Ch47 - Express Pickup

Translator: transcendentwings

After a frigid night, the temperature rose sharply when the sun rose the next day. The snow on the ground melted rapidly under its influence and the water on the eaves fell with a dida dida as the chilly air became saturated with moisture.

The students in both classes slept until they woke up naturally. Class 2 woke up slightly earlier, while Class 1 directly slept until noon. It was unknown if was a side effect from the compactness of their sleeping positions.

On this rare tranquil afternoon, Lin Dilei and Zhou Yilu whipped up several good dishes. After a portion of each was set aside as takeout for those upstairs, the eight of them gathered around and enjoyed the meal in peace. Of course this courtesy was returned and they received a plate of kimchi pancakes when they sent out their delicacies in exchange.

Amidst such a cozy atmosphere, the evening arrived silently.

Eight well-armed young men stood in the center of the kitchen on the ground floor, all equipped with masks+goggles without exception. Among them, three had a height over 180, and one was closer to 190. Just by having the lot of them stand there already made people feel that the future of this campaign was bright.

Song Fei always believed that Qi Yan was of a well-proportioned, healthy and sunny body type, but with Zhao He as a foil, the former immediately looked slimmer. Even Wu Zhou, who was about the same height, also looked stronger than Qi Yan. Perhaps it was because of sports practice but the both of them possessed a sense of strength different from ordinary students regardless of the state of their muscles whether it be just visually on the surface or their actual physical stats.

For this campaign, both classes sent four boys, Class 1 was Song Fei, Qi Yan, Zhou Yilu, and Qiao Siqi, Class 2 was Zhao He, Wu Zhou, Feng Qibai, and He Zhiwen. This was also the formation of the squad that will go to the Gewu Building in the future, otherwise this so-called mock cooperation battle would lose all meaning.

The reason why not all the members were dispatched was that the magnitude of a 14-person team was too large making it non-conductive to covert movements; Secondly, no one could guarantee that they would succeed in reaching the Gewu Building. If an accident occurred midway, at least some of them would still be alive; The third was that the canteen was an key resource for survival. Even if they successfully found the radio and straightened out the direction in how they should proceed in saving themselves, the two methods they could take on would be nothing more than perseverance or breakthrough. The former, needless to say, could only rely on the canteen and if the latter were to be achieved, they needed to rely on a sufficient supply of rations as well as detailed arrangements, which all required returning to the canteen for long-term planning. Therefore, they not only had to leave people behind to guard the canteen, but they also couldn’t keep only those with weak combat power. To be precise, brains and strength were indispensable in preventing both natural disasters and man-made calamities.

“Ready?” Song Fei approached the window and turned to ask his comrades.

The companions of Class 2 had already completed their exploration of the masks and goggles and expressed their various opinions on why there would always be strange props available in Class 1. Now that their discussion had been completed, they stabilized their emotions and replied in unison: “En.”

Song Fei looked to his own classmates.

Qi Yan nodded.

Zhou Yilu waved his sushi spear with a smirk on his face. The cold glint of light reflecting off the blade flashed across the confident expression on his face.

Qiao Siqi’s eyes were also blinded by the gleam of the knife and he rapidly blinked reflexively. The original indignation in his eyes could no longer be seen, but the accusation was still full of spirit: “I’m very not ready!”

Song Fei raised an eyebrow, Qi Yan and Zhou Yilu also crossed their arms, waiting for their teammate’s reasoning.

Qiao Siqi spread his hand vigorously: “Why me?”

Song Fei: “. . .”

Qi Yan: “. . .”

Zhou Yilu: “Speak in human terms!”

“Why is it me ah,” the situation had already become like this and they didn’t allow the haughty sheep to speak, so it’ll cease its arrogance. Qiao-tongxue was distinctly aware of the current affairs, “Wang Qingyuan volunteered to go himself and you guys didn’t allow it. I didn’t want to go and you guys just had to drag me into it, why do you guys love me this much. . .”

Qiao-tongxue’s sorrow was sincere and his refusal penetrated into the nucleus of his every cell.

