Chapter 178: Zombie Siege Practice
For some reason, after the first complaint slipped out, the three of them subconsciously continued to pour out their grievances. Before long, they had spilled everything about their experiences at the student stronghold over the past few days as if emptying a basket of beans.
The first among them to join the cafeteria stronghold was the girl. At that time, the student union radio had just notified everyone of the existence of the strongholds, and these organizers were also doing everything they could to help students escape inside. When she saw the abundant self-defense weapons, the spacious stronghold, the plentiful food... she thought, as if she had been given a new life, that this was the final hope.
But very soon, the girl discovered that all of this was an illusion.
There were self-defense weapons, but only the organizers were qualified to use them. The cafeteria space was large, but the vast majority of ordinary students could only hide in the first-floor hall. The second and third floors were territory monopolized by the organizers—including all the food.
Over two days, the girl had received only three slices of biscuit in total. All the snacks and tools they had brought with them had been confiscated. Their hunger and weakness increased day by day, and they simply no longer had the strength to flee to other strongholds.
“It’s not like no one ever protested, but those organizers threw the protesting classmates to the zombies right in front of us, and even forced us to watch the whole process of him being eaten…”
Recalling those nightmare-like scenes, all three of them choked up.
So when the stronghold began its so-called “selection of qualified people,” they all silently accepted it. But obedience could not exchange for safety. The number of people thrown outside at night increased day by day, and wails never stopped at night. Every morning, looking through the windows, they would see their former classmates shakily stand up and wander around unconsciously, covered in blood.
Pain catalyzed fear, and no one wanted to become one of them. The atmosphere inside the stronghold also became stranger and stranger.
Just before being thrown out as cannon fodder today, the girl had even personally witnessed two students treating the strange liquid they were injected with as some kind of deity, kneeling and kowtowing to it with pious expressions.
“Strange, why am I talking about this…”
The girl was also somewhat puzzled. She had actually almost forgotten these details. As long as she could survive, let alone worship an injection, even if she were told to worship a toilet, she would have no problem with it. Yet now, she had unconsciously said it all aloud.
Fortunately, Tang Xinjue did not look impatient. She calmly listened to the end, then equally calmly rejected the three people’s request to cling to her.
Although somewhat disappointed, this was also within the three people’s expectations. They planned to hurry off to seek refuge at the next stronghold, placing their hopes on finding a place filled with normal people.
“Oh, right, I got separated from my roommates. If you happen to run into them, could you help me give this to them?”
Tang Xinjue took out two slips of paper. On them were the contact information for the old mobile phone, as well as the locations of all the telephone booths in the school.
The three hurriedly agreed. Perhaps they were so hungry that they were somewhat dizzy and blurry-eyed. It was only when they were about to leave that the girl remembered to ask: “Wait, what do your roommates look like?”
Tang Xinjue had been prepared for this. Calmly, she said: “Their portraits are on the back of the paper.”
The girl hesitated: “…Um, isn’t that an abstract painting?”
Tang Xinjue: “…”
After several seconds of silence, she switched to describing them verbally:
“One has the same hairstyle as you, but her hair is rather thin on top, and she has a red pendant around her neck. The other is relatively tall, and has a shovel exactly like mine in her hand.”
“However, if you encounter the latter, remember to make sure to explain your identity as quickly as possible.”
Tang Xinjue added at the end.
“My roommate is a little irritable.”
“Hello? Is anyone there?”
Zheng Wanqing shouted several times into the receiver, but there was always complete silence on the other end. Following the telephone line of the landline phone, she discovered that its source had been cut off.
Behind her, the door panel made a hissing sound as it shook from the impacts, while water sprayed into the room through the gaps. She impatiently clicked her tongue, threw down the receiver, picked up the shovel, jumped up, and crawled out through the ventilation window at the top of the wall.
Just as she landed, she happened to see a panicked student running outside, shouting as he ran: “There’s a leak! The roof is leaking!”
“You’re making a fuss over nothing. What’s there to yell about over a little water?”
