Ch 33: Opening a Survival School Before the Zombie Outbreak

While the auditorium was still filled with cries of “emotional fraudster,” the system’s reaction was far more straightforward.

The students might complain with their mouths, but their actions were honest. The moment Fu Qing stepped off the stage, she received a notification that favorability had reached 20%.

All the rewards stacked together at once. She suddenly felt wealthy, her balance rising to 1,750 teaching points.

“I thought this exam would remind them of the despair of being surrounded by zombies and make their favorability drop again,” Fu Qing remarked in surprise.

During the exam, she had deliberately observed students who had died or suffered severe injuries in the previous assessment. Compared with the more than 1,300 who had never died, their actions were indeed more cautious, and their expressions showed greater fear when facing zombie hordes.

Some chose avoidance because of this. Others, after long hesitation and inner struggle, picked up their weapons and charged forward once more.

Fu Qing carefully recorded the names of several students who showed particularly intense fear responses, intending to continue observing them.

If their behavior remained the same in the future, she would recommend counseling once she recruited a psychologist. If that still failed to help, she would consult their wishes and adjust their coursework toward logistics and support roles.

In a large shelter, facilities for psychological relief were essential. Fu Qing believed the system’s recruitment pool would eventually include such professionals.

The system replied in her mind:

【There actually was some impact. Otherwise, your favorability would have exceeded 20% even before the monthly exam.】

The final surge in favorability came largely from her earlier words of affirmation.

This made the system somewhat emotional. It realized students were actually easy to win over. If Fu Qing had always behaved warmly and gently, perhaps the initial favorability would not have been so low.

But when it imagined its host smiling sweetly all day, its entire system shuddered.

Perhaps precisely because the host always remained calm and objective, never forcing herself to act agreeable just to complete tasks, her praise carried real weight.

The system successfully convinced itself again.

Unaware of its internal deliberations, Fu Qing shifted her attention to her balance.

She already knew how she wanted to spend the points.

Favorability rewards were one-time bonuses. A new favorability mission had already refreshed. As expected, it required reaching 40%, again rewarding 1,000 points.

At this rate, reaching 100% would yield a total of 5,000 points.

This was a fixed reward. Fu Qing believed its purpose was to ensure she completed necessary infrastructure construction.

Even if she never uncovered hidden conspiracies or saved students from extra crises, simply following the main storyline and acting as an excellent teacher to earn student approval would grant enough points to complete the school’s foundational upgrades and secure basic survival in the apocalypse.

In other words, a guaranteed safety reward.

Since it was a safety net, it must have been carefully balanced. Fu Qing decided to follow the system’s design and invest most of her points into infrastructure she had long postponed.

【Cost: 200 Teaching Points】
【Obtained: Water Treatment System ×1】

【Cost: 200 Teaching Points】
【Obtained: Waste Sorting System ×1】

【Cost: 100 Teaching Points】
【Obtained: Incinerator ×1】

…

Both the water treatment and waste sorting systems covered the entire campus.

The former included rainwater collection and filtration, drinking water sterilization, and recycling treatment for residential wastewater.

The latter automatically sorted garbage. Non-recyclables were sent directly to the incinerator, while recyclables were retained for further processing, such as composting in the experimental fields.

Fu Qing noticed that when farmland expanded in the future and irrigation channels connected to nearby rivers, the system could integrate with the existing water treatment facilities, filtering and disinfecting river water before using it as supplementary domestic water.

It was essentially like simulation management games where two facilities meeting special conditions could merge and upgrade, unlocking new functions.

…

Fu Qing continued scrolling through the shop.

【Add “Solar Panels” to all buildings?】

【Cost: 300 Teaching Points】

【Yes】

After the apocalypse, industrial shutdown would greatly reduce pollution, improving sunlight conditions. With numerous rooftop panels, most electrical needs could be met.

She immediately spent another 100 teaching points to purchase a large battery array for energy storage.

