Translator: transcendentwings
The fierce battle exhausted everyone, but it also left their brains with no energy to overthink. The eight companions of Class 1 washed up as quickly as possible, covered themselves with the winter clothes salvaged from the Express Pickup Point and fell into a deep slumber wrapped in a long-lost warmth.
A good night’s sleep, bereft of dreams until dawn.
The next day, the companions woke up to the warm and familiar aroma of rice. The scent wasn’t very noticeable and was faint at first, but after a while, there was a mellow aftertaste that invoked longing. It was so dear and intimate that it sparked a trance that distorted time and space, as if they were lying on their beds in their own rooms, bathed in the bright sunshine that had shone through the window for quite some time, coveting the fragrant scent of porridge prepared by one’s mother that drifted in through the gap of the door.
The seven of them opened their eyes one after another and the stainless steel table, stove, pots and pans pulled them back to reality with their icy luster.
The only one who could neutralize the chill was Lin Dilei who was standing before a stove not too far away.
She was humming a song with her earphones plugged in while she stirred the pot with a spoon. Lively and lovely, bright and cheery.
The original woolen coat had long since been replaced, and these days she was wrapped in a down jacket with a fur-trimmed hood. Her ragged short hair was pinned behind her ears, revealing her fair side-profile which looked especially exquisite when illuminated by the mottled light and shadow streaming through the blinds.
The seven male classmates sat up one after another. The floor space was limited so no one moved, thus at this moment, it was the image of a squad lined up shoulder to shoulder, gazing in one direction in unison.
“It’s nice to have a girl. . .” Luo Geng’s eyes lit up and his heart was ecstatic.
Zhou Yilu, who had always belonged to the petty bourgeois route, had long disliked this aspect of his: “Don’t act like a pervert all day long. With such a vulgar appearance, I wouldn’t pay you any attention if I were Little Landmine.”
“What I’m saying are my true thoughts, how is it perverted.” Luo Geng was puzzled, his gaze were upright and innocent,” With a girl in the squad, it’s a feast for the eyes, warm on the stomach, and always fragrant, just like fresh flowers on display. I’m just showing my appreciation from the bottom of my heart, I swear!”
“Ai, I’ve found that whenever you bring up Little Landmine, your language skills improve by leaps and bounds ah.” Wherever there is excitement, wherever Qiao Siqi will be, as he forcibly inserted his comment, “I admit that Little Landmine is really good, but you can’t praise her just for the sake of it and attack your good buddies ba. What do you mean by it’s nice to have a girl, how pitiful would that make us.”
Luo Geng was at a loss for words, his expression was conflicted as if he wanted to provide an explanation to Qiao Siqi, but didn’t know how to organize his speech.
“What he means is that with a girl, it feels more like home.” Wang Qingyuan picked up on Luo Geng’s line of thought and spoke for him.
Qiao Siqi furrowed his brow: “With all boys, it won’t feel like home?”
“You can try,” Wang Qingyuan shrugged, he lifted his chin slightly in Lin Dilei’s direction, “Imagine if the one who was cooking porridge right now was not Lin Dilei, but Zhao He.”
Qiao Siqi: “. . .”
Wang Qingyuan: “Humming a little tune, swaying the waist, a smile hanging on the lips, a gentle gaze.”
The others: “. . .”
Wang Qingyuan: “How do you feel?”
All the comrades: “Swear to protect Little Landmine with our lives!”
On the second floor, the Korean Cuisine kitchen.
Zhao He: “Achu—”
Huang Mo: “Caught a cold?”
Zhao He: “No, my nose was suddenly itchy.”
Feng Qibai: “Someone is thinking of you.”
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.
Zhao He: “. . . Ah ah.”
Wu Zhou: “Ah your sister ah, I told you to ask downstairs to borrow a gas mask, with your achu all of your saliva and snot went into the f*cking pot!”
Zhao He: “If you can do it, then you step up to the plate ah!”
Qe Itbe: “P vlvc’a ibrf lc atf vlrt-cjwlcu kbgv rbilajlgf.”
Itjb Lf: “Po sbe’gf rb mjqjyif, atfc ifa’r jgw kgfraif!”
Me Wlsejc: “Dgb, lo sbe’nf uba atf alwf ab tbiifg atfc ralg atf qbgglvuf rbwf wbgf, P atlcx P mjc rwfii la yegclcu.”
Lf Itlkfc: “Cvvlcu rqglcu bclbcr mjc gfwbnf atf yegca ajraf.”
Zhao He: “Where are there spring onions ah. Is kimchi okay?”
