Wang Qingyuan's cheeks were sunken, and his dark circles made his face look even paler. He was already rather thin, but never like this before. When Song Fei held his body, it felt like she was hugging a bunch of bones.
With tears welling up in her eyes, Song Fei sniffed, gently released the other person, and immediately took out a bottle of Red Bull and two Snickers bars from her backpack and handed them over.
Wang Qingyuan took the Snickers bar, refused the Red Bull, and said listlessly, "Just fill the water dispenser with a cup of water, don't waste this."
Song Fei was a little anxious: "This is invigorating!"
"We haven't eaten anything to stay alert for the past ten days, so we just want something light..." came Li Jingyu's weak explanation from the other end of the line.
Song Fei looked towards the corner of the wall following the sound, only to find that Qi Yan was holding someone in his arms. Song Fei felt that the person looked familiar, but couldn't remember where he had seen him before. Moreover, why did the person seem to have a lingering look of confusion on his face?
But now is not the time to discuss these things: "What do you mean by that?"
Li Jingyu didn't have the energy to explain further, so he gestured for Song Fei to look at the table.
Song Fei looked around and realized that he was in the tea room, where there were three water dispensers, faucets and sinks, and a coin-operated coffee machine on the counter.
Song Fei's heart skipped a beat. He looked at Wang Qingyuan in disbelief, then at Li Jingyu. He thought that they had managed to hold on until now because they had some supplies: "Could it be..."
Li Jingyu's eyes filled with sorrow, then he heard Li Jingyu's vow through gritted teeth: "I will never drink coffee again in my life!"
Every survivor has their own untold sorrows. Song Fei sighed and poured Wang Qingyuan a glass of water. But when he returned the water, the Snickers bar in the man's hand was nowhere to be seen. If it weren't for the chocolate stains on his thumb and forefinger, he would have even doubted whether he had given it to the man at all.
On the other side, Qi Yan also let go of Li Jingyu, took out a French bread roll for him, and Li Jingyu took two dry bites, looking at him with a bit of resentment: "Don't you have a Snickers bar?"
Qi Yan was squinting at the people offering comfort and water when she heard this and turned around, her expression still not quite composed.
Li Jingyu felt a chill on the back of his neck, then stuffed the rest of the bread into his mouth, puffing out his cheeks and chewing vigorously: "What is this made of? It smells so good!"
*Slap slap*
A banging sound came from outside the window.
The four people in the room were startled and turned their heads to look. They saw Luo Geng's big face pressed against the glass.
Song Fei quickly got up and opened the window for the other person: "Why did you come over?"
Luo Geng nimbly slipped inside, and while helping Song Fei lock the window, he said casually, "You two went inside and haven't come out since. Everyone was worried, so I volunteered to come and check on you."
Song Fei raised an eyebrow suspiciously: "..."
Qi Yan looked him up and down: "..."
Luo Geng: "Okay, I lost at rock-paper-scissors."
After closing the window, Luo Geng turned around. He had seen the two survivors from outside, but once inside, he realized the atmosphere wasn't like that of someone bravely rescuing strangers, but rather like a joyful reunion of close friends: "You two know each other?"
Song Fei patted Wang Qingyuan's shoulder familiarly, and said with great pride, "My roommate, Wang Qingyuan."
Qi Yan put her arm around Li Jingyu's shoulder tightly and said enthusiastically, "My friend, Li Jingyu."
Song Fei stared at Qi Yan's hands with displeasure, frantically searching his memory for the glorious name Li Jingyu while mentally stabbing Qi Yan repeatedly with metal chopsticks.
Qi Yan felt refreshed and couldn't help but smile.
Wang Qingyuan's gaze lingered between the two of them several times before he suddenly raised his arm and pulled Song Fei's head close, gently nuzzling his head with his chin, and murmured, "It's so good to see you again."
Song Fei was a little confused.
On the other end, Li Jingyu was about to have Qi Yan strangle his shoulder.
Luo Geng swallowed hard. His mission here was to check on his comrades' safety, but now it seemed that the two of them were the most dangerous factors!
