Chapter 14 A Violent Incident
Fu Qing had already taken the time to examine each teacher's lesson preparation, and knew that Bai Tang's lessons, though seemingly unconventional, were actually quite reliable.
Given the lack of time to create courseware and the absence of readily available textbooks on hoarding and post-apocalyptic survival, starting with online articles and allowing students to make full use of existing resources for learning is a viable approach.
Bai Tang lived up to her A-level intellect; with only one night of preparation time, she delivered a satisfactory result.
...But her lessons weren't without flaws either.
The biggest problem is that the books Bai Tang chose were just too much of a personal, perverse taste.
She was particularly fond of novels with explosive plots, chaotic relationships, and slapstick humor that could confuse people for miles around.
The thought of everyone, regardless of gender, huddled in their dorm rooms every night, buried in books like "The Hoarding Queen and Her Handsome Uncle," "A Sausage Makes a Scumbag's Entire Family Kneel Before Me," and "The Hoarding Diary of Three-Year-Old Genius Xiao Bao in the Apocalypse" made Fu Qing a little unsure about the future of this school.
On the other hand, Zhao Yunxiao, who also had a heavy workload of preparing lessons for theoretical courses, adopted a "sea of questions" approach.
He even came up with a slogan: "A small test every three days, a big test every two weeks," striving to arm students with knowledge and replace their fear of zombies with their fear of exams.
"When the day comes that zombies suddenly appear, their first reaction isn't to be scared out of their wits, but rather, 'Holy crap, this is the final, most challenging question from last semester!' then I've succeeded."
Zhao Yunxiao imagined that scene, and, feeling a surge of self-satisfaction, took off his glasses and wiped his eyes.
Fu Qing remained noncommittal about his goal of achieving success.
To be honest, when she saw the stack of papers Zhao Yunxiao handed in, she instinctively felt... that her stomach wasn't feeling too good.
But then she thought that she was now the principal and didn't need to do so many practice problems anymore. By transferring this pain to someone else, she immediately felt much better. She patted Zhao Yunxiao on the shoulder encouragingly and received a grateful look in return.
Teacher NPC's favorability +1.
As Fu Qing reviewed the teachers' diverse educational approaches, he was once again filled with emotion.
The entire Fangzhou was like a makeshift van, cobbled together from various scraps, yet it managed to wobbly make its way onto the road—it was truly unbelievable.
Of course, for every unexpectedly useful component, there will be one or two that don't quite fit the design.
For example, Hao Zhenye.
Fu Qing initially thought Hao Zhenye had a problem with her, the principal, but later discovered that Hao Zhenye was equally indifferent to other teachers.
In the first few days of school, he would deliberately avoid other teachers and students at lunch and dinner, and sit alone at a table.
Even when someone walks past him while he's eating, he'll give them a wary glance.
Fu Qing initially had some doubts, but after observing him for a few days, she found that he did not bring his personal emotions into his work, so she stopped interfering.
Within a week of the start of the semester, the differences in the teachers' teaching styles were already apparent. Leaving aside the others, Hao Zhenye was a completely ruthless and strict instructor.
Every student who came out of his class was tortured beyond recognition.
But thanks to this teaching style, the students' movements became much more nimble after only two lessons.
The current practical training mainly focuses on learning basic techniques such as combat and grappling. After watching two lessons, Fu Qing realized that Hao Zhenye had probably studied martial arts before. Unlike her, who had learned the unorthodox style after the apocalypse, Hao Zhenye's movements were methodical and carried a fierce and ruthless edge honed through life-and-death struggles.
With both clear theoretical knowledge and rich practical experience, Hao Zhenye is the perfect physical education teacher.
Under his guidance, students learn from basic moves. A class is two hours long, and often one hour is spent repeating the same boring straight punches, hooks, chops, kicks, and somersaults. The remaining hour is spent on random team sparring practice.
During this process, even the slightest hesitation or delay will be met with merciless shouting.
