Ch 40: Opening a Survival School Before the Zombie Outbreak

When the moonlight disappeared completely, Fu Qing finally spoke, breaking the silence that filled the room.

“Put your pens down. Let’s discuss the action plan.”

Aside from Su Huaijin, who looked slightly regretful as she had been writing an essay with near-manic inspiration, everyone else showed expressions of pure relief.

At this point, they would rather go fight zombies than continue doing homework under the principal’s watchful gaze.

Sun Wei eagerly said, “Please go ahead!”

Fu Qing’s eyes swept across the five youthful faces. Before speaking, she paused for a rare second.

Just moments ago, they had been doing homework, completely unaware of the kind of conflict they were about to be drawn into.

Killing simulated zombies or experiencing the apocalypse inside a training chamber was not the same as facing living reality.

And Fu Qing herself did not know the true scale or power of the “organization” they might face tonight, nor whether involving the five of them would cause the believers to notice them.

They could have lived ten more months in peace. After tonight, they might lose even that.

The reason Fu Qing had not immediately explained the purpose behind tonight’s operation was because she had been thinking about this very question.

Whether she should involve these still inexperienced students so early.

Of course, she was also certain the other side would not infiltrate too soon. Otherwise, passing vehicles might witness them. After midnight, when traffic decreased and residents had gone to sleep, would be the best time to act.

Additionally, rain was forecast for tonight. Rain would wash away most traces. If Fu Qing were in their position, she would wait until the rain began before moving.

So she gave herself time to think.

After organizing her thoughts, Fu Qing began speaking, briefly informing them about the existence of a group of zombie devotees. She emphasized their madness, brutality, and recklessness, using Liu Yong as an example.

“They worship zombies…? Are they insane?” Sun Wei was completely stunned. It was her first time learning that such a deranged group existed behind the pedestrian street incident.

“Anyone capable of something that cruel definitely isn’t mentally normal. Don’t try to understand cultists’ thinking,” Freckles said, frowning so hard her whole face scrunched together.

The only boy, Zhuo Xiaoliang, could not comprehend it. “But no matter how crazy someone is, why would they want to become zombies? The living dead are basically just dead people. Their bodies rot. Becoming a zombie is basically dying! After all that effort, just to seek death?”

“No. From another perspective, becoming a zombie means eternal life…” Su Huaijin said softly.

No need for food. No illness. No pain. Unless the brain was destroyed, nothing could kill them.

And in a world full of zombies, who would bother stabbing someone else’s brain for no reason? Wasn’t that essentially immortality?

“Some cultists even self-immolate. They can endure something that painful. Compared to that, becoming a zombie only requires one bite…” said Yue Yuxuan, the broadcasting major, but halfway through she failed to convince herself and clutched her head, letting out several small screams. “They’re lunatics!”

And now this group of lunatics, who saw themselves as half-zombie traitors to humanity, might come to attack them because they had killed a “zombie.”

That was the truly terrifying part.

Su Huaijin’s face had turned pale with shock, yet she forced herself to stay rational. Translated on Hololo novels. After briefly considering the definition of immortality, she asked, “But how did they learn about zombies and the apocalypse? Aside from you, Principal, are there others in this world who know? What do they want?”

“That’s the answer I hope to find tonight,” Fu Qing said.

Even the principal did not know. Su Huaijin’s heart sank as she realized her own recklessness.

Had her self-assured decision actually dragged her classmates into an unpredictable danger?

She did not regret seeking out the principal. She only feared bringing harm to those who trusted her.

Her mood visibly darkened, and at that moment Freckles gently squeezed her hand.

“This was a decision we made together.”

Su Huaijin froze. Meeting her classmates’ resolute gazes, she suddenly felt courage return.

…

Under Fu Qing’s guidance, the five completed their preparations and searched the house for better weapons.

When they found none, they picked up the chair legs Fu Qing had removed earlier. A swing of one felt surprisingly effective, as long as they avoided the wooden splinters.

After choosing weapons and familiarizing themselves with the environment, Fu Qing asked, “Did everyone bring their hoods?”

The question came abruptly, but Su Huaijin answered quickly, as though she had expected it. “We all did.”

She had already steadied her emotions again. Determined to keep her classmates safe, she carefully considered every step of preparation.

Working with good students really was effortless. Fu Qing gestured for everyone to gather closer and briefly laid out the combat strategy.

Only at the end did she remind them, “Wearing hoods doesn’t guarantee absolute safety. You still have the chance to back out.”