That Wang guy seems to have some energy, but that Li Jingyu or whatever he's called looks like he won't last much longer...
"Hey, Qi Yan, let him go first." Luo Geng couldn't stand it anymore, so he stepped forward and pried Qi Yan's arm off, rescuing Li Jingyu.
Li Jingyu stood up with all his might, determined to stay away from this opponent he had once defeated, who now seemed to harbor deep resentment.
Luo Geng was surprised that Li Jingyu still had the strength to stand up, and even more surprised that he exclaimed, "Hey, you're shorter than me, hahaha!"
"..." Li Jingyu felt that these classmates might not really want to save him.
After confirming his comrades were safe, Luo Geng immediately grabbed Song Fei's flashlight and took it to the balcony, flashing it twice at the figures at the far west end. This was his secret signal to the main force: two flashes meant everything was fine, one flash meant something was wrong. Of course, if the situation was urgent and he couldn't get Song Fei's flashlight, he would just scream. Although that might attract zombies from other rooms on the fourth floor, he wouldn't care about that in that situation.
Seeing the flashlight put Zhou Yilu and the other two at ease.
only--
Qiao Siqi asked, puzzled, "If there's nothing wrong, why are you lingering over there?"
Lin Dilei speculated, "Could it be that they've discovered survivors?"
Zhou Yilu sighed, "If it's just one or two, that's fine, but if there are a dozen or so, we might as well give up and live."
Dark memories were stirred up, and the three fell silent.
After a long while, Lin Dilei finally spoke in a low voice: "What were you thinking when you saved me?"
Qiao Siqi: "There's no time to think about that, saving lives is the priority."
Lin Dilei smiled, but the smile quickly faded: "So what about the future?"
After thinking about it seriously, Qiao Siqi said honestly, "If I keep running into jerks like those in the supermarket, I'll turn to the dark side."
Zhou Yilu laughed: "How are you going to criticize me?"
Qiao Siqi rolled his eyes: "How would I know now? Oh, after being a well-rounded socialist successor for nineteen years, you're suddenly telling me that socialism doesn't need you to succeed it anymore, so you can just take yourself? I know how to take it?"
Zhou Yilu: "..."
Lin Dilei: "Why do I feel like punching someone every time I hear him mixing English into his Chinese?"
Zhou Yilu: "".
The library's windows are all antique-style lattice windows. Although this affects some light transmission, the school leaders have an inexplicable insistence on Chinese style, so the designer has increased the number of windows as much as possible to ensure that the interior is bright during the day.
The advantage of this type of window is that if you want to break in, you only need to smash a small piece of glass, reach in, unlock it, and you're done. Then, just cover the small compartment with a piece of white paper or a plastic bag, and Mom won't have to worry about me getting cold anymore!
That's exactly what Zhou Yilu did.
While the three of them successfully entered the closed-shelf library, Wang Qingyuan and Li Jingyu's bodies were not recovering so quickly. The three members of the team decided not to rush and exchange information with the other side first.
Song Fei sat down next to Wang Qingyuan, and the first thing he asked was, "Where are Xiang Yang and Ren Zhe?"
This was something Song Fei desperately wanted to know, but when he actually asked, he found himself afraid to hear the answer.
Wang Qingyuan gently shook his head: "I don't know."
Song Fei asked in confusion, "Aren't you two together?"
As Wang Qingyuan recalled, he explained, "We had just sat down that day when Xiangyang heard from a classmate who had just returned that something had happened at the Foreign Languages Department the day before, and it seemed to be quite serious. Xiangyang was a little worried about his girlfriend, but there was no phone signal. Later, he saw that it was still early, and going there and back wouldn't interfere with his afternoon exam, so he went straight to the Foreign Languages Department."
Song Fei understood: "And then Ren Zhe has to come along?"
Wang Qingyuan sighed and nodded.
Ren Zhe never missed any opportunity to get in touch with a large number of female classmates. His indomitable spirit in courtship is truly a shining example of the 440th class.
