Chapter 40 If you don't want to die, then stay quiet...
When the moonlight had completely disappeared, Fu Qing finally spoke, breaking the silence in the room.
"Stop writing and let's discuss our strategy."
Apart from Su Huaijin, who was writing a short paper with great enthusiasm and seemed almost frantic, and who looked slightly disappointed, everyone else had expressions of relief.
They'd rather kill zombies than do their homework under the principal's watchful eye!
Sun Wei readily agreed, "Please go ahead!"
Fu Qing glanced at the five students' faces, which were full of student-like features, and paused for a rare second before speaking.
They were doing their homework just a moment ago, completely unaware of the conflict they were about to be drawn into.
Killing simulated zombies and experiencing the apocalypse in a simulator is different from living reality.
Fu Qing was also unclear about the size and power of the "organization" they would be facing tonight, and whether having five people participate would attract the attention of the believers.
They could have enjoyed another ten months of peaceful life, but after tonight, they might lose even those ten months.
Fu Qing didn't immediately tell them the reasons behind tonight's operation because he was thinking about this issue.
We need to consider whether we should involve these still-inexperienced students too early.
Of course, besides that, she was also certain that the other party wouldn't sneak in too early, otherwise they would easily be spotted by passing vehicles. The best time to act would be after midnight, when there would be fewer cars on the road and the people inside would be asleep.
In addition, the weather forecast predicts rain tonight, which will wash away most of the traces. If it were Fuqing, they would definitely wait until it starts raining before taking any action.
She therefore gave herself time to think.
Fu Qing organized her thoughts and quickly began to speak, briefly informing everyone about the existence of a group of devout followers of zombies. She emphasized the group's madness, brutality, and recklessness, citing Liu Yong as an example.
"Faith zombies...? They've gone mad!" Sun Wei was completely stunned. It was the first time she had ever heard of such a crazy group of people hiding behind the pedestrian street case.
“Anyone capable of such cruelty must be mentally unstable. Don’t try to understand the mindset of cult members,” Little Freckles said, his brows furrowed and his entire face contorted.
The only male student, Zhuo Xiaoliang, expressed his incomprehension: "But no matter how crazy you are, you wouldn't want to become a zombie. The undead are essentially no different from the dead. Their bodies are rotting, so becoming a zombie is the same as being dead! Why go through all this trouble just to die?"
“No, from another perspective, becoming a zombie means immortality…” Su Huaijin said softly.
It doesn't need to eat, it doesn't get sick, it doesn't feel pain, and nothing can kill it except by piercing its brain.
In a society full of zombies, who would bother to pluck someone else's brain? Wouldn't that be immortality?
“Many cult members even self-immolate. They can do such painful things. Compared to that, becoming a zombie only requires being bitten once…” Yue Yuxuan, a girl studying broadcasting, couldn’t convince herself halfway through her sentence. She covered her head and screamed softly, “Crazy!”
And this group of lunatics who completely consider themselves half-zombies, traitors to humanity, are now attacking them because they killed a "zombie"!
That's the scariest thing.
Su Huaijin was also shocked and turned pale, but she still kept a clear head. She even pondered the definition of immortality in her mind before asking the question: "But how do they know about zombies and the apocalypse? Besides the principal, is there anyone else in this world who knows about this? What is their purpose?"
“This is the answer I’ve been looking for tonight,” Fu Qing said.
Surprisingly, even the principal didn't know. Su Huaijin's heart sank as he realized his recklessness that day.
Could her self-righteous decision actually drag her classmates into an unpredictable crisis?
She didn't regret her decision to go to the principal, but she was worried about dragging those who trusted her down with her.
Su Huaijin was visibly depressed, and at that moment, Little Freckles squeezed her hand.
"This is a decision we made together."
Su Huaijin was taken aback. Meeting the resolute gazes of her classmates, she seemed to suddenly find courage.
...
Led by Fu Qing, the five prepared for the operation and then each circled the house to look for a more suitable weapon.
If they didn't find any, they just took the stool legs that Fu Qing had taken apart and swung them around. It was quite easy to do, as long as they were careful not to get pricked by the splinters.
After finding the weapons and familiarizing themselves with the combat environment, Fu Qing asked again, "Did you bring your hoods?"
The question came as a surprise, but Su Huaijin seemed to have anticipated it and answered quickly: "I brought them all."
She had composed herself and, in order to prevent her classmates from getting hurt, she tried her best to stay alert and made careful preparations at every step.
It was indeed very convenient to communicate with good students. Fu Qing waved for everyone to come closer and briefly explained the battle strategy.
Finally, she reminded them, "Wearing a hood doesn't guarantee absolute safety; you still have a chance to back out."
