Chapter 86: Doomsday Livestream

The next morning, Song Rushuang was woken up on time by her biological clock.

To prepare for today's battle, she went out and did some simple warm-up exercises. When she returned home, Xu Mingyu and Song Jianguo were still asleep.

The bedroom was pitch black, with only a sliver of sunlight filtering through the gap in the curtains, which were never fully closed.

Song Rushuang tiptoed in, carrying a soft cloth bag in her hand.

—These past few days, she has been quietly packing their luggage.

The three large suitcases he needed to bring back to school were already packed full, each weighing more than 20 kilograms. Song Jianguo almost strained his back when he tried to carry one last time.

The two complained that she was practically moving her whole house just to go to school, little did they know that the boxes were actually filled with their belongings.

At this moment, the wardrobes and various storage cabinets in Xu Mingyu and Song Jianguo's bedroom appeared normal on the surface, but in fact, their interiors had already been secretly emptied by someone.

Song Rushuang opened the drawer and, amidst Song Jianguo's thunderous snoring, secretly pulled out a few pieces of Xu Mingyu's clothes and stuffed them into her bag.

Song Rushuang had prepared several sets of seasonal clothes and frequently used items for her parents in Fangzhou's storage space. However, these clothes were carefully selected and bought by Xu Mingyu at the mall. One of them was a gift that Song Rushuang had given her with her New Year's money. Xu Mingyu usually wore these clothes very carefully, and she would probably feel bad if she didn't bring them.

After checking and fixing things in the bedroom, Song Rushuang sneaked back to the living room, stuffed the small purple clay teapot that Song Jianguo had been keeping for a long time into the bag, and also brought him a box of tea.

Song Jianguo used this purple clay teapot every night; it was like his father's precious treasure. Song Rushuang was afraid he would become anxious if he discovered the teapot was missing, so she waited until the very last day to pack it up and take it with him.

The little teapot that Song Jianguo usually treasured was thoughtfully stuffed into Xu Mingyu's close-fitting silk clothes by Song Rushuang, rolled into a big ball, and then stuffed into the corner of the heavy suitcase.

The two of them got up at this time.

Song Jianguo, rubbing a tuft of hair sticking up at the back of his head, sleepily emerged from the bedroom, looking around as he muttered, "...Strange, daughter, I feel like the house has become empty lately, like a lot of things are missing..."

He looked at Song Rushuang, bewildered: "Did you notice?"

Song Rushuang, who was sitting at the table eating breakfast, was speechless.

She laughed it off, saying, "No, you must be imagining things."

Song Jianguo asked blankly, "Really?"

The changes brought about by Song Rushuang were too small, like a little mouse in an animated film nibbling along the edge of a cheese until it produced a cheese that was exactly the same shape as before, only smaller. You wouldn't notice it unless you looked closely.

Song Jianguo was clearly still half asleep and his reaction was a beat slow. After his daughter rejected him, he grabbed his belly and went to wash up.

Song Rushuang silently breathed a sigh of relief.

The next second, a loud shout came from the bathroom: "Who! Who took my towel!"

Song Jianguo looked like the sky had fallen as he rushed out of the bathroom.

Song Rushuang was dumbfounded: "Isn't that a rag?"

It was so rotten that it was still attached to its original shape, with several holes, and its original color was completely unrecognizable. She casually threw it away while tidying up her things.

"How can you talk like that? That's so insulting. That's your dad's face towel that he's used for almost ten years." Xu Mingyu rolled her eyes at her and followed her into the bathroom.

The next second, another shout rang out: "Who! Who threw away my toothpaste!"

Song Rushuang felt even more guilty: "...The toothpaste was all peeling off, and I couldn't squeeze any out when I brushed my teeth this morning, so I just threw it away as trash."

Xu Mingyu was heartbroken: "Nonsense! If you roll it out with chopsticks, it can be used for several days. Why are you throwing it away?"

She went back muttering to herself, "You'd better not suddenly decide to do housework. What's that saying again? Throw away the most useful things from the most useless ones in the house..."

Song Rushuang: "..."

Song Rushuang had a feeling that with her parents around, she might not have to worry about running out of things she had stockpiled.

If even one pair of parents is this terrifying, imagine what two thousand or more pairs would be like...

Song Rushuang suddenly found it hard to imagine what Fangzhou would become in the future.

*

At noon, Zhang Han and her parents arrived on time to meet Song Rushuang.

