Chapter 30 The Monthly Exam Continues
To save someone, you must first communicate with them.
However, the boy was very difficult to communicate with. The only consolation was that after one attempt, the three of them discovered that because the boy was such an obvious target and his shouts were so conspicuous, even if they tried to communicate with him through the door, the zombie would not change its target and come over to pry open the door.
Instead, they remained remarkably steadfast, choosing to follow behind their "locomotive."
After the experiment ended, Su Huaijin finally made her first attempt to make contact when the boy's shouts drew near once again.
—It was only at this moment that Su Huaijin realized that the boy's shouts were not without their advantages; at least they could help them predict where he had gone.
Sensing that he was almost there, Su Huaijin took a deep breath and shouted, "Hey!!"
After saying that, she pricked up her ears, waiting for a response.
Upon hearing this, the student who had been running around in a daze suddenly perked up and reflexively said, "Secondly, my name isn't 'Hey,' it's Chu Yuxun!"
Hearing this, she flew into a rage: "Don't use your lousy jokes at a time like this!!"
The boy outside burst into tears of joy: "Holy crap, is there someone inside?! I thought I was hallucinating!"
Su Huaijin sensed something was wrong; the boy's voice was getting softer and softer.
Qin Yufei listened for a while and then said, "He ran far away."
Su Huaijin and Wen Yu: "..."
What a precious opportunity to communicate, and all I had to do was say one cheesy joke!
Fortunately, the boy knew someone was inside and quickly turned back.
Before he could speak, Su Huaijin said in one breath, "We're going to rescue you. First, run upstairs and get all the zombies away from the second floor. Wait at least half a minute before coming back! Then run straight to the fire escape on the right!"
Train Engine Student: "OK!!!"
The exchange went smoothly, and Su Huaijin breathed a sigh of relief. Once there was no more noise outside the door, the three of them quietly opened the door, slipped through the empty corridor to the stairwell, and went up to the second floor.
Immediately afterwards, they split into two groups. Wen Yu went to get the safety harness, while Qin Yufei and Su Huaijin headed straight for the fire escape on the right side of the second floor.
The classrooms use ordinary wooden doors, which may not be able to withstand the impact of zombies, but the fire doors in the fire escape are much sturdier. As long as they are closed tightly, they can definitely withstand the impact of zombies.
Just in case, Su Huaijin specifically arranged for Qin Yufei, who was strong, to be in her group to close the door. Of course, it was also because she trusted Wen Yu more and was afraid that Qin Yufei would take the straps and leave on his own.
However, Su Huaijin didn't mention the latter reason, and judging from Qin Yufei's expression, it seemed he had thought of that as well.
Or perhaps they thought of it, but didn't care at all.
He readily agreed.
Wen Yu was acting alone, shouldering another important mission, and was inevitably a little nervous. Before parting ways, she made a point of squeezing Su Huaijin's hand.
The two entered the fire escape at the end of the corridor, pushed open the normally closed fire door, and slipped inside, leaving only a narrow gap for one person to pass through. They then began to wait quietly.
At the same time, Wen Yu went into the audiovisual room, closed the door, and saw a backpack on the podium.
A blue, mountain-shaped virtual projection floated above it, casting a deep blue glow over the entire classroom.
Wen Yu opened the backpack and found two safety straps inside.
She took out the straps, and the blue projection automatically switched to red.
Having completed the first task, she turned to look at the closed classroom door.
...
On the other side, Su Huaijin and Qin Yufei finally heard footsteps.
They seemed to hallucinate a small train rumbling towards them, the boy in the lead running until his face turned a deep purplish-red, with a tireless horde of zombies behind him.
When they saw the group of zombies, Su Huaijin and Qin Yufei were so frightened that they almost slammed the door shut.
How can there be so many! What kind of chosen decoy physique is this?!
Train Engine's stamina was clearly exhausted. The distance between him and the zombie would sometimes shrink to only an arm's length, and just when he was about to be touched, he would hold his last breath and accelerate again.
When he saw Su Huaijin's head peeking out from under the door, he almost burst into tears.
"Quick, I... I really can't hold on anymore... I don't even have the strength to climb the stairs..."
Su Huaijin calmly estimated the distance between the zombie and the boy: the current distance was definitely not enough for the boy to rush into the fire door and lock it.
You should leave at least three or four meters of leeway.
