Chapter 2: The Dormitory
On his way running back, Chi Xiaoxian saw plenty of students riding personal mobility devices.
The university had uniformly deployed these devices parked near every academic building. Students could borrow them by tapping their campus cards, making commuting between dorms and lecture halls a breeze.
Taking up far less space than bicycles or e-bikes, each device consisted of a round hoverboard with two metal wheels, its speed fully adjustable. However, for safety reasons, the school had set a strict speed limit, making them no faster than a full-out sprint.
Realizing this, many students simply abandoned them mid-stride. The discarded devices littered the ground as makeshift hurdles, tripping up several people in the chaos.
Chi Xiaoxian collided directly with someone who had just stumbled in front of him, nearly taking a face-first nosedive into the pavement.
Kicking the device aside, he rested his hands on his knees to catch his breath for two seconds. But a sharp scream from behind sent a jolt of terror through him. Without bothering to look back, he immediately took off running again.
Sirens and alarms blared continuously from the campus speakers, resembling a scorching sea of fire that burned through everyone’s hearts.
Chi Xiaoxian had awful physical stamina. He usually used fake illnesses to skip PE class, and his exercise routine was virtually nonexistent. His maximum daily workout consisted of walking down his dorm stairs to get food at the cafeteria—and even then, he often slacked off by begging Zhang Wensheng to bring meals back for him.
Amid his frantic sprinting, Chi Xiaoxian recalled the scene from the lecture hall, and the word zombie flashed through his mind.
Surprisingly, the professor had mentioned this exact term during the very first lecture of Post-Disaster Ecology and Environmental Reconstruction. Chi Xiaoxian had actually attended that class to show support, assuming roll call would be taken.
The professor had noted that while melting glaciers brought well-known, century-defining catastrophes, their impact might extend far beyond that. Ancient, unknown viruses trapped in the ice could be released, potentially giving rise to the “zombies” seen in science fiction. Yet, he had also asserted that given the current state of human thermal weaponry, even if zombies did appear, they could easily be dealt with.
As his mind raced with these random thoughts, his phone rang. Chi Xiaoxian quickly swiped the screen to answer.
“Did class wrap up?” Zhang Wensheng’s voice sounded frantic. “Something terrible happened! Get back here, fast!”
“On my way…” Chi Xiaoxian panted, completely out of breath. “Just now in class, the professor suddenly—” Before he could finish his sentence, someone slammed hard into his shoulder. His phone flew right out of his grip, bounced off a railing, and plunged into the artificial lake.
Chi Xiaoxian stood frozen in shock for two seconds.
There was no time to fish it out—surviving was what mattered! Gritting his teeth, he turned and sprinted forward again.
Passing the plaza in front of the dormitory complex and rounding a corner past a print shop, he finally caught sight of the tall metal gates of his dorm building.
A large crowd had already gathered below the dorms before him. Two card readers guarded the entrance, but the turnstiles rotated at a painfully slow pace, creating a massive bottleneck at the gate.
“What’s going on?! Why isn’t it responding?!”
“This damn machine is glitching right now!” someone yelled in frustration before turning around to shout at the crowd behind them. “Stop pushing! Can’t you see my card isn’t working?!”
“Who gives a damn about tapping cards at a time like this? Just get in!” A male student finally cursed out loud. Rough-handling his way past the people in front, he stepped onto the metal bar, supported his arms on the card reader, and vaulted over like a pole vaulter. The crowd behind immediately followed suit.
The flow of people entering the dorm building finally sped up. Seeing the line shrinking and his turn approaching, Chi Xiaoxian let out half a sigh of relief.
Thud!
A heavy, dull crash suddenly erupted from behind, causing everyone to instinctively look back.
Directly behind them was the laundry room for Dorm Building B. Something seemed to have fallen from a great height, caving in the laundry room’s roof with a prominent dent.
Then, while everyone was still stunned, another heavy Thud! rang out.
A fine mist of blood-red spray splattered across the rooftop.
Everyone clearly saw what had fallen—a living human being.
In an instant, an invisible hand squeezed everyone’s hearts—it was the grip of the Grim Reaper. Scared out of their wits, several people clapped their hands tightly over their mouths.
Drip. Drip. It sounded like falling rain—a sound Chi Xiaoxian usually loved. But what trickled down from the eaves at this moment was pure blood.
A metallic, sickly sweet stench filled the air.
Before anyone could process what was happening, a flurry of heavy, chaotic footsteps echoed from behind, accompanied by low, guttural snarls.
Just as Chi Xiaoxian was about to scale the fence, he whipped his head around and saw that several zombies had already chased them here.
Chi Xiaoxian recognized one of them—she was the female instructor for one of his general electives!
Chi Xiaoxian had actually liked her quite a bit. Her name was Liu Ling, and she had a baby face that was always framed by a neat topknot. Once, when Chi Xiaoxian skipped class and got called on during roll call, she had merely messaged him privately after class as a gentle reminder, without deducting any points.
