Ch 63: Opening a Survival School Before the Zombie Outbreak

A strange sensation came from beneath Fu Qing’s hand, as if some force were pressing against the dagger, trying to push it outward.

Newly regenerated flesh was repeatedly sliced apart by the blade buried deep inside her body. From her fight with Skull, Fu Qing had learned that although these people had been transformed by the virus and enhanced in many ways, they still retained a small capacity for pain.

Yet the woman’s expression remained as calm as stagnant water.

Judging from her earlier speed, the woman moved almost as fast as the high-level zombies Fu Qing had encountered in the late apocalypse, though her combat ability lagged behind.

Fu Qing guessed that her evolution lay primarily in flesh regeneration.

The woman paid no mind to being pinned down. Remaining nailed to the ground by the dagger, she continued speaking.

“You’re from S City, aren’t you? Then you should know about the fire in the urban village eight months ago.”

Fu Qing frowned slightly.

Eight months ago meant around May, before her rebirth.

In her previous life, that May felt like nearly six years in the past.

She struggled to recall the incident.

There had indeed been a large urban village in S City. Ongoing financial disputes had delayed demolition for years. Buildings stood so close together sunlight barely reached the ground. Sewage flowed openly, trash bins constantly overflowed, and tangled electrical wires hung overhead like a web pressing down on everyone who lived there.

Late one night in May, a household fire started when an electric scooter was charged indoors. The flames spread rapidly. Fire trucks arrived but were blocked more than two hundred meters away by illegally parked cars and could not enter in time. The disaster became a major fire, leaving dozens dead or severely injured.

Looking at the burn scars on the woman’s face, Fu Qing understood.

She said nothing, and the woman continued on her own.

“The fire that night was enormous. They said most victims died from smoke and toxic gases. But not me. The flames followed clothes hanging on the balcony into my home. I’d worked all day and slept too deeply. When I woke up, the fire had already reached my blanket… and my legs.”

“When they rescued me, they said seventy percent of my body was burned. I wouldn’t survive a week.”

“That week was hell… If you had experienced that kind of pain, you’d lose your sense of pain too,” the woman said softly, touching her leg. “But I didn’t die. On the seventh day, He came to the hospital and saved me.”

“That was the day I was reborn. He turned me into a zombie. I no longer screamed day and night from pain, and I would never die from burns again.” Her voice grew increasingly excited. “He didn’t just give me a new life. He gave me power. In our organization, even rich heirs like Liu Yong have to kneel at my feet and beg for favor.”

Her smile widened as she coaxed, “Identity, status, wealth. None of it will matter in the new world. Even ordinary people like us can break free from the shackles of birth and rise to the top. Isn’t that wonderful?”

“The fire destroyed my flesh, so He granted me rebirth.”

“Those who suffered from being weak or small, He made their bodies indestructible.”

“And you? What do you desire? If you pray sincerely, He can grant you anything!”

Fu Qing realized that although the Zombie King was no longer human, it understood human weakness remarkably well.

No wonder those trapped in suffering and despair might cling to belief in it.

“What do I want?” Fu Qing let out a soft laugh under the woman’s expectant gaze. “I want every one of you erased from this world. Can it give me that?”

“You…”

Still straddling the woman, Fu Qing straightened, pulled the dagger free, and wiped the blood from its blade with her thumb.

“You’ve said so much, but I don’t think you’ve actually convinced yourself.”

She recalled the woman’s earlier reactions. The dagger piercing her eye had caused no response, yet losing her only unscarred hand had driven her into emotional turmoil.

“You crave respect. You crave equality. You want your efforts to matter. Even after becoming a zombie, you still long to be a complete human being.”

“But that’s something it can’t give you.”

A trace of pity appeared in Fu Qing’s expression. “I sympathize with you. But I’m sorry. I still need you to die.”

That faint pity seemed to completely enrage the woman.

“How can you be so… ungrateful?!”

Tremendous strength erupted from her thin body. With one hand braced against the ground, she surged upright. Her upper lip curled, faint fangs showing.

Fu Qing had already dodged aside before being thrown off. Watching the woman’s twisted face, she felt this was finally her true appearance. The woman must have truly wanted her to join, to keep up the façade for so long.

But why? Surely killing Skull alone wasn’t enough to convince them she had great potential.

“Die…!” the woman spat, so furious she could barely form words.

“I’d rather not,” Fu Qing replied.

The woman stopped talking entirely. She kicked off the ground and rushed forward at blinding speed, drawing a long blade from behind her waist.

“Would’ve been better if you started with this,” Fu Qing remarked as their weapons collided. “I hate wasting time talking.”

System: 【……】

It couldn’t help thinking that its host had been doing quite a lot of talking just moments ago.

When Lu Yan and Hao Zhenye noticed something wrong on the map and rushed over one after the other, Fu Qing and the hooded woman had already been fighting for five or six minutes.

Broken limbs were scattered across the ground. Just the two of them had managed to hack off three arms, seven hands, and more than forty fingers.

Since clothing could not regenerate, the hooded woman’s long sleeves had effectively become sleeveless.

Lu Yan stared in shock for a long moment before blurting out a solemn criticism, “This is really not environmentally friendly.”

Hao Zhenye, who should have known better than to expect anything sensible from him: “…”

The constant clang of weapons echoed through the forest. It was too dark for either fighter to bother with a light, so Lu Yan and Hao Zhenye could only track them by the sparks bursting from colliding metal.

Hao Zhenye was still debating whether he should step in to help when he suddenly noticed the space beside him felt empty. Turning his head, he realized Lu Yan had already bent down and started collecting the severed limbs on the ground.

