V1C14

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“Mineral water, hardtack, chocolate, this sharpener looks useful too…” Lin Jue picked at the convenience store, stuffing everything he thought was useful into his backpack.

He had gotten the backpack, covered with cute badges, from one of the zombies outside the store. Even though there were some bloodstains and brain matter splattered onto it, it was still usable, and they didn’t have much of a choice in the current environment.

“If I’m not wrong, this is a female’s backpack,” Song Hanzhang said emotionlessly.

“Well, we don’t have a choice, so let’s just make do for now. I’m the one carrying it anyways.” Lin Jue weighed the heavy bag and after some consideration, swapped out a bottle of water for another pack of cookies.

“… I’ll do it.” Maybe Lin Jue had over-thought it, but a look of well-hidden distaste flashed across Song Hanzhang’s face as he said calmly, “You’re the attacker after all, I’ll take care of things like bag weight.”

Saying that, he grabbed the backpack from Lin Jue and took out all the food and water until only three bottles of water, two packets of hardtack, and a pack of coffee remained.

Lin Jue stared at the food and water that had been forcibly removed, looking as if he wanted to say something.

“Don’t be like a hamster and keep stuffing nuts into your mouth, otherwise you won’t be able to open it when you meet your prey.” Song Hanzhang glanced at Lin Jue before taking the backpack and leaving the store.

Lin Jue took one last loving look at the convenience store before chasing after him with his weapon in hand.

Stepping over the half-dry brain matter and blood, Lin Jue carefully scrutinized the zombie’s tragic death. It wasn’t as disgusting as at the start, when it was like fear had at some point hidden itself within the deepest crevices of his soul. In a short span of one-and-a-bit hours, Lin Jue felt as if he had already become someone that was once unimaginable.

His first instinct now when seeing a zombie was not to run, but to carefully calculate at what distance and angle he should kill it at.

He chuckled in self-mockery, his eyes glancing over the windows which reflected a face that wascompletely unchanged, and a pair of eyes that were more numb and indifferent than ever.

It seemed that he was already no longer the same person as before.

***

“I’m unsure of how fast the zombies evolve; from the start of the game, it’s only been two hours. If they evolve too quickly, then no-one would be able to see tomorrow’s sun. From what we can observe now, the zombies are only getting stronger through their thicker fangs and fingernails, there is no obvious difference in their strength and speed. As for any other aspects, they’re currently unknown. I think we should stay in the library for now, at least until the zombies evolve into something that we are able to make certain of before moving base,” Song Hanzhang analyzed.

They were currently on the empty fourth floor, discussing their next moves.

“But if we don’t know how fast the zombies evolve, we might not be able to escape the library in a few hours at all. Have you thought of an escape route?” Lin Jue sat on a desk and stared outside the window. From here he was able to see the administration building to the south of the library. Any further north would be the four campuses that surrounded the south oval.

“This office is quite nice,” Song Hanzhang said, also walking next to the window. “From air conditioning unit outdoors, we can jump onto the balcony jutting out from floor three, which is… outside the hall next to the convenience store. If you’re unsure, we can also tie a rope to that balcony beforehand just in case. Right under it is a grass field, so even if something happens, we shouldn’t fall to our deaths.”

Lin Jue stared at it for a long while before nodding. “That works, it’s always good to have a backup plan. Who knows, maybe in a few hours the elevator room will be filled with zombies.”

“If everything goes according to plan, we will also be able to see just how far the zombies have evolved and whether or not it’s to do with us lingering in this area. Then let’s set the time for two hours. It’s about 22 o’clock now, we’ll leave at midnight.”

Lin Jue made an okay sign, sat down on a chair, and closed his eyes to rest.

“Another thing…”

Lin Jue opened his eyes and silently inquired with his eyes.

“Now that we have time, we should take care of our weapons,” Song Hanzhang suggested.

LIn Jue weighed the metal pipe in his hand. It was still the one he had gotten from the dormitory administrator’s kitchen. and it was obviously bent from continuous use, but it could still be used.

