Chapter 17: "You're Dead"
After breakfast, Zhao Tingting contacted Fu Qing, saying that Mao Mao's ear had been bandaged and sent a video of her eating her hospital meal with great energy.
A plate of freeze-dried raw meat and bones was laid out, along with a black tiger prawn and a bowl of kale salad. Mao Mao lay sprawled beside it, contentedly snapping photos.
Fu Qing recalled the vegetarian buns and boiled eggs she had for breakfast: "..."
What does it mean to be worse off than a dog?
Zhao Tingting followed up with a voice message, saying that she had overheard Qin Yufei and the others mentioning it during a casual chat over dinner yesterday, and guessed that Fangzhou was a "martial arts school." So she bought some things overnight as a thank-you gift and asked them to accept them.
Perhaps fearing Fu Qing would refuse, she kept quiet and didn't mention what she was giving away. It wasn't until later, when Fu Qing was drinking water by the principal's office window and watched several large trucks drive into the campus, that she almost spat out her water.
Ten treadmills, twenty wooden dummy dummies, several sandbags, several sets of protective gear, and various fitness equipment are enough to build a fully equipped gym.
Zhao Tingting jumped off the truck's passenger seat with Mao Mao in her hand, holding a banner that read "Save my dog's life," and insisted on giving it to Fu Qing.
“Mao Mao is an important member of our family. You practically saved our family’s life. My parents are very grateful to you. This is just a small token, nothing compared to how important Mao Mao is to us. Please accept it.” She said solemnly, “Otherwise, we’ll have to publish a thank-you notice in the newspaper—by the way, are you short of students? How about a front-page ad in the Huazhou Daily? Their editor-in-chief even came to my house for dinner last week…”
Fu Qing was greatly troubled and quickly pressed down Miss Zhao, who was waving banknotes.
Looking at the equipment on the trucks, she finally decided to build a gym in the stadium on the south side of the playground, and then place a banner that saved her dog's life and a large, retouched photo of Mao Mao in the center of the room as a token of her gratitude.
Zhao Tingting was very satisfied with the arrangement.
She didn't forget the nine classmates who came to help. In addition to the gifts for the school, she also gave each of them a new Apple mobile phone and tablet set.
Everyone who was summoned to the principal's office was flattered and looked cautiously at Fu Qing, unsure whether they should accept the gift.
After what happened yesterday, they were now somewhat mindful of their parents' feelings when they stayed by Fu Qing's side.
Fu Qing said, "Take it."
Only after receiving the principal's permission did they happily pick up the packaging box.
Fu Qing turned to Zhao Tingting: "It's been very chaotic everywhere lately, be careful when you go out in the future."
As she spoke, she felt a wet, big nose nudge her calf. Looking down, she saw that Mao Mao was grinning and wagging its tail wildly at her.
Fu Qing patted Mao Mao's big head: "Next time you encounter something like this, there might not be anyone to help you."
Zhao Tingting hadn't taken it seriously at first, but upon hearing this, she couldn't help but fall into deep thought: "Now that you mention it... there seem to be quite a few social news stories lately. Is it because the overall environment is bad, and people's anger has increased?"
Having been reminded by Fu Qing, she looked down at Mao Mao, still lost in thought as she left.
That evening, she sent a message saying that she had asked her family to find a Sanda coach and that classes would begin next week.
"Mao Mao also needs to go to dog training school. We will train hard so that we can protect ourselves next time we encounter unreasonable people."
After listening to the voice message, Fu Qing was speechless.
With such strong initiative, even if the apocalypse really comes, this girl will probably be able to live quite well.
Moreover, if she starts exercising now, and assuming she can actually stick to it for a year, it will be enough to protect herself by the time the apocalypse comes.
In this way, we can say we've repaid the gym for their generous gift.
I never expected that Mao Mao would have to go to school too...
Fu Qing never expected that in the end, when he was looking for someone to teach him, even a passing dog was dragged into the mess.
She simply couldn't imagine what a snowball-sized Samoyed would look like when it became majestic and imposing.
The next day, the news of the gym's reopening was announced to all students through the forum.
Meanwhile, the news of Qin Yufei, Song Rushuang, and their group's act of bravery was edited into a post and displayed on the forum's homepage, remaining pinned for a full week, giving them ample face.
As a result, they received stares from time to time during their classes and exercises in the following days.
They were surprised to find that helping others felt so good; the joy even surpassed the happiness of receiving gifts worth tens of thousands of yuan.
