Zombie UniversityCh42 - United Cooperation

Translator: transcendentwings


Little Landmine, who was extremely clever, was able to control the heat better by dinner time. Although it was still completed in a hectic manner, the two dishes and one soup that were ultimately presented to the male classmates of Wusheng Class 1 in the end practically caused them to burst into tears. It was unknown if he was stimulated, but with the high level performance that Little Landmine just demonstrated, the skills of Zhou of the Rice also advanced by leaps and bounds. Not only did it not have raw grains mixed in, but it could even be considered to have the bounciness and softness of Q and each grain smelled divine. pu0SF2

The sweet and sour tenderloin that stirred up their appetite.

The salty and rich braised eggplant strips.

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The light and bright winter melon with dried shrimp soup.

Paired with a bowl of crystal clear white rice or chewy steamed buns—under the frenzy of Luo-tongxue, who loves carbs, Zhou of the Rice was forced to pull out a frozen steamed bun from the freezer and stuff it into the rice steamer cooker to heat up—what more could be asked for! MQBE k

The eight of them sat in a small circle around the dishes. They hadn’t moved their chopsticks yet, but were already captivated by the overflowing aroma of the dishes. This fragrance wasn’t just from the finished product before them, rather most of it was actually from the process of cooking. The fragrance that arose from the stir-frying as a result of the high flame still hadn’t dispersed at this time and strongly stimulated everyone’s taste buds.

“If you guys aren’t going to make a speech or something, I’ll just start eating?” Qiao Siqi, who had swallowed who knows how many mouthfuls of saliva, couldn’t bear it anymore and even the chopsticks in his hand practically seemed to have a mind of its own and had reached for the food several times as if it had wings.

Luo Geng tore a big chunk out of his steamed bun, stretched out his chopsticks and snagged three strips of the eggplant at once. Before his companions could blink, he had already picked up a chunk of tenderloin with another movement of his chopsticks, the speed of his hand was beyond the realm of human beings.

Qiao Siqi made a face, it was a waste of his time to ask that rhetorical reason!

0NDjp6

With the magnificent power demonstrated by the role model, everyone no longer acted polite and the sixteen chopsticks performed a back and forth clash, making a clean sweep of the food.

Dong.

Halfway through the meal, everyone’s speed had basically slowed down and their cheeks that chewed continuously couldn’t bear it any longer either, thus the muffled sound that resounded in the kitchen after they gradually quieted down, became particularly clear.

All of the companions who were cupping their rice bowls froze. Nlw3Xv

Dong, dong.

Another two times!

Song Fei shot to his feet, ran a few steps to the westernmost window, and quietly parted a slit between the blinds to look out sneakily.

He had prepared himself to come face-to-face with a hideous mug, but there were unexpectedly no zombies outside the window, only a familiar white radish that was tied to the end of a rope made from several plastic bags tied up together. It was currently kissing their window pane repeatedly with the undulation of the makeshift rope. KB8IMu

It was the beginning of night and the light that shone through the window shutters shrouded the white radish hanging in the dark with a strange halo.

Song Fei’s tense nerves relaxed and somewhat speechlessly ducked under the blinds. He opened the window a crack, then rapidly stuck his head out and asked in a low voice to those above: “What is it—” After he asked, he didn’t wait for an answer, before he quickly shrunk back and locked the window again.

Those above seemed to be stunned for a moment and then whispered: “Look at the radish!”

Across from the window, the not-so-loud voice became even more indistinct, but Song Fei kept his ears alert and had pressed himself against the crevice between the window, so he was able to catch it all. He immediately looked back at the fat white radish, only then did he notice that there was a note stuffed in between the end of the plastic bag rope where it was tied to the radish. y8SJ4O

Song Fei opened the window for a second time, stretched out his arm to grab the radish and speedily removed the note. After re-locking the window, he backed out from under the blinds, and borrowed the light to unravel the small note only to see that it was densely covered in words. First there were two lines written in lively and vigorous flourishes with a big font that was crossed out for one reason or another, and following below that were clean and exquisite characters written in a small font—

[Upon illuminating the night, we smelled the aromas, its fragrance was overflowing, our hearts were ensnared. Willing to offer kimbap, in exchange for a small taste, you’ll get the icing on the cake, and we’ll receive the memories of our hometowns. If your honorable selves find it agreeable, tap the body of the radish lightly, like delivering charcoal in snow, you’ll have our undying gratitude.]

