Ch 56: Opening a Survival School Before the Zombie Outbreak

Between the construction site and the hospital lay only a single road. Climbing over the wall, one could immediately see the cluster of hospital buildings standing beneath the sunlight.

The pharmacy was located on the east side of the entrance hall of the outpatient building. Entering through the main gate, it would be easy to find. But in front of the main entrance stretched an imposing plaza, with a central garden and pavilion for inpatients to rest and stroll. Everywhere, zombies dressed in blue-and-white hospital gowns dragged IV stands behind them, clattering noisily as they wandered across the square.

The plaza offered a wide, unobstructed view. Trying to avoid them and enter through the main doors unnoticed was nearly impossible.

Meanwhile, the medication pickup window connected to the pharmacy opened directly into the outpatient lobby, the central hub of the entire outpatient building. In the early days of the outbreak, before the public clearly understood the virus’s transmissibility, crowds of patients had flooded in here. Many of them still wandered the lobby now, spawning like minor mobs at random among consultation rooms, corridors, and wards.

If only a month had not passed since the outbreak, leaving the hospital filled mostly with easily handled low-level zombies, Lu Dongyu was certain this instance would have been assigned hell difficulty.

After studying the floor plan, they decided to enter through the small side door of the physical examination center on the west side near the wall. From there, they would circle along the relatively empty second floor to the east side of the outpatient building, avoid crowded departments such as Infectious Diseases along the way, and finally take the stairs down to the pharmacy’s back entrance.

The two moved silently along the landscaped greenery. The glass doors of the examination building had long since been shattered, whether by zombies or fleeing crowds unknown, leaving shards scattered across the ground that crunched loudly underfoot.

Both wore hard leather high-top boots and were tightly covered from head to toe, unafraid of cuts from broken glass. Still, to avoid making noise that might attract zombies, they stepped carefully around the shards, moving as lightly as possible.

From the side entrance to the outpatient lobby ran a straight corridor connecting the east and west sides, effectively the main transverse artery of the outpatient building.

The moment they entered, both spotted the outpatient lobby at the far end of the corridor.

A dense mass of zombies made one’s heart run cold.

Blood covered the floor. Stark, bloody handprints smeared across the white walls, bearing witness to the brutal scene that had unfolded here. Stretchers, medicine bottles, even heavy chairs had been dragged into the middle of the corridor, forming chaotic barricades that partially blocked the passage. To some extent, they also obstructed the zombies’ line of sight, preventing them from noticing the two living people slipping quietly inside.

Several mangled corpses lay sprawled across the hallway.

Without sunlight, the long hospital corridor felt especially deep and shadowed.

After more than two months of training, Lu Dongyu had already grown accustomed to such bloody scenes. She no longer screamed or panicked. Yet knowing that this city-center hospital was modeled after the real hospital in S City, one she had visited just last year, still made her heart tremble.

Fortunately, this was not her first time entering this instance. Otherwise, she would definitely have held the principal back.

Just as Lu Dongyu was about to withdraw her gaze, a sudden pa sounded nearby.

A zombie had wandered out from a consultation room whose door stood half open, tripping over a corpse at the doorway and making a noise.

In an instant, every nearby wandering zombie stopped.

As if in slow motion, the gaunt living corpses throughout the gloomy corridor turned their heads in unison, looking toward the two of them—

Lu Dongyu’s breathing suddenly quickened.

A hand abruptly pressed down on the back of her head. The person beside her hissed in a breath-thin whisper, “Move!”

Combat instincts honed in physical education training made Lu Dongyu far more agile than before the semester began. Following Fu Qing’s force, she bent forward and lunged. Her lowered body was perfectly concealed by a row of metal seats blocking the middle of the corridor, and she tumbled smoothly onto the stairway.

Fu Qing, already one step ahead on the stairs, reached back, grabbed Lu Dongyu by the collar, and lifted slightly, stopping her forward momentum so she would not slam onto the tiles.

Getting bruised would be one thing. Drawing zombies would be worse.

