Song Fei ran back to the dormitory in one breath, locked the door immediately, but didn't dare to lean against it. She ran all the way to the innermost balcony door before her legs gave way and she sat down on the ground.
The moment my bottom touched the ground, the unreal feeling of walking on cotton was slightly relieved.
A bed, a study desk, dirty clothes carelessly tossed on the back of a chair, an empty bowl of instant noodles... Yes, this is his dormitory, the place where he has studied and lived for more than a year.
But what are those things outside?
Song Fei didn't know.
Terrorist attack? Resident Evil? Imagine taking a perfectly good exam, and a bunch of monsters and lunatics storm in, and then there's no point in taking the exam anymore, everyone just runs for their lives… Ha, isn't that a complete fantasy? And yet, my legs are already cramping.
Everything felt so unreal.
Everything felt so real.
Despite the pain in his leg, Song Fei slapped himself with all his might!
Great, now my leg and face hurt together.
Song Fei refused to believe it and struggled to stand up. He stomped his feet a couple of times to relieve the cramps, then opened the balcony door, went to the sink, turned on the tap, and stuck his head under the water.
My head, steaming hot from running and sweating, was completely chilled like a watermelon after being rinsed with the icy cold water.
When Song Fei straightened up again, he felt like his whole head was numb.
The face in the mirror was dull and pale, devoid of any color, but it was much cuter than those creatures that bite anyone they see.
Song Fei blinked, and the poor guy in the mirror blinked too. Song Fei grinned, and the fool in the mirror grinned too. Song Fei touched his leg in a daze; the cramp was gone, but the aftereffects were still clear and distinct.
It's not a dream.
Or perhaps he is still dreaming?
Taking a deep breath, Song Fei turned to look downstairs. He lived on the fourth floor, and from his balcony, he could see everything below.
Unlike the horrific scene on the tree-lined avenue, many students had likely run back to their dormitories to hide, just like him. At this moment, there were only about a dozen mutants downstairs—Song Fei didn't want to call them students; those things weren't his classmates at all! The other mutants had either gone elsewhere or rushed into the dormitory building; in any case, these were the only ones visible. They were in groups of three or five; from the perspective of the upper floors, it simply looked like "a group of people gathered together," but Song Fei knew that some were students who had returned after the attack and were now separated from their group, while others were devouring students who had already been captured.
"What's all the noise about..." Someone also came out from the balcony on the fourth floor across the way, wrapped in a quilt, with a dirty face and listless eyes, clearly just waking up from a dream.
Just as Song Fei was about to respond, the other person lowered their head at the sound of his voice, and instantly perked up. They didn't even bother with the blankets or yawns anymore, and just stood there in their little underwear, excitedly shouting, "Holy crap, a group fight has broken out!"
Song Fei rubbed his forehead, no longer wanting to look at the picturesque scenery across the way.
A mutant was staggering towards the dormitory door downstairs. Song Fei suddenly snapped out of his daze and, without caring if he would be blinded, anxiously shouted to the guy in underwear across the room, "Dude, lock the door!"
Underwear-wearing classmate was engrossed in watching the commotion and didn't realize that Song Fei was shouting at him. He thought someone was yelling and cheering him on.
Another mutant entered the building across the street. Song Fei was frantic and, in a moment of inspiration, shouted, "Hey you on the fourth floor across the street, the one wearing red briefs, you fucking lock the door right now!!!"
With the conditions set like this, even a fool would realize what was going on. The guy in underwear instinctively covered his crotch and finally met Song Fei's gaze: "What the hell are you yelling about!"
"These lunatics have already entered the dormitory building, you'd better lock the door right now!"
When there are people in the boys' dormitory, let alone locking the door, many doors are not even closed properly, they are just left ajar. If a mutant targets this, they can pounce on it in one go!
Underwear student tilted his head and frowned, looking innocently confused.
Song Fei knew that unless he witnessed it firsthand, it wouldn't be easy to explain in a short time. Just as he was getting anxious, he suddenly gasped in horror, his mouth agape: "Behind you...behind you!!!"
Perhaps Song Fei's shouts were too shrill, because the student in underwear turned around sharply and saw a stranger rushing toward him with open arms!
Underwear Guy raised his hand and firmly gripped the other guy's arms, using his absolute strength to stop the guy's aggressive attack: "Damn, who are you? What are you doing in my dorm? Hey, don't kiss me, you're a pervert—"
With its arms restrained, the mutant could only stretch its head forward, clearly intending to bite. Underpants didn't understand, but instinctively resisted this kind of intimate contact, so it kept bending over and dodging backward, until half of Underpants' body was hanging outside the balcony.
Song Fei's heart was pounding in his chest when a brilliant idea flashed into his mind: "Dude, a handstand!"
Underwear Guy wished he could punch someone from afar: "Hang your mother's ass! If I hang him up, I'll be a murderer!"