“I’ve gotten pretty used to using this.” Lin Jue didn’t have any plan to change weapons.

Song Hanzhang shook his head. “Long weapons are indeed more advantageous against zombies, but your attack efficiency is too low and you’re only able to kill zombies by breaking through their skulls, which spends a lot of your energy. It’s not uncommon either for you to have to hit them multiple times before their skull breaks, so I don’t recommend it.”

“A long weapon, something able to pierce the skull, and something efficient. So a spear?” Lin Jue asked.

“A long knife would also be good. With some training, it wouldn’t be difficult to slice off a zombie’s head in a single hit, but without the corresponding flexibility, it would be difficult to fully take advantage of a long knife in a situation where you were surrounded and you could get bitten very easily. Your pipe is convenient when it comes to breaking out of an ambush, so there are merits to both sides.”

“I’ll listen to you, but I don’t think there’s a polearm here. Are we making it ourselves? There aren’t any materials though,” Lin Jue said.

“It’s not difficult to make. I already found all the materials we need just then,” Song Hanzhang replied.

The things Song Hanzhang wanted weren’t hard to find: a mop from the bathroom, the toolbox from the bicycle repair shop in the underground carpark, and the promotional banners on the outside walls of the library.

Lin Jue, who had taken off a third red promotional banner under the directions of Song Hanzhang, finally couldn’t help but ask, “I can understand the mop and the toolbox, but what are the banners supposed to be for?”

Song Hanzhang folded up the banners and looked behind Lin Jue. “Just in case. Take care of the stuff behind you first.”

Picking up the pipe, Lin Jue looked back to see three zombies walking towards them. He pouted and ran at them.

Lowering his center of gravity, he swung the pipe underneath the zombie to trip it, and when it made an attempt to climb back up, he kicked it back down, then stabbed his pipe through its delicate nape- with a crisp crack, the bones broke.

The second zombie was already within three meters of him and it lunged at him with alarming speed. Lin Jue tightened his grip on the pipe and pushed it forwards- the zombie was knocked back on its stomach, falling over the third zombie right behind it.

“Let’s go. Don’t waste your energy on things you can’t finish killing.” While folding up the banners, Song Hanzhang ran for the other set of stairs.

Lin Jue turned to look at the zombie crowd rushing towards him and frowned in frustration before following Song Hanzhang.

The two took many detours before returning to the office on floor four. The mop and tool box had already been retrieved previously. Song Hanzhang opened one of the banners and twisted it up, tying a thick knot at around every half a meter until all three banners were connected together.

“I couldn’t find any ropes so we’ll have to make do with these. The knots makes it easier to climb, and it should be able to carry our weight.” Song Hanzhang finished tying up the ‘rope’ and tested its length at the window: it was long enough to reach the ground.

Even though it was an extremely simple tool to escape, it was another route to survive.

“It’s time to prepare the weapon now,” Song Hanzhang said as he picked up the mop.

Lin Jue looked at it and his mouth twitched. This mop was obviously the same as the ones used all over the country: a wooden handle with dirty rags attached to it, not looking very trustworthy at all.

Song Hanzhang crouched down and with the dagger he received from the plaza, cut through the rags on top of the mop. The blood grooved dagger looked extremely sharp and easily cut through all the strips.

“The dagger is really sharp,” Lin Jue said in an attempt to pick up conversation.

“Everything from the plaza is abnormal, regardless of if it’s only a dagger. The dagger has the attributes of being sharp and undulling. That tang dao that Lu Ren has should have the same substats, otherwise judging by how he’s been killing zombies like chopping up steak, that dao would be so curled he wouldn’t be able to kill a chicken.”

Lin Jue laughed secretly in his heart at his comparison, but on the outside, he forced out a serious expression and asked, “Are you trying to sharpen the end of the wooden stick?”

Song Hanzhang didn’t answer. Instead, he opened the tool box and started looking for what he needed: four long nails and a hammer.

