Thirteen days after the zombie horde outbreak, sunny. (gdown)
Dozens of bookshelves stand in two rows, orderly arranged in the room. Sunlight streams through the window frames, casting neat square shadows on the side panels of the bookshelves. There is hardly any open space in the room; only two narrow aisles remain between the two rows of bookshelves and on the side near the window.
At this moment, eight heads were huddled together under the window, studying a floor plan with the same intensity they would use for a final exam.
Zhou Yilu: "I don't need to explain the cafeteria; everyone goes there every day and knows it well. The first floor is the main hall, the second floor is the specialty area, and the third floor is the private rooms. Structurally, all three are dining areas plus the kitchen. The first and second floors are just dining areas separated by a window strip. However, we're going to the kitchen, so from the kitchen's perspective, the first and third floors are actually the same—it's one large, unified space. But the second-floor kitchen has been partitioned, divided into several enclosed small areas according to the specialty windows. In short..."
Qi Yan: "The kitchens on the first and third floors have more food stored, while the kitchens on the second floor are easier to control."
Zhou Yilu: "Yes, the smaller and more enclosed the space, the more advantageous it is for us, but correspondingly, food storage is not as centralized."
"Handsome guys," Lin Dilei reminded them, "the question now isn't which layer we want to control, but which layer we can control."
Zhou Yilu slumped down upon hearing this and sighed, "Yes, the entire facade is a glass curtain wall, straight up and down and smooth all over, there's nowhere to even get a foothold if you want to climb it."
"What if we enter through the door?" Song Fei suddenly asked.
Qi Yan shook his head without hesitation: "There are only eight of us. The cafeteria has three doors. Each of the two side doors requires at least two people to close properly, and even two people might not be enough for the main entrance. If we all go to guard the doors, who will deal with the zombies inside the cafeteria?"
"Entering through the door doesn't mean we have to guard it," Song Fei rolled his eyes, tapping twice on the west side door and the first-floor kitchen door on the floor plan with his index finger. "We can try to lure as many zombies as possible from the lobby to outside the cafeteria, then take the opportunity to run in through this west side door, which is closest to the kitchen door, and jump over into the food serving area to head straight for the kitchen. If eight of us can't guard three doors, we can at least guard one kitchen door, right?"
Qi Yan was stunned.
He was constantly racking his brains over "how to climb onto the roof." It's not that Song Fei's idea was particularly brilliant, but from his entry into the dormitory through the balcony, to the supermarket through the skylight, and now to the library, "infiltrating through the outer wall" had become a fixed mindset for him and many of his comrades. However, Song Fei was able to break free from this mindset.
"Ahem," Song Fei cleared his throat, drawing Qi Yan's attention back. Once their eyes met again, he frowned seriously and said, "Can't you use your brain before you do things?"
Qi Yan was speechless. These words were all too familiar, yet this was the first time she had gone from being the speaker to the listener. Looking at the other person, they couldn't stop smiling smugly; they were practically floating on air.
My hand was suddenly gripped tightly.
Qi Yan's heart skipped a beat, and then she heard Song Fei say sincerely, "I understand why you always used to argue with me."
Qi Yan raised an eyebrow, his intuition telling him he needed to be skeptical: "Really?"
"Mmm," Song Fei nodded vigorously, her bright eyes shining with an unusual light, "It feels so good, anyone would love this feeling!"
"..." Qi Yan, whose temples were throbbing, forcefully pulled his hand back.
My comrades are used to it by now. To be honest, I'm almost numb to zombies now, so who's afraid of watching gay scenes?
However, Li Jingyu is not one of them.
He was neither accustomed to the ferocity and grotesqueness of the zombies, nor to the flirtatious glances of his male classmates. Therefore, he admired Wang Qingyuan even more. In the ten days they spent together, he had already felt this classmate was extraordinary, and now, seeing him calmly observing, he felt even greater respect.
"Three questions," Qi Yan agreed with Song Fei's suggestion, but it still needed to be improved from suggestion to feasibility. "First, who will lure the zombies out, and how? Second, after the main force rushes into the kitchen, how will the students who lured the zombies return to the team? Third, the kitchen on the first floor is very large. If there are still zombies inside, and a lot of them, how will we deal with them?"
"I haven't thought that far ahead yet..." Song Fei said honestly. He was a human brain, not a computer, so how could he plan something so thoroughly all at once? He then turned to his comrades and asked, "What do you guys think?"
Wang Qingyuan was the first to respond: "I lack experience in struggle, so I'll listen to you on this matter."
