Chapter 2: Escaping the School
Chu Yang scanned the sports equipment room, his mind racing. How on earth had he transmigrated into this nightmare?
He was only twenty-three and completely on his own. His parents had passed away when he was young, and his grandmother, his only remaining family, had died the year before. He had fought tooth and nail through university, landed an exhausting corporate job, and finally received his first real paycheck. He hadn’t even had the chance to enjoy the barbecue dinner he had been craving for weeks. So how did he wake up on extreme-difficulty mode?
It made no sense. He hadn’t been hit by a truck or stumbled into any bizarre supernatural event. All he did was work late, crash into bed, and fall asleep.
Wait… what happened to the original owner of this body?
A grim thought surfaced: had the guy been frightened to death by the horde outside, leaving an empty shell for a wandering soul like him to slip into?
Chu Yang shook his head, then felt a knot tighten in his gut. The apocalypse had already been going on for a few days, so the original guy should have been somewhat used to it. Could his own arrival have forced the previous soul out?
The thought sent a sudden chill down his spine.
Feeling an odd wave of guilt, he whispered internally, Brother, I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean to take your body. The whole thing is crazy, and I don’t get it either… But don’t worry. Since I’m here, I’ll do my best to survive and live a good life for both of us. Rest easy.
“Third Brother, what are you spacing out for?” Lin Xiao’s hushed voice pulled him straight back to reality.
Chu Yang looked up. Lin Xiao was down on one knee, tightly gripping a tennis racket with a deep scowl. “Hurry up and find something we can use! What are you daydreaming for? If you get caught by those things out there, you’ll be the one crying!”
Snapping out of his thoughts, Chu Yang realized survival came first. He immediately began digging through the scattered clutter, muttering under his breath, “What kind of useless storage room is this? Not a single real weapon… A javelin or a shot put would’ve worked! Why is it all jump ropes and table tennis paddles? Am I supposed to tie up zombies with a skipping rope?”
As he reached the far corner, his eyes caught something promising—a few wooden baseball bats leaning against the wall, coated in dust.
He picked one up, tapped it with his knuckle, and weighed it in his hand. “This might work, though I hope the wood holds up. It’d better not snap on the first swing.”
He gave it a couple of practice swings. The bat cut through the air with a solid whoosh, giving him a much-needed sense of security. “Feels pretty good. Did you guys find anything?”
“Same as you. What else would be in here?” Lin Xiao waved another baseball bat with obvious annoyance. “Not sure how tough these are. A steel pipe or a proper blade would feel a lot safer.”
Nearby, Su Mubai held up a flimsy badminton racket, looking thoroughly embarrassed. “I… I found this…”
Chu Yang nearly choked on a laugh, barely keeping his voice down. “Little Bai, are you planning to challenge them to a match? Or wrap them up in the strings?”
Chuckling softly, Chu Yang grabbed a thicker bat from the pile and handed it over. “Take this instead. You can actually do some damage with it, which is way better than a racket.”
Su Mubai looked at the sturdy wooden bat, hesitated for a second, then set the racket down and accepted it. “Thanks,” he murmured.
With their makeshift weapons ready, the three crept toward the window to assess the field.
Most of the zombies Chu Yang had stirred up earlier had lost interest and resumed wandering aimlessly across the tracks. Only one remained—the creature that had nearly bitten him—shuffling back and forth right outside the utility room door, still hunting for the prey that had slipped away.
“Damn it, that’s the one that almost got me,” Chu Yang whispered, gritting his teeth. “Listen, what if we crack the door open, lure it in, and finish it off quietly? That clears the doorway and saves us from getting ambushed when we run.”
Lin Xiao raised an eyebrow, clearly skeptical. “Are you sure about that? A minute ago, you were running across the track like your life depended on it, nearly turning into its lunch.”
“That was completely different,” Chu Yang argued, tightening his grip on the bat. “That was a surprise attack and I was empty-handed! Now we’re armed, and there are three of us. We can take one easily.”
Su Mubai watched the rotting figure outside, swallowing nervously. “S-should we think of another plan? What if we fail and draw a whole crowd over?”
“We don’t have time,” Lin Xiao said, glancing at the setting sun outside. His mocking tone vanished, replaced by sharp focus. “Once darkness falls, visibility drops, and those things might get more aggressive. We do what Chu Yang said. Make it fast, hit hard, and keep it quiet.”
With the plan decided, Lin Xiao and Chu Yang flanked the door, while Su Mubai hung back slightly, gripping his bat with white knuckles, ready to back them up.
Lin Xiao took a quiet breath, slipped the latch, and pulled the door open just a few inches.
The creature outside caught the scent of living flesh instantly. Letting out a raspy hiss, it slammed its twisted frame against the opening. Its decayed hands clawed desperately through the gap, nails screeching against the wood.
“Now!”
