Chapter 26: The Plan — Is the Safe House Really That Important? Part 1

“There weren’t many zombies in the admin building—our three floors added up to less than a hundred or so,” Ji Li said, taking out a plastic bag and setting it on the platform at the statue’s feet.

“Even fewer for us—sixty at most,” Skinny Monkey said, pulling cores from his pocket.

“About the same for us,” Chen Jianxin added. Both dropped their cores into the plastic bag. Seeing this, Gao Lan picked up the bag and lifted her chin.

“It’s getting dark. Let’s find a classroom to sit and split them. Even split.”

“We’ll split evenly—you and Little Ji take an extra share. We agreed on that yesterday,” Chen Jianxin said, glancing at the others for confirmation, and most nodded.

But Gao Lan shook her head. “If it’s thanks you want, we settled that debt yesterday. These cores were fought by everyone together, so they should be split evenly.”

Seeing Chen Jianxin about to protest, Gao Lan made the final call firmly: “It’s decided.”

Chen Jianxin was silent a moment, then cupped his hands toward her in salute.

The group then moved to a classroom and sat down. Ji Li held the light while Gao Lan divided the cores—ten people, nineteen cores each, with the extra 3 kept by Chen Jianxin.

Besides the cores, in the spirit of never passing up a windfall, the clearing teams took supplies scavenged from the admin building out of their wristbands for a second round of distribution.

Ji Li and Gao Lan declined this share, saying they’d stockpiled plenty of supplies in Cheng’an City.

“Besides these, we don’t plan to take the supplies in the school cafeteria either,” Gao Lan said, cutting off Chen Jianxin before he could start, continuing on her own. “It’s not that we’re generous—we genuinely can’t eat it all.”

Ji Li chimed in with a smile. “Uncle Chen, really, don’t feel bad. That cafeteria gets split among eight of you, while the Cheng’an City supplies get split between just me and Sister Lan—two people.”

With it put that way, further refusal would just be posturing. Chen Jianxin scratched his head for a good while before offering the information he thought could serve as thanks.

“Little Gao, Little Ji—do you happen to know that Player Backpacks can keep things fresh?”

Ji Li nodded. “We know. And you can use the Trading System to store important supplies in your Player Backpack too.”

Chen Jianxin deflated instantly, muttering, “You knew… Well, of course. Anyone who’s survived this long has a good head on their shoulders.”

Everyone laughed. Zhang Luyao volunteered her findings: “We found both the potassium nitrate and the sulfur. I also found the medical office—got Little Shen this wheelchair and some medicine.”

Ever since learning that completing the Main Quest would restore his mobility, Shen Shuyan’s spirits had improved considerably. When Zhang Luyao finished, he picked up the iron canister on his lap and set it on the desk.

“This is the charcoal. Limited by the container, Sister Zihan only made three today. Once it’s fully cooled tomorrow, it can be used to make explosives.”

Ji Li asked curiously, “Does it have to be an iron can? Would other containers work?”

“Anything that withstands burning. Actually, you don’t even need a container—you can dig a pit and build an earthen kiln. But the soil here is badly compacted; without tools it’s hard to dig.”

Hearing that charcoal could be made even without tools, Ji Li’s interest was piqued. “Could I trade cores for your charcoal-making method? It might come in handy later. Ten cores—deal?”

Shen Shuyan was taken aback and waved a hand. “No cores needed. I’ll just tell you.”

“That won’t do. I can’t let you share knowledge for free.” Ji Li took ten cores from his wristband and pushed them over.

Shen Shuyan stared at the cores, unsure what to do—until Chen Jianxin suddenly spoke up:

“Little Ji’s right. Knowledge and information are vital resources in the apocalypse. But forget the cores, Little Ji. If possible, could you help Little Shen expand his wristband space?”

Ji Li froze, then it suddenly hit him—

Right! The skill he was publicly showing was Item Space Expansion!