Of course, solar power alone was not stable enough. Winter and long rainy periods would reduce output. She planned to wait before purchasing a wind power system later.

The mountains nearby provided strong winds, making the plains an ideal location for turbines.

Once again, Fu Qing appreciated the foresight behind the system’s site selection.

After the purchases, she had spent 900 points total, leaving 850 teaching points remaining.

The points she had painstakingly accumulated vanished quickly, yet she felt reassured.

Having lived through the apocalypse, she understood the importance of energy and water better than anyone. Power systems, water treatment, and waste recycling brought her immense peace of mind.

Although eleven months remained before the apocalypse, these facilities were not wasted purchases. They would already save the school significant utility costs.

Naturally, Fu Qing would not let the system benefit for free. She claimed those saved expenses and redirected them into public funds for scholarships and staff-student welfare.

For example, the mooncakes distributed during Mid-Autumn Festival had been an unexpected expense. Translated on Hololo novels. She had long planned to extract more funding from the system for such contingencies, and now she had found her opportunity.

Since the money came from projected savings, the system could hardly object. After a moment of silence, it reluctantly approved.

With infrastructure progress advancing rapidly, Fu Qing finally turned her attention to teaching facilities.

Her gaze swept across the dazzling catalog before stopping at one item.

After opening it and reading the detailed description, she made her decision.

【Purchase “Simulation Combat Pods”?】

【Cost: 600 Teaching Points】

【Obtained: Simulation Combat Pods ×20】

Combat pods were sold only in bundles of twenty. At 30 points each, the price was reasonable, though the forced bundle was inconvenient.

Watching 600 points disappear still made Fu Qing wince slightly.

But considering their function, the price was extremely cheap.

In her eyes, calling them divine tools would not be an exaggeration.

The simulation combat pods recreated real environments, allowing fully immersive combat training and even multiplayer connectivity.

Essentially, they were unlimited-duration “full-dive simulations,” though each machine allowed only one user at a time.

Their appearance resembled the cocoon-like holographic gaming pods imagined in science fiction, almost like capsules one lay inside to use.

Because of their size, Fu Qing cleared two empty rooms and installed ten pods in each.

She then issued a campus-wide notice: students could borrow them freely by scanning their wristbands. Each person could use them once per week, up to one hour per session.

To prevent competition for slots, reservations could be made in advance via wristbands. With system monitoring in place, security was not a concern, allowing the combat pods to operate twenty-four hours a day.

After finishing all that, 250 teaching points remained in her account.

Fu Qing stared at the number for quite a while and found it aesthetically displeasing.

But it was already late, so she decided to continue tomorrow.

*

Early the next morning, after finishing morning training, Fu Qing ran into the five members of the publicity team on the road.

The other four surrounded Sun Wei in the center, arguing animatedly about something. Su Huaijin was the first to notice her and quickly stopped mid-conversation.

“Good morning, Principal.”

The others followed with greetings. Fu Qing nodded, and Su Huaijin took the opportunity to report on the short-video project that had been delayed due to preparations for the monthly exam.

“We’re planning to make a series called ‘What If the Apocalypse Breaks Out in One Year.’ I think the theme is super interesting,” she said excitedly. “From an outsider’s perspective, the apocalypse isn’t real, just a group of college students seriously fooling around. The more seriously we act, the better the entertainment effect, and at the same time we can do science outreach.”

“We did some research beforehand. Every platform already has survival streamers with decent followings, but the niche of college students surviving on campus is basically empty. No big creators are doing this.”

“And there’s tons of content we can build around it. Like what supplies are best to stockpile in dorms, what weapons are easily found on campus, how to grow vegetables in a dorm, or how to survive seven days using only dorm resources if zombies were outside… we won’t run out of topics anytime soon.”

The only male member of the team added, “Yesterday I tried posting with this title on several platforms. Nothing got blocked, which means it’s allowed.”

“Assuming the apocalypse is coming” was a common discussion topic among apocalypse enthusiasts. Since it wasn’t a direct prediction, the system did not consider it a violation.