"Attracting zombies is nothing more than sound and smell, but to attract a large number of them in a short time, only sound can do it. Just like we used to do, either put down our phones or sing loudly and shout." Zhou Yilu paused here before continuing, "But if you can't hide in an absolutely safe place, this method won't work, and whoever uses it will die."
Lin Dilei: "The people who lead the zombies can return to the group through the windows, as long as the people who get into the kitchen first open the windows. If they can't climb up the windows on the second or third floors, they can always get in through the windows on the first floor."
Qiao Siqi: "But this person probably won't be able to escape safely to the window. Unless the people in the kitchen have a shadow, it's a very difficult skill to open a window while fighting zombies. Also, what if the person climbing in through the window is suddenly attacked? No one can save him; he'll just be eaten alive."
"Everything has a probability; there's no such thing as absolute safety. We can only strive to increase our chances of survival." Luo Geng's deep voice was filled with determination. After speaking, he looked at Li, a student from the School of Literature who had remained silent until now, and asked, "What do you think?"
"..." Li Jingyu felt nothing anymore. He only missed the days of drinking coffee; though the novelty was wearing off, his heart was at peace. "Picking chrysanthemums by the eastern fence, I leisurely gaze at the Southern Mountains; the mountain air is beautiful at sunset, and the birds fly back to their nests..."
His friends watched his dazed gaze drift into the distance, and they felt a pang of pity. They understood Li Jingyu's breakdown; after all, he hadn't even truly faced zombies yet, and suddenly being forced into combat mode with only one life—which could be gone in a heartbeat—was unsettling for anyone in his shoes. They recalled their own first few days in the dormitory, and they were in the same boat.
But now there's no time for him to gradually adapt.
If Li Jingyu remains in this state until departure, it's not just him who's in danger, but potentially the entire team.
They looked at each other, their anxious gazes quickly conveying their feelings—
[Zhou Yilu: He looks like he's about to be utterly terrified...]
[Josh: What can we do?!]
[Song Fei: Advise them, reason with them, and appeal to their emotions.]
[Lin Dilei: And it has to be in his favorite way.]
Qi Yan: OK.
[Luo Geng: Wait, what? Hey, I'm not good at Chinese!]
"Brother Tao, wake up, Peach Blossom Spring is gone." Zhou Yilu turned Li Jingyu's shoulder and looked him straight in the eye. "Think of Lu You, who lay in a lonely village, not lamenting his fate, but still thinking of defending the country at the frontier!"
Li Jingyu's wandering gaze gradually returned: "Lying awake at night, I hear the wind and rain, and dream of iron horses and icy rivers."
Qiao Siqi pressed on: "The shame of Jingkang has yet to be avenged; when will the hatred of the subjects be extinguished?"
Li Jingyu took a deep breath and slowly exhaled: "Drive a long chariot and break through the Helan Mountain pass."
Song Fei hurriedly shoved the utility knife into his hand: "Long clouds over Qinghai darken the snow-capped mountains, a lonely city gazes afar at the Jade Gate Pass!"
Li Jingyu gripped his weapon tightly, his gaze growing serious: "Having fought a hundred battles in the yellow sands, clad in golden armor, I will not return until Loulan is conquered!"
Lin Dilei: "Wearing white mourning clothes, we stand by the river, vowing to annihilate the barbarians; our mighty army of 100,000 will swallow up Wu!"
Li Jingyu: "Let's see if the natural barrier can be broken by throwing a whip; I refuse to believe that the Central Plains will not belong to the Zhu family!"
Qi Yan said, "Even when drunk, my heart and spirit remain open. My temples are slightly frosted, but what does it matter!"
Li Jingyu stood up abruptly, his imposing aura unstoppable: "I will draw my bow like a full moon, gazing northwest, to shoot the heavenly wolf!"
Just one step away from victory, and Li Jingyu wasn't the only one bursting with excitement. When Luo Geng stood up, his chest felt like it was pounding: "Don't laugh at me, drunk and lying on the battlefield; how many have returned from ancient battles?!"
Li Jingyu: "..."
Comrades: "..."
The sudden silence was like God pressing the mute button; Luo Geng instantly realized that he needed to salvage the situation!
"Uh, well, don't worry about having no friends on the road ahead, for who in the world doesn't know you!"
Li Jingyu: "..."
Luogeng: "Damn, I should have said one or two sentences, not three or four, right?"
Comrades: "That's not the point!!!"
For a long time afterward, Li, a student in the School of Literature, was immersed in the terrifying fantasy of "who in the world doesn't know you?" It was a vicious curse that was terrifying even without careful consideration, and impossible to live without upon closer examination.
