V1C5

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In the blink of an eye, the three figures underneath the clock tower were in front of them. The person in the lead jogging towards them was a tall, pretty girl who heaved a sigh of relief when she saw them and said with a lingering fear, “Thank goodness there are more people. I thought that it was going to be just us three.”

Two other boys arrived behind her, one big and muscular and the other skinny and small, looking a little perverse, his triangular eyes giving him a stalker-like feeling.

“I’m Gao Yifei. The really tall one over there is Zhao Liangsheng, and this is Liu Shan,” Gao Yifei introduced. “We got here earlier than you guys. Thank goodness everyone’s okay.”

Lin Jue and the others also obediently did a self-introduction. Liu Shan, who had remained silent up until then, suddenly started up. “Were you guys bitten? Those monsters outside looked like those zombies from movies and a bite from them could turn you into a zombie too. Were you guys bitten?”

Lin Jue’s face darkened. Even though it was normal to be doubted in these situations, for it to be pointed out like that still made him uncomfortable.

Gao Yifei also thought that Liu Shan was being a bit rude. She tugged on his sleeve and whispered, “Don’t say that, they just got here after so much trouble…”

Liu Shan’s expression was still dark, his eyes filled with distrust. He muttered something under his breath and stopped talking. The tall and muscular Zhao Liangsheng however shrugged uncaringly and tossed up the crowbar in his hand as if to strengthen his courage. “There’s nothing to be afraid of. If you do turn into a zombie, I’ll just kill you.”

His voice was bright but his eyes told another story. Those judging, inquiring eyes made him feel… unpleasant.

Gao Yifei sighed. “Sorry, we’re all too nervous. Who knew that something like this would happen… It’s almost like a dream.”

Zhou Yuxiu nodded fearfully and moved closer to Gao Yifei. Perhaps because they were both girls, the two soon started chatting in a low voice. Gao Yifei asked sympathetically if Zhou Yuxiu was cold, and Zhou Yuxiu nodded stiffly and shivered.

“What underneath the clock tower?” Song Hanzhang frowned.

A strange expression overcame Gao Yifei’s pretty face. “…I don’t know how to explain; it’s a very strange platform that I’ve never seen before…”

Lin Jue’s vision was fairly good and he saw from afar a newly built platform underneath the clock tower, surrounded by two electric boards. Upon closer inspection, he saw that on the left one was written ‘Remaining Survivors: 9. Remaining Safety Time: 40 Minutes’. The other board was empty.

Between the two boards was a pole that was about a meter tall with a half-transparent glass ball the size of a basketball floating on top of it.

Just as Lin Jue was looking at the remaining survivors, the bloody number suddenly changed from nine to eight.

Silent, but deafening.

“Another one’s gone…” Liu Shan stared at the number, his voice quivering.

Lin Jue felt as if he had just swallowed a rock. Even though he didn’t see the death in person, he could feel just how much despair that person must have been in as they were cruelly eaten.

The entire school was now filled with roaming predators driven on by their insatiable hunger, madly attacking every scent of the living and every abnormal sound. The surviving eight were now as if on an isolated island. They knew there was no way out, but they were still struggling heedlessly, and it could be even worse; they might need to face thousands of these living dead, devoid of any humanity, only greedily chasing after their blood and flesh, with a single bite meaning their ends.

In the depressing silence, Song Hanzhang walked steadily to the glass ball in between the two monitors and judged it. “What is this?”

Gao Yifei forced out a smile, her mouth opening stiffly in an attempt to warm the frozen atmosphere. She pointed at the sphere and said, “Try putting your hand on top of it, there might be a nice reward.”

Seeing that Song Hanzhang was just staring intently at the glass ball without moving as if trying to figure out the physics-defying object, Lin Jue suddenly felt a bit of untimely humor. He walked up and placed a hand on the glass ball. Then something happened- a halo of white light suddenly rose up from under Lin Jue’s feet, film tapes shooting out, spinning and twirling around him at such a speed that he was unable to capture the pictures on them and could only watch as they sped away from him.

Lin Jue couldn’t help but reach out to try to touch the tape in front of him. As his fingertips touched the tape outside of the halo, the entire record suddenly dispersed into tiny particles, dissipating into the air and reforming into a transparent glass tube. At first glance, it looked like a test tube with a plug, but upon closer inspection, there was some kind of semi-transparent liquid swirling inside and a few lines of tiny black text on the outside.

