The students of Class 1, Wusheng, were waiting to meet Song Fei and Lin Dilei, so they didn't dare to cook breakfast for fear of being distracted. They simply ate some snacks they brought from the library and made do. Now that Song Fei and Lin Dilei had arrived, although one of them had been relegated to the corner to draw circles, the students still generously shared the snacks with them.
Lin and Song, whose bellies were full of soup, readily accepted the snacks and ate them with gusto.bookshelf
But seeing this made his friends feel sad, and Qiao Siqi asked with a hint of complaint, "They didn't share any food with you?"
"They've split up, they've split up," Song Fei quickly defended the students in Class 2, "They drank a bellyful of bean sprout soup!"
Qiao Siqi slammed his fist on the table and stood up: "This is outrageous! We've been through thick and thin together, and all we get are two bean sprouts?!"
"Uh," Song Fei recalled the bean sprout trip that had just ended, feeling a pang of pity, "they were the same."
Qiao Siqi froze, and after a long while, his expression changed from anger to sympathy. He muttered to himself, "It sounds so pitiful..."
Song Fei was about to say something when she heard Wang Qingyuan say from the other end, "Qi Yan, what are you looking at?"
He turned around and saw Qi Yan squatting in another corner, picking up a zombie's arm and examining it intently. Perhaps he was too engrossed in his work, he didn't respond to Wang Qingyuan's calls at all. The next second, he suddenly picked up a utility knife and forcefully cut a gash in the zombie's forearm. After cutting it, he probably felt it wasn't deep enough, so he started sawing back and forth with the blade.
Cut into the zombie's arm, numbness spread to the friend's scalp.
Everyone instinctively crowded into the corner where Song Fei was drawing circles, absorbing each other's body heat while gazing at the gruesome scene. The zombie's arm wound wasn't bleeding, making the visual impact even more striking. Especially when Qi Yan finally seemed satisfied, put down the knife, and began to pry open the wound to look inside, the exposed flesh sent chills down everyone's spines.
"Brother Qi," Luo Geng said, his teeth chattering, using a respectful address from the bottom of his heart, "It's dead, and it didn't really hurt us, so why torture the corpse like this?"
Staring at the lifeless zombie with utter despair, Li Jingyu wanted to cry, overwhelmed by the hopeless feeling that this was his future fate: "I shouldn't have beaten him in the 10,000-meter race..."
Qi Yan seemed to have entered some kind of deserted realm. No matter how much the ghosts and howls were going on, he ignored them all, only frowning and staring intently, as if a snow lotus would grow from the wound in the next second.
Song Fei pulled his friends over, patting each of them on the head reassuringly. Finally, he suddenly called out to Qi Yan, "Handsome guy—"
These two words were like a jolt of electricity. Qi, who had been lost in her own world, didn't hesitate for a moment and abruptly looked up: "Hmm?"
The other guys were speechless. Clearly, this shouting and responding had become an instinctive reaction ingrained in their very bones. It's not hard to imagine how cloying the two of them must have been when they were dating.
"What did you figure out?" Song Fei didn't think it was a problem. He had gotten so used to the nickname that it was no different from that of Qi, the guy with the surname Qi.
"It's not certain yet; I need to look at a few more."
"come on."
"Um."
After the conversation ended, Qi Yan continued, while Song Fei looked away and explained to the bewildered students, "It's nothing. It's just their professional habit in biology; they want to take a slice of everything they encounter and put it under a microscope for in-depth research. Since we don't have microscopes now, we can only look at it with the naked eye."
Zhou Yilu: "He said he needs to see a few more..."
Song Fei: "It's just a matter of cutting off a few more arms. There are several corpses piled up over there, so I guess one or two sample groups won't be enough."
Josh: "Don't you find it disgusting?"
Song Fei: "It's disgusting. But if we can actually find something useful in the research, then it's all worth it, no matter how disgusting it is."
His friends were speechless, genuinely admiring Song Fei's level of skill for the first time...
Song Fei: "It wasn't me who did it."
Fuck you!
To make it easier to cut and compare, Qi Yan simply took off all the zombie's clothes and laid the corpse on the ground, lining them up side by side. For safety, he put on black leather gloves and began to cut wherever he was curious about the zombie.
Although the zombie's body stopped spitting blood for some unknown reason, the scene was still enough to make the students of Martial Arts Class 1 feel extremely uncomfortable. In the end, everyone stopped hiding in the corner and ran to the other end of the kitchen, the place furthest away from Qi Yan, with their backs to him, taking deep breaths to calm their persistent nausea.
After a long silence, Zhou Yilu still felt uneasy: "I'm just an ordinary college student, I really can't do this."
The group of friends retorted in unison: "Who the hell isn't a regular college student?!"
This included Song Fei, which surprised everyone: "You can't stand it either?"
"..." He could understand Qi Yan's exploratory spirit from a professional perspective, and could even accept him making a cut to see what it was like, but that didn't mean he could accept him making cuts endlessly! When they were dating, they ate, studied, strolled around, and even slept together, not engaged in academic activities!
More than half an hour later, Qi finally finished studying and kindly asked his friends, "Do you want to come and take a look too?"
