Translator: transcendentwings
That night, neither the Wusheng class nor the thirteen youths of the chemistry department dared to sleep too deeply. Even when they had their eyes closed, they were actually only squinting, remaining vigilant, for fear that the newcomers would come up with some new trick overnight.
On the other hand, the twenty-nine invaders slept soundly, huddled next to each other in the corner as peacefully as if they were snuggling in their mother’s embrace. Ding Zhiyuan even relied on his connections to directly enjoy half of Li Jingyu’s bedding, thus his rendezvous with the Duke of Zhou was extremely deep and long.
The next morning, the symptoms of the four patients all eased up to varying degrees. Those with high fevers had their temperatures subside a lot and those with low fevers pretty much recovered completely. The latter could even make sporadic sounds, such as “I want to eat meat”. On the other hand, a few of the newcomers started to feel under the weather instead, it was unknown if it was a result of it all crashing down after their moment of relaxation after being tired or scared for so long. Fortunately, Huang Mo found out early and made them drink the granules so they were able to tide it over and didn’t actually develop any symptoms.
After that, the fifty or so people coexisted for two days in harmony. During this period, people rushed out of the dormitories in the east and west districts more than once, but they didn’t form a large-scale breakout, at most, only three or four people charged out at a time and they were either directly surrounded by the zombies and had the entire squad get wiped out or they panicked and scattered, and who knows where they ended up fleeing to.
The weapons confiscated from the newcomers were still under centralized custody with no plans to return them to their original owners for the time being. However whether it was the Wusheng class or the thirteen youths of the chemistry department, both could see that after three days of baptism with the news broadcast, these people have calmed down and returned to their senses and some had even started to secretly sob as a result of homesickness and longing for their parents. Now scrutinizing them from any angle revealed that they had shifted closer to being harmless and ordinary classmates once again.
At the beginning, Huang Mo would devote more energy into taking care of them and gradually transitioned to letting them be without further interference. As long as they didn’t cause trouble, they could move around freely in the kitchen which also avoided provoking feelings of resistance as a result of having the illusion that they were under house arrest.
Of the three sick comrades-in-arms, Zhou Yilu was the first to completely get over his fever, followed by Feng Qibai while Qiao Siqi was the last. When his fever subsided, Zhou Yilu was able to sit up and share his thoughts post-illness with his comrades.
After hearing about Qiao Siqi’s glorious deeds, who was concerned about the glass of the freezer and glomped the thigh of the villain while he was still sick, Zhou and Feng, the two classmates, were extremely shocked and sincerely admired his spirit, especially Zhou Yilu, who originally wanted to mock the other for his slower pace to recovery. He changed his words in an instant albeit the forced transition was abrupt. It was a perfect example of an awkwardly handled change in topic. Hearing this, Feng Qibai wanted to enter a full screen of bullet comments to help him cover up his face.
On the twenty-seventh day of the zombie tide, it was a mix of rain and snow.
The only thing that the healthy bunch in the Wusheng class did these past two days was to make a trip to the kitchens on the second and third floors and the result was worse than what they had expected.
The kitchens located on the second level were all small single rooms, whether it was the Japanese food, Sichuan food, or the Northwestern flavors, such singular speciality booths wouldn’t hoard a large amount of food at all. Even if there was a freezer or refrigerator, its capacity wasn’t large and some even contained no food. As for the fish and meat dishes that were kept at room temperature, none of them survived, all of them had spoiled. Song Fei and the others could only carry away a sack of rice and half a bag of dry noodles from one and then a few boxes of eggs and half a basket of potatoes from another kitchen as they rummaged through the pitifully scarce refrigeration equipment.
The third floor was no better than the second, though at least the freezer was bigger, yet it still couldn’t compare to the one on the ground level and wasn’t much to look at at all. After all, going to the third floor was equivalent to eating out and the flow of customers was much lower than that of daily dining.
After a lot of effort was spent moving all of these things to the kitchen on the first floor, they watched as their consumed reserves were finally replenished.
The eyes of the classmates from the chemistry department and the new students brightened, but the Wusheng class just became more determined to leave—This was all that was left and after eating it all, there were really no more rations available.
After that, Song Fei had nothing to do and could only stare out the window in a daze. The shutters were adjusted to be parallel to the outside, so Song Fei witnessed the whole transition from cloudy to hazy and finally to rain.