“Hopefully, the zombies won’t be attracted by the sound…” Song Hanzhang murmured and hammered a nail diagonally into the end of the wooden stick, its sharp end sticking out. The hammer was covered by a layer of clothing and the sound wasn’t as loud as Lin Jue had imagined it to be.

Song Hanzhang drove in the other four nails in a similar manner and the sharp ends sticking out of the wooden stick immediately made the weapon more dangerous.

Using the hammer to fix the exposed ends together, they were around five to six centimetres long. He then wrapped many layers of wire around the end of the wooden stick in case the nails popped out from the wood due to too much force.

“With this, you’ll be able to pierce a zombie’s brain in one hit.” Song Hanzhang handed the modified mop handle to Lin Jue before cutting off a piece of wire and placing it in the bag.

Lin Jue tried to get used to the weight of his new weapon. The main body was made of wood, making it light and easy to use, while the solid stick was firm enough to attack with. He nodded in satisfaction. “It feels like a simplified spear. Do you want to try it? I have faith that I can one-shot a zombie now.”

Song Hanzhang sat down on a comfortable chair and rubbed his temples. “You can go, stay safe. I’ll take a small break. I’ve been writing essays for the past few days and the lack of sleep is giving me a headache.”

Lin Jue saw that he looked extremely ragged and said, “Then I’ll let you rest, I’ll come back soon… at most in ten minutes.”

Song Hanzhang nodded and watched as Lin Jue jump outside like an excited rabbit before coming back for the keys to the office. “I’ll be quiet when I open the door.”

“Don’t worry,” Song Hanzhang said lightly, “I won’t actually sleep in this environment. I’ll just be letting my brain take a break.”

“Then I’ll go now?” Lin Jue was like a child reporting to his parents right before going out; even though he was excited, he forced himself to look calm.

Song Hanzhang voiced a consent and closed his eyes.

With the sound of the door closing, Song Hanzhang once again opened his eyes. The footsteps outside the door were getting fainter, but despite his efforts at emptying his overloaded brain, his headache from overthinking didn’t lessen because he didn’t stop.

He had too many guesses and questions for this game of death. Even though the rules stated that everything would stop by daylight, he didn’t believe it. There were just too many loopholes in those vague statements, each line containing so many different readings when he didn’t know which one was the truth, or maybe even if it had no truth.

The power held by the master of this game was more fearful the more he thought about it, and he didn’t even understand their purpose. It was like an ant in the dirt trying to understand how the stars moved. He couldn’t even understand his own companion.

Lin Jue grew up fast, much, much better than his expectations. If at the start, he had seen him as someone unimportant, Lin Jue had become an extremely useful battle force through his hard work.

And most importantly, he was extremely subservient. As long as he trusted someone, he would follow every seemingly logical order, strong-willed, decisive, and never wavering, rarely even thinking of his own opinions.

A weapon with strong adaptability, growth, and flexibility; a born soldier.

Even though he had not seen it himself, Song Hanzhang was able to recognize it clearly- he had long stopped seeing the zombies as humans.

When Lin Jue was sitting on the counter of the convenience store, eating a jam sandwich without a care for the zombie corpse right in front him, Song Hanzhang had almost thought he was seeing Lu Ren holding a lamb skewer and his tang dao walking out of the food stall.

Their expressions were so similar that there was almost no difference.

But it was just this little bit of difference that created two entirely different people.

***

22:08.

Standing outside the office, Lin Jue glanced at his receptionless phone, making sure that he had only left for ten minutes.

He had been testing out his new weapon downstairs and he was very satisfied with it. He enjoyed using the spear created from the nails to pierce through the zombies’ eyes; one hit was able to destroy their brain, highly efficient and not as difficult to use as the pipe. Truly, a legendary weapon.

Lin Jue took the key from his pocket and opened the door.

There was only one desk lamp open in the office and it was very dim. Song Hanzhang leaned back against the chair, seemingly asleep.

