Chapter 20 The Road Home
You Xi didn’t want to waste time, so she stopped kicking him. Seeing Zhao Zheng holding his girlfriend and still watching, she frowned: “Why don’t you leave!”
“Oh! Oh!” Zhao Zheng was shocked by her force, and he nodded mechanically, dragged his girlfriend and followed You Xi.
The three of them ran a few steps, and screams came from behind.
You Xi turned around and saw Leng Mian and a few girls passing by the place just now. She was frightened to death by the zombies that were dragging their broken legs and screaming and crawling towards them.
The girls were caught off guard by the frontal attack, and their legs were about to fall down. Leng Mian gritted her teeth and grabbed two of them: "Don't fall down, run quickly!"
The girls pulled each other and dragged each other, crying and snotting, while rolling and crawling towards Youxi.
"Run faster!" Zhao Zheng was a boy after all, so he stopped and waved at them vigorously, "Here!"
Youxi saw that several girls had caught up, so she continued to run forward.
But in just a few minutes, Youxi heard the screams from the Shijian Building had spread from the upper floors to the lower floors, and the roars increased and became more and more, more than one, obviously someone had changed directly after being bitten.
The same thing happened on the first floor of the school. Because of the dense crowd of students, it was difficult to escape and the news spread even faster.
Several people quickly ran out of the Garden Square. In front of them was the central road of the school. If they went straight to the right from the central road, they would reach the North Gate.
"Where are we going?" Zhao Zheng asked You Xi. He thought that she would go directly to the North Gate, but she turned left and went to the restaurant area in front of the left.
"Dormitory." You Xi replied without slowing down her pace.
"Why do you want to go to the dormitory area?" Zhao Zheng asked again, but this time You Xi did not answer.
To get to the North Gate, you have to pass through several exhibition halls, and most importantly, you have to pass through the first floor of the school. She was afraid that if she ran over, she would be blocked by zombies.
"Mian, Mian Mian... Where are we going?" Several girls looked around tremblingly.
Leng Mian glanced at You Xi and chose to follow: "Let's go to the dormitory. There is also a school gate there, and there are fewer people!"
Zhao Zheng immediately understood and immediately dragged his girlfriend to follow them.
The restaurant area is directly west of the Shijian Building, just a little further away, but when they ran to the road in front of the restaurant, they could still see the chaotic crowd in front of the Shijian Building from a distance.
Some people were so scared that they fell to the ground and screamed in fear; some people fled into the green area in a panic and were entangled by bushes; some people were pushed down and never got up again...
There were also some students who ran away earlier and rushed especially fast, and they were already running in their direction. He covered his left arm, which was covered in blood. Seeing them stretching out their hands as if to ask for help, he
said, "Help..." "Are you okay?" Wu Meiling asked tremblingly.
He lowered his head and his movements suddenly stopped. But in an instant, when he raised his head again, his face was covered with blue-black lines. His gray eyes stared at them intently, roaring and rushing towards them.
Wu Meiling screamed, but as soon as she opened her mouth, Zhao Zheng covered her mouth.
Youxi didn't want to be followed to the dormitory area by it, so he turned around and kicked the zombie's neck, then hit its legs hard with a baton, and then ran away again without fighting.
The zombie's neck was twisted and its legs were broken, but it was still moving, but it lay on the ground and couldn't get up.
Wu Meiling shrank into Zhao Zheng's arms, she was so frightened that her whole body went cold, she couldn't make a sound, she was dragged and held by him, moving almost mechanically.
Fortunately, just as You Xi expected, the further west they ran, the fewer people there were, and the screams were left behind them. There were people in the dormitory area, but very few, and some students had asked for leave to stay in the dormitory due to health reasons.
They didn't know the situation in other parts of the school yet, but they had also seen the previous videos in the group and the news on the forum, but soon there was no new news.
They were very curious, and were gathering in front of the dormitory building to discuss whether they should go over and take a look.
As they were talking, You Xi and his group ran in.
"Classmates, why are you all running back? What happened?"
You Xi didn't say anything. He quickly looked at everyone in the dormitory area and made sure that no one was abnormal before asking, "Are you the only ones in the dormitory?"