Chrysanthemum Garden.

Song Fei pondered it for a moment, then held up the note again, trying to decipher the large strip of black characters that were crossed out in such a way that even one’s father almost wouldn’t recognize it, and was finally able to identify it character by character under the illumination of the light. Of course, the style of the typeface of the writer itself also played a role, it was flamboyant to the extreme, and no matter how brutally it was scratched out, it’s wanton evil influence couldn’t be suppressed entirely—

[What did you guys make, the smell has floated up through the exhaust pipe, and is too d*mn fragrant] 3NVOZ

“What are you looking at?”

The companions naturally inquired after watching Song Fei stand by the window, repeatedly opening and shutting it, and was now examining a strange note.

“Upstairs seemed to have caught a whiff of our dishes and wanted us to split some for them to eat.” The main gist of the note written by the students of Class 2 wasn’t too difficult to decipher, but there were some detailed intricacies Song Fei had yet to figure out, so he perfunctorily brushed off his companions with that single sentence without looking back and continued to study the note.

The seven of them exchanged glances, their mood slightly subtle. 4ro0iy

It stood to reason that since they considered the others fellow classmates, sharing wasn’t off the table. However, after all, now wasn’t the same as the past. It was fine to offer some today, it was also okay to give some tomorrow, but what if they asked for a month or two ne, should you share it or not? And since they wanted something, they should at least be more polite ba. Isn’t just one sentence of, we caught its scent, would it be too much trouble to split some with us, considering oneself too familiar?

After a thousand twists and turns, Qi Yan found that Song Fei was still standing over there and became a little puzzled: “Just two sentences, you don’t need to look at them for that long ba.”

“Who said it was only two sentences?”

“. . .” eKIdwL

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 walked over with a frown and handed the note over to Qi Yan: “There are quite a few serious sentences ne, all scholarly and refined.”

Qi Yan accepted the note and skimmed over it quickly. Seeing that the other classmates were also curious, he simply passed the note over to Li Jingyu: “Come and translate it ba.”

As the most authoritative figure of scholarly texts in Wusheng Class 1, Li Jingyu-tongxue lived up to everyone’s expectations. He read through the note over and over, then read it aloud in a low and soothing voice, full of emotion—

“In this evening when the lights were first turned on, a fragrant aroma shocked us out of our listlessness. That strong scent of food, riding the wind, shook our minds and we developed a yearning for it. We are willing to use our kimbap in exchange for some of your leftovers and cold soup ah. Just let these exotic flavors spice up your dinner a bit ba, so that we may also recall our hometown through these intimate home-cooked dishes in exchange. If you all are in agreement, please tap the window with the radish. For this act of kindness by delivering charcoal in the snow ah, we’ll offer our eternal gratitude!” geChxS

Ktf olcji rsiijyif Ol Alcuse eaafgfv vlrrlqjafv lc atf fwqas xlamtfc jr rfnfc qjlgr bo fsfr ribkis aegcfv ab Vbcu Mfl.

Ktf ijaafg rqgfjv tlr tjcvr: “Cr P rjlv fjgilfg, atfs pera kjcafv ab jrx er obg rbwf obbv.”

Cii atf mbwgjvfr-lc-jgwr wjvf j ojmf: “Ktlr jcv ktja sbe rjlv jgf yjrlmjiis akb mbwqifafis vloofgfca cbafr!”

