei retracted his gaze and explained to his confused classmates: “Don’t worry, it’s a professional habit of those studying biology, whenever they encounter a life form, then want to take a sample and place it underneath a microscope to study. Now that there is no microscope, he can only use his naked eye.”
Zhou Yilu: “Then when he says he needs to see a few more. . .”
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.
Song Fei: “That just means he needs to slice a few more arms open. Aren’t there a pile of cadavers over there ma, probably just one or two specimens wouldn’t be enough.”
Hljb Vldl: “Tbe vbc’a olcv la rlmxfclcu?”
Song Fei: “It’s nauseating ah. But if something useful really could be discovered from it, then no matter how disgusting, it’ll be worth it.”
Ktf mbwqjclbcr kfgf vewyobecvfv jcv jvwlgfv atf gfjiw bo fcilutafcwfca Vbcu Mfl tjv gfjmtfv ogbw atf ybaabw bo atflg tfjgar obg atf olgra alwf. . .
Vbcu Mfl: “Pa’r cba ilxf P’w atf bcf vblcu la.”
Xfa atf o*mx bea bo tfgf!
Pc bgvfg ab wjxf la wbgf mbcnfclfca ab yglcu atf xclof vbkc jcv wjxf mbwqjglrbcr, Hl Tjc abbx boo jii bo atf hbwylfr’ mibatfr, ijlv atf ybvlfr oija bc atf ugbecv, jcv ilcfv atfw eq rlvf ys rlvf. Mbg atf rjxf bo rjofas, Hl Tjc vbccfv atf yijmx ifjatfg uibnfr yfobgf wjxlcu j mea bc atf hbwylf ktfgfnfg tlr lcafgfra kjr qldefv.
Although the zombies’ corpses didn’t have any blood spurting out for some reason or another, this image alone was enough for the students of Fighting for Survival Class 1 to react with a strong physical discomfort. In the end, everyone didn’t huddle in the corner anymore and bodily ran to the opposite end of the kitchen, the farthest place from Qi Yan-tongxue. They turned their backs to him, taking deep breaths in order to adjust the constant churning in their stomachs.
After a long time, Zhou Yilu still felt extremely discomfited in his heart: “I’m just an ordinary university student, I really can’t do that.”
The companions refuted in unison: “Who the f*ck isn’t just a normal college student ah!”
Song Fei had also chimed in, which came as a shock to everyone: “You also can’t stand it anymore?”
“. . .” Although he could understand Qi Yan’s exploratory desire from a professional point of view and could even accept him making an incision to take a look, but it didn’t mean that he would welcome endless cuts ah! When they were dating, the two of them would go out to eat, study together, take aimless walks, and roll in the sheets, it excluded hands-on learning activities ah!
More than half an hour later, Qi-tongxue finally completed his research and generously offered to his companions: “Would you guys like to come over and have a look?”
“Nonono, as long as you’re satisfied, it’s fine. . .”
The companions were about to shake their heads off.
Qi Yan made a face and had no choice but to say: “Then come and lend a hand, let’s toss the corpses out the window because I won’t ever feel at ease when it just sits here, even if they could no longer transmit the zombie virus, it may still breed other bacteria.”
Song Fei covered his eyes and politely decline on behalf of the other companions: “You’ll have to work harder on your own ba. We really can’t handle this sort of thing where the guts and intestines will spill out all over the floor once we lift it up.”
Only after hearing that did Qi Yan realize why his comrade-in-arms were so resistant, his face was completely dark: “I didn’t perform an autopsy!”
Song Fei was taken aback and the others were dumbfounded. Qi Yan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry: “I just wanted to check out their muscle tissue and confirm my conjectures. I’m just a biology student, not a medical student. You guys are thinking too highly of me. . .”
Everyone approached shakily, only to find that the corpse was lying on the ground in a rather normal state. Because it wasn’t dressed in a stitch of clothing, it could be seen more clearly. Except for some wounds of different depths that marked the limbs, the body was basically undamaged. Although, of course, the head was a different story as the companions had struck it quite heavily in the previous brawl. But overall, it was still within an acceptable range.
Song Fei was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief, but he still thought that Qi Yan should take partial responsibility for this misunderstanding: “If you were only studying the arms and the legs then why did you strip off all of their clothing!”
Qi Yan answered matter-of-course: “Spread it on the floor and use it as bedding ah.”
Song Fei: “That. . . is a really superb idea.”
Everyone made a face in unison. They’ve finally come to an understanding that when dealing with Qi Yan, Song-tongxue’s momentum would never last more than six seconds.
Taking advantage of the current absence of zombies wandering around outside, Fighting for Survival Class 1 chose the easternmost window and worked together to send the corpses out, along with the swill of spoiled food. The sound from dumping the bodies wasn’t too bad, but the sound of pouring the swill out was loud, as a result, when it was time for them to close the window, a few zombies had already appeared around the corner.
When they were with Class 2, everyone joked around about how zombies were afraid of the cold, etc. But now, the more Song Fei thought about it, the more credible it seemed to him.
