Ch 120: Opening a Survival School Before the Zombie Outbreak

On the way back, Song Rushuang and the others unexpectedly ran into another car from Fangzhou.

After activating the wristband’s map function, the only real-time information it could display was the location of other Fangzhou wristbands.

On the road ahead, three small glowing dots were moving straight toward them.

When the two vehicles met face to face, both sides stopped at the same time with unspoken understanding. Heads popped out of windows, followed by simultaneous exclamations of “Oh hey!”

They actually knew each other.

In the opposite car sat Qin Yufei, Yu Cheng, and Wang Huai’s roommate.

Their reason for teaming up was roughly the same as Song Rushhuang’s group. Each dorm happened to be short one member, their usual teammates were unavailable, so they paired up and headed out together.

The convoy behind Song Rushhuang also stopped. A member of the armed police stepped out to ask about the situation, and Zhang Han quickly explained, “They’re our classmates. They also came out after receiving a rescue request.”

Then she asked Qin Yufei, “Where are you heading?”

Qin Yufei gave an address. “A couple posted a request for help. They were on weekend duty shifts. When they got home, they discovered the child’s grandparents had taken the kid out and never returned. They searched the usual places but found nothing. Someone told them about a mahjong parlor the grandparents often visited, so they asked anyone nearby to check.”

Song Rushhuang and the others: “……”

What a coincidence.

Sun Wei hesitated, then pointed behind them. “Uh… maybe you should check the bus behind us?”

Qin Yufei and the others: “?”

They jumped out and ran straight to the bus. After explaining the situation and boarding, their eyes immediately locked onto Jiājia.

Yu Cheng compared her with the photo posted on the forum and looked up in surprise. “It’s her!”

Wang Huai said blankly, “…We spent nearly two hours fighting to claim this mission, and it’s already done?”

Saving the little girl early was obviously a good thing… but somehow it felt like they had zero participation.

Hearing that the family was being transported to a nearby elementary school, Yu Cheng said, “Both of the girl’s parents are doctors. They should be able to care for her themselves. Why don’t we just take them home directly?”

The plan to send everyone to the school had only been a precaution, since they had gone so long without food and there was concern about possible complications later.

But if family members were capable of caring for them, there was no need to occupy additional medical resources.

The medical staff on the bus conducted one final examination of the three family members. After confirming their vital signs were stable, they allowed them to disembark.

The girl’s home was not far away. Translated on Hololo novels. Since they were already here, Song Rushhuang’s group decided to go along.

Following the address, they arrived at the building. Before they could even confirm the unit entrance, a couple burst out from inside, supporting each other as they stumbled forward.

Ignoring the possibility of zombies outside, their eyes searched frantically among the two parked vehicles. When they saw Jiājia jump out of the car, the dull exhaustion in their eyes instantly lit with brilliance.

After confirming again and again that she really was their daughter, their emotions broke all at once.

“Jiājia!!”

Jiājia’s lips trembled as she burst into tears. “Mom! Dad!”

Seeing the parents’ haggard faces and bloodshot eyes, Song Rushhuang knew that while Jiājia and her grandparents had suffered over the past three days, the two left waiting at home must have endured something even worse.

They had rushed out the moment they saw two vehicles arrive. Who knew how long they had waited upstairs?

How many times hope had risen, only to collapse again.

And yet, in this apocalypse, Jiājia’s family could still be considered fortunate.

At least their loved ones had returned to them.

How many others had left home that afternoon saying they were just going out for a while, never to come back again?

Even though the students had experienced similar scenes many times in simulation pods, they still felt deeply moved.

Jiājia’s grandparents also stepped off the bus but did not dare approach, stopping at a distance. Suddenly, the grandfather dropped to his knees before his son and daughter-in-law, prostrating himself on the ground as he muttered repeatedly, “I have no face to come back and see you…”

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

The grandmother struck herself in remorse, her lips trembling too hard to form words.

Jiājia’s mother turned her head away. Her father stood still, looking at his weeping parents. After a long silence, he finally said a few words.

“It’s dangerous outside. Let’s go upstairs first.”

His tone was stiff.

The group of students exchanged glances quietly, just as they were wondering whether it was time to leave, when Jiājia’s mother suddenly noticed them and hurried forward.

“Are you the classmates of the person who replied to my message earlier?”

Over the past two days, one parent had stayed home while the other searched outside. Translated on Hololo novels. They had spent two full days combing through every children’s playground and park Jiājia often visited.

Several times, they had nearly been attacked by infected people. By the time they reached their limit, exhausted beyond endurance, they finally posted a plea for help that morning.

They had not expected a reply so quickly. The responder was a student with an out-of-town IP address who said he studied in City S and had reposted their situation on his school’s forum—

“I haven’t returned yet, but my classmates are all very kind. Someone will definitely go help you. Don’t worry too much!”

He was the first person to reply, and the only one before the network went down.

Jiājia’s mother had placed nearly all her hope in that single message. But as time ticked by, the couple could no longer sit still.

Rather than trust strangers, they decided to grit their teeth and go out searching again themselves.