"Yes, yes!" The other party was stunned by the question. Someone answered, and someone else asked anxiously, "What happened outside? Have you watched the video in the group? What's going on?"
The girls were just running reluctantly based on their survival instinct. They were temporarily safe at the moment, and they sat down on the ground breathlessly. How could they answer?
Even Zhao Zheng, despite being in good physical condition, felt weak and limp because he was holding someone. He paused for a moment before speaking: "Don't go over there. Someone in the school has turned into a biting monster. The situation over there is terrible!"
The dormitory area is completely separated from the campus area, with only an iron gate at the entrance. As long as the iron gate is closed, they will be safe for the time being.
But You Xi didn't plan to stay here for too long. She stopped here just because she had something to ask Zhao Zheng.
"Before I showed up, when did your male classmate start twitching and not talking? Did you run into him by chance, or have you always been with him?" She wanted to find out when a normal person turns into a zombie.
"We have always been together." Zhao Zheng looked up at You Xi and answered honestly, "You don't remember me? My name is Zhao Zheng, from Class 6. You are from Class 2, right? Our classroom is downstairs from you. We were originally in self-study. Many students had finished their water, and with the weather, they wanted to drink something cold to wake up.
Meiling - that is, my girlfriend is a class committee member, and so is that guy, so we planned to come to the vending machine in Garden Square to buy iced drinks. I was afraid... Meiling couldn't carry it, so I came with her... He was also doing homework in the classroom before, and he was fine all the time, but before he even walked to the vending machine, he suddenly felt unwell, twitching all over, and making strange noises..."
You Xi was silent.
It seems that the transformation process is very short, but we don't know how it is transmitted.
The boy who turned into a zombie just now obviously had no external injuries, and it didn't look like he was bitten and infected.
At this time, Wu Meiling, who was speechless after being stopped from screaming just now, spoke: "No... Xiao Zheng has been very listless since this morning. He didn't answer any questions in class and basically didn't eat lunch. I thought he was too tired from doing questions recently..."
"How do you know so clearly?" Zhao Zheng was obviously jealous again.
"He was sitting in the front row on my left..."
The information provided by Wu Meiling was crucial. It showed that the transformation had a latent period of at least nine to ten hours, and after the obvious convulsions appeared, the process would accelerate rapidly.
This is a boarding school. The students from the three known sources of mutation (Shijian Building, Senior 1st Floor, Garden Square) were probably exposed to something together last night or earlier, and the symptoms occurred at about the same time today.
If the infected person who mutates after a latent period of nine to ten hours is set as A, then after being transmitted (bitten) by an A-type infected person, a B-type infected person will be produced.
The entire transformation process of the B-type infected person will be accelerated, almost completely skipping the incubation period, and mutating within a few minutes. The rapid mutation also led to a surge in the number of zombies and the situation getting out of control.
She didn't know what the earliest source and method of infection was, but most of the zombies in the school now spread the virus through biting (or scratching), and the air will not spread the virus for the time being - or it has already spread it, but it has not yet appeared, so her first priority when facing the zombies is to avoid all contact.
You Xi briefly told the people around her about her speculation, then ran into the nearest girls' dormitory building and randomly found a dormitory that was not locked.
After closing the door, she took out the waterproof fabric T-shirt, trousers, sports cardigan, and light sports shoes that she had prepared long ago from the Star House space.
She changed out of her short-sleeved skirt, and finally took out a hairband to tie her long hair up tightly, then put on a baseball cap, and finally put the crossbody bag back on her back, and then walked out.
"Are you leaving now?" Leng Mian and a few other girls rested for a long time. Just when they had the strength to get up and go to the dormitory to get their phones, they saw You Xi coming out neatly. "I want to go home too. Do you think it's safe outside now?"
"I don't know the specific situation, but there is no news online yet."
You Xi quickly browsed through several large online platforms. There were no videos that were wrong outside. The only few videos were leaked from the school. "If you want to go home, you'd better go early. It's still normal outside now. You can take a taxi and avoid buses and subways."