Accompanying him in looking up at the sky for a long time, unable to extricate themselves was Zhao He who was obediently resting his voice and Qiao Siqi who just recovered from his serious illness.
The weather seemed as if it was light snow, but it just turned into water droplets when it fell on the glass, so the three of them held their own opinions, debating endlessly about whether it was light rain, light snow, or sleet.
Qi Yan was seated at a place not too far away as he began to clean his spear, polish the fruit knife, wipe the scissors, maintaining all the equipment he had on him and only lifting his eyelids from time to time to see how long the three of them could remain in that meaningless state.
Wu Zhou joined the battle. He supported Zhao He’s sleet theory on the grounds that he was from the Northeast with rich experience in appreciating the snow and further began to miss his parents back in his hometown when the other two argued that “the two of you belong to the same department so your vote is invalid” and abruptly became sad.
Fu Xiyuan once again was hit with full frontal force with Luo Geng’s military-style boxing in the process of exploring the second and third levels, so he couldn’t wait to request the other’s teachings; Wang Qingyuan and He Zhiwen each leaned against a corner alone, either thinking quietly, or closing their eyes to rest; Feng Qibai studied Zhao He’s triangle and swiftly began to play it with a clear and dynamic rhythm. The instrument that sounded like a scrap of copper and rotten iron in Zhao He’s hands was suddenly transformed and became something that shined; Li Jingyu found an audience to brag to and regaled the battles the Wusheng class participated in, describing their adventures and its various ups and downs as if they went as far as the heavens and as deep as hell, a journey that was comparable to The Journey to the West. Not only did Xiao-Ding listen to it until he was stunned, but even the twenty-nine new classmates believed it without a doubt and even stated that this was about the same as what they had heard through rumors—Not long after the zombie tide outbreak, a group of brave peers armed with sharp weapons slaughtered in all directions and carved a path to dawn, ultimately disappearing in the horizon of hope under the rays of the sun.
The thirteen youths of the chemistry department were still the same, forming a small pack on their own, talking, chatting, reminiscing about other classmates and looking forward to the future.
Lunch became ready during this time.
Zhou Yilu assisted Lin Dilei and Huang Mo acting as a qualified sous chef to the end. He directly divided the dish in the oversized pot and the rice from the steamer into three portions and served it to the Wusheng class, the Chemistry class, and the Newcomer class one by one.
One dish, one carb, everyone was treated equally.
Only Qiao Siqi, Feng Qibai, and Zhou Yilu, who were still a little weak, received an additional small bowl of chicken bone soup.
“What about mine?” Zhao He craned his neck and waited for a long time, only to realize that there were only three bowls of soup, making him utterly heartbroken, “I’m also a patient ah.”
Fu Xiyuan patted the other on the shoulder in comfort: “You have a good physique.”
Zhao He: “A strong constitution also needs loving care ah.”
“Here, I’ll get you an extra piece of cold tofu.” Song Fei sent the fluffy tofu cubes to Zhao He’s bowl, “I’m soft-hearted, and I can’t stand to see others in a pitiful situation.”
“I. Thank. You.” Zhao He scowled and ate the cold tofu in one bite, as if venting his anger, but was scalded half to death by the hot soup absorbed inside of it.
Song Fei was taken aback and hadn’t expected the other to eat it in such a rush, thus while the other was too busy gulping down cold water to pay attention to him, he hurriedly hid on the other side. Yet with this one leap and furtive movement, he abruptly recalled something: “Is that freezer of ours still working?”
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.
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“It’s fine,” Zhou Yilu answered. He was the sous chef so he had to keep going back to the freezer to grab things, making him the one with the most right to speak upon it, “Although the inner glass is shattered, there is still the cover on the outside ne, just like the door of any ordinary refrigerator, it is still sufficient in maintaining the internal temperature.”
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The latter didn’t keep them guessing and confessed the truth to them directly: “The meat in the freezer is being depleted at a visible rate, didn’t you all see that we’ve become vegetarians today? As soon as another wave of people arrive, it will probably be emptied out.”
“The rice and the noodles?” Qi Yan questioned.
Lin Dilei: “There’s still stock, they can last a little longer than the meat and vegetables.”
Song Fei: “We still have vegetables?”
Ding Shiyuan: “The radishes ah.”
Song Fei: “. . .”
“And the canned food?” Li Jingyu asked, unwillingly to face reality.
