Ch 48: Opening a Survival School Before the Zombie Outbreak

Two new teachers had arrived at the school.

The students did not learn this in class. Instead, the news was first discovered in the cafeteria.

Fangzhou had too few teachers to justify a separate faculty dining hall, so since the semester began, teachers had eaten alongside students. Over time, they developed habitual seating spots. Gradually, even during peak meal hours, that particular table would be intentionally left open for the teachers.

Today, however, everyone noticed two unfamiliar faces sitting at that familiar table.

New teachers alone would not have been shocking, but…

“Give me one.”

Xu Mingyue moved with lightning speed, snatching a braised chicken wing from Fu Qing’s tray. As compensation, she generously dropped one of her own fried chicken nuggets onto Fu Qing’s plate.

Students seated nearby stared in stunned silence. For a moment, they forgot to move entirely. Food slipped slowly from their chopsticks and plopped into soup bowls without anyone noticing.

Taking food from the principal’s plate… wasn’t that basically stealing from a tiger’s mouth?

Even more unbelievable was that the tiger, the principal, did not get angry.

The students watched in breathless suspense. The teachers were no different.

Zhao Yunxiao sat frozen, biting the end of his chopsticks.

Even after Fu Qing explained that the new teachers were former teammates who had accompanied her for years, it still felt unreal.

And the way they interacted with her revealed a side of Fu Qing no one had ever seen before.

Only then did everyone realize that despite spending over two months together, aside from knowing her strength and reliability, they actually knew very little about her.

What kind of life had she lived? Where had she grown up? How had she survived until the end? Where were her family and friends? What foods did she like? What colors?

They knew nothing.

But Xu Mingyue and Lu Yan were different. When Lu Yan returned with his meal, he casually tossed Fu Qing an ice-cold can of cola. The moment Xu Mingyue sat down, she instinctively left Fu Qing the seat by the window. They seemed familiar with every preference and habit she had.

The other teachers felt surprise, and beneath it, an indescribable hint of envy.

Zhao Yunxiao pulled his chair closer, listening intently as Xu Mingyue recounted stories of wilderness survival after the apocalypse. Fu Qing and Hao Zhenye were both reserved people who rarely shared stories, and Zhao Yunxiao had long been dying of curiosity about life outside the research base.

Grandma Liu and Bai Tang also leaned in, occasionally asking questions. Learning fragments of the principal’s past through Xu Mingyue’s stories delighted them as well.

Only Hao Zhenye remained as silent as usual. Yet anyone watching closely would notice he had slowed his eating pace. A meal he normally finished in three minutes stretched to over twenty, including two refills of tea afterward.

By the end of dinner, news of the new teachers had already spread across the forum.

Once the exhausting midterm week finally passed, Lu Yan and Xu Mingyue submitted their course plans one after another. Over the weekend, Fu Qing officially announced two new courses and required everyone to adjust their schedules accordingly.

The emergency medical course was mandatory. The construction course was elective.

Unlike the farming class, this elective had no strict restrictions. Anyone interested could enroll; those uninterested could replace the credits with combat training. Enrollment for the construction course was capped at five hundred students.

As time passed and students gradually adapted to the hardship of physical training, their resistance toward combat and other physical classes decreased. Two monthly exams had already made one thing painfully clear: only strong personal ability guaranteed survival.

They no longer relied on luck. They were truly growing. Their once-thin backs broadened, bracing themselves against the storms ahead.

This time, course selection looked very different from the previous rush for the easy farming class. After careful thought, only students who saw themselves as future logistics support or who genuinely enjoyed building chose the construction course.

The rest, though curious about the new teachers, dutifully attended combat training instead.

Soon, Monday arrived.

…

At 7:30 a.m., Qi Zhengfei checked his phone and let out a strangled groan, hurriedly dragging his roommate to his feet.

“Quick, quick. Stop eating. We need to grab seats.”

His roommate Zhao Zhou, still biting a straw and holding a half-eaten meat bun, was yanked upright by the collar. He glanced at the time in confusion.

“Why are you panicking? Class doesn’t start for another half hour.”

“Today’s the first emergency aid class. People will definitely rush seats early. Some probably went before breakfast,” Qi Zhengfei declared confidently. “We have to get there early or we won’t even see the new teacher’s face.”

As the only exciting gossip during a grueling exam week, news about the two new teachers had dominated the forum homepage for days. Many students were eagerly awaiting this first class.

Since they were “lucky” enough to get the dreaded Monday 8 a.m. slot, arriving early was essential.

Zhao Zhou was convinced. The two quickly finished breakfast and headed to Teaching Building No. 2, where students were already streaming toward the second-floor classroom.

Fortunately, they were not too late. They managed to secure front-row seats not yet claimed by thermos flasks or stationery placeholders.

After setting down his bag, Zhao Zhou rubbed the back of his neck and hissed softly.

“What’s wrong?” Qi Zhengfei asked, turning back from his eager scanning of the room.

“Nothing. Just slept wrong and got a stiff neck,” Zhao Zhou said, shaking his head. Then he remembered something. “Oh right, the principal announced over the weekend that the clinic is open now. I heard the school doctor is also the emergency aid instructor and knows both Chinese and Western medicine. Do you think I could ask him to take a look at my neck after class?” he joked.

