Ch 59: Opening a Survival School Before the Zombie Outbreak

Unlike ordinary universities, Fangzhou’s final exams stretched across a long period and demanded heavy physical exertion. All exams were packed into a single week, placing enormous strain on both body and mind. By the time students finished, they looked as though they had shed an entire layer of themselves.

After all subjects concluded, the campus fell eerily quiet for two full days. Even the cafeteria during mealtimes was unusually silent. People stared blankly as they shoveled food into their mouths. Some chewed slower and slower with rice still in their mouths, suddenly jolting awake, clearly on the verge of falling asleep mid-meal.

Only after resting through the weekend did everyone finally recover.

Makeup exams at Fangzhou were scheduled after the holiday, requiring those who failed to return one week early. So once finals ended, there was temporarily nothing left to do on campus.

Some students packed their luggage. Others booked simulation zombie training sessions for extra practice. Out-of-town students arranged shopping trips together to buy local specialties from S City. The atmosphere had clearly shifted into early holiday celebration mode.

Amid the lively bustle, everyone’s wristbands suddenly vibrated simultaneously.

【Schoolwide Announcement: Please assemble at the training field in one hour for a unified campus assessment. Late arrival or absence will result in deduction of regular performance points.】

Students: “?”

Students shopping downtown: “???”

This sudden?!

Sales clerks who had been enthusiastically pitching products blinked in confusion as the students standing before them seemed to vanish instantly.

In the distance, only the sight of figures fleeing while carrying armfuls of shopping bags remained.

Sales clerk: “……”

She rubbed her eyes and muttered, “Was that… the city track team out buying New Year supplies?”

*

One hour later, the entire student body assembled on the training field.

Because there had been no time to change clothes, outfits varied wildly. When Fu Qing arrived, she immediately spotted several students proudly standing in northeastern floral padded jackets and fur coats, while nearby girls wearing short skirts with trench coats and tall boots shivered uncontrollably.

At first glance, it looked like multiple seasons mixed together.

Well… freshman fashion. Perfectly normal.

She withdrew her gaze, walked past the students who had fully unleashed themselves the moment break began, and stepped onto the podium at the front of the field.

Adjusting the microphone, she spoke without preamble into the sudden silence.

“Do you see West Mountain behind you?”

All heads turned in unison, then turned back.

Nods.

“The temporary unified assessment is as follows: without bringing any food or water, and carrying only a tent and a basic tool kit, proceed to West Mountain and survive there for twenty-four hours. Team formation is allowed, but each team may have no more than four people.”

The field erupted into noise.

Fu Qing added calmly, “You have five minutes to return to your dorms and change out of your fur coats.”

The uproar vanished instantly. In less than thirty seconds, the entire field emptied, leaving behind only a few abandoned shoes scattered on the ground, victims of someone’s hurried escape.

Fu Qing found this deeply satisfying.

After one semester, Fangzhou’s students had clearly adapted to a militarized lifestyle.

Her gaze shifted toward the distant snow-covered mountain.

During finals week, she had personally gone to West Mountain with a tent, spending two days scouting the area to ensure no overly dangerous predators were present before officially designating it as the assessment site.

This test primarily evaluated survival skills.

Winter was the harshest season in an apocalypse. Edible plants and animals decreased, daylight shortened, and severe weather worsened conditions. Translated on Hololo novels. In northern cities especially, countless people had died during the first winter simply because they lacked sufficient fuel.

With only one winter remaining before the apocalypse, she needed to help students accumulate real winter survival experience as quickly as possible.

Five minutes later, everyone stood ready.

They would hike roughly an hour to reach the mountain’s base, then split up from there.

By her calculations, they would arrive around five in the afternoon, leaving just over an hour of daylight to find suitable locations and set up tents.

The timing was precise.

“For this assessment, twenty zombies have been released into the mountain area. All are intermediate-level zombies capable of climbing and possessing night vision. Each successful kill grants five bonus points to all participants involved in the hunt.”

“There are no further rules. Survive twenty-four hours, and the exam ends. Please remember, this is not a full simulation. This is the real world.”

Fu Qing explained briefly, emphasizing the final sentence.

Everyone’s expressions sharpened as they responded in unison.

“Yes!”

She nodded and signaled them to depart.

Their wristbands provided maps to ensure they could reach the destination without instructors leading them, but once they entered West Mountain, map functions would temporarily deactivate until the assessment concluded.