Luo Geng was also depressed for a long time. Chinese was his Achilles' heel, and it was not easy for him to squeeze out two lines of classical poetry.
Song Fei and his team resumed studying the feasibility of the canteen plan, especially the questions raised by Qi Yan. Wang Qingyuan, who had only spoken one sentence throughout, suddenly asked, "What we need to do now is to buy as much time as possible to survive and wait for rescue, right?"
The five people in the discussion looked up, not quite understanding what he meant. Song Fei answered him first: "Yes. We don't know the situation outside right now. If zombies are also rampant outside, the wasteland may not be safer than the school."
Wang Qingyuan nodded to indicate that he understood, but then changed the subject: "Since we need to maximize our survival time, we don't necessarily have to go to the cafeteria right now."
Song Fei asked, puzzled, "What do you mean?"
Wang Qingyuan said, "There are two vending machines at each corner of the staircase on each floor of the library, one selling drinks and the other selling snacks."
Song Fei hesitated for a moment: "I know that, but we can only go through the corridor."
Wang Qingyuan asked, "Do you think it's harder than going to the cafeteria?"
Song Fei frowned and thought for a moment, then said, "It's hard to say."
In Qi Yan's view, Wang Qingyuan already had the answer in his heart. If he really thought going to the vending machine was more dangerous than going to the cafeteria, he wouldn't have made the suggestion in the first place. But he did, and he discussed it with Song Fei in a very equal tone.
In fact, after he suggested it, Qi Yan also thought that going to the vending machine first was a good idea. If they wanted to survive, they couldn't let go of any food and had to scavenge as much as possible wherever they went.
But if I came up with the idea first, would I discuss it with Song Fei?
Don't go to the cafeteria yet, go to the vending machine.
[Why?]
There's no reason why; can't you see which is more advantageous?
I'm sorry, my eyesight is just not good.
[Can't you just stop making a scene at a time like this?]
Why do you always think I'm just messing around?
"Never mind, let's talk again once you've calmed down."
I'm fucking calm right now!
[You're so calm, why are you hugging others so tightly, but not me?!]
[...What?]
Qi Yan shuddered, terrified by his own imagined scenario. What was even more frightening was that this little drama seemed to have come to life, eager to continue its performance on its own. He had to exert all his strength to shake it out of his mind.
On the other side, the comrades had already reached a conclusion—
Song Fei: "Then it's settled. Shall we go to the vending machine first?"
Li Jingyu: "It sounds a bit easier than the cafeteria..."
Wang Qingyuan: "Mm."
Qiao Siqi: "But do we have enough money on us to invest?"
Luo Geng: "Are you stupid? Just smash it!"
Zhou Yilu: "Exactly! We're afraid to do anything except kill people!"
Luogeng: "Uh, there's no need for that..."
"Song Fei," Lin Dilei tugged at his clothes, "why don't you go check on Qi Yan? He's been shaking his head very strangely…"
The day passed peacefully during the seminar. The food they had gathered from the courier point was enough to last them two to three days, so they weren't in a hurry to move.
As night fell, the group lay on a makeshift bed of books , which, though a bit hard, at least kept them warm from the cold air.
The moonlight replaced the sunlight, shining through the window. Although it was a cool color, in the quiet night, it made people feel relaxed and warm inside.
I haven't slept with the lights off in a long time.
Taking advantage of the clear night and their companions, the eight people embraced the long-awaited darkness.
"Hey you, stop playing on your phone!"
A screen was constantly lit up in the bright moonlight, which was really an eyesore.
Li Jingyu pouted: "Just a little while longer, just a little while."
"You've been using it for ages," Qiao Siqi, who was incredibly sleepy, finally snapped. "If you don't turn it off soon, I'm not giving you the charger!"
Li Jingyu: "How can one ask for back a gift given away? Besides, what use would it be if it were taken back? It would only serve to amass wealth."
"Good, very good…" Qiao Siqi said, suddenly standing up as if to snatch it.
There was still a Zhou Lu between him and Li Jingyu. Zhou Lu, who could sleep soundly even if the sky fell, was currently dreaming of his CET-4 exam, answering questions flawlessly from beginning to end, and was sitting there waiting to hand in his paper when Johns suddenly pounced on him and slapped him, turning him from a side-lying position to a prone position, shattering his dream of handing in his paper.
"Qiao Siqi, you son of a bitch!"
Johns had no time to pay attention to him and reached for the charger. Li Jingyu was no pushover either; he grabbed the phone and the charger and rolled over, then sat up, completely a world away from Qiao Siqi.