The room fell silent for a moment. Su Huaijin remembered that on the day of the opening ceremony, the principal had also given them the opportunity to choose.
It's time to leave school and enjoy the last year of peaceful life.
We should stay and face whatever comes.
When she chose to stay in Fangzhou, she had already decided that she would never look back.
“I want to stay,” Su Huaijin said resolutely.
The other three nodded as well.
Sun Wei hesitated for a moment. She had never experienced a school opening ceremony, and compared to others, she had missed the opportunity to struggle and confront her inner thoughts. This was the first time she truly began to consider whether to back down.
After a moment, Sun Wei gritted her teeth and said, "There's no use in running away. I've already been dragged into this once."
She was referring to the pedestrian street incident.
“So many ordinary people died without knowing anything. I’m at least better off than them.” Her eyelashes trembled slightly. “Besides… I can’t accept human sacrifice.”
If we give in and back down now, it will be as if we have lost.
They lost to Liu Yong, and they also lost to those who disregard human life and think they can trample on others.
She was indeed afraid, and all five of them were afraid, but at the same time, they felt an even greater sense of responsibility.
After two months of hard training in Fangzhou, they knew more information than ordinary people. This meant that they would be the ones to stand up more often, rather than hiding behind those who knew nothing.
Fu Qing never made such a request; they themselves took on this responsibility.
After everyone had expressed their opinions, no one left.
Fu Qing was speechless for a moment, then nodded: "...Okay."
Before making the final arrangements, Su Huaijin couldn't help but glance at the principal.
She wondered if the five of them hadn't asked to come along, was the principal planning to face the dangerous group of zombie believers alone without telling anyone?
They can't always hide behind the principal.
The principal is so reliable that they always forget that she's not much older than them.
While I was thinking, I heard a very faint click, and all the lights around me went out at once, plunging me into complete darkness.
The power is out!
"Someone pulled the power switch?" Sun Wei reacted quickly, immediately lowering her voice.
"Not necessarily, it could also be a power outage caused by lightning," Su Huaijin said.
The rain had started not long ago, and from a light drizzle, it quickly became a heavy downpour, pounding on the fallen leaves and the muddy ground, covering up any possible sounds around it, with occasional distant rumbles of thunder.
Everyone was on edge, straining to hear the rain outside, which sounded exceptionally clear in the darkness.
Besides that, you can't hear anything else.
Suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck outside the window, illuminating the entire courtyard in a ghastly white light. The overlapping leaves swayed in the storm, like bizarre and twisted ghostly figures.
Yue Yuxuan almost screamed out loud, afraid of revealing her strategy, she quickly pinched herself and bit down hard on the flesh of her palm.
In this atmosphere, they truly understood what it meant to be on edge, feeling panicked by even the slightest disturbance.
“It wasn’t a power outage.” Fu Qing’s calm voice soothed everyone’s panic. “Someone has broken into the yard.”
The group all looked in her direction. Fu Qing's dark pupils reflected a ghostly light in the darkness, like a wary feline.
How did the principal find out?
Everyone had questions in their minds, yet they still instinctively believed Fu Qing's judgment.
They dared not delay and quietly got up according to the established battle plan.
The sound of the torrential rain hitting the eardrums was almost deafening. After a flurry of activity and a safe stop, Su Huaijin heard the sound of the doorknob being pressed and turned.
Sure enough, someone came in.
The principal's judgment was correct.
Su Huaijin's heart jumped into her throat.
The house in the small courtyard that Fu Qing bought is a detached house with two floors. The entrance hall connects to the corridor, and in the middle of the corridor is a staircase leading upwards. Su Huaijin was lying in ambush above the staircase, peeking out quietly, and was able to catch a glimpse of the entire entrance hall.
There is a narrow frosted glass window on the side of the main entrance. As the door is pried open, a figure flashes across the glass window.
Su Huaijin suddenly realized how the principal had known someone had infiltrated the area.
—She saw a shadow.
A fleeting shadow in the courtyard, caught in the brief half-second of the lightning strike.
However, after the power outage, that window became the only source of light, and everyone was staring at it when the lightning struck. Su Huaijin was almost certain that she hadn't seen any suspicious figures at the time.
If someone stands outside the window, even if only half of their body or just their head is visible, they will definitely notice them.
The fact that no one except the principal noticed it suggests that the shadow that was revealed was most likely a tiny anomaly that was difficult for ordinary people to detect, or even just an abnormal swaying trail of leaves left by someone walking by. Yet, the principal caught it instantly and used it to pinpoint the enemy's location.
Su Huaijin hissed softly as if she had a toothache.
It's unclear whether it was due to the enemy's caution or the principal's keen insight.
The only saving grace is that this powerful being is on their side.