"Look closely, he's not even human anymore!"
"..."
Underwear classmate completely gave up on communicating.
Damn it, all he did was sleep in, why punish him like this? Does he wake up to find the whole world full of lunatics?!
Song Fei was so anxious he was scratching his head, but putting himself in the other person's shoes, he couldn't possibly accept so readily, "Oh, so they're not human after all," either. Unless he was insane.
Despite not looking particularly imposing or muscular, the guy in the underwear was surprisingly strong. After such a long stalemate, the mutant couldn't do anything to him.
Song Fei's eyes lit up, and she immediately changed her approach: "Don't argue with him, just push him out, and then lock the door!"
The suggestion, sent from afar, finally seemed feasible. Actually, the suggestion lacked any technical sophistication, but Underwear was completely bewildered by the sudden situation, and the only thing he remembered was the bottom line of not breaking the law. At this moment, Song Fei's suggestion was like a lighthouse in the darkness, illuminating his gloomy journey.
Without saying a word, the guy in underwear suddenly leaned forward and delivered a heavy blow to the other person's head!
This method, which inflicts heavy damage on both sides, is a battle of who's more willing to risk their life. As it turns out, the Underwear guy won.
The mutant might not feel the pain, as his expression remained unchanged, but the impact was real, causing him to stagger back several steps, retreating from the balcony into the house. The guy in underwear probably felt the pain, as he grimaced pitifully, but his body didn't hesitate for a moment, immediately delivering a powerful shoulder slam into the mutant's chest!
The mutant lost his balance and staggered backward, finally knocking over a stool before collapsing backward with his arms flailing wildly.
Song Fei could no longer see clearly what was happening inside, but he vaguely saw that the guy in underwear seemed to have bent over. He could only anxiously shout, "Don't let him bite you! And don't let anyone else in!"
Finally, it seems that the guy in underwear dragged the person out by pulling on their clothes. During the dragging process, the mutant seemed to want to struggle, but this turtle-like position really hindered the counterattack.
Finally, Song Fei heard the door slam shut.
My heart can finally rest easy for now.
Soon, the student in underwear returned to the balcony. Although it was a close call, no one could help but feel a chill when they recalled what had just happened: "What the hell? Am I in my university dorm? Wasn't today my CET-4/6 exam? Is failing it repeatedly driving me crazy?"
What appears to be a rant or grumbling is actually the other person calming down from their shock.
Song Fei understood. Not to mention the other person who had just experienced a nightmare, even he himself still couldn't accept such a depraved plot setting as his classmate going crazy and eating people.
The mutants downstairs are gone, the commotion has subsided, and it looks peaceful and serene, just like the usual dormitory area. However, normally, even a scrap of paper on the dormitory's public green space would draw a barrage of criticism from the cleaning lady, but now severed limbs are everywhere, and she hasn't even come out. The cleaning ladies in the dormitory area are like the aunties in the square; if they're there, society is prosperous and stable; otherwise, well, you can imagine.
"Hey, you over there," the guy in underwear realized he couldn't possibly come up with any constructive conclusions on his own, so he turned to outsiders for help, "Hey, give me some basic information."
Song Fei admired him greatly for his composure, but then he thought that he hadn't personally witnessed the mutants eating people, so he naturally wouldn't have suffered such a horrific shock as he had.
Song Fei was also bewildered by the current situation. Rather than explaining, it was more like recounting: "During the CET-4 exam, a bunch of crazy students rushed into the classroom, pouncing on anyone they saw, biting and nibbling at them. Before the exam was even over, everyone had run out! I'm not kidding, the school building is like hell now, littered with corpses..."
As he continued, Song Fei's eyes suddenly welled up with tears, and he fell silent.
That was the grief of witnessing a classmate die before one's eyes. He wasn't talking about a movie or a news story; it was something that actually happened to someone close to him, and even now, the wails and screams still lingered in his ears. The fear before had been so intense that it had overwhelmed everything else, but now, having survived, these emotions belatedly surfaced with the memories.
The person on the other end was dumbfounded: "Are you kidding me...?"
Although he had doubts, he didn't have much confidence in his doubts, because the bloodstains and dismembered limbs downstairs were so glaring that even though he hadn't seen them with his own eyes, he could still imagine how horrific the process must have been.
A cold wind blew by.
The student, who was shirtless and wearing only underwear, should have been cold, but he seemed to have lost all feeling.
"Who the hell is in the mood to mess with you!" A familiar voice suddenly came from above Song Fei. "Do you even know what zombies are?! Do you even know what Resident Evil is?! If it weren't for saving my life, would I have failed to hand in my exam?!"
Looking up, Song Fei could see a figure on the 640 balcony directly above, but from the vertical angle, he couldn't see the person's face.
But actually, there's no need to watch it.