Huang Mo approached the window and gazed quietly into the distant morning light—When the male classmates volunteered to share the burden of labor in the kitchen, but ultimately used the method of a duel to choose the one who would undertake each task, you should’ve known that a disaster was brewing.
On the twentieth day of the corpse tide, the companions of the Wusheng Classes all cooked porridge early in the morning simultaneously without discussing it beforehand. Upstairs cooked white rice, downstairs cooked eight treasures congee—Today was the Laba festival.
On the cell phones that have lost their signal, the only thing that was still flowing and updating was time and the perpetual calendar.
The chaotic work and rest patterns of their days and nights, and the unrealistic and terrifying environment outside were all blurring the five senses of the companions, as if they were floating in a void unware. Only when they saw the clear shift in date and time would their dazed minds be at ease.
At six in the evening, Zhao He, Wu Zhou, Feng Qibai, and He Zhiwen arrived as scheduled.
Song Fei, Qi Yan, Zhou Yilu, and Qiao Siqi from the downstairs side also finished their preparations.
—The time to leave for the Gewu Building was set for tonight.
Although they just went to the Express Pickup Point yesterday and fought such a harrowing battle after returning, the companions weren’t willing to wait any longer. In other words, their objective environment didn’t allow them to make long-term plans. In this kind of fight for survival where emergencies and even death may occur at any time, time was life.
The eight of them were fully armed with masks, googles, weapons, backpacks—Zhao He and the others also brought backpacks with them when they escaped from the dormitory.
If there was anything in the kitchen warehouse on the first floor that was a most pleasant surprise for the companions, then it would be that it was stocked with all sorts of canned food—Canned luncheon meat, canned dace in douchi, canned braised pork, etc, each was tallied up by the box. Compared with other foods that required preparation, canned food was small, dense, and extremely convenient to bring around and eat. Naturally, it was a must-have for long-distance expeditions.
In addition, Lin Dilei also baked some bing for everyone. They were also easy to store and good at satiating hunger despite being a little on the dry side and the fact that they may require some extra fluids to wash down.
“Actually, it all goes well, it will take up to two nights at most for a round trip, perhaps only one,” Song Fei weighed his backpack that was filled up eighty percent under coercion, not knowing if he should laugh or cry, “It’s unnecessary to pack this much ba.”
Lin Dilei insisted: “It’s best to be over prepared.”
Song Fei had no choice but to compromise, however: “I hope we won’t need it.”
If they really had to wait for these reserves to be exhausted before they could come back, then they really would be going on a pilgrimage to the after life.
However, if these reserves really were exhausted and they still haven’t returned. . .
Shaking his head vigorously to shake off bad thoughts, Song Fei retreated into the team of seven and announced to the remaining four companions: “Wait for the news of our victory ba.”
“Whether you can locate the radio or not,” Wang Qingyuan enunciated clearly, “You guys must come back.”
Song Fei stared at him in a daze then abruptly grinned widely: “But it’s better to be able to find it ba?”
Wang Qingyuan returned his smile, revealing a rare hint of mischievousness: “Of course.”
The north winds were biting, the night was cold.
The empty campus was eerily silent. No matter the main boulevards or the small roads, there was no one in sight. Only the street lights were silently aglow, yet it made it even more spooky, as if all of the people had evaporated in an instant, leaving only an empty road behind, quiet buildings, and the glacial and wintry air.
The eight of them carefully hid in the shadows of the street lamps, heading eastward along the road, moving at a consistent pace towards the various buildings dedicated to the specific departments.
The canteen to the Gewu building was basically bereft of any small routes, they were all flat and wide asphalt roads. The difference between the different roads was that they either passed through the main entrance of the building for the department or the backdoor. In the end, no matter which road they chose, they had to pass by the Luban building, the Yixin building, Qiushi building, and various other buildings belonging to the various departments to reach the Gewu building which was located in the innermost position.
The disadvantage of the wide asphalt roads was that it wasn’t easy to hide. Fortunately, there were big trees planted on both sides of the road. Although the leaves had fallen off, the thick trunk of a tree every few meters brought some psychological security to the group, thus everyone stuck to the trees as they advanced.
It’s just that it wasn’t possible to just walk to the target area, not to mention the Gewu building. Even the closest Yixin building was still far away, really making one feel exhausted.
The only thing that could provide comfort for the companions was that they didn’t encounter a single zombie along the way.
However humans are just that peculiar, the more they don’t bump into any, the more uneasy they feel—
“Say,” Qiao Siqi suppressed his voice so low that he could barely breathe, “Where are they all hiding?”