Lin Dilei, who was more meticulous, found a mop to clean up the swill that was spilled and the stains left over by the corpses. Following that, she whipped out a very exquisite, flat and round perfume bottle out of thin air and sprayed it twice in the air.
Just two times.
The odor had already dissipated a lot because of the open window, and now there was no longer any trace of it as it was replaced by the delicate fragrance that saturated the air which was lingering for a long time.
“It really is nice to bring a girl along ah.”
The male classmates were swept away by the haze of the faint fragrance and felt relieved and happy.
Lin Dilei wasn’t in the mood to care about them, and only embraced her own treasure, distressed to the point of sadness— The CHANEL that she had been reluctant to use ah, was used to spray the kitchen just like that.
Fighting for Survival Class 1 spread out the clothing and trousers left by the zombies. The thick outer layers were used to form a base layer, while the thinner layers were layered on top of each other to form a second and third layer, finally forming a makeshift futon that could barely accommodate eight people. However, this arrangement was only wide enough when the eight of them laid side by side with each person sacrificing a portion of their head and feet. Those who were shorter, could curl up a little and still work something out, but those who were taller had no choice but to place their legs directly on the floor.
The zombies’ clothing was intertwined with red and dark stains, there was mud, and there were bloodstains. Some bloodstains were dark and some were light, bright and muted, it was impossible to tell which belonged to the innocent students they had attacked and which belonged to themselves. Fortunately, Qi Yan found large black plastic bags, similar to the ones used in the trash cans situated on sidewalks, that were probably also used by the canteen to get rid of kitchen waste. Ripping them open and spreading them flat would be about one and a half to two square meters in area, so all the clothes only needed a few to be able to cover all of it up. When the edge was close to the seams, they were stuffed underneath the clothes and then a few large bowls were used to weigh down the four sides, then after reinforcing fixed points around the perimeter, a black plastic futon was completed beautifully.
Ultimately, Fighting for Survival Class 1 unlocked the achievement of a less chilly place to rest. Everyone wrapped themselves up in their padded coats and down jackets and finally settled down together. Qi Yan used this moment to explain his research results: “I’ve been thinking, if zombies could also be considered a life form, then if they want to maintain life, they must have an energy source. Through these few days’ observations, this energy can only be living people, because we’ve never seen them eat other things. But now there are so many zombies outside and not a single living person, while all the surviving students are also hiding and unwilling to come out, so why didn’t they starve to death?”
Everyone was stunned thoroughly by this sudden question that was tossed at them.
Even Song Fei, who understood his EX pretty deeply, couldn’t help but sigh, the thinking of academic tyrants really was different from that of ordinary plebeians. Normal people were currently mulling over what they wanted to eat while the academic tyrant had already begun to ponder over what zombies ate.
“Is it possible that they didn’t digest the person they bit to death all at once,” Zhou Yilu speculated, “Like leopards, they dragged them somewhere to squirrel away and dine slowly?”
“No,” Wang Qingyuan’s eyes flashed with cleverness behind his lenses, seemingly have captured the cusp of what Qi Yan wanted to say, “If they don’t finish off the people they bit in a short period of time, then the bitten person is likely to convert into a zombie halfway through. If they already transformed into zombies directly, how would they still wait to be dragged to another place to be stored?”
“Actually, after thinking about it carefully,” Song Fei tried hard to recall the journey from Zhiyuan Building, where the CET-4 exam took place, to the boys’ dormitories, and then to the library, “Disregarding the students who jumped off the building that were divided completely, the rest seemed to have been converted after being bitten, such as missing a piece of their face, or neck, and for others that had no obvious wounds, perhaps it was a bite on the hand or the leg that infected them. From a visual estimation, there are far more of those who mutated after being bitten than those who were eaten right away.”
“That doesn’t seem right, there’s a bug in this ah,” Qiao Siqi was rendered confused, “If they mutate while being gnawed on by the other party, then would the zombie continue to eat or just give up? If they continue to eat, then that means they also eat zombie flesh, if they give it up, then it’ll be even more ridiculous because then they’d basically be only getting one bite in before they abandon it. Going along with what Qi Yan was implying, there would be no energy for them to intake in the first place. Each person can only take one bite, and it may not be enough for them to even actually tear off a piece of meat, so what are they even consuming?”
“Could it be that some people mutate quickly after getting bitten while others take longer, similar to some viruses where some people get sick soon after being infected while others may not get sick for several years or more,” Li Jingyu conjectured, “So those who were rapid will become zombies and those who were slow were eaten?”
“That’s also wrong.” Song Fei narrowed his eyes, recalling the scene when the first zombie tide broke out, “When I was in the Zhiyuan building, I saw with my own eyes them casting aside those they took two bites out of just to attack others. Whether you look at lions or leopards, let’s say that they are chasing antelopes ba, they will all lock onto their target first then make the antelopes scatter as they lunge at the one they were eyeing. Once they caught it, they would drag them away to eat without hesitation and no matter how many other antelopes are fleeing around them, they won’t even spare them a glance. But these zombies aren’t like that, it gives me the feeling that it doesn’t matter whether they can eat or not, rather seeing one and then getting a bite out of them seems to be what they love. . .”
