I spent a sleepless night.
It wasn't that Song Fei didn't want to sleep, but the kitchen, with the heating off, was just too cold. There was nothing on the floor to insulate against the cold, so no one was sleeping on the floor anymore. The cleared-out worktables were a good place to stay, providing shelter from the cold floor, but unlike the long kitchen downstairs, each cubicle at the special window was a small kitchen with a small worktable. It was an order-based system, where they would cook as many meals as the students came, so the worktables weren't very big. There wasn't much space left after the two girls lay down. So Lin Dilei and Huang Mo huddled together on the worktable, while the remaining male students huddled together in the corner, some sleeping, others just dozing off.
Finally, dawn broke. Song Fei felt that his fingers and toes were a bit stiff. He stood up and moved around for a long time before he felt better.
Zhao He and his group weren't in much better shape; every single one of them had dark circles under their eyes and looked incredibly haggard. Song Fei finally realized that the exhaustion on the faces of the students in Class 2 wasn't just from running for their lives, but also from lack of rest.
Huang Mo and Lin Dilei were the first to get up and started cooking soybean paste soup. The rich aroma of soybean paste and the heat from the stove brought a touch of warmth to this cold morning.
As Song Fei stretched his neck and shoulders, he walked over and opened the window. A rush of cold air instantly refreshed him.
Outside was a world of pure white snow, so beautiful it seemed unreal. The treetops and the ground were covered in snow, which glistened in the rising sun, like a bride's wedding dress, pure and translucent.
"This snow is quite heavy," Zhao He said with amusement, appearing behind Song Fei at some point. "It seems like we didn't see this much snow all winter last year."
Wu Zhou, who had just stolen a spoonful of soup and was about to taste it, stopped and retorted, "Of course there was. There was a snowstorm in early February, and the playground was unusable all day. Your department's training was all suspended."
Zhao He furrowed his handsome eyebrows, struggling to recall the past: "I have absolutely no recollection of it..."
Huang Mo snatched the soup spoon back from Wu Zhou's hand, nipping the petty thief in the bud, and then analyzed, "It probably melted too quickly, so it feels like it wasn't cooked at all."
Wu Zhou glanced longingly at the soup that was almost in his mouth and sighed, "Sigh, if this were in Northeast China, it wouldn't melt all winter, it would just be a white blanket of white until spring."
"Thank goodness we're not in the Northeast. It's only a few degrees below zero and we're already freezing. If it were tens of degrees below zero... Achoo! I don't even want to think about it." He Zhiwen rubbed his nose and looked at Song Fei, who was peering down not far away. The latter had been looking for a long time, his neck craning longer and longer, as if he wanted to circle around to the back of the building. It made He Zhiwen's heart pound. "Song Fei, be careful, don't fall!"
Whether Song Fei heard He Zhiwen's reminder or not is unknown, but Zhao He, who was next to Song Fei, heard it clearly and found it strange. He nudged Song Fei with his elbow and asked, "What are you looking at?"
Song Fei finally pulled half of his body back and replied, "Zombie."
Last night, Song Fei had already told the students of Class 2 about their combat experiences and research findings. As for the combat experiences, Song Fei embellished a little; whether they understood or not, he didn't know, but he certainly enjoyed himself. But regarding the research findings, he didn't dare to fabricate anything. From the suspicion of a zombie virus to the characteristics of zombies themselves, he meticulously explained everything. Some of the students in Class 2 completely accepted it, while others were skeptical, but regardless of their belief, they at least accepted the term "zombie." They couldn't keep calling him a crazy classmate or a monster classmate; it sounded awkward to them.
Zhao He glanced down, puzzled. The sky and earth were a vast expanse, without a single ghost in sight: "There aren't any zombies here either?"
"It would be strange if there weren't any," Song Fei said, puzzled. "Before, no matter when or what day or night, there would always be zombies wandering around. Maybe there were more times when they smelled human scent or saw living people, and fewer times when they couldn't smell or see them, but it would be too strange if there weren't any.
Zhao He is a straightforward person, so he couldn't understand Song Fei's convoluted explanation: "He's afraid of the cold. Who would go outside in the snow? They'd freeze to death."