The room fell silent.

Su Huaijin recalled how, on the day of the opening ceremony, the principal had given them the same choice.

Leave the school and enjoy one final year of peaceful life.

Or stay and face everything that was destined to come.

The moment she chose to remain at Fangzhou, she had already decided never to turn back.

“I’m staying,” Su Huaijin said decisively.

The other three nodded as well.

Sun Wei hesitated for a moment. She had not attended the opening ceremony and therefore had never faced this inner conflict before. This was the first time she truly considered whether to retreat.

After a moment, she gritted her teeth. “Running away won’t help. I was already dragged into this once.”

She meant the pedestrian street incident.

“So many ordinary people died without knowing anything. At least I know more than they did.” Her eyelashes trembled slightly. “And… sacrificing living people… I can’t accept that.”

If she backed down now, it would feel like losing.

Losing to Liu Yong, and losing to those who treated human lives as worthless and believed they had the right to stand above others.

They were afraid. Every one of them was afraid. But alongside that fear, they felt something stronger: responsibility.

After two months of training at Fangzhou, they knew more than ordinary people. That meant there would be times when they had to step forward, rather than hide behind those who knew nothing.

Fu Qing had never demanded this of them. They had chosen to shoulder that responsibility themselves.

When everyone had finished stating their choice, not a single person left.

Fu Qing was silent for a moment, then nodded.

“…Alright.”

Before making the final arrangements, Su Huaijin could not help glancing at the principal.

She wondered whether, if the five of them had not insisted on coming, the principal would have faced those dangerous zombie devotees alone without telling anyone.

They could not always hide behind her.

The principal was simply too reliable, making them forget that she was not actually much older than they were.

While she was thinking, a faint click sounded beside her. The lights around them all went out at once, plunging everything into pitch darkness.

The power was out!

“Did someone cut the electricity?” Sun Wei reacted quickly, immediately lowering her voice.

“Not necessarily. It could’ve tripped because of lightning,” Su Huaijin said.

The rain had started some time ago. What began as a light drizzle had quickly turned into a dense downpour, striking fallen leaves and muddy ground, masking any surrounding sounds. Thunder rumbled in the distance from time to time.

Everyone’s nerves tightened to the limit. Straining their ears, they found that in the darkness the sound of rain outside became unnervingly clear.

Other than that, they heard nothing.

A sudden bolt of lightning split the sky, turning the entire courtyard deathly pale. Overlapping branches swayed violently in the storm, like grotesque, distorted ghostly silhouettes.

Yue Yuxuan nearly screamed. Afraid of exposing their position, she pinched herself hard and bit down on the flesh at the base of her thumb.

In such an atmosphere, they finally understood what it meant to see danger everywhere. Even the slightest movement felt terrifying.

“It’s not a tripped breaker,” Fu Qing’s calm voice soothed their panic. “Someone has entered the courtyard.”

Everyone turned toward her at once. In the darkness, Fu Qing’s black pupils reflected a faint glimmer, like a vigilant predator.

How did the principal know?

The question rose in everyone’s mind, yet they instinctively trusted her judgment.

They did not dare waste time. Following the prepared plan, they silently rose and moved into position.

The pounding rain assaulted their ears, almost deafening. After a brief but orderly scramble, once everyone reached their designated spots, Su Huaijin heard the sound of a door handle being pressed and turned.

Someone had indeed come inside.

The principal’s judgment was correct.

Su Huaijin’s heart leapt into her throat.

The house in the courtyard Fu Qing had acquired was a two-story standalone building. The entrance opened into a hallway, with a staircase midway leading upward. Su Huaijin was ambushed at the top of the stairs, quietly peering down, able to glimpse the entire foyer.

Beside the front door was a narrow frosted glass window. As the door was tampered with, a shadow flickered across the glass.

Suddenly, Su Huaijin understood how the principal had known someone entered.

She had seen the shadow.

During the brief half-second flash of lightning, a silhouette had passed through the courtyard.

Yet after the power went out, that window became the only light source. When lightning struck, everyone had been staring at it. Su Huaijin was almost certain she herself had seen nothing suspicious at the time.

If someone had stood outside the window, even partially visible, they would have noticed.

The fact that only the principal detected it meant the shadow must have been an extremely subtle anomaly, perhaps merely an unnatural movement of leaves after someone passed by, something ordinary people could not perceive, yet the principal had captured it instantly and pinpointed the intruder’s position.

