Chapter 114: The Jealous Apocalyptic White Lotus · 11

Xu Youran spent the rest of that day in utter silence.

So silent that it made Su Wenyu uncomfortable. After forcing down a barely palatable breakfast of overcooked, mushy oatmeal, Su Wenyu had no phone to play with and could only clean the dormitory from top to bottom.

The neighboring dorm had been quiet since last night. Su Wenyu was a bit worried that they might have died already.

But while tidying up the balcony, Su Wenyu glanced through the broken glass panel to the side and happened to see the two next door leaning on their windowsill, looking down at the ground below.

Good, still alive.

Su Wenyu moved quietly, so the neighbors didn’t notice him. But Su Wenyu heard them clearly and could distinguish the rough-voiced one from the shrill-voiced one.

The one with the rough voice was a guy about 175 cm tall, a little shorter than Su Wenyu, but with a sturdy build. His tight short-sleeved shirt showed off his bulging muscles.

The other, with the shrill voice, was a small guy around 170 cm, lean and scrawny with a sharp, monkey-like face.

The taller, muscular guy rubbed his stomach while looking miserably at the zombies wandering below. “Li Fei,” he said, “with so many zombies down there, how are we supposed to find food? We’ll die if we go down there, right?”

Li Fei also wore a worried frown. “Liu Yuan, you’re all muscle. You could at least trade a few blows with them. Look at these scrawny arms and legs of mine—I’d probably snap the second a zombie touches me.”

Liu Yuan sighed. “What good is all this muscle? I couldn’t even beat up that pretty boy.”

Li Fei recalled the scene of the two of them getting beaten up together and sighed along with him.

Su Wenyu blinked and immediately understood: the “pretty boy” they were talking about was Xu Youran, currently lying on his bed either sleeping or spacing out.

Liu Yuan continued his lament: “But we can’t just stay here forever. The snacks in the dorm won’t last us more than a few days. We can’t live off protein powder after that, can we?”

Li Fei figured that relying on protein powder to fill their stomachs would probably cause problems too.

There were only two paths before them now.

First: stay in the dorm, safe but starving to death.

Second: once the food ran out, put on protective clothing, grab weapons, and go out to fight for survival.

They might die, but they’d have a chance to live.

Both Li Fei and Liu Yuan knew they should choose the latter. But with a little food still left in the dorm, just enough to stave off immediate starvation, they couldn’t quite steel their resolve.

“Let’s wait a couple more days and see if anyone else from the other dorms tries to leave. If others join in, our odds of survival might be a bit higher.”

Liu Yuan looked like a brainless meathead, but when lives were on the line, his mind grew sharper. He’d even thought of teaming up with others.

Li Fei considered it. Teaming up with others really did give them better odds than going out alone. There was no better option, so he nodded and agreed to observe for now.

No one knew how many students were still alive in the dormitory buildings, but Su Wenyu guessed that ninety-nine percent of them shared the same mindset as these two.

Observe first. Only decide when truly pushed to the brink.

Weren’t his own thoughts just the same?

After pondering for a moment, Su Wenyu set down the broom in his hands, turned back into the dorm, and reached up to poke Xu Youran lying on the top bunk.

Xu Youran pretended to be asleep, staying motionless. Su Wenyu kept poking.

No sound, no calling his name. Just pokes.

As if determined to get revenge for Xu Youran poking him yesterday.

Xu Youran felt like the flesh on his waist was about to be poked full of holes by Su Wenyu. It didn’t exactly hurt, but it tickled like crazy!

Unable to bear it, Xu Youran grabbed Su Wenyu’s finger, frowned, opened his eyes, and turned his head to look at him. “What are you doing?”

Su Wenyu was draped over the head of the bed, only his head visible. Seeing that he’d woken him, he beamed a sweet, obedient smile and said, “I have something I want to discuss with you.”

As he spoke, he struggled to pull his finger free.

Xu Youran’s grip was seriously strong. Su Wenyu felt like his finger was about to break before he finally managed to wrench it free with effort, wincing in pain as he rubbed it for ages.

Xu Youran also rubbed his own waist, still ticklish from the poking. He propped himself up on his side, head resting on his hand. “What is it? Spill.”

Su Wenyu recounted what he’d overheard from the neighbors on the balcony and then discussed with him: “When the time comes and more students band together, should we go out together too?”

Making this decision wasn’t easy. Leaving early meant plunging into danger ahead of time.

Su Wenyu hadn’t wanted to take such a risk either, but after much deliberation, charging out with a group of classmates seemed a better option than going out alone later.

Xu Youran, who’d thought he was going to say something else, hadn’t expected it to be serious business.

He lay back down nonchalantly, closing his eyes again. “If you want to go with them, then go with them.”

Su Wenyu asked, “Aren’t you coming?”

Xu Youran: “I am. Wherever you go, I go. Don’t worry.”

Su Wenyu: “…No need to follow that closely.”

Still, Su Wenyu did feel relieved.

Not only did Xu Youran have a face that was deeply familiar to him, giving him an inexplicable sense of security, but Su Wenyu also couldn’t bear to part with Xu Youran’s formidable combat strength.