"No, no, no, that's enough for you..."
My friends, you should shake your heads off!
Qi Yan was embarrassed and could only say, "Then come over and lend a hand. Let's throw the body out the window. I'm still not at ease leaving it here. Even if it doesn't spread the zombie virus, it may still breed other bacteria."
Song Fei covered her eyes and politely declined on behalf of her friends: "You'll have to work harder. Carrying this up will make your intestines spill out, we really can't handle it."
Qi Yan then realized why his comrades were so resistant, and was completely speechless: "I didn't dissect it!"
Song Fei froze, and the others were equally bewildered. Qi Yan was both amused and exasperated: "I just wanted to see their muscle tissue to confirm my theory. I'm just a biology student, not a medical student. You guys overestimate me..."
The group cautiously approached and discovered that the corpse lay unharmed on the ground. Because it was completely naked, it was even more clearly visible. Apart from some wounds of varying depths on its limbs, the body was basically undamaged. Of course, the head was a different story, having been severely injured by their comrades during the earlier fight. Overall, however, it was still within an acceptable range.
Song Fei finally breathed a sigh of relief, but felt that Qi Yan was also responsible for the misunderstanding: "You were only studying the arms and legs, why did you take off their clothes!"
Qi Yan replied matter-of-factly, "To lay it on the ground as a mat."
Song Fei: "This...is a really good idea."
Everyone was dumbfounded. They realized that when facing Qi Yan, Song's momentum could never last more than three seconds.
Taking advantage of the absence of zombies outside, Class 1 of the Martial Arts Department chose the easternmost window and worked together to send the corpse out along with the swill. The zombies were alright, but the sound of the swill being poured out was louder, so by the time they closed the window, several zombie figures had already appeared in the corner.
The jokes that everyone made in Class 2, like zombies being afraid of the cold, seemed more and more believable to Song Fei as he thought about them.
The meticulous Lin Dilei found a mop and cleaned up the swill bucket and the filth left by the corpse. Then, she found a very delicate flat round perfume bottle from somewhere and sprayed it lightly into the air twice.
Just two strokes.
The odor had dissipated considerably after the windows were opened, and now it was completely gone, leaving only a lingering fragrance.
"It's so nice to have a girl with you."
The male students felt refreshed and invigorated by the subtle fragrance, their gloom lifted.
Lin Dilei had no interest in paying attention to them. She just hugged her treasured items, feeling heartbroken and sad—the ones she had always been reluctant to use had been sprayed all over the kitchen.
The martial arts class laid out the clothes left behind by the zombies. Thick outer garments were laid out in a single layer, while thinner inner garments were layered two or three times, eventually forming a makeshift bed that could barely accommodate eight people. However, this was only wide enough for eight people to lie side by side. As for each person's head and feet, some space had to be sacrificed. Shorter people could still manage by curling up their legs, but for taller people, half of their legs were basically on the ground.
The zombies' clothes were a mottled mix of red and dark, stained with mud and blood. The bloodstains varied in shade and intensity, making it impossible to distinguish which belonged to the innocent students they had attacked and which to their own. Fortunately, Qi Yan found large black plastic bags, similar to those used to cover trash cans on the street, probably for the cafeteria to collect food waste. He tore them open and laid them out; each bag was about one and a half to two square meters in size. With just a few, he could completely cover the clothes. He tucked the seams under the clothes and then used several large bowls to secure the edges at several fixed points. A magnificent black plastic makeshift mat was thus completed.
Finally, Class 1 of the Martial Arts Department had a place to rest that wasn't so cold. Everyone wrapped themselves up in their cotton-padded coats and down jackets and finally sat down together. Qi Yan then began to explain his research findings: "I've been thinking that if zombies are also a kind of living being, then they need energy to survive. Through these days of observation, this energy can only come from living people, because we haven't seen them eat anything else. But now there are so many zombies outside, yet not a single living person is in sight. The surviving students are all hiding and not coming out. Why haven't they starved to death?"
Everyone was taken aback by this sudden question.
Even someone as familiar as Song Fei couldn't help but marvel at how different a top student's thinking is from that of ordinary people. While ordinary people are busy figuring out what to eat, this top student is already thinking about what zombies eat.
"Could it be that after they kill a person, they don't eat them all at once?" Zhou Yilu speculated, "like leopards, they drag them somewhere to hide and eat them slowly?"
"No," a glint flashed in Wang Qingyuan's eyes behind his glasses, as if he had caught the key point Qi Yan wanted to make, "If they don't finish eating the people in a short time, the bitten people will likely turn into zombies halfway through, and become zombies directly. How could they possibly wait to be dragged to another place and stored away?"
"Actually, thinking about it carefully," Song Fei tried hard to recall the journey from Zhiyuan Building, where the CET-4 exam was held, to the boys' dormitory, and then to the library, "aside from the students who jumped off the building and were completely devoured, it seems that most of the others were infected after being bitten. For example, some had pieces missing from their faces or necks, and some didn't even have obvious wounds. Maybe they were just bitten on the hand or leg and then became infected. Judging from the appearance, there should be far more mutated ones from being bitten than those who were eaten directly."bookshelf
"Wait, there's a bug here," Qiao Siqi said, his head spinning. "If the zombie mutates while it's eating the other one, does it continue eating or just give up? If it continues eating, it means it also eats zombie flesh. If it gives up, that's even more absurd. Basically, it has to give up one after it bites one. According to Qi Yan, there's no energy to absorb. Each person can only take one bite, and they might not even get any meat. How can they absorb anything?"
