Speaking of this Xu An, Lin Yuzhi had a very deep impression of him.
It wasn’t because he personally knew him, but because this Xu An was the famously undisputed rank one of their grade at No. 5 High School, and the top scorer of the college entrance examination for their year; his brain was exceptionally good.
And academic underachievers like him were practically the control group compared to someone like Xu An.
While Xu An took his exams in the first classroom, Lin Yuzhi took his in the very last one. He had even heard that when Xu An first entered No. 5 High School, he came in first place in the high school entrance exam.
He was also the school idol of their year. He was so earth-shatteringly handsome that an unknown number of people sent him love letters back then, and even boys were among them.
Once on the sports field, he even bumped into a boy confessing his love to Xu An.
He was indeed remarkably good-looking. He remembered it was summer; Xu An was wearing a blue and white school uniform, standing there like a graceful lotus blossom, a sight to be admired from afar but not profaned.
At the time, his bad crowd of friends asked if his heart fluttered. His heart didn’t flutter; there was only the reverence of a poor student for an academic god. How could someone possess such a good brain? He drooled with envy, the fruit candy in his mouth melting into a fruity soup.
However, he didn’t know if this Xu An naturally disliked people. For two whole years of high school, he never dated anyone, nor was he particularly close to anyone. He turned a deaf ear to matters outside the window and solely focused on reading the works of sages.
As for why it was only two years, it was because he only studied until the first semester of his sophomore year and dropped out halfway through. As for whether this Xu An dated anyone in the second half of that semester or during his senior year, he didn’t know.
When the college entrance exam scores were released, Xu An even appeared on TV. In short, he was a genius. At that time, Lin Yuzhi was screwing in bolts at a factory.
His coworkers knew he had gone to No. 5 High School and specifically asked him if he knew Xu An.
He didn’t know if it counted as knowing him; it probably didn’t. After all, they had never even spoken to each other. They could only be considered schoolmates.
After that, he didn’t hear any news about Xu An. He only knew he went to the highest institution of learning, and he found that out from the class group chat at the time.
Up until recently, he heard news about Xu An again from the class group chat. He heard he got into a car accident and had returned to Lin’an to recover.
Coincidentally, he actually knew exactly which hospital Xu An was in: Lin’an City People’s Hospital. He also learned this from the classmate group chat. One of his classmates was close to someone in Class 1, and that’s how they found out. Moreover, many classmates from Class 1 had gone to visit Xu An.
With that big brain of his, maybe he could really compensate for his own terribly rotten track record.
But then again, the guy was in a hospital. Wasn’t that a major disaster zone?
After all, anyone who got into an accident was definitely rushed to the hospital, and the People’s Hospital at that. Could he have already kicked the bucket?
Suddenly, Lin Yuzhi fell into deep thought. With a brain like that, he looked exactly like main character material. He probably wouldn’t kick the bucket so early, right?
After thinking it over, it seemed like his only option was to go to the hospital and take a look.
Maybe the situation outside was already under control. Of course, he felt that was highly unlikely, but it was only the first day after all. Probably, possibly, not everyone had turned into a zombie yet.
Lin Yuzhi started pondering carefully again, wondering whether that big shot was still alive or had already perished.
Inside the pitch-black washroom, low roars came from outside the door, along with the ear-piercing sound of nails scratching against the door panel.
Screech— Screech—
Hearing it during the day when there was light was somewhat bearable, but hearing it now in the pitch dark was bloodcurdling, as if a zombie would suddenly leap out from behind him.
Faintly, he seemed to also hear a dragging sound.
Little by little, it was dragging towards their location.
The group was already highly tense. Upon hearing the sound, they subconsciously looked at the door in front of them, while simultaneously shrinking backward.
Their faces were filled with fear; they wanted to cry but didn’t dare to.
Lin Yuzhi had originally been wondering if that big shot was still alive, but his train of thought was jolted awake by the commotion outside.
Only because earlier, there had just been faint footsteps and slight roars outside, and those sounds were quite a distance away from them.
But now, this noise was approaching their direction, as if the thing outside was going to come in the very next second.
The dragging sound drew closer and closer, and everyone’s nerves grew even more strained.