Song Fei sighed: “Didn’t we already explain ma, we need to leave behind a few who can fight in the canteen. Are you more combative than Luo Geng or Wang Qingyuan?”

“But I still must be better than Li Jingyu ba!”

“However you lost at drawing lots ah.” Song Fei was completely ashamed when he pointed this out. In front of the Class 2 students, Qiao and Li, these two classmates, casted lots for who would be able to stay in the canteen. It was a moment of humiliation for Class 1 ah!

Qi Yan patted his shoulder: “Luck is also a kind of strength.”

“Besides, don’t you always boast that you are wearing thick clothes so you aren’t afraid of getting bitten ma,” Zhou Yilu added another hit.

Qiao Siqi promptly grasped the waist of his pants with both hands and made a gesture of taking it off all the way: “I can unequip them right now!”

Zhou Yilu was dumbfounded and defeated by his shamelessness.

Song Fei came over with apparent interest and fixed his gaze on his lower body: “Strip ba, all of us will help you keep watch.”

Qiao Siqi: “. . .”

There are mountains beyond mountains and edifices beyond, shameless is no match for the flow of vulgarity.

“My dream is to protect the canteen ah—”

Luo, Lin, Wang, Li: “We will achieve it in your place!”

Watching Qiao Siqi, who had nothing to live for, being sent out the window by his companions, the Class 2 students exchanged glances and felt the same emotion in their hearts—This was a warm group brimming with cohesiveness.

In the dim light of the night, eight figures snuck out the kitchen window on the first floor. They first swept their gazes around and then moved forward swiftly and quietly. In the blink of an eye, they were already hidden by the depths of the night. The only proof that they had ever appeared there were the footsteps left on the green belt of soil softened by the melted snow. Deep and shallow, heading forward the whole way.

“It’s just those couple of trees?”

Zhao He led the three classmates of his class and followed behind Class 1. This was a preset tactic. Class 1 would lead while Class 2 would follow. After all, the former had already executed a mission successfully.

At this time, they could already see the outline of the steel structure of the Express Pickup Point from a distance, as well as the blurred silhouettes of the stalwart trees next to the green strip before them.

“En.” The one who answered him was Qi Yan as he tried to keep his voice as low as possible and the content of his answer as brief as possible.

Zhao He didn’t dare to speak loudly, but he was tall, making his view less obstructed, but at this time he couldn’t help muttering: “They’re way too short ba.”

Zhao He was speaking from the bottom of his heart—Compared to the tall broad-leafed trees that could be seen everywhere on campus, these trees were really feeble in comparison.

The Class 1 students expressed their understanding. As soldiers who have climbed the trees located along this boulevard, their take on the contrast between the two sides couldn’t be more profound. However, everything still had to be viewed dialectically. Big trees were safe, but their height made them difficult to climb. Small trees were short and weak, but they were relatively easier to scale and made it easier to lure and kill enemies. Besides, frail was merely just that, it wasn’t to the point of being unable to support a person.

“You can send your opinion to the logistics department.” Qi-tongxue thoughtfully provided the channel to register his complaints.

Zhao He rolled his eyes at the back of the other’s head: “Will do, thanks.”

“Cold weather is good, placid and crisp.” Feng Qibai, who had been clutching the carving knife tightly and constantly alert towards their surroundings, piped up softly. Rather than wanting to chat, it would be better to say he was finding a way to relax his tense nerves. The string of tension was pulled taut the entire way and was on the borderline of snapping, he would’ve descended into madness if he didn’t speak.

Qiao Siqi was also terribly nervous, but he still disagreed with Feng Qibai’s opinion: “The temperature rose today, but it’s about the same as when we escaped from the dormitories, how is it cold ah.”

“Then why hasn’t there been even a glimpse of any part of a zombie along the way?”

“This place is more isolated, there weren’t many zombies when we came here last time either. . . What’s the matter, you’re looking forward to meeting some ah?”

“I’ve noticed that when you speak. . .”

Xixisusu.

The bickering desisted abruptly.

