Ch96 - Roaming by the Lakeshore

translator: transcendentwings

Holding a pair of scissors in one hand and batting at the waves with the other, the sharp edge and water spray flew up in harmony, his head was the same color as the night— The new student surnamed Kuang persisted in the middle of the lake for twelve minutes with such a staunch attitude.

Finally, he couldn’t hold on any longer.

In terms of swimming, two thousand meters in one breath was no problem, but wearing a down jacket and soaking in ice water in the middle of the winter was not part of his professional skill set.

“Can you guys go faster—”

The coat that absorbed its fill of lake water kept dragging his body down, and the biting cold swiftly consumed his remaining physical strength.

“We are holding cold weapons, not motherf*cking machine gunsah!”

Zhou Yilu yanked the makeshift sushi spear out of a zombie’s head with difficulty, and before that zombie fell, he quickly jabbed at a second zombie, but the latter abruptly jumped up and tried to catch a hold of him, so the tip of the spear weent off course and only pierced through the opponent’s shoulder.

Qi Yan on the other side was in pretty much the same situation. On average, five or six stabs would take care of a zombie, and that was already considered highly efficient.

However the only ones who could even launch an offense were Qi Yan and Zhou Yilu, who carried ranged weapons, and at most Li Jingyu’s metal cooking spatula could provide an assist, but the zombies wouldn’t continuously provide cooperation. Often when one fell, the next one would put up a struggle for a long time before entering attack range, close enough that Qi Yan and Zhou Yilu would finally have a chance to attack them.

With this back and forth, time passed steadily. The zombies on the shore were still densely packed, but the comrades in the trees were already panting and Kuang Ye in the water was already so cold that his face blanched and his teeth chattered.

Things couldn’t go on like this much longer.

The wheels in Song Fei’s head were turning until they were about to smoke.

If there were only fourteen of them, they could attempt a feint in the east and attack from the west, then slide down the tree and make a break for it when the zombies weren’t paying attention. There was no need for them to be locked in battle and waste their physical strength.

If there was only one in the water, then that one could run as soon as they reached the shore, there was no need to wait out the long battle on their side.

But the current situation was that they were in the water as well as on the trees. If they ignored each other’s presence and only focused on their own escape, then it would be nearly impossible for them to regroup after.

During this brainstorming process, Song Fei’s eyes never left Kuang Ye. Now that he realized that the other’s head was beginning to bob up and down, it was obvious that the other was exhausted and could no longer be worried about this and that. He gritted his teeth and called out, “Kuang Ye, stop soaking in the water and get to shore—”

The call of his comrade was like a thunderbolt, splitting Kuang Ye’s chaotic world apart.

His consciousness that had originally drifted away, instantly recovered and his arms seemed to have gained the power to help himself as he began the paddle vigorously with ahualahuala!

Yet after swiping at the water twice, Kuang Ye suddenly stopped again. It was obvious that he had just realized the cruelty of reality and cried sadly: “There are zombies everywhere, how would I get ashoreah—”

Song Fei watched him swimming towards the rest of the Wusheng class and really wanted to strike him with the teacher ruler: “Who the hell told you to come back over here, go to the other side!”

Kuang Ye finally understood the situation completely from his companion’s roar.

On this side of the lake bathed in moonlight, there was a rabble of zombies, but on the other side, there was a patch of willows and a light breeze, not even half the shadow of a zombie could be seen.

It was impossible to clear all the zombies here in such a short time, and he couldn’t continue to stay in the water, climbing onto the other shore was the only option.

Kuang Ye understood this concept, but—

“That side is too far from the rest of you, I can’t bear to be so far apartah!!!”

The fourteen companions almost fell out of the tree in unison.

If Zhao He hadn’t been afraid that the tree branch couldn’t bear it, he would have hurled a metal chopstick at him: “You’re about to freakin’ drown, can’t you put aside thisloveof yours!!!”

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As if to confirm Huang Mo’s judgment, the one on the other side immediately wailed pitifully: “What should I do if I met with zombies ashoreah—”

“Runah!” Song Fei was about to spit fire, “Otherwisene, wait to be gnawed on?!”

“Where should I run toah—”

“IMd. . .”

“How do I meet up with you guys again after runningah—”

“z. . .”

“What if you guys leave me behindahhhh—”

“. . .”

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EIT YLAd ATJdTJGT mLA dIT BTTqTAd STLi RULJN xT ILB IQBBTJ.

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“Why don’t we reconvene at the Academic Activities Center?” Wang Qingyuan suggested, his voice wasn’t very loud and was clearly just for the sake of internal debate.

