Chapter 36 My Memories
"Quickly, quickly, get out of here!"
"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven... How come one is missing again??"
The door creaked heavily before finally collapsing under the weight, sending dust billowing into the air.
A dense mass of arms reached through the doorway, reflected in the terrified pupils of everyone present.
The three boys looked like the sky had fallen.
They both received a system notification.
The shelter has fallen. Failure to organize the escape of all residents has resulted in a failed dungeon run!
[Settlement in progress, individual team scores will be announced shortly...]
Your usage time for this week has expired!
The capsule opened up, and the person lying inside opened their eyes, looked at the ceiling in front of them, adjusted their gaze for a moment, and then stood up dejectedly.
"Sigh, I failed again because of that unruly kid who's running around like that..."
"Is this an escape mission or a collection mission for mischievous kids?"
Qin Yufei complained, rubbing his hair in frustration.
As I stood up, my roommate suddenly nudged me with his elbow.
He looked in the direction his roommate pointed and saw a frail-looking boy standing at the door of the room where the simulated combat pod was located.
"Yu Cheng." The three of them looked at each other, feeling a bit guilty.
There are four people in one dormitory. Three of them came to team up to do a dungeon, and then the fourth person accidentally discovered them. It's so embarrassing no matter how you look at it.
But they were so eager to try out the team mode.
Yu Cheng met their gazes, and seemed startled for a moment: "I, I'll go next door, no, I'll go for a run on the track..."
After saying that, he ran away quickly before the three could react.
Qin Yufei and his other roommate, who were about to speak, fell silent for a moment. Wang Huai ran his fingers through his hair from the back of his neck and made a "tsk" sound.
*
Fu Qing browsed through the data summary from last month sent by the system.
In the second month of school, Fuqing held another monthly exam as usual, this time late at night.
Students have to stay on campus all night until dawn.
Since Hao Zhenye told her that the practical training course had already covered how to fight intermediate zombies, Fu Qing added a certain proportion of intermediate zombies this time. Considering that with their current level, it would be difficult for them to kill intermediate zombies alone, she allowed a team of up to four people.
Because the exam takes place late at night, even with teammates around, the psychological pressure is still immense, making it a good test of students' mental resilience.
Fu Qing specifically asked the system to add a stress measurement value to the summary column.
Finally, students with better stress resistance and those with poor stress resistance were selected.
After quickly scanning the statistics provided by the system, Fu Qing's gaze fell on the last line, and his brows furrowed.
"Get his exam recording." She pointed to one of the names.
The students with the worst stress tolerance either chose to find a location they thought was strong enough to get through the entire exam, or they found strong teammates to team up with and then stayed behind them as support staff.
Only one person was different.
He didn't team up with anyone, nor did he find a place to hide.
Throughout the entire exam, he kept moving and eventually died in the horde of zombies.
Fu Qing actually remembered Yu Cheng's name.
She remembered that during the first monthly exam, he readily gave away the baby carriers he had received. Among the 100 baby carriers that people or groups received, a few did choose to share with their companions, such as Su Huaijin and Qin Yufei, but no one was like Yu Cheng, who didn't even think of keeping one for himself.
This is just an exam; no one will die because of it. Yu Cheng's self-sacrificing actions are even more perplexing.
Even before that, Fu Qing had noticed him much earlier.
The system obediently pulled up the video recording from Yu Cheng's perspective during the monthly exam. Fu Qing adjusted the playback speed and watched as Yu Cheng was submerged in a horde of corpses—the boy clutched his head, trembling with fear, tears welling in his red eyes, yet a hint of nonchalance flashed across his face.
"He did it on purpose."
Fu Qing pressed pause, speaking with certainty, his expression shifting between light and shadow.
The system didn't understand: "What does 'intentional' mean?"
“He was deliberately seeking death, but didn’t want to be discovered or attract my attention,” Fu Qing said.
What is this? A form of punishment?
But he knew he wouldn't actually die during the exam.
Therefore, this is more like a practice for death.
Fu Qing suddenly asked, "What is his success rate in clearing the combat pod?"
The system quickly returned: [...] 0%.
Over a month, totaling four hours, Yu Cheng let himself die again and again in the combat pod.
Repeated deaths are actually quite common in training. In addition, Yu Cheng died in battle in two seemingly reasonable ways during the monthly exams, so Fu Qing, although paying attention to him, did not notice such a huge anomaly.
If she hadn't added a psychological screening this time, Yu Cheng's deliberate suicidal behavior would have continued many more times.
Fu Qing stood up, thought for a moment, then sat down again and had the system send a private message to Yu Cheng.