Qiao Siqi: “I snuck a look, the luncheon meat has basically been finished, and the remaining are canned fruit, black bean fish, and Lao Ganma brand Spicy Chili Crisp, but to use these as the main course is too cruel.”
“Wait,” He Zhiwen raised his hand with a query, “Why did you describe it as ‘secretly’ go?”
Qiao Siqi: “I said. . . sneakily?”
All the comrades: “En.”
Qiao Siqi: “Uh, that, I ba, anyway, it wasn’t to sneak a few bites, can’t you guys have a little more faith in your fellow comrade!”
All the comrades: “. . .”
Zhou Yilu: “The person is already stupid to this extent, are we still going to hold him accountable?”
All the comrades: “Forget about it.”
Qiao Siqi: “. . .”
Why did he feel as if receiving a verbal whip from his companions was actually a form of happiness instead ah!
“Huang Mo,” Qi Yan, who had remained silent this whole time interrupted, “Didn’t you suggest before that we should draft some plans as soon as possible? I don’t think we can delay any longer. Right now, right here, we have to come up with something.”
In fact, Huang Mo knew what Qi Yan wanted to say when he called upon her. She was the one who started it, but there had been no follow-up, and now that it was imminent, so naturally he would come to her. However, to be honest, she was also flustered and didn’t know what to do, but she couldn’t utter those words two days ago so as not to make everyone panic all at once.
Now that all the companions had gotten enough rest, had pretty much fully recuperated, and the new classmates had stabilized, then it was time to lay all problems bare and brainstorm a solution together.
“I’ve been mulling it over the past two days until my head was about to explode,” Huang Mo placed her bowl down and smiled a little bitterly, “And I still didn’t come up with anything useful.”
“Kill me,” Song Fei didn’t know whether to be angry with her self-righteousness or feel sorry for the pressure she placed upon herself, “What are you trying to figure out on your own ah, if you were able to think everything through by yourself, what would you need comrades for ma.”
Huang Mo was taken aback for a moment and was just about to speak when Feng Qibai beat her to it: “I guess she thought that the rest of us also wouldn’t be able to come up with anything so it would’ve been the same whether it was brought up or not.”
Huang Mo made a face and hurriedly explained: “It really isn’t like that. I just noticed that everyone hadn’t recovered two days ago and thought that since there was enough for the time being anyway, then everyone should take this opportunity to rest wholeheartedly for a few days and it wouldn’t be too late to worry about these things after everyone’s energy and spirit were restored.”
“Only you are crooked.” Song Fei knocked against Feng Qibai’s head angrily, “Hurry up and chop off your bangs, your words become strangely passive aggressive with your perception blocked.”
Before Feng Qibai could counter, Song Fei exhorted Huang Mo: “No matter what happens in the future, just tell your comrades what you are thinking about. There are a dozen or so of us after all, even if our individual IQs are not as good as yours, collectively, our brains are more loaded.”
Huang Mo burst into laughter and readily accepted it: “En, it’ll definitely crush mine.”
Song Fei looked around at his group of friends and continued: “All of us are the same, in the future, no matter what happens to anyone, no matter what comes to mind, everyone should spit it out as soon as possible so that everyone can carry the burden together. There are a dozen or so of us, even if the sky were to fall, if all of us join hands we could also build a load-bearing wall.”
Zhou Yilu: “Since this concerns my area of expertise, I must remind you that a load-bearing wall cannot support a building if it cannot successfully simulate a balance of forces.”
Qi Yan: “Let me also say my piece that this statement that an individual’s IQ isn’t as good as Huang Mo’s. . .”
Wang Qingyuan: “Both Qi Yan and I have reservations about that.”
Song Fei: “. . .”
That’s why he swore that people who loved to learn were the most irritating!!!
Huang Mo swept her gaze across her companions quietly, feeling extremely comforted in her heart. She clearly knew that a very serious matter was being discussed, but she just couldn’t suppress it. She just felt relaxed from the inside out and perhaps even felt a hint of warmth.
She was the type of person who liked to deliberate over things a lot. Whether it was her classmates or her best friends, they all felt that she wasn’t lively enough and sometimes even felt that she liked to keep everything in her heart and wouldn’t share them with anyone else. Yet at the same time, they all considered her to be very powerful and were willing to talk to her whenever they had troubles. Over time, she just got used to being the listener and problem solver.
As such, with her own problems, no matter how hard or difficult it was, she would just deal with them herself, rarely confide in others, let alone ask for help.