The classmates of Class 2 weren’t getting it for nothing. They planned to exchange food for food and weren’t trying to take advantage at all, even the note was written in a simple and honest manner. Once they imagined that these six classmates would continue to be stuck with the taste of a singular foreign country for the foreseeable future, the comrades in Class 1 were suddenly flooded with infinite sympathy. 9mhc H

The application for the barter was unanimously approved. Song Fei tapped the radish and knocked on the window, while Lin Dilei packaged the dishes and soup. Very quickly, the kimbap were sent down and the common home-cooked meals were sent up. It was fair and reasonable, satisfying both sides.

After closing the window, Song Fei walked back with the kimbap, but unexpectedly stepped on some residual water that was left behind by their snowball fight. He lost his entire center of gravity and fell forward on the ground!

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

Guang.

Song Fei felt that even his chest muscles were about to be shaken loose by the floor. 2N7kYO

The kimbap was also thrown two meters away. Fortunately, the bag was fastened tightly, and didn’t result in any serious consequences.

Qiao Siqi hurriedly got up and came over. . . to pick up the kimbap.

Qi Yan passed John and walked over to Song Fei, squatting down to help him up: “Are you okay.”

Song Fei grimaced in pain, just as he was about to holler a few words to gain some sympathy, his eyes suddenly flashed. Pushing aside Qi Yan’s hand, Song Fei crouched on the ground and made his way to the front of the shelf next to him. He placed his face against the floor and peeked into the gap underneath it. HdMICk

Qi Yan was befuddled, and just when he wanted to ask, Song Fei suddenly leapt up and dashed to Zhou Yilu to demand: “Where’s your spear?”

Zhou Yilu was currently drinking soup and almost spat it back out. It took him a long time to realize that he was asking him about his improvised sushi knife-spear. He rapidly dug out his long spear for this ancestor and presented it to him.

Song Fei didn’t waste any time and ran back to the shelf again to lie down after he received it. He reached the slender metal rod into the gap and forcefully swept horizontally!

A black remote control was swiped out. vnf7Ea

Qi Yan picked up the remote control, pondered it for a moment, then his eyes flashed with surprise: “For the TV outside?”

Song Fei nodded vigorously: “Definitely!”

There were two TVs in the hall on the first floor of the university canteen that were set up in the east and west areas respectively and would magically turn on whenever it was meal time. Usually it showed either CCTV-13 or CCTV-1. The TVs were hung at high places on load-bearing columns, which ordinary students could only raise their heads to look at it from a distance and couldn’t fiddle with it, let alone change the station unless they stood on top of a table.

Because most of the students who dined in the canteen tried to ignore this bringer of positive energy both intentionally or unintentionally, over time, they merged the TV and the wall into a single existence in their minds. This was also why Song Fei and the others only remembered, f*ck, there’s a TV in the canteen!, when he happened upon the remote control. Q2wF3k

Everyone was excited, and their hearts, which were almost dead because of being disconnected from the internet, any cell signal, and the landlines, rekindled with the fire of hope.

“What do you guys think,” Song Fei tried hard to make his voice sound calm, “Will the country broadcast news or warnings on TV for such a large-scale and catastrophic viral infection?”

This was a very delicate and even a little sensitive question.

The companions didn’t know how to answer for the moment. They weren’t Fengqing, or 50 cents, so there was no way for them to immediately stand firm and give a definitive answer either way. dfgbHh

“I think they will.” Song Fei answered the question himself, a persistent light shone in his eyes, “So I want to take a gamble.”

His comrades understood that he wanted to make an attempt to rush out and turn on the TV in the hall, risk his life and bet on their country pulling through.

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It was the eighteenth day of the zombie tide outbreak and still, no rescue had come.

“I’ll go with you.” Qi Yan suddenly declared, “The transparency of information is the first step in counter-attacking this sort of mass crisis, I’ll make this wager with you.” B4p2RI

Song Fei looked at him in disbelief, his throat a little dry. A long time passed before he asked incredulously: “What if we lost this bet?”