“In the buildings ba,” the one who answered him was Zhou Yilu, “Like those at the canteen, when it’s cold outside, they’ll hide in the buildings.”
John heard this and a huge psychological shadow shrouded him: “According to you, then wouldn’t there be a sea of zombies in the buildings of the various departments?”
“It’s very likely.”
“. . .” Qiao Siqi slightly felt like he could barely continue moving forward now.
“Meeting a knife when stretching our heads out, also meeting with one when retracting them, I’d rather dive into this sea swiftly.” Song Fei chattered on, frowning unconsciously, half-doubting and half-complaining, “Why didn’t I feel that this path was so long before? I remember it didn’t take long for me to come here from the dormitories ah.”
Qi Yan’s tone was light and indolent: “You always waited until the last second before the class bell rang before rushing over so it’s reasonable that you didn’t feel like the journey was that far away.”
Song Fei was enlightened: “So that’s it. . . I didn’t need you to explain it to me!”
Qi Yan unconsciously raised the corners of his mouth, his heart full of joy.
Although Song Fei felt stuffy in the chest by the ridicule, on second thought, what the other roasted him about was correct. His self from the past really would sleep an extra minute if he could and would never wake up a second earlier unless he was forced to. Even if it was the lecture led by the department head, he would view it the same and treat it in the same manner. Later, it was unknown where Qi Yan found out, but it turned out that not only was he perfunctory in selecting elective courses but he also just muddled along in his core classes. As such, just to correct his attitude towards learning, it was unknown how many times he was scolded.
At first, Qi Yan might have really wanted what’s best for him, but later, it was estimated that he realized how futile it was and ended up just chastising the other for the sake of reproaching him.
In the past, Song Fei always felt that Qi Yan was plainly just finding fault.
But now he understood, it was the kind of irritation one developed when watching you waste your precious time but was unable to do anything about it.
“You were right. . .”
The sudden appearance of such sincere words made Qi Yan doubt whether or not he had auditory hallucinations. He asked with uncertainty: “En?”
Song Fei responded bluntly: “You’re right, I shouldn’t have messed around like that.”
Qi Yan made a face: “If I remember correctly, the last time I said something like this would have to be traced back to the summer.”
Song Fei: “The principle was too profound, you have to give me time to digest it.”
Qi Yan: “. . .”
Qi Yan wasn’t sure what craziness had come over Song Fei and raised his head reflexively only to find a banner was hung horizontally between the tree on the left of the path in front of them. A red background with white characters—The mountain of books uses diligence as its path, learning is a boundless and arduously rowing boat.
Such propaganda banners could be found everywhere on campus, aiming to create a healthy and upright campus spirit and culture.
Was it because this caught his eye?
Qi Yan pursed his lips and rejected this inference—This banner has been hanging there for eight hundred years already, getting bathed by the sun and showered by the rain. The color was faded and it was wrinkled and frayed, it really didn’t seem like it could create waves in anyone’s heart.
Yet Song Fei was really reflecting on himself.
And he still spoke so frankly despite knowing that this would most likely bring more derision upon himself.
In contrast, the scorn and sarcasm Qi Yan had earlier seemed even more unwanted and crude.
[Essentially lacking the ability to bring happiness to one’s lover.]
[Simply put, you don’t respect him.]
The words Wang Qingyuan once uttered abruptly sprung into Qi Yan’s mind.
Although the other party made it very clear at the time, it wasn’t until now that Qi Yan was truly able to understand their meaning.
The rear.
Zhao He: “What are they chatting about in the front?”
Wu Zhou: “I can’t hear it clearly.”
Feng Qibai: “I think they’re postulating that the zombies are hiding in the buildings and Song Fei seems to be conversing about summer memories with Qi Yan?”
He Zhiwen: “Summer? They knew each other before this?”
Feng Qibai: “Who the hell knows.”
Zhao He: “Their class is really weird.”
Wu Zhou: “From the moment Li-something swung that wok down, I knew I wouldn’t feel surprised by anything that happens in his class.”
He Zhiwen: “Li Jingyu.”
Wu Zhou: “En?”
He Zhiwen: “His name is Li Whale.”
Wu Zhou: “You see, I don’t even find it strange when I hear such a strange name being uttered.”
Author’s Chapter Summary
The windy asphalt roads, a long journey to reach the buildings dedicated to the various departments!
The translator has something to say: and here we go again!
generally flat and flaky “breads” or savory “cakes” usually fried
Haha class 2 is unphased by class 1. They’re unique including a Little Whale!
Thanks for the chapter!