Fu Qing was genuinely surprised they had found such a loophole. In such a short time, they had completed market research, identified selling points, and even designed a sustainable content direction. They had performed even better than she expected.

One person’s energy was limited, and everyone had different strengths. Even if Fu Qing handled it personally, she might not have done it this well.

She became even more convinced that forming a publicity group had been the right decision.

In a collective filled with talent, knowing how to use people well was far better than trying to carry everything alone.

After encouraging them to keep broadening their ideas and continue their efforts, Fu Qing took her leave. Behind her, the five students, freshly praised by the principal, resumed their discussion with noticeably greater enthusiasm.

As she neared the dormitory building, her phone suddenly vibrated.

Since her rebirth, nearly all communication happened within campus. Very few people both knew her phone number and would contact her this way. Even before checking the screen, she already knew who it was.

Officer Chen.

She took out her phone. As expected.

After the call connected, his voice sounded serious.

Following brief pleasantries, Officer Chen went straight to the point.

“The interrogation of Liu Yong has temporarily concluded. His mental state is unstable. During questioning, he repeatedly said things like ‘the apocalypse is coming’ and ‘everyone is going to die.’”

Under normal circumstances, Officer Chen should not voluntarily disclose interrogation details, which meant he still had more to say.

Fu Qing quickly adjusted her thoughts and dutifully played the role of an ordinary bystander who had only been involved by chance. After a short pause, she asked nervously,

“What does that mean? Has he gone insane? Why would he say something like that?”

“Not necessarily insane,” Officer Chen replied. “Have you heard of the Heaven’s Gate case in Country M?”

Fu Qing had indeed seen forum discussions about it in her past life.

She thought for a moment and answered, “Yes. It was a cult that claimed UFOs were about to arrive, and that their leader was an alien sent to save humanity. He promised to take followers to ‘ascend,’ but they had to abandon everything, donate all their money, cut off worldly ties, give up desires and even their physical bodies. If I remember correctly, thirty-nine followers committed collective suicide to board the spaceship…”

She already understood what Officer Chen was implying.

If people could believe in UFO salvation, then people could also believe in zombies. To outsiders unaware of the truth, both were simply fanatic delusions of cultists.

Clearly, Liu Yong had been categorized that way.

Officer Chen hummed in agreement. “Historically, extremist groups promoting doomsday theories are common. We preliminarily suspect Liu Yong may believe in a newly emerged organization, either imported from overseas or formed domestically.”

“Everything he said is nonsense, but people influenced by such absurd rhetoric can still harm society. These individuals are extremely dangerous and unpredictable.”

His tone turned serious.

“If this wasn’t just a lone act of revenge against society but an attack orchestrated by an extremist organization, then your situation could become dangerous.”

He had finally reached the real purpose of the call.

“Be careful in your daily activities. Pay attention to anything suspicious or out of the ordinary, and contact us immediately. If necessary, we can assign personnel to protect you.”

“Of course, there’s currently no evidence you’ve entered their sights,” he added, softening his tone. “In fact, whether such an organization even exists remains uncertain. Please trust that the police will do everything possible to protect innocent civilians. Don’t worry too much.”

His warning carried both official duty and personal concern. Fu Qing expressed sincere thanks before speaking again.

“Is there really no more information about this possible organization? You know my workplace has many students. This isn’t just about my personal safety… I’d like to understand more clearly.”

Her hesitation sounded natural and appropriate.

Her request was reasonable. Officer Chen fell silent for a moment before finally relenting.

“Not for now. From Liu Yong’s statements, we can tell there’s likely someone behind the scenes encouraging him, but we haven’t discovered how they communicate. They probably use some concealed method of information exchange.”

“Because of his appearance, Liu Yong avoided socializing and spent most of his time online. We currently believe contact happened through the internet. Cybercrime investigators are still looking into it. If we find anything, I’ll inform you.”