Qi Yan thought about it seriously and gave a firm answer: “Then I won’t let you off even if I become a ghost.”

Song Fei: “. . .”

“Are you guys acting out separation in life and death for us to see?” Lin Dilei interjected angrily between the two of them, “We didn’t say we wouldn’t take a chance ah. But we shouldn’t force it, we must formulate a strategy!” nDhLx9

Five minutes later, the door to the kitchen on the first floor, which hadn’t been opened since they stormed in, was gently pushed agape slightly. The movement of the person opening the door was extremely light, exceedingly quiet, that they hardly made a peep. Behind the gap, a half-squinted eye was surveying the main hall vigilantly.

The moonlight poured in from the floor-length windows, casting a layer of obscurity in the dark hall. The hall was mute, yet it was a dangerous sort of silence. The eyes behind the gap blinked frequently and gradually adjusted to the darkness. Then in the next second, the owner of the eye slammed a hand over their mouth and suppressed the sound of sucking in a cold breath in the depths of their throat.

The main hall was packed full of zombies!

They crowded in a cluttered way, and the immensity of their ranks made the whole hall look like a subway car during the morning rush hour. Their expressionless faces glowed palely when bathed in the moonlight, and their mouths remained slightly ajar as if they were waiting to take a bite out of their prey at any time. A26MD8

The recess was closed quietly and the lock was reengaged. Song Fei leaned against the door on his back and slid to the floor, his legs still weak.

The zombies were not what was scary, but such a dense and terrifying scene was still very impactful and those who don’t have trypophobia would probably also end up contracting it.

“They’re all in the hall,” Song Fei babbled incoherently, then he paused to recover before he continued: “We’ve seen a lack of zombies outside for the past two days because they’ve all crowded into the hall.”

Wang Qingyuan: “The entire hall?” P J3D8

Song Fei: “Packed like sardines.”

The companions were reticent. They didn’t have to look, just replace the magnificent scene of the sea of students queuing in the canteen and those who were occasionally waiting to find a seat at noon on Mondays from their memories with a zombie version, then voilà.

“Can we proceed?” Li Jingyu asked.

“Yes,” Song Fei nodded, “Using our customary trick, raise a ruckus in the east and strike in the west.” RDp8S9

Zhou Yilu furrowed his brows: “If there are that many zombies, then perhaps when we haven’t even lured half away yet, we’d have to shut the window. Then you still won’t be able to break out.”

“There has to be a way to attract the zombies for a longer time. . .” Song Fei muttered to himself, lost in thought.

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The second floor of the canteen, the Korean specialty kitchen.

Fu Xiyuan: “Aiai, you’ve already eaten so much, don’t fight for the last bite too ah!” rYXC3P

Zhao He: “Among the martial arts under the heavens, only swiftness cannot be defeated.”

Fu Xiyuan: “Git.”

Wu Zhou: “How can there be such a beautiful and virtuous sister ah, whichever man who gets to marry her will die happy in this life.”

Feng Qibai: “I think that our Huang Mo also isn’t bad.” O IhVz

He Zhiwen: “She’s already lost a lot due to her height.”

Huang Mo: “Bring the pen over, I’ll write another application letter for admission to their class.”

He Zhiwen: “I was wrong. . .”

“Class 2, drop the radish—” o7srK4

The sudden call shattered the happy dinner time on the second floor.

The six of them exchanged glances for a long time, but it was still Zhao He and Huang Mo who got up—the former had long arms and was responsible for retracting the radish on the rope while the latter had a quick mind and could judge the situation at any time.

The radish was quickly let down and rapidly brought back up as it was, only there was an extra note attached to it.

Zhao He unraveled the note that only had a few words on it. It was concise and to the point. After reading through it, his face turned green. p kDwZ

Huang Mo saw that there was something wrong with the situation and reached out to take the note, after reading it through to the end, she finally understood.