He would recognize that voice and that resentment even if he were reduced to ashes.
The guy in underwear frowned upon hearing this. Something was definitely wrong. Even with two classmates testifying, the guy he'd just wrestled with didn't seem healthy. But talking about a zombie apocalypse was pure nonsense: "Could it be an infectious disease? Like bird flu?"
The person upstairs scoffed: "Have you ever heard of any infectious disease that can turn patients into cannibals?"
"Drug use?" Song Fei recalled the analysis comments under the Weibo post that Qi Yan had shown him before, "Drug use can cause hallucinations and aggression."
Upstairs: "So many people doing drugs together? Is there heroin in our school's water pipes?"
Song Fei remained silent.
The sudden outbreak of terrorism is like an unsolvable problem; not to mention the answer, even the question itself is beyond our comprehension.
Qi Yan!
The image that suddenly flashed through Song Fei's mind made his heart tighten. He hurriedly went back into the room to get his phone from the bedside, but quickly threw it aside in dejection—there was still no signal.
Where is that guy now? Didn't we say we were going to have dinner together? Around Zhiyuan Building? In the cafeteria? Or did he kill some time at the library? Or... did he go back to his dorm too?
She ran back to the balcony and shouted at the top of her lungs, "Qi Yan—"
The student across the street wearing underwear and the student upstairs who hated not handing in their exams were both startled. This was like a ghost calling out to its spirit!
Both being sophomores, Qi Yan's dormitory was on the second floor of this building. But even after Song Fei's shrill voice faded completely, there was no response from below.
Song Fei slumped helplessly onto the balcony, feeling terrified. But he tried to convince himself that perhaps the other person had simply not returned to the dormitory, or perhaps they had run off to hide somewhere else, or maybe they hadn't even encountered the mutant at all.
"What do we do now?" Underwear student was already chatting with the student who hadn't handed in their paper.
The students who didn't hand in their papers were the most resilient and optimistic: "What else can we do but wait? So many people have died, do you think the school can just ignore it? The principal is probably crying his eyes out right now."
Underwear Student: "How do we manage this? Should we arrest all these crazy students?"
A student who didn't hand in their paper said, "I don't know. We can't play Plants vs. Zombies every day."
Underwear Student: "This thing is weird, my phone has no signal."
A student who didn't hand in their paper said, "These days, nothing is surprising."
"Attention students, attention students—"
Suddenly, the campus loudspeaker blared, and Song Fei perked up and stood up as well.
"An accident occurred during the CET-4 exam, causing the exam to be interrupted and some students to be injured. The injured students have been sent to the hospital for treatment. Students who have returned to their dormitories, please lock your doors and windows. Do not leave your dormitories without permission from the school. Students who have not returned to their dormitories, please find a safe place to take shelter nearby and do not wander around to avoid causing unnecessary panic. Students, please note, to reiterate, an accident occurred during the CET-4 exam..."
The broadcast was repeated five times.
When it finally quieted down, Song Fei had almost memorized it.
"Alright, just wait," the student in underwear picked up the quilt again and put it on. The broadcast did have a calming effect; he even knew he was cold. "I guess the school leaders will come to visit tonight."
The students who hadn't handed in their papers were relieved and remembered to ask the brave man's name: "Hey, which department are you from?"
The student in underwear boldly introduced himself: "School of Mathematics, Luogeng. And you?"
The student who hadn't handed in their paper returned the favor: "Architecture Department, Zhou Yilu." Then, they added a compliment, "Those moves you made just now were pretty good, have you trained?"
Luo Geng remained calm and composed, displaying the demeanor of a chivalrous hero. If he hadn't been wrapped in a blanket, he probably would have casually shrugged and said, "It's nothing, just some military boxing."
Zhou Yilu exclaimed in disbelief: "This thing actually works?"
"It depends on how you practice. You can practice fancy moves if you want, or you can learn something real if you want," Luo Geng said, then paused and looked over with a look of utter despair. "But if you practice for three years straight and don't learn something real, you'll be bored to the point of madness."
Song Fei hadn't intended to get involved, but upon hearing this, she couldn't help but ask, "Isn't it just freshmen and sophomores fighting? Did you repeat a year?"
Luo Geng rolled his eyes at him: "It's because you fought so well, brother. The people in the hospital won't let me go no matter what!"
Song Fei understood. Their college also had this situation. The senior students who were good at the game would be called back to teach the newbies after they entered their junior year. Teaching wasn't enough; during the final performance, these senior students would stand at the front of the entire formation and lead the game, just like the leaders of the morning exercises.
Zhou Yilu remarked, "It seems you really do need to have a skill; it can save your life in a critical moment!"
Song Fei sighed: "That depends on what kind of specialty it is."
Zhou Yilu: "Every talent has an environment it can adapt to."
Song Fei: "There is no Tai Chi fan!"