Yu Xi didn’t want to waste ti. After kicking the zombie, she turned to Zhao Zheng, who was still watching while holding his girlfriend. “Aren’t you going to move?”
“Oh! Oh!” Zhao Zheng was stunned by her strength and chanically nodded, dragging his girlfriend to follow Yu Xi.
After they had run a few steps, they heard more screams behind them. Yu Xi turned around and saw Leng Mian leading a few girls past the previous spot. They were horrified by the zombie crawling towards them with a broken leg.
The girls were unprepared and nearly collapsed. Leng Mian gritted her teeth and grabbed two of them. “Don’t fall down, keep running!”
The girls, crying and sniffling, helped each other and stumbled towards Yu Xi.
“Run faster!” Zhao Zheng, being a boy, stopped and waved vigorously at them. “Over here!”
Seeing the girls following, Yu Xi continued running forward.
In just a few minutes, Yu Xi could hear the screams from the practice building spreading from upstairs to downstairs, and the growls were increasing, indicating that more people had been bitten and turned into zombies.
The freshman building was the sa, and the situation spread even faster due to the dense student population.
The group quickly ran out of the garden square and reached the school’s main road. They needed to turn right to reach the north gate.
“Where are we going?” Zhao Zheng asked Yu Xi, thinking she would head straight to the north gate, but she turned left towards the dining area.
“The dormitory,” Yu Xi replied without slowing down.
“Why the dormitory?” Zhao Zheng asked again, but Yu Xi didn’t answer.
To reach the north gate, they would have to pass several exhibition halls and the freshman building. She feared they might be blocked by zombies there.
“Where are we going, Mian Mian?” the girls asked, trembling.
Leng Mian glanced at Yu Xi and chose to follow. “We’ll follow her to the dormitory; there’s also a gate there, and fewer people.”
Zhao Zheng understood imdiately and dragged his girlfriend to follow them.
The dining area was directly west of the practice building, a considerable distance away. When they reached the road in front of the dining area, they could still see the chaos in front of the practice building from afar.
People were falling and screaming in terror, running blindly into bushes, and so were tripping and unable to get up.
A few students who had escaped early were already close. One of them, covered in blood, held his left arm and seed to be seeking help. “Help…”
“Are you okay?” Wu iling asked, trembling.
The boy’s head dropped, and he stopped moving. When he looked up again, his face was covered in dark blue veins, and his gray eyes stared at them as he growled and lunged.
Wu iling scread, but Zhao Zheng quickly covered her mouth.
Yu Xi didn’t want the zombie to follow them to the dormitory. She turned back and kicked the zombie’s neck, then struck its legs with the baton before running again.
The zombie, with a twisted neck and broken legs, still moved but couldn’t get up from the ground.
Wu iling, frozen with fear, was dragged along by Zhao Zheng, moving chanically.
As Yu Xi predicted, the farther west they ran, the fewer people they encountered, and the screams faded. The dormitory area had few people, so of whom were resting due to health reasons and hadn’t heard about the situation yet.
They saw the earlier videos and forum posts but hadn’t received any new updates, leaving them curious and debating whether to check out the commotion.
When Yu Xi’s group arrived, they asked, “What’s going on? Why are you all running back?”
Yu Xi didn’t speak imdiately, scanning the dormitory residents to ensure none showed signs of infection before asking, “Is it just you here?”
“Yes,” one person replied, then anxiously asked, “What’s happening outside? Did you see the videos? What’s going on?”
The girls were too exhausted to speak, collapsing to the ground, struggling to catch their breath.
Even Zhao Zheng, despite his good physical condition, felt weak after carrying soone and had to rest before speaking. “Don’t go out; there are people turning into monsters and biting others. It’s chaos out there!”
The dormitory area was separated from the campus by an iron gate. Closing the gate would keep them temporarily safe.
Yu Xi didn’t plan to stay long. She needed to ask Zhao Zheng a question. “Before I arrived, when did your classmate start convulsing and stop speaking? Did you just run into him, or were you with him the whole ti?”
“We were together the whole ti,” Zhao Zheng answered honestly. “Don’t you rember ? I’m Zhao Zheng from Class 6. You’re in Class 2, right? Our classroom is below yours. We were in self-study, and many classmates had run out of water. Given the weather, we wanted sothing cold to wake us up. And iling—she’s my girlfriend, and she’s a class representative, just like the other guy. We planned to co to the vending machine at the garden square to buy cold drinks. I was worried… that iling wouldn’t be able to carry everything, so I ca along… He was perfectly fine in the classroom, working on assignnts. But as soon as we got close to the vending machine, he suddenly started feeling unwell, convulsing and making strange noises…”
Yu Xi remained silent.
It seed the transformation process was very short, but the mode of transmission was still unknown. The boy who turned into a zombie didn’t appear to have any external injuries, which ruled out infection through a bite.
