Chapter 57 See You in the Future

Lu Dongyu had no time to think about why the principal, who was just an ordinary college student before the apocalypse, was so good at fighting—perhaps this was what was called a gifted individual?

She focused intently on her own zombie, expending some effort until she finally killed it.

Lu Dongyu breathed a heavy sigh of relief. At least she had killed one, and hadn't brought shame to the school.

“School…” she looked up with great interest.

As Fu Qing turned her head, she caught a glimpse of her new partner eagerly trying to take credit, her eyes shining brightly. This inexplicably reminded her of Big Yellow downstairs in the dormitory.

I have a feeling that... this suddenly appearing partner has a strange dependence on me.

The short month in the apocalypse was enough to show people the complexity and ugliness of human nature. Fu Qing always had an instinctive wariness when facing strangers, but for some reason, she could not feel any aggression from Lu Dongyu, and even felt a sense of familiarity.

She has that kind of endearing quality that makes you want to pat her head.

It was clearly the first time the two had met.

Fu Qing was slightly puzzled.

Lu Dongyu realized that her attempt to get praise was too obvious, so she gave an awkward chuckle and looked at the man beneath her to change the subject.

The zombie that Lu Dongyu killed was the one closest to the man's death, and she was currently squatting next to his corpse. When she looked down, she saw several fresh bloody holes in his body.

The bone is visible deep, and the edges are irregular serrations.

Those were the marks left by being torn apart and gnawed alive by a "beast".

Lu Dongyu fell silent for a moment.

Judging from the rate at which a body decomposes in summer, this man had been dead for no more than 12 hours. However, because the plastic wrap protected vital organs such as his neck, all the wounds on his body were in non-life-threatening locations.

Those self-protective measures backfired, causing him prolonged suffering before his death.

Lu Dongyu couldn't help but feel sympathy for him.

To dare come to the Central Hospital at a time like this, and even evade countless zombies in the courtyard, this person is certainly courageous and resourceful. Aside from the wounds from the zombie attack, he had no other external injuries, so his risky trip to the hospital was most likely not for his own sake.

I wonder if he ever thought that he might never return before he set off?

And does the person who could make a man risk his life to find medicine know that the person he's waiting for will never come back?

Lu Dongyu felt increasingly bitter as she thought about it, but then another voice suddenly rang out in the room.

"It's best not to keep that person around."

Before Lu Dongyu could react, she saw Fu Qing gesture with his eyes to the corpse on the ground and then make a gesture of slitting the throat to kill.

“But…” Lu Dongyu was still sympathizing with the other person and found it hard to accept that she had to finish him off. She hesitated and said, “He’s already dead.”

Fu Qing seemed to understand what she was thinking. She frowned and thought for two seconds, about to say something, when the two of them heard an ominous sound coming from under Lu Dongyu.

Sizzle—

That was the rustling sound of plastic wrap rubbing together.

Lu Dongyu: "??"

She gasped.

"hide!"

As Fu Qing suddenly spoke, Lu Dongyu rolled on the ground in a disheveled manner. In the corner of his eye, the man, like a thousand-year-old mummy, howled and tore off the plastic wrap as he got up from the ground.

The force was so great that the plastic wrap tightly wrapped around her body tore apart almost instantly.

He mutated... Why did it have to happen at this time?!

It comes even faster than karma in this lifetime!

Lu Dongyu wished she could go back three seconds and lift her skull to see what was inside her.

The zombie was incredibly fast. She didn't dodge in time, and just as she scrambled away on all fours, she felt her right leg sink.

The zombie grabbed her leg.

Lu Dongyu seemed to have already seen the words "game over".

She gritted her teeth and kicked several times but couldn't break free. Instead, in the struggle, the trouser legs that were tightly stuffed into her shoes rode up a little, and Lu Dongyu could almost feel the coolness of the air against her skin.

She immediately dared not move again, but turned her body and desperately stabbed the zombie with the fruit knife in her hand.

Perhaps because it had been bitten by five zombies, this zombie had an exceptionally high concentration of virus, like a rabid dog. If a living person were to shake its head so frequently, its brains would probably be splattered everywhere.

Finally, with a clang, the fruit knife became firmly stuck in the zombie's bones.

Lu Dongyu gave a sharp tug, but couldn't budge it. Instead, the fruit knife slipped from her hand due to the zombie's struggling movements.

With her weapon gone, Lu Dongyu felt utterly dejected.

"Principal, please leave quickly, I'm so sorry—"

She cried out pitifully.

Suddenly, a sharp gust of wind swept past her ears, and a "spear" almost grazed her cheek as it flew past, clattering as it pierced straight into the zombie's soft eye socket.