The two girls only realized that the meeting time was lunchtime when they met, so it took a lot of effort to stop their parents from going to a restaurant to treat each other to a meal.

In a moment of inspiration, Song Rushuang suggested taking the four of them to the school cafeteria for a meal and then taking a stroll around the campus. This finally convinced the four of them to come to the school with her.

Before leaving, Song Rushuang took one last walk around the house.

She has lived here since birth, a total of eighteen years. Every corner of the house is filled with traces of her family's life together during her childhood. Song Rushuang's gaze lingered on every piece of furniture with reluctance—she didn't know when she would be able to return home next time.

She closed all the doors and windows tightly, fearing that zombies or escapees might break in and ruin her warm memories.

"Xiaoshuang, remember to lock the doors and windows." Song Jianguo huffed and puffed as he carried the boxes downstairs, giving these instructions to his last daughter before she left.

Song Rushuang responded.

She carefully inspected each window, but before leaving, she hesitated for a moment, stood in the middle of the living room for a while, and finally went back to the bathroom and gently turned the lock back on.

There are drainage pipes on the exterior wall of the bathroom. If someone is chased by zombies and climbs onto the wall, this is the most likely route they will take. In that case, this window might save their life.

To prevent any unforeseen circumstances, such as being unable to return to school smoothly, Song Rushuang stocked up on some food at home in advance.

If they don't need it, then leave it to those who do and happen to be lucky enough.

As for the memories belonging to the family of three...

Song Rushuang glanced at the group photo on the coffee table, took the photo and frame together, stuffed it into her bag, and strode downstairs.

As long as family members are together, every day will create new memories, so why dwell on the past?

...

Downstairs, Song Jianguo and Xu Mingyu were standing by the car waiting for their daughter.

Seeing that she arrived late, Xu Mingyu joked, "What are you doing, girl?"

“You just went away to study, why does it seem like you’re never coming back? If you miss home, just come back on the weekend. I’ll make you braised chicken wings.”

A casual remark brought tears to Song Rushuang's eyes.

She fought back her tears and placed her backpack on the back seat.

Two 28-inch suitcases filled the trunk, with an extra suitcase placed on the back seat. Song Rushuang's backpack was on top of it, and Xu Mingyu sat next to her. Song Jianguo was responsible for assisting with navigation in the passenger seat.

Song Rushuang was driving.

Zhang Han also rented a car. Because they had too much luggage, the two chose to travel separately. In case of any special circumstances on the road and one car broke down, they would still have another car and would not lose their mobility.

That year, they not only obtained their driver's licenses, but also practiced driving countless times in the simulator.

You can find ten thousand terrible road conditions to practice in any random dungeon.

Corpses litter the ground, zombies block the roads, and highways are completely jammed after a series of car accidents... Some people on the forum even share maps that include these special situations, just to help everyone quickly adapt to various driving environments.

Although Song Rushuang and Zhang Han have been driving for less than a year, their driving skills are already comparable to those of experienced drivers, especially in maintaining extraordinary composure when facing unexpected situations.

It's extremely rare... because they're so used to speeding around in dungeons, they sometimes forget that there are traffic police and cameras on real roads.

Of course, Song Jianguo, who was sitting in the passenger seat, had no idea about his daughter's driving skills.

He cheerfully instructed, "Just listen to me from now on, don't be nervous, okay?"

Song Rushuang glanced at him and said, "I know."

This gave Song Jianguo a great sense of satisfaction.

As the group drove to the entrance of the residential area, they unexpectedly ran into Grandma Zhang, who was returning home from outside.

"Xiaoshuang, are you going back to school?" Grandma Zhang saw Song Rushuang in the driver's seat.

"Yes." Song Rushuang quickly pulled the car over to the side of the road, got out, and exchanged a few pleasantries. "...Please take good care of yourself."

As she spoke, she looked up at the sky above her head and put on a serious and concerned expression: "By the way, I checked the weather forecast before I went out. The temperature will rise to the highest level this month this afternoon, exceeding 40 degrees Celsius. It's easy to get heatstroke if you stay outside."

"If you don't have anything to do today, please don't go out this afternoon."

Song Rushuang's concern made Grandma Zhang very happy.

Although she thought the weather was fairly cool today, she didn't suspect anything and nodded with a smile: "I know, I know, I'll just stay home and watch TV this afternoon, I won't go anywhere."