*
This unexpected incident subtly altered the atmosphere on campus.
The heat lingered for the next week.
Specifically, they showed more enthusiasm for exercise, and some even looked at the principal with a subtle yet intense gaze.
Having overcome the initial difficulties, the students gradually adapted to life in Fangzhou. Fu Qing observed the increasingly nimble walking posture of the students as they passed by and found Hao Zhenye.
Hao Zhenye seemed a little surprised when he found out she had come to his door. He closed the door to his teacher's dormitory, slowly walked out, and looked at Fu Qing warily: "What is it?"
Looking at him like this, Fu Qing suddenly felt a sense of familiarity.
Even without the system acting as his eyes, Fu Qing knew that there was nothing in Hao Zhenye's room worth his careful protection.
The teachers who are summoned have no personal belongings other than a few hours of free time that can be redeemed with points each month, and items like the game console that Fu Qing gave to Bai Tang.
In essence, they are not even "living people," but merely wandering souls forcibly brought back to this world from the tomb by the system.
Nevertheless, Hao Zhenye maintained his habits from his lifetime.
When eating, they are always aware of their surroundings. If someone gets close to their safe zone, they will subconsciously bare their fangs and release a dangerous aura that makes them unapproachable.
All of this made him feel out of place, even like a monster.
Of the teachers, Grandma Liu died too young, Bai Tang always stayed in her safe house, and Zhao Yunxiao, like Bai Tang, was under heavy protection from beginning to end and never faced the dangers of the outside world.
Therefore, in a sense, Hao Zhenye and Fu Qing are the same kind of people.
They are all survivors of the apocalypse.
Just as wild beasts are tamed into gentleness by civilization, humans are similarly tamed into savagery by the apocalypse.
Years of high-pressure living are enough to completely change a person. Even after returning to the civilized world, Hao Zhenye has forgotten how to live a normal life. His constant vigilance and habit of guarding his territory are nothing less than a sign of bewilderment and disorientation.
Fu Qing suddenly understood Hao Zhenye's attitude towards her all along.
With his strength, he could easily become the leader of a small group in the apocalypse. To suddenly accept the system's summons and be forced to accept another person's arrangements without any prior knowledge is clearly not in line with his survival principles.
Hao Zhenye's willingness to stay for the salary does not mean he had no inner resistance.
He is a different person from Bai Tang, Grandma Liu, and Zhao Yunxiao.
The thought flashed through Fu Qing's mind quickly, and she asked, "Have you seen the newly built gym at school?"
Faced with his obvious wariness, Fu Qing reacted quite calmly, or rather, ignored him completely.
Hao Zhenye hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
"I've placed the wooden dummy in the gymnasium. If needed during physical education classes, students can use it for practice."
Hao Zhenye's skills were clearly trained, and he should be very familiar with how to use the wooden dummy.
Hao Zhenye finally spoke: "The wooden dummy is not as effective as shooting at the moving target. I usually arrange for them to practice in pairs and take turns feeding the target, but we can let them shoot for fun when we have nothing to do."
If students were here, they would definitely complain.
Wow, this redefines "just playing around".
Fu Qing had no objections; it was free anyway, so as long as he could use it, that was fine.
"Also, these are new equipment that the school has purchased. You can familiarize yourself with them beforehand."
With a wave of her hand, several objects suddenly appeared in the stairwell, their stiff, lifeless outlines sketched out by the light filtering through the corner window.
Hao Zhenye felt a chill run down his spine and instinctively swung his palm to strike.
Just as he was about to touch that object, he suddenly came to his senses, barely stopped moving, and looked at Fu Qing with suspicion.
Fu Qing reached out and put her hand on the shoulder of one of the objects: "Were you startled?"
"24-hour sparring partner, not afraid of getting tired or hurt, can take a beating and can even attract aggro, pretty good, right?"
She patted one of the "little zombies" on the shoulder, looking quite satisfied.
Hao Zhenye: "..."
*
Half an hour later, the first practical class of the morning officially began.
On the playground, the students, who were lined up in four rows, stared blankly at the front of the line, their faces pale.
Standing next to ten zombies, Hao Zhenye seemed quite uncomfortable, his expression turning even more sour: "Starting from this class, physical education and advanced combat classes will introduce brand-new teaching aids. In addition to practicing basic fighting skills, combat classes will add a combat exercise where participants take turns fighting zombies. If a zombie is successfully killed, the person takes their place. Class ends after one round of killing zombies; those who cannot kill one must stay after class to continue."