“No problem! Just empty the wristband and hand it to me.” After a thought, he added, “My skill doubles the space, so the bigger the original space, the better.”

Doubling!

At those words, everyone’s eyes went wide. Even Gao Lan couldn’t help glancing at Ji Li.

“Then… how many cores would it cost to have you expand a wristband?” Zhang Luyao asked what everyone was thinking.

Under everyone’s expectant gazes, Ji Li thought for a moment. “Ten cores, regardless of size. But my skill can only be used once a day, so coordinate your times.”

“Once a day?” Gao Lan frowned. “Then what about yourself?”

Ji Li scratched his cheek. “Ah… I have enough.”

Gao Lan did some quick mental math, relaxed, and turned to the group. “Let’s set the trading aside for now. Uncle Chen should have told you all about the Safe House situation, right?”

Seeing Zhang Luyao, Shen Shuyan, and Lu Zihan nod, she continued, “Since everyone’s Safe Houses are in the school, I assume no one would abandon their Safe House and leave, right?”

Chen Jianxin and the others went without saying. Only Qin Xiaoxiao looked conflicted. Seeing this, Gao Lan asked directly, “Qin Xiaoxiao, right? Speak your mind.”

Qin Xiaoxiao pressed her lips together, quickly glanced at Chen Jianxin and the others, then lowered her head to stare at the desk and said in a small voice:

“I heard… them talk about the Black Tide… that thing is far more agile than zombies. Even slightly thin door panels and glass can’t hold it… And… my Safe House has no trait, so it’s not really that… important…”

“No trait?” Gao Lan looked at Chen Jianxin in surprise. “What’s going on?”

Chen Jianxin sighed. “That’s a story that starts from the beginning.”

He patted his bulging belly and smiled bitterly. “You can tell from my figure—running is a struggle. So after being transported here and getting the quest, I immediately realized I couldn’t outrun the others.”

“Therefore, even knowing the building in front of us wasn’t a good choice, I had to go in—because it was the closest.”

Chen Jianxin glanced at Yu Shen and deliberately omitted the information about the Grey-Brick Building. Everyone else present understood tacitly—even Yang Haoran, who had no Safe House, played dumb.

“But as you know, the ground and second-floor windows of these teaching buildings were all shattered, which clearly didn’t meet the quest requirements. Luckily, being old has its advantages—I’m very familiar with this style of old teaching building, and I knew of one place that was guaranteed to be intact.”

At this point, Chen Jianxin shifted his bottom awkwardly, cleared his throat, and finally uttered two words: “The toilet.”

Ji Li blinked, then smacked his fist into his palm in realization. “Of course! In these old teaching buildings, the bathrooms are at the end of the corridor, and the windows are tiny for insulation. And this Zombie Apocalypse happened during the day… Uncle Chen, you’re brilliant!”

Flushed with Ji Li’s praise, Chen Jianxin’s embarrassment vanished and he laughed heartily. “Oh, it’s nothing—just the advantage of a few extra years of eating rice.”

He paused, then continued, “So with a target in mind, once the Protective Barrier vanished, I bolted straight for the bathroom. One person followed me—Skinny Monkey.”

Skinny Monkey rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “My brain was complete mush back then. I just knew to run after whoever was in front…”

Chen Jianxin went on, “Anyway, I led him to the bathroom. We’d just hidden and hadn’t even closed the door when Luyao and the others came running.”

Zhang Luyao picked up the thread. “We originally wanted to go upstairs, but there were zombies in the stairwell and a lot of people got bitten. Our group ran downstairs and ran straight into zombies coming in from outside, so we had no choice but to flee down the corridor—and that’s when we saw Uncle Chen and the others.”

“And because of that, we discovered players are immune to the Zombie Virus,” Shen Shuyan added.

Ji Li’s eyes went wide. “Really?”

“Really,” Chen Jianxin said, gesturing at Shen Shuyan’s group of four. “All four of them got bitten back then. Skinny Monkey carried on about mutating and wouldn’t let me open the door for them.”