The remaining four students were still waiting on the sidelines. Huang Mo didn’t keep them waiting for long and directly announced the contents of the note: “Class 1 wants to break into the hall to turn on the TV to see if there was some news about the outside on the TV, so they need our help.”

Everyone instantly became tense: “How can we help?”

“They just want us to sing outside the window on the second floor and lure out the zombies in the hall. There may be a risk of the zombies climbing up, but according to our observations from the past few days, the outer wall of the canteen is very slippery so the actual risk isn’t very large.” MWXp w

“Then let’s help ah,” Wu Zhou didn’t even think about it, “It would be great if we could find out news about the outside.”

The male students all nodded in unison, not understanding why Zhao He was so resistant to this request for aid that was as easy as lifting one’s finger.

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Huang Mo sighed and wanted to pat Zhao He on the shoulder, but felt that the height difference was too troublesome so she simply patted the other’s lower back, “We already ate their food so we owe them, go ahead ba.”

Zhao He snatched the note back, glared at it hard, and wished that he could burn through the line of words on the paper with just his eyes: “It’s already crazy enough to attract the zombies by singing, but this playlist is even more outrageous!” OvfsEb

Huang Mo: “They’re not making us sing all of them, we just need to pick one.”

Zhao He: “Every song is very embarrassing, okay!”

Huang Mo: “Maybe they have their difficulties.”

Zhao He: “What difficulties? Can the zombies even understand the lyrics? Sing this song and they’ll flock over, sing that one and they’ll be completely indifferent?” QHgSE4

“That isn’t it,” Huang Mo tilted his head and considered it for a while before replying, “My guess is Class 1 may think that these songs will bring them a greater chance of success in this campaign.”

Zhao He: “Obtain a BUFF through song choice?”

Huang Mo: “After all, if we are pinning our hopes on the motherland, then thinking of it this way, it’ll be easier to understand.”

The other four were confused by their conversation. Feng Qibai took the note from Zhao He’s hand and didn’t bother looking at anything else, just going straight for the last two rows of recommended tracks—“Chinese People”, “I Love You, China”, “Taste of China”, “Beauty of China”. . . cPDJHw

Half an hour later, Song Fei and Qi Yan, who were fully geared up, opened the door again by a slit. Through the goggles, extra time was needed to adapt to the darkness.

At last, Qi Yan gave a thumbs up behind his back.

Standing in front of the westernmost window, Zhou Yilu immediately cracked the window open, hauled the radish that had been dangled down and was on standby for a few minutes inside then tapped the glass twice with it.

The moment the window was shut again, the radish was retrieved upwards with a xiu. KUG2ij

In the next second, a lively and fast-paced harmony was released from the second floor—

“The style of China is just this dignified~~ The style of China is just that handsome~~ Yellow skin washed by the yellow river~~ This color won’t change even after five thousand years~~~

The zombies in the hall suddenly rioted!

At first they looked left and right, as if they couldn’t tell the source of the sound for a while, but soon, the zombies in the area closer to the door stampeded out one after another. They may not have been able to tell which direction the sound was coming from, but their instincts drove them to run outside! YS6tJw

The zombies in the hall gradually decreased.

Song Fei and Qi Yan were tense all over, not daring to relax for even a moment.

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Finally, the hall was emptied, only leaving behind four zombies. It was unknown whether they were just not interested in the singing or if their instinct to avoid the cold was so much stronger that they just remained where they were in a daze.

Two of them were relatively close by, at a place somewhere in the middle, while the other two were split in the eastern and western areas, which meant that the fixed positions of the four zombies almost traversed the entire hall. YEmCNo

The students in Class 2 barely sang any lyrics in tune because they were practically shouting, their voices so loud that even the moon hanging in the sky seemed to tremble.

They couldn’t wait any longer, Qi Yan whispered a few words into Song Fei’s ear and without waiting for the latter to agree, he directly dashed out!

Beyond the door of the kitchen was the serving area, normally, the serving aunties would stand on the wide strip to serve dishes to the students, and the only thing that separated this area from the dining area was a half-person-high glass barrier!

