Ch 51: Opening a Survival School Before the Zombie Outbreak

After the first aid course officially began, although it was met with plenty of complaints, some people gradually began to realize how practical the class actually was.

From handling everyday wounds, to medications and treatments for common illnesses, to methods of dealing with emergency situations… what the first aid course taught were the most essential things, yet also the ones most easily overlooked.

Once classes truly got underway, many people discovered just how little they actually knew. They did not understand the Heimlich maneuver, could not perform standard CPR, and even had only a vague grasp of how to use basic medications.

Some even realized that certain medicines they had been taking for years under their parents’ guidance had been used incorrectly all along.

Knowledge that should have been common sense had, over decades of education, been intentionally or unintentionally omitted.

“Why don’t elementary or middle schools teach this?”

“Can safety lectures held only once every year or two really make us remember any of this?”

“If I hadn’t come to Fangzhou, but gone to a normal university instead and continued living a ‘normal’ life, maybe I would never have learned these things. People only think to learn after suffering losses, but by then… it might already be too late.”

“What knowledge is truly necessary, and what knowledge is just a waste of time? Were our past standards of judgment wrong…?”

Similar voices echoed repeatedly across the forum. Some questioned, others reflected.

Some even looked back and realized that the method of “creating wounds on simulated zombies for practice,” though somewhat cruel, was remarkably clever.

Reading a book ten thousand times could never compare to personally experiencing a wound once.

When time was limited, this was undoubtedly the most efficient way to learn.

After going through several twists and setbacks, the first aid course quickly gained recognition from the vast majority of students.

At the same time, the infrastructure course also officially began.

Since the infrastructure course was not mandatory, the number of students was smaller, and with only one class per week, its first session started several days later than the first aid course.

By then, students’ impressions of the first aid class had already improved, and they welcomed the first infrastructure lesson with anticipation.

In their imagination, a course that had begun more than two months later than the others should have rushed through material at high speed from the very first lesson, just like the first aid class.

But unexpectedly, the first request made by the new teacher, who carried an unmistakable air of exhausted office-worker fatigue across her face, was for them to use class time to walk one full circuit around the campus.

“Every corner must be visited.” Xu Mingyue handed out printed copies of a large campus map. “If you can’t remember where you’ve been, mark it on the map.”

Holding the maps, the students stared at the familiar campus layout, confused.

Xu Mingyue showed no intention of explaining. After an awkward silence, someone finally could not help asking, “That’s it?”

“That’s it.” Xu Mingyue nodded matter-of-factly, then glanced at the time. “Out of your two-hour class period, you’ve already wasted three minutes.”

“One class a week, two hours each, and we’re using it to go for a walk?” Hearing her mention “wasting time,” a student raised his voice. “Teacher, aren’t you going to teach?”

Moreover, although Teacher Xu was new, the students themselves had already lived on campus for more than two months. With frequent chase-style activities during physical education classes, they were already thoroughly familiar with every corner of the school. Since Fangzhou’s campus was not particularly large to begin with, many even felt they knew it better than the high school campuses where they had once spent three years.

Under those circumstances, spending two hours walking around seemed like the real waste of time.

Compared to the first aid class, which dove straight into fast-paced instruction with hands-on wound creation from the very beginning, the infrastructure course, slowly guiding everyone through campus exploration, appeared almost excessively unhurried.

The two new teachers represented complete opposites. If students had to choose, they would much rather pick Teacher Lu’s teaching method.

After all, they had less than ten months left. At such a slow pace, would there really be enough time?

Xu Mingyue herself was unhurried, yet the students began worrying on her behalf.

“You believe you understand this school very well—” Xu Mingyue repeated their words. She lowered her gaze to the map spread across the lectern, nodded slightly, and said, “Alright then. Can anyone tell me, if a zombie horde attacks and surrounds the entire campus, where is the most likely place for them to break through first?”

The student who had been leading the questioning froze.

Xu Mingyue did not pause.

“Tell me, if I wanted to dig an escape tunnel, which area of the campus has soil best suited for excavation? Where should the tunnel be placed to ensure the fastest assembly and evacuation of all teachers, students, and future shelter residents?”

“……”

“If zombies breach the walls and the campus falls, which building should be chosen for defense to hold out the longest before reinforcements arrive?”

“……”

“With less than ten months before the outbreak, where should we begin reinforcing the campus for maximum efficiency? Where should traps be set to stop the greatest number of zombies? Where would watchtowers have the best visibility? How much manpower and time would all of this require? …Who among you can answer these questions?”

The rapid-fire questions struck one after another, leaving the classroom completely silent.

Xu Mingyue scanned the room, spread her hands slightly, and said with some disappointment, “You know nothing, yet you tell me you understand this school very well—”

“Southwest corner.”

Her words were interrupted. Xu Mingyue paused and looked toward the corner of the classroom.

A thin boy sat there, wearing delicate, scholarly-looking rimmed glasses. Xu Mingyue remembered him somewhat, because when the maps were handed out, he had been the only one examining it carefully. Not only had he studied it seriously, he had even lowered his head and traced the map inch by inch with his fingertips, as though mimicking feet measuring the land itself.