The door creaked open, and the grating sound of the old hinges echoed endlessly in the darkness, like the beginning of a horror movie.
Su Huaijin stopped thinking about it and suppressed the fear in her heart.
She was soon surprised to find that, perhaps because she had already gone through a mock exam and two monthly exams, especially the experience of fighting zombies in the dark all night during the second monthly exam, she was able to adjust her mindset very quickly.
The other party is just a human, no more terrifying than a zombie lurking in the darkness.
Su Huaijin comforted himself and quickly turned on the floating screen of the student watch.
The system's privacy settings on the watch ensure that the screen remains undetectable to anyone other than the owner, even in the dark. Therefore, they abandoned their potentially exposed cell phones before the operation began and switched to a multifunctional combat watch.
This made Su Huaijin once again appreciate the convenience of this watch.
She sent a message in the temporary group and then quietly left the area near the stairs where she had been lying in wait.
*
"Hurry up."
The man in the black jacket urged him in a low voice.
"Almost there, almost there." Another man wearing a baseball cap and with a stocky build quickly pried open the door lock.
The man in the black jacket spat on the ground and cursed, "Useless."
He tried his best to ignore the uncomfortable gaze behind him, using the constant stream of profanities to pretend the other person wasn't there.
"Quiet, you talk too much." The person behind him suddenly spoke, his voice low, husky, and sinister. "Also, don't leave any traces."
The man in the black jacket felt as if someone had suddenly grabbed his neck. He wanted to argue, but even if there were any traces left, they would soon be washed away by the downpour. However, after his expression changed several times, he still snorted coldly and stopped talking.
A few seconds later, the door lock opened, the baseball cap stepped back, and the man in the black jacket glanced back.
The person standing behind him was wearing a black skull mask.
The mask covered his entire face, with only two holes cut out for his eyes.
For some reason, the man in the black jacket couldn't bring himself to look the other person directly in the eye. The whites of those eyes made up the majority of their vision, and they were bloodshot. The pupils were unusually small, and even a normal glance from them could make the other person feel the malice of his gaze.
Not to mention, his gaze was always dangerous and insane every time he swept over.
The man in the black jacket tried to convince himself that it was only because those eyes were unsettling, not because he was afraid of that gaze.
We're all human, with one head and two legs, what's there to be afraid of?
The trio's operation was led by Skull, and the men in black jackets and baseball caps were hired by him.
The two men had committed crimes in their youth, serving over a decade in prison and leaving them with criminal records. After their release, they never sought legitimate employment, willing to do any job for the right price—they were complete outlaws. Later, they gradually gained some notoriety, and yesterday, they received a contact from Skull.
The other party was generous, but their requirements were simple: all they needed was to know how to pick locks and help restrain a group of college students. The Skull Society would handle any bloodshed that required it.
Furthermore, the Skull faction has people capable of hacking into surveillance cameras within a certain range, maximizing the concealment of their movements and ensuring the safety of their operation.
Without much thought, the man in the black jacket readily agreed.
Upon seeing the skeleton, however, a sense of unease arose in his heart.
Few people feel so uncomfortable sharing a space with others.
The skeleton's gaze was like a slippery, venomous snake clinging to the back of his neck, hissing and making the man in the black jacket's scalp tingle. After a two-second stare, the skeleton seemed to sense the deep-seated fear in his heart and suddenly chuckled: "You go first."
Damn, you're insane!
The man in the black jacket cursed inwardly.
Never mind, once this job is done, he'll be able to live a carefree life for a while. It's not like he's murdered or set fire to anything, why think so much!
He pulled a knife from his lower back, checked his gloves and mask again, and cautiously entered the small building.
A baseball cap followed closely behind, and a skull brought up the rear.
The moment he stepped into the foyer, he suddenly looked up at the stairwell leading to the upper floors.
A skull pattern painted in white oil paint adorned a black mask, and behind him, a torrential downpour raged with lightning and thunder. On such a rainy night, the skull entering from outside created an eerie and unsettling atmosphere.
The living room is located to the right of the hallway connected by the entrance hall. The person in the black jacket who went in first could already see what was inside.
Two tents stood in the spacious living room. Since it wasn't a camping trip, the tent zippers weren't zipped up, revealing the outlines of sleeping bags inside.
The sleeping bag had its feet facing outwards, so they could only see that the sleeping bag was bulging and inferred that someone was sleeping inside.
On the ground next to the tent, a power strip stretched out in the distance, with several phone chargers on it, their wires tangled and connected to the phones that were charging.
The cell phone lay quietly beside the tent entrance, further confirming that their target was inside the tent, given the inseparable relationship between modern people and their cell phones.
The man in the black jacket relaxed slightly, but still cautiously approached and counted the number of sleeping bags.