Ten minutes later, in the principal's office.
A thin, freckled boy stood anxiously in front of Fu Qing.
Fu Qing looked at him and recalled the day school started, when she witnessed Yu Cheng and his roommate's escape through the system's monitoring system.
She rubbed her cheek, looking at Yu Cheng's nervous expression, and realized that she was not comfortable with this kind of conversation.
The two looked at each other, then at the floor. Finally, Fu Qing sighed and spoke first: "Why are you courting death?"
system:【……】
Host! Don't you think this sounds like a provocation?
Fu Qing also realized something was wrong, and when he looked at Yu Cheng again, he was indeed even more frightened.
He stammered, "You found out?"
Fu Qing: "..." It seems no explanation is needed.
"A 0% pass rate is too conspicuous; it's hard not to notice it."
"I, I didn't mean to."
Fu Qing suspects that the phrase "not intentionally" refers to "not intentionally being discovered" rather than "not intentionally courting death."
Yu Cheng said, "I also wanted to complete the game a few times, but I later found that it was too difficult, and I couldn't even do it..."
He lowered his head.
Fu Qing looked him up and down. Two months into the semester, he was still thin and looked nothing like the other students in Fangzhou, whose demeanor was becoming increasingly fierce.
She should have discovered it sooner.
With over two thousand people, it's still a bit overwhelming to manage them all.
Fu Qing looked at him: "If I hadn't discovered it, how long were you planning to continue this death exercise?"
"Until the virus outbreak? What's the purpose? To stage a carefully planned death in the real world? And then have everyone see you as a hero?"
She didn't speak fast. Normally, her speech was laced with sarcasm, but this time there was no mockery in her tone. This calmness made Yu Cheng feel even more ashamed.
Those despicable and shameful thoughts were exposed and laid bare in the sunlight, and Yu Cheng's face was as pale as a sheet of paper.
He recalled the comments about Fu Qing on the forum.
She could do things that were incredibly difficult for him with ease; she simply couldn't understand his thoughts.
But he longed to be like her.
Yu Cheng's lips trembled, and her voice fell softly in the room: "I...I made a mistake, and they won't forgive me...So I think, maybe if I die, they will forgive me."
“But I dare not die,” he said with difficulty, full of remorse. “I took up a very precious spot, and I shouldn’t die, so I think I’ll wait until after the apocalypse to die. Maybe I can save a few people before I die.”
He comforted himself with this thought, placing the value of his life on saving other lives and arranging a "way out" for himself, which allowed him to allow himself to live a little longer, albeit with trepidation.
Fu Qing listened quietly, and only after Yu Cheng finished speaking and lowered his head deeply again did she ask, "What mistake did you make?"
Yu Cheng felt as if he had been stabbed, and several thoughts flashed through his mind.
The principal doesn't know? If she did tell, would she fire him?
Perhaps then he could atone for his sins and no longer have to live in constant fear of occupying a spot.
Yu Cheng gritted her teeth and said, "I... on the day of the mock exam, I stood by and watched a classmate die... He collapsed in front of me, and I tried to help him, but I couldn't move my feet at all. Then I saw Qin Yufei walk around me and go up, but it was too late..."
"Wang Huai's blood splattered on my face. I still remember the warm touch, and the way he and Qin Yufei looked at me before they died..."
Qin Yufei's bravery only made him seem even more despicable.
Fu Qing pressed her temples: "That's all?"
Yu Cheng: "Huh?"
Fu Qing said, "What I mean is, is this the mistake you're talking about?"
Yu Cheng stared blankly: "I killed two of my roommates...isn't that enough?"
He had a sense of absurdity, like standing in a prison cell, emphasizing to the warden that the mistakes he had made were serious and deserved a longer sentence.
"You should have fired me then and there..."
Fu Qing retorted, "Do I need to remind you? Of the students who were expelled, one attempted to molest a female classmate, one maliciously framed someone leading to the deaths of seven students, and one pushed a classmate outside and watched her being bitten to death. Which capital offense did you commit that made me waste an expulsion slot?"
What does this mean?
Yu Cheng was stunned for a moment.
He suddenly realized that the principal might have known all along what he had done.
But she didn't fire him.
"But I would just stand by and watch someone die..."
“That’s not about refusing to help someone in distress,” Fu Qing interrupted him calmly. “It’s about a lack of ability.”
Yu Cheng didn't understand for a moment and looked at her in confusion.
"In a crisis, it's only natural to prioritize self-preservation. Only when you're capable of protecting yourself can you spare the energy to protect others. But how can you save someone when you can't even take care of yourself?"