Once their conversation reached this point, they could no longer discuss it further because everyone realized that they had fallen into a chaotic world. It seemed that there were paths they could take everywhere, and a few steps could be taken towards anywhere, but somehow they couldn’t lock onto the right direction. They would only wander straight into a dead end or simply go back to where they originally started.
Song Fei inadvertently saw the determination in Qi Yan’s eyes from the corner of his eyes and understood immediately: “Wei, stop fooling around and spit out the truth.”
The unkind tone made Qi Yan furrow his brow in aggrievance and so he remained silent.
Song Fei was exasperated: “What do you want me to do, give you a kiss before you are willing to talk?”
Qi Yan’s eyes lit up like a sky full of stars with a swoosh!
The six companions also turned their heads to look at Song Fei in unison with a look of excitement and joy that read spectating the gossip trumps the trouble it might bring.
Song Fei made a face and wished he could give himself a slap on this mouth of his that spoke too quickly: “Uh, that, I see that you were all so serious and just wanted to liven up the atmosphere. . .”
Six pairs of disdainful eyerolls flew over and Song-tongxue simply pretended that he didn’t see them.
Qin Yan lowered his eyes in disappointment, seeing this, their comrades felt so sorry for him that they couldn’t wait to hang a “scumbag” label on Song Fei to parade through the streets with!
Song Fei feigned ignorance, but had actually already tied Qi Yan up and beaten him up 800 times in his heart! When they were dating, he was obviously so simple and honest, even when scolding him, he was blunt and never had to beat around the bush, so how come he transitioned from the idol group to the acting circle now! And he also acted so d*mn well!
Qi Yan didn’t need to even see Song Fei’s expression, just by glancing at his slightly twitching nostrils, and he knew that this person had already been provoked into anger. Although he felt a kind of shame and guilt of “I’m so bad” in his heart, the happy flock of doves couldn’t be stopped as they flew around in circles in his heart.
Clearing his throat with a cough, Qi Yan became more earnest, after all, they were discussing proper business right now—
“I think that it is their instinct to spread the virus, not to eat people. So they will be driven by this instinct to attack as many people as possible, bite them, and then pounce on the next after they finish gnawing on one. Only when there are no more of the living around would they continue to eat and this type of dining method isn’t necessarily absolute. Think about it carefully, we have seen so many zombies along the way, but we have seen very few corpses. If they really bit others on a larger scale, they would’ve left behind a bunch of remnants on the ground. Yet there are no remains, which means that very few people who were actually treated like a meal and those who were infected and transformed into zombies were the majority.”
Qi Yan laid out all of his thoughts in one breath which the companions needed time to digest it all completely.
While pondering over it, Wang Qingyan reacted the fastest and was the first one who realized the glaring error: “If, as you said, they only gnaw on people to spread the virus and only eat people in rare cases, then all of those zombies outside are living off of what? After all, as you’ve also mentioned before, all living creatures need energy.”
Qi Yan nodded and continued: “So I cut open their muscle tissue earlier in order to confirm my conjectures.”
Wang Qingyuan: “Was it proven?”
Qi Yan: “Pretty much, I suppose. I checked all of the corpses and their muscles and fat were all still in relatively stable states. For example, if a person didn’t eat any food and only drank water for a week, in order to maintain their life, their body would quickly burn their fat and muscle, just like when we first encountered you in the library, this kind of consumption is very obvious just by looking at it. But on those corpses just now, not only were there no signs of consumption caused by not eating for a long time on the surface, and even after making an incision and observing an internal section, there still were no such signs.”
Wang Qingyuan: “So the conclusion is?”
Qi Yan: “Their metabolism is extremely slow.”
Wang Qingyuan: “Eternal life?”
Qi Yan: “It shouldn’t be to that extent, but if you don’t eat or drink for a year and a half, or three to five years, maybe you can.”
Wang Qingyuan: “And after three to five years ne, basically all die together?”
Qi Yan: “There is such a possibility.”
Wang Qingyuan: “At that time, the scene would be spectacular.”
Qi Yan: “Indeed ah. . .”
Watching as the two academic tyrants fell into the endless fantasies of the future, the remaining six classmates exchanged looks, full of helplessness. Ultimately, Song Fei acted as their representative and interrupted the worrisome thoughts for the future of the academic tyrants: “Can the two of you temporarily shelve your concerns about the zombies aside and worry about how we will manage to persist through these same three to five years first. . .”
Author’s Chapter Summary:
Using worn clothes as a comforter to keep out the cold, academic tyrants pondering the viral theory!
The translator has something to say: I think psychologically I’d still be pretty disturbed to sleep on a bed of bloody clothing, but I guess beggars can’t be choosers
Sorry for being so late, I’ve had to pick up a lot of extra shifts lately
Thank you for the chapter!
I can’t believe Qi Yan is so composed over anatomy at this time. When will Song Fei soften up?!?
Now the gang is all on our side!!
how are they calling baby Song Fei scum and actually feeling bad for QY?!
thanks for the chapter <3
THANK YOU FOR THE CHAPTER!! I can’t express how much I love this novel! Can’t wait for more.!
Sorry, no matter how cute QY is acting right now if I was SF I wouldn’t soften