Cradling two arms and a leg in his arms, Lu Yan frowned when he saw Hao Zhenye staring blankly at him. “Don’t just stand there. Help pick them up.”

Hao Zhenye: “…”

Was he idle? Shouldn’t the priority be helping the principal?

He hesitated and glanced toward Fu Qing. Aside from two tears in her clothes, she appeared completely fine. Only then did he reluctantly go help Lu Yan.

In the middle of fighting, Fu Qing even had the leisure to notice what they were doing. Passing by them mid-battle, she casually asked, “Need more?”

Lu Yan did not stand on ceremony. “If possible, yes.”

Fu Qing hummed in acknowledgment. Her blade flashed, slicing off half an ear.

Like shaving noodles off a block of dough.

Hao Zhenye could not help thinking that comparison.

Fu Qing’s dagger had long since bent from repeated chopping. Taking advantage of the woman’s momentary distraction, she pulled a military knife from Hao Zhenye’s lower back and raised it with a loud clang to block an incoming strike.

Hao Zhenye barely registered what happened before feeling the weight at his waist lighten. Reaching back and touching empty air, he silently retreated farther away to pick up fingers so he would not interfere with the principal’s performance.

Thank goodness he had not listened to Bai Tang’s provocation during the monthly exam and challenged the principal. He would have lost miserably.

The two stopped worrying about Fu Qing and quickly gathered most of the scattered remains. Fingers, ears, and eyeballs went into Hao Zhenye’s bag, while Lu Yan carried the arms and legs, looking like someone hauling home a bundle of baguettes from the supermarket.

He weighed each piece thoughtfully and finally confirmed his suspicion.

“Fu Qing! Her limb weight is decreasing. Regeneration consumes internal energy. The more times parts are severed, the lighter her overall body becomes.”

Then he muttered, “No matter how unreasonable things get, conservation of energy should still apply.”

Body weight affected many aspects of combat. In battle, it was a decisive factor.

Fu Qing did not respond. Hao Zhenye wondered if she had heard when she suddenly dashed forward, kicked off a nearby tree trunk for leverage, and launched a flying kick that sent the hooded woman five meters back into a tree with a heavy crash.

Hao Zhenye: “…”

Landing lightly, Fu Qing nodded. “I thought her blocking strength felt weaker just now. Turns out she’s gotten much lighter.”

The woman spat out a mouthful of blood, crimson mixing with her lipstick in a strangely alluring smear.

She stared at the three of them, eyes dark and unreadable, then suddenly turned and ran.

Fu Qing froze for a moment.

Just seconds ago the woman had fought to the death, yet now she fled without hesitation.

Fu Qing started to chase, but Lu Yan called out sharply, “Look over there.”

In the distant forest, a raging wildfire had ignited, flames lighting half the night sky.

“That direction. A runner-type infected escaped. The simulated zombies couldn’t catch it,” Hao Zhenye said after thinking for a moment. “It probably started the fire.”

Simulated zombies had operational limits, while the hooded woman’s group were clearly elite members of their organization. Not only powerful, they were fiercely loyal. Once captured, they committed suicide without hesitation. In the end, the only gains were the twenty tubes of blood Lu Yan collected and the hooded woman’s severed body parts.

Still, aside from injuries to Yu Cheng, Qin Yufei, and a few others, the students suffered no major losses, while several of the Believers had died. The clash was undeniably a major victory for Fangzhou.

“If firefighters run into a huge crowd of us in the forest, that’ll be impossible to explain. We should call the students back,” Lu Yan advised.

Fu Qing watched the direction the hooded woman had fled, then finally gave up pursuit and instructed the system to send a notice.

The examination would end early. All students were to gather immediately at the mountain’s base.

She also assigned several physically strong students to carry the corpses down the mountain and escort teams to guard them along the way.

The hooded woman was too busy escaping to interfere this time.

Given how elusive these enemies were and how much commotion tonight had caused, Fu Qing decided not to dispose of the bodies as she had before. Instead, she brought them back to the school for Zhao Yunxiao and Lu Yan to study.

As for whether storing them at Fangzhou was safe, she did not even consider the question.

With the system in place, before the apocalypse arrived, this was the safest location in the world.

It was already deep into the night. Everything slept. No one noticed the disciplined group descending the mountain.

Xu Mingyue had already driven Fu Qing’s car back, loading the limping student and the food-poisoned students first. After squeezing everyone closer together, she tossed three corpses into the vehicle with loud thuds.

“It’s a little cramped. Bear with it.”

The five students: “…”

After securing the bodies, Xu Mingyue worried that forest rangers might not notice the fire in time and called the fire department. Since she had no official identity and used a SIM card acquired through the system, she had no concern about being traced.

One group rattled back toward school packed together with corpses, while Fu Qing remained behind to finish cleanup.

After confirming every student had left West Mountain, she still circled near the fire site twice, ensuring no civilians were trapped. Just as she prepared to leave, urgent shouts from firefighters echoed nearby.

She climbed into a tree and watched fully equipped firefighters rush uphill carrying hoses.

If any of them had looked up, they would have seen a blood-stained figure standing among the branches.

Only after watching them disappear did Fu Qing finally relax enough to review the night’s events alone.

“System,” she suddenly called.

【I’m here.】

Rarely, Fu Qing seemed distracted, staring at the military knife in her hand, now bent from repeated strikes.

“In my previous life… did any zombie ever have regenerative flesh like that?”

【…In your previous life, until the moment of the host’s death, no zombie with similar abilities was ever discovered.】

Both fell silent at the same time.

An uneasy premonition slowly spread through them.

₊˚.🎧📓✩

Sandy: I’m getting so stressed with these stupid mutants group ughh