As Fu Qing spoke, he pulled up Yu Cheng's personal file.
"During the mock exam, your sprint burst speed was 5 m/s... How come it's so slow..." she casually complained. "After two months of practice, your speed improved to 6.08 m/s in the latest monthly exam, which is much faster than before."
"Including the advanced combat training, your total number of kills of novice zombies has reached 28, with the fastest kill time being 43 seconds."
"An hour and a half after the start of the second monthly exam, you successfully escaped from being surrounded by four zombies. Three hours and ten minutes into the exam, three zombies attempted to attack you. You ran and lured one away, then led it to a secluded spot and killed it."
"During the mock exam two months ago, there were only three zombies chasing you and Wang Huai."
Fu Qing closed the panel: "Yu Cheng, do you know that you are now capable of saving Wang Huai from back then?"
Yu Cheng stared blankly at Fu Qing, her mouth slightly open, as if she had completely stopped thinking.
Fu Qing was very logical, just like her speech at the opening ceremony. Even when talking about the impending extinction of humanity, she remained calm. She never resorted to emotional appeals, never told him "that's not your fault," nor did she soften her voice and hold his hand to say "your life is also important." She simply pulled up the data and presented Yu Cheng's silent growth over the past two months to him.
Tell him that you can not only save Wang Huai from two months ago, but also save yourself from that time.
Yu Cheng suddenly choked up, a huge wave of bitterness rising in his chest.
Fu Qing's words were like a lifeline, supporting him as he teetered on the brink of collapse.
After two months of pent-up emotions, he finally broke free. He hastily wiped away tears in front of Fu Qing, but the more he wiped, the more tears flowed: "I really can..."
Even if he is so ordinary, so mediocre, so utterly worthless compared to the principal?
Fu Qing didn't answer. Instead, she grabbed the hood of Yu Cheng's sweatshirt, pulled it over his head, completely covering his face, and said, "Come with me."
They walked through the campus, and many people saw Fu Qing along the way, but no one knew who was the person following behind the principal, still unable to stop sobbing.
It wasn't until Fu Qing, who was walking ahead, stopped that Yu Cheng saw the familiar white capsule from under the brim of his hat.
The principal led him to the classroom where the simulated combat pod was located.
Before coming, Fu Qing had checked and found that two of the combat pods were not in use. She gestured for Yu Cheng to lie down in one of them and then started operating the control panel herself.
During the loading process, Fu Qing felt a slight tingling sensation in her head, which had never happened before. She was puzzled for a moment, but since the system did not give any warning, she didn't pay much attention to it and lay down in another combat pod.
The room was quiet. The other combat pods were flashing blue lights indicating they were in use. The students who had booked the next time slot hadn't arrived yet. Yu Cheng relaxed a little and then heard Fu Qing say, "Log in and then choose a team."
Yu Cheng was taken aback.
Is the principal going to team up with him?
He had never teamed up with anyone before... not just in the combat pod and during monthly exams, but even in regular combat training, he was always alone.
Moreover, it seems there's no record of the principal practicing with anyone.
But now, she actually wants to be with me.
As Yu Cheng pondered, rumors about "anonymous tourists" suddenly popped into his mind.
Yu Cheng: "...Okay."
His heart was beating a little fast.
The hatch closed, and he quickly appeared on the training ground. After opening the team-up function, he received a team-up invitation.
The inviter has no nickname, and the anonymous visitor's default nickname is followed by a random ID. Looking closely at the numbers, it seems to be the person who ranks at the top of the leaderboard.
That mysterious person was indeed the principal.
Yu Cheng quickly clicked "agree".
Fu Qing brought up the menu, and Yu Cheng stared in astonishment as she selected a high-level dungeon she had never seen before.
There are only so many combat pod instances, less than a hundred in total. After coming here a few times, he had a pretty good idea of what the menu was like, and finally couldn't help but ask, "Principal, what is this?"
A flash of white light engulfed his vision, and Yu Cheng heard the person beside him say calmly, "My memories."
...
What did the principal just say?
Her memories?
The scene before him had already loaded, but Yu Cheng had no time to observe his surroundings; his mind was buzzing.
What do you mean by "her memories"? Aren't the combat pod instances supposed to be built-in elements, like the storyline in a game?
Could it be that... those instances they played in the past weren't games, but rather real events that actually happened?
The people who die in the dungeon are real people, not just NPCs.
Yu Cheng's mind was in turmoil.
He seemed to have learned something incredible.
In a daze, he felt someone bump his shoulder: "Hey, what are you spacing out for? Missing your mom?"
