Quietly and without anyone realizing it, the typhoon stopped, and the floodwaters gradually receded. The sun, unseen for over a month, slowly rose from the horizon.
The students who had been trapped in their dorms for more than a month could hardly believe their eyes. Trembling, they pushed open their balcony doors. There was no violent wind outside. The moment they reached out their hands, sunlight fell across them, warm beyond words.
Overwhelmed with joy, some burst into tears. Some hugged their roommates tightly and lamented the hardships they had endured during this time, while others could only clutch their own heads and cry alone.
Room 806 was among the first to notice the change in weather. While everyone else was crying and celebrating, they had already finished packing up most of their dorm.
Cheng Zhi ran her hand over her desk and chair and unexpectedly felt a bit reluctant to leave. If not for the natural disasters, she would not have graduated until next year. But now, she probably would never live to see that day.
Compared to her, Huang Yiyi was far more excited and had practically packed nothing. She sat with one leg crossed over the other, leisurely chewing on a sweet potato, a pleased expression plastered across her face as no one knew what she was thinking about.
Zheng Wan was packing up decorations from her desk. Seeing how relaxed Huang Yiyi looked, she could not help asking, “You’re not packing anything? Is there seriously nothing at this school you want to bring with you?”
Huang Yiyi stopped chewing and thought seriously for a moment. Then she suddenly remembered something.
“Right! I still haven’t finished collecting all the books from the third and fourth floors of the library. We can grab them on the way out and try expanding the space a bit more.”
“Tsk, who was asking about that?” Chen Siyu, who was packing while sitting on the bed, casually tossed a stuffed doll at Huang Yiyi and her unusual train of thought. “I meant the dorm! You’re seriously not packing anything?”
The moment that topic came up, Huang Yiyi became unbearably smug. Shaking her leg like a little thug, she said, “Are you kidding? We’ll find a villa to live in later. Why would I care about this tiny bunk bed and desk setup anymore?”
The other three: “…”
Cheng Zhi walked over and patted Huang Yiyi’s shoulder with admiration.
“When you end up with no clothes later and have to run around naked, you’ll definitely become the most eye catching scenery in the apocalypse. Don’t worry, we absolutely won’t take you shopping for clothes or anything. We’ll make sure you become famous.”
Huang Yiyi immediately shouted, “Holy crap, I forgot!” Then she jumped up and started stuffing things away frantically. She had been so focused on living in a big villa that she had completely forgotten clothes existed.
Xiao Feiran was nowhere to be seen in the dorm because she had finished packing early and had already gone downstairs to try stealing a car.
Wearing a face mask, Xiao Feiran crept suspiciously around the parking lot beside the dorm building. Now that the sun had come out, her illegal activity was fully exposed under broad daylight, making her somewhat nervous.
She checked car after car, but there were not many vehicles still usable. The more anxious she became, the less successful she was. None of the cars could be broken into.
In the end, even the time they had agreed on arrived, and she still had not succeeded.
Cheng Zhi comfortingly patted the dejected Xiao Feiran and pulled a hammer from her backpack.
“Small problem. If we can’t outsmart it, we’ll use brute force.”
Among all the vehicles, they chose the biggest one, a black SUV.
Cheng Zhi walked up without blinking and swung the hammer.
Bang!
Glass shattered everywhere.
“…”
Looking at the wreckage on the ground, Xiao Feiran could not help sighing. Her roommate’s actions really were fast. Too fast for her to even stop.
“Has anyone considered that if I can’t even break into a car, I definitely won’t know how to start it either?”
Then in the very next second, Huang Yiyi somehow pulled out a spare key from who knew where.
Beep beep.
Xiao Feiran was completely dumbfounded.
What kind of normal person left the spare key inside the car? It made absolutely no sense!
Cheng Zhi did not care about logic at all. She clasped her hands together with complete sincerity.
“Thank you for heaven’s gift.”
Huang Yiyi cleaned out the broken glass from the driver’s seat and buckled her seatbelt. Then she shouted:
“Setting off for the city!”