Now the boy lifted his head. His voice was quiet but steady, as if the answer had come only after careful thought.

“If a zombie horde attacks, the most likely breakthrough point would be the southwest corner of the school—the section of wall south of the experimental fields. The brick wall there already has cracks. After wind and rain exposure, it won’t stay sturdy for long.”

“The second most likely point is the eastern side of campus. The terrain there is higher, and while there’s a river to the west, the city lies to the east. Zombies are more likely to approach from the east. Once their numbers increase, the brick wall won’t hold. Besides, the residential area with the dormitories is closer to the east side. Zombies have an instinct to move toward humans, and a large concentration of living people would attract them.”

His analysis was orderly and precise, combining detailed observation with an understanding of zombie behavior.

Xu Mingyue’s brows relaxed. She asked gently, “What’s your name?”

“Liang Yi,” the boy replied.

Xu Mingyue nodded, offering praise without hesitation. “Good answer.”

She then turned to the rest of the class. “Any other questions?”

This time, the voices of opposition disappeared. A few students scatteredly answered, “No,” while more lowered their heads, staring at the map in astonishment.

They understood what Teacher Xu meant.

It seemed they had never before looked at their current school, their future shelter, through this kind of lens.

And because of that, they had overlooked something very important…

Stimulated by Liang Yi’s example, the infrastructure class students quickly followed Xu Mingyue’s instructions. Holding their maps, they left the classroom and began “walking practice” around campus, eyes wide as they searched for answers to those questions.

But after circling twice, they soon found themselves completely lost again.

The familiar buildings before them, the familiar walls, the familiar flowers and greenery. How was it that, when described by Teacher Xu and Liang Yi, everything suddenly seemed filled with hidden meaning?

Why could they not see anything at all?

Meanwhile, Liang Yi had already set off with a clear objective the moment he left the classroom. Without slowing his pace, he moved swiftly from place to place. In a short time, the map in his hands was already covered with dense notes.

Behind his glasses, his eyes shone even brighter than usual, as if Xu Mingyue’s words had sparked a major realization. He muttered to himself, “How did I not think of this earlier…”

The people trailing behind him, ears perked up: “……”

They felt restless with curiosity. Think of what? Could he finish the sentence?

Before long, a long line of followers had formed behind the top student Liang, tagging along step by step while copying his notes.

Someone asked humbly, “Liang Yi, how did you figure out that escape tunnel question?”

Liang Yi stopped and gave him a puzzled look. “Didn’t you all see it just now? You dig it right there!”

Everyone: “???”

When did that happen? See what? Dig where?

A group who had all been considered top students back in high school now felt the helplessness of struggling learners who could see the answer but still could not understand the solution process.

Liang Yi sighed and began explaining.

“To decide where an escape tunnel should be dug, you have to consider multiple factors.”

“First, when an emergency occurs, people must be able to reach the tunnel entrance quickly from the residential area, so it cannot be too far from the dormitories. Ideally, we should estimate how long the shelter can withstand a zombie horde. If we assume the school will be breached in three minutes, then the time required for everyone, from the first person to the last, to enter the tunnel cannot exceed three minutes. That means we also have to consider evacuation speed and total population—”

“Second, manual excavation of an underground tunnel requires evaluating soil composition. If the soil is too loose and lacks cohesion, the tunnel may collapse. If it is too hard, excavation becomes too difficult, and ten months may not be enough. Wet clay is easy to shape but cracks after drying. Loess soil is porous and requires waterproofing… all of these factors must be considered. Also, since our school is near a river, groundwater must be taken into account, meaning the tunnel should be as far as possible from the western side where the river is.”

“Third, construction time. Assuming the first one or two months after the zombie outbreak remain relatively safe for digging, we would still have only about a year to complete the tunnel. While ensuring everyone can evacuate safely within xx minutes, we must calculate how long, wide, and tall the tunnel should be, how many cubic meters must be excavated, and assuming each person can spare one hour per week alongside their studies—”

Liang Yi spoke fluently and at length, leaving listeners’ mouths hanging wider and wider open.

While they had still been wandering around like headless flies, someone had already written an entire essay in his mind.

“This class… is it really this deep?” one person murmured weakly, clutching the map.

Liang Yi nodded seriously. “Yeah. The subject is incredibly profound.”

He had a feeling that if he mastered infrastructure studies, then not only Fangzhou, but any location could be transformed into a shelter in the future.

During wilderness exploration, or when trapped somewhere and unable to return on time, they would no longer panic over the lack of a suitable hiding place.

From the perspective of survival rates, this class was no less important than medical first aid.

Hearing Liang Yi say this, several students fell into thoughtful silence. Then, sighing helplessly, they bit the ends of their pens and hurried off with troubled expressions to study the different soil types he had mentioned.

……

The goal of the infrastructure course was not only to teach students how to build and maintain shelters, but more importantly, to help Fu Qing transform the campus itself.

In the system marketplace, a single escape tunnel cost 1000 teaching points, yet it was an essential facility.

Otherwise, if a zombie horde surrounded the area and the shelter fell, those hiding on campus would become trapped beasts in a cage.

