Ch 87: Opening a Survival School Before the Zombie Outbreak

Since the release of their very first video, the five members of the publicity group had updated content every week for nearly a full year, never missing an upload, even during exam periods. When inspiration occasionally ran dry, they gathered ideas from the forum. Their consistent schedule and exceptionally high quality content earned them a large and loyal fanbase.

To broaden their reach, they did not limit themselves to just one pink themed platform. The group also created accounts on Xiaohongshu, Douyin, Kuaishou, and other platforms, uploading content simultaneously across all of them.

Combined across platforms, their follower count had now surpassed ten million.

Later, as the workload became overwhelming, they recruited over a dozen additional helpers to assist with operations. Freckles also established a separate editorial team under her leadership to handle written content.

Even so, the workload remained enormous. Fortunately, the principal’s reward points were generous, and together with their strong sense of responsibility, the five of them managed to persevere.

The videos of @Dormitory Escape Royale revolved around an original fictional universe. Over the course of a year, they told the story of several friends from the same school preparing for the coming apocalypse.

And today was the day, within that world setting, when the apocalypse was about to arrive.

The five had begun warming up audiences a full month in advance across all platforms. Their recent videos steadily built toward the impending disaster, and nearly all fans sensed that something big was coming. Discussions filled the comment sections. At the end of last week’s video, they finally announced that the next update would be a livestream and encouraged everyone to tune in on time.

At eight o’clock that morning, the @Dormitory Escape Royale account uploaded a new short video right on schedule.

The usual self introduction segment appeared at the start, but this time it was split into five small windows.

Although they wore their familiar mascot headgear, each person stood in a different setting and outfit, clearly filming separately after returning home for summer break. Some used fixed cameras, others front facing phone cameras, yet they spoke in unison:

“Hello everyone, we are Dormitory Escape Royale!”

The scene then cut to Green Fish Head, Sun Wei, who had set out driving early that morning and was currently filming at a highway rest stop.

Her background showed a service area parking lot. Sitting in a truck driver’s seat, the phone camera shaking slightly, she said energetically, “Today at 1 p.m., we’ll begin a two hour livestream!”

Next came Freckles, still at home wearing pajamas. “During the livestream, we’ll randomly connect with online fans and check everyone’s apocalypse preparations.”

Suddenly, Peppa Pig leaned close to the camera, her tone turning dark and ominous. She pulled out a fire axe from beneath the table.

“…Don’t tell me you still haven’t prepared. Do you want to die?”

“Don’t scare the audience!” Sunglasses Doge suddenly popped into frame, forcibly pushing Peppa Pig aside as cheerful background music replaced the tension.

He stood inside a warehouse stacked with supplies, holding a clipboard used for inventory checks.

Tucking the board under his arm, he crossed his arms and grinned. “But honestly, anyone not preparing with the apocalypse coming probably doesn’t want to live anyway.”

“Ahem.” Evil Pikachu cleared her throat, switching into a professional announcer’s voice.

“After the livestream ends, we will select ten viewers with the best performance and award each a three piece fruit set. Yes, that fruit set. Guaranteed to make you the envy of your university.”

Two large currency symbols appeared beside her head with the sound of coins dropping.

“In addition, we’ve launched simultaneous events on Weibo, Xiaohongshu, and other social platforms. Besides joining the livestream, you can post your own apocalypse preparations using the hashtags #DormitoryEscapeRoyale and #ApocalypsePreparedness. Weapons, stockpiles, even self built shelters are welcome. We will also select fifty participants to receive a hot pot voucher worth 299 yuan, plus three hundred winners who will receive exclusive Escape Royale gift packs.”

These longer promotional lines were always delivered by Yue Yuxuan.

Her broadcaster style voice sounded smooth and professional, though viewers found it hard to ignore the worn straw hat atop Pikachu’s head and the sun scorched farmland visible behind her.

Finally, Su Huaijin, already back in the dorm, appeared as Screaming Chicken, sitting on a bunk bed.

“There are lots of prize slots available, so everyone is welcome to participate!”

“Oh, right.” She suddenly lowered her voice mysteriously. “At the end of the livestream, there will also be a special guest everyone has been waiting for joining us live. Make sure you stay until the end!”

At the video’s conclusion, all five appeared together again, waving toward viewers.

“See you at 1 p.m. in the livestream!”

…

Most followers of @Dormitory Escape Royale were students. With summer vacation in full swing, online activity was at its peak. Within less than two hours of posting, discussions flooded in.

[F5 finally made it big! Giving away prizes this expensive now?]

[Escape Royale, you’ve changed. Your character arc is ruined. You’re no longer the poor student I once knew TAT…]

[Peppa killed me lol. Where did that fire axe come from? Does she keep filming props piled up in her bedroom? Her parents must be terrified.]

[I’m usually too socially anxious to join live calls, but those prizes are insanely tempting…]

[+1. Time to show my true strength!]

[Old follower here. New viewers might not know, but their previous giveaways were always super generous. They really treat fans well!]

[How did I only discover this treasure creator now?]

[I’m an incoming freshman and already preparing to participate. A three piece fruit set! I begged my mom after exams and she still wouldn’t buy one for me. I even bought my phone with my own New Year money. I can’t imagine how happy I’d be showing up to campus with that set…]

…

A longtime fan of @Dormitory Escape Royale, Zhao Yun, also came across the new video.

Her university started early, with classes beginning next Monday. Zhao Yun had just returned to campus and was unpacking her luggage. While taking a short break midway through cleaning, she happened to scroll past Escape Royale’s newest upload. Delighted, she immediately showed it to her roommate.