The stairwell lay outside the zombies’ field of vision from the corridor. Lu Dongyu did not dare move, holding her breath as she listened for a long moment. Only after confirming the zombies had not noticed them did she mouth silently, “Thank you…”

Then she realized she was being held by the back of her neck like fate itself had grabbed her. Her face flushed red, and a flood of thoughts raced through her mind: what was the last weight she had measured? Would the principal think she was too heavy?

She lifted me with one hand. So strong…

Fu Qing shook her head and released her collar.

As her hand withdrew, the edge of her palm brushed across the skin at the back of Lu Dongyu’s neck. She distinctly felt the rough texture of scars and hardened calluses against her skin.

…The running commentary in her mind abruptly paused, and Lu Dongyu could not help turning her head back.

Only then did she notice that not just the hand, but every patch of exposed skin from wrist to arm to neck on Fu Qing bore scars.

Some had already healed, pink new flesh growing over them. Others were covered in thick scabs. A strip of snow-white bandage peeked from her sleeve, winding around her arm. The sight made Lu Dongyu’s chest tighten painfully.

How had she endured this past month?

Almost unconsciously, Lu Dongyu reached toward the arm hidden beneath her own clothes. The combat pod had not simulated it, but in reality, a fresh bruise had appeared in the same spot just yesterday.

After training for so long, bruises and scrapes were unavoidable. Lu Dongyu would occasionally complain about them, but now, she suddenly felt that she was fortunate.

After steadying herself, Lu Dongyu made a hand signal to indicate she was ready.

Fu Qing gave a slight nod.

From the moment they entered the hospital grounds, her previously relaxed expression had vanished. The faint smiles that occasionally appeared when speaking with her new partner were replaced entirely by calm focus.

She resembled a blade with its edge concealed, waiting only for the moment it would be drawn.

Lu Dongyu swallowed quietly and forced herself to concentrate on their surroundings.

With the help of the map, crossing the second floor went smoothly.

During previous trips through the hospital, the biggest trouble had always been zombies suddenly appearing from blind corners. There were simply too many zombies inside; overlapping footsteps made it easy to miss nearby movement. But this time, with Fu Qing relying on sound to determine positions, they avoided countless sudden encounters before they could happen.

Only once did they fail to avoid one. Moving quickly, Fu Qing stepped forward and, before the zombie could turn around, locked its neck from behind with her forearm. The fruit knife in her hand stabbed into its temple.

The zombie’s roar never had the chance to escape before its body went limp and collapsed.

When she pulled the blade free, soft red-and-white fragments came out with it, splattering onto Fu Qing. She wiped them away casually and gestured for Lu Dongyu to keep moving.

This was the first time Lu Dongyu had seen the principal kill a zombie.

She stared, nearly stunned, unable to understand how something like killing a zombie could look as effortless as tossing away a piece of trash.

…

When Fu Qing lightly tapped her shoulder again, Lu Dongyu immediately knew another zombie was approaching ahead.

Recalling the map, she reacted quickly, pushing open a nearby door. The two slipped inside. It was a storage room.

Fu Qing entered first. Lu Dongyu carefully released the handle as slowly as possible.

The latch clicked softly back into place. The sound was faint, and the dragging footsteps of the approaching zombie outside did not change. Lu Dongyu let out a quiet breath of relief and stepped back, only to bump directly into Fu Qing’s back.

She stood completely still, shoulders slightly raised, muscles tense, like the instant before an explosion.

“…?” Sensing something wrong, Lu Dongyu stiffly turned her head.

The motion of closing the door stirred the air, lifting dust into motion. The storage room was dim; curtains blocked most of the light, leaving only a narrow gap in the middle through which a single beam of sunlight pierced straight across the hazy darkness.

Like a deliberately framed cinematic shot, the beam of light fell upon a dead man lying on the ground.

His eyes were wide open, staring toward the sunlight outside the window.

He still wore a short-sleeved summer shirt. His arms and neck were crudely wrapped in layers of plastic wrap, sealing off exposed vulnerable areas as if he had naively believed this would protect him from zombie attacks.

But clearly, he had failed.

