Ch 98: Opening a Survival School Before the Zombie Outbreak

Trending searches?

Fu Qing lifted an eyebrow, closed the system interface, and opened an app on her phone.

The trending list was now filled with virus-related topics. The number one entry was only two characters, #Zombies#, followed by a dark red tag reading “Exploding.”

Close behind came a string of hot topics: #Biting incidents erupt simultaneously across multiple regions worldwide# (Exploding), #Has the zombie virus really appeared?# (Exploding), #New virus suspected to spread through biting#, #News anchor attacked during live broadcast, feared dead on the spot#, #Foreign influencer opens fire into crowd to protect themselves#, and so on. Every entertainment and ordinary social-news item had been pushed down.

Fu Qing scrolled, and at the very bottom finally saw an entry: #Survival streamer live-broadcasts killing a zombie#.

The video was clipped from the stream and uploaded by a passerby account with almost no followers. The cover was heavily mosaicked, yet a swath of vivid red could still be seen.

On a normal day, posting something so grotesque and bloody would have detonated the comments section, but today, compared with the other trending items, this image almost didn’t stand out anymore.

Only two points truly drew attention. First, Fu Qing had done it during a “livestream,” which in itself was sensational.

Second, and more importantly, her purpose differed from other creators filming zombie attacks. From her wording, she wasn’t spreading panic or simply recording events. She was teaching people how to kill the mysterious “monster” that had suddenly appeared.

The clip wasn’t long, with just over a minute of Fu Qing on screen, yet it contained an enormous amount of information.

First: while the public still hadn’t reached consensus on what these mutants were, and were using all kinds of labels like “monster,” “biter,” and “attacker,” she was the first creator so far to explicitly call the infected who attacked after mutating “zombies.”

Second: she identified a zombie’s weak points and a method of killing it. She even demonstrated it live and proved the method worked.

Compared with those two points, the third was more negative.

Just like the concerns raised in the livestream chat, some commenters expressed doubt, saying Fu Qing moved far too cleanly and decisively: “It’s like she’s killed thousands of zombies before.”

After all, this thing had appeared less than half an hour ago. And given that many people who were bitten later lost their minds in the same way, the earliest zombies likely had been human.

Even if they weren’t, Fu Qing’s ability to strike down a humanoid creature so crisply, and to maintain a calm, detached observer’s posture through the entire process of its struggle and death, as if watching an object rather than a being, still made viewers feel an instinctive chill at her elevated, predatory demeanor.

Some argued the information she provided was extremely valuable and deserved a much higher trending position than other clips.

Others believed the present chaos was fertile ground for crime: “Who knows what she practiced on to become that skilled,” they said, insisting nothing she claimed should be trusted.

The two sides fought viciously in the comments, driving the video’s popularity higher and higher.

Most of the marketing accounts that normally chased traffic had already stopped operating. This clip was spreading mainly through ordinary users sharing it on their own.

True or not, she was at least the only person teaching “how to fight back against zombies” and “where a zombie’s weak point is.” And judging from how quickly the zombie died in the footage, what she said carried a certain credibility.

So people forwarded it to relatives and friends.

Better safe than sorry. If they ran into an attacker, at least they would have a method to try.

The reports circulating online were too horrific, scenes no ordinary person raised in peacetime had ever witnessed or knew how to handle. In panic, the information Fu Qing offered became the only lifeline they could cling to.

The clip’s momentum kept building.

Gradually, it drew in viewers who recognized the account @Dorm Escape Royale, and they began commenting beneath it.

People were shocked to discover the clip came from a one-year anniversary livestream by an apocalypse survival creator, someone who had predicted a year earlier that an apocalypse would break out roughly one year later.

And the chosen livestream date had collided exactly with the day the zombies appeared.

Was it coincidence, or something intentional?

How much did the five people behind @Dorm Escape Royale know, and what about this mysterious sixth guest who finally showed her face?

Yet this fan’s comment also eased some of the public’s suspicions about Fu Qing.