Eight people were walking by one side of the road with furtive movements like a cat and the sound came from the thicket on the other side of the road as if someone was disturbing the branches of the shrubs and its stubby branches couldn’t hold back from making noises in protest.

Xixisusu.

The sound became more and more intense as if something was going to charge out of it in the next second!

The eight of them held their breaths, none of them dared to act rashly, they could only turn their stiff necks and shoot looks at each other—

“What should we do?” Song Fei almost didn’t dare to utter those words, and only a barely audible breath remained.

“Run ah.” Qiao Siqi didn’t even think.

Zhao He shook his head firmly: “Sooner or later we’ll have to fight. We can run this time, but what about the next ne.”

Wu Zhou was in agreement: “F*ck it, we won’t be afraid any longer after we’ve finished.”

The words just fell, when a head popped out of the verdure.

That was a very pale face, with no blood residue or murderous intent. After sticking out a head, it only slowly turned left and then right, with a very natural and serene expression.

The companions fell into a moment of confusion, unable to determine whether it was a him or an it for a while.

Song Fei gulped, waved his hand tentatively and greeted quietly: “Hai.”

Hearing the sound, the head slowly looked up.

The moment the group of people were spotted, placidity was torn apart by ferocity, the head suddenly went mad, like it was injected with chicken blood as it stormed outwards.

Zhao He had never been able to just patiently wait for death. Seeing the situation, he immediately charged over with the military-grade blade he temporarily borrowed from Luo Geng!

“Something’s wrong.” Qi Yan held him back suddenly, “It’s fishy!”

Zhao He raised his eyebrow: “Are you afraid that I can’t beat it one-on-one?”

Qi Yan didn’t answer, his hands were still maintained in a restraining posture, but his eyes were focused on the foliage beyond.

Zhao He was puzzled and looked up.

Xixisusu, xixisu.

The flora continued to stir and just when the bleached white zombie had freed its shoulders, several more heads emerged from other nearby bushes!

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.

In addition to the one from the beginning, it was clearly not a single straggler, it was clearly the godd*mn eight immortals crossing the sea!

Before his companions could react, Zhao He broke free from Qi Yan, charged over and stabbed the head of the zombie that had already shimmied half of its body out.

Blade removed, blood splattered.

The action was ruthless and neat, just like a warrior who could hold out against ten thousand.

Not to be outdone, Wu Zhou followed closely behind and with the rise and fall of his blade on the other end, he also rapidly took care of one.

As such, the two classmates seemed like they were playing whack-a-mole, striking them down one by one. Relying on the fact that the zombies were stuck in the hedge and had their movements restricted, the two successfully formed a tag team to take them all out.

The companions of Wusheng Class 1 were astounded, not only because of their high efficiency, but also because of their desperation and disregard for their own safety. One must know that they have always conformed to the principle of if they could flee, they’ll run, if not, then they’ll stand their ground and engage. This style of coming to blows from the get-go was way too rough.

The companions from Wusheng Class 2 thought it was still acceptable. After all, when they broke out of the dormitories, the path they took was precisely the hack and slash route.

“Isn’t it all settled now,” Zhao He turned around and lifted his chin at his comrades somewhat cockily, “Don’t mention eight of them, even if there were eighteen more of them, they still wouldn’t be worthy opponents.”

He predicted that his companions would either give him a like or roast him, these two reactions, but what entered Zhao He’s eyes were six faces full of horror.

“What kind of expression is that?” Zhao He made a face, “Don’t worry, I’m only like this against enemies. I’ve always been like a spring day to my comrades. . .”

Wu Zhou, who was beside him, abruptly touched his shoulder and interrupted his declaration of friendship.

“What?” Zhao He was a little displeased.

Wu Zhou didn’t know whether or not he should offer his congratulations: “What you wanted is here.”

Zhao He looked back in confusion and saw that in the green belt full of shrubbery, to be precise, behind the row of herbage the zombie corpses were haphazardly sticking out from, under a big pine tree that was still stained with a little snow, unwittingly stood six or seven figures. Then several more rose up, almost making it a bustling scene of “a mass of bobbing heads”.