Qiao Siqi was furious and immediately stood up, preparing for a second attack. But just as his foot stepped on Zhou Lu's back, a strange woman's voice suddenly rang out in the vast, closed stacks of books—
[Son, are you stupid? You're only 1.68 meters tall! If you don't look for someone taller, you won't even be able to spot my grandson in a crowd!]
The air suddenly froze.
The sound had a clear electrical quality, clearly coming from a mobile phone.
Qiao Siqi froze, suddenly losing his mood for making a scene.
Li Jingyu hadn't expected that his accidental touch on the screen would reveal the WeChat chat history he'd been secretly reading. He'd only been silently reviewing the text and hadn't dared to listen to the voice messages, but now that the familiar voices were there, his eyes immediately welled up with tears.
Qiao Siqi moved his lips, but still couldn't think of anything to say, so he could only lie back down dejectedly.
Li Jingyu sniffed, feeling a little embarrassed, and silently lay back down.
Except for the exceptionally gifted Zhou Yilu, none of his comrades were asleep. Even if they were, they would have been woken up long ago. If someone could lift the roof of the library right now, they could clearly see eight people lying in a row in the closed stacks, silently gazing at the vast sky.
After an unknown amount of time, Lin Dilei's voice suddenly broke the silence: "Actually, what your mother said makes a lot of sense, about eugenics."
Li Jingyu's voice was a little hoarse: "You really think so?"
Lin Dilei: "Mm."
Li Jingyu: "How tall are you?"
Comrades: "..."
Luogeng: "Get out!"
Li Jingyu choked up again: "I was just asking casually, otherwise all I can hear when I close my eyes is my mother's voice, and it makes me uncomfortable."
Luo Geng was also uneasy about what he said: "Then listen to your father, fight poison with poison."
Li Jingyu: "My dad doesn't know how to use WeChat!"
Luo Geng was furious. He simply sat up and pulled out his phone: "Then listen to my dad! I've been pretty generous, haven't I? I'm sharing my dad with you—"
If you don't pass the CET-4 (College English Test Band 4), you might as well not celebrate the New Year, and you're not allowed to come back for winter break. You'd better stay at school and study!!!
Luo's father's voice was powerful and resounding.
The group of friends were no longer sleepy and sat up one after another. Some were so startled that they sprang up as if sleeping for even a second longer would be a sin.
Luo Geng said smugly, "How about that? Invigorating, isn't it?"
Qiao Siqi spoke frankly: "It can practically ward off evil spirits."
Li Jingyu immediately became polite to Xiao Luo: "You can enjoy such a good father yourself, no need to share with me..."
Luo Geng sighed, his feelings complicated: "If I can't get out of here alive, that will be the last thing my father said to me."
"Pah, pah, pah," Lin Dilei said irritably, "Don't say such unlucky things."
Li Jingyu echoed dejectedly, "That was also the last thing my mother said to me."
Qiao Siqi rolled his eyes: "At least you guys can still listen, I don't even have a phone anymore."
Qi Yan patted his shoulder silently, expressing her concern and also finding some comfort for herself.
"You think being able to listen is a good thing?" Lin Dilei, in a fit of desperation, grabbed her phone, opened WeChat, and decisively started playing.
[How many times have I told you? Just settle for someone decent. Don't be picky just because you think you're pretty. Girls go from twenty to thirty, then to forty. If you don't find someone now, all the good guys will be taken. Also, you haven't grown any taller, have you? You absolutely can't drink milk anymore. When you get back to the dorm, video chat with me. I want to see you measure your height in person. When are you coming back to the dorm?]
The entire voice message was less than twenty seconds long, spoken at an extremely fast pace, yet with perfect intonation and rhythm. After listening, the listeners still had the illusion that Aunt Lin was still speaking, as if her voice lingered for days.
Parents are a taboo subject for the six friends throughout their journey. They are not afraid of zombies, not afraid of danger, and even dare to face death, but no one dares to mention their parents. It is their Achilles' heel that they cannot overcome, no matter how many gas masks they wear. They always feel that if they touch it, the strength and courage they have painstakingly accumulated will crumble. So they hide, conceal, and deliberately ignore them.
However, they suddenly realized that perhaps the opposite was true; these emotions they thought would bring vulnerability were precisely the courage and beliefs that had been supporting them all along.
Somehow, it turned into a battle of who could best deliver the most impactful last WeChat voice message from their parents. Zhou Yilu and Wang Qingyuan played their parents' messages one after another, but in the end, Song Fei's mother, who was the second to last to appear, overwhelmingly won the competition.
[Mom misses you so much! I never wanted you to go to such a faraway place for college... Hey, don't move! I won with 90,000! Hahaha!!!]