Even if this time they never came back, it was better than staying home knowing their daughter was suffering somewhere outside.

Before they could leave, the two vehicles arrived and brought back the daughter they had longed for day and night…

Jiājia’s mother had always been an atheist, yet at that moment she felt as though fate itself had guided events.

At the same time, countless people were posting pleas for help online.

But that student had happened to see hers.

He had replied.

And the warmhearted classmates he mentioned had truly brought her daughter home safely.

The shadow of despair dispersed. The day had been sunny all along, but only now did she feel the sunlight truly fall upon her.

Overwhelmed with gratitude and unsure what to say, the woman thought for a long moment before blurting out, “Please leave your contact information. Our whole family will definitely come thank you in person later.”

The circumstances made preparing gifts inconvenient.

But such a great kindness felt impossible to leave unacknowledged.

“Oh, right, and what school are you from? We’ll have a banner made and send it over…”

The moment she said this, several students simultaneously pictured the infamous “Save My Dog’s Life” banner hanging in the gym back at school. They forced awkward smiles, hurriedly trying to banish the mental image.

“There’s really no need to go through all that trouble.”

“We appreciate the thought.”

“We didn’t actually do much.”

“Yeah, as long as Jiājia and her grandparents are safe, that’s enough.”

Jiājia’s father joined the conversation, looking firmly unconvinced. “How can that be? At least leave a contact method. You have to let us properly express our thanks.”

Seeing the conversation on the verge of turning into a tug-of-war right there downstairs, everyone nearly forgot where they were.

While politely refusing, Song Rushhuang and Qin Yufei even took the time to eliminate two zombies that had quietly wandered closer to watch, never interrupting their conversation.

Jiājia’s parents stared blankly, momentarily forgetting what they were saying.

Realizing they would soon attract even more zombies if this continued, Sun Wei suddenly had an idea.

“We won’t leave personal contact information,” she said quickly. “If you want to express thanks, just @Fangzhou directly.”

After all that persuasion, finally gaining a piece of information, Jiājia’s mother asked eagerly, “Is that ‘Fangzhou’ like the ‘ark’ in Noah’s Ark?”

Zhang Han traced the character in the air. “No, Zhou as in oasis.”

“Fangzhou, Fangzhou,” the couple repeated seriously several times, finding it familiar. “Isn’t that the name of a school?”

“Uh… yes,” Sun Wei replied. “Our school organized a volunteer rescue group. If people around you need help, you can include that keyword when posting.”

“Of course, our manpower is limited, but we’ll help wherever we can,” she added carefully.

Jiājia’s parents nodded repeatedly. In their eyes, these students had already become towering figures, so admirable they could hardly find words strong enough.

“You’re incredible.”

“Please stay safe.”

If they could find Jiājia, then they could bring hope to other families too.

Seeing zombies approaching again, the students quickly ushered the still-thanking family upstairs, clearing out the nearby zombies along the way. Only after finally getting back into the car did they collectively let out a long breath.

Suddenly remembering something, Zhang Han turned to Sun Wei in the back seat. “We don’t actually have an official social media account yet, do we?”

Sun Wei waved a hand confidently. “You forgot I’m in the publicity team? Once we get back, I’ll gather people and set one up.”

Zhang Han gave a thumbs-up. “That’s impressive.”

So this was what it felt like to hold real authority.

“The compilation thread was already claimed by Xiao Su. I’ve got to contribute something too,” Sun Wei shrugged. “Besides, I didn’t just think of this on a whim. I was already considering it on the way here.”

“Right now everyone is gathering help requests from all over the internet and reposting them on the forum. The sources are messy, verification is hard, and the workload is huge. Plus people still have to reformat everything manually. It’s inefficient. We might as well open an account to receive submissions directly, then organize teams through the forum.”

“After teams are formed, we can update progress in real time through the official account. That way other civilian rescue groups know someone is already responding and won’t duplicate efforts,” Sun Wei explained logically. “Even if people don’t directly tag us, as long as they use certain keywords, we can search by keyword and save time filtering information online. Overall, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.”

“This morning when I was browsing Weibo, I saw that some volunteers already created shared spreadsheets maintained collaboratively. We could cooperate with those accounts and have them organize existing requests by region and pass them to us.”

After all, Fangzhou only had about two thousand people. It could not match the sheer number of capable volunteers across the internet, and this time they had been a step slower.

Sun Wei had realized that similar online accounts were already quite mature. Someone had clearly anticipated how difficult it would be for certain regions to request help.

They had not only created public shared documents but also assembled more than twenty groups of volunteers working in shifts, ensuring someone was online nearly every hour.

Most of those volunteers could not leave their homes, but they could handle coordination work, freeing Fangzhou students from tedious administrative tasks.

Realizing Sun Wei had genuinely thought everything through, even planning potential collaborations, the other two stared with mouths open before bursting into applause.

“Amazing!”

“As expected of Sister Wei!”

Sun Wei practically preened under the praise, unable to hide her pride as she waved grandly.

“Let’s go. Back to school!”

Saving those nineteen people was only the beginning. They still had much more to do today.

₊˚.🎧📓✩