The gun tip clanged, and the immense force caused the zombie's body to arch backward. As it died, the hands that were tightly holding Lu Dongyu loosened their grip, and the latter immediately felt a sense of lightness.

Lu Dongyu almost burst into tears.

Fu Qing's posture was still frozen at the moment the spear was thrown. He noticed the zombie was dead and breathed a sigh of relief.

She wasn't entirely confident in her strength and accuracy, but if she didn't give it her all now, it would be too late.

"Th-thank you." Lu Dongyu wiped the cold sweat from her forehead, turned around and looked closely. What she had imagined as a long gun was actually a disassembled IV stand.

The blunt tip had no sharp design, and Fu Qing relied solely on brute force to forcefully stab it into the zombie's eye socket from a distance.

Both the precision and the force were astonishing.

Lu Dongyu collapsed to the ground, speechless with shock. After a long while, she finally managed to get up, drenched in sweat, and said, "I..."

The slap in the face came so quickly that her whole body, from her ears to her neck, turned red, partly from anxiety and partly from embarrassment.

"He didn't die immediately after being attacked by zombies. Too much virus accumulated in his body. Before he died, the virus had already begun to modify his body. However, due to the incubation period, he neither died nor immediately turned into a zombie. He thus entered a state of suspended animation."

Fu Qing ignored her embarrassment, walked straight to the dead zombie, squatted down, pulled out the IV stand, and explained, "It has just lost its breathing and body temperature, waiting for the moment when the complete incubation period ends and the mutation occurs."

“You don’t need to blame yourself. I only happened to encounter this situation once, which is why I suspected that he might be the same way. I’m not sure.”

After speaking, Fu Qing maintained her half-squatting posture and looked down at the dead man.

After the IV stand was removed, his face was a gruesome sight; one eye was stabbed to pieces, and the other eye was wide open in despair and resentment.

It was unclear whether his eyes reflected fear of death or regret for not being able to bring the life-saving medication back.

Fu Qing sighed and closed his intact eyes with her palm. After closing his eyes, the man's face finally showed some calm.

Lu Dongyu watched silently.

The principal's fierce killing intent when facing zombies was genuine, as was his solemnity when facing his fallen comrades; the two thus achieved a twisted balance.

It may seem like a disconnect, but this might be the only way to survive in the apocalypse.

She changed her mind.

Fu Qing, who is so skilled at killing zombies and has a deep understanding of the characteristics of the virus, must have had a clear understanding of the apocalyptic situation long ago.

Everywhere she went was littered with corpses. She knew that tens of millions of her compatriots were dying every day. The friendliness she showed when she saw her was probably not out of hope, but rather out of joy at seeing a living stranger in the apocalypse.

...Lu Dongyu silently pulled out the fruit knife, and sure enough, the blade was already chipped.

Without weapons, the second half of the journey will be much more difficult.

At this moment, Fu Qing turned the fruit knife in his hand around and handed it to her, saying, "Here you go."

Lu Dongyu hesitated, unsure whether to answer: "Then what will you do?"

“I can find other weapons.” Fu Qing paused, then reassured her, “As long as you’re safe, we can get out smoothly.”

Lu Dongyu: "..."

The food has arrived, it's truly a private Marseille.

Her heavy mood eased a little, and she sighed as she slowly followed behind the principal.

"Oh, right."

After taking a couple of steps, Fu Qing turned back and asked, "What did you just call me?"

Lu Dongyu: "...!!"

*

Sweating profusely, Lu Dongyu managed to bluff her way out of the situation by blurting out "principal" in the heat of the moment.

Perhaps the first half of the journey had exhausted all of Lu Dongyu's bad luck, because the rest of the journey went very smoothly, and they obtained the medicine they needed without much effort.

Following the list provided by the system, Lu Dongyu found all the necessary medicines, filling a backpack to the brim. She weighed the medicine to make sure it wouldn't hinder her movement, and then, satisfied, prepared to check on Fu Qing's progress. But when she turned around, she saw the principal dumping an entire shelf of antibiotics into a huge sack that he had somehow found.

The young principal swaggered around, a bulging backpack slung over his shoulder, looking every bit like he was swaggering into a wholesale store.

Lu Dongyu was dumbfounded.

Outside in the corridor, countless zombies were still wandering around, their steps slow and laborious. Could the principal really leave safely with so many medicines on his back?

As it turned out, she had underestimated Fu Qing once again.

As they were about to leave the pharmacy, Fu Qing suddenly asked out of the blue, "Do you believe me?"

Without a second thought, Lu Dongyu replied decisively, "Of course!"

Finally, she remembered to ask, "What do you want to do?"