The large group departed the school in a vast procession. After half a year of training, everyone had undergone visible transformation, most obvious in their eyes.

Passersby along the way could not help staring.

Fu Qing was not worried about sending students alone into West Mountain. With more than two thousand people together, they already resembled an immature but functional army. Before heading out to supervise, however, she had other matters to handle.

She stepped down from the podium. Six teachers she had summoned earlier waited in a corner of the field.

“With over two thousand students taking an off-campus exam, I can’t manage alone. I need at least three proctors,” Fu Qing said. “Volunteers will receive five teaching points each as compensation. Anyone interested?”

She was not exaggerating. On campus, the system allowed her to monitor every student’s movements. Outside school grounds, however, it could only track locations, not actions.

If emergencies occurred, she would need assistance.

As for why she was not using full simulation: first, relying too heavily on simulations blurred the boundary between virtual and reality; second, West Mountain was resource-rich and close to campus, so familiarizing students with real terrain would only benefit them.

And third… it saved points.

Before she finished speaking, Lu Yan had already begun raising his hand.

Fu Qing gently pressed her palm downward, politely signaling him to stop.

“The school doctor must accompany the group. You don’t get to volunteer.”

Lu Yan: “…?”

Another five teaching points saved. Ever thrifty, Fu Qing looked at the remaining teachers with satisfaction.

Although system rules prevented teachers from leaving campus, Fu Qing could exploit a loophole. By transferring teaching points to them and letting them use the points themselves, she could activate the function 【Allow Teacher to Leave Campus for One Hour】 and bring them outside legally.

Grandma Liu obviously could not go and had only come to watch the excitement. Bai Tang disliked going outdoors and had little interest in the proctoring fee, which was equivalent to nearly five months of her salary.

Zhao Yunxiao hesitated the most. Though tempted by the five-hour opportunity to leave campus, he felt his fragile physique might not survive even one winter night in the mountains, let alone a full day and night of proctoring. With regret, he declined.

In the end, only Hao Zhenye volunteered.

Xu Mingyue glanced at the remaining elderly, weak, and infirm group and casually raised her hand as well.

With three proctors decided, Fu Qing told them to prepare and set out officially in half an hour.

*

The four-member proctor team drove out and arrived at roughly the same time as the students.

For convenience, Fu Qing had the system upload student locations to the three teachers’ wristbands. On the display, dense clusters of blue dots scattered into the vast mountains like grains of sand sinking into the sea, quickly spreading far apart.

West Mountain was actually a continuous mountain range covering more than four hundred square kilometers. Only a small portion had been developed into scenic areas and resorts. The section near Fangzhou contained only a few households at the base; higher up lay completely undeveloped wilderness.

Fortunately, the elevation was not high and no large predators roamed there. After the apocalypse began, even inexperienced civilians had dared venture into the mountains, sustaining countless desperate citizens.

The exam boundary had been marked by Fu Qing. Students would not go too deep, and if they crossed the safety line, their wristbands would issue warnings directing them back.

With the system’s support, supervision was relatively easy.

Fu Qing parked the car in the courtyard of an abandoned house and led the three others up the mountain on foot.

After about an hour of walking, Xu Mingyue found a suitable campsite. She instructed Lu Yan and Hao Zhenye to pitch the tents. Two men and two women meant two tents were sufficient.

“This spot is close to a water source. Many students will probably camp upstream or downstream, which also makes responding to emergencies easier,” Xu Mingyue explained.

Unlike students, teachers were allowed to carry food and water. When Hao Zhenye returned after setting up the tent, he saw Xu Mingyue already hanging a large pot over the campfire. Once the water boiled, she tossed in a packet of hot pot base, then skillfully pulled out colorful rolls of beef and lamb from her backpack and dumped them into the pot without hesitation. Finally, she threw in three blocks of noodles with loud clunks.

The pot was packed completely full. Soon, the rich aroma of hot pot drifted through the night air.

If the hungry students currently roaming the mountains hunting wild rabbits smelled this, Hao Zhenye suspected something resembling rebellion against teachers might occur.

He looked at the compressed biscuits in his own bag and suddenly found them utterly unappealing.

“Want some?” Xu Mingyue warmly invited.

Hao Zhenye hesitated for a second and first glanced at Fu Qing and Lu Yan.

Lu Yan’s backpack appeared filled entirely with medical supplies. He was carefully sorting gauze and iodine, preparing for emergencies.