Song Fei instinctively wanted to refute, "Zombies are already painless and numb, yet they are still afraid of the cold. Isn't that strange?" But upon further reflection, she realized that while they might no longer be considered human, they were still some kind of living being. Since they could retain some of their behavioral habits from their previous lives, it seemed not impossible that they would also retain the most basic physiological characteristic of seeking advantage and avoiding harm.
"Dinner's ready!" Lin Dilei lined up the stone pots on the clean counter and, while Huang Mo was ladling soup into them, called to Song Fei and Zhao He, "Quickly close the windows, they're freezing. Come and have some soup first, then you two can discuss the world."
In the blink of an eye, all eight people had gathered around the table. Since there were no chairs, they each grabbed a stone pot and went to find a comfortable spot to drink. Song Fei was still pondering whether zombies were afraid of the cold, so his movements were a little slow. By the time he came to his senses, his seven friends had already taken theirs, leaving only one. Fortunately, everything was steaming hot, and there was no distinction between first and last. Amidst the enticing aroma of the soy sauce, he eagerly picked up his own portion…
Song Fei stopped in her tracks as she was about to turn around, and brought the stone pot closer to her eyes, making sure she heard the sound of her dream shattering.
It all came down in a blur.
Crackle, crackle.
Clang.
Click.
—It seems he wasn't the only one whose life was shattered.
"Girl," Wu Zhou, representing the group, said sadly, "I can understand if you cook it in a big spoon instead of a stone pot before dividing it, since we don't need to be picky about what we eat. But soybean paste soup should have tofu, beef, mushrooms, and clams, right? Isn't it cruel of you to just use a handful of bean sprouts!"
Huang Mo calmly took a sip of soup, savoring the savory flavor on his tongue, before putting down the stone pot and spreading his hands innocently: "The tofu has gone bad, there's nothing I can do about it."
Wu Zhou was speechless. Everyone had seen the tofu go bad the day he arrived, but: "Isn't there still beef in the freezer, and lots of dried shiitake mushrooms in the bag?"
Huang Mo looked at him quietly, without saying a word.
Wu Zhou fell silent towards the end. Even though Huang Mo's expression was gentle, Wu Zhou always felt that Huang Mo's glasses might fly out at any moment and cut off his throat.
Actually, Huang Mo gives off a completely different vibe from Lin Dilei. The latter, even without speaking, exudes a strong presence, and if she doesn't feign gentleness, her voice is incredibly imposing. But Huang Mo is mostly unremarkable, short, and almost lacks any real aura. Yet, strangely, if she looks at you, you feel as if you're drawn into her eyes and can't escape. You're then pulled in either to relax or tense, as if some invisible force is holding you back.
Finally, Huang Mo spoke up, explaining calmly, "We can eat whatever we want; at worst, we'll just die after indulging. But if you consider this a protracted war, then food rations need to be scientifically planned to maximize efficiency with minimal losses. What do you think?"
Wu Zhou swallowed hard and quickly lowered his head to diligently drink the soup.
Zhao He, who had been listening in the background, was convinced: "Women are just so meticulous. No wonder my dad always says my mom is a pillar of the nation."
Huang Mo was stunned, unsure how to respond.
Zhao He thought she was dissatisfied, so he immediately changed his tune: "You can do three-quarters!"
Huang Mo was embarrassed. After a long while, he managed to say "thank you," then lowered his head to drink his soup and didn't look up again.
Zhao He vaguely sensed that he had made the conversation awkward again, but it wasn't the first time he hadn't been good at chatting with girls. He shrugged and began his journey of having a bean sprout breakfast.
Drinking soup doesn't take much time; in less than ten minutes, everyone's pots were empty. Although the soup was sparsely made, a steaming pot of soup really warmed everyone up.
Outside, it was still quiet and there was no sign of zombies. Song Fei and Lin Dilei were eager to reunite with their friends, so they didn't care about worrying about anything else and said goodbye to their classmates in Class 2.
Huang Mo glanced down, somewhat worried: "Even though this is only the second floor, it's still quite high. Are you really going to just jump down like that?"
Fu Xiyuan glanced down and asked doubtfully, "It's not too high. We should be able to jump right up."
Huang Mo looked up at Fu Xiyuan.
Fu Xiyuan looked down at Huang Mo.
The height difference made them both a little awkward.