Song Rushuang gently shook Grandma Zhang's hand, hiding her worry and reluctance, and said goodbye with a smile.

Get in the car, fasten your seatbelt, and start the engine.

Song Rushuang kept glancing at the rearview mirror out of the corner of her eye.

The hunched figure remained standing in the same spot, growing smaller and smaller. As the car rounded the corner, one could still vaguely see her raise her hand and wave with a smile.

Goodbye, Grandma.

Song Rushuang silently mouthed the words.

...See you after the apocalypse.

*

"Countdown, one and a half hours."

All the teachers gathered in the conference room of Fangzhou Administration Building.

A holographic countdown was projected onto a huge round table, with the seconds ticking away.

Looking down from one of the windows, the view of the school gate is unobstructed.

By this time, some students had already returned to school with their parents.

The students tried every possible way to delay the parents' departure, such as showing them around the school, having meals together in the cafeteria, or asking them to help pack their luggage and clean their dormitories.

Fangzhou has never been open to the public. For the parents, this was the first time they had stepped into their children's university campus and seen where they usually studied and lived. As a result, everyone was very excited and did not notice the nervous expressions of their children beside them.

The occasional laughter and chatter of parents coming from outside the window contrasted sharply with the tense atmosphere inside.

The meeting room was silent, and fell into dead silence after Fu Qing announced the countdown.

After a long pause, Grandma Liu spoke softly: "Currently, only over fifty students have returned to school... Is it possible that some students won't be able to come back?"

"What if they encounter danger on the road, especially those students who live far away..."

Because they couldn't reveal the apocalypse, students had to find various excuses to bring their relatives and friends to Fangzhou, which hindered their early return to school to some extent.

Many students, especially those from other places, are prepared to set off again after the apocalypse.

There's no way around it. It's one thing for parents to bring their children to school for registration, but after a year of school, it's just a new semester and many parents simply won't choose to travel long distances to bring their children.

Not to mention that students also want to bring their whole families, but even if they use travel as an excuse, many families will refuse.

Parents always have all sorts of reasons to make students anxious: they can't take leave, it's too expensive, they're not feeling well and don't want to go out, they want to cultivate their independence...

Even though they had undergone a year of training in Fangzhou, when they returned home, they were still eighteen or nineteen-year-old teenagers who lacked a voice.

A few of them, such as Shen Qingqing and Song Rushuang, proved their reliability to their relatives through some unexpected events and gained a certain degree of trust.

But the lives of most students are not so dramatic; they can only helplessly wait for the end of the world to come, hoping to prove themselves in the real life-or-death struggle.

In response to Grandma Liu's question, Fu Qing said, "I gave them half a month to return to school. Half a month is enough time to drive from anywhere in the country back to Fangzhou. This amount of time is sufficient for students who have undergone training."

In fact, most of the students who live very far away have returned to school early, knowing that the journey is too long and the risks are high.

Half a month is already the limit that Fu Qing can provide.

The longer it goes on, the more uncontrollable the zombie king's actions will become, and the more zombies it will be able to infect.

Fu Qing gave the students time to save the people who were most important to them... but she couldn't wait any longer.

"Once the two weeks are up, the operation will begin immediately."

Fu Qing's words made Grandma Liu sigh, and she looked to the side with a worried expression.

Right next to the countdown was a huge 3D map of China, with countless points of light symbolizing Fangzhou students scattered across the land, and at the top was the real-time number of survivors: 2370.

Teachers are familiar with this scene; they experience it every month during the exams, sitting in the meeting room, holding their breath as they watch the dots of light disappear one by one.

Only truly outstanding students will survive until the end of the assessment.

But this time it's not an assessment.

Throughout the year, teachers worked from dawn till dusk, preparing lessons through the night, pouring their hearts and souls into ensuring that even the "worst" students could survive to the end.

Fu Qing had made many preparations, but there was one last thing she had to do before the end of the world came.

No, to be precise, she had already arranged 90% of the matter in advance; only the last small part required her on-site cooperation.

Fu Qing lowered her head; in her hand was a tablet computer.

With a system panel and a holographic projector, she rarely used these "outdated" devices. Therefore, when she took out the tablet, all the teachers' eyes were drawn to it.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, Fu Qing calmly opened a live stream.

Host: @DormitoryEscape

Status: Not yet broadcasting

Title: [One-Year Anniversary Livestream! Doomsday Countdown: 3, 2, 1... Are you ready?]