Twenty minutes later, they pulled up to the front gates of Funan University — though calling it a gate was generous. The pillars on either side still stood, but the gate itself was gone, presumably carried off by the horde at some point. Chen Wan looked into the campus and felt her scalp prickle. From where she sat, she could already count several hundred zombies — a dense, crawling mass that made the air feel heavier just looking at it.
Yi Yi hit the accelerator. Before the zombies could properly organize themselves to climb, the RV was already moving — launching forward like a bolt from a crossbow. It burned through fuel quickly, but it worked. The sudden burst of speed sent the impact force through the front of the vehicle before the Level 2 zombies' reflexes could respond. Even with their improved intelligence, they couldn't dodge what they hadn't anticipated.
Yi Yi drove with her usual precision — swerving, cutting, and plowing — taking down a significant number of zombies as they went. But the campus was teeming with them, and the horde kept pressing in from every direction. Yi Yi handled the driving while Chen Wan managed the mechanical arms, hauling off every zombie that tried to scale the sides and sending them flying.
Nearly thirty minutes of this brought them to the base of the Qinfen Building. The RV had cleared a hundred or two zombies along the way. Yi Yi brought the vehicle to a stop and locked all the steel panels into place. Everyone checked their gear and prepared to disembark.
Ye Lan caught Chen Wan's sleeve before she could go. "Please be careful out there — all of you."
"We will, Mom. Don't worry." Chen Wan smiled and stepped out.
She hit the ground and was immediately surrounded. Using her ability, she seized control of the fifty zombies nearest to her and directed them to form a protective ring around the others. The window was only ten or fifteen seconds, but it was enough — Yi Yi and the rest touched down without incident.
Chen Wan led from the front, driving back the zombies with kicks and sweeping blows. Behind her, Qin Ke and Jiang Yanxin moved in formation with their weapons raised, putting shots through zombie skulls at close range. Qin Ke, with her firearms ability now active, hadn't missed once — every pull of the trigger found its mark. Yi Yi held the rear. Sharing the RV's upgrade level, her speed and strength already surpassed anything a freshly minted Level 2 zombie could offer. The ones that came for her were cut down or sent flying without ceremony.
The four of them drove into the building in that formation — only to find the interior just as crowded. Thirty zombies rushed towards them the moment they crossed the threshold. Chen Wan had already put her pistol away in favor of the machete, which suited her far better at close range. She worked through the ones in front of her methodically, keeping them at arm's length.
Then a zombie scaled the back of a zombie in front of it and launched itself at Jiang Yanxin. She kicked it back, but her strength wasn't enough to finish it — it went down, grabbing at her leg, hands closing around it, pulling toward its teeth. Several others seized the opportunity and lunged for her at the same moment. In that instant, Chen Wan triggered her ability again, seizing control of the zombies in the immediate vicinity. Jiang Yanxin used the opening to shoot the one at her leg and free herself.
Chen Wan gritted her teeth and held the control steady. But this couldn't keep going — they were barely moving on the first floor, and it was already this difficult. She directed the fifty zombies under her command to shield the group on all sides and clear a path toward the stairwell, and pushed forward.
Those fifty obeyed her like extensions of her own will — thirty forming a tight perimeter around the group, fighting savagely against their own kind to hold the outer horde at bay, while the remaining twenty drove forward and carved a route ahead.
Sweat ran freely down Chen Wan's face and neck. Every additional second of control cost her mental energy — this was a demand on her mental energy unlike anything she had put herself through before, and the more she pushed out, the more it took.
Jiang Yanxin noticed that Chen Wan's face had gone pale, and still she was moving toward the stairs. "Chen Wan — are you all right?"
Chen Wan shook her head without stopping. She followed the clearing zombies up toward the second floor, but she no longer had the strength to lift the machete or fire a shot.
Jiang Yanxin, alarmed, moved to her side. She and Qin Ke took one of Chen Wan's arms each, supporting her while continuing to fire at the zombies pressing in from either side. Yi Yi covered the rear, fighting alongside the controlled zombies to hold the horde back.
By the time Chen Wan's group broke through to the second floor, she had nothing left. Her face was white — completely bloodless. She had held control for just over a minute. The moment it slipped, the fifty zombies she'd been commanding turned on the group instantly.
Chen Wan had no strength in her body at all. Only Jiang Yanxin's arm kept her on her feet. Qin Ke quickly covered fire with both guns. Yi Yi swept back in to shield Chen Wan while the controlled zombies dispersed back into the horde.
Jiang Yanxin kept one arm around Chen Wan and fired with the other — her accuracy was solid, seven or eight out of ten hitting their mark. But the zombies kept coming, and they were being hemmed in.
