The typhoon had raged for an entire week. The stairwell was semi open, the floor was covered in rainwater and so slippery it was hard to walk on, and even parts of the wall plaster had been blown away.
The five of them did not dare turn on any lights. They fumbled their way through the darkness, gripping the railings as they struggled forward. By the time they reached the first floor, the dorm supervisor auntie was already nowhere to be seen in the duty room.
None of them thought much about it. They turned and left, heading straight for their destination.
Only Cheng Zhi, who was walking at the very back, felt a little troubled. Looking at the duty room earlier had suddenly sparked something in her mind. It felt like she had remembered something extremely important, but in the next instant, she forgot it again.
At the front, Xiao Feiran had already pushed open the glass doors. A violent gust of wind wrapped in rain slammed directly into their faces.
The wind had come too suddenly. Zheng Wan nearly lost her footing. Fortunately, Cheng Zhi reacted quickly and grabbed her shoulder.
“Suddenly I feel like bringing dumbbells would actually be safer!”
Looking at the torrential rain outside, along with the random debris flying through the sky in the storm, Cheng Zhi’s worries deepened.
“Stick to the plan, everyone. Stay in open areas as much as possible. Whatever you do, don’t walk under trees. Even if lightning doesn’t kill you, something falling on your head will.”
All the way to the cafeteria, the five of them happened to be heading in the same direction.
By the time they arrived at the cafeteria entrance, several people who had spent years ranking near the bottom in the school’s eight hundred meter fitness tests were utterly exhausted. During that short journey, they could practically be described as rolling and crawling forward, using both hands and feet. The intensity of the wind and rain had far exceeded their expectations.
Clinging tightly to a pillar, Zheng Wan gasped heavily.
“Just now… one second we were protecting our heads, then our faces, bending over and sticking our butts out, crawling forward on the ground, and every now and then pulling off a Thomas spin…”
Leaning against Chen Siyu, Cheng Zhi recalled their disgraceful journey and immediately shut her eyes in agony.
“So embarrassing, way too embarrassing. Thank goodness no one saw us. Otherwise I’d buy a standing ticket and leave this city overnight.”
“Hahahahaha! Suddenly it reminded me of Plants vs. Zombies. We looked practically the same as zombies just now.” Huang Yiyi collapsed on the ground laughing hysterically.
Among the group, Xiao Feiran had the best stamina. She was barely even out of breath as she pressed herself against the cafeteria door and peered inside.
Seeing that the interior was pitch black without a single light source, and that the door had not been blown apart and the lock was still intact, Xiao Feiran guessed there was probably nobody inside.
After Huang Yiyi and Chen Siyu had rested enough, they continued toward the library.
Xiao Feiran also began moving. She pulled out two bobby pins and started picking the lock.
Standing nearby, Zheng Wan’s eyes widened as she sharply inhaled.
“Master Xiao, this is getting ridiculous. Sure, having lots of skills never hurts, but isn’t knowing this a bit excessive?”
Xiao Feiran blinked mischievously.
“I didn’t deliberately learn it. I accidentally discovered this skill point.”
Cheng Zhi turned on a small flashlight and held it up to provide lighting for the busy Master Xiao.
“Last semester, I was cleaning my wardrobe and accidentally locked my keys inside. Do you know that little lock only cost five yuan? But calling maintenance would’ve cost twenty five. Obviously I chose to handle it myself. But no matter how hard I pulled, it wouldn’t come off. So I started searching online for lock picking tutorials. I still couldn’t open it. Then Master Xiao showed up. She didn’t even glance at the tutorial. One click, and it opened.”
Zheng Wan let out a “whoa” and looked enviously at Xiao Feiran, who was focused on picking the lock.
“So nice. Master Xiao already has talent in crafting and building, and now she’s unlocked the theft skill tree too.”
Then came a click. The lock popped open.
Quickly putting away their things, the three carefully moved forward.
