Translator: transcendentwings
With the power of the divine tune, Qiao Siqi and Zhou Yilu successfully retained a quarter of the zombie herd to remain at the base of the Luban building. In retrospect, this was already a huge success because the allure of fast-moving prey was instinctive and no matter how loudly they roared, there were still more who didn’t buy it than those who did.
When the four classmates of Class 2 saw Zhou Yilu climb onto the windowsill, the phrase “holy f*cking sh *t” jumped out on their internal OS in unison. Shouldn’t this sort of suicidal method of luring the enemy be a patent of mainstream superhero movies ma, who would have this sort of hole in their brains in reality ah, sacrificing one in exchange for the happy smiles of many.
However when Qiao Siqi, who had always been the number one scaredy-cat, jumped up with him resolutely, the four of them changed their minds.
Fearless, I ready my blade horizontally and mock the heavens. This was the aura of a great hero.
Despite being terrified until he quaked in his boots, he still embraced his fear and stepped up to the plate. This was the courage of the ordinary.
Heroes were rare in this world.
But all living beings possessed mettle.
After passing the Yixin building, they reached another crossroad. Zhao He, who shot forth like a bullet, looked back to observe the army of zombies that were still chasing after them relentlessly and He Zhiwen, who was practically out of breath and trailing behind. Then he glanced to his left and right—Qi Yan, who could’ve clearly run faster, but kept pace with his rhythm, and Song Fei, who kept cheering them on and shouted that victory was before their eyes so they must not stop. Landing on the heel of his right foot, he twisted then turned his body forty-five degrees to the left!
Wu Zhou, who was following closely behind, saw through his movements at a glance and immediately exclaimed: “I’ll attract them, you guys continue!”
Zhao He was speechless: “What the hell are you trying to steal such a reckless mission for!”
Wu Zhou wasn’t trying to snatch a slot in the sacrificial quota from him, but made this decision in consideration of the actual circumstances: “Your combat skills are better, so it’s more useful for you to stay!” After speaking, he took the lead in completing a ninety-degree turn without waiting for Zhao He’s approval, accelerated, and rushed into the space between the Yixin and Qiushi buildings.
At this time, the upper half of the Qiushi building was completely enveloped by smoke and dust indicating that the explosion must’ve occurred on the middle to upper floors. It was burning, but there was no visible open fire, only thick smoke rising from the shattered hollow window unceasingly. There seemed to be the sound of someone shouting upstairs, which although made others discomfited in their hearts, in this sort of situation, no one could really mind anyone else right now.
Wu Zhou resolutely chose the Yixin building as his base of operations to draw the enemy, making the direction of his madly sprinting posture more discernible. Feng Qibai, who watched his fellow classmates scramble to fight for this honor from the beginning to the end had a bellyful of curses that he had nowhere to vent.
Is this the valorous breakthrough to the Gewu building or is this a hot air balloon tour ah, which even came with the service of tossing away sandbags as they flew about just to decrease weight!!!
He rolled his eyes at the sky, but his feet were set solidly as he ran after Wu Zhou!
Zhao He was taken aback. It had to be said that while they escaped to the canteen, this kid was the epitome of a lone wolf. With a chisel at hand, blocked by a person, he’d strike them down, stopped by Buddha, and he’d take Buddha down. Even they avoided him, afraid to be accidentally caught in friendly fire. After arriving in the kitchen, even after a long time, although it seemed like he let his guard down, he was still a man of few words and often looked a little gloomy, which was actually pretty in line with the expected temperament of an artist.
However now, the artist borrowed the words of the rich second-generation comrade in an extremely out of place manner—
“You guys can rest assured with me here, you must obtain the radio!”
Zhao He was actually not at ease, coupled with the astonished expression on Wu Zhou-tongxue’s face when he looked back, the latter also didn’t seem to have any confidence.
Utilizing the same routine as the Luban building baiting, the only difference was that Wu Zhou started up the karaoke in the middle of sprinting madly, directly leading the large wave of zombies pursuing them astray.
The remaining four, Zhao He, He Zhiwen, Song Fei, and Qi Yan didn’t have time to make sure Wu Zhou and Feng Qibai reached the windows safely. They could only pray for the safety of their comrades-in-arms in their hearts.
Looking up to gaze into the distance.
The Gewu building came into view.