As he got closer, he heard steady, rhythmic breathing, and as his eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness, he saw a total of six sleeping bags inside the two tents.
That is consistent with their target number.
Most importantly, one of the sleeping bags had half a dog's head mask sticking out from under the head area.
That dog's head was even wearing sunglasses; it was as ridiculous as could be.
If they weren't on a mission, the man in the black jacket would have burst out laughing.
Sure enough, they're college students. Did they fall asleep halfway through their prank, or were they planning to scare their friends who got up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night? Someone's actually sleeping with a mask on!
He had seen the video sent by the skeleton before he came, which completely confirmed that the person in the tent was their target, the group of masked college student content creators.
It's their good fortune to run into a bunch of idiots.
Without hesitation, the man in the black jacket raised his hand, making the gesture they had agreed upon earlier, and then charged forward first, knife in hand.
He placed one hand on the dog's head, which was wearing sunglasses, and suddenly realized something was wrong. The sensation under his hand wasn't the hardness of a skull, but something soft that would slide when touched... like a crumpled piece of fabric...
The man in the black jacket's pupils dilated in shock. He suddenly turned his head, pulled out his phone which was wedged between two sleeping bags, and heard a continuous breathing sound playing on it.
He'd been tricked! They weren't even in the tent!
Just as the man in the black jacket was about to speak up to warn his companion, everything suddenly went dark, and a smooth, opaque cloth covered his head.
At the same time, one of the people in the sleeping bag suddenly sat up and lunged at the hand in the black jacket holding the knife without hesitation, trying to press down on his wrists with both hands and force him to put down the knife.
The last thing the man in the black jacket saw was an Ultraman mask.
How could it be a mask I've never seen before?
The thing above his head was like a giant cloth bag, tightening at the end and binding him tightly, while someone behind him was using all their strength to drag him backward.
Having lost sight of his surroundings, the man in the black jacket was at a disadvantage. He had to try to untie the rope around his throat, guard against attacks from behind, and protect his weapon. He was quickly overwhelmed and sweating profusely.
Just then, a smug voice rang in my ears: "I told you I didn't make a mistake buying this Ultraman Tiga mask, did I?"
The man in the black jacket nearly coughed up blood.
The dog-head mask is weird enough, but why is there an Ultraman on it too!
The person in the sleeping bag replied speechlessly, "The principal's anti-abrasion gloves were clearly more useful, otherwise my hands would have been all cut and scraped..."
Fu Qing bought a lot of equipment, such as tents, portable stoves, and sleeping bags, from an outdoor gear store. Before leaving, the store owner gave her two pairs of durable climbing gloves to protect her from cuts.
If it weren't for the gloves she was wearing, Zhuo Xiaoliang's grip on the black jacket's neck from behind, and the fact that the black jacket had lowered his center of gravity by crouching to get into the tent, making it difficult for him to maintain his balance when attacked from behind... all these factors combined to create an extremely advantageous situation. Given the black jacket's burly physique, Yue Yuxuan wouldn't have dared to directly attack his knife-wielding hand.
To confront someone wielding a knife head-on is, in Teacher Hao's words, "courting death!"
Seeing the knife about to slip from his hand, the man in black jacket could no longer care about alerting the other students. He let out a struggling roar, trying to attract the attention of his companions.
The three had been facing off for almost half a minute. He couldn't understand why the baseball cap and skull, who had agreed to act together, hadn't noticed anything unusual for so long.
What angered and infuriated the man in the black jacket even more was that the boy behind him wearing an Ultraman mask, despite his seemingly stupid voice, was surprisingly quick-witted in his actions. The hand that held him down was extremely strong, unlike the strength that the college student who spent his days studying and playing games, as described by the skull, would have!
Occasionally, after rubbing against the skin, there was a thick, rough callus on that hand.
The man in the black jacket realized he'd been completely fooled by the skeleton. What college student? Did his family's college students work on construction sites every day? Otherwise, how could they have such calluses?
The knife clattered out of his hand, and the man in the black jacket frantically flailed his arms and legs, trying to stop the girl in front of him from getting closer, while simultaneously reaching out to grab the boy behind him.
Once the boy lets go and he gets rid of the sack on his head, he will still have a chance to fight back.
Suddenly, a cold, sharp touch landed on his neck.
Goosebumps appeared on that patch of skin.
The man in the black jacket froze instantly; he already knew what was pressed against his neck.
It was his knife.
A voice rang in his ears, and its presence became even more pronounced, especially when the man in the black jacket lost sight and relied solely on hearing to distinguish sounds. The voice was pleasant to the ear, the pronunciation full and clear, and the standard Mandarin was like that of a news anchor sitting upright in a suit on television, delivering a report.
But what she said was, "Shh, be quiet if you don't want to die."
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