The students: "...?"
You call this a teaching aid?
Also, does university still have the concept of detention?
When others stay after school, it's always "Finish this problem before you leave," but here it's become "Kill this zombie before you leave"...
The students were suffering, but they dared not speak out.
Those ten zombies cost Fu Qing a full 150 teaching points. Each one was a standard 180cm tall, with a lean and muscular build, like mass-produced human models, only dressed in different colored clothes to distinguish them.
According to the system description, these "realistic zombies" possess both strength and agility, and can adjust their movement patterns independently. Because they are made using special materials, they can withstand almost an unlimited number of attacks and automatically regenerate, making them arguably the best teaching tool.
Of course, this tolerance is not without limit. If attacked by countless people at the same time, or thrown into a shredder, the simulated zombies will also be destroyed.
As for their appearance, in Hao Zhenye's eyes, they were no different from ordinary zombies.
His pale skin was bloodless, with some areas a putrid bluish-gray. When he accidentally touched it just now, he could still feel its cool, soft texture.
If you press down, it will leave a small, slowly healing pit on your skin, which is extremely disgusting.
The realistic zombies' lips, cracked like tree bark, parted slightly, revealing black and red ulcerated gums, and their gray eye sockets seemed to be shrouded in a layer of deathly shadow.
Fu Qing's advance instruction had already taught Hao Zhenye that once the switch on their backs was activated, the zombies' upward-rolled eyeballs would roll back down, and they would stare intently at their prey with their shrunken pupils.
The eyes are a sign that they are open.
Hao Zhenye reached out and pressed down on a spot on the zombie's spine, and a "crackling" sound came from the zombie's clenched jaw.
The students all took a step back in unison, while Hao Zhenye remained silent with a blank expression.
According to Fu Qing, this is the startup sound effect for a realistic zombie.
A moment later, a low, hoarse voice came from the zombie's mouth: "Please select a mode. To change the settings, please use voice commands."
As it spoke, its eyes menacingly locked onto a student in the front row.
A child was randomly scared to death.
"Why is it only staring at me?" The student being stared at was almost in tears, feeling as if the temperature around him had dropped two or three degrees.
Hao Zhenye ignored the zombie's question for the time being, and instead made a gesture to signal everyone to look over. Then he took out a gleaming short knife from his pocket, wrapped one arm around the zombie's neck from behind to lock its throat, and used the other hand to swiftly stab the blade into the zombie's eye.
Before the students could react, they heard a "thud" as the short knife was already halfway into the zombie's head.
After a brief moment of stunned silence, they screamed in unison, like a whole row of screaming chickens.
Hao Zhenye cleared his throat impatiently: "Quiet."
Everyone immediately shut up again.
The zombie remained motionless, the dagger still deeply embedded in its head. It opened its mouth and announced emotionlessly, "Kill successful, time taken: 3 seconds."
Then, the zombie's eyeballs began to writhe strangely, as if it were alive, and it quickly spat out the short knife before its eyeballs returned to normal.
Hao Zhenye picked up the dagger that had fallen to the ground and this time slashed it across the zombie's neck.
He used great force, the sharp blade slicing through flesh with silky smoothness, as if cutting through iron and mud. The zombie's head lost its support and tilted back with the slightest movement, revealing most of the intersecting veins and blood vessels, with only a thin layer of skin connecting them.
Students: "Ugh—"
The zombie's head, which had nearly been decapitated, calmly announced again: "Failed to hit a vital point."
Hao Zhenye said, "Reset."
The flesh and blood writhed, and the severed head reconnected to the body.
The students stared in disbelief.
"That's it. If you all understand, start practicing in groups of ten. Those assigned to kill zombies, go to the side to get your weapons. The rest of you, continue practicing combat." Hao Zhenye waved his hand. "Dismissed."
After saying that, he activated all the zombies one by one, making them wait for his command.
Then, I couldn't help but glance at the zombie horde, which was lined up so neatly that it looked like they were standing at attention.
Hao Zhenye had killed countless zombies, but he had never "cooperated" with them, nor had he ever seen them stand obediently beside him. At this moment, he felt extremely uncomfortable.
If even Hao Zhenye is like this, the students must feel even worse.
Last week, they had already seen various zombies projected holographically in the zombie characteristics class. They thought they were familiar with what zombies looked like and would no longer be afraid. But when they suddenly saw "living" zombies, they realized that the projection was just child's play.