Su Huaijin inhaled sharply through her teeth.

She did not know whether it was because of the enemy’s caution or the principal’s terrifying perceptiveness.

The only comforting fact was that such a formidable person stood on their side.

The front door creaked open. The grinding sound of old hinges stretched endlessly through the darkness, like the opening scene of a horror film.

Su Huaijin forced herself to stop overthinking and suppressed her fear.

To her surprise, perhaps because she had already gone through one simulated exam and two monthly assessments, especially the experience of fighting zombies through an entire night in darkness during the second exam, she adjusted her mindset quickly.

These were only humans. They could not be more frightening than zombies lurking in darkness.

She reassured herself and quickly activated the floating display on her student watch.

The system’s privacy settings ensured the screen could not be detected by anyone except its owner, even in complete darkness. That was why they had abandoned their phones before the operation began and switched to multifunctional combat watches instead.

Once again, Su Huaijin silently marveled at how convenient the watch was.

She sent a message to the temporary group chat, then quietly left her position near the staircase.

*

“Move faster.”

The man in the black jacket urged in a low voice.

“Almost done, almost done.” Another man wearing a baseball cap, solidly built, worked quickly at picking the lock.

The man in black spat on the ground and cursed, “Useless trash.”

He tried not to notice the unsettling gaze behind him, using constant profanity to ignore the other person’s presence.

“Quiet. You talk too much.” The person behind them suddenly spoke, voice hoarse and gloomy. “And don’t leave any traces.”

The man in black stiffened as if someone had grabbed his throat. Translated on Hololo novels. He wanted to argue that any traces would soon be washed away by the heavy rain, but after his expression shifted several times, he merely snorted and fell silent.

Seconds later, the lock clicked open. The man in the cap stepped back, and the man in black turned to glance behind him.

The person standing there wore a black skull mask.

The mask covered the entire face, with only two holes cut out for the eyes.

For some reason, the man in black never dared meet those eyes directly. The whites dominated them, threaded with blood vessels, and the pupils were unnaturally constricted. Even a normal glance felt filled with malicious intent.

Not to mention that every sweep of that gaze carried danger and madness.

The man in black tried to convince himself that the discomfort came merely from the unsettling appearance of those eyes, not because he was afraid of them.

They were all human, after all. One head, two legs. What was there to be afraid of?

This three-person operation was led by Skull. The man in the black jacket and the one in the baseball cap were both hired by him.

The two had committed crimes in their youth and spent over a decade in prison, leaving them with criminal records. After their release, they never held legitimate jobs again. As long as the money was right, they would take any job. True desperados. Over time they built a certain reputation, and yesterday they received contact from Skull.

The client paid generously, and the task sounded simple. As long as they could pick locks and help restrain a group of college students, that was enough. Any work involving blood would be handled personally by Skull.

Moreover, Skull claimed to have people capable of hacking surveillance cameras within a certain radius, maximizing concealment and ensuring operational safety.

The man in the black jacket had not thought much about it and readily agreed.

But after meeting Skull in person, unease crept into his mind.

Few people made others uncomfortable simply by sharing the same space.

Skull’s gaze felt like a slick venomous snake pressed against the back of his neck, hissing softly. It made the man’s scalp prickle. After two seconds of eye contact, Skull seemed to notice the fear buried deep within him and suddenly chuckled. “You go in first.”

Damn lunatic!

The man in black cursed internally.

Whatever. Once this job was done, the money would last him a long while. It wasn’t arson or murder anyway, so why overthink it?

He pulled a knife from the back of his waist, checked his gloves and mask again, and cautiously stepped into the small building.

The man in the baseball cap followed closely behind, with Skull bringing up the rear.

The moment Skull crossed the threshold, he lifted his head slightly and looked toward the staircase leading upstairs.

A white skull pattern was painted onto his black mask. Behind him raged torrential rain and flashing lightning. On such a stormy night, a skull figure entering from outside made everything appear eerie and surreal.

The hallway connected directly to the living room on the right. The man in black, who entered first, quickly saw the scene inside.

Two tents stood in the spacious living room. Since this was not outdoor camping, the tent zippers were left open, revealing the outlines of sleeping bags inside.

The foot ends of the sleeping bags faced outward. From their bulging shapes, it appeared people were sleeping inside.

Beside the tents lay a power strip dragged across the floor, crowded with phone chargers tangled together, each connected to phones currently charging.