“《Zombie Virus Antibody》Can be ejected and injected. Use within 45 minutes of bite. Can clear away zombie toxins from within the body. Will fall automatically upon holder’s death. Remaining uses: 1/1.”

Underneath was outlined an explanation of the zombie virus, essentially summing up that it took about one hour for the virus to completely take effect: that there wouldn’t be any obvious signs in the first half an hour, just a minimal decrease in physical abilities, but that stamina would decrease significantly after thirty minutes, with symptoms such as dizziness, confusion, and an inability to focus appearing. There would be no cure after forty-five minutes.

For Lin Jue, this was a key object to live, and maybe even a life-saving treasure.

Without thinking, he pulled Song Hanzhang over and showed him the vial. Song Hanzhang glanced at it and said disinterestedly, “Not very useful.”

“What do you mean…” Lin Jue was pinched on his arm the instant he opened his mouth. Song Hanzhang’s hand was still frozen even after all that intense exercise and Lin Jue felt goosebumps rising up his skin instantly.

“What is it?” Zhou Yuxiu approached them curiously. Gao Yifei also looked over, her eyes waiting for an explanation.

“A stamina recovery potion, something that can recover your stamina exceptionally quickly. The directions say that it can recover up to 100% of your stamina with the added bonus of increased endurance for a short period of time. It’s useful enough for escaping. You should try as well. Hopefully your luck will be better,” Song Hanzhang answered casually, making up an item explanation on the spot, increasing the trustworthiness of his explanation.

Lin Jue didn’t have such acting skills and could only watch stiffly from the side. He finally realized that he had almost made a deadly mistake.

Hide it. From a perspective that only Lin Jue could see, Song Hanzhang had warned him silently.

Lin Jue anxiously stuffed the antibody into his pant pocket- it took him three tries to find it from stress. Thankfully, Zhou Yuxiu’s attention was completely on the mysterious glass ball and she walked over excitedly without asking any more questions. Gao Yifei wished her luck from the side.

Lin Jue heaved a sigh of relief. It was only now that he slowly realized how tense the atmosphere here was. Even though the six people currently on the plaza had teamed up due to the game, he had never met any of them before today, let alone had an understanding of what kind of people they were. If he exposed the fact that he held an antibody, he would probably die very soon. After all, there was only one antibody… if someone got bitten, should he give up the antibody? If he did but ended up dying because he gave it away, how ironic that would be, but if he didn’t, the person who was bitten would probably try to take it from him by any means possible. After all, it was the only shred of hope for them to live.

Lin Jue’s heart felt heavy. He realized how selfish his thoughts were. His morals, built up from twenty years of carefree lifestyle and education, were interrogating his soul, reprimanding him for his selfish actions, but the desire for survival was like a snake, instigating his reasoning to eat that forbidden apple and walk out of Eden.

Would he give up the antibody if someone got bitten? Lin Jue didn’t know what he would do and it made him feel alienated from himself.

The antibody was a hot potato, a Pandora’s box. Under the threat of death, it would release the worst traits of humanity, something even more fearful than the endless zombies.

Just as Lin Jue was deep in his thoughts, Zhao Liangsheng and Liu Shan who were both resting by the flowerbed walked over. Zhao Liangsheng asked carelessly, “Did you get it? What did you get?”

Lin Jue was just about to repeat the ‘stamina recovery potion’ explanation when Song Hanzhang suddenly spoke up. “Before you ask another person, shouldn’t you explain what prop you got yourself? In such situations where the enemy is unknown, it’s too stupid to rashly reveal your trump cards.”

Lin Jue paused. He didn’t think that Song Hanzhang would suddenly use such a provocative tone.

As expected, Zhao Liangsheng narrowed his eyes, bouncing the metal pick between his hands and lowering his voice. “Quite the brave one, you are.”

Liu Shan’s eyes rolled a few circles as he looked at Song Hanzhang doubtfully.