Knowing he had no further intelligence, Fu Qing said earnestly, “I understand. The internet really has all kinds of people. I’ll consider organizing a campus lecture about online safety.”

“That would be excellent!” Officer Chen sounded almost eager to shake her hand through the phone, his earlier hesitation about sharing information clearly easing.

After exchanging a few more words, Fu Qing hung up.

She certainly did not need police protection. Translated on Hololo novels. On the contrary, if officers were stationed at Fangzhou for long periods, it might create complications.

Because Fu Qing did not know whether allowing outsiders to remain on campus too long might break through the system’s “cognitive blind spot” and make them realize something was unusual about Fangzhou.

So next, she planned to investigate on her own.

Still, the call had yielded something.

At the very least, it confirmed that there really was a group hiding behind Liu Yong, and that they were very likely contacting him through the internet.

Through the internet…

Fu Qing slipped her phone back into her pocket, sank into thought, then opened the system interface and sent Su Huaijin a message, telling them not to use Sun Wei’s original account and not to show their faces when filming.

Under Fu Qing’s earlier plan, if they could borrow Sun Wei’s existing reach and skip the slow grind of starting a new account, that would of course be ideal.

Sun Wei didn’t have to mention Fangzhou at all. She could simply frame it as a new topic choice. There were plenty of apocalypse-themed creators online, and she wouldn’t arouse suspicion.

But now that Fu Qing knew there might be a group lurking online, watching for apocalypse-related content, she changed her mind. It felt risky.

Su Huaijin quickly replied with an “OK.”

She trusted the principal deeply. She didn’t ask questions, just executed.

After that, Fu Qing took a quick shower in the teacher dorm’s bathroom with its built-in stall, her mind racing.

If the zombie believers were communicating online…

Was it possible to lure them out through the internet?

The thought that there was a group out there, preparing for the apocalypse just like she was, except preparing in the opposite direction, made Fu Qing struggle to suppress her irritation.

She desperately wanted to know what kind of scheme they were hiding.

To make the apocalypse arrive early?

No. The system had said the apocalypse could only break out one year from now. That was the “fated” time point.

So what was the point…

Noticing the agitation rising in her chest, Fu Qing reached out and turned the water colder. Cool water washed over muscles still hot from training, cooling her overheated thoughts along with them.

They weren’t alone, and on her side, besides herself, the others were either already-dead teachers who could not move freely outside the campus, or students still growing up, inexperienced, young, and fragile.

Even setting bait might invite retaliation and put her at a disadvantage.

What she should do was pretend she knew nothing, quietly build up strength, and wait until her side was capable of confronting them.

Or at the very least, capable of protecting herself.

Otherwise, it would only bring new deaths.

Fu Qing shut off the faucet, lowered her head and flicked the water from her hair, watching droplets fall and slowly gather into a small puddle on the tile at her feet.

After a long time, she yanked down the towel hanging beside her.

*

After changing clothes, Fu Qing called to the system in her mind. “System, if I leave the zombie believers alone for now, will it cause a major problem?”

She needed a second layer of insurance. If the system said yes, she would rewrite her plan.

The system answered quickly.

【No. For now, it will not. In theory, the purpose of binding to you is only to have you complete the main storyline task, which is to build the campus.】

In other words, the system believed that building the campus properly was enough to save humanity.

Fu Qing pointed out, “But you said ‘for now.’”

【Some changes have indeed appeared within the timeline, but they remain under control.】the system said. 【At present, the greatest impact on you is that it raises the standard by which task completion is measured. For example, originally, you would only need to cultivate 100 S-rank students by the time one year passes to complete the task. But now you may need 130, 150.】

【Of course, if you can strike the zombie believers effectively without harming yourself, you can lower the difficulty. But if you let it affect your teaching, or even put yourself in danger, then the cost outweighs the benefit. That is why I listed it as an extra reward rather than a main storyline task.】

【Your main storyline has only one focus: cultivate students, manage the school.】

After a two-second pause, the system added,

【Host, you must trust me, and you must trust yourself.】

Learning it was only a “side branch” did ease Fu Qing a little, and the system’s last line made her pause.