But now Song Fei was straightforwardly setting down a rule for her—Our IQs added together is able to pulverize yours, so if you have any difficulties, you must confess to the organization, any rebuttal is nulled.
Why would she protest?
She was clearly secretly delighted.
The feeling of relying on a companion was wonderful, so magnificent that even if she was being reprimanded, it sounded like unsung praises, to the extent that it could even be considered as a perfect pitch.
“The current situation is that there is a limited amount of rations and we can’t make new ones appear. Either we defend this mountain and sit on it until we’ve emptied it or we open up the way for new reserve depots.” In a few simple sentences, Qi Yan presented the current status quo in a clearcut manner.
“The issue is that there is no new stock ah,” Zhou Yilu spread out the campus blueprint he drew himself, “There is no need to consider the canteen in the western area, just like our side, the Express Pickup Point and the supermarket should be pretty much completely looted by now, the vending machines in the library have been smashed by us, the vending machines in the Qiushi Building were pillaged by them, and at most what is leftover now would be the various vending machines in the different departmental buildings and the two located in the basketball gymnasium and by the swimming pool respectively. Oh, that’s right, the Academic Affairs Building should still have as well, but even if we make it to the Academic Affairs Building, we’d be right next to the main entrance of the university and at that point, we might as well seek better luck on the commercial street outside ne.”
“The street opposite our university could be classified as a commercial street?” Zhao He didn’t really want to interrupt, but he really couldn’t hold back.
“Village, suburban street, okay ba,” Zhou Yilu changed his words mercilessly, “Anyway, if it’s within the university, the only new places we could hit up are the vending machines and that’s based on the premise that they haven’t been raided, smashed, or robbed by the other surviving students just yet.”
“Even if they haven’t been busted and plundered, all they contain are snacks,” Li Jingyu’s face was twisted like a salty twisted steamed bun, “It could only solve urgent needs and cannot be a once-and-for-all solution.”
Lin Dilei held her forehead: “Look at what kind of situation we are all in, and you still think we can find a means to resolve it in one shot. . .”
“Song Fei?” In the heated atmosphere of the debate, his BF’s reticence was out of place. The important thing was that this wasn’t his style at all, so Qi Yan couldn’t help voicing his confusion, “What are you thinking about?”
Yet Song Fei’s answer was: “Qiao Siqi.”
Qi Yan was stunned.
Qiao Siqi, who was struck in the knee by a stray bullet whizzing out of the Tarim Basin while taking a dive in the Maldives, revealed an expression full of disbelief and swore to the Heavens before Qi Yan: “I don’t have anything to do with Song Fei at all! I’m straight as a pencil!”
Song Fei made a face: “Even if you were bent like the way a snake slithers, you wouldn’t be my cup of tea!”
Qiao Siqi: “Then what the heck are you thinking about me for!”
Song Fei: “Aren’t you the most familiar with zombie movies? Has our sort of situation appeared in your zombie movies before?”
Qiao Siqi blinked owlishly in a befuddled state before he picked up on what Song Fei meant and quickly waved his hands: “Those are all movies ah, can it be the same in reality? They’re all just classic routines.”
Song Fei only wanted to try all angles even if it were like administering medical aid to a dead horse as if it were still alive: “Then let’s discuss these standard clichés.”
After deliberating over it for a while, Qiao-tongxue cleared his throat and began his crash course on the subject with his companions: “It’s like this, I have roughly divided zombie movies into five categories. I don’t know how accurately I can sort them, but it should basically cover everything. They are the following, adventure movies, farming stories, mindless-slaughter, trapped beast method, and the superhero route.”
All the companions: “. . .”
The classification was professional and the concept was clearly defined. If it weren’t for the limited objective conditions, they all developed the urge to take notes as if it were a real lesson.
“Adventure movies ne, are about forging ahead while opening the way through killing. Usually there is no clear destination or the ultimate goal is set in an extremely distant place. Anyway, the protagonist is merely moving forward continuously as long as they are still alive, they would find ways to replenish stock along the way and after restocking, march on.”
“The farming stories are more commonly seen in European zombie films with new actors and actresses or Japanese anime. In this genre, the outbreak of the zombie virus is more like a setup for the background environment and the lethality of the zombies has also dropped sharply. Usually, what the protagonists have to do is to continue calmly in this complicated environment. They lead a level-headed life of self-improvement, planting food, raising cattle and sheep, some characters with wild imaginations simply interact peacefully with the zombies, just like living in a new era of the global village.”