Under Hao Zhenye's intimidation, no one dared to slack off, and they didn't even dare to go easy on their 1v1 team training.
It's common to see boys and girls grouped together. After a class, the girls are often left with bruises on their hands and feet from just trying to block and defend themselves. They have to run to the convenience store to buy medicine and then apply it to each other in the dorm.
When hot water is poured on while taking a shower, the bathhouse is filled with the sound of gasping for air.
The boys were having a hard time too.
When same-sex people fight, they show no mercy. When their tempers flare up, they roll around in a heap, while Hao Zhenye just stands by with his arms crossed, watching coldly.
When we finally parted ways, everyone was limping when they got up, and they could barely climb stairs. Not a single person in the entire dormitory had a pair of healthy legs.
Fortunately, the bodies of 18 or 19-year-olds are the most resilient. If the same amount of exercise were done by a corporate slave who had worked for ten years, they would probably collapse both physically and mentally the next day. But students can still grit their teeth and force themselves to run five kilometers after a good night's sleep.
Worse still, Fu Qing has just discovered that performing a single action at high intensity countless times in a short period of time, or being relentlessly chased for four hours a week, seems to have an impact on the brain as well…
Only one week into the new semester, students are already showing initial signs of the aftereffects of physical education class addiction.
This includes, but is not limited to, having relentless nightmares about being chased, wanting to knock down any obstacle one sees, wanting to climb any suitable tree one sees, and subconsciously making notes in one's mind about any suitable hiding spot one finds, and so on.
On her way to the cafeteria today, Fu Qing saw more than two or three students suddenly throw an uppercut at thin air while walking.
The people around them all seemed unsurprised.
Fu Qing: "..."
She felt strongly that at this pace, the current practice without props would soon be insufficient to meet the needs of physical education classes.
But where can we find teaching locations to buy equipment?
When designing the course, Fu Qing considered that the farming class could not be done without hands-on practice, so he prioritized buying experimental fields. However, he did not expect that he would soon be troubled by the physical education class.
"System, don't you have any daily tasks for me to do?" She leaned on her desk and mentally called out to the system. "Other games have them. You can log in every day, pick some weeds in the field, deliver some goods to NPCs, and get 10 tutorial points as a reward."
"Sorry, this feature is not currently available," the system replied regretfully.
Before Fu Qing could react, it quickly added: "[The task panel is constantly refreshing; you might want to check if there's anything you can do immediately.]"
This is essentially meaningless.
These past few days, Fu Qing has been checking the panel whenever she has free time, and she's thoroughly reviewed all the existing tasks.
A week later, her popularity rating remained a pitiful -98%, and even dropped slightly by a few percentage points a few days ago because the campus running and various physical training were too cruel.
After the purpose of the points was made public, the points increased back up.
As for ability tests, there's no way we'll see any progress yet. It's only been a week since school started, so no matter how anxious we are, it's impossible to see any improvement right now.
Fu Qing could only look down.
Just yesterday, a side quest popped up in my list.
Side Quest: "Build the Campus - School Hospital"
[Description: The road to strength always needs someone to protect it. Establishing a school hospital and hiring a reliable doctor provides students with a solid support system so they can study with peace of mind.]
[Requirements: Add a new campus building, "School Hospital," which must have at least one empty room equipped with basic medicines and medical facilities, and a physician with basic medical knowledge. (Incomplete)]
[Reward: 100 Medical Supply Kits]
Fu Qing's gaze lingered on the task description for quite some time.
On the surface, this task seems to be the easiest to complete.
With a little training, an ordinary person can be considered to have "basic medical knowledge" as long as they can prescribe common medicines, bandage minor injuries, and know basic first aid techniques such as CPR to deal with sudden emergencies.
In fact, in Fu Qing's view, all that is needed to do this job is to be able to prescribe cold medicine, anti-inflammatory drugs, and get sick students to ask for leave from school to go to a big hospital for treatment.
...Anyway, the school hospital at her old school wasn't very reliable either.
