Ch 46: Opening a Survival School Before the Zombie Outbreak

“What? You’re saying you dropped a phone here earlier? I haven’t seen it. Don’t come looking for me.”

After Fu Qing explained why she was here, the elderly woman who collected trash immediately waved her hands, her face full of wariness as she insisted it had nothing to do with her.

Fu Qing explained patiently, “I’m just asking whether anyone picked it up and handed it to you.”

Seeing that Fu Qing looked amiable, the woman relaxed a little, but still shook her head. “No. I figure you’re not getting that phone back. This isn’t even a real scenic spot, just a little hill, not even a ticket booth. If someone finds it, they wouldn’t even know who to give it to.”

“Please think back again. Any clue helps. I lost it three days ago, and it rained hard the night before.” Fu Qing refused to give up. She slipped her fifty yuan. “Or did you see anyone passing by? I can post a missing-person notice online, but I’ll need some identifying features.”

She put on a deliberately troubled look.

The woman seemed like a villager from the base of the mountain, coming up to collect tourists’ discarded water bottles to sell. At the sight of the fifty, her eyes lit up, and her attitude softened considerably.

“Let me think… three days ago, with the rain, not many people went up. I remember running into just one.”

She actually did recall.

“A woman. Wrapped up tight from head to toe, wearing a big mask and sunglasses. Lots of young folks hike like that these days, all about whitening and sun protection, wrapping themselves up like mummies. If you run into one out of nowhere, it’s kind of creepy. If you ask me, young girls look good however they are. A healthy skin tone is the prettiest…”

The woman was drifting off-topic, so Fu Qing cut in without showing it. “But you just said it was raining that day.”

“Right, it was raining.” The woman froze, thinking. “Yeah. On a rainy day there isn’t any sun. Why was she wearing sunglasses?”

Naturally, to avoid being scrutinized.

Fu Qing let out a light sigh. Too bad the woman hadn’t noticed anything strange at the time and had simply taken her for an ordinary hiker. Now she could not provide many useful details.

Fu Qing guided her gently, prodding her memory with patience. Translated on Hololo novels. Finally, as if something clicked, the woman slapped her fist into her palm.

“Oh, right. When she lifted her hand, her wrist showed. I remember a big centipede-shaped scar on the back of her left hand.” As she spoke, she gestured roughly at its placement and length. “A scar that big, you can tell she’s suffered. Poor thing.”

A scar on the back of the left hand.

Not many people would have that. Fu Qing finally had something usable.

She fixed the shape of the scar in her mind, said goodbye, got into her car, and posted on the forum.

Pinned (Posted by Admin): [Looking for someone. Provide a lead to earn point rewards.]

In the main post, she listed the woman’s features based on the description of height and build, and had the system generate a diagram of the scar to upload.

If the woman had arrived on the very day Skull died, ensuring the body was removed before anyone discovered it, then she must have been on standby in S City.

With more than two thousand teachers and students at Fangzhou serving as eyes and ears, if she was still moving around S City, someone would run into her eventually.

Fu Qing tapped at the holographic keyboard that appeared from nowhere, choosing her wording while, in her mind, she reviewed what the older woman had said.

Throughout their conversation, the older woman’s tone had been natural. Even when Fu Qing led her to the place where the body had been, she showed no reaction at all, which meant she had no concept that “a corpse had once been here.”

Skull’s body had been taken away before anyone discovered it.

Fu Qing had tried to expose the virus, and someone had gone out of their way to cover it up.

The plan had failed. She was disappointed, but not discouraged. This trip’s gains were already substantial.

Using a short video as a trap, she had lured Skull’s group out, confirmed that the zombie virus had already appeared, drawn out the existence of a zombie king from Skull’s words, verified that the virus was not yet contagious at this stage, and gained new intelligence on a scarred woman among the cultists, confirming she was likely active around S City.

Just days ago, she had known almost nothing about them.

[Your understanding of this world has deepened!]

[You have received 300 teaching points as a reward.]

[Keep it up!]

As expected, the system popped up the reward. Fu Qing admired the numbers in her account for a moment, then kept typing.

Intelligence-gathering on the scarred woman was task one. Task two was to observe whether anyone nearby showed abnormal interest in zombies, or whether someone previously normal stopped going out for long stretches, and, when they did go out, covered their skin, accompanied by changes in skin tone, demeanor, personality, unusually sharp senses, and so on.