The moment the creature wedged its upper body inside, Chu Yang put his full weight behind a swing, slamming the bat right into its temple.
Crack!
The heavy blow struck with a dull thud. The zombie’s head jerked sideways, its body stumbling, but it stayed on its feet. Enraged, its milky eyes locked onto Chu Yang, and its clawed hands lashed out even faster.
“Are you kidding me? Aren’t headshots supposed to be an instant kill?” Chu Yang’s hands stung from the vibrations. He leaped back, barely dodging the filthy fingernails. “Is its skull made of concrete?”
Lin Xiao moved without hesitation. The second the monster lunged forward, exposing the side of its neck, he drove his bat down with everything he had.
Snap!
A sharp, sickening crack echoed through the room. The zombie went instantly limp, collapsing to the floor like a puppet with cut strings. It twitched once, then lay completely still.
Su Mubai stared at the body, his face pale and voice shaking. “Is… is it going to get up?”
“Doubt it,” Lin Xiao said, lightly prodding the corpse with his shoe. Seeing no movement, he exhaled in relief. “Its neck is snapped. It’s done. But remember this: their skulls are tougher than we thought. Going for the head is risky—aim for the neck or the joints instead.”
After catching their breath, the three exchanged quick glances. They couldn’t linger.
Lin Xiao carefully pushed the door open, checked that the coast was clear, and gave the signal. Keeping low, they broke into a dead sprint across the field toward the cafeteria.
Their footsteps shattered the silence of the grounds once more.
In the distance, several wandering figures turned their heads, groaning as they began stumbling toward the noise. Fortunately, these common infected were slow and clumsy. Fueled by adrenaline, the three boys covered the few hundred meters in record time, slipping through the cafeteria doors without getting cut off.
Before they could breathe a sigh of relief, their hearts dropped.
Near the serving counters, three zombies dressed in blood-stained chef uniforms were shuffling about. Alerted by the noise at the entrance, they turned in unison and charged toward the boys, hissing with hunger.
Chu Yang took an instinctive step back, raising his bat with a dry throat. Taking down one isolated target was one thing, but facing three at once was a different story.
“Hold your ground, don’t panic!” Lin Xiao hissed, resting a steadying hand on his shoulder. “Use the tables to split them up and take them down one by one. Don’t let them box us in!”
Chu Yang nodded, forcing himself to stay calm.
A frantic, chaotic scuffle broke out in the dining hall. The three boys stood back-to-back, using flipped tables and plastic chairs to trip up their attackers, striking hard at exposed necks and knee joints whenever an opening appeared.
It was close—one zombie managed to claw through Chu Yang’s sleeve—but through sheer determination, they brought all three down.
“Move, into the kitchen!” Lin Xiao shoved an overturned chair aside.
They scrambled into the enclosed kitchen area, slammed the heavy metal door shut, and dragged a stainless steel prep table against it.
“I can’t… breathe…” Chu Yang slid down the door and collapsed onto the tile, panting hard. “This is worse than a fitness test. Sprinted for my life, and then had to brawl immediately after!”
Su Mubai slumped against the wall, chest heaving, his pale face drained of all color.
Lin Xiao was breathing heavily too, but he stayed vigilant, pressing his ear against the metal door. Only after confirming nothing was scratching at the outside did he relax his shoulders. “Let’s sweep the kitchen first. Make sure nothing is hiding in here.”
They checked every corner, pantry, and cold storage room. Finding no other threats, a wave of deep exhaustion washed over them.
After resting for barely two minutes, Chu Yang’s empty stomach began to cramp painfully. He pushed himself up, determination flashing in his eyes. “All right, let’s find something to eat! If I don’t get food in me soon, starvation will finish me off before the zombies do.”
The three split up to scavenge.
Chu Yang dug through overturned plastic crates, grumbling, “Where’s the rice? The flour? The meat? A cafeteria this massive can’t be completely empty! A rat would starve in this place!”
Lin Xiao yanked open several tall cupboards, finding only discarded plastic wrappers and empty spice jars. He sighed heavily. “A group of survivors must have swept through here already. They took every single scrap.”
“Maybe they missed a corner?” Chu Yang checked behind the industrial stoves, but came away with nothing but greasy soot on his hands.
After turning the entire kitchen upside down, the only thing they managed to uncover was a single withered head of Chinese cabbage sitting in a cracked basket in the corner. Its outer leaves were yellow and wilted, clearly left behind for days.
“Complete waste of time,” Lin Xiao muttered, kicking a counter in frustration. “Not even a piece of bread.”
Su Mubai spoke up timidly, “Actually… cabbage is edible. If we wash and boil it, it might take the edge off the hunger.”
“Eat raw leaves?” Chu Yang grimaced. “I’m starving enough to eat an entire cow. A couple of leaves won’t do anything!”