Peeking into the bag, Hao Zhenye realized there was no space left for food.

As for Fu Qing, she had not brought a backpack at all. Earlier she had tried sneaking an undercooked meatball and gotten her hand lightly smacked by Xu Mingyue. Translated on Hololo novels. Now she sat cross-legged beside the fire, bored, like a hungry child waiting to be fed.

It seemed Xu Mingyue had brought food for all three of them.

In that case… adding another mouth felt like too much burden.

Seeing his hesitation, Xu Mingyue smiled. “It’s fine. We always divide responsibilities like this. I brought plenty. Three people can’t finish it anyway. Come join us.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Hao Zhenye thanked her and sat around the fire with them.

No one who survived the apocalypse ate slowly. The moment the food finished cooking, the four quickly divided everything.

The meal lasted barely five minutes, leaving Hao Zhenye still wanting more. After cleaning his bowl, he looked at the others and felt awkward.

Proctoring was not difficult. Like ordinary exam invigilators, most of the time they simply sat and waited for wristband alerts requesting assistance.

Idling was already uncomfortable. Idling with unfamiliar people was worse.

Restless, Hao Zhenye debated leaving as he usually would, but after eating their food, that felt impolite. After struggling internally, he decided to start a conversation.

He secretly pulled out the phone Fu Qing had bought for the teachers and searched: “One hundred icebreaker topics for gatherings.”

After finally choosing a suitable topic and looking up to speak, he realized no one was paying attention anymore.

Turning in confusion, he saw Xu Mingyue knitting under a headlamp.

Hao Zhenye: “?”

He was deeply impressed by her preparedness.

Beside her, Fu Qing had already fallen asleep, a small blanket covering her stomach. Every so often, Xu Mingyue paused knitting to tuck the blanket around her more securely.

Hao Zhenye somehow sensed maternal affection in the gesture.

Noticing his gaze, Xu Mingyue assumed he was looking for the missing Lu Yan and whispered, “Emergency call just came in. A student twisted his ankle. He went to carry him back.”

“Oh. Okay.” Hao Zhenye sat back down numbly and decided to pass the night playing a puzzle game on his phone.

*

If the other three proctors mostly waited for emergencies like wild animal encounters and could even sneak in naps, Lu Yan was the complete opposite, busy without pause.

Throughout the entire night, he sat down to rest for less than five minutes total.

The first time he returned, supporting a student who had fallen into a ditch while chasing a rabbit and sprained his ankle, Fu Qing was already asleep.

He treated the injury and had the student wait in the teachers’ tent until the assessment ended.

The second time he returned after rescuing four students poisoned unconscious by a teammate’s disastrous cooking, Fu Qing had merely rolled over and continued sleeping.

He prescribed medication and told them to reflect deeply on their cooking skills while surrounded by lingering hot pot aroma.

The third time, dragging a dazed student back with a rope, he finally found Fu Qing awake, wrapped in her blanket, leisurely playing cards with Xu Mingyue, Hao Zhenye, and the injured student.

Lu Yan: “……”

He could not help asking, “Why does it feel like all of you came camping while I’m the only one doing field training?”

Fu Qing played her final card perfectly and looked up, noticing the tied-up student behind him. She blinked. “You went out once… and came back with a person?”

The boy stared blankly ahead, mouth open, clearly not in a normal mental state.

Fu Qing’s expression turned serious as she stood to examine him. “What happened to him?”

“Oh, him?” Lu Yan said casually, holding the rope. “No idea what he ate. He kept saying he saw his great-grandmother holding hands with Patrick Star dancing around a campfire and wanted to join them. I had no choice but to tie him up.”

Fu Qing: “……”

“Pff!” Xu Mingyue sprayed coffee everywhere.

Lu Yan complained, “What I don’t understand is where he even found poisonous mushrooms this season.”

Xu Mingyue laughed so hard she coughed. After calming down, she asked Fu Qing for the car keys. “I’ll take him to the hospital. He definitely can’t stay in the mountains like this.”

“You three are more useful anyway. Unlike me, I’ve got nothing to do after pitching tents. Stay here. I’ll come back once he’s stable.”

Fu Qing had no objections. After Xu Mingyue led the student away, she noticed Lu Yan standing still, lost in thought.

“What’s wrong?”

Lu Yan frowned slightly, looking toward the dark mountains.

“I just feel like… something isn’t quite right.”

₊˚.🎧📓✩