“There’s a livestream this afternoon. Want to watch it together?”

Ever since witnessing Fu Qing’s dramatic appearance in that earlier episode, her roommate had fallen headfirst into the fandom as well. The two of them had become devoted followers, watching every release together. It was even more fun than keeping up with variety shows.

And Escape Royale had never disappointed them. After running for so long, the creators showed no shortage of ideas. Each episode grew more exciting than the last, and the production quality barely resembled student work anymore. Ever since the hyper realistic “zombie” first appeared, several videos’ visual effects had gone viral beyond the fandom, even prompting professional VFX artists to publish analyses discussing how those zombies had been created.

Seeing creators she loved become so accomplished filled Zhao Yun with pride as a fan.

By now, every episode of @Dormitory Escape Royale reliably surpassed one million views on a single platform alone, frequently appearing on the homepage. They were undeniably a breakout success.

They had even received an invitation to an annual creator awards ceremony.

But the five of them declined, citing academic commitments.

In reality, they feared attracting the attention of fanatics at such public events and potentially endangering ordinary attendees.

To viewers, however, this simply reinforced their image as modest and low profile creators.

The account almost never accepted sponsorships. The few advertisements they did feature were charity promotions supporting agricultural products, clearly earning little promotional income. With Fu Qing’s backing, the group often funded generous giveaways themselves to expand their influence, which only made fans like them more.

Wanting to help the creators earn something rather than lose money making videos, fans responded enthusiastically to those rare advertisements, driving astonishing purchase numbers.

Many followers, influenced by the channel, also developed an interest in apocalypse themed films and novels and even picked up the habit of stockpiling supplies.

They did not truly believe an apocalypse would arrive. Yet imagining which nearby places could serve as shelters, how long their household supplies might last, or what a random stick by the roadside could be used for made everyday life feel like an RPG called Earth Online, adding excitement to otherwise ordinary routines.

After @Dormitory Escape Royale rose to fame, many similar “apocalypse preparation” creators sprang up across platforms.

Some merely imitated them. Others outright copied their ideas.

Following repeated fan complaints, the group released an official statement. They explained that frequent troubling news events had left many people anxious in a rapidly changing world, and their original intention had been to bring viewers a sense of relaxation and enjoyment amid uncertainty.

At the same time, they encouraged everyone to remain mindful of potential risks. Much of the knowledge shown in their videos, they emphasized, was useful not only in fictional apocalyptic scenarios but also in everyday life.

For example, a fire axe could fight zombies in fiction, but in reality it might save lives during a fire.

Techniques demonstrated for fighting zombies could also function as self defense skills.

And stockpiling supplies could prove helpful during disease outbreaks. Their videos even covered shelf life and storage methods for various materials as practical references.

They stated they would send legal warnings to plagiarists and reserve the right to pursue accountability, but they welcomed genuine creators inspired by the theme, happy to see more people producing apocalypse related content.

The statement earned widespread praise for its maturity and perspective. Many casual viewers realized that beneath the humor and theatrics, Escape Royale was genuinely providing educational content.

Everything shown in their preparation videos was feasible and supported by real data. Viewers could actually learn from them.

What impressed fans most was the group’s dedication. Longtime followers noticed that over the past year, even the five creators’ physiques had undergone dramatic transformation. They were clearly training seriously off camera.

Some fans joked that the group now genuinely looked capable of chopping down a zombie with a single swing of an axe.

All these factors combined turned @Dormitory Escape Royale, less than a year after debuting, into a true hidden gem creator.

And it made their very first livestream especially anticipated.

Zhao Yun and her roommate eagerly set reminders for the broadcast. Zhao Yun then glanced at the storage box under her bed filled with instant noodles and other supplies and suddenly said, “Should we try connecting to the stream too?”

“Us?” her roommate rejected the idea reflexively. “No way. There’ll be so many people. We won’t get picked. And even if we did, it’d be super awkward.”

“What’s awkward about it? Those five are great at keeping things lively. It won’t get boring. Besides, our dorm really has stocked quite a lot,” Zhao Yun said jokingly. “If zombies actually showed up, we could survive in our dorm for a long time.”

Seeing her roommate still hesitant, she added, “That’s a three piece fruit set. Even reselling it would be worth tens of thousands.”

Few college students were flush with money. Her roommate finally relented. “Alright… let’s try.”

Once she made up her mind, she immediately sprang into action, opening their storage cabinets to inspect their supplies.

“Most of what we’ve got are snacks. That might not look great. Should we go buy some extra stuff at the campus shop?”

Even if they were not selected, they could eat the food later when money ran low. Nothing would go to waste.

“Deal.” Zhao Yun stood up excitedly. “Let’s go!”

On the way, they rewatched the video. This time her roommate noticed something new. She paused when Screaming Chicken delivered the final line.

“Who do you think the mysterious guest is?”

She repeated the phrase “long awaited,” her eyes suddenly lighting up.

“Could it be that person who wore the gas mask before?”

@Dormitory Escape Royale had never collaborated with other creators. The only guest ever featured was Fu Qing, who appeared just once yet left a lasting impression on many viewers.

If anyone qualified as “long awaited,” there seemed to be only one possible answer.

Zhao Yun grew excited as well. “That’s actually really possible. If it’s her, that would be amazing!”

Since that appearance, countless fans had begged for the mysterious sixth member to become a regular, only to be firmly ignored by Escape Royale. If she truly appeared in this livestream, it would be an enormous surprise.

₊˚.🎧📓✩