“It’s doable for us to get down from the tree and head over,” Zhao He mused without thinking, “But can he run all the way from the other side to the center by himself? The road is too long and if he meets a zombie on the way, it’ll spell his demise.”

“Besides, we can’t guarantee that we have a 100% possibility of heading to the Academic Activities Center,” Qi Yan analyzed calmly, “What if something unexpected happens along the way and we change our destination to some other place? We wouldn’t be able to contact him at all.”

Qiao Siqi: “Don’t we have walkie-talkiesma.”

Zhou Yilu: “Then do you mean for us topiu, toss it into the lake and have himka, catch it in one try then following that, have him hold it above the water like he was holding TNT andhualahualaswim ashore to prevent it from getting wet?”

Qiao Siqi: “That’s rightoh, if he swims with one hand and holds the walkie-talkie with the other, then he wouldn’t have any hands to hold the scissors!”

Zhou Yilu: “. . .”

Although Qiao Siqi’s focus deviated a lot like a runaway horse due to the influence of his peculiar train of thought, the conclusion he made was the same and Zhou Yilu didn’t have the energy to argue.

“I’ll go down!” Li Jingyu suddenly cut in, “I’ll take the walkie-talkie to meet him over there, and then you guys make your escape however you can. If there are any problems, feel free to contact me on the walkie-talkie, if there’s no issue, then I’ll just accompany him to the activity center.”

All the comrades: “. . .”

He Zhiwen: “What do you mean by no problem? The biggest concern is the combination consisting of the two of you and we’ll end up not only losing a person to this while also sacrificing a walkie-talkie.”

Li Jingyu: “You fatty. . .”

“F*ck this.” Song Fei, who had maintained his silence this entire time, interrupted this petty dispute between his companions, “Just like Little Whale said, you guys make your getaway your own way, leave Kuang Ye to me.”

Qi Yan saw that Song Fei hadn’t piped up for so long and his face was in a rare serious and stern expression, thus he knew that the other must’ve been mulling this over, and he rejected it without pausing: “No way, it’s too dangerous.”

Li Jingyu’s heart shattered into pieces—This was completely different from his reaction when he was making his declaration about going just now!

Song Fei didn’t talk back in another rare moment and only said slowly: “Don’t be in such a rush, you let me finish first.”

Qi Yan closed his mouth depressingly, his lips pressed in a straight line.

“I’m not as strong as Zhao He or Wu Zhou, I can’t fight as well as Luo Geng or Zhou Yilu, nor am I as knowledgeable as Huang Mo and He Zhiwen, and don’t possess as much endurance as either your or Little Whale, but I have a brainah, my head is a precious commodityne. . .”

Zhao He, Wu Zhou, Luo Geng, Zhou Yilu, Huang Mo, He Zhiwen, Qi Yan, Li Jingyu: “. . .”

The remaining companions breathed a deep sigh of relief, d*mn, they escaped.

“No, not that, I mean I have a lot of creative ideas and am most familiar with the university’s terrain. If we run into any zombies, there is no need for us to fight head-on, I can just take Kuang Ye on a detour and meet up with you guys!!!”

All the comrades: “. . .”

Song Fei: “Have some faith in meba. . .”

All the comrades: “Think twice before you speak up next time.”

Song Fei: “Enenen!”

All the comrades: “Don’t always just blurt out your thoughts blindly.”

Song Fei: “That was really just a slip of the tongue, a blunderah. . .”

Aowu, being quick with words really dooms oneself!

“Only two people is still too dangerous,” Qi Yan loosened up a bit, but still didn’t agree wholeheartedly, “I’ll accompany you.”

Song Fei shook his head decisively: “If you leave, what about everyone else?”

Qi Yan pulled a face: “. . .”

The faces of all the comrades darkened: “You think too highly of him!”

Song Fei was secretly joyous, but soon became serious again: “I’ve mentioned it before, if we don’t fight force with force then we can only hide and make our getaway. It’ll be inconvenient to do so with too many people. Besides, your task load is heavier, if you can’t open up a safety zone before Kuang Ye and I make it over there, we will have nowhere to rest our legs even if we reach our destinationah. Relax, I’ll have the walkie-talkiene, we’ll keep in touch whenever.”

Qi Yan stared at him for a long time before he ultimately accepted it: “We await your return to the team.”

Song Fei grinned widely, his snow white teeth glittering with abulingbulingunder the reflection of moonlight.

With the decision made, even if the companions were still worried, they wouldn’t argue any longer.