If anyone found such a lead, they were to report it to the school immediately, and must not alert the person in question. If the lead was confirmed, they would receive a reward of five points.

As for task two, Fu Qing did not expect much. Only a small number of cultists would become infected, and to avoid exposing the virus, even if infected, they likely would not go out in public. The odds of being spotted by students who only occasionally ventured off-campus on weekends were very low.

Still, she posted it anyway.

Since the forum was created, the admin had posted only twice: once to establish the publicity team, and now this.

The moment the post went up, a flood of students poured in.

[What what? A side quest!]

[Front row photo!]

[Five points again. Principal really is generous. Don’t want to go to class anymore, want to form a team to go find someone (x)]

After a wave of check-ins and “front row” comments, more and more people began to sense something was off.

[Feels kind of suspicious. Why are we suddenly looking for someone? These conditions are kind of creepy…]

[+1. Leaving aside the scarred woman, what does “abnormal interest in zombies” even mean? Is this hinting that besides us, there might be others in the world who already know the apocalypse is coming? And the principal’s wording is “interest,” not “fear.” That’s the sort of thing that gets scarier the more you think about it. Could these people be on the opposite side from us…?

And the part after that is even weirder. Someone normal becoming abnormal, going out and hiding their skin, like a vampire. Don’t tell me they’ve already turned into zombies. That can’t be true, right, haha…]

[??? Why do I suddenly feel like I can’t read Chinese anymore?]

[Someone help me…] [woc, didn’t they say the virus wouldn’t break out until late August next year?]

Seeing panic beginning to spread across the forum, Fu Qing quickly stepped in to calm things down.

Administrator: [Regarding Task Two: targets who meet these conditions may already be showing early signs of viral infection. At this stage, however, the virus is not contagious, and the number of carriers is extremely small. There is no need for panic. There is only one strategy: detect early, resolve early.]

This reply caused an uproar.

[Early-stage virus?!]

[I don’t even know what to say. I thought we still had plenty of time… I didn’t expect it to be this soon. It feels unreal.]

[I’m on the track field training and suddenly feel dazed.]

More people fell silent.

After more than two months of training, they had believed they had matured greatly and were mentally prepared. Yet faced with this news, they instantly felt helpless again, like children.

Even though Fu Qing had explained that the number of infected was extremely small, many immediately called family and friends, only relaxing after confirming that the people they cared about were safe.

After hanging up, they looked at the long list of names in their contacts. Alongside lingering fear came a renewed awareness of their own luck.

If not for the principal’s warning, they would never even have known about the virus, let alone received advance notice this far ahead and begun preparing early.

They had to grow stronger, so they could protect those standing behind them, completely unaware.

[Got caught again in PE this morning. Looking for a training partner to do extra practice after class. Same rules. DM me if interested.]

[Looking for a sparring partner, preferably female. We can help each other apply medicine after training.]

[Me me me, check your messages!]

106L: [Anyone want to go get haircuts together this weekend? Thinking of going buzz cut… I kept hesitating before and only trimmed it shorter, but washing and drying my hair still wastes too much time. Might as well run another lap or memorize two more zombie knowledge points.]

107L: [Are you a guy or a girl upstairs? Want to go together?]

108L replying to 107L: [Girl. Let’s go together.]

Some people, stimulated by the news of the virus, felt their training was insufficient and simply turned the pinned post’s comment section into a matchmaking space for campus activities.

Others continued analyzing the information hidden in Fu Qing’s words.

The principal’s reputation for never speaking unnecessarily was deeply ingrained. Every sentence might contain critical clues. Not analyzing them felt impossible.

[Am I the only one wondering where the virus actually came from?]

[If it isn’t contagious yet, that means it can’t spread between humans for now. Then why are these people infected? Does that imply there’s one or a small number of infection sources? If those sources were eliminated, would the zombie virus never break out?

If we had more infected samples, we might analyze common traits and locate the source. Maybe that’s what the principal wants us to do. Bold guess: that scarred woman is related to this, maybe even one of the infected.]

There were plenty of sharp and perceptive students, and it didn’t take long for someone to infer Fu Qing’s real intention.

That comment received many likes, showing most people agreed with the analysis.

Discussions exploded beneath it, pushing the pinned post into heated debate.