Different from the Luban building, which had strange and peculiar exterior walls that provided an endless stream of footholds, and dissimilar to the Yixin building, which was covered in exquisite, spiritual, artistic European-style patterns that provided easy platforms to climb, the Gewu building embodied the characteristics of the sciences. It was minimalistic and simple, generous and practical, the outer walls were outer walls, the windows were windows. There were no balconies, no designs, no patterns, no decorations. It was just a regular prismatic academic building, where even if you placed it in the 1980s it wouldn’t be seen as a new trend. The only feature that harbored some generational feel was its twelve story height.
He Zhiwen was already running out of breath. If he hadn’t used the anticipated building to quench his thirst, supported by the that sliver of hope that was arriving soon, he might’ve actually just went all in, stopped running, and if he transformed into a zombie then so be it ba, at least zombies wouldn’t feel fatigued when bounding ahead.
Zhao He was running and anxious, his head drenched in sweat. When he caught sight of the plain mold of the Gewu building clearly, he was instantly overcome by desperation: “How do we enter ah—”
Zhao He has never been to the Gewu building, to be precise, he’s never really visited the lecture building sector before. The building for the department of sports was near the track and field area so this region, to him, was no different from an alien university.
Qi Yan knew the layout of the Gewu building even if he had his eyes closed so he naturally had a plan in mind: “Climb the tree, draw the enemy, enter through the door!”
This was the method they used to enter the Express Pickup Point, thus Zhao He was enlightened in an instant. Yet the only problem was, when he had the Gewu building at the end of the road in his sights, despite it not being before his eyes, he could still recognize that it was a big open space with his naked eye. It was unknown if the Gewu building was positioned too far inside, or if it belonged to an underdeveloped area on campus, making its treatment even worse than the Express Pickup Point, but not to mention a big tree or a small sapling, there wasn’t even the presence of a lush hedge of bushes.
“Where’s the tree ah!” Zhao He who ran at the forefront couldn’t lock onto the target and was so anxious that he was about to throw up blood.
He Zhiwen was about to join him when he heard that as well: “Why are there so many questions, you’ll find out when you reach the front!”
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.
Itjb Lf kjrc’a nfgs tjqqs ab yf rmbivfv, yea tf tjv jigfjvs obgufv jtfjv obg delaf j yla bo vlrajcmf ktlif atfs mbcnfgrfv. Ktf wjlc fcagjcmf bo atf Xfke yelivlcu jigfjvs jqqfjgfv lc tlr olfiv bo nlrlbc jcv Itjb Lf olcjiis ecvfgrabbv Lf Itlkfc’r kbgvr—Lf bcis rjk atja yfobgf atf fcagjcmf bo atf Xfke yelivlcu atja kjr reggbecvfv ys yjggfc ijcv, atfgf kfgf akb agffr jybea rfnfc bg fluta wfafgr ajii. Ciatbeut jii bo atf ifjnfr tjv yffc mbwqifafis rtfv jcv bcis atf yjgf ygjcmtfr kfgf ifoa, atf klatfgfv ygjcmtfr kfgf ralii mglrrmgbrrfv wjxlcu atf lwjuf bo atf iert ygjcmtfr lc atf rqglcu jcv rewwfg cba abb vloolmeia ab mbcpegf eq.
The two trees were separated by a distance of five or so meters and were both located on the left-hand side, below the steps to the main entrance of the Gewu building. The one closer to the steps was slightly taller and the one further away was slightly shorter. Two long benches were placed in between, adding a touch of warmth and romance to the stern academic hall.
With a target in sight, Zhao He dashed forward more vigorously and practically bolted to the base of the tree that was slightly farther from the building in one breath. He scrambled up the tree with a cen cen cen and only by the time he made it onto a branch, did the other three arrive fashionably late. Zhao He didn’t allow for any room for negotiations and immediately exclaimed: “You guys all go to that tree!”
The three of them didn’t have any time to think. They reflexively thought that Zhao He wanted to occupy a tree tyrannically by himself, but their intuitions were unwilling to believe that. While shrouded in doubt, they scrambled up the tree with each other’s assistance.
The endless running finally came to an end and the long-awaited repose made the companions wish they could inhale and exhale at their maximum capacity. He Zhiwen was panting especially hard and nearly couldn’t embrace the tree branch.
Zhao He was a little better, although he was also breathing heavily, but he recovered quickly.
When he felt that he had recovered sufficiently, all the zombies that weren’t taken away by the other four comrades huddled around the base of the tree.
Densely packed, there were at least forty or fifty.