The phones rested quietly near the tent entrances. Considering modern people’s inseparable relationship with their phones, this further confirmed that their targets were inside.

The man in black relaxed slightly but still approached cautiously, counting the sleeping bags.

As he drew closer, he heard steady, rhythmic breathing. His eyes, gradually adjusting to the darkness, made out six sleeping bags across the two tents.

The number matched their targets exactly.

Most importantly, at the head of one sleeping bag, half of a dog-head mask was visible.

The dog head even wore sunglasses, looking utterly ridiculous.

If he were not on a job, he might have laughed out loud.

Typical college students. Had someone fallen asleep mid-prank, or were they planning to scare a roommate who got up to use the bathroom at night? Who slept wearing a mask?

Before coming, he had watched the video Skull sent. It confirmed that the people in the tents were their targets, the masked college student content creators.

Running into a bunch of idiots was their good fortune.

Without hesitation, the man in black raised his hand and made the agreed signal. Then, gripping his knife, he lunged forward first.

He pressed one hand onto the sunglass-wearing dog head, and instantly realized something was wrong. Instead of the hardness of a skull, his hand met something soft, shifting beneath his touch… like bundled clothing fabric.

His pupils shrank violently. He spun around and grabbed the phone wedged between two sleeping bags. It was continuously playing a recording of breathing sounds.

He had been tricked. They were not inside the tents at all!

Just as he opened his mouth to warn his companions, darkness swallowed his vision. Smooth, opaque fabric was suddenly pulled over his head.

At the same time, someone inside one of the sleeping bags flipped upright and lunged at the hand holding the knife, grabbing his wrist with both hands in an attempt to force him to drop it.

The last thing the man in black saw was an Ultraman mask.

Why was it a mask he had never seen before?

The thing over his head tightened like a giant sack, its opening cinched closed, trapping him completely while someone behind him pulled backward with all their strength.

Having lost his sight, the man in black immediately fell into a disadvantage. He struggled to loosen the cord tightening around his neck, guarded against attacks from behind, and tried to protect his weapon all at once. Within moments he was overwhelmed, sweating heavily.

At that exact moment, a smug voice sounded beside his ear.

“I told you buying this Tiga mask wasn’t a mistake, right?”

The man in black nearly spat blood.

A dog mask was already strange enough. Why was there an Ultraman too?

The person from the sleeping bag replied helplessly, “Clearly the principal’s anti-abrasion gloves were more useful. Otherwise my hands would’ve been cut open…”

When Fu Qing had bought a large batch of outdoor gear, including tents, portable stoves, and sleeping bags, the shop owner had gifted her two pairs of climbing gloves resistant to cutting.

Without those gloves, combined with Zhuo Xiaoliang choking the man in black from behind, and the man’s lowered center of gravity from crouching to enter the tent, which made it hard to maintain balance during the ambush, the situation would not have been so overwhelmingly advantageous. Given his large build, Yue Yuxuan would never have dared directly grab the knife hand.

Facing an armed attacker head-on, as Instructor Hao said, was “basically suicide.”

Seeing the knife about to slip from his grasp, the man in black finally stopped worrying about alerting others and roared in struggle, hoping to draw his companions’ attention.

They had been grappling for nearly half a minute, and he could not understand why the baseball cap and Skull, who were supposed to act together, had not noticed anything wrong.

Even more shocking was that the boy wearing the Ultraman mask behind him sounded foolish when he spoke, yet moved with astonishing efficiency. The grip pinning his arm was powerful, nothing like the strength of a college student who supposedly spent every day studying and gaming, as Skull had claimed.

Occasionally their skin brushed, and the man felt thick, rough calluses on that hand.

He suddenly realized he had been completely deceived by Skull. What college student had hands like that? Did they work construction every day or something?

The knife clattered to the ground. The man in black thrashed wildly, trying to prevent the girl in front from closing in while reaching back to grab the boy behind him.

If the boy loosened his grip and he freed himself from the sack over his head, he might still counterattack.

Suddenly, something cold and sharp pressed against his neck.

Goosebumps erupted across his skin.

He froze instantly. He already knew what touched his throat.

His own knife.

A voice sounded beside his ear. With his vision gone and relying solely on hearing, the presence of that voice became especially vivid. The tone was pleasant, the pronunciation clear and rounded, standard Mandarin like a news anchor sitting upright in a studio, dressed in a suit delivering the evening broadcast.

Except what she said was:

“Shh. If you don’t want to die, stay quiet.”

₊˚.🎧📓✩

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