The joking thought flashed through my mind and was quickly dismissed. Fangzhou is too far from the city center, and the nearest hospital is quite a distance away. The school hospital really can't handle things casually.
If possible, it would be best to recruit a school doctor who is skilled in treating sprains and bruises, dislocation reduction, and has some experience in orthopedics.
Fu Qing rubbed his forehead, feeling a headache coming on because of this candidate.
It would be great if the card pool could be specified...
A suitable figure almost immediately flashed through her mind.
Unfortunately, the gacha pool has no pity system, so there's no guarantee of getting the right character. Therefore, the task of building the school hospital has to be postponed.
The next tasks are even more outrageous.
Side Quest: "Improving Interpersonal Relationships - The Fierce Physical Education Teacher"
[Description: The new teacher seems dissatisfied with the principal. To maintain workplace harmony and uphold the principal's authority, please help resolve his grievances.]
[Requirement: Obtain Hao Zhenye's approval. (Incomplete)]
[Reward: 150 Teaching Points]
Fu Qing: "..."
She finally couldn't hold back and slammed her hand on the table: "Is this a management game or an otome game?! Why do you need to romance NPCs?"
"Isn't there any other way to earn points?"
As the game progresses, more tasks will be added. You can work hard to teach and trigger new milestones as soon as possible.
Alternatively, you can try wandering around the campus and surrounding areas; you might trigger random events, which also offer a chance to earn points.
After a pause, the system continued: "The game's purpose is to help you change the outcome of humanity's extinction and the world's collapse. Any action that contributes to this will be rewarded."
The last sentence surprised Fu Qing slightly.
She pondered the meaning of those words.
Any action that contributes to this will be rewarded.
Does this mean that there are still parts of the system that she hasn't explored yet?
*
A few hundred meters away in the dormitory building, Song Rushuang received a video call from her parents.
She was lying on the bed, grimacing as Shen Qingqing helped her apply the seventh plaster to her back, when she heard the bell. She sprang up in a flash and quickly straightened the hem of her clothes.
After confirming that there were no bruises or purple marks on her exposed skin, she pressed the call button: "Hello, Dad, Mom?"
"Xiao Shuang!" The camera focused on Song Ru Shuang's father's double chin, then shifted to the rear camera after a few shakes. "Look!"
The scene shows a famous landmark in R country, with a huge mountain towering in front of you. It seems that Song's parents are on a viewing platform, and many tourists are taking pictures nearby.
Song Rushuang cooperated by exclaiming "Wow!" a few times. On the other end, the phone was snatched away, and the screen showed Song's mother's face.
"It's been a week since school started, how's the new school?"
Song's father, speaking off-camera: "I heard Xiao Xiang is still in military training, and he's gotten a lot darker... Hey, have you lost some weight?"
The couple huddled together in front of the phone to look at it. Song Rushuang subconsciously touched her cheek and felt that the curve of her cheek did seem to have thinned a bit.
Hearing her parents mention Song Xiang reminded her of her cousin's provocation on the day of the school opening ceremony. It had only been a week, but it felt like a lifetime had passed.
Song Xiang was mocking her for not being able to find a job after graduation. Who would have thought that their class might not even see the day of graduation?
My cousin Song Xiang is still busy with military training and trying to adapt to university life, while I, from the moment I joined Fangzhou, have been on a path completely different from that of ordinary college students.
Thinking about these things, Song Rushuang felt somewhat depressed.
I felt both fortunate and inexplicably saddened by the future and my fate.
For a week, Song Rushuang deliberately avoided looking at the countdown on her watch, but the apocalypse and death still lingered like a dark cloud overhead, and she only found comfort in the thought that she was not alone.
Looking at her parents, who were still traveling carefree on the other end of the phone, she cheered up: "It's okay, it's just that military training is too tiring, and my schoolwork is quite heavy too. How are you having fun?"
Song Rushuang wisely avoided bringing up the topic of the end of the world.