"Could it be that some people mutate quickly after being bitten, while others mutate slowly, like some viruses, where some people develop symptoms very quickly after infection, while others may remain dormant for years or even decades without showing symptoms?" Li Jingyu said. "So the ones who mutate quickly become zombies, while the ones who mutate slowly get eaten?"
"That's not quite right either." Song Fei narrowed his eyes, recalling the scene when the zombie horde first broke out. "In Zhiyuan Tower, I saw them abandon people they had just bitten twice and then pounce on others. You see, lions and leopards, even when hunting antelopes, they lock onto a target first, then scatter the herd and go after that one. Once they catch it, they drag it away and eat it without a word, not caring how many antelopes are around. But these zombies are different. It feels like they don't care whether they eat or not; what they love most is to devour anyone they see…"
The discussion stalled at this point, as everyone realized they were trapped in a chaotic and disorganized world. It seemed like there were paths everywhere, and they could take a few steps anywhere, but they couldn't find their direction. They would walk and walk until they entered a dead end, or simply circle back to where they started.
Catching a glimpse of the certainty in Qi Yan's eyes out of the corner of her eye, Song Fei understood: "Hey, stop keeping me in suspense and just tell me."
The harsh tone made Qi Yan frown in grievance, remaining silent for a long time.
Song Fei was speechless: "What, do you want me to kiss you first?"
Qi Yan's eyes lit up instantly, sparkling like stars!
The six friends all turned to look at Song Fei, their faces filled with excitement and joy at the prospect of something good happening.
Song Fei was embarrassed and wanted to slap herself for her loose tongue: "Uh, well, I saw you were all so serious, so I just wanted to lighten the mood..."
Six disdainful glares flew over, but Song pretended not to see them.
Qi Yan lowered his eyes in disappointment, looking so pitiful that his comrades wished they could hang a "scumbag" sign on Song Fei and parade him through the streets!
Song Fei feigned ignorance, but in his heart he had already tossed Qi Yan around in anger eight hundred times! When they were dating, Qi Yan was so simple and pure, and even when she scolded him, she was straightforward and never beat around the bush. How did she suddenly go from being an idol to a master actor?! And she was even acting so convincingly!
Without even looking at Song Fei's expression, just a glance at his slightly flaring nostrils told Qi Yan that the man had gone berserk. Although she felt a pang of shame, thinking, "I'm so bad," the joyful flock of pigeons kept fluttering around in her mind.
Clearing his throat with a cough, Qi Yan became serious, after all, there was still important business to attend to—
"My judgment is that spreading the virus is their instinct, not eating people. So, driven by this instinct, they will pounce on as many people as possible, devour them, and then pounce on the next one. Only when there are no other living people around will they continue to devour them, and even then, this devouring is not absolute. Think about it carefully: we've seen a lot of zombies along the way, but very few corpses. If they were really devouring people on a large scale, there should be skeletons left on the ground. The absence of skeletons means that only a very small number of people were devoured, and the majority were infected and turned into zombies."
Qi Yan poured out all her thoughts in one go, and her friends need some time to process them.
Amidst the thoughtful silence, Wang Qingyuan was the quickest to grasp the situation and the first to spot the problem: "If, as you say, they only eat people to spread the virus, and only in rare cases, then what do all those zombies outside rely on for survival? You just said that every living thing needs to absorb energy."
Qi Yan nodded and continued, "That's why I cut open their muscle tissue just now, to confirm my guess."
Wang Qingyuan: "Has it been confirmed?"
Qi Yan: "Basically, I'd say. I examined all the corpses, and their muscles and fat remained in a relatively stable state. To give an example, if a person doesn't eat for a week and only drinks water, their body will rapidly consume fat and muscle to sustain life. When we found you in the library, just by looking at you, this consumption was very obvious. But on those corpses, not only was there no visible consumption caused by long-term fasting on the surface, but when we cut them open and observed the internal cross-sections, there were no such signs either."bookshelf
Wang Qingyuan: "What's the conclusion?"
Qi Yan: "Their metabolism is extremely slow."
Wang Qingyuan: "Immortality?"
Qi Yan: "It shouldn't be that bad, but maybe he could manage to go a year and a half, or three to five years, without eating or drinking."
Wang Qingyuan: "What about three or five years from now? Will we all die together?"
Qi Yan: "That's a possibility."
Wang Qingyuan: "The scene will definitely be spectacular."
Qi Yan: "Yes..."
Seeing the two top students lost in endless daydreams about the future, the remaining six students looked at each other helplessly. Finally, Song Fei, acting as their representative, interrupted their worries: "Could you two put aside your concerns about the zombies for a moment and first worry about how we'll survive for three to five years..."