Skinny Monkey smiled sheepishly and took a playful slap from Zhang Luyao.

“Everything after that was the same. Time ran out, everyone got their rewards—but a Safe House can only bind one person.”

Chen Jianxin folded his hands on his belly and sighed. “As you know, half of the skills our group drew could be used in actual combat. When the binding quest appeared, we nearly came to blows.”

“For my own safety, I voluntarily revealed my skill and proposed that I generate a shield to protect the others while they went out to scout. Who knew that scouting would uncover the Game’s little…”

“BUG,” Shen Shuyan supplied at the right moment.

“Right, bay-ge.” His Chinglish drew muffled laughter from the young people, but Chen Jianxin didn’t mind, saying with a smile, “The people who left the Safe House received a new quest—still find a Safe House within ten minutes, but this time with no reward, and the Safe House had no trait.”

Hearing this, Ji Li immediately understood the exploit. “So you decided everyone would move together, find a Safe House and all enter it, and when the binding quest appeared, the others would leave at the end of the countdown, take the new Safe House quest, and so on in rotation until the last person?”

“Yes,” Chen Jianxin nodded. “To thank me, everyone gave the only Safe House with a trait to me, so theirs all came without traits.”

“You can even do that…” Yu Shen was dumbstruck.

When the Bind Safe House quest had popped up, all he’d thought about was not being kicked out to die. It had never occurred to him that a new quest could be received, let alone that he could cooperate with others to get through it together!

Gao Lan was silent a moment, then said with genuine admiration, “Brother Chen, that was noble of you.”

“No, no!” Chen Jianxin waved his hands hurriedly. “I did it to protect myself too. My skill has no offensive power—if it had truly come down to a fight to the death, I’d have been finished as well. I’m genuinely scared of dying, so I wanted to stop everyone from fighting first, then talk it out slowly.”

But Gao Lan shook her head. “Whatever the motive, you did save them.”

After a pause, she looked at Zhang Luyao and the others.

“Personally, I think Little Ji is right—none of us knows what the next apocalypse world will look like, and having a Safe House beats not having one. But I can also understand not wanting to gamble on uncertainties. So whatever you decide, think it through yourselves.”

After a brief silence, Skinny Monkey was the first to declare himself.

“I’m following Boss Chen. If he stays, I stay.” He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. “I panic easily. Sticking with smart people can’t go wrong.”

Zhang Luyao spoke next. “I’m staying. Sister Lan is right—a Safe House is at least a guarantee. Something is better than nothing.”

After a pause, she added, “Zihan too.”

Lu Zihan nodded to Ji Li and Gao Lan, her gaze sweeping over Yu Shen, her eyes lowering to conceal the flash of killing intent deep within.

Shen Shuyan patted his wheelchair armrest and smiled bitterly. “In my state, where would I even go? I’ll follow the group—I just hope nobody minds me.”

“Little Shen! What nonsense are you spouting!”

“Anyone who dares look down on you, I’ll… I’ll curse them out for you!”

“Of course not, don’t overthink it.”

Chen Jianxin and the others reassured him in a jumble of voices. When the noise died down, everyone’s eyes converged on Qin Xiaoxiao.

The girl flinched, and only after a good while did she bite her lip and say quietly, “Then… then I’ll also…”

Before she could finish, Gao Lan cut in. “Don’t just follow the crowd—think it through yourself. If you don’t want to stay, I’ll give you one of Chen Zhixiong’s cars. You can follow the road toward the New Media Group.”

“I can’t guarantee there’s no Black Tide ahead, or that it’s safer than staying. But if the Black Tide really is coming this way, we’ll lure it into Cheng’an City if necessary to protect the Safe Houses.”

This was the strategy Ji Li and Gao Lan had worked out while clearing zombies.

If they stayed at the school, they could use nearby buildings to divert the Black Tide, but the range was limited and they didn’t have enough explosives.