Because her parents had been traveling abroad all week, this was the first time she had called home since the start of the semester. However, many of her classmates had spoken to their families on the first day of school.
I heard they tried all sorts of methods, whether it was through text messages, video calls, or various word-altering encryption methods, but they still couldn't tell their family and friends the news that "the end of the world is coming."
It's as if a fixed program has been installed in their minds, which will automatically interrupt them when they want to speak.
To onlookers, it looked like they suddenly froze halfway through their sentence.
If such a miraculous thing can be done, nowadays, very few people on the forum question the truthfulness of what the principal says.
"You had a great time, but you didn't like the food. I also bought you a few bottles of sunscreen; the tour guide said it's cheaper to buy it here. I'll give it to you when you go home this weekend..."
Halfway through Song's mother's speech, Song Rushuang suddenly heard a commotion.
Someone shouted something in a foreign language, but the voice was very soft and indistinct, and I couldn't hear it clearly.
But Song's mother in the video quickly stopped speaking and looked up in one direction.
Song Rushuang: "What's wrong?"
"It seems like they've started arguing." Song's mother was about to take another picture when she suddenly staggered.
The noise suddenly escalated, and Song's father, whose tone was usually easygoing, raised his voice: "Hey! What are you doing!"
Song's mother also screamed, "Are you crazy?"
The camera shook violently, the screen turned flesh-colored, as if the phone was being held in someone's hand, and all that could be heard was the increasingly heated argument.
Immediately afterwards, the call was abruptly disconnected.
"Dad, Mom?" Song Rushuang exclaimed in surprise.
Zhang Han, who was reviewing the key points of the zombie characteristics exam, suddenly came over.
"Are you on the phone with your aunt and uncle? What happened?"
Her hand gripped the edge of Song Rushuang's bed, and she hesitated before speaking, "I think I heard someone shout 'Go to hell'... I guess it's alright?"
Zhang Han has a wide range of interests, watching anime, Korean dramas, and American dramas. She has learned several common foreign phrases from them, especially swear words like "dog's son" and "baka" which she can say most fluently.
Hearing her say that, Song Rushuang became even more uneasy.
She dialed several times, but the line was always busy. It wasn't until the fourth time she dialed that the call was answered.
Mrs. Song was furious, her carefully styled hair was messed up, and she was still cursing when she answered the phone: "What a lack of manners! What kind of person is she!"
Seeing that she had no obvious external injuries and spoke with a strong voice, Song Rushuang finally felt relieved and asked, "What happened?"
"It's nothing, we just ran into a few crazy people. They probably had a little conflict while taking pictures, and they started arguing and even started fighting. They were throwing things around, and they almost hit your mother," Mr. Song explained, putting one hand on his wife's shoulder.
Song's mother has always been someone who doesn't stand to be taken advantage of, so of course she couldn't tolerate this kind of thing and immediately wanted to demand an explanation. However, Song's father saw that the fight was getting more and more intense and quickly stopped his wife.
"It's best not to cause trouble when you're abroad, and these guys look suspicious." He pulled his wife back, creating some distance between her and the fighters. When he looked over again, he was shocked. "Wow, they're all bleeding!"
It seems that Song's mother accidentally pressed the camera switch button, causing the scene to blur and capture the people wrestling together.
One of them clutched his head and bent over in pain. When he opened his hands, his palms were bright red.
The surrounding crowd gasped in surprise.
Half of the man's face was covered in blood, making him look particularly ferocious.
Song Rushuang saw him lower his head, seemingly staring blankly at the blood on his hands. Instead of calming down, he suddenly became agitated, as if he had been provoked.
With a roar, he bent down, picked up a stone, and lunged at a nearby person.
As the rock slammed down on the other person's head, Song Rushuang couldn't help but close her eyes briefly.
The surrounding chatter came through the receiver clearly; there were many Chinese tourists here, and familiar Chinese could be heard everywhere.