"Thank you." Leng Mian was actually quite scared. She had almost decided to go to the practice building in the classroom just now. If You Xi hadn't reminded her, she wouldn't know if she would have been... When she thought of this, she immediately forced herself to calm down and quickly went upstairs to pack her things.
The girls who followed Leng Mian were all panicked when they saw You Xi was leaving: "You're leaving now? Can you wait for us to leave together? We'll go upstairs and pack some things and come back."
After what happened just now, they inevitably became dependent on You Xi. The other party usually kept to himself, spoke little and didn't like to socialize. No one expected that at this critical moment, the other party looked particularly calm and reliable.
"Sorry, my parents are waiting for me at home." She must rush back as soon as possible to ensure that the target of the mission is safe.
Because if the target of the mission is in trouble, it means the mission has failed, and if the mission fails, she will have no choice but to die.
"But, we don't know the situation outside, and we are also very scared. Isn't it more powerful if we all go together?" Some girls were unwilling to give up and wanted to continue to persuade.
"Yes, Youxi, we are all classmates. At this time, we should unite and help each other!"
"Just wait for us, we promise it will be quick."
"You have enough people." Youxi glanced at them and gestured in the direction of Zhao Zheng.
Zhao Zheng and Mei Ling ran in from outside the dormitory. At this moment, several people who stayed in the dormitory area surrounded them and asked about the situation. The more they asked, the worse their faces became. Several people came to the iron gate and carefully looked out through the railings.
Because it was a long distance away from the accident areas, and there were many green belts and trees along the way, they could not see what was going on for the time being.
They guessed that the students in those areas encountered disasters and would subconsciously run towards the school gate as soon as they escaped, so no one came here for the time being.
It is also possible that the mutated students have been subdued and the danger has been temporarily resolved.
On one side were the clueless students who were still watching and speculating wildly, and on the other side was Youxi who had already changed her clothes and was planning to leave. The girls were not stupid and knew which side they should choose. Even though Youxi refused again and again, they still wanted to drag her along.
The movement here caught Zhao Zheng's attention, and when he came over with Meiling, he just happened to hear their persuasion.
"We are really fast. Give us thirty minutes - no, twenty minutes! Let's pack some things and change clothes!"
"Actually, it's very dangerous for you to go out alone. Isn't it safer to be with us?"
You Xi wanted to leave at first, but was reminded again: "That's wrong. More people doesn't mean greater strength and safety. I just said that type A infected people will not have an attack immediately. There will be a long incubation period. During this latent period, there are no symptoms except loss of energy and appetite. How can you be sure that there are no latent infected people around you?"
...
I don't know if it was because You Xi's cold expression formed a strong contrast with the girl who was begging her, Wu Meiling's sense of justice broke out again, and even temporarily suppressed her fear.
"Don't beg her. Can't you see that she thinks you are a burden? What potential infected people? Do we look like them? Zhao Zheng - my boyfriend has a car, which is parked in the parking lot next to the dormitory. Students who want to leave can take our car and leave together."
People are afraid of comparison. Compared with Youxi who refused to do three consecutive things, Meiling, who spoke softly at this moment, was like an angel.
"Really? Your boyfriend passed the driving test?"
"He actually has a car! Great!"
"Yes." Meiling enjoyed such a look. For her, this was a small benefit besides being kind to others. "Everyone can go together, as long as there is room in the car."
Zhao Zheng's face was a little stiff. He didn't expect his girlfriend's kindness to burst out at this time.
Let's not talk about the six or seven people here. Can we sit in the car? Even if we can sit, what will happen next? Should he send them home one by one?
S City is so big, who knows if there are any monsters like that outside now? He is also worried about his parents and wants to go home early.
Obviously, Wu Meiling did not notice her boyfriend's difficulties.
"But we have to go back to the dormitory to pack some things, will you wait for us?"
"No problem, we have to pack our things too, and then meet here and go to the parking lot together."
"Thank you so much! It is only at the critical moment that you can see people's hearts clearly. Your classmates are so ruthless and indifferent, but you..."
"It's okay. In times of crisis, everyone should help each other!"
...
The conversation in the dormitory area at the back was soon inaudible.
Youxi didn't look back, she trotted past the boys' dormitory and came to the school gate in the southwest corner. The school gate was locked - the old-fashioned chain lock, but now this was not a problem for her at all.