But asking him, who was already exhausted, to speed up again and leave the zombies so far behind in the length of a corridor seemed like asking too much of a man.
Fortunately, I heard the word.
Su Huaijin's gaze fell on the audiovisual room. The classroom and the fire door where the two were located were on the left side of the corridor and the right end of the corridor, respectively. The audiovisual room was quiet at this time. Wen Yu did not make a sound inside, so the zombie following behind the boy passed by her almost without noticing.
Su Huaijin gestured for the boys to be quiet, silently counting in her mind.
Three, two, one...
Suddenly, the door to the movie room swung open, and the person hiding inside peeked out and yelled. As the zombies in the last row turned around, the door slammed shut with a loud bang.
The moment the boy stopped making a sound, all the zombies were momentarily drawn to his attention and briefly turned their heads.
But there wasn't a single person in sight.
A few zombies at the end of the line seemed to sense something, hesitated for a moment, then turned around and staggered towards the media room.
Inside, Wen Yu had already unleashed the speed she had trained during her escape from PE class. She put on her safety harness, opened the window, reached out and hooked the dangling safety rope, pulled quickly, locked the buckle, and leaped out of the window.
Before leaving, he made sure to close the window.
There is a narrow glass window on the wooden door of the classroom, through which you can see the scene inside the classroom.
One of the zombies finally arrived in a hurry and pressed its face against the glass window.
But all it saw was an empty room and a curtain swaying slightly.
...
Wen Yu's shout startled the train-head student as well, but he didn't dare turn around because Su Huaijin's expression was terrifying:
"Don't look back! Run!!"
If he stops, all their previous efforts will be in vain.
Wen Yu's actions bought him two or three seconds to run. The boy gritted his teeth and sped up, finally squeezing through the crack in the door before the zombies caught up.
Su Huaijin grabbed the boy and pulled him away from the fire door to prevent his clothes from getting caught.
Qin Yufei, behind the door, simultaneously exerted force with both arms, and the heavy fire door slammed shut.
They heard the sound of zombies slamming against the door one after another, a loud banging that, even through the thick metal door, sounded like blows to the heart, making them afraid to listen closely and instinctively stop themselves from imagining what was happening outside.
The boy plopped down, panting heavily: "You guys are my saviors! My name is Jia Ran, what's yours?"
"We'll talk about self-introductions later. Let's go upstairs and pick up my roommate first." Su Huaijin tugged at the back of his collar, but couldn't budge him.
Upon closer inspection, Jia Ran is also quite tall, with particularly long legs and very attractive muscle definition.
Qin Yufei chuckled and said, "Hey bro, you're a long-distance runner?"
Jia Ran: "Yes."
Qin Yufei and Su Huaijin both showed expressions of understanding.
No wonder he could run up and down the stairs for so long and even shout slogans to himself.
Jia Ran knew that he couldn't stop immediately after strenuous exercise. He had just relaxed abruptly. He dusted off his buttocks and got up.
"From now on, wherever you say I'm going, I'll go without hesitation." He patted his chest.
Su Huaijin nodded; they had arranged to meet Wen Yu on the rooftop.
Actually, they could have simply gone around to the first floor via the fire escape and left, but there might still be zombies roaming outside, and the zombies in this building would likely stay on the second floor for a while. So, the top floor would actually be safer.
If you close the door leading to the roof and remain silent, it will take a long time for the zombies to find you.
Even if zombies come, they can leave at any time thanks to the safety harnesses, making them extremely safe.
Ever since Su Huaijin calculated everything in that short time and assigned everyone their assigned areas, Qin Yufei decided to follow her wholeheartedly for this assessment.
Now there's Jia Ran, this little tagalong, added to the mix.
Two tall physical education students addressed Su Huaijin as "Sister Su" and followed behind her, who was two years younger than them. The scene was rather comical.
As Su Huaijin was about to step upstairs, he suddenly stopped.
"What's wrong, Sister Su?" Jia Ran asked knowingly.
"It's nothing." Su Huaijin turned around with a strange expression and glanced at the fire door.
The bracelet suddenly reminded her that she had completed a kill, earning her +1 point.
Could it be that... a stampede occurred outside the door, and one of the zombies just happened to be trampled to death?
Then, since there was no clear killer, the points were randomly awarded to her.
It was like a point falling from the sky; Su Huaijin didn't know whether to laugh or cry at this unexpected gain.