"Everyone came here to have a happy vacation. If there's a disagreement, just apologize and it's over. How did things turn out like this?"
"This is terrible! If you beat him like this, he'll be disfigured and his life will be ruined!"
"What's the emergency number abroad? Does anyone speak a foreign language? Let's make a call quickly."
Even after traveling abroad, a group of middle-aged and elderly people haven't changed their gossipy nature, constantly sighing and groaning.
Some people started live-streaming on their phones, even adding voiceovers, while others pushed their way forward to get a clearer shot, shouting, "Make way! Make way!"
The group hadn't stopped yet. Through the heads of the onlookers, Song Rushuang could vaguely see the person who had been tackled first lying motionless on the ground.
The young man, his head covered in blood, held the stone high and continued to smash it down violently, as if smashing a lump of rotten flesh.
Song Rushuang suddenly felt a chill run down her spine.
She suppressed her unease and put on a tense but concerned expression: "...Mom and Dad, how can a group fight be this brutal? I heard there are gangsters around there. What if we run into a gang fight? You should leave and stop watching."
Song's mother, who was still angry, also calmed down upon hearing this.
After taking a closer look, he also sensed something was wrong and cautiously said, "My daughter is right, these people are not normal. We should stay away from them."
Mr. Song nodded in agreement: "That's right, we should hurry down the mountain so we can still buy some souvenirs in the shopping street before it closes."
Seeing her parents retreat from the crowd, Song Rushuang breathed a sigh of relief.
After exchanging a few more pleasantries, they hung up the phone.
After hanging up, she clutched her phone, still feeling uneasy as she recalled what she had just seen.
"The principal said before that the virus outbreak would not occur for another year, right?"
Shen Qingqing looked up from her book: "Yes."
Zhang Han looked at her, still thinking about what she had just heard: "What's wrong? Are your uncle and aunt alright?"
"It's nothing." Song Rushuang shook her head, then hesitated, "I'm probably overthinking it."
*
In the middle of the night, Song Rushuang's phone, which was on her bedside table, suddenly vibrated several times.
She heard the reminder in her half-asleep state, grabbed her phone, and saw that it was only 5 a.m., instantly waking up.
Several messages popped up in the family group chat with the note "[Two-to-One Targeted Poverty Alleviation]".
I'm your mom: [Daughter, daughter, are you awake? I have something important to tell you!]
I am your mother: [59s']
I am your mother: [16s']
Song Rushuang clicked on the voice message that was so long it was hard to describe, and her mother's uncontrollable volume exploded in her ears.
“Daughter, do you remember the group that got into a fight yesterday? Your dad and I came down the mountain, and as soon as we got to the shopping street, several ambulances came rushing past with their sirens blaring, and there were police cars too. It was quite a scene.”
"Later, when we got back to the hotel and asked around, guess what? People had died! Three dead and one seriously injured!"
"I heard that two of them died before they could even get to the hospital."
Song's mother sighed deeply.
"The one who was seriously injured was one of the guys in our tour group. We left first that day, and many of them stayed behind to watch the commotion. Who would have thought that what they were watching would lead to such a disaster? Now he's paralyzed in the hospital, his head is almost smashed, and his wife and children back home are crying their eyes out."
"Luckily you stopped me, otherwise your dad and I might be the ones lying in the hospital bed! Hey, don't cover my mouth..."
The voice message was cut off, and Song's mother was probably urgently pulled away by Song's father to "spit, spit, spit."
After a long while, he sent another message: "Your dad is going around telling people that it's all thanks to my daughter's foresight that she saved our whole family. She also said that you've grown up so much since you went to college, and she's so proud of you."
Song Rushuang had no time to pay attention to her parents' praise. Her heart skipped a beat when she heard "three dead and one seriously injured".
Unexpectedly, someone died.
This was the first time such a serious incident had happened so close to her; even her parents were almost involved.
Unlike the simulated drills, this time the dead were living people.
Is this really just a coincidence...?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