At this moment, the dragging sound disappeared, and the location where it vanished was exactly in front of the washroom door.
This sudden silence made everyone cover their mouths tightly, terrified that making even the slightest sound would alert the thing outside.
But in the next second, they heard a strange noise.
Click— Click—
Every sound felt like it was striking right at their hearts. In the dark of the night, this noise became exceptionally clear and eerie.
Lin Yuzhi was also staring at the door right now. What is that sound?
He was equally puzzled. A door shouldn’t make this kind of sound; at most, there would be banging.
Involuntarily clutching the small jade pendant around his neck, he mustered his courage and shined his phone screen at the door.
He didn’t use the flashlight mode, just the light from the phone screen.
It was at this exact moment that another click was heard.
And in the dim light, he clearly saw the door handle tilt downwards slightly, then quickly return to its original position.
Instantly, his heart skipped a beat.
Holy crap, is this thing trying to open the door?!
Almost the exact moment this possibility dawned on him, he scrambled up from the ground, rushed to the door, and locked the latch at top speed.
A faint click sounded.
At the same time, the door handle, which had only been slightly tilted down just now, was completely pushed all the way to the bottom. This meant that if he hadn’t locked it, the door would have opened right then.
Lin Yuzhi was so scared that he broke out in a cold sweat. If he hadn’t used his phone to check just now, they would be dead or crippled by now.
In the dead of night, pitch black without a single thing visible, if that thing charged in, they would basically be finished.
The door handle continued to move; the thing outside wanted to open the door, but couldn’t because it was locked.
Witnessing this scene, everyone inside was frightened pale. Clearly, they hadn’t expected that this thing actually knew how to open doors.
They bit their lips tightly just to control themselves from making a sound.
It wasn’t until a moment later that the sound of the door handle stopped, and the dragging sound returned.
This time, it wasn’t approaching the washroom but gradually moving away, leaving only faint roars outside the door.
Yet, they still didn’t dare to make a single move, keeping their eyes glued to the door in front of them.
Only after confirming that the commotion was truly gone did they dare to shift slightly, though they were still terrified.
One of them lowered his voice and spoke, “That thing can actually open doors!”
He had seen it too under the dim light just now, but his reaction hadn’t been as fast as Lin Yuzhi’s. In fact, his mind had gone completely blank.
So he looked over at Lin Yuzhi again, “Big boss, how did you figure out they were trying to open the door?”
It was Lin Yuzhi’s first time being called a “big boss,” and he wasn’t quite used to it. However, now didn’t seem to be the time to dwell on that.
As for the question, he honestly didn’t know himself. He just felt the sound wasn’t right.
He replied, “I’ve never heard that sound before. It definitely couldn’t be anything good.”
This was his first reaction, and thankfully so, otherwise they would have truly been doomed.
The group agreed that this made sense. It was a good thing Lin Yuzhi reacted the way he did, or else they would all probably be dead in there right now.
They couldn’t help but sigh in relief, but soon felt discouraged again, not knowing what to do.
In just a few short hours, they had experienced things they had never gone through before.
People eating people, chasing people… and now the thing outside actually knew how to open doors. They had no idea what would happen next.
Furthermore, up to this moment, they still didn’t know what on earth the things outside were.
The girl was the first to speak, her voice hoarse, “What do you guys think those things are?” There was a hint of a sob in her tone, showing she was deeply terrified.
She gripped her clothes tightly, her face full of fear.
Her mind was a blank slate; she couldn’t think of anything at all.
The other two were no better off. The man sitting next to Lin Yuzhi turned to look at him, “I heard that rabies has been pretty severe lately. Many people were biting others like mad dogs. Young man, do you think this is something similar to rabies? To me, they look a lot like the zombies in movies.” Saying this, he looked at the other two.
At the mention of zombies, the girl and the other boy nodded repeatedly, also recalling this concept.
Lin Yuzhi nodded along as well, “Looks like it to me. Moreover, these things infect people when they bite them to death. Those who are dead through and through can still get up and eat people. I don’t know if just biting someone will infect them, but they are incredibly similar to zombies. I’m guessing that’s what they are.”
The way those things acted, they were cut from the same cloth as zombies.