Lin Jue immediately restrained himself and closed the door carefully. When the lock made a click, he turned around nervously. Song Hanzhang’s eyes were still closed though, seemingly unaffected by his movements.

Lin Jue breathed a sigh of relief as he tiptoed towards the other chair in the office while observing Song Hanzhang’s sleeping face out of curiosity. He noticed that even when sleeping, Song Hanzhang’s brows were still furrowed, as if he was constantly troubled by something.

“Bang——” With a small misstep, Lin Jue’s right foot kicked the toolbox, almost causing him to jump up as he scolded himself silently.

How could he be so careless, so focused on looking at his xuezhang that he didn’t even watch his feet?

Thankfully, Song Hanzhang was still sleeping and Lin Jue sat down on the chair which made a small squeak, followed by another dull sound as he moved. Lin Jue buried his head into his hands. Why was everything going against him? Couldn’t they just stay silent?

A light sigh came from opposite him as Song Hanzhang opened his sleepless eyes and watched him quietly.

Lin Jue was like a student who had been discovered sleeping through class as he whispered in shame, “Sorry, I woke you up.”

“I was always awake.” Song Hanzhang rubbed his throbbing temples. “Anyone who would be able to sleep in this environment would have no nerve at all.”

Lin Jue was too embarrassed to say that he wanted to sleep.

“Does your head still hurt? I’ll help you? My mom says my massaging skills are quite good.” Lin Jue had obtained this skill as a child in order to get pocket money from his parents.

Song Hanzhang shook his head and pointed at the electric kettle on the desk. “There is bottled water in the bag, go boil a bottle of coffee. After that, let’s prepare to go to the main security room, the innermost room of floor four.”

Without another word, Lin Jue went to boil the water. Afterwards, the two drank a cup of overly-caffeinated coffee, packed up their things, and walked towards the main security room.

The main security room had access to the security cameras, although the metal security door was completely locked up. Lin Jue stared dumbly at it. “Where’s the key? Does the administrator return home for the night? What are we supposed to do now?”

Due to its specialty as a security room, there were no windows on the corridor side to climb into either. It was locked up as tight as a bank vault.

“There are no windows on this side, but there should still be windows on the outer wall. We can climb over from the neighboring room.” Song Hanzhang took out a piece of wire from the bag and started using it against the reading room door right beside the security room.

In less than ten seconds, the normal wooden door opened. Lin Jue felt the corner of his mouth twitch. Xuezhang, why were you so familiar with this!

Song Hanzhang didn’t feel as if there was anything special with what he just did and walked to the window to make sure that there indeed was a window on the outer wall of the main security room. There was a security window installed over it with an air conditioning unit right underneath it.

To install the outdoor unit, the security windows mostly came with a lock. He could climb across the outer wall to the security room, but he needed to be careful.

Song Hanzhang waved his hand at Lin Jue and motioned him over. “The simplified rope made from the banners can work as a safety strap. I’ll go from here over…”

“That’ll be really dangerous, let me do it,” Lin Jue said.

“Do you know how to pick locks?” Song Hanzhang retorted.

“…”

In the end, it was Song Hanzhang who went. With the piece of wire, he opened the lock to the security window and entered the room through it. Lin Jue was able to walk right in through the door, feeling extremely ashamed.

“Alright, there are still many things we’ll need to do. This is the strongest part of the entire library, but it’s not impregnable. We need to first close all the gates of the stairs coming up to floor four, and then force them shut with chairs and desks before coming back here to monitor the zombies. If the zombies in the lower floors start attempting to enter floor four, we’ll need to prepare to leave- zombies that can break open wooden doors will be able to break open metal doors with time, so the main security room won’t be able to survive for long either.”

Lin Jue regained the feeling of tension and nodded solemnly.

***

Vera’s Notes:

Luci kept writing simp for every single move Lin Jue made hahaha! Man, this chapter was much longer than usual.

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