He turned around, and behind him stood a young woman with short, unruly hair that was dyed a fiery red with cheap hair dye. As Yu Cheng looked over, she tossed him the item in her hand: "Take this."
Something heavy came crashing down on Yu Cheng, who nearly lost his grip and was met with the girl's unrestrained laughter.
She wasn't particularly beautiful, but she had a strangely attractive charm, and Yu Cheng blushed.
After scrambling to hold it steady, my hand felt damp and cold.
He looked down and saw a can of beer.
"Why would you drink ice-cold beer in winter, Xiaojuan? Are you crazy?" someone shouted.
The girl didn't hold back and kicked him as she passed by, saying, "Drink it or don't, give it back to me if you don't want to."
"Drink, drink, drink!" The other person quickly defended him. "It's not easy. The virus outbreak has been going on for half a year, and we can still drink beer."
He wiped away a tear in a dramatic gesture.
"You have to thank XX. If she hadn't discovered it when she passed by, who would have thought that the family had hidden a cellar under the master bedroom and stored so much food and drink? It was probably stockpiled when the virus first broke out. Unfortunately, the zombies broke in, and the whole family died, not even the youngest child."
A middle-aged man spoke, his tone becoming somewhat dejected by the end.
Six months have passed, and they still haven't gotten used to seeing the tragic deaths of their compatriots.
While the others were talking, Yu Cheng secretly glanced around.
This appears to be an abandoned warehouse in a desolate area, with no tall buildings in sight. A brick wall surrounds the warehouse, and two guards holding homemade long guns stand by the iron gate at the entrance. There are about seven or eight other people, including him, sitting around a campfire in the courtyard.
Some people were grilling meat, some were sharing beer, and others were busy repairing damaged weapons.
There were two cars and three tents parked in the yard. As Yu Cheng observed, he understood from their conversation that this was probably a small team of survivors in the post-apocalyptic world. They had taken over an empty warehouse in the suburbs and used the abandoned warehouse as their base, driving around every day to search for supplies and food.
The group was mostly young people, with the oldest being the middle-aged man, who looked to be no more than thirty.
The atmosphere was very lively.
Just then, the people around them burst into cheers: "Thank you, XX! We were able to have such a good meal tonight!"
The names they spoke of were blurred. After they finished speaking, everyone's eyes turned to one direction. Yu Cheng also looked over and was surprised to find that the person standing at the end of their gaze was the principal.
The clouds were thick tonight, and the only light came from the roaring campfire in front of him. In the firelight, Fu Qing looked even younger than usual.
She held a dagger in her hand, lost in thought, as if recalling what she was doing. When she heard the cheers, she casually raised an eyebrow.
After the routine thank yous were over, everyone else turned back, but Fu Qing still couldn't remember what she was supposed to be doing at the start of the dungeon.
Holding the dagger in his hand, he twirled it, and the person sitting in front of him jumped three feet high: "Are you going to cut my hair or my head?"
Fu Qing finally remembered; she was about to give someone a haircut at the time.
Xiao Juan passed by and said indignantly, "Lu Yan, how can you not trust XX's skills? Look how well she cut my hair."
Lu Yan: "...Are you sure you want to say this to me with this dog-chewed hairstyle?"
Xiao Juan chuckled and rolled her eyes: "I don't talk to people who have no aesthetic sense."
Another person chuckled, "Xiao Juan, did XX dye your hair too? It's really unique."
Xiao Juan: "Yes!"
The other person was about to tease Xiaojuan about her hairstyle, so Fuqing finally spoke up: "I still have a jar of green hair dye left. If you like, I can dye your hair like that too."
The man's smirking expression froze instantly: "That won't be necessary..."
Lu Yan laughed, and Xiao Juan said smugly, "See? I have someone protecting me."
He turned around excitedly, hugged Fu Qing's arm and rubbed against her, declaring, "Sister XX, I want to be your shadow for life."
She brushed against Fu Qing's gleaming dagger, which twice grazed the back of Lu Yan's neck. He dared not laugh anymore and protested, covering his head, "I'm still here!"
"..."
Yu Cheng sat by the campfire, hugging his knees, lost in thought.
He had never seen a principal like this before.
In the school, apart from Teacher Bai, no one dared to speak to the principal like that.
Yu Cheng occasionally passed by the teachers' dining tables in the cafeteria and always felt that although the principal sat with the other teachers, there was always a distance between them, and they weren't that close.
When people joke around and talk about their day, she listens but doesn't participate.
Unlike now, with Xiao Juan holding her arm, a faint smile appeared on her face.
Yu Cheng rubbed her eyes, the smile vanishing in an instant.