She said Fu Qing had appeared in the account’s early video, and even then had displayed combat ability well beyond normal.

“She probably has training. Her skills are really good. A trained person, in an apocalypse, kills a zombie in self-defense by accident and figures out its weak point, then uses the livestream to tell everyone. Isn’t that normal?”

“As for calling them zombies, put aside the fact their behavior matches zombies in movies. Anyone who’s watched even a little of Country A’s zombie films would call them that. And Taotao is literally an apocalypse blogger, saying it out of habit is completely normal.”

“She said the weak point is the brain, but she didn’t say it’s only the brain. ‘The weakness is in the brain’ might just be what we know so far. Why nitpick? If it works, it works.”

Just like the students back then, unable to accept the idea of rebirth and inventing explanations for Fu Qing, the audience of @Dorm Escape Royale did the same now.

They quickly found a plausible rationale for her actions.

It was also worth noting that over the past year, in order to maximize how many people would believe them when the crucial moment came, Su Huaijin, Sun Wei, and the others had managed the account extremely well.

The fanbase was loyal, their general reputation strong, and they had never been involved in scandal.

So when one person spoke up, many more followed, defending Fu Qing.

The trending rank kept climbing. More people reposted and debated, and the commotion grew louder.

Before long, the clip caught the attention of people with ulterior motives.

When the related topic rose into the top ten, and time reached 3:30, nearly an hour after the virus outbreak, every zombie-related topic was abruptly removed in unison and traffic-limited.

A new pinned top item replaced them. Translated on Hololo novels. Unlike the intense wording and bloody footage in user uploads, this was an official-media bulletin from the relevant authorities. It addressed the unexplained violent incidents across multiple locations, urging citizens to shelter at home and avoid crowded public places.

Beyond that, it offered no further information.

Fu Qing stared at the bulletin, thoughtful.

She brought up the system panel again, edited and sent two messages. Then she paused, switched into the marketplace, and made a purchase.

The sudden 200 teaching points solved an urgent shortage, just enough to buy what she needed.

【Cost: 300 Teaching Points】
【Obtained: Wristband (Standard) ×10,000】

Unlike the wristbands used by students and staff, this standard wristband had none of the extra features like maps, forums, or privacy shielding. It was closer to an ordinary electronic watch. The face displayed time, date, and a compass. Beyond that, it had built-in location tracking and an emergency alarm button on the side.

Press and hold for two seconds, wait for the vibration, then press once more, and an SOS signal would automatically be sent to all nearby wristband holders, including both this model and the student and staff versions, and it would also sync to Fu Qing.

After the vibration, pressing twice would broadcast the wearer’s location to all radio receivers within five kilometers.

It also had a simplified 3D projection panel like the student wristbands, but only for registration and check-in.

That was why it was so cheap.

Fu Qing bought the wristbands and pulled out about three thousand from the warehouse. A huge box appeared in front of her at once. She summoned a robot to take the box downstairs, and at the same time issued a campus-wide notice ordering all students to bring any parents, friends, or other visitors they had brought onto campus to the athletic field to collect wristbands.

If they noticed any visitors temporarily on their own nearby, they could help by passing along the message as well.

The pickup window was six hours after entering the campus. If someone failed to obtain a wristband within six hours, they would be temporarily expelled from the school. Afterward, a person who had exchanged shelter slots could collect a wristband on their behalf and deliver it to them. Only after receiving a wristband would they be allowed back onto campus.

But they needed to note that upon re-entry they would face quarantine of varying length.

After the outbreak, access through the gates would be placed under strict control. Translated on Hololo novels. Near the east gate, at the far eastern edge of the residential zone, an isolation area had already been designated far from all living quarters. The wristbands would further help Fu Qing monitor every unfamiliar visitor’s status.

Because visitors were not students, they did not have a system-imposed strong binding to Fu Qing. Their movements were not inherently under her control. Only while they were inside Fangzhou could she indirectly influence them through her control over the campus and the students.

But once someone left the gate, she would not even know where they were.