“Probably,” Qi Zhengfei replied.

As the two chatted, the clock crept toward eight, and the classroom gradually fell quiet. At that moment, steady, unhurried footsteps echoed down the hallway.

Qi Zhengfei and Zhao Zhou instinctively straightened in their seats.

With a creak, the wooden classroom door opened. The person who stepped onto the podium was tall and handsome, completely unlike the increasingly exaggerated rumors circulating on the forum. Every movement carried a refined, gentle composure.

He swept his gaze across the room and smiled slightly.

“Hello, everyone. I’m Lu Yan. Starting today, I’ll be your emergency aid instructor and also serve as the campus doctor. If you feel unwell, you’re welcome to visit the clinic anytime.”

Some students stared at him and accidentally drifted off in thought.

Most had only seen blurry candid shots or fleeting glimpses of the new teacher in the cafeteria the previous week. Now that he stood before them, some felt something was off.

There was… an inexplicable sense of familiarity about him.

Had they seen him somewhere before?

There was no time to dwell on it. The lesson had already begun, and they suppressed their doubts, focusing instead on taking notes.

Aside from his striking appearance, Lu Yan seemed almost excessively normal compared with Fangzhou’s other distinctly unconventional teachers. He had no facial scars, did not teach in elaborate dresses, and even his teaching style reflected that same normalcy. Unlike Zhao Yunxiao, who had startled everyone on the first day with a holographic zombie projection, Lu Yan began calmly with common emergency scenarios in an apocalyptic environment and the corresponding first-aid responses, quickly capturing the class’s interest.

His explanations were clear, logical, and well structured. Medical knowledge that should have been dry and tedious suddenly became easy to understand.

The first hour passed like flowing water. When the bell rang, many students felt oddly reluctant for the lesson to end, still immersed in the material.

Only after snapping back to reality did someone click their tongue in disbelief.

“This class… is actually this normal?”

They had truly experienced a normal class at Fangzhou.

No teacher suddenly demonstrating how to crack open a zombie’s skull mid-lecture. No analysis of dramatic love triangles. No collapsing into boneless exhaustion by the end of class like lifeless noodles. Just sitting in a classroom, taking notes seriously, completing assignments, and keeping up with the material.

Heaven.

The emergency aid students nearly burst into tears, wanting to hug one another to celebrate this historic moment.

Leaning against the classroom wall and drinking water, Lu Yan heard their barely suppressed cheers and fell into silence.

“….”

He had the distinct feeling that some extraordinary things must have happened at this school over the past two months. Otherwise, how had a group of energetic college students been conditioned into something resembling enthusiastic masochists?

Then again, considering Fu Qing was involved, it suddenly made perfect sense.

He tightened the bottle cap, set the water aside, and smiled faintly.

Unfortunately… these students were about to be disappointed.

After the break, Lu Yan returned to the podium and clapped his hands. Qi Zhengfei and Zhao Zhou, along with everyone else, turned their attention back to him.

At some point he had rolled up his sleeves. Beneath the gentle demeanor now lingered an unexpected hint of wildness. The way he clapped resembled someone addressing kindergarten children, and even his tone matched.

“Those who read the syllabus should know that emergency aid class follows a fixed format. The first half covers theory, and the second half focuses on practice.”

He narrowed his eyes, shading them as he glanced outside.

The autumn air was dry, the sunlight perfect. Lu Yan turned back cheerfully.

“The weather’s so nice today. Let’s play a little game of throwing people.”

Students: “…”

Students: “?”

Three minutes later, the entire class had been relocated to the rooftop of Teaching Building No. 2, every face filled with confusion.

“Why is emergency aid class on the roof?” Zhao Zhou whispered, his stiff neck preventing him from looking around like everyone else.

He pressed his neck again. The stiffness seemed worse.

He really needed to visit the clinic after class.

Qi Zhengfei was equally puzzled but tried analyzing the teacher’s earlier words. “Throwing little people… maybe it’s like that handkerchief game?”

He studied Lu Yan carefully, half expecting him to produce a rag doll from behind his back.

He couldn’t help laughing. Lu Yan really did feel different from the other teachers.

Still, in their tightly scheduled lives, having such a relaxed mandatory class felt pretty nice…

Thoughts drifted through Qi Zhengfei’s mind just as the final student found a place to stand. Someone, apparently emboldened by how approachable Lu Yan seemed, raised a hand.

“Teacher, what exactly are we throwing?”

Lu Yan answered readily. “Our teaching aids.”

Teaching aids?

The class remained confused. “What teaching aids?”

Lu Yan smiled. “For an emergency aid class, what else could they be?”

?

The students blinked with innocent confusion as their gentle-smiling instructor turned toward the rooftop entrance.

“Let’s welcome our anatomical teaching models.”

??

The door opened.

This time, ten realistic simulated zombies walked in together in perfect formation.

Clack.

That was the collective sound of students’ jaws hitting the floor.

Everyone: “…”

Since when did anatomical models walk in by themselves?

Wait…

Qi Zhengfei stared at the simulated zombie towering half a head taller than him and blurted out, “Teacher… these are the ‘little people’ you were talking about?!”

₊˚.🎧📓✩