*
Inside the meeting room, the teachers did not miss anything that happened inside the teaching building.
Jia Ran darted around upstairs and downstairs, like a 3D version of Snake, absorbing all the red light spots that were originally evenly distributed inside the building and stringing them into such a long line behind him.
This massive commotion was impossible to ignore.
They watched with twitching lips as the long red dragon crashed into the projected, illusory fire door, squashing into a heap. The tiny point of light at the bottom was even crushed and disappeared into the air.
A small "+1" appeared above one of the blue dots outside the door.
Zhao Yunxiao: "...This is even possible??"
Bai Tang clicked his tongue: "I don't know if these people knew each other before. I thought that student who was walking the zombie was done for, but I didn't expect that he not only left alive, but also killed one of them."
Hao Zhenye rarely spoke up to express his approval: "It's very good that they were able to come up with the feint attack method so quickly and apply it in actual combat. There is a very smart one among them, and the team works very well together."
The teachers took turns offering their opinions, watching with great concentration.
Only after the problem with this teaching building was resolved did they shift their focus elsewhere.
Seeing that no one spoke up for the time being, Grandma Liu smiled and looked around: "If we teachers were to take the test ourselves, how many points do you think you could get?"
“Of course, I don’t count,” she added.
When the zombie outbreak first occurred, Grandma Liu was watering flowers in the yard when she was bitten by a zombie that came from behind. She never saw what a zombie looked like before she died, let alone killed one.
Although I was mentally prepared, I was still terrified when I first encountered realistic zombies on campus.
Liu Yingchun joked with Fu Qing at the time, saying that if Fu Qing hadn't died long ago and her heart had stopped beating, she would probably have been so frightened that she would have a heart attack.
Fu Qing lowered her head to take notes in her notebook. Hao Zhenye had no interest in chatting, but Bai Tang and Zhao Yunxiao were quite interested in the topic.
However, they were both terrible at fighting, so they could only discuss it, not participate in it.
So somehow the topic turned to "who can get more points, the principal or Teacher Hao".
Apart from that one conversation with Hao Zhenye during PE class, Fu Qing never mentioned her skill level, and everyone could only guess based on her daily performance.
Hao Zhenye is different. He often needs to demonstrate in practical classes, and everyone has seen how easily he kills zombies.
Zhao Yunxiao had observed a few practical lessons and firmly believed that Hao Zhenye was stronger: "It's not that the principal isn't good, but Teacher Hao is better than some of the best soldiers I've ever seen. When facing low-level zombies, he's just slaughtering them."
"Of course, those people's advantage lies more in the handling of firearms or teamwork." He added, "I'm only talking about close combat."
Good soldiers are often subject to orders and must cooperate with superiors and the collective. They are not always on the front line, unlike Hao Zhenye, who spent almost every day killing zombies in his previous life.
When it comes to fighting zombies, it's really hard to say who is stronger or weaker.
Zhao Yunxiao's words made the other three teachers pause, realizing that he had actually come into contact with soldiers in his previous life.
Judging from his words, he seems to be quite skilled.
After the zombie outbreak, everyone had different guesses about who could have access to the highest levels of the military.
However, regardless of their identities, that's all in the past life. In this life, everyone is just a wandering soul trapped in a certain land.
We can sit on equal footing and chat without any obstacles.
Bai Tang slammed her hand on the table and stood up: "I don't agree. The principal is definitely more amazing—no offense to Teacher Hao. But the principal is really good at climbing. My family used to live on such a high floor, and she could carry two handfuls of bean sprouts and scallions down the stairs as if they were flat ground! She just zipped down."
It can crawl now...
Fu Qing paused, pen in hand: "Are you praising me or indirectly insulting me?"
Bai Tang: "...I absolutely did not mean that."
She straightened her back and said, "Since we're competing based on points, we have to consider the actual situation of the assessment. Don't forget, once you die, your points will be reset to zero, so of course the person with the stronger survival ability will win."
Liu Yingchun: "They all make sense. What are Teacher Hao's and the principal's opinions?"
She inexplicably became the referee.
As the absolute elder among the teachers, Grandma Liu was someone Hao Zhenye, even if he was taciturn, wouldn't completely ignore.
He paused for a moment, then said, "The principal is even more capable; I can't compare to her."
Having lived so much longer than him, he didn't believe that Fu Qing would actually lose to him in a fight.
Moreover, she must have many more skills that she hasn't yet shown.