An indescribable feeling surged in Chi Xiaoxian’s heart.
However, that feeling evaporated in an instant—Liu Ling lunged directly at him.
Chi Xiaoxian dodged frantically.
Her long hair swept past his face, blending a faint floral-fruity shampoo scent with the foul stench of rotting blood, making his stomach violently churn.
Having missed her target, Liu Ling redirected her attack, lunging toward another student who had just vaulted over the turnstile. Not daring to delay, Chi Xiaoxian moved to slip through the entryway, only to hear a loud Boom! as the heavy iron gate slammed shut.
Everyone left outside was caught completely off guard.
“Open the door! There are still people out here!”
“Are you trying to get us killed?!”
“Open the door, please, sob…” Some of the fainthearted had already burst into terrified tears.
“We can’t open it!” a voice called out from inside. “It’ll let the zombies in! Go find somewhere else to hide!”
Peering through the narrow gaps of the gate, Chi Xiaoxian clearly saw the face of the person who had closed the door—it was the class president for his major.
Before he could argue, the student currently tangled up with Liu Ling spoke up first: “Li Tong, open the fucking door! You’re committing murder!”
He threw a hard punch straight into Liu Ling’s face. Liu Ling wobbled and fell backward. The student then smashed his fist against the metal door, sending a thunderous clang through the air: “Open up right now! I’m going to kill you, you little bastard!”
The sound of metal sliding echoed from inside the gate, followed by a sharp click. Li Tong had locked the door outright.
Left with no choice, the remaining few cursed furiously while dodging the incoming zombie attacks.
“Oh no! Another wave is coming!” someone shrieked in sheer terror.
Following the direction of their gaze, another pack of zombies came charging toward them.
This wave was noticeably different from the last—they were all dressed in pajamas, and some were even barefoot.
The direction they were coming from was Building B, and combining that with the two people who had jumped earlier…
Had Building B already fallen completely?!
“Watch out!” A sharp voice exploded right beside his ear.
Chi Xiaoxian turned his head just as a gust of wind grazed past his ear canal. A flash of silver metal arched through the air, and with a dull Thump!, a zombie collapsed stiffly to the ground.
It was that same male student who had just floored Liu Ling with a single punch.
He had actually snapped off a metal bar from the turnstile gate and turned it into a weapon. Swinging it around with impressive force, he managed to knock over several zombies in a row.
“Run!!” the guy roared.
But it was already too late.
There were simply too many zombies in this wave. Unable to break through, they were forced backward step by step, eventually backed into a corner right by the dormitory entrance.
Chi Xiaoxian was completely exhausted, his legs numb and shaky, while his heart pounded frantically in his chest.
Two male students and one female student faced eight zombies—they were clearly surrounded. The female student began to sob softly in fear, her body trembling uncontrollably.
“Chi Xiaoxian—!”
An incredibly familiar voice called down from above.
He looked up—it was Zhang Wensheng!
Ever since receiving the emergency broadcast, Zhang Wensheng had been waiting in the dorm for Chi Xiaoxian to return.
At first, he heard a flurry of chaotic footsteps in the hallway. After waiting a while without seeing Chi Xiaoxian, he heard news a few minutes later that the class president had locked the dorm gates. He immediately rushed to the window and instantly spotted Chi Xiaoxian surrounded by zombies below.
“Throw something down!” An idea flashed through Chi Xiaoxian’s head.
Zhang Wensheng reacted quickly. Grabbing a stainless steel basin near his feet, he hurled it toward an open patch of ground nearby.
Clang! The basin bounced off the ground, producing a deafening metallic screech as it spun loudly in place.
Distracted by the noise, the zombies immediately turned their heads toward the source of the sound.
Seizing this split second, the small group broke through the encirclement.
Run—run as fast as possible!
That was the only thought in Chi Xiaoxian’s mind.
“Over here!”
Just as Chi Xiaoxian sprinted past an intersection, the shutter door of the print shop beside him—which had been tightly closed just moments ago—pulled open a crack. Someone was waving frantically at him through the gap.
Snarls echoed behind him once more.
Sensing that his physical energy was completely spent, Chi Xiaoxian headed straight for the print shop.
The owner had raised the rolling shutter about a quarter of the way up. Rolling lightly across the ground, Chi Xiaoxian slithered inside like a fish.
Just as the owner was about to pull the shutter back down, Chi Xiaoxian caught sight of the muscular male student wielding the metal rod.
“In here!” Chi Xiaoxian called out in a hushed voice.
Catching his drift, the guy made a sharp diagonal dash toward Chi Xiaoxian’s direction.
Swoosh— The shutter door was slammed shut instantly.
The three of them exchanged glances, all letting out a collective sigh of relief.