It cannot recreate the details of the zombie's decay, the bloodstains under its fingernails, or the menacing feeling of it constantly pouncing on you.
Only when they stand in front of the zombies can they truly feel that these things are only a hair's breadth away from living people, yet they are real monsters that feed on humans.
Almost instantly, everyone recalled the zombies they had faced directly during the exercise, and their calves suddenly felt weak.
An instinctive fear drove them, every cell in their bodies screaming for them to run away, but reason suppressed it.
This is a class, it's not real, there's nothing to be afraid of...
But once a feeling of weakness arises in one's heart, one can no longer muster all one's strength.
Even if a few people manage to muster the courage to face zombies, their minds go blank, and they completely forget any fighting skills they've managed to learn.
They charged forward purely on instinct, only to be easily overwhelmed by the zombies, whose physiques far surpassed those of most adults.
Standing at 180cm tall with ample muscle mass, it never tires of fighting, and has only one vital point. If you don't hit its brain, it can keep attacking even if you lose an arm or a leg—such a creature is difficult to deal with even if it's not a zombie.
Moreover, they also need to avoid being bitten by zombies.
Once the simulated zombies' teeth and saliva come into contact with the student's skin, they immediately stop what they're doing and utter an exceptionally cruel and merciless phrase: "You're dead."
With just a few more mistakes, some people can die several times in a minute.
And so, the entire playground was soon filled with the lingering, resounding echoes of—
"You are dead."
"You are dead."
"You are dead."
"You are dead."
Students: "..."
Is this a sarcastic remark? Yes, it is!
There's no need to rush to remind them how bad they are!
The most outrageous thing is that the realistic zombies and their student watches are actually linked.
They soon discovered that their wristbands had added lines of synchronization information.
[Failed to kill in Basic Zombie Mode (Death time: 8s)]
[Failed to kill in Basic Zombie Mode (Death time: 21s)]
[Failed to kill in basic zombie mode...]
The students who noticed the prompt fell silent: It was too humiliating.
They can't even last a minute. If the end of the world really comes, will they be able to survive a single day?
Thankfully, they found out a year in advance, so they still had a chance to practice...
Another group of people are more worried: Will these records affect my final grade and points?
With all sorts of worries weighing on their minds, the group gritted their teeth and fought even harder.
But strength is never determined by will. No matter how hard a novice tries, he can't become a master in a short time. By the time the bell rang, less than a third of the class had successfully killed the zombies.
Everyone's grades will eventually be displayed on the teacher's watch. Hao Zhenye looked at the record, his brows furrowed so deeply they could trap a passing fly: "Those who fail to kill the zombie in class must find time during the week to rent a simulated zombie to complete the kill. The number of kills not completed this week will double next week, then double again the week after, and so on. Those who still fail to complete the kill requirement by the end of the semester will have their participation points deducted."
After saying that, he turned and left without looking back, leaving behind a group of students who collapsed to the ground as soon as he left.
"Teacher Hao's image as a devilish instructor will never collapse."
"Someone help me! I think I'm going to fail my course!"
"I'm starting to miss last week's practice. It was tiring, but at least I didn't have to experience the feeling of having my head eaten by zombies."
"Are you kidding me? Doesn't killing zombies get tiring? It's clearly tiring and disgusting... Damn, is this sticky stuff on my head zombie saliva?"
"Who remembers that our final exam involved killing five zombies in an hour?"
"You don't need to remind us of this!"
"Fortunately, the practical course is an elective, and there are only a few sessions a week..."
"By the way, didn't you guys forget that Teacher Hao just said that we also need to introduce new teaching aids for physical education classes?"
After the last person finished speaking, a hush fell over the surroundings.
The crowd exchanged horrified glances, then cried out in unison, "...No way!!"
*
By the end of the day, almost all the students in the school had heard that the school had introduced a terrifying new teaching aid.
The students who had chosen the practical course already made up more than half of the student body. They quickly and vividly described the cruelty, immorality, and inhumanity of the simulated zombies to the students in the farming class, and reminded them to be extra careful during physical education class.
The physical education class that day happened to be the last period, so when the class started, everyone who came to class walked with incredibly heavy steps.
Although I can't predict what awaits me, I have a feeling it will be very torturous.
Sure enough, as soon as class started, Hao Zhenye announced, living up to everyone's expectations, "This class will be divided into groups of ten, and you will engage in a chase with simulated zombies."