There were also zombies trickling out from the Gewu building from time to time trying to join in on the excitement.
“Fortunately, the university planted two trees for your department,” Zhao He felt some lingering fear now that he thought about it and hugged the tree trunk even tighter, “Otherwise, we wouldn’t even know how we died.”
Qi Yan didn’t know whether to be angered or to laugh: “Only you were unaware that there were two trees in front of the Physics department.”
Song Fei testified: “Even an academic scum like me knew!”
Zhao He felt baffled: “It’s not like I take classes here, besides, even if I did, who would pay attention to two trees?”
He Zhiwen: “Did you think these were two ordinary trees? Did you think that the university planted just some random tree in front of our department? You’re greatly mistaken. These are trees that those of our department planted ourselves!!!”
Five meters away, Zhao He could still feel He Zhiwen’s saliva spray all over him. He made a face: “Even if your department planted it yourselves, there’s no need to be so indignant ah. Besides, I didn’t find anything unusual about these trees. Isn’t it just that there are more branches and the shape was slightly fuller. . .”
He Zhiwen: “This is the apple tree that knocked into Newton back then!”
Zhao He: “Uh, I admit that my academics aren’t as great as yours, but I shouldn’t seem like a fool either ba. . .”
Song Fei chortled in amusement and swiftly provided an assist: “He didn’t finish, to be precise, this tree is a descendant of the apple tree at Cambridge University that hit Newton. Rumors say that the dean of their department worked painstakingly to bring it back from Britain.”
Zhao He: “. . .”
Qi Yan: “Truthfully, the tree at Cambridge University isn’t really the apple tree that struck Newton. Some say it was another that was planted, others say that it was taken from the original tree and replanted. The dean of their department most likely believes the latter so he obtained the descendant of its future generation and planted it here to inspire the students of the Physics department.”
Zhao He gulped and asked seriously: “Do you guys think that this sounds credible?”
Qi Yan grinned: “It’s amusing.”
Zhao He breathed a long sigh of relief, thankfully, at least there was one comrade-in-arms whose IQ was online.
He Zhiwen was stubbornly assertive, defending the honor of his department, and Zhao He didn’t want to argue with him so he acquiesced to the other’s stance using silent approval. Yet the former refused to forgive easily and forced him into a corner until he had no choice but to state: “I believe it, really.”
As a result, He Zhiwen turned his face away, full of grievances: “I don’t believe you!”
Zhao He made a face and quickly followed up sincerely: “This tree is different from the other crappy trees in this university, it must be different!”
He Zhiwen: “You’re being perfunctory.”
Zhao He: “I’m not!”
He Zhiwen: “Then you give me a reason as to how it’s different.”
Zhao He: “I’ve been perched on it for so long and not a single branch has broken!”
Song Fei, Qi Yan: “. . .”
He Zhiwen: “I believe you.”
After almost completely adjusting their breathing, Zhao He finally revealed the reason behind his intention to dominate the tree: “I will bait as many zombies as possible from below the trees and from the lobby of the building. When you guys see an opportunity, descend the tree secretly and make a break for the building as soon as you touch the ground. As for the situation inside, I’m helpless in providing further assistance.”
Song Fei was nearly dumbfounded by what he heard and didn’t even need to think about it to know that this wasn’t feasible: “Qiao Siqi, Wu Zhou, and the others could still enter their respective buildings, but you’re on the tree. If we all went in, how would you break free? Fly back?”
Zhao He was pretty open-minded about it: “If I could fly back, I’d do it, if I can’t, I’ll just wait for you guys here.”
Qi Yan also disagreed: “We still don’t know how long we’d have to spend inside, let alone one or two nights, even if it’s only a few hours, you may not be able to hold out.”
Of course Zhao He didn’t want to die, he just believed that a car would definitely find a road when it runs into a mountain and a boat would naturally straighten when it docks, but the other three academic players obviously needed stronger persuasion.
“How’s this, I’ll wait here and as soon as you guys enter a secure room, just open the window and help me divert the zombies gathered under the tree. As for how I’ll run and where I’ll escape to is something you guys don’t have to worry about. Anyway, I won’t die.” Zhao He pondered it briefly and then added, “Of course if I can’t take it anymore and you guys still haven’t made a move, don’t blame me if I bail first.”
“If you were actually able to slip away, we’d give our thanks to the heavens and the earth!” Song Fei didn’t know whether he should laugh or cry and felt heat well up in his eyes.