Qi Yan ran to the center of the serving area in one breath. For safety, he and Song Fei had already applied the Hualushui earlier, he didn’t think that he would need to lure the enemy as well. Now he could only remain silent and jump around in a lively way while he waved his arms around vigorously. mSdbEg

Although the light was very dim, the zombie on the far east still found him, maybe because he couldn’t see or smell clearly, but it didn’t come at him in an agitated manner and just ambled towards this side leisurely.

The movement of the zombie on the east side attracted the attention of the two zombies in the middle and the two of them turned around hesitantly. When they saw the blurry silhouette of a living person who seemed to be moving around full of vibrant energy, they instinctively growled and also gave chase.

The howls weren’t as intense as they were normally, but they could still be clearly heard in the silent and empty hall. Song Fei wasn’t sure whether the zombies had a shared language and whether or not they’d be more sensitive to the howls of their own kind, he only knew that the more he dallied, the higher the stakes.

He locked eyes on the TV closest to him and then glanced at the zombie that was about seven or eight meters away from the TV and had already started to turn in the direction that Qi Yan was in. Song Fei gritted his teeth. . . crouching down, he began to make his way over like a cat. 2tI7bK


The author has something to say: The tune of this chapter. “The Style of China”—Jiuyue Qiji


Author’s Chapter Summary:

Accidentally obtaining a remote control while enjoying dinner, betting on the powerful motherland to pull through!


The translator has something to say: I thought Song Fei summarized the main point quite nicely. . . nUjw5L

Translator's Note

Q here is referring to jellos and puddings

Translator's Note

中央新闻台 (zhōngyāng xīnwén tái) – lit. “central news station”, the primary news channel launched on May 1st, 2003. It broadcasts 24/7 and covers all sorts of domestic and international news

Translator's Note

中央一 (zhōngyāng yī) – lit. “central one”, the primary channel of China Central Television launched on May 2nd, 1958. It is a general content channel that now broadcasts 24/7. The channel’s headquarters is located in Beijing

Translator's Note

愤青 (fèngqīng) – lit. “angry young youths”, referring to outspoken critics or protesters against an economic situation or social status quo. They refer to angry young men because it originated from the mid-20th century youths in the lower class who were bitter against the middle and upper classes hypocrisy in their respective socioeconomic stations as well as the established societal hierarchy

Translator's Note

五毛 (wǔmáo) – a moniker netizens gave to other online commenters who spoke highly of Chinese governmental departments or any related organizations as they were used to influence, guide, and create networking opinions. These online commenters supposedly received 50 cents for each positive comment, thus the derogatory name

Translator's Note

the fear of small clusters of holes, bumps, or patterns (which I have a light case of too)

Translator's Note

not real sister, more like chick

Translator's Note

中国人 (Zhōngguórén) by Andy Lau

Translator's Note

我爱你, 中国 (Wǒ Ài Nǐ, Zhōngguó) by 谭晶 (Tán Jīng)

Translator's Note

中国味道 (Zhōngguó Wèidào) sung by 凤凰传奇 (Fènghuáng Chuánqí), written by 丁于 (Dīng Yǔ)

Translator's Note

中国美 (Zhōngguó Měi) sung by 玖月奇迹 (Juǐyuè Qíjì), written by 徐子淳 (Xǔ Zǐchún), arranged by 刘卓 (Líu Zhuó)

Translator's Note

lyrics from the song “The Style of China (中国范儿 Zhōngguó Fàn-r)” sung by 玖月奇迹 (Juǐyuè Qíjì), written by 徐子淳 (Xǔ Zǐchún), arranged by 刘卓 (Líu Zhuó)

Translator's Note

lit. “September/Nine Moons Miracle”

Translator's Note

享晚餐偶得控器,赌祖国铿锵有力!(xiǎng wǎncān ǒu dé kòngqì, dǔ zǔguó kēngqiāng yǒulì!)

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