A shadow fell over him. Yu Cheng turned his head and saw the middle-aged man holding a few greasy grilled sausages on a disposable plate, sprinkled with pepper and emitting an enticing aroma.
He broke apart the disposable chopsticks, scratched off the splinters, and handed them to Yu Cheng: "Are you hungry? Eat up, they're freshly baked and smell delicious."
"You're quite lucky to have such a sumptuous meal so soon after you arrive. Before, during the coldest part of winter, you couldn't even find a rabbit in the mountains. We ate nothing but canned potatoes, cabbage, and beans all winter long."
He was very outgoing and talkative, so much so that Yu Cheng felt a little uncomfortable with his enthusiasm.
When forming a team in a dungeon that imports memories, the system will automatically add a character that fits into the world view to any extra teammates.
For example, Yu Cheng became the "tenth member" of this team that originally had only nine members.
Perhaps it was because this body was set up with a ravenous stomach from the start, but the aroma of the grilled sausages made him hungry for some reason. He took the plate and wolfed down the food, mumbling a thank you incoherently.
Halfway through his meal, he remembered that the principal was still busy, and cautiously glanced in Fu Qing's direction.
Lu Yan and Xiao Juan were still bickering when Yu Cheng overheard Lu Yan quietly asking Fu Qing, "Why are you so quiet today?"
The middle-aged man noticed his gaze and assumed he was curious about the three men. He explained, "You're new here. You'll see soon enough. Don't let their young age fool you; they're all very reliable. Since they joined, things have been much better for us."
He skillfully pulled a roasted potato wrapped in tin foil from the campfire and tossed it aside.
Yu Cheng realized that this uncle was probably the one in charge of cooking in the team. He was quite skilled, and the sausages were grilled to perfection, with a crispy golden-brown outer layer. When you took a bite, they sizzled with oil.
The skin of the hot, roasted potatoes can be easily peeled off, sprinkled with salt and pepper, and the soft, creamy mashed potatoes melt on the tongue.
It wasn't a fancy dish, but he experienced a feeling of happiness.
The man beside him continued to chatter, like a kind elder, not caring about his taciturnity and lack of social skills, only urging him to eat more.
Not far away, a crowd of people flipped over playing cards, their laughter mingling with the wisps of smoke rising into the night sky.
Yu Cheng suddenly felt a little immersed in this atmosphere.
It felt as if I had become part of it, as if I had blended in.
If he met a group of people like this in the apocalypse, he would definitely feel very lucky.
*
The group laughed and joked until midnight before finally crawling into their tents to sleep.
Yu Cheng was also assigned a bed. The middle-aged man brought him a thick quilt, saying that it was cold in the middle of the night and that he should wrap himself up tightly.
He drifted off to sleep, and when he woke up in the middle of the night, Yu Cheng saw the beam of a flashlight swaying outside the tent.
He tried to sit up, but suddenly felt dizzy, and a sharp pain in his temples shoved him back onto the bed.
Feeling cold all over and weak in his limbs, Yu Cheng couldn't help but let out a muffled groan. But as soon as he made a sound, a hand suddenly reached out from behind him.
The other person covered his mouth tightly, their palms chillingly cold: "Someone's come to the camp, don't make a sound."
It was Lu Yan's voice.
The beam of light shone down again, and Yu Cheng was able to see the scene inside the tent by the faint light.
The tent zipper was open, and a person lay motionless at the entrance, with a large pool of blood beneath him.
Yu Cheng's pupils dilated slightly as she saw his clothes clearly.
It was the middle-aged man who had been taking care of him.
Before going to sleep, he said he wanted to sleep near the entrance so that the wind wouldn't blow on everyone in the middle of the night.
"I'm not afraid of the cold, and besides, you guys can't fight if you have a cold, but it won't affect my cooking if I have a cold." He said with a smile.
In the blink of an eye, he became a corpse in the cold wind.
The sound of an engine starting came from inside the warehouse. Yu Cheng was ice-cold and motionless. Lu Yan noticed his stiffness and slowly let go of his hand.
The vehicle creaked and groaned as it rolled over the muddy ground outside the warehouse. The headlights went out, and Yu Cheng remained dazed until the night gradually fell silent.
This was the first time he had ever felt such a strong sense of immersion in a dungeon.
If he hadn't gone to sleep and had instead chosen to help keep watch, would this have prevented the incident from happening?
If he hadn't been sleeping so soundly, would he have been able to hear the noise, wake up in time, and prevent everything from happening?
if……
Overwhelmed with guilt and self-reproach, Yu Cheng's eyes welled up with tears.
But beyond these emotions, this was the first time he had felt an uncontrollable rage burning in his chest.
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