This was who Zhao He was, never sensational, but his simplicity and straightforwardness would give you a strong blow to the heart.
“Don’t give me that strange look.” Zhao He was perturbed by Song Fei’s stare and kept feeling like something was off. Shaking off the chills, he cleared his throat, “I’m about to start, you guys keep an eye on the door.”
The three comrades-in-arms listened obediently and turned their heads to fix their eyes on the main entrance of the Gewu building at the same time.
Soon, a third voice appeared in the night sky that was reverberating with the extremely distant sounds of the classics and the far away notes of the pop and R&B remix.
It’s just that there was no singing, it was only the prehistoric roar pumped full of male hormones—
“Motherf* cker, how many times have I said that I don’t want to practice hurdles I don’t want to practice hurdles I don’t want to practice hurdles ahhhhhh! Who do you think you are ah! Are you my father ah! Change motherf* cking change my specialty, if you continue to force me, believe me, I’ll secretly record a video and expose you on Weibo of you forcing athletes to dope! I only want to f*cking throw javelins for the rest of my life ahhhhh—”
A violent gust of wind blew and the branches of the apple tree the three were hanging on were buffeted until they swayed asynchronously.
Song Fei wrapped his arms around the branch nervously, turned around and earnestly urged He Zhiwen: “Remember to tell Wu Zhou and Fu Xiyuan when we return. Let them warn Zhao He’s teacher and coach to pay more attention to safety when they come in and out.”
It was unknown whether this reminder would still reach the ears of the coach, but many zombies in the Gewu building were indeed attracted over. Maybe when people were agitated, even their voices would carry the scent of fresh humans because Zhao He was evidently more efficient than the four earlier companions.
Five minutes later.
Zhao He finally had his fill of bellowing. Looking up, quite a large number of zombies were drawn out from the Gewu building, at the very least the main entrance seemed pretty much emptied when gazing in. However, when he turned his head to take a look, he wasn’t sure if the three comrades in the other tree had been too absorbed in listening or if they had other concerns, but it didn’t appear that they meant to descend the tree at all.
At this moment there were already zombies shuffling beneath his tree, posing a very boisterous and lively scene. Those in the outermost layer were still very close to Song Fei’s tree. After mulling it over, Zhao He simply turned around carefully. Facing Song Fei’s tree and the Gewu building, he exchanged his rant for song—In terms of shock and allure, the tirade was invincible, but in terms of long-lasting battery life, only singing was undefeated.
Zhao He’s music library was inspirational. For a while they soared beyond their dreams and took flight together, then they were bursting with life. The unrestrained rhythm gradually shifted the zombies. In the end, the entire group of zombies faced Zhao He with their backs facing away from the tree Song Fei was on and the main entrance of the Gewu building.
The three companions who were waiting for an opportunity silently alighted from the tree and ran into the building without a backwards glance!
The moment the companions reached the ground, Zhao He’s originally unbridled singing voice directly bounded for the sky, such that some zombies had already forgotten whether they stretched out their arms to catch prey or to play with the rhythm.
The light in the lobby on the ground floor of the Gewu building was brightly lit.
While the zombie outbreak erupted during the day, normally the lights wouldn’t be turned out, thus there was only one explanation for this phenomenon—After the zombie outbreak occurred, someone came or was already in the Gewu building and at least stayed until night time which was why the lights were on.
But what about after the lights were turned on?
Were they alive or dead? Were they still surviving tenaciously in the building or had they headed elsewhere? Or. . . were they infected and transformed.
The three of them couldn’t help thinking too much, but also stopped themselves from contemplating it any further.
In the spacious first floor lobby of the Gewu building, there were only five zombies left as visible by their own two eyes. Clearly, the five of them were unmoved by Zhao He’s treble, and were more interested in the bust of Newton in the center of the lobby. They were lined up facing the statue, stopping to appreciate it.
Although there was only a view of their backs, Song Fei could still determine that these five were He Zhiwen’s fellow classmates because the moment they stepped into the lobby, the latter also fixed his eyes on the great pioneer of physics with reverence in his first glance.
—This was a department with a strong sense of character.
Three-on-five, and He Zhiwen might’ve only possessed a combat power of 0.5, so they didn’t have any chance of winning. Therefore, the three of them didn’t dare to make a sound as they shuffled towards the elevator at the other end of the lobby at turtle speed while sticking closely to the wall. However the elevator was diagonally behind the bust, as long as the three of them neared the elevator, they would easily be caught in the zombies’ field of vision. The only thing they could do was pray that the five were focused enough or that the timing they discovered would be late enough that they would’ve already been able to open the elevator doors beforehand.