She pressed her lips together. “Understood.”

The system said,

【After learning that the believers exist… your emotions seem affected.】

Fu Qing rubbed her damp hair with a towel. “Anyone would react like this when they run into their enemy.”

The system fell silent.

Fu Qing kept drying her hair until someone knocked.

Zhao Yunxiao’s voice came from outside. “Principal, are you in? I saw the school brought in some new machines, and they want us teachers to help. I came to ask what’s going on…”

Fu Qing suddenly realized she could ask others for information about the believers.

Both Zhao Yunxiao and He Zhenye had lived long enough, and Zhao Yunxiao especially had official channels. He might know more.

When she opened the door, a towel still hung around Fu Qing’s neck, and the damp ends of her short hair clung to her nape. Zhao Yunxiao froze for a beat. “Did I interrupt you?”

“No. I actually have something to ask you.” Fu Qing stepped aside to let him in.

She laid out the Liu Yong incident in full.

The teachers who had been summoned stood firmly on Fu Qing’s side. As long as she ended their employment, they would return to their original world. Translated on Hololo novels. Betrayal simply wasn’t a possibility.

In front of them, she didn’t need to hold anything back.

But before her rebirth, Fu Qing had spent a long time acting alone. She truly wasn’t used to asking for help, to the point that it hadn’t even occurred to her to consult others.

Zhao Yunxiao’s face had already turned unpleasant by the time she finished. “How could that be… isn’t it still early, before the virus breaks out? How would they know?”

Catching the look on Fu Qing’s face, he shut his mouth and tried to remember. “Now that you say it… it does seem like there was something like this.”

“Back when the outbreak hadn’t even hit a year, plenty of shelters still existed. A few were even stable. But one day I heard bad news. A traitor appeared inside a shelter and caused the whole place to fall. Over a thousand died.”

“Shelters collapsing because of an undetected infected person was common, but humans turning toward zombies and actively seeking annihilation was just too rare. That’s why it stuck with me.”

“I remember that after that, two more shelters fell the same way. Then another year passed, the virus got worse and worse, and there weren’t really shelters anymore. I stopped hearing that kind of news.”

Something stirred in Fu Qing. Doubt rose.

She had assumed that zombie believers sacrificing an entire shelter, offering it up to zombies, should have been common, since she herself had encountered it once. Yet Zhao Yunxiao called it “rare.”

“Only three shelters fell for that reason?” she repeated.

Zhao Yunxiao made a pained face. “Three is still a lot, isn’t it…”

Fu Qing asked whether he remembered the locations and numbers. After thinking a little, Zhao Yunxiao recited them one by one.

Sure enough, one of them was the very shelter where Fu Qing had once stopped briefly.

For her to run into one out of three, a one-in-three chance, felt far too coincidental.

Fu Qing frowned unconsciously, thinking of the major cases that had been popping up again and again lately.

There were many cases, but she hadn’t seen any media reports clearly linking perpetrators to cult beliefs. The only one that was explicit was Liu Yong’s, and it just so happened to occur near the auto shop where she had been back then.

…Was this really a coincidence?

Fu Qing pressed down her suspicion and continued. “Can you remember anything else? Anything at all.”

Zhao Yunxiao racked his brain. “Also, also… oh, I remember the soldier big brother who was assigned to protect me said they’d caught a few lunatics causing trouble. The moment they got a chance, they’d try to run, throw themselves into zombies’ mouths. You couldn’t stop them. That’s what you mean by zombie believers, right?”

“He said when they were lucid, they were basically always losing it, looking for ways to escape, or preaching like mad. But sometimes they wouldn’t say anything. They’d just sit there, quietly staring off…”

“He said that when they looked like that, they always seemed to be searching for something.”

₊˚.🎧📓✩

Previous