There was just a slight difference; zombies supposedly couldn’t open doors. But then again, one was in a movie and the other was real, so there were bound to be some differences. Still, it was far too terrifying.
Clearly, the others also thought of what had just happened. “If zombies can open doors, then what are we going to do now? Staying here forever isn’t a solution.”
The main problem was that they had no food. As for water, they could drink tap water, but what if it was infected?
Speaking of this, they quickly asked, “Could this water be infected too?”
“I don’t know, but I wouldn’t dare drink it,” Lin Yuzhi spoke up. Who knew if it was? Anyway, he wouldn’t drink it. He, Lin Yuzhi, wouldn’t drink it even if he died of thirst.
Oh, wait, that wasn’t right. He could exchange his points for water. Anyway, he wouldn’t drink tap water.
He knew very well that in movies, zombie blood was also infectious. What if a zombie had fallen into the water supply?
Therefore, he added, “Let’s drink bottled mineral water. If not, drink soda. Just in case zombie blood is infectious too, otherwise we’d all be wiped out.”
The group nodded, but the next moment, realizing they were covered in zombie blood themselves, they were so frightened that they frantically began wiping their hands.
Lin Yuzhi remembered it too. His face was also covered in zombie blood, so he pulled his shirt up and wiped it off.
However, he didn’t dare touch his mouth. If this stuff really was infectious, getting it into his mouth would mean there was truly no saving him.
As for how to get out, they had no solution either. They could only wait until tomorrow to see if there would be any rescue, or perhaps the number of zombies outside would decrease by tomorrow.
They said they should rest first, but no one dared to sleep, terrified that something else might happen. They kept their eyes open until dawn.
Lin Yuzhi didn’t dare sleep either; he only squinted his eyes slightly.
Light filtered into the washroom through the crack under the door. The originally pitch-black space finally had a bit of light.
Lin Yuzhi got up from the ground, crawled over to the door, and pressed his ear against it to listen to the commotion outside.
He could still hear some faint roaring, but it seemed much quieter compared to yesterday.
Perhaps the zombies had already left the stationery store and gone outside.
He could take a peek, but it was impossible to just go straight out.
If only they had a mirror.
Lin Yuzhi thought of the mirror above the sink. Smashing it would make too much noise. No, that wouldn’t work.
Turning his head, he looked at the girl again, who was still carrying her satchel. After thinking for a moment, he whispered a question, “Do you have one of those tiny mirrors? The kind you guys sometimes use to apply lipstick or something.”
He wasn’t entirely sure, actually. After all, not every girl carried one.
But perhaps it was good luck; the girl in front of him actually did have one.
He saw her nod quickly, and in the next moment, she hurriedly rummaged through her backpack to get it.
However, perhaps because she had been so frightened during the night, her hands were trembling as she looked for it. Fortunately, nothing went wrong, and she quickly handed the mirror over.
It was a tiny, round mirror.
Lin Yuzhi took it and examined it, then pointed at the mop and the hair tie in the girl’s hair. “I’ll crack the door open in a bit to see if there are any zombies at the entrance. You guys tie this mirror to the stick. Later, we’ll check to see if there are a lot of zombies outside. If there are many at the door, we’ll roughly estimate the specific number. If there aren’t many, we’ll see where they are positioned, okay?”
The three quickly nodded to show they understood, then hurried to tie the mirror.
Lin Yuzhi then pointed to the boy closest to him, gesturing for him to help unlock the latch while he pulled the door open to look.
But before doing this, he found a weapon—it was still the door handle from yesterday.
At the moment, this was the only thing remotely usable; otherwise, they had nothing.
Gripping the object in his hand, he looked at the boy. The boy was already standing by the door, ready to unlock it at any moment. Lin Yuzhi slightly suppressed his breathing.
Even though it sounded like there was no commotion outside anymore, they still had to be careful, as careful as could be.
He gave the boy an “OK” hand gesture, then half-knelt by the door, keeping one hand gripped on it.
The next second, the lock was undone with a click.
But he didn’t open the door immediately. Instead, he waited for a moment, and only after confirming there was no movement outside did Lin Yuzhi smoothly pull the door open just a crack.