This is a modern version of the story of the little horse crossing the river. Uncle Ox thought it was shallow, while the little squirrel thought it was deep, so in the story, the little horse went home to ask his mother. But right now, Song Xiaoma has a very clear self-awareness: "If I jump straight in, the least I'll do is twist my ankle."
Zhao He asked, "So you don't even have a rope anymore, how are you going to get down?"
Song Fei chuckled and surveyed the entire room.
The students in Class 2 of the Martial Arts Department all felt a sense of foreboding.
Five minutes later, everyone gathered together, and Zhao He, who had the longest arms, raised his phone and snapped a picture, capturing eight united and friendly faces in one photo using the front-facing camera with its built-in beauty filter.
As Zhao He returned the phone to Song Fei, the five male students from Class 2 of the Martial Arts Department began to undress.
Huang Mo stepped aside, unable to suppress his laughter, and openly admired the view. After all, he had only taken off his shirt, so there was no harm in taking a look.
A few minutes later, a rope made of fabric made of hoodies, t-shirts, thermal underwear and other items was lowered from the second-floor window. A giant white radish was tied to the end of the rope. As Song Fei, who was holding the rope, swung it back and forth, the white radish hit the glass window below with a series of muffled thuds.
Soon, the window below was opened, and Qi Yan leaned out to look up.
Song Fei gave him an OK sign, and Qi Yan nodded in understanding.
The cloth rope was quickly retrieved, untied from the radish, and then put back down. This time, there was no one holding the rope. The end of the rope was firmly tied to the table leg that was pushed over. Two of the remaining six companions guarded the table leg to prevent the tied cloth from coming loose, while the other four squeezed onto the table and used their own weight to weigh it down, making sure it could withstand the pull of a person's weight.
Everything was done in silence.
In just two minutes, Song Fei landed safely, followed by Lin Dilei. The two quickly slipped through the window, and Zhao He and the others retrieved the rope and closed the window.
Song Fei was taken aback by the spaciousness as soon as he entered. Although he knew that the kitchen downstairs was much larger than the kitchen upstairs, he still needed to adjust to the sudden change in space. More importantly, there were four freezers, while there was only one upstairs, and the one downstairs was much larger, standing proudly in the corner, practically gleaming.
Qi Yan was amused by his appearance and couldn't help but pat his head: "Are you hungry? Pick whatever you want to eat."
Song Fei was stunned, and asked in surprise, "You can cook?"
"No way." Qi Yan replied without hesitation, quite naturally.
Song Fei was speechless: "Then what do you want me to choose!"
Qi Yan was stunned: "You don't know how to do it?"
Song Fei: "When did I ever tell you I would do it?"
Qi Yan: "When we first met, you said you were so elegant and capable, like a fairy godmother reincarnated. Whoever married you could just lie in bed and enjoy life."
Song Fei: "..."
The other children quietly dispersed, unable to bear looking at Qi Yan's innocent and naive face any longer.
If before this, the Martial Arts Class 1 had two opposing stances regarding this pair of gay lovers—supporting Qi and supporting Song—now everyone is completely undisputed: support Qi and destroy Song.
Seeing Qi Yan's bewildered and hurt expression, and then looking at her friends' disgusted eyes, Song Fei felt a little ashamed. But objectively speaking, it wasn't a heinous crime, right? Everyone says nice things when they're flirting.
"It's not a sin to brag a little when you're pursuing someone," Lin Dilei said softly.
Song Fei grabbed her hand quickly, almost bursting into tears: "Right, right? You're the most experienced, it's only natural!"
Lin Dilei firmly pulled the handle away: "But you have to be honest after you win her over."
Song Fei: "No..."
Zhou Yilu: "It's one thing to be dishonest, but to dump someone in the end is even worse."
Song Fei: "No..."
Luo Geng: "They put aside past grievances and sought reconciliation."
Qiao Siqi: "You kicked me a second time."
Song Fei: "He..."
Li Jingyu: "When you don't have it, it's a cherished memory; once you have it, it's just a mosquito bite on the wall."
Song Fei, on the verge of tears, searched for his only confidant: "Qingyuan—"
Wang stepped forward promptly and patted him on the shoulder reassuringly: "Actually, after observing him these past few days, I've found that he's not as bad as you say."
All my friends: "You're still talking badly about people behind their backs?!"
Song Fei: "...I was wrong, I'll go to the corner and reflect on my mistake."