As for Xu Youran getting handsy, Su Wenyu figured that after those two slaps last night, Xu Youran probably wouldn’t dare try again.

If he did, he’d just slap him twice more.

Slap him a couple of times and still have a combat-ready companion—what a bargain.

Satisfied, Su Wenyu didn’t hold back at lunch when cooking instant noodles. He made two and a half packs for Xu Youran, kept one and a half for himself, and added one sausage each.

The sausages were the cheap, low-quality kind with mediocre taste.

But compared to the utterly bland, near-inedible oatmeal this morning, cheap instant noodles and sausages were the most delicious belly-filling food they could get right now.

Xu Youran was tall with a big appetite. He slurped down two and a half packs of steaming noodles in five minutes flat, not wasting a single drop of the broth.

Su Wenyu watched, feeling like it must’ve burned his mouth. He quickly said, “Let it cool a bit next time. Don’t eat it so hot—it’s bad for your esophagus.”

Xu Youran eating fast was a habit. Back when he ate from communal pots, only two dishes were on the table and a tableful of people scrambled to eat.

If you took time to blow the food cool and chew slowly, you probably wouldn’t get more than a few bites of leftovers.

The habit had stuck, no one had ever pointed it out to him, and he’d never thought it was a problem.

Now that Su Wenyu brought it up, Xu Youran suddenly realized he had this flaw to correct.

“Got it. I’ll slow down next time,” Xu Youran said.

Su Wenyu lifted a chopstick-full of noodles, waiting for the steam to dissipate.

He was surprised to see Xu Youran pick up his bowl and utensils and head toward the bathroom. Soon, the sound of running water and dishes being washed came from inside.

Xu Youran’s temper seemed unusually good today. He’d agreed to everything Su Wenyu said and was even voluntarily washing dishes!

Su Wenyu glanced at 520, who was preening its feathers again, and muttered, “Did he get possessed by something? Why is he so agreeable today?”

520 tilted its head, not understanding. “Isn’t that good?”

Su Wenyu thought about it. Yeah, it was still good.

Agreeable was better than impossible to communicate with.

–

Over the next two days, Su Wenyu and Xu Youran continued to lay low in the dormitory.

Half a crate of instant noodles sounded like a lot, but with four packs consumed at lunch alone, and the occasional sausage on top, their stock had dwindled over two days. At most, they had enough for one more day and night.

If Su Wenyu had known earlier they’d be eating like this right before making their move, he’d have agonized over it every day.

This was the apocalypse. Zombies were everywhere outside. Eating like this—how could it possibly sustain them for more than a few days?

But now that they’d prepared themselves to charge out with the others, Su Wenyu ate with a clear conscience.

Only on a full stomach would they have the strength to fight zombies!

Over these two days, there were faint signs of movement from the surrounding dormitory buildings.

Those with food stores—unless they’d hoarded crate after crate—were now running low.

And those without food, surviving the past few days on just water or barely edible scraps, had also reached their limits.

In the dormitory building opposite, someone had tried to make a break for it. Sounds came from that building, but it soon fell quiet.

No one knew if they’d died or retreated back into their dorm after finding the fight unwinnable.

Su Wenyu hoped they were still alive. Living was more important than anything.

Xu Youran hadn’t been idle these two days either. After digging out his roommate’s toolbox, he started dismantling the neighboring bed frame, taking the thickest, longest railing and using a hammer and tools to shape the tip into a sharp point. In hand, it looked just like a long spear.

After finishing this weapon, Xu Youran tossed it to Su Wenyu. “Test the weight. If it’s too heavy, I’ll shorten it for you.”

Su Wenyu was surprised. “It’s for me?”

He’d thought Xu Youran made it for himself and had been planning to learn by watching so he could make one just like it.

He hadn’t expected it to be for him.

Xu Youran waved a dismissive hand. “I’m not used to this kind. Too light.”

Su Wenyu gripped the shaft with both hands and tried swinging it. It didn’t feel light at all, but the weight was just right for him. Killing zombies was exhausting work to begin with; a slightly heavier weapon could lend momentum for faster kills.

Something too light in hand would probably struggle to even finish off a single zombie.

Su Wenyu liked the long spear a lot. He faced the balcony, pretended a zombie was there, and thrust it forward several times, mimicking what he imagined.

Xu Youran continued making his own weapon, using a large iron block that supported the bed boards. He wrapped the handle with wood strips torn from the bed board and hammered the front into the shape of a machete.

One look at his weapon, and Su Wenyu could imagine Xu Youran lopping off zombie heads one by one.

Xu Youran worked on weapons all day. Within Su Wenyu’s own dormitory building, there were faint sounds too. It seemed someone was trying to venture out, but they couldn’t handle the zombies in the hallway and had to hastily retreat back into their dorm.

Su Wenyu even heard someone wailing. Better to jump off the building and die than get bitten to death by those zombies.

Whether that person ultimately jumped or not, Su Wenyu didn’t know. He hadn’t dared to look.

But Su Wenyu knew that if one person truly took their own life, others who saw no hope would likely follow suit.

Within just these two days, chaos was bound to erupt in the dormitory area.