That was, in fact, dangerous. If ill-intentioned people slipped in among them, she would have no way to distinguish them.

Fu Qing trusted the students, but this concerned the safety of the entire shelter. She had to add another layer of protection. That was why she bought the wristbands.

Ten thousand wristbands would be enough for now, even if the shelter expanded later.

*

Song Rushuang and the others received the notice and immediately brought their families to the athletic field.

Several teachers who were free at the moment were helping distribute wristbands.

Bai Tang and Xu Mingyue were maintaining order. Under their arrangements, the group lined up at the end. There weren’t many arrivals on campus yet, so the line was short. They soon received six wristbands from Hao Zhenye.

After thanking him, Xu Mingyu and the others even stole a couple more glances at the frightening scar on “Teacher Hao’s” face, before Song Rushuang half-pushed, half-dragged them over to an open patch of ground nearby.

Once worn on the wrist, a ring of silvery light spun around the face, and a crisp “ding” sounded.

【Matching shelter slots detected. Registered.】
【Biometric data input complete.】
【Wristband binding complete. Do not remove at will or exchange wristbands with others, or both the wristband and the associated slots will become invalid!】

The parents jumped at the sudden voice, shaking their wrists and staring at the device that looked no different from an ordinary digital watch. “This is so advanced!”

Song Rushuang and the other two were long used to such things. They did notice the wristband lacked a shielding feature and offered weaker privacy protection, since everyone nearby could hear the registration prompts.

Compared with student wristbands, it clearly wasn’t on the same technological level, and that realization oddly made them a little happy.

They didn’t leave right away. They stayed put to figure out how the wristbands worked, each helping their own parents navigate the interface.

The moment they lit up the face, another alert popped up.

【Warning: This wristband is not yet bound to a corresponding student wristband. Functions are temporarily locked. Please bind with a student wristband within 48 hours, or you will be classified as an unregistered person and expelled from campus.】

【Note: You do not need to bind to the person who exchanged shelter slots. You may freely choose any student to bind with. Once executed, neither party may cancel unilaterally. Cancellation requires an application to the principal. Choose carefully. After binding, if one party violates shelter rules, the other party bears joint responsibility.】

【Tap to view binding instructions…】

This time, even the three girls froze for a moment.

But after thinking it through, they understood why binding was necessary.

It forced them to take responsibility for anyone they brought into the school.

If a visitor proved unreliable, the student who brought them in could be implicated. That, in turn, compelled everyone to choose carefully.

Even now, many people in Fangzhou still hadn’t exchanged all the shelter slots they held. Song Rushuang, for example, had enough points for four slots but had only used two so far.

Shelter slots were precious, but not easy to give away.

First, the recipient had to be trustworthy. Second, even if you wanted to give a slot, you still needed the other person to be willing to accept it.

That was why the overwhelming majority of those entering were students’ parents. More distant relatives and friends usually had closer family of their own and couldn’t abandon them to follow a student to Fangzhou.

Fu Qing had given them a full month to exchange slots, so many people, Song Rushuang included, were still waiting and holding onto their remaining slots.

With wristband binding added, they would be even more serious when selecting future candidates. Someone like Song Jianguo, now realizing that if a person he brought in caused trouble Song Rushuang would share responsibility, no longer dared entertain the idea of bringing in the Song Aiguo family if an opportunity arose.

Who knew how severe the joint punishment might be? If Song Aiguo’s family caused a violation and got Xiaoshuang expelled, what then?

At that moment, countless parents likely abandoned similar thoughts.

Binding was simple. They only had to press two wristband faces together, which would prompt a confirmation request. Both parties tapped to confirm.

At the same time, the student wristband issued another responsibility warning.

The binding process was quick. Feeling the vibration where the wristbands pressed against their skin, Xu Mingyu looked up at Song Rushuang’s serious face and found it oddly unfamiliar. “So from now on… in this school, I’m under your responsibility?”

It sounded a little absurd, and yet oddly moving.

She wasn’t used to relying on her daughter, but it seemed she would have to get used to it, slowly.