At this point, Wu iling, who had been so scared she lost her voice, spoke up: “No, that’s not right… he has been feeling unwell since this morning. He didn’t participate much in class, and barely ate lunch. I thought he was just exhausted from all the studying…”
“How do you know so much about him?” Zhao Zheng asked, clearly jealous again.
“He sits in front of , to my left…”
Wu iling’s information was crucial. This indicated that the transformation had an incubation period of at least nine to ten hours, and once the convulsions started, the process accelerated rapidly.
This was a boarding school. The three known transformation sources (the practice building, the freshman building, and the garden square) likely had so interaction the previous night or earlier, which led to the outbreak at the sa ti today.
If the initial infectees, who had a nine- to ten-hour incubation period before transforming, were labeled as type A, then those infected through bites by type A would beco type B.
Type B infectees transford much faster, almost skipping the incubation period, and turned into zombies within minutes. This rapid transformation led to a surge in zombie numbers and an uncontrollable situation.
Yu Xi didn’t know the initial source or thod of transmission, but it was clear that most zombies in the school were spreading the infection through bites (or possibly scratches), not through the air—at least not yet. For now, she needed to avoid any physical contact with zombies.
Yu Xi quickly explained her deductions to those around her and then ran into the nearest girls’ dormitory, finding a room with an unlocked door.
Once inside, she pulled out waterproof clothing—a t-shirt, pants, a sports jacket, and lightweight sneakers—from her space. She changed out of her short-sleeve dress, tied her long hair into a bun with a hairband, and put on a baseball cap. She then put the shoulder bag back on and left the room.
“You’re leaving now?” Leng Mian asked, as she and the other girls had just regained so strength and were about to go to their dorms to get their phones. “I want to go ho too. Do you think it’s safe outside now?”
“It’s hard to say, but there’s nothing unusual online at the mont.”
Yu Xi quickly checked several major online platforms and found no unusual videos from outside the school; only a few videos had been uploaded from the school. “If you want to go ho, it’s best to leave early. The outside world still seems normal for now. Take a taxi, avoid buses and subways.”
“Thank you.” Leng Mian felt a wave of fear. She had almost decided to go to the practice building in the classroom earlier. If it hadn’t been for Yu Xi’s reminder, she might have been… She quickly forced herself to calm down and hurried upstairs to pack her things.
The girls who had been following Leng Mian panicked when they saw Yu Xi leaving. “You’re leaving already? Can you wait for us? We’ll just grab so things and be right back.”
After what had happened, they felt a reliance on Yu Xi. Normally, Yu Xi was quiet, kept to herself, and didn’t socialize much. No one expected her to be so calm and reliable in such a critical mont.
“Sorry, my parents are waiting for
at ho.” Yu Xi needed to get back as soon as possible to ensure her mission targets were safe.
Because if the targets were in danger and the mission failed, she would have no way out.
“But we don’t know what’s going on outside, and we’re scared. Isn’t it better to stick together?” one girl pleaded.
“Yeah, Yu Xi, we’re classmates. We should stick together and help each other in tis like these.”
“Just wait for us. We promise we’ll be quick.”
“You already have enough people.” Yu Xi glanced at them and then at Zhao Zheng’s group.
Zhao Zheng and Wu iling were surrounded by the few people left in the dormitory area, who were asking about the situation. Their faces grew increasingly worried as they listened. So even approached the iron gate and cautiously peered outside.
Since the dormitory area was separated from the affected areas by a long distance, with plenty of greenery and trees in between, they couldn’t see much of what was happening.
They speculated that students in the affected areas would instinctively run towards the school gates to escape, so no one had co here yet.
Or maybe the infected students had been subdued and the danger temporarily contained.
On one side were classmates with no clear understanding of the situation, still speculating and watching. On the other side was Yu Xi, already prepared and ready to leave. The girls weren’t stupid; they knew which side to choose. Despite Yu Xi’s repeated refusals, they still wanted to stick with her.
Their commotion caught Zhao Zheng’s attention. He and Wu iling approached just in ti to hear them trying to persuade Yu Xi.
“We’ll be really quick. Give us thirty minutes—no, twenty minutes! We’ll pack so things and change clothes!”
“It’s actually dangerous for you to go out alone. Isn’t it safer to stay with us?”
Yu Xi initially planned to leave but stopped to remind them, “That’s not true. More people don’t an more strength and safety. As I said, type A infectees won’t transform imdiately. There’s a long incubation period with only signs of fatigue and loss of appetite. How can you be sure there’s no one infected among you?”
……
Unsure if it was Yu Xi’s cold deanor in stark contrast to the pleading girls, but Wu iling’s sense of justice surged once again, montarily overshadowing her fear.
“Don’t beg her anymore. Can’t you see she considers you a burden? What latent infection are we talking about? Do we look like it? Zhao Zheng—my boyfriend—has a car parked in the dormitory lot. Any classmates wanting to leave can ride with us.”