“Hey hey, we’ll need each other in order to survive in the future. Let’s not fight over such small matters.” Gao Yifei walked awkwardly between the two and smiled apologetically at Song Hanzhang and Lin Jue. “Sorry for hiding it before but some props and powers aren’t very convenient to just say aloud…”

Zhou Yuxiu had already returned from the glass ball, her hands still empty but her face less pale. That fearful expression had vanished from her face and she looked as if she now had something to rely on. She didn’t say anything on the argument and silently stood at the sides.

The last one to go up was Song Hanzhang. He touched the glass ball and as he came down, he held a very sharp looking dagger with blood grooves in it. He frowned, looking dissatisfied, and stuffed it back into its sheath.

“Since we’re safe right now, let’s swap some information,” Gao Yifei suggested. “We’ve already concluded that we all got into this situation because we took that easter egg and got the phone call. There were hints on the easter egg and they should be useful.”

Lin Jue nodded. “That’s true. My easter egg was good news: ‘Dawn is hope’. It seems that we just need to survive until daybreak.”

The others heaved an obvious sigh of relief and the tense atmosphere relaxed a little. Zhao Liangsheng scratched his head and followed him up immediately. “Mine said, ‘The head is always a vital spot, whether before or after death’. So basically, hit their heads. My metal pick has already killed three!”

Zhao Liangsheng shook the metal pick in his hands and proudly showed it off.

Unfortunately, the few people around him weren’t the supportive type and Song Hanzhang completely ignored him. “‘Eating is instinct,’” he continued. “Everyone should know this. The zombies like living creatures.”

“‘They like loud noises and tasty food’.” Liu Shan kicked the ground and said reluctantly, “Probably that these monsters have a strong sense of hearing and smell.”

Cold wind blew through the plaza and Zhou Yuxiu huffed into her gloves, a good half of her face hidden in the scarf. “‘Fangs turn sides’. Probably that, if you get bitten… you’ll become like those monsters, I guess.”

Gao Yifei was silent for a while, then she smiled bitterly. “My easter egg is probably the worst news. It said, ‘Careful, they are getting stronger.’”

Everyone became quiet again. Song Hanzhang looked up at the clock tower, the big numbers ’20:32′ reflected on it. There were thirty-three minutes left of their safety time.

“Which one of you got here first?” Song Hanzhang suddenly asked.

They looked at each other and Liu Shan stared at Zhao Liangsheng, forcing him to admit to it. “Tsk, so what if it was me? I was coming back from the basketball courts. They’re pretty close to the plaza, it’s just that I wasted some time trying to finish off a few zombies on the way here.”

“What time?” Song Hanzhang pressed.

Zhao Liangsheng was irritated but still answered, “Around eight-ten.”

Song Hanzhang looked back again at the remaining safety time. “The time originally should have been a whole number: most likely an hour to gather up the survivors. If we’re judging from the time when we received the phone call, then the countdown should have started from twenty, but it looks like it started from eight o’ five, so from the time the first person entered the plaza.”

Song Hanzhang looked around at the five people around him, each with a different expression and stated confidently, “Someone had arrived at the plaza before us but left for some reason.”

“No way! It’s so dangerous outside, why would they leave?” Gao Yifei couldn’t believe him. Why would anyone choose such a meaningless risk when there was somewhere of absolute safety?

Liu Shan agreed with her. “Exactly. We should stay until the safety time is over.”

Lin Jue didn’t say anything but he trusted Song Hanzhang’s judgment more than anything. Even though it was still just a feeling, he felt that every move, even sentence from Song Hanzhang was with purpose, including when he angered Zhao Liangsheng to help him hide his antibody.

Song Hanzhang pushed up his glasses, looked at his watch and stated seriously, “It appears that you all have forgotten something: the second period of night class ends at 20:40.”

“But they’re already zombies, who cares if class ends? A minute out of here is an extra minute of danger. If you want to go, then go, no one will stop you,” Liu Shan retaliated.

Lin Jue looked back at the time on the clock tower. It was already 20:35.

“In five minutes, the clock tower will play the bell signifying the end of class.” A flash of cold color glanced through Song Hanzhang’s eyes with a hint of mockery. “There is no singular bell for each building as they surround the Time Plaza. To make sure that all classrooms will be able to hear the bell, this bell will be extremely long and loud. I’m sure that everyone knows about this. After one minute of this bell, do you think we’ll still have a chance to leave the plaza?”

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