"There are two victory conditions: kill all zombies, or check all the markers without any deaths. Failure to complete this within half an hour will be considered a failure."
After speaking, he pressed the button on his white watch, and the watch face quickly transformed into a portable holographic projector, projecting a large 3D image of the campus that was clearly visible to the entire class in mid-air.
Several blue teardrop-shaped markers are scattered throughout the image, pointing to the interiors or high places of different buildings, or to forests or intersections.
"The zombie's walking speed has been adjusted to match the average running speed of an adult. If the distance between the zombie and the pursuer exceeds 50 meters, the zombie will automatically head to the nearest unmarked point until the pursuer appears within 50 meters. If the marked point is also within 50 meters, the zombie will head to the marked point on its own, regardless of where the pursuer is."
"Zombie chases will also be counted in the grade, and the bottom 30% of the grade will be deducted in the final review."
The students immediately understood that this rule was meant to force them to fight the simulated zombies head-on!
The group, already worn out from the practical training, fell silent for a moment, feeling a chill run down their spines.
When people are too tired, they tend to rebel.
"This is not fair!" someone shouted quickly. "There are only ten zombies in total. How can we possibly kill them? Besides, zombies don't get tired. If they keep running at a constant speed, we will definitely be caught up, not to mention we have to check in everywhere."
"Ten people, ten zombies, that's fair." Hao Zhenye glanced at him coldly. "If you can't kill the zombies, then run faster."
Either kill the monsters or run far away; don't give them any hope of catching up with you.
There was no other choice.
The boy flinched under his gaze, but still stubbornly insisted on his idea: "But in reality, we don't need to check in everywhere or keep running. There are hiding places all over the city. We just need to move a little bit at a time and find a hiding place to recover our strength."
That's how it's written in all the zombie novels he's read!
Climb one tree at a time, moving slowly and carefully. I've never seen anyone run for an hour straight. Do you think they're robots?
"Moreover, real-life zombies won't lock onto us and keep running. According to Teacher Zhao, zombies have limited vision, so we can find ways to shake them off. By carefully observing our surroundings, we can avoid putting ourselves in a dangerous situation where we're chased by ten zombies at once."
He analyzed the situation logically and with evidence.
"Teacher, there are many ways to win. At the very least, we should practice some more and take it step by step. Right now, it's just torture..."
The students who were chasing them would at least get tired, but zombies don't get tired.
Being a tireless pursuer is a huge torment for both the body and mind.
Not to mention that the assessment also involves points, and the points directly determine whether their parents can enter the shelter, which is a matter of life and death!
The boy believed his idea was correct.
For students who are naturally less physically fit, they could have made up for it with their physical strength, but the arrangement of physical education classes puts them at a disadvantage from the start. Those who are athletes have almost firmly occupied a portion of the top 30% of the spots, and the remaining spots have been taken by those with better physical fitness.
Among the remaining people, there were many girls and some boys who had almost lost hope of scoring and were only hoping not to fall into the bottom 30.
If it didn't involve points, it wouldn't be a problem, but since it involved points and the lives of his loved ones, he felt he had to fight for it.
This is completely unfair!
Hao Zhenye remained unmoved by his protest: "If you have any objections, you don't have to attend this class."
After saying that, he turned his gaze to them: "Check your respective groups, the first batch of students, get ready."
Provoked by his disregard, the boy gritted his teeth and shouted, "Then teacher, demonstrate for us how the weak can win!"
Several girls mustered their courage and said, "We also think this is unfair... We can't get any points at all..."
...
Fu Qing was returning from the fruit shop when he passed by the playground and happened to hear a commotion coming from inside.
With nothing else to do, she changed direction on a whim, intending to see what had happened.
Hao Zhenye lived up to the impression he left on her; only halfway through the second week, he was met with a collective protest from the students.
Fu Qing took a few steps closer with great interest.
When they noticed her, the students who were preparing to rebel fell silent.
For some reason, although the principal acted as if he were just passing by and not paying attention, his presence was even stronger than that of Teacher Hao.
Amidst the jeers of the others, Hao Zhenye's face had turned ashen. When he noticed Fu Qing, his gaze suddenly fell upon her, and he spoke with pure venting of anger.
"Since we're going to have a demonstration, why don't we have the principal demonstrate?"
Fu Qing, who had just taken a peach from the plastic bag she was carrying, paused, looked up, and exclaimed, "Huh?"
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