“Mindless slaughter is the most common mode, starting with B-grade American movies where the purpose is to stimulate the audience’s adrenaline. They don’t worry too much about the logic and connotation of it and the form can also overlap with adventure movies or the trapped beast method or whatever, anyway it’s just about the gore, whatever is cool and visually stellar is how they go about it, going up against the zombies in various fanciful ways.”
“The trapped beast method is where a relatively closed environment for the protagonists is set up. It may be a school, like our situation now, or it may be a small town, community, wilderness, maze, or even an abandoned city. The protagonist just roams in this defined area, uses the limited resources around them to preserve and survive, but ultimately external forces will interfere and the protagonist will be rescued, or the protagonist will break out of the problematic area and head towards hope, otherwise it would be the endless cycle type. Of course, there are also some directors who want to retaliate against society and film it. . .”
“Hold on a second,” Song Fei finally heard a key phrase, “Isn’t that precisely referring to us, our current circumstances are exactly like that now.”
Qiao Siqi had been completely immersed in his own knowledge circuit and had just started to prattle on, caught in an exultant mood, when he was suddenly interrupted and was somewhat unable to keep up with the other’s rhythm: “What situation.”
“The trapped beast method ah.”
“It really is. . .” Qiao Siqi also realized it.
Song Fei: “You stated just now that the protagonist in this kind of move only has two paths?”
“Uh. . .” Qiao Siqi needed some time to recall it.
Zhou Yilu, who had been paying close attention, couldn’t wait any longer and answered for him directly: “Wait for external forces to intervene or break through the problematic area.”
“We can’t wait for external forces to intervene as our food reserves can’t hold out for that long, so. . .” Song Fei’s eyes shone, “Let’s just charge out of it.”
Zhou Yilu: “The question is where should we head to after rushing out?”
He Zhiwen: “The trapped beast method is about to become an adventure film. . .”
Zhao He: “Actually, adventure films are quite entertaining. The future hasn’t been set, life or death hovers at fifty-fifty, at least it’s better than certain death.”
Luo Geng: “However we still can’t fly around like headless flies ba.”
Fu Xiyuan: “Head to the city ah, didn’t the broadcast say that food will be air-dropped in densely populated areas? Not to mention, supermarkets and restaurants are all over the place!”
Wang Qingyuan: “Which have all been smashed and swept clean long ago.”
Qi Yan: “And we only have one car in our possession.”
Li Jingyu: “There must be a lot of cars in the underground parking lot, we can just find a few more cars, and then. . . uh. . .”
Qi Yan: “En?”
Li Jingyu: “And then use some way to activate them!”
Feng QibaI: “Please don’t just skip over the most crucial part.”
Song Fei’s head hurt from the chaos, yet all of the predicaments mentioned by his companions did objectively exist.
“Ai, didn’t you have another type that you didn’t mention just now?” Song Fei was abruptly concerned about his rude interruption of John’s analysis.
“Right, and the last one is superhero themed. The protagonist is either well-equipped or underwent an advanced mutation and could ultimately battle with the force of one against hundred, ruthlessly mowing the zombies down and finally saves the world at the end of it all.”
“. . .”
“Song Fei?”
“I’ll go find Little Whale to figure out how to start a car without the key. . .”
Author’s Chapter Summary:
Compared to sitting around and waiting for death by starvation, rather than relying on the Heavens, it’s better to depend on oneself in any situation!
The translator has something to say: Please take all the zombie/apocalyptic movie/TV series examples I gave with a grain of salt, I don’t really watch those kinds of movies so they were given based on my preliminary understanding, if any readers watch those types of films/media, please correct me or give more fitting examples in the comments, thanks!
Also, sorry for the late post, I was having a lot of trouble uploading and editing on the website earlier this week
probably referring to the 99 brand cold TCM granules remedy
reminder that this is a salty-spicy sauce
generally a slightly salty bun that is woven like a flower, most commonly contains a smattering of scallion
an endorheic basin located in Northwest China in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. It is a desert region bordered by many countries. An endorheic basin is a drainage basin with no outflow to other regions, it equilibrates through evaporation
Thank you for the update!
It is ok we understand!
That was such a comprehensive explanation John gave. Very well thought out, indeed.