Fu Qing suspected the system had deliberately set such a high price precisely because it knew how necessary the tunnel was.

But if more than two thousand students across the school worked together to dig it, then according to Xu Mingyue’s calculations, each person would only need to spare half an hour per week to complete an escape tunnel roughly one thousand meters long within eight months.

The manpower of over two thousand people was not something to underestimate.

The same applied to reinforcing the perimeter walls and constructing traps.

If properly utilized, a single infrastructure course could save Fu Qing several thousand teaching points, which could instead be used to purchase other essential facilities or upgrade buildings.

All of this had already been carefully discussed between Fu Qing and Xu Mingyue before the course curriculum was designed.

As the first aid and infrastructure courses gradually fell into rhythm, another voice began to emerge across campus.

After several days of classes, more and more people realized that Teacher Lu looked strangely familiar.

……

Within a vast space, the light suddenly warped, like the flickering signal of an old television losing connection. Translated on Hololo novels. A figure soon emerged from within it.

Song Rushuang’s feet touched solid ground as she opened her tightly shut eyes.

Bluish glowing particles floated through the air like jellyfish, expanding and contracting, creating a dreamlike underwater world tinged with an advanced futuristic atmosphere.

Two or three other students stood nearby, looking around in confusion just like her.

This was the open hall of the simulated combat chamber.

The four roommates from Dorm 1111’s women’s hall failed to secure reservations for the same time slot this week, so Song Rushuang had to come to the combat chamber alone. Students who did not have a “player” team and entered the simulation combat chamber by themselves but still wanted to play multiplayer instances would gather in the open hall to find others to connect with.

Since reservations for the simulation combat chamber were made through wristbands in scheduled time slots, students who booked the same period would usually log in at roughly the same time. During those few minutes, it was easy to run into others, and the chances of successfully forming a team were quite high.

If you arrived a little early, you might even encounter students from the previous time slot who had just finished their battles and were preparing to log out.

Song Rushuang had arrived three minutes earlier than usual today. Standing in the center of the hall, she waited patiently for more people to log in, hoping to spot someone she knew. Clearing a dungeon together with familiar classmates would naturally lead to better coordination.

Before the next group arrived, however, she encountered the last batch of players exiting.

Within the distorted lines of light, three figures appeared one after another. Their session had ended, and by all logic they should already have heard the warning prompting players to log off. Yet the three stood motionless, as if they had not heard anything at all, staring blankly ahead like people who had lost their souls.

What had they experienced inside the instance?

Curious, Song Rushuang recognized one of them as a classmate from her practical combat class and hurried over. “You Jia, what’s wrong?”

It took two calls before You Jia snapped back to awareness. Even upon seeing Song Rushuang, she still looked unreal, her pupils unfocused as she murmured, “Rushuang…”

Now genuinely worried, Song Rushuang grabbed one of her hands and squeezed her palm. “What happened? Which instance did you play? Why are you reacting like this?”

“Xiao Juan,” You Jia muttered.

“What?”

Song Rushuang frowned.

She had also played the Xiao Juan instance once after hearing others praise it. She had taken the role of the trusted female protagonist, but like most players who went in without reading a guide, she had failed to save Xiao Juan and had personally witnessed her death. The experience had left a strong emotional impact on her.

But that had been before midterms. After the intense pressure of exam preparation and exam week, many memories had blurred.

Hearing those two words again now stirred something within her, as though a forgotten memory had lightly brushed against her mind.

Seeing the commotion, others nearby gathered around.

Red and blue vertical lines began flickering across You Jia’s body, indicating she was about to be forcibly logged out. Yet she only stared at Song Rushuang, her voice heavy with dazed disbelief.

“Teacher Lu… he appeared in the Xiao Juan instance.”

Her voice trembled, speeding up as she spoke.

“…He was the one who treated the ‘protagonists’ and provided them with gasoline.”

“Lu Yan. That person was also named Lu Yan. He looks exactly the same as Teacher Lu!”

Memory flashed back instantly, freezing into a vivid image.

The man wore a barber’s white cutting cape, jumping up from his chair. As he turned and jokingly scolded the protagonists, his sharply defined profile appeared. It was Lu Yan, younger than he was now.

Song Rushuang had only played the Xiao Juan instance once, together with her three roommates. With more teammates, her attention had naturally focused on coordinating with them and protecting Xiao Juan, the mission objective. Besides, the Lu Yan back then differed from the present Teacher Lu in hairstyle and demeanor. Because of that, she had overlooked something: long before Teacher Lu ever arrived at the school, they had already had a “brief encounter.”

Like lightning striking overhead, Song Rushuang froze where she stood.

After a brief silence, shock rippled through the surrounding crowd.

“What did you say?!”

“What does that mean? Teacher Lu is someone from the instance?” someone blurted out. “But he clearly exists right in front of us… no, that’s not right.”

His expression suddenly twisted, turning as grim as the three others’, as though he had finally realized what this implied.

“It’s not that Teacher Lu is fake, but… the instance is real?”

“So those weren’t virtual plots and stories created by the simulation combat chamber,” he murmured dreamily. “They were things that actually happened?”

₊˚.🎧📓✩

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