Hasn’t it arrived ma. This time around, not to mention eighteen, there were probably twenty-eight of them now!

Zhao He’s scalp was numb and his throat became dry: “Actually, I was just speaking casually, you guys don’t need to be so cooperative. . .”

How could the zombies listen to his explanation, the first few who stood up swiftly locked onto their targets and lunged over frantically! And unlike those who wanted to drill out of the undergrowth, perhaps it was because they had already started up the upright sprinting mode, but after encountering the greenery, two of them charged forth and burst out of them using their accumulated inertia while another with a stalwart figure physically leapt over it!

“What are you still looking at, run ah—” Qiao Siqi’s reminder cut through the night sky.

The companions woke up from their daze, they also didn’t expect so many zombies to appear in such a short time. Just now, this area seemed to be completely deserted ah!

Qiao Siqi took the lead in scudding, his running endurance wasn’t very good, but his explosive power was absolutely amazing. It was like a rocket was attached to his behind as he charged forth quite far out in the blink of an eye.

Song Fei, Qi Yan, and Zhou Yilu followed closely behind, but were surprisingly overtaken by Wu Zhou and Zhao He in just a few steps, leaving Feng Qibai and He Zhiwen in the dust. One was engaged in the arts and the other researched forces, making it a miserable pursuit for them.

Zhao He was at a loss as he ran, “What the hell were they all hiding here for ah!”

Qiao Siqi, who didn’t dare charge ahead of the squad, locked himself into position, sticking close behind Zhao He: “Conducting a class meeting bei.”

“Running one while lying prone?!”

“It’s not a meeting then, it’s a party.”

“Pa, my ass. I bet they were just lying in wait for us to take the bait ne!”

“Just mentioning it is making me angry. If you didn’t stab those eight, would it have led to such a result!”

“Why didn’t you stop me when I was stabbing them then, you’re just firing belated shots!”

“You were on a killing spree, what if I was also skewered in passing!”

“Weren’t you the ones who mentioned that once the zombies caught a whiff of it, they’d go crazy. I had already been fighting for a long time when they finally stood it, it was obviously a trap!”

“You already smeared Six God, so what the hell would they be smelling ah!”

“As I have mentioned before, there’s a S for plurality!”

“A sports student shouldn’t be fussing over such things!”

“I’m most annoyed at those who keep sports students this and sports students that hanging on the tips of their tongues. I also took the f*cking exam to get into this school. I not only know how to add an S, I also know past tense, present tense, past continuing tense, present perfect tense. . .”

Guangdang.

Guang.

“F*ck me!”

“A-ya.”

The consequences of their petty spat was that Zhao He ran into a tree and Qiao Siqi crashed into Zhao He.

The remaining six companions who arrived shortly behind them, ignored these two chatty cathys and tacitly scattered to ascend the trees!

Qiao Siqi was struck a little more gently than Zhao He, after all, he had a meat cushion. After taking a few seconds to recover, he quickly climbed to his feet and zoomed over to the base of Song Fei’s tree, opening up his arms: “Hug.”

Song Fei practically wanted to chuck his shoe.

However he still rapidly fished the rope out of his backpack and hauled John up.

On the other side, Zhao He who picked himself up a moment later, watched this scene with contempt written all over his face. He tsked and chose a tree that was bereft of another and scaled it in a few swift movements using his hands and feet.

He Zhiwen and Feng Qibai raced over until they almost couldn’t breath so they didn’t have any remaining strength to scramble up the trees. Observing as each of their comrades were more dexterous than monkeys, despair welled up—Were the two of them and this band of people really studying at the same university!!!

Twenty-something odd number of zombies were already close at hand. They could more or less already see what the zombie leading the charge was wearing!

Qi Yan and Zhou Yilu tossed a rope down simultaneously and hollered: “Come up!”

Song Fei wanted to help, but he already had Qiao Siqi here and was afraid that the tree wouldn’t be able to support a greater number of people.