People tend to compare, and against the three-ti refusal from Yu Xi, iling’s gentle voice sounded angelic.
“Really!? Your boyfriend has a driver’s license?”
“He actually has a car! That’s aweso!”
“Yes,” iling enjoyed the attention. For her, this was a small benefit besides being kind, “Everyone can co along as long as there’s room in the car.”
Zhao Zheng’s face stiffened. He hadn’t expected his girlfriend’s kindness to surface at such a ti.
Never mind that there were six or seven people. Could they all fit in the car? Even if they could, what then? Would he have to drive each one ho?
The city was huge, and who knew if those creatures were outside? He was also worried about his parents and wanted to get ho as soon as possible.
Apparently, Wu iling hadn’t noticed her boyfriend’s dilemma.
“But we need to go back to the dorm to gather so things. Will you wait for us?”
“No problem. We need to pack as well. Let’s et back here and then head to the parking lot together.”
“Thank you so much! It’s during a crisis that you see people’s true nature. While so classmates are so cold and indifferent, you…”
“No worries, in tis like these, we should help each other!”
……
The voices from the dormitory area soon faded.
Yu Xi didn’t look back, jogging past the boys’ dormitory area to the southwest gate, which was locked with an old-fashioned chain lock. This was no problem for her.
She took out the High-Temperature Perfu, which still had so left after breaking the ice in the previous world.
She stood back a bit, adjusted it to level 3, and sprayed the lock. High-Temperature Perfu at level 3 reached an extre temperature. In a few seconds, the chain lted. She put away the perfu, kicked the gate open, and then used heat-resistant gloves to pick up the fallen chain and wrap it around the gate a few tis.
This way, if there were zombies outside, they couldn’t easily break in. But if people inside needed to leave, they could simply untie the chain.
Outside the school was a quiet four-lane road. The school’s location was advantageous. Exiting from the north gate led to an eight-lane main road, while across the street to the south was a green park flanked by residential areas extending to the intersection.
In the distance, sirens from ambulances and fire trucks on the north road indicated soone had called ergency services.
Yu Xi turned and sped toward the residential area at the intersection. It was Friday after work, and the area was bustling. Just like any other weekend, parents were picking up their children, young people were heading out dressed up for gatherings, and couples were enjoying their ti together…
Everything was peaceful and vibrant, but soon this ordinary yet bustling scene would be shattered.
After today, everything around would be upended. What once were mundane tasks would beco forever etched in mory.
Even though Yu Xi wasn’t from this world, she felt the weight of these changes.
In peaceful tis, people often complained about the monotony and routine of life, wishing for adventure. But when real adventure ca, few could truly accept it.
She flagged down a taxi just as soone was getting out. After observing the driver’s face, she gave her ho address.
The school was in the east of the city, while her ho was in the south. The route didn’t pass through the city center, so traffic wasn’t too bad. Throughout the ride, she monitored the internet, looking for the videos initially posted from the school, but they were all gone.
People who had seen the videos were understandably shocked and kept sharing and comnting.
On so platforms, quick-thinking users had saved and re-uploaded the videos, but even these were soon taken down, and so accounts were banned.
This was the digital age, so people didn’t just have one platform. If one account was banned, they’d post on another.
The bans only fueled their determination. They continued posting, insisting the videos weren’t edited and were real.
Soon, a cycle ford: post a video, people get shocked, soone saves it, video gets removed, account gets banned, post again… Eventually, similar videos started appearing from nearby H City and Y City.
—Whoa! That face is terrifying… Is this a zom—zombie? Is this a film set?
—It must be a film! This can’t be real! The makeup is so sloppy!
—Are you blind!? This doesn’t look like a film set at all. That person is clearly in pain from the bite!
—That just ans the acting is good, right? If it were real, why aren’t the bystanders running?
—Stop arguing! Listen to . My friend is a senior at that high school in S City! This is real! Not a film! I’ve said it a hundred tis! The student who took the video has already died… Whatever these things are called—zombies or sothing else—they’re real! They spread through bites, and the infection is fast! My friend’s school is overrun!
—I almost believed you…
……
In the digital age, there are pros and cons.
The advantage is that news spreads quickly through videos and photos. The downside is that with advanced Photoshop skills, people have beco immune to unbelievable videos, often choosing not to believe them at first sight.
The taxi sped along the elevated highway but slowed down significantly after exiting. Eventually, it ca to a standstill.
It was a four-lane road, and although it was rush hour, it wasn’t a major thoroughfare and usually wouldn’t be completely stationary.
The driver, frustrated, craned his neck but couldn’t see anything: “What’s going on today? Five minutes and not a single movent. Usually, at this ti, we can at least inch forward!”
Yu Xi felt a chill in her heart and gripped her phone, opening the door to get out.
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