And then… nothing happened.
The other four: “…”
Then Huang Yiyi turned around and asked a question that completely stunned everyone.
“Which side is the brake, and which side is the gas pedal?”
“Hiss…”
Everyone collectively sucked in a breath.
Chen Siyu had already started pinching her own pressure point for resuscitation.
Zheng Wan was utterly speechless. No matter what, she insisted on dragging Huang Yiyi out of the driver’s seat.
“Get down right now! We survive all the natural disasters only to die at your hands?!”
Huang Yiyi was extremely unwilling. Clutching the seatbelt for dear life, she absolutely refused to let go. After making countless promises and sweet talking everyone, the people of 806 finally reluctantly agreed.
For safety, Cheng Zhi moved to the back and switched places with Zheng Wan, who sat in the front passenger seat.
Seeing that everyone was wearing safety helmets, Huang Yiyi looked wronged.
“You guys don’t trust me.”
Xiao Feiran tightened her helmet and grabbed the handle above the window.
“What are you talking about? We trust you a lot.”
Cheng Zhi also chimed in and said she trusted her.
Then in the very next second, she pulled a stuffed doll out of the space and hugged it protectively against her chest, afraid that if the car flipped over, her ribs would break.
Seeing everyone’s reactions, Huang Yiyi still did not lose confidence. Gripping the steering wheel, she encouraged herself.
“Just watch. I’ll definitely drive this car all the way to the city!”
“Hey! Is this car broken?! Why won’t the steering wheel turn?”
“…”
Zheng Wan looked utterly exhausted. Closing her eyes, she refused to look anymore.
“Has it occurred to you that you haven’t even started the engine yet?”
After overcoming countless difficulties, the car finally started moving.
When they reached the library entrance, several of them got out again to collect more books.
By the time they were leaving, the sun had completely risen. Room 806 drove out of campus, heading toward the sunlight and toward a future that was destined to be full of hardships.
When 806 successfully drove out of campus, things were not going nearly as smoothly for 835.
Because Qi Yanche could not find his car.
The four men and one dog searched for a long time and could not find a single trace of it.
Qi Yanche stood to the side holding Shutiao’ leash, irritation written all over his face. Internally, he had cursed eight hundred times already. Although he did not know who exactly he should be cursing, cursing someone felt right.
Lu Yuan squatted on the ground and looked at the cars scattered everywhere by the floodwaters.
“With that huge flood before, I bet your car got washed away.”
Shen Lingfeng wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve and leaned against a nearby car.
“Yeah. If we can’t find yours, we’ll just drive another one. There are plenty around.”
“I understand the logic. The problem is, do you know how to break into a car? And after breaking in, do you know how to start it?”
Qi Yanche looked at Shen Lingfeng and delivered two soul searching questions.
Shen Lingfeng instantly froze and could not come up with an answer even after a long while.
In the distance, Chen Yiyi looked around and suddenly spotted something parked beside the delivery station.
“Guys, I think I found a vehicle we can drive?”
Sitting on the campus shuttle with open sides and wind blowing in from every direction, Qi Yanche’s feelings were complicated. Going from an SUV to a campus shuttle was definitely quite a downgrade.
Shutiao, however, was very excited.
After all, he was a dog.
Dogs loved riding around.
Now that the shuttle had open sides, it felt cool and breezy without him even needing to stick his head out.
Chen Yiyi, who was driving, looked thrilled.
“I’ve always wanted to drive one of these campus shuttles. Every time I rode one, I thought maybe after graduation I should just become a campus shuttle driver. Then I could drive a whole bus full of college girls to and from class every day.”
Shen Lingfeng nodded in agreement.
“Same world, same dream. So let me drive next.”
Lu Yuan clicked his tongue and patted his chest.
“No, I should be next. I already lined up.”
Their order became disputed, and the two immediately started fighting again.
Qi Yanche became even sadder.
Human joy and sorrow truly were not connected.