She took out the [High Temperature Perfume]. After breaking the ice in the last world, there was still half a bottle of perfume left.
She stood a little further away, switched to level 3, and sprayed it at the door lock. The temperature of the [High Temperature Perfume] reached an abnormally high level from level 3. In just a few seconds, the chain was melted. She put away the [High Temperature Perfume], kicked the door open, put on heat-insulating gloves, picked up the fallen chain again, closed the iron door and twisted it a few times.
In this way, if there are zombies outside, they can't easily break into the school, but if the people inside want to go out, they just need to unlock the chain.
****
Outside the school gate is a quiet four-lane road. The school is in a good location. Going out from the north gate is an eight-lane main road. Across the road to the south is a green park. On both sides of the park until the intersection are residential areas.
In the distance, the sounds of ambulances and fire trucks came from the road at the north main gate of the school. Someone must have called the emergency number.
Youxi turned around and ran to the residential area at the intersection. It was Friday after work, and the traffic was very busy. Just like every weekend, parents took their children home, young people dressed up to go out for parties, and couples lived together in their own world...
Everything was peaceful, warm and vibrant, but soon this ordinary and prosperous picture would be broken and shattered.
From then on, everything around would be overturned, and some trivial things that were common in the past would become pictures that would remain in memory forever.
Even though Youxi was not from this world, he could still empathize with these.
In peacetime, everyone complains about the boredom and limitations of life, repeating the same work and the same things day after day, longing for an adventure. But one day, when this adventure really comes, I'm afraid few people can accept it.
She stopped a taxi that had just dropped off passengers at the gate of the community, got in the car, observed the driver's face, and reported her address.
The school is in the east of the city, and her home is in the south of the city. Because it does not pass through the downtown area, the road is not particularly congested. She was surfing the Internet all the way, searching for several videos that were circulated by the school before, but she couldn't find them anymore.
Netizens who had seen the video before were naturally shocked and kept forwarding and leaving messages.
On a certain platform, some people who were quick to post had already saved and reposted the videos, but soon, these videos that were reposted also disappeared quickly, and even some of the accounts that posted the videos were blocked.
But this is the Internet age after all, everyone has more than one platform account, and when this platform is blocked, they will go to another platform to post.
The deletion of posts and account blocking aroused their fighting spirit. Not only did they continue to post, but they also repeatedly called for these videos to be not photoshopped, but real.
For a while, sending videos, people watching in shock, saving quickly, videos disappearing, accounts blocked, and reposting... became a cycle. Later, people on the Internet discovered that similar videos appeared not only in S City, but also in H City and Y City near S City.
——Fuck! This face is so scary... Is this a zombie? Is this a filming crew?
——It must be a filming! How could it be real! The makeup is so sloppy!
——Are you blind? ? This doesn't look like a filming at all, the person was clearly bitten and screamed miserably!
——That shows that his acting is good. There are so many people watching next to him. If it was a real zombie, why didn't the others run away?
——Stop arguing! Listen to me, my friend is the first senior high school student in S City who posted the video! This is true! It's not a filming, it's not a filming! Say it a hundred times! The student who filmed the video has died... No matter if this thing is called a zombie or something else! It's real! It will spread after biting people! The infection speed is very fast! My friend's school has been destroyed!
——Upstairs, I almost believed it...
...
In the Internet age, there are pros and cons.
The advantage is that news is transmitted very quickly through videos and photos, and the disadvantage is that the Internet Photoshop technology is too advanced. Netizens can see all kinds of incredible videos every day, and they have long been immune to them. Not everyone chooses to believe the video when they first see it.
The taxi flew all the way on the elevated road, and the speed dropped significantly after getting off the elevated road, and finally it even stopped.
This is a four-lane road. Although it is the rush hour for people leaving work, it is not a main road, so even if there is a traffic jam, the car will not be stuck for half a day.
The driver stretched his neck impatiently, but could not see anything: "What happened today? It has been five minutes without moving. Normally, it can move at least a little bit!"
You Xi's heart skipped a beat, and he opened the door and got out of the car, holding his phone.
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