Several uniformly dressed students walked out from the room at the far end, immediately intending to reprimand him.
“But, Senior Dong Jing, there’s so much water!”
The student abruptly stopped. The surging water behind him rushed over his knees and directly swept him down the stairs.
Only the bewildered stronghold organizers remained where they stood.
—In front of them, the corridor ceiling looked as if countless holes had been stabbed into it. Water, carrying mist, frantically surged out from countless pipe openings, rushing toward them in a mighty torrent!
The first reaction of several people was to run downstairs, avoiding the direction of the water. After only a few steps, they suddenly remembered that at a time like this, they should be looking for high ground instead. But when they turned around, they saw an unfamiliar tall girl rummaging around inside the room. She even tapped the telephone receiver and gestured toward them:
“This one isn’t broken, right? I’ll make a call.”
Several people: ???
Who are you?
Two minutes later, the disheveled stronghold organizers were kicked out of the room. The door was slammed shut in front of them, and the splashing water drenched them to the bone.
The organizer named Dong Jing viciously wiped his face: “Bah, a good man doesn’t fight with a woman. I’ll come back and deal with her later!”
The first floor was already filled with cries of misery.
By the time the organizers finally deigned to show themselves after the water had receded, all the students hiding on the first floor had already become drowned rats, soaked through and packed together on the stairs.
—This was also thanks to someone outside knocking on the door. Everyone had found the opportunity to work together from inside and outside to smash open an opening, allowing the accumulated water inside to flow out.
And the three “newcomers” who had happened to become the heroes were squatting below with bewildered expressions.
They had clearly come to look for their next shelter, so why did this place feel even less safe than outside?
Even more unexpectedly, as soon as they heard the origins of the three people, several organizers from the medical building stronghold immediately changed their attitudes and ordered someone to seize them:
“This flood was released by the East Gate stronghold. We have reason to suspect that you are the masterminds behind it!”
The three: ?
Amid their frantic struggles, they heard an organizer sneer:
“Don’t think we don’t know. You’re jealous that this place is flourishing, so you sent spies over to investigate the situation. But we also sent a spy over to your side long ago. Unfortunately, they were accidentally killed indiscriminately, which was the only reason you managed to escape!”
The three: ???
Looking again at the identical weak state of the students here, how could they not understand?
They had just escaped the wolf’s den, only to enter the tiger’s lair. They were all crazy!
The three, who had already exhausted the last trace of their strength, had no ability to resist at all. During the struggle, they even lost the crying male student. The remaining two could only despairingly watch as they were bound hand and foot and sent to the third floor to “receive punishment.”
Crossing the stairwell, they happened to encounter Zheng Wanqing coming toward them.
Stronghold organizers: …Fuck.
They had almost forgotten about this.
They quickly exchanged glances and tacitly ordered their helpers to change direction, pretending nothing had happened as they said: “The third floor was flooded too badly. We’ll go to the second floor first to deal with the spies.”
But the girl, who had already given up hope, suddenly jolted. Her gaze gradually regained its light from its dimness:
“Big shot… Big shot’s roommate?”
That enormous shovel was simply too conspicuous and eye-catching. There was no way she could ignore it.
Zheng Wanqing stopped, her smoothly lined neck lifting slightly, the center of her brows raised: “What?”
The girl said with difficulty: “Someone surnamed Tang, a big shot, told me to find you, to tell you her contact…”
The stronghold organizers sensed that something was wrong and immediately moved to knock the girl unconscious: “You still want to spout nonsense?”
A heavy hammer came down, and a buzzing filled the girl’s ears. Through her blurred vision, she could only see Zheng Wanqing’s beautiful face.
The big shot had warned her to watch out for her roommate’s explosive temper... she thought dazedly. She really ought to be the one warning the big shot roommate to be careful—though, sadly, it was too late for that...
Clang!
A pitch-black flash flew through the air. The shovel plunged into the railing five centimeters above her head. The iron rod used to knock them unconscious was precisely deflected back, producing a crisp symphony against the organizer’s skull.
The girl woke up.
Wide awake.
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