It was rare to hear Hao Zhenye back down, so the others widened their eyes, looking at him and then at Fu Qing, somewhat doubting their own ears.
But then he slowly realized that something must have happened between the two of them in private that made Hao Zhenye acknowledge Fu Qing's abilities.
Bai Tang: "Damn it, I'm even more curious about what's going on now?"
"If I had the chance, I'd really like to see the principal personally participate," Zhao Yunxiao said.
Their eyes darted back and forth over Fu Qing, making suggestive remarks.
Fu Qing wasn't buying it at all. If she could stay still, she wouldn't bother moving. She casually uttered six words: "If you two get off, I'll get off."
Bai Tang: "..."
The shut-in started pretending to be dead.
Zhao Yunxiao swallowed hard: "Then forget it. I'm already a dead man, and I still have to fight zombies? That's too inhumane."
Moreover, if he makes a move, wouldn't that expose him as just a theoretical genius? It would be such a disgrace to the entire teaching staff.
Fu Qing shut them up with a single sentence, and without their constant chatter, they could finally focus on taking notes.
Bai Tang couldn't stay still. After a while, she secretly peeked at her notebook and found that a few names were briefly written down.
It was after the assessment began that several students stood out.
Some were outstanding in physical strength, some in mental ability, and she clearly marked what each person was good at.
The more Bai Tang looked, the more she felt that Fu Qing was trying to create an all-around, complementary combat team.
The teachers present each had their own areas of expertise, and none of them could effectively guide such a team.
"Are you going to personally mentor the students?" Bai Tang asked.
Her eyes darted around: "To be honest, I've always felt it's such a waste of your talent that you don't teach classes."
They are all working hard to prepare lessons, teach classes, and grade homework, so the principal can't just sit idle either!
Fu Qing closed the notebook, turned her face, and suddenly smiled: "I don't teach classes, just so as not to waste your talents."
Bai Tang: "..."
She somehow managed to read a subtext in the principal's gentle smile that said, "What use would I have for you otherwise?"
Bai Tang suddenly got goosebumps all over her body.
"He who eats another's food is bound to him; he who takes another's gift is bound to him." Thinking of the visual novel the principal had given her yesterday, she quickly backed down: "What you said makes a lot of sense."
Fu Qing did indeed have the idea of forming a special team.
If there is any special need in the future, she cannot be without someone to rely on. Especially given that behind the apocalypse may lie an extremist organization like the "Zombie Believers," her strength alone is absolutely insufficient to contend with them.
She needs help, but the team members must be carefully selected.
Every assessment Fangzhou is giving her now is helping her accumulate data.
However, the idea itself was very rough, and Fu Qing had not even made a final decision yet. After all, letting the students get involved in this matter was equivalent to dragging them into a deeper and more dangerous vortex.
Fortunately, this was only the first monthly exam, and she had plenty of time to consider and observe.
*
Su Huaijin and Wen Yu successfully met up, and the four of them sat down on the rooftop to rest for a while.
Only then did they have time to chat and introduce themselves to each other.
"By the way, why are you two alone? Didn't you find someone to team up with?" Wen Yu asked.
Jia Ran scratched the side of his face: "I got separated from my roommate."
The questioning gaze then fell on Qin Yufei.
When his roommates were mentioned, he seemed a little uncomfortable. He pursed his lips and said stiffly, "We don't team up in our dorm; we all go our own way."
Su Huaijin and Wen Yu didn't understand: "Why?"
Jia Ran observed him for a while, then exclaimed, "I knew you looked familiar! You're the one who mutated in the cafeteria! I even got bitten by one of your infected classmates!"
Mentioning this dark history, Qin Yufei's already not-so-fair face turned even darker.
Jia Ran, oblivious to everything, continued, "I remember you got infected while trying to save your roommate? The guy you argued with was also from your dorm, right? I don't remember him being expelled. With someone in the dorm who wouldn't help someone in distress, no wonder the dorm relationships are so bad."
"Shut up." Su Huaijin gave him an elbow strike without hesitation, and Jia Ran fell to the ground, clutching his stomach and crying out in pain.
"The relationship isn't bad, it's just that we haven't teamed up," Qin Yufei said.
Su Huaijin glanced at him, pondering the meaning behind their words.
