At noon, it was still the same combination of green beans and plain porridge. After finishing lunch, they returned to their beds and lay under the blankets again.
Chen Jianwei propped her pillow at an angle against the wall, tucked a hot water bottle into her arms, and then lay comfortably under the covers while continuing to play on her phone.
She chatted idly with Liu Huan, the topic drifting from the chaos in the dorm building to the Farm Game, and then to hacking zombies with kitchen knives.
Chen Jianwei rambled on, “No one even uses kitchen knives to fight zombies anymore. Look at Senior Lin and her team, they’re using high-tech methods. If we’re carrying kitchen knives and baseball bats, isn’t that too primitive?”
Five minutes later, Liu Huan replied, “I actually have two baseball bats in my dorm.”
Just as she was chatting with Liu Huan, she suddenly felt someone tug at her bed curtain.
Chen Jianwei was startled and quickly leaned over, only to see Duan Minmin standing on the ladder, waving at her.
Since they often climbed onto each other’s beds to hang out, Chen Jianwei pulled the curtain open.
“I thought you were asleep.” Duan Minmin smiled as she climbed up and squeezed into the warm blanket.
Chen Jianwei closed the curtain again, and the two of them leaned against the wall side by side.
Duan Minmin shared one earbud with Chen Jianwei. She was listening to soft, soothing post-war healing music.
Chen Jianwei swayed her head along to the music, feeling that the anxiety caused by the zombies had eased quite a bit.
“Actually, I have a guess.” Thinking about the Level 12 player she had seen on the forum earlier, Chen Jianwei had been pondering it for a long time. She still had not figured out any hidden features, but she suspected it might be related to zombies.
For example, exchanging zombies for points or something like that.
Though it was purely speculation.
Duan Minmin said it made sense.
Chen Jianwei lightly punched her. “Whose ideas do you ever think don’t make sense?”
Duan Minmin rolled her eyes. “Luo Mushi.”
Chen Jianwei laughed so hard her stomach cramped.
“You have no idea. When I used to play games with her, she fed the enemy every single day. I even suspected she was a spy for the other side. It drove me crazy.” Duan Minmin complained angrily, then sighed. “Too bad we can’t play anymore.”
One of their favorite games had its company based in Haishi.
On the second day after the zombie outbreak, the game crashed due to server issues.
Both Duan Minmin and Luo Mushi, longtime players, were heartbroken. They had never expected that when zombies came