The cafeteria really was wonderful. There was food everywhere. The moment they entered, Cheng Zhi immediately set her sights on the ice cream machine at the milk tea shop. Xiao Feiran fell in love with the refrigerator full of rice noodles and pickled bamboo shoots at the snail rice noodle stall. Zheng Wan had gone wild in the kitchen of the general dining area, frantically collecting rice, flour, grains, and cooking oil.
Frozen dumplings from the dumpling stall, pre packaged meal packs from the teppanyaki stall…
Looking at these technological monstrosities and industrial creations, the three of them collectively fell silent.
Xiao Feiran looked heartbroken.
“What happened to handmade dumplings? Sixteen yuan per serving! I even thought they tasted amazing! And that teppanyaki too, twenty yuan per serving! Turns out it was just pre made meal packs. In the end, my trust was misplaced.”
Cheng Zhi patted her left shoulder.
“You’re the only one who actually believed those were handmade.”
Zheng Wan patted her right shoulder.
“You’re twenty two already. You really shouldn’t.”
The two of them had maxed out the sarcasm.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Huang Yiyi and Chen Siyu had also finally reached the library with great difficulty.
The library had been built in the central plaza of the school. The area around it was extremely open, which made the wind and rain even stronger. On top of that, the plaza itself was incredibly slippery. The two of them had practically never managed to stand properly the entire way. By the time they reached the entrance, both of their knees were red from repeatedly smashing into the ground.
Looking at the glass doors that had already been shattered by rocks carried by the storm, Huang Yiyi directly raised her foot and kicked out an opening large enough for one person to squeeze through.
Behind her, Chen Siyu shone a flashlight inside. She was worried someone might be hiding in ambush. Seeing Huang Yiyi about to walk in directly, she panicked and wanted to stop her, but held herself back.
Seriously, what kind of normal person would still come to the library to study at a time like this?
After entering, the two looked at the security cameras that had already gone dark and immediately relaxed quite a bit.
But when they looked ahead at the dim lobby and towering bookshelves, they still felt scared. So they stuck close together as they moved forward. Huang Yiyi was muttering something under her breath the entire time.
“Y… what… what are you chanting? Some kind of spell? Teach me, I want to chant too.”
Chen Siyu was so scared that she even started stuttering.
Huang Yiyi turned around, looking completely matter of fact.
“You’ve learned it before. Every Chinese person knows it. How could you not?”
Chen Siyu looked utterly confused and was just about to say she had always been a loyal materialist and knew nothing about this sort of thing.
Then she heard Huang Yiyi say:
“You’ve never memorized the Core Socialist Values? After reciting it twice, not only does my heart feel warm, I practically feel fired up. Hurry and try it too.”
“…”
Warm. Very warm indeed.
The two of them were responsible for collecting books to expand the space. There was no need to choose carefully. They simply grabbed books and tossed them into the space. But the library was truly enormous. It took the two of them a whole hour just to clear out the books on the first floor.
Without resting, they immediately rushed to the second floor and continued collecting at full speed.
By the time they reached the second floor, their movements had noticeably slowed down. After all, they had stumbled and struggled all the way to the library, then immediately started collecting things nonstop. Neither of them exercised regularly, so their stamina was not particularly good.
After clearing out all the books on the second floor, Huang Yiyi and Chen Siyu immediately sprawled flat on the ground.
After resting for a while, they got back to work again. They continued until the giant clock hanging inside the library showed that it was almost six o’clock. Only then did they finally stop.
Looking at the third floor, where only one third had been emptied, Chen Siyu felt somewhat unwilling.
Huang Yiyi comforted her.
“We’ve already collected a lot. The space has definitely expanded by a crazy amount. We can come back next time and take the rest. It’s the apocalypse now, nobody’s going to compete with us over this stuff.”
That was true.
During the apocalypse, everyone fought over things that could fill their stomachs or save their lives. Who would care about books?
Chen Siyu nodded and entered the space together with Huang Yiyi.
Then, after a flash of white light, the two stared at the enormous space before them and instantly froze in shock.
What the hell, was this still that tiny crappy dorm room?
This was a luxury mansion!