There is no perfect solution in this world. Either there were more people, boosting the combat effectiveness, but becoming easily exposed, or there were fewer people, lowering the combat effectiveness, but possessing strong adaptability. One could only really take care of one aspect at a time.

So, what they had to do was trust in Song Fei and secure shelter as soon as possible before their two companions who were left behind reconvened with the team.

“Then what about mene. . .” Li Jingyu found that the discussion ended without consulting his opinion at all!

“You should just carry your metal spatula and follow the main force closely.” Looking at the two classes, He Zhiwen could only bully this one a bit.

On the north bank of the lake, in the water.

Kuang Ye had already swam to the shore quietly. The moment his arm reached the shore, he felt relaxed and comfortable, as if he had unloaded the burden that had oppressed him for a century.

However, he still didn’t dare to leave the water and go ashore completely, for fear that there were some monsters lurking in the woods, just waiting for him to fall into their trap.

He wasn’t sure what his comrades on the other side were discussing, muttering in hushed voices that he couldn’t hear clearly, but he also really couldn’t hold on anymore and had no choice but to swim over first, lie on the shore for support in order to catch his breath.

But his body was also already becoming stiff and numb, if he continued to soak like this, he would either drown or freeze to death.

Looking at it from afar, the other side of the lake had become a blurry black shadow. Even the trees weren’t clearly outlined, let alone his companions who were perched on top.

Kuang Ye didn’t know if everyone had parsed out the direction of their battle. He didn’t dare to think too much, otherwise pessimism would always prevail. Compared with the dark forest, he was more afraid that his comrades would leave him without notice.

“Queen’s Road West and Queen’s Road East~~ Queen’s Road East turns into Queen’s Road Central~~ Why is there no palace on Queen’s Road East~~ The people on Queen’s Road Central are surging like a tide. . .”

The chorus drifted over with the water vapor on the lake.

At most five or six people sang together, not all the comrades at once, and among these five or six people, Zhao He’s volume and degree he was out-of-tune was overwhelming.

“It sounds too terrible. . .”

Kuang Ye disdained it, but the corners of his mouth curled up unconsciously and his frozen body began to slowly draw new strength from the hoarse singing.

At the south bank of the lake, on the trees.

The zombies had basically crowded around the tree where Zhao He, Feng Qibai, and the others werehowling. The tree that Song Fei and Qi Yan were sharing was the farthest from the source of the noise and the base of the tree was now empty and silent.

Qi Yan had kept his eyes on Song Fei quietly.

The latter hooked an arm around hisBF’s neck and then swiftly and forcefully pressed a soundless kiss before he agilely descended the tree and sprinted all the way along the edge of the lake in the opposite direction of the acapella without a backwards glance!

When the zombies under the tree where the chorus group was came to their senses a little later, Song Fei’s silhouette was already a blur.

However they still gave up on attempting to storm the big tree with a hopeless siege and gave chase in that direction!

Qi Yan’s heart trembled and the vocal team also tried their best, but the living people moving on the ground were by far more attractive than the bad guys hanging among the treetops who could only be seen but not eaten.

In a few minutes, the south bank was emptied.

Although it wasn’t part of the plan, the opportunity was not to be missed, and the fourteen of them swiftly clambered down the trees.

They all cast their gaze at the other side of the lake at the same time, none of the companions spoke nor did they move.

Only when the rustling sound came from the woods again did everyone finally make up their minds and bound towards the Academic Activities Center at full speed!

—Song Fei, the only one with brains among the two classes, you must return to the team safely!

Author’s Chapter Summary: The wind blows at the treetops and the water is cold, it is difficult to keep an eye out front while simultaneously fretting about the rear

The translator has something to say: I like how even until the end, they were humoring SF’s off-hand comment about being the only one with brains disguised under praise for everyone else’s combat prowess, one badly worded sentence, and he’s offended half the team while the other half weren’t sure whether they should be offended for not being mentioned or offended for being labeled as “brainless”

Hello, my dear lovely readers, I’m glad that you are all still with me, I feel like I keep having to apologize for the infrequent updates and I AM SORRY. So about the long absence, I’ve realized that you don’t really know how burnt out you are from work until you really take the time for yourself, so I kinda took a month’s vacation and boy did it do wonders for me mentally. Physically, I think I was a bit ambitious with my daily sightseeing/family plans and actually became so physically tired such that my wild plans about being able to update frequently because I had no other obligations turned into bubbles. So sorry for the long radio silence. Now let me make another ambitious goal of finishing my projects by the end of this year