Qin Yufei's dormitory has a roommate who failed to help him during a mock exam at the beginning of the semester. He wasn't expelled, probably because he didn't intentionally frame his classmate, so it wasn't considered a violation of school rules. However, their subsequent interactions in the dormitory will definitely be very awkward.
Qin Yufei said that their dormitory relationship was not bad, which should mean that they got along well with everyone except that roommate. Even so, they still did not team up during the assessment... Could it be because they could not forgive that roommate, but could not do anything to isolate him, so the whole dormitory simply acted alone?
They're actually pretty nice people.
After completing her analysis, Su Huaijin's instinctive wariness towards this unfamiliar boy gradually dissipated.
She took another safety harness out of Wen Yu's bag and handed it to Qin Yufei: "Here, this is the other one. Keep it with you two. In case you get separated again, you'll have one to use."
There were only a hundred straps in total, and Qin Yufei got one so easily. He was pleasantly surprised but also a little embarrassed: "This, this isn't very good, the plan I was just thinking about was all yours..."
Before she could finish speaking, Jia Ran rushed over in alarm, exclaiming, "Sister Su, what are you saying? Please don't abandon me! I can't live without you!"
Qin Yufei: "..."
Su Huaijin: "..."
Wen Yu grabbed the youngest member of the dorm and forcefully pushed this overly familiar guy aside: "Get back, get back, stay away from my thighs..."
...
Meanwhile, the four people in room 1111 finally found a place to put their baby carriers.
But some people had already gotten there before them.
Song Rushuang, holding a cane, stood guard in front of Zhang Han and Sun Wei, together with Shen Qingqing, quite warily.
She recognized the thin boy as Yu Cheng, Qin Yufei's roommate, whom she had met once in the cafeteria.
His argument with Qin Yufei was quickly posted on the forum. Although neither of the two parties spoke out, the post was discussed for a long time.
Because Yu Cheng was not on the list of those to be dismissed.
This incident sparked some controversy, with some arguing that he shouldn't have stayed in Fangzhou, otherwise no one would feel comfortable entrusting their back to someone who had previously refused to help their roommate in a fight.
Some people believe that it is normal to lose one's mind due to fear when facing zombies for the first time. He did not actively frame his classmates, which shows that he is not a bad person and should be given a chance to correct his mistakes.
Who can guarantee that they won't become the second Yu Cheng when faced with the same situation?
They weren't subjected to online abuse, perhaps simply because no one was in his position.
Regardless of the forum's reaction, Song Rushuang knew that Yu Cheng's dormitory life would definitely not be easy.
The person he refused to help was his roommate, and another of his roommates was indirectly infected because of him, which even became the cause of the cafeteria's outbreak, causing countless students who could have survived to be infected.
This will undoubtedly remain a psychological shadow and a heavy psychological burden for Qin Yufei for a long time to come.
Putting herself in Yu Cheng's shoes, Song Rushuang probably wouldn't be able to pretend nothing happened and continue to get along well with him either.
She didn't know what kind of person Yu Cheng was, so she had to be wary.
But at the same time, I couldn't help but sigh in my heart.
Because Yu Cheng looked very bad.
Compared to when he was in the cafeteria, he had actually lost a little weight, which was unimaginable given that everyone in Fangzhou was working out to build muscle and their food intake had increased dramatically.
Yu Cheng also looked somewhat haggard, and when he saw someone approaching, his hand holding the backpack froze.
Then, surprisingly, he threw the backpack over.
Song Rushuang reached out and took it, then paused for a moment when she saw the two safety straps inside the backpack.
What does this mean?
"There are more of you, so you can have it." After saying that, Yu Cheng turned around and was about to leave, not even daring to look them in the eye.
"Wait," Song Rushuang called out to him. "You found it first, so it should belong to you. We don't want it."
"I don't want it either!" Yu Cheng reacted strongly, but quickly softened her tone, "You still have injured people among you."
After a brief stalemate, Song Rushuang saw that he was unwilling to give in, and fearing that zombies might hear the noise and come over, she had no choice but to say, "Then we'll each take one."
Without waiting for a reply, she shoved one of the strips into his hands. Afraid that he would insist, Song Rushuang turned to her roommates and winked, "Let's go."
Before leaving, the four of them stopped again, and one of them said "thank you".
Even after they carefully left the room, Yu Cheng was still staring blankly in the direction they had gone, seemingly still reeling from those four "thank yous".
After a long while, he lowered his eyes, blinked quickly, and put away the suspenders in his hands.
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