The two of them didn’t hesitate at all as they split up and each grasped a rope at the same time. Feng Qibai’s movements were slightly more agile than He Zhiwen. He clutched the rope and kicked the trunk, allowing his hands to borrow the momentum from his miniature hops to propel himself up the tree a bit at a time. He Zhiwen wasn’t as capable. He made a multitude of attempts and just couldn’t lift his legs up, let alone kick the tree trunk.

Zhou Yilu was about to be anxious to death, but his comrade was still struggling and squirming like a loach on a fishing hook. He couldn’t let go, if he released his hold, the latter would fall directly down.

At a critical moment, Zhao He suddenly leapt down and sprinted towards the bottom of He Zhiwen’s tree. Hugging He Zhiwen’s legs, he pushed up hard and the top of He Zhiwen’s head ended up hovering directly above the lowest branch of the tree.

He Zhiwen’s physical skills were adequate, but his brain was very sharp and he immediately latched onto the lowest branch of the tree with both arms in a death grip.

Seeing that he had a solid hold, Zhao He promptly loosened his arms and He Zhiwen’s chubby legs that regained their freedom, hooked onto the branch clumsily at once.

“Quickly return to the top of the tree!” Qi Yan suddenly shouted.

Zhao He didn’t look back and swiftly launched himself forward two steps to another tree and like a flying swallow in the open sky, even his companions couldn’t clearly make out how he did it, but next thing they knew, he was already perched on the tree.

At this time, the zombie that had Qi Yan’s heart in his throat, just reached the spot where Zhao He had previously stood.

Now all eight of them were safely roosting in the trees.

The zombies began to gather and the final crowd count stabilized at twenty-six. Without exception, all of them surrounded the base of the trees. Some were eagerly stretching out their arms wanting to scramble up, others who couldn’t figure a way up even started to resort to gnawing at the bark.

Glancing over, the Express Pickup Point was like a black hole, it was a mystery whether or not there were any zombies at all and if there were, how many.

“Can you not be so wild ah,” the situation was temporarily stable now, but Qiao Siqi still felt lingering fear and reprimanded Zhao He angrily, “Learn a little from our Qi Yan-tongxue. Do things in a steady manner, don’t just come on so recklessly.”

Whether it was stabbing the zombies earlier or swarming up the tree just now, other than acting foolhardy, it was extremely thrilling and nearly scared Qiao Siqi into having a cardiac arrest.

“Was I wrong to save others?” Zhao He raised his brow, displeased, “Besides, I didn’t trouble you. I stabbed the zombies to death ba and climbed up ba. You think that I’m not reliable, but I think that I can control the playing field quite well.”

Ka.

Qiao Siqi swallowed his complaints and he was so nervous that even his hair stood up as he asked timidly: “What’s that sound?”

The companions exchanged looks across the trees, and were all befuddled.

At last, Zhao He hardened his heart and announced: “It seems like it’s about to snap. . .”

Qiao Siqi was so anxious that his pitch almost changed: “What’s breaking ah!”

Zhao He: “The branch.”

Kacha.

Before he finished speaking, the branch of the tree fractured. Zhao He reacted instantly and at the last moment sprung up to embrace a branch above, watching helplessly as the branch he was crouched on fall into the circle of zombies down below.

All of the companions seemed to have experienced a near-death experience with Zhao He. Buffeted by the frigid night winds, they actually still broke out into a cold sweat.

“Is it still all under control?” When you hit someone, you don’t strike them in the face, but for some people, you can’t not give them a kick in the face.

Zhao He wrapped his legs around the tree trunk arduously, so that his tall and slender body no longer swayed in the wind and vowed from the bottom of his heart: “I will never act arrogantly again. . .”

Ka.

Zhao He: “No way, again?!”

All the comrades-in-arms: “How much do you f*cking weigh—”

Bros join forces to retrieve express packages, it’s best to use brains and not brute force!

The translator has something to say: poor Qiao Siqi is either cannon fodder or passerby B in this group, neither super brainy nor in possession of combative prowess. Also please do forgive our author-dada for her shallower understanding of English grammar