After taking a short break to steady her breathing, Lin Mingmei carefully stepped back onto the university campus.
She dared to come alone because she had two things she could rely on.
The first was the strength ability she had recently awakened.
The second was the restorative effect of the Spiritual Spring inside her space.
As for the zombies wandering around campus, her thoughts were simple.
The more she eliminated, the better.
If luck was on her side, she might even obtain another crystal nucleus.
Holding onto that faint hope, Lin Mingmei followed the familiar paths toward the student cafeteria.
She needed to confirm whether Gao Lang, without her protection in this altered timeline, was still hiding inside the cafeteria warehouse like before.
However, as she moved through the campus, a strange sense of confusion slowly crept into her mind.
The number of zombies roaming around was far lower than she had expected.
Along the way, she only encountered a few scattered undead, and dealing with them was easy.
Something isn’t right…
Lin Mingmei immediately became more cautious, paying close attention to every sound and movement around her.
As she passed the basketball arena, chaotic growls suddenly echoed from inside.
She looked up and saw the reinforced arena doors bulging outward violently as countless zombies slammed against them from within, desperate to break free.
It seemed that after the outbreak began, someone had escaped the arena and locked the doors from the outside.
No one knew how many living students had still been trapped inside at the time.
Whether survivors or infected people remained inside, the person who locked those doors had essentially sealed everyone’s fate.
Human nature could truly be frightening.
Compared to unpredictable people, Lin Mingmei would rather face zombies.
She cast one cold glance at the arena before continuing onward.
No matter how badly she wanted crystal nuclei, she had no intention of opening those doors and risking her own life.
The cafeteria Gao Lang had hidden in was located on the western side of campus, meaning she needed to cross nearly half the university grounds.
As she passed the campus clinic, a second-floor window suddenly opened.
“Help! Please help us!”
Lin Mingmei looked up.
A male student and a female student leaned anxiously out the window.
“Please help us!” the boy shouted desperately. “Can you lure the zombies away from the entrance? We’re trapped inside!”
At the same moment, the girl beside him screamed in fear after hearing the zombies pounding against the clinic doors below.
Lin Mingmei calmly measured the distance from the second floor to the ground.
That height would not seriously injure them.
So why were they panicking so badly?
And more importantly, why should she put herself in danger for strangers?
Without another glance, Lin Mingmei continued forward.
Still, surviving inside the clinic for more than twenty-four hours was already impressive.
At the moment, the places with the highest number of survivors were probably the dormitories and lecture halls.
Students trapped in dorms could survive for a while on snacks and stored food, but students stuck in classrooms would eventually be forced outside by hunger.
And once that happened, most of them would head toward the convenience stores and cafeterias.
The moment Lin Mingmei thought about the warehouse behind the cafeteria, her fingers twitched instinctively.
She desperately wanted to store every grain of rice, bottle of oil, and supply inside her space.
Hopefully Gao Lang is still guarding it.
Her pace quickened immediately.
As expected, several groups of students had already formed teams to search the cafeteria and nearby stores for food. Their noisy movements had attracted many zombies, and the sounds of fighting echoed through the night.
Lin Mingmei ignored all of it and headed straight toward the rear warehouse entrance.
Then she stopped abruptly.
Her eyes widened in shock.
How is this possible?
According to her memories, the zombies should have been drawn toward the noisy front entrance.
So why were there more than twenty zombies gathered around the rear warehouse doors?
Damn it…
This timeline has changed too much.
In her previous life, when she lured the zombies away from this place, she had only encountered two or three wandering undead.
But now an entire horde surrounded the warehouse.
Is Gao Lang even still alive inside?
Just as hesitation flashed through her mind, the warehouse doors suddenly shook violently.
A blazing fireball burst through the narrow gap and slammed into the nearest zombie, instantly setting it ablaze.
Lin Mingmei’s pupils shrank sharply.
Gao Lang’s fire ability awakened earlier than expected?
Judging from the strength of that attack, he was far more capable than he had been in her previous life.
Unfortunately, zombies felt neither pain nor fear.
Even as one of them burned, the others continued battering the doors without stopping.
At this rate, the warehouse would collapse within minutes.
And once that happened, Gao Lang would be overwhelmed no matter how strong his newly awakened fire ability was.
If Gao Lang died here, his fire core would disappear with him.
After already losing the earth ability earlier, how could Lin Mingmei possibly watch another valuable ability vanish?
Her grip tightened around the framing hammer.
Then she rushed straight into the zombie horde like a storm.
The scent of fresh blood immediately drew the zombies’ attention.
One after another, they turned toward her.
Faced with the sudden pressure, Lin Mingmei silently cursed herself.
She had no intention of wasting another one of her remaining lives, nor did she want to suffer even a minor injury.
Because of that, she could only dodge constantly while searching for opportunities to strike.
That fighting style consumed stamina rapidly.
Regret slowly rose inside her.
At this rate, she would collapse from exhaustion before even reaching Gao Lang.
A wise person knows when it is time to retreat.
I need to leave now.
But just as she prepared to withdraw, the warehouse doors burst open.
A tall figure rushed out holding a framing hammer identical to hers.
The newcomer swung the weapon fiercely, knocking zombies aside one after another. Although his strength was not enough to destroy them in one hit like Lin Mingmei, he enhanced every strike with bursts of flame.
His coordination was flawless.
The sudden arrival immediately reduced the pressure around her.
Lin Mingmei instinctively glanced toward him.
Then her eyes widened completely.
Qin Yueming?!
Why is he here?!
At that exact moment of distraction, a zombie wearing a torn business suit lunged toward her from the side.
“Duck!”
Qin Yueming’s shout rang out sharply.
Lin Mingmei reacted instantly.
She twisted aside and swung her hammer down with all her strength.
The zombie collapsed immediately, dark blood splattering across the ground.
The recoil forced Lin Mingmei down to one knee.
Her head lowered heavily.
Even the hand gripping the hammer trembled uncontrollably.
She was exhausted.
Her body had already reached its limit.
“Lin Mingmei! Get up!”
Qin Yueming’s anxious voice sounded again.
Lin Mingmei wiped the grime from her face and forced herself back to her feet.
Gritting her teeth, she tore a strip of fabric from her shirt and tightly secured her trembling hand to the hammer handle.
“Heiqiu! Give me Spiritual Spring water now!” she shouted inwardly.
But Heiqiu’s answer nearly made her collapse.
“Unavailable.”
Lin Mingmei almost exploded.
“What do you mean unavailable?! I barely used it yesterday!”
Heiqiu replied calmly,
“Did you forget the crystal nucleus you obtained earlier? I placed it into the Spiritual Spring for upgrading. The system is currently evolving.”
Lin Mingmei nearly blacked out from frustration.
Of all possible moments, it had to start upgrading now?!
“Master, once the Spiritual Spring finishes evolving, its output will increase dramatically,” Heiqiu explained cheerfully. “That’s why Master should continue collecting more crystal nuclei in the future.”
Lin Mingmei truly wanted to strangle it.
With no hope of restoring her stamina, she could only grit her teeth and rush toward Qin Yueming using sheer determination alone.
The moment she reached him, she wasted no time speaking.
She grabbed his arm firmly and dragged him toward the warehouse entrance.
Using her enhanced strength, she kicked the damaged door open forcefully.
The broken wooden barrier shattered inward instantly.
At the same moment, two frightened screams rang out from inside the warehouse.
One male.
One female.