In spite of it all, it seemed that the godly Newton didn’t hear their prayers and just as the three of them entered the zombies’ radar, two former physics students abandoned their beliefs and chose their instincts! The remaining three were led by their companions and also spotted the prey. Their faces were instantly distorted into excitement and ferocity as they lunged over immediately!
“Quickly enter the elevator!” Qi Yan dropped this sentence and charged rapidly instantly regardless of Song Fei and the other’s response. In a blink of an eye, he had reached the opposite end of the lobby.
The five zombies pursued the moving prey without exception and were drawn away.
He Zhiwen saw that Song Fei was in a daze and ruthlessly and roughly dragged him to sprint towards the elevator!
Two zombies turned back when they heard the sound and noticed Song Fei and He Zhiwen. The moment they were about to switch targets, Qi Yan abruptly started to shout loudly!
The two zombies hesitated briefly and ultimately chose Qi Yan.
But the yelling also attracted three of the zombies outside of the doors, which despite Zhao He karaoke session until his voice broke, these three persevered and stubbornly returned to the Gewu building to locate the source of the sound. The worst part of it all was that they showed up right before Qi Yan!
Caught in a pincer assault, Qi Yan couldn’t advance nor retreat!
On that end, Song Fei and He Zhiwen had already opened the elevator doors. Fortunately, there were no zombies inside. The two entered swiftly and Song Fei immediately hollered at Qi Yan: “Get over here quickly—”
Although this cry called out to Qi Yan, it attracted the zombies as well and the latter bounded over faster than the former!
Qi Yan’s heart was squeezed as he bellowed: “Close the doors—”
At the same time, he vaulted over and swarmed up the base of the giant globe stone sculpture positioned in the corner of the lobby.
Although the globe was round, fortunately, it was large enough. Besides, the continents, oceans, and island plates meticulously carved on the surface of the sphere made the surface rough. Despite having to spend some extra effort, it was still enough for Qi Yan to ascend the base that was more than half a person high and allowed him to continue climbing up the ball until he eventually reached the tippy-top!
Just as Qi Yan settled at the peak, the doors to the elevator slid shut.
Qi Yan didn’t get a good look at Song Fei’s face, but the instant the elevator doors connected, he unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief, feeling more at ease than escaping from the maws of death himself.
When he came back to his senses, two of the eight zombies surrounding the globe were about to clamber up the pedestal. Qi Yan clung to the surface of a round boulder that jutted out with one hand and unfastened the mop spear from his back with the other. With two lances, he was able to repel them into backing away, but was unable to deal any mortal wounds.
The remaining few didn’t seem to have any scaling abilities. Their movements were stiff and even after making a few attempts they were still unable to grasp the edge of the base.
Qi Yan suddenly felt very lucky that this was the physics department and not the sports department.
Yi?
Qi Yan’s muscles suddenly tensed. He wasn’t sure if it was his own illusion, but his body seemed to have slipped forward a little bit just now?
Ka.
The sound was subtle, but very distinct. What was worse was that his body creeped forward another two centimeters.
No, strictly speaking, it can’t be regarded as inching forward, rather the steel axis running through the center of the sphere rolled forward two centimeters in the direction of the equator. . .
This globe rotates.
So this was not a stone sculpture in the shape of a globe, but a globe in the form of a stone sculpture. . . Did they have to create such lifelike workmanship ah!
Pa.
The lights abruptly extinguished and the entire lobby fell into darkness in an instant.
Qi Yan subconsciously sought out the doorway, and was actually unable to locate it. Even if it was a person or a zombie who turned off the lights in the lobby, there were still many streetlights near the two apple trees at the entrance ne, it was impossible for no light to spill through the still agape front doors.
But the reality of the matter was that the whole world was thrown into darkness, completely black, utterly black.
It wasn’t that someone turned off the lights, it was that the entire Gewu building, including the entire section of street lights outside of the building had its electricity cut off.
A shudder detonated in Qi Yan’s heart, Song Fei was still in the elevator!
Author’s Chapter Summary
Sacrificing the insignificant me to realize the overall goal, frequent emergent mishaps are pressing!
The translator has something to say: Zhao—tree-killer—He, I can just imagine what HZW would do to him if he broke any branches of that tree
…. Well, shit
… Not good