Fu Qing stared at her without blinking, a faint smile suddenly appearing in his eyes.

She weighed the sack on her shoulder: "I'm carrying more medicine than I expected. The original route won't work; we'll be easily overtaken. I want to take another route."

Lu Dongyu nodded like a chick pecking at rice: "Mmm, no problem."

Fifteen minutes later, the two lay on the ventilation ducts in the ceiling of the underground parking garage.

They went down to the garage via the fire escape and then climbed up the fire hose that was close to the wall. As they climbed, Lu Dongyu hadn't seen much of the pipes yet when Fu Qing, carrying large bags, stepped on the bolts connecting to the pipes and quickly climbed up, leaving Lu Dongyu alone, awkwardly sticking her butt out on the pipe with almost no support, struggling to keep up.

Lu Dongyu strongly suspects that the principal was born in the Year of the Monkey in his previous life, or at least a Monkey King, otherwise he wouldn't be so agile.

After finally climbing up the pipe, panting heavily, Fu Qing had been observing from above for a long time. Once she caught up, he pointed in a direction: "Go there, find a car to drive."

"How did you know there was a car there? We don't have the keys either..." Lu Dongyu's words came to an abrupt halt.

Fu Qing spread her palms down, fingers outstretched, with a key ring on one finger. Car keys and colorful plush trinkets fell off and swayed merrily.

Lu Dongyu: "Where did this come from?!"

“It was from the third zombie we killed. It might be useful, so I kept it,” Fu Qing said casually. “She was wearing a white coat; she’s a doctor at the hospital. Her car should be parked in the staff parking space.”

"Plus, her keychain is covered with accessories from a certain Japanese anime. She really likes this IP, so there's a high probability that there will be corresponding interior decorations in her car as well... I looked around a bit and found it."

After Fu Qing finished her reasoning and locked onto the target, Lu Dongyu looked in the direction Fu Qing had indicated and was instantly speechless.

It's not just the interior; the final thing that catches the eye is a bright gold itasha covered in Pikachu stickers!

It stands out as much as it can in a sea of ​​black, white, and gray traffic.

"This... this is too lucky." Lu Dongyu felt frustrated and realized the differences between people.

The two climbed to the top of the itasha (decorated car), and taking advantage of the absence of zombies, Fuqing tied a rope around them, and the two slid down the rope one after the other.

Fu Qing carried a large sack on his back, like a Santa Claus delivering gifts, yet his movements were incredibly light. He stepped onto the roof of the car with the soles of his boots, landed silently, and took out his car keys and pressed the button.

The next second.

A deep, magnetic voice from the man echoed throughout the garage: "Welcome back, baby~"

Fu Qing: "?"

Lu Dongyu: "???"

All the zombies in the garage were drawn to this one word, "treasure."

Lu Dongyu's hair stood on end.

Driving an itasha to work is cool enough, but what level of corporate audacity would go to change the unlock sound effect like this!

Aren't you afraid of running into rush hour traffic?!

Fortunately, zombies don't understand human speech, otherwise the two of them would be crawling around on the ground in embarrassment right now.

The two of them jumped into the car at an unprecedented speed. Before Lu Dongyu could even fasten her seatbelt, Fu Qing had already stepped on the gas, and the Pikachu-themed car sped out of the parking space.

She knocked away several staggering zombies without even blinking.

After the outbreak of the virus, the garage was in chaos. At the exit, several cars that had been involved in a chain collision were stuck together, leaving only a narrow passage.

Lu Dongyu estimated that the space was definitely not enough for the car to get in and out.

Behind him swarmed zombies, and in front of him was a group of cars that had stalled. Lu Dongyu was almost in despair.

Fu Qing, who was beside him, gripped the steering wheel tightly and stepped on the accelerator. The engine made the whole car vibrate and speed up without limit. The tires moved sideways and made a screeching friction sound. They actually crashed through the rear of the car blocking the side of the passage!

--Bang!

At that moment, all the zombies in the courtyard seemed to sense something and looked in confusion toward the direction from which the loud noise came.

Something yellowish rushed out, then with another flick of its tail, it vanished from their sight in an instant.

The zombies blinked, their sluggish minds not yet able to analyze what had happened, before their target had vanished. So they just paused for a moment, then turned their heads back and slowly moved their legs according to instinct.

The beautiful sunset streamed through the front window, illuminating Lu Dongyu's numb face.

[Detected as having left the mission location.]

[Testing in progress...]

["Instance 061" has been cleared!]

[Clearance time: 27 minutes and 8 seconds]

Overall Rating: S (Near-perfect performance!)

Current Dungeon Ranking: 1

[Overall score ranking: 37]

Lu Dongyu: "..."