In the shadows beyond the reach of sunlight, five zombies crouched over his body. Their spines arched into jagged curves as they gnawed tirelessly, faint rustling sounds echoing through the silent room.

Judging by the state of the corpse, it had likely been less than half a day since the man had forced his way inside.

There was no rotting smell in the air, only the fresh, heavy scent of blood.

So… like them, he must also have come to the hospital seeking medicine out of desperation. After climbing through the window, he had been attacked by zombies already inside and died here?

Lu Dongyu’s eyes moved slowly as she silently glanced toward the half-open window. Or perhaps he had first been killed by one or two zombies, and the smell of blood drew more in. Then a gust of wind shut the door from the inside, trapping both zombies and corpse together in the room?

…Either way, this was completely unexpected.

Who would have imagined that five zombies were hidden inside a tightly closed storage room?

Lu Dongyu cursed inwardly.

Even if they were only low-level zombies, five was too many. The storage room was less than twenty square meters, packed with shelves that left almost no room to maneuver.

They could only run!

She reached back to open the door, but at that moment one of the zombies facing them lifted its head.

Most of its face was smeared with blood, revealing only a pair of cloudy, hollow eyes dominated by whites.

Its gaze lingered, then its mouth slowly opened.

“Roar—”

Almost at the same instant the zombie roared, Fu Qing shot forward!

Lu Dongyu’s pupils shrank; she could barely follow the movement.

Killing intent erupted in an instant. That slender back, still far less imposing than it would be years later, carried an absolute decisiveness, as though she would charge even into a dragon’s den or tiger’s lair without hesitation.

The zombies, their backs previously turned toward the door, now turned toward the approaching prey, mouths opening wide. Unaware of what had happened, they instinctively displayed animalistic excitement, snorting heavily through their noses.

The first zombie had just staggered upright when Fu Qing leapt and delivered a heavy kick to the side of its face. Its rotten, fragile neck twisted instantly, the head turning nearly one hundred eighty degrees with a horrifying crack of bone.

Low-level zombies still relied on their spines for movement. A broken spine would not kill them, but it rendered them useless. Its body slammed into a shelf, sending thick dust cascading down and clouding the room.

Fu Qing bent low to avoid the dust without slowing. The moment she landed, her wrist tightened, and the blade in her right hand drove straight into another zombie’s eye socket.

Then she pulled it out without pause—

A spray of blood shot outward.

Everything happened so fast that before Lu Dongyu could react, two zombies had already fallen silent.

Had it even been three seconds?

Her mouth hung open as she froze in place, then she snapped back to herself and hurried forward.

Not because she feared the principal would struggle without help, but…

If she did not join in now, she might not get even a single one.

That would look like she was slacking off.

While Lu Dongyu desperately intercepted one zombie and maneuvered against it using the techniques she had learned, the small principal’s “sinful” hand had already reached toward the third.

Relying on the thick anti-abrasion gloves she wore, Fu Qing pressed directly against the zombie’s jaw, fingers locking into the joint and forcibly preventing it from biting. Facing the mouth that spewed foul, acidic breath, her movements remained calm and precise.

One thrust, one pull.

Another kill added to the tally.

The zombie collapsed weakly. Fu Qing frowned and turned her head aside before finally exhaling slowly.

It stinks.

Three of the five zombies fell in moments. One remained entangled with Lu Dongyu. Because it was a direct confrontation and the zombie had been large and burly in life, Lu Dongyu struggled slightly, though not enough to lose.

Fu Qing watched briefly, saw that she would finish soon, then crooked a finger toward the last zombie, which was eyeing Lu Dongyu eagerly.

“Hey,” she said softly. “Your opponent is over here.”

Absorbed in the fight, Lu Dongyu suddenly heard this and nearly stabbed herself when her blade slipped.

She still had the spare energy to provoke it…

If five zombies in a sealed room could be handled so easily, then before zombies began mutating, did this so-called apocalypse even pose a survival challenge for the principal?

And this was her from five years ago.

A faint realization dawned on Lu Dongyu.

The principal’s strength was far more terrifying than they had ever imagined.

₊˚.🎧📓✩

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