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Saying that, Song Hanzhang looked around at the pale listeners.

Lin Jue felt fear rising up in his throat. If they had really just attempted to evade disaster by staying in Time Plaza, the only ending awaiting them would have been total annihilation.

Song Hanzhang looked back at the time on the clock tower before solemnly asking everyone, “There are five minutes until the end of the period. Does anyone have a plan?”

They looked at each other and stayed silent.

“Why think about it so much? Just get out and run: we just need to survive until daylight, right?” Zhao Liangsheng swung his metal pick and growled.

“I’ll take that as a no. Then please, listen to my advice.” Song Hanzhang repetitively sheathed and unsheathed his dagger, as if trying to take his mind off something.

Lin Jue noticed that Liu Shan wanted to say something, but he couldn’t think of a way to bring it up so he just let Song Hanzhang continue.

“The zombies have an exceptional sense of smell and taste. Starting from around eight at night, the majority of students will be either in class or their dormitories; all we need to do is to find a less crowded area for our chances of survival to increase dramatically. I estimate that these two areas will have the least amount of people.”

Song Hanzhang used a rock to draw a simple map of the school on the ground. “First, the oval towards the northwest, including the gym and basketball courts; second, the area under construction for the new school dorms towards the southeast, including the Freedom Plaza, Open Plaza, and the student recreation centre. Tonight’s wind is blowing towards the northwest, so in theory, going to the southeast will place us at an advantage. The southeast of the school is filled with not only open areas, but also many water systems. They cover almost the entire area and will be useful in stopping any wandering zombies.”

Song Hanzhang looked at the time again, frowning. “There’s no time to explain the route in detail. If you believe me, then follow me. I’ll explain on the way.”

Lin Jue was the first to go after Song Hanzhang, followed by Zhou Yuxiu and Gao Yifei. Zhao Liangsheng looked at the clock tower and followed suit. Liu Shan looked around him in suspicion for a while, clenched his teeth, and chased after the group.

“Hey, that’s not the direction to the center!” Liu Shan shouted.

“Going directly to the recreation center will bring us through the classroom blocks; it’s too dangerous. If we go from the west of the plaza, we can circle around A-Block and go directly to the gym, and if our timing is correct, the bell will start ringing when we get to it. The zombies from the marketing street to the south of the gym near the southern dormitory area will start moving towards the plaza and we’ll have easy access from there,” Song Hanzhang explained patiently, striding towards the edge of the plaza. “Then we can get to the recreational center at the southeast by going through the library in the middle of the school. Trust me, it’s the easiest path.”

They were almost out of the plaza now and everyone quieted. The instant they stepped out of the safety zone, the few zombies wandering around the plaza started stumbling towards them.

His courage perhaps strengthened from the increase in numbers, Lin Jue ran in front of Song Hanzhang and toppled a zombie over with a good hit from his pipe. Song Hanzhang glanced at him but said nothing.

To the north of Time Plaza and A-Block was Lake Ling, which made up the entire water system of the school and the man-made stream surrounding the A-G blocks. The group crossed the bridge over the river and were already able to see the metal wiring surrounding the gym area. The entire gym was huge, roughly split into the basketball courts, tennis courts, secondary gym, sports center, main gym, and stadium. After entering from the eastern gates, all they needed to do was to cross the concrete pathway towards the southern gates, then they would be able to reach the southern dorm area’s marketing sector.

There weren’t many people at the gym at this time. Apart from those with night training, only overly energetic people would come to play basketball so late.

The end of class music sounded from the clock tower. Song Hanzhang’s footsteps paused and stopped. The zombies surrounding them near and far growled, their beastlike sounds creating a strange sort of harmony.

It was only when he heard that sound that Lin Jue finally realized just how terrified he was.

These hunters, hidden in the darkness, were never-ending.

The six stood on the concrete path of the gym area, all of them silent. The lights around them were dim, casting faint shadows of the nearby trees and bushes down. The metal wires on either side of them separating the basketball court and the tennis court felt like they were trapping them inside.

Two zombies stumbled towards them. Zhao Liangsheng spat onto the ground and rushed forward with his metal pick. In two hits, he crushed the skull of both zombies, and they flew backwards, hitting the metal wire with a bang.

Lin Jue frowned and silently thanked the end of class bell for attracting the attention of most of the zombies around here.

“The zombies should now be moving towards the plaza, but very slowly. We should wait a while before leaving from the south exit. Take this time to rest; we all ran too fast just then. It will be very difficult to survive until sunrise with how fast we’re spending our stamina,” Song Hanzhang said.

The two girls heaved a long sigh of relief and sat down feebly by the flowerbed next to the metal wires of the tennis court.

The wind carried over the faint sounds of a growl. Lin Jue rubbed his ears, thinking that he might have heard wrong, when he saw the alert eyes of Song Hanzhang.

“Don’t sit there!” Song Hanzhang suddenly shouted.

The two girls were hesitating when a loud bang sounded from behind them, jolting them up from the flowerbed.

A face dripping with blood pushed against the metal wires, their hands clutching onto the fence. His face was twisted with fear, looking hideous underneath the lamplight.

“Help me, help me! I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die——!!!” he screeched, his voice twisted from overwhelming terror, so piercing that it would be able to rip out a heart from their chests.

The two girls were on the verge of tears as they screamed and crawled backwards. The person clutching onto the tennis court’s fence started struggling again, but he was already surrounded by zombies. He tried to climb upwards but a few bites on his ankles and calves dragged him back down, his body banging against the metal. The sound of bone cracking, skin ripping, limbs breaking, of the nauseating sound of chewing, of his dying screams… they all mixed together into the night, unfading.

Under the yellow lamplight, the feasting movements of the zombies on the once-living human were just visible. One of them pulled, dragging out something that looked like intestines, and slammed it onto the wires, blood dripping from the gaps in it. A zombie that wasn’t able to squeeze into the feasting circle shuffled towards the metal wire, growled at the people outside the wiring, and stuffed the intestine into its mouth. It continuously banged its head against the wires, wanting to feast on the outsiders as well.

Zhou Yuxiu dazedly touched the warm liquid that had splashed onto her face from where she had fallen in front of the metal wires. The black gloves showed no colour but she suddenly seemed to be hit with understanding and screamed hysterically. Gao Yifei looked blankly at Zhou Yuxiu as she screamed, her eyes hollow and reactionless.

“Lin Jue, grab Gao Yifei; let’s go!” Song Hanzhang covered Zhou Yuxiu’s mouth and threatened, “Shut up! If you don’t want to end up like that person then shut your mouth!”

Lin Jue grabbed the dazed Gao Yifei and dragged her towards the south entrance of the oval.

Liu Shan, who had been sitting silently on the floor the whole time, finally remembered the danger of being here. He crawled up and stumbled after them.

Lin Jue’s mind was blank, running purely on instinct. Seeing a real person being eaten by zombies was a completely different level to seeing a zombie. Those scenes of hands being ripped off, of revealed intestines, should only be seen from horror movies, especially for a university student living in peaceful times. But he understood reality all too well.

If he couldn’t get away, then he would end up like that person and die in extreme pain and fear.

Live! He had to live on!

***

Vera’s Notes:

There will be minor title changes since we’ve realized recently that the naming of our chapters was causing the titles of NU to go wonky.

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