And that feeling… might not be so bad.

Without meaning to, Xu Mingyu’s lips quietly curved upward.

After binding came learning the functions. The girls were already practiced with their own wristbands, so this stripped-down version was easy. They quickly found the main features and explained them to their parents one by one.

The functions weren’t complicated, which incidentally helped older parents who weren’t comfortable with electronics. The long-press plus short-press alarm method was fast and easy to remember. Repeat it twice and it stuck.

Checking time and date hardly needed explanation. Song Rushuang soon realized the most important feature was the registration and check-in system.

It existed to organize people into manageable volunteer work. Anyone could pick up assigned tasks, and upon completion earn volunteer points.

According to the wristband’s instructions, these “volunteer points” would become the shelter’s future currency.

Cash, precious metals, all of it would lose value in the apocalypse. Fu Qing wouldn’t allow people to buy food with money. Everyone living in Fangzhou could receive enough food to survive each day and a place to stay. If they wanted anything beyond that, they would need to exchange points.

Volunteer points could be traded for benefits inside the shelter, such as extra food and additional bathing time, larger living space, and, if you accumulated enough, even additional shelter slots.

Students had their own reserves and weren’t short on food for now, but water was scarce, and water use and bathing were strictly controlled. Extra bathing time was therefore extremely tempting.

And extra shelter slots could save lives. If someone still had two unused slots but their childhood friend refused to come without their parents, then with enough points they could bring in the whole family.

Everyone had someone they wanted to save.

Fangzhou needed manpower everywhere. There were many point-earning tasks, with shared rules: the harder the task, the more points; the more technical the task, the more points, though the latter required qualification checks to see if applicants were capable.

Besides these voluntary tasks, everyone also had mandatory tasks. They weren’t difficult, usually three to four per week, such as standing watch, patrolling campus, cleaning, tending vegetable plots, or helping transport supplies and bodies brought back from outside. You could choose what you were capable of doing.

Of course, it was easy to predict that the simple tasks would be snatched up the instant they appeared. If you didn’t watch the list closely, you might be left with jobs like moving corpses. Students already understood that lesson well.

Their fingers had been trained long ago, back when they competed for simulation-chamber time.

There were already tasks posted on the list. Song Rushuang and the others hurriedly urged their parents to grab easy ones like cleaning first.

Smelling garbage was better than smelling a corpse.

Song Rushuang scanned the list of supplies exchangeable for volunteer points and, to her surprise, saw time slots for borrowing the simulation chambers and realistic zombie props.

It made sense. Now that the students had “graduated,” those training tools were sitting idle, but they were perfect for parents who had no experience fighting zombies. Especially early on, realistic zombies were the best way to overcome fear.

Once she understood, Song Rushuang swiftly selected three or four tasks and signed her parents up. “That’s enough. Start with these.”

Sun Wei and Zhang Han did exactly the same.

The parents hadn’t even processed what was happening when they realized their schedules were packed full. “???”

That many tasks. Were they not sleeping?

Song Jianguo scrolled, eyes bulging. “Kid, did you leave me time to eat?”

Song Rushuang checked and, sure enough, she hadn’t. She fell silent for two seconds. “…Meals are something you squeeze in wherever you can. Your foundation is so weak, if you don’t work harder, what are you going to do?”

Sun Wei nodded along. “The early stage is when you lay the groundwork. You can’t slack off.”

Zhang Han cheered her parents on too. “Come on, I believe you can do it! In your forties, you’re in your prime for charging ahead.”

The parents: “……”

Why did that sound so familiar, and yet somehow so irritating?

*

Capital City, China, in a department related to cybersecurity.

A post flagged by the automated system appeared on a staffer’s computer. The man, already overwhelmed and run ragged, clicked the video. He skimmed it, and his eyes widened despite himself.

He paused it, then watched it twice more, closely observing the zombie’s reactions on screen. Frowning, he thought for a moment, then gritted his teeth, stood up, strode a few steps, and knocked on the door of the office next door.

₊˚.🎧📓✩