He paused, his eyes darting around as another thought struck him. “Wait. A kitchen this big has to have a bulk storage room somewhere! The bags of rice, flour, and cooking oil must be stored there. Let’s find the pantry!”
Lin Xiao let out a tired sigh and pointed toward the lower floor. “There is one, but we’re too late. On our way in, I saw a storage room by the ground-floor stairs. The door was wide open and the shelves were completely bare. It was raided long ago.”
Chu Yang’s brief spark of excitement died instantly, and he slumped back down. “Right… if I thought of it, everyone else did too. The world just ended, so why is the competition already this brutal?”
“What do we do now?” Su Mubai asked quietly, his voice full of defeat.
They looked at one another, seeing the same exhaustion reflected in each other’s eyes.
Still restless, Chu Yang continued looking around. Lifting a large cutting board, he froze. “Hey, there’s half a bucket of water here! Not sure if it’s still good, though.”
At the word water, Su Mubai’s eyes widened, and he instinctively licked his dry lips. The school’s water supply had been cut off since the day before. After all the running and fighting, his throat felt like it was on fire.
Lin Xiao crouched down to inspect the blue plastic container. It held several liters of clear water, and the lid had been pressed on securely. “Looks like stored tap water. The seal was tight, so it should be fine.”
Chu Yang’s burning throat made the decision for him. “Whatever. I’ll test it first—better to risk a bad stomach than die of thirst.”
Grabbing a clean plastic ladle, he scooped up a small amount, sniffed it, and took a cautious sip. Detecting no strange taste, he tipped his head back and drank the rest down. The cool liquid brought immediate relief to his parched body.
He waited a couple of minutes, stretching his arms. “Feels fine to me. In fact, I think I just came back to life.”
Reassured, Lin Xiao and Su Mubai took turns drinking deeply from the ladle. The water was gone in minutes. It did nothing for their hunger, but it finally put out the fire in their throats.
“What’s the next move?” Chu Yang wiped his chin, looking around the bare kitchen.
Lin Xiao leaned against an unplugged freezer, his brow furrowed. “Things outside are completely out of control. With this many infected around, help probably isn’t coming anytime soon. We need food and supplies, and we won’t find them here. We have to leave the campus.”
Chu Yang nodded in agreement, glancing out the high window at the distant silhouettes shuffling across the yard.
A sudden thought popped into his head, and he turned to the others with wide eyes. “Hey, speaking of the apocalypse… aren’t survivors supposed to awaken special powers or something? Do either of you feel anything weird? Like hot palms ready to shoot fire, or a spark of electricity at your fingertips? Even super strength or extra speed would count!”
Lin Xiao stared at him blankly. “Did you read too many fantasy web novels before all this happened? Get your head out of the clouds. Where would powers come from?”
“Why not?” Chu Yang protested. “It’s classic logic! The world falls apart, monsters show up, civilization collapses, and humans unlock hidden potential… That’s standard protocol!”
Su Mubai raised a hand weakly, clutching his stomach. “Aside from feeling dizzy and completely drained from hunger, I don’t feel anything special at all…”
“See? Stop daydreaming,” Lin Xiao said bluntly. “We need real food, not imaginary superpowers.”
Refusing to give up, Chu Yang planted his feet, took a deep breath, and strained until his face turned bright red. Nothing happened.
Exhaling in defeat, he grumbled, “Nothing here either. That’s not fair… The three of us are young and sharp, and not one of us gets an ability?”
Lin Xiao rolled his eyes. “Quit messing around. We’ve got water, now let’s focus on getting out. We need a safe shelter before the sun goes down.”
He walked over to a sliding window and pushed it open. “We can drop down from here. It’s only the second floor, and that metal awning below will break our fall. It leads straight to the back alley behind the school. I checked earlier—it looks clear of infected.”
Chu Yang leaned out to check. The awning was barely four feet below the sill. “Not bad. We didn’t get food, but at least we found an exit. Let’s go, guys. Anything is better than staying trapped in this kitchen.”
Su Mubai looked hesitant. “Should we plan a route first? We don’t really know that alley well. What if something goes wrong?”
“We’ll adapt as we move,” Lin Xiao said firmly. “The longer we wait here, the worse it gets. Who knows when more of them might wander inside?”
Seeing Lin Xiao’s resolve and Chu Yang preparing to move, Su Mubai kept the rest of his worries to himself.
Lin Xiao was the first to climb out onto the ledge. Aiming carefully, he dropped onto the awning with a dull thud, landing lightly on his feet before scanning the alley below.
Su Mubai went next. His landing was clumsy and he nearly lost his balance, but he caught himself safely.
Chu Yang took one last look at the empty kitchen, letting out a regretful sigh. “Thought we’d find a feast, but we only got water. High hopes, zero reward.”
Shaking his head, he hoisted himself over the windowsill and dropped down after them.