Yi Yi assessed the situation quickly. "We can't stay in the open. We need to find a room and let Chen Wan recover."
"Right — she can't go any further like this." Jiang Yanxin kicked a zombie aside while keeping her grip on Chen Wan. The horde seemed to have been starved of living prey for a long time — they came with a relentless, frenzied hunger.
The four of them fought their way to the nearest classroom door. Yi Yi put her machete through two zombie skulls in quick succession and kicked the door open. They piled inside. Jiang Yanxin settled Chen Wan against the wall while she, Qin Ke, and Yi Yi stacked desks and chairs against the door. Yi Yi dragged two heavy metal storage cabinets across as well, reinforcing the barricade until it held.
The classroom door shuddered under the impact of bodies outside, a steady, rhythmic pounding.
Jiang Yanxin pulled Chen Wan into her arms and wiped the sweat from her face, looking anxiously at Yi Yi. "What happened to her?"
"Mental energy overload. She's only ever sustained it for a few seconds at a time before. That was well over a minute — she needs to rest, and it'll pass." Yi Yi kept her tone easy, adding: "Mental energy is self-expanding. The more you push the threshold, the further it goes. This time, a minute and a half brought her to this point — next time she'll handle it better, and can try pushing toward two minutes. We have time. It's only just past seven."
"Good." Jiang Yanxin kept her hand moving slowly across Chen Wan's forehead, clearing the sweat. Her Apha looked, at this moment, like a very large and very waterlogged dog — soaked through and looking at her with eyes that could only be described as pitiful.
She shifted so Chen Wan could rest more comfortably against her and kept wiping her down.
Chen Wan, for once in her life, was genuinely and completely obedient — not by choice, but because she had absolutely nothing left in her limbs. She lay against Jiang Yanxin's shoulder and breathed.
Yi Yi glanced at Qin Ke, whose brow was drawn tight. "Don't look like that — this is actually good for her. Every time she expands her threshold, she comes out stronger. We're going to make it to the sixth floor."
"I know." Qin Ke said quietly. "I just feel like everyone is working so hard because of me."
Chen Wan, still catching her breath, managed a short laugh. "We're friends — don't say things like that. You helped us at the base, didn't you? Your situation is our situation."
"Chen Wan's right. We'll be more careful on the way up. We'll get there." Jiang Yanxin added gently.
Qin Ke nodded.
Yi Yi handed both her firearms and their ammunition to Qin Ke. "You shoot more accurately than anyone. Long-range headshots — that's you and Yanxin. I'll stay with the machete."
"All right." Qin Ke accepted without argument, pocketed the weapons, and methodically reloaded every magazine she had.
Yi Yi studied Jiang Yanxin for a moment. "Yanxin — your accuracy just now was quite good. Is your ability firearms-related as well? Though that doesn't quite fit either." She ran a quick analysis through her optical brain. "Seven or eight in ten. That's impressive — but the pattern doesn't match an ability signature."
"I'm not sure I have one," Jiang Yanxin said. "It might just be concentration. I've always been able to focus more than most people on everything I do. The crystal cores must have strengthened my body, and I suppose the shooting followed."
"That would explain it." But Yi Yi still felt something didn't add up.
Beside them, Chen Wan had begun to look more like herself — a thread of color returning to her face. "I'm already feeling better. Mental energy really does cost something — I lasted barely over a minute and ended up like that."
"That's exactly why you need to practice," Yi Yi said cheerfully. "When we get back, you and I will train properly."
"Agreed. I'd rather not repeat this particular experience."
Chen Wan rested a while longer. By eight o'clock, she had largely recovered, and the corridor outside had gone completely silent.
Chen Wan signaled to the others with a look. A Level 1 zombie with no mind behind it might simply wander off when it loses interest. But a Level 2 zombie with partial intelligence? She didn't believe for a moment that they had left.
They began removing the barricade piece by piece. Chen Wan pressed herself against the door and peered through the narrow gap —
— and came eye to eye with a zombie standing directly on the other side.
Beyond that one, she could see the rest: the corridor packed deep with bodies, all of them utterly still, all of them watching the door. The silence of it was more unsettling than the noise had been. They were waiting. They understood patience.
Chen Wan kicked the door open hard. Several zombies directly in the path of it were sent crashing into the opposite wall and dropped to the floor. She came through with her machete swinging, and the nearest ones erupted in rotten blood. The others followed her out — the corridor was narrow, and fighting through it was brutal. The pile of bodies under Chen Wan's blade grew to half her own height, and still they came, pressing in from every direction. Four people could not push through by strength alone.
Qin Ke and Jiang Yanxin fired continuously, but the noise only drew more. The four of them found themselves pinned in the middle of the corridor, unable to advance or fall back.