"I hope they're alright." At this moment, no news is the best news.
"Don't worry," Luo Geng reassured him, "The outer courtyard is full of girls. Where there are girls, how could there be a lack of food?"
"..." The reasoning was flawless, leaving Song Fei speechless.
Li Jingyu then described the situation at the library. It was essentially the same as the cafeteria, supermarket, and even the dormitories. Their quiet study session was abruptly interrupted by chaos, and they fled in panic. He and Wang Qingyuan were lucky; the incident happened in the break room, and Wang Qingyuan quickly locked the door, thus escaping unscathed.
Of course, Li Jingyu refused to revisit the ten-day coffee trip that followed.
Song Fei also recounted his team's experiences over the past ten days, from the dormitory to the supermarket, and then from the supermarket to the library. He only briefly mentioned the near-suicide attempt and the bullying in the supermarket, but Wang Qingyuan and Li Jingyu could easily imagine it. After all, during those ten days, they had spent most of their time imagining things, like the little match girl, taking a sip of coffee and conjuring up a beautiful vision—sometimes their parents, sometimes their classmates, sometimes even soaring through the air, overlooking the vast landscape of their homeland. Then the illusion would vanish, and they'd take another sip, repeating the cycle endlessly.
"How will you calculate it from now on?" Wang Qingyuan asked.
Song Fei said irritably, "It's not 'we,' it's 'us'!"
Wang Qingyuan smiled and said, "Hmm, what about us in the future?"
"Go to the cafeteria." Qi Yan answered him, "We brought only a limited amount of food, enough to last a few days. If we want to survive, we have to go to the cafeteria."
Wang Qingyuan pondered for a moment, then looked up at him: "Are you confident?"
Qi Yan did not avoid his gaze: "No."
Wang Qingyuan: "Then why not go back to the supermarket?"
Qi Yan: "Going to the cafeteria requires killing zombies, and going to the supermarket requires killing people. Actually, it's either way, it depends on which one you want to choose."
Wang Qingyuan: "They all sound alright."
Qi Yan: "Then how about flipping a coin?"
Wang Qingyuan: "They've all been put into the coffee machine."
A corner of the wall.
Li Jingyu asked quietly, "What are those three doing?"
Luo Geng succinctly put it: "One person is watching two other people brag."
It was getting late, and the two survivors seemed to have recovered some of their strength. Luo Geng climbed back into the closed shelving to report the details, while Qi Yan and Song Fei stayed behind. Before long, the remaining friends came over one after another to greet Li Jingyu and Wang Qingyuan. They were especially relieved after learning that Wang Qingyuan was Song Fei's roommate and Li Jingyu was Qi Yan's close friend.
For the next two days, Li Jingyu and Wang Qingyuan rested and recuperated in place. By the third day, they had recovered about 70-80% of their strength and then climbed up to the closed shelving unit.
Actually, the tea room had a water source and a secure lock; the facilities were even better than the closed-shelf library with a small broken glass. However, after ten days of drinking and relieving oneself, the taste was definitely not fresh. And, adhering to the principle that sharing is worse than keeping it to oneself, the five comrades relieved themselves there—Lin Dilei went to another room on her own, and although the others were curious, they wisely refrained from asking under her sharp gaze.
The moment Li Jingyu entered the library, he saw the suitcase on the floor. He was stunned, then filled with admiration: "To escape with the mindset of a tourist, what a master!"
"It's not that exaggerated. We were just trying to save our lives," Lin Dilei quickly explained.
Li Jingyu watched her patting lotion onto her face and felt that the explanation was very weak.
Zhou Yilu pulled the two of them down to sit and said, "Now that you two have recovered enough, let's discuss how to take over the cafeteria."
Li Jingyu swallowed hard: "Actually, I haven't fully recovered..."
Wang Qingyuan, standing beside him, had already picked out a fruit knife, his eyes fixed on the sharp blade: "I want this one, it'll be easy to use."
Li Jingyu: "Aren't you adapting too fast!"