The dungeon that had stumped her countless times, she just managed to clear it in one life?

The rating is still... S?!

The dungeon rating is based on the individual player. If a group of people are in a team, each person will receive a different rating based on their performance in the dungeon. However, since the rating is also affected by the completion rate of the task and the completion time, if the team's overall completion rate is excellent, an individual who does not perform particularly well may also receive a high score.

But Lu Dongyu asked himself honestly, the only role he played in the entire instance was killing one of the five zombies in the storage room.

The rest of the time, she was just a well-behaved little accessory behind the big boss.

Despite such a poor performance, he still managed to get an S rank, breaking the dungeon record and even climbing to 37th place on the overall leaderboard—the leaderboard of all dungeon records.

So, just how incredible is the principal's partner?

This isn't a "companion" function at all; it's clearly providing a human-shaped walking assistant.

The fleeting glimpse of the principal's earlier actions paled in comparison to the sheer impact of witnessing Fu Qing's every move firsthand from a third-person perspective. Lu Dongyu felt that while she might have considered some of Fu Qing's strategies, she could never achieve the same level of efficiency.

It was as if she had calculated everything in her mind beforehand, avoided all avoidable risks, and then used her physical strength and reflexes to quickly solve the remaining troubles. The result was that she easily crushed the high-difficulty dungeon.

Before the anonymous visitor's walkthrough video was available, the forum was filled with people imagining and simulating how she managed to clear the game.

Now, Lu Dongyu has begun to have doubts.

Even if they knew the principal's method for passing the test, they couldn't possibly learn it, let alone implement it in reality.

It's despairing, yet undeniable.

That's how big the gap is between them and the principal.

...

The instance is complete, and Lu Dongyu can choose to leave the instance at any time.

She was somewhat reluctant to part with it.

Including the time spent browsing records at the beginning, it's already been almost an hour. If I leave now, I won't see the principal again for another week.

Lu Dongyu dawdled, but the car had already stopped on the side of the road.

She looked out the window. Fu Qing drove around, shaking off all the zombies that were following him, and then surprisingly circled back to the main entrance of the city center hospital, stopping in an inconspicuous corner.

Lu Dongyu was a little confused when Fu Qing, carrying a bag, opened the door and got out of the car.

She found a plastic bag, took out half of the medicine, put it in, and then hung it conspicuously on the iron fence of the hospital wall.

Anyone who arrives at the hospital's main entrance will immediately see this bag full of medicines.

In the apocalypse, this is more valuable than gold.

Lu Dongyu was taken aback: "What's this?"

“That man only arrived at the hospital these past two days. He hasn’t gone back. If he has any companions, they should come looking for him. Maybe they’re wandering around nearby.” Fu Qing got back into the car.

We hope the other party will see the medicine and take it away.

The person who would risk their life to enter the hellish city center hospital to find medicine must be desperate.

She couldn't save him, but she could at least try to save the people he wanted to save.

Lu Dongyu finally understood why the principal had suddenly taken the risk of obtaining twice as many medicines, and even changed his route for it.

The plastic bag hung high on the railing, rustling in the wind. Lu Dongyu was momentarily lost in thought when Fu Qing had already closed the backpack again and carefully put it on his back.

"Two of my friends are injured, and I'm worried about where to find medicine. If it weren't for you today, I think I would have tried to sneak into the hospital myself, and maybe I would have ended up like them."

Fu Qing's tense body finally relaxed, and she smiled, her eyes crinkling: "Thanks."

The man who died in the hospital seemed to be hinting at another possibility for her adventure.

Fu Qing was sincerely grateful to this partner who had suddenly appeared.

Lu Dongyu's throat tightened for a moment: "You don't need to thank me."

Because in another possibility, you're doing just fine without me.

A man broke into the hospital and took all the medicine with him.

Otherwise, this copy would never exist.

Fu Qing didn't understand her implied meaning. She looked down at her palm, where the dark blue data stream flickered twice and became less stable.

The escort service is ending soon.

With the system around, Fu Qing didn't comment on this miraculous experience. He patted Lu Dongyu on the shoulder and said, "Keep going and live on. Maybe we'll meet again in the future."

After saying that, she slung her backpack over her shoulder and strode away.

Watching her figure disappear around the street corner, Lu Dongyu turned to look at the Pikachu-themed car parked by the roadside.

The principal left the nearly full car, along with the keys, to himself.

Whether intentionally or unintentionally, or perhaps fearing rejection if she found out, Fu Qing didn't even mention it before leaving and ran off in a flash.

Lu Dongyu sighed softly, pressed the exit button, and muttered to herself.

"We will definitely meet."

Although it's in the very, very distant future.