Until someone cautiously replied, focusing not on zombies but on something else:

[Did nobody notice the principal’s wording? “Detect early, resolve early.” I only have one question… what exactly does “resolve” mean here?]

[Obviously resolve it physically.]

[In a law-abiding society, directly stabbing people isn’t great, right?? (panic)]

[If the principal scolds someone, I back her up. If the principal robs someone, I carry the bag. If the principal kills someone, I hand her the knife!]

[Forget how important the info is. The principal shared it through missions to warn us about changes around us. And the targets are people “interested in zombies,” clearly bad actors. That alone proves the principal is a good person.]

[Maybe “resolve” actually means preventing the final outbreak of the virus. That would basically be saving humanity.]

[It’s been two months. Anyone still doubting the principal’s intentions, get out of here!]

[I’m more and more convinced the principal stands with us, with humanity.]

[I suddenly feel like there’s something huge hidden behind this mission… and that those of us just studying safely at school are actually very lucky.]

…

The system reported cheerfully: [Host, student favorability has increased! You are approaching 40%!]

Fu Qing, who had not opened the forum again after posting that reply, paused mid-bite with her chopsticks, puzzled.

She had only issued a task. How had favorability increased again?

Sometimes she felt Fangzhou’s students were like bacteria growing in a laboratory culture dish. Left alone, they would somehow produce new surprises the next time the lid was lifted.

Like now. She was merely eating a chicken leg, yet passing students were looking at her with moved expressions.

Fu Qing: “…”

She quickly finished eating, returned the tray, and went back to the principal’s office to plan the next semester.

Most universities ran four-year programs, but Fangzhou lasted only one year. Naturally, classes could not follow the traditional two-semester structure.

Fu Qing had long planned to introduce new courses after midterms and adjust existing schedules to make room.

Now, more than two months had passed. Courses like Bai Tang’s stockpiling class had already covered key material last week, and students would soon begin exams and submit midterm assignments.

Other courses were progressing similarly. In other words, new courses needed to begin soon.

Fu Qing listed the subjects Fangzhou currently lacked and prepared to recruit teachers accordingly.

After recent income and expenses, her account balance stood at 764 teaching points.

She first spent 300 points to add twenty more simulated zombies. The previous ten units had been far too few, with students lining up overnight and still missing out. With increased numbers, average weekly usage time per student improved, ensuring no one went an entire week without access.

Only then did she open the long-unused recruitment page, silently hoping for good luck.

At the same time she muttered, “System, can’t you add some kind of pity system? Like guaranteed SR after ten pulls, or targeted wishes?”

Relying purely on luck felt unsettling.

The system loaded for a moment, then suggested: [Perhaps you could check the shop.]

The shop?

Fu Qing paused, remembering the all-encompassing marketplace that sold things like holographic simulations and other strange items.

She had never browsed it fully. Could there be something related to recruitment?

She exited recruitment, entered the shop, searched, and immediately found an item.

[One Point of Luck]

Description: Can be used for recruitment wishes. Greatly increases the probability of desired talent appearing (effective within ten recruitments). Sometimes, all you need is a little luck.

Price: 50 teaching points.

Fifty points…

And it only said “greatly increases probability,” without specifying numbers.

Her instinct said it was unreliable. Still, after searching the entire shop, this was the only recruitment-related item.

Fine. Fifty points it was. She had funds now and urgently needed talent.

After purchasing, a prompt appeared asking her to select desired talent categories.

There were three slots.

The system explained: [Talents will randomly appear from the three selected categories. Within the next ten recruitments, one or multiple qualifying talents may appear. Outcomes depend on luck.]

That at least justified the price a little.

Without hesitation, Fu Qing said, “Medical. Infrastructure. Weapons…”

She originally intended to say “weapons manufacturing and application,” which topped her list of needed courses.

But midway through speaking, she suddenly changed her mind.

“No. For the last one, I want talent knowledgeable about zombie cultists.”

That counted as a kind of talent too.

Once again she found a loophole. The system clearly stalled for two seconds in resignation.

After a long pause:

[Recorded. You may begin recruitment.]

[Within ten recruitments, candidates matching your wish criteria will be highlighted. Please pay special attention.]

₊˚.🎧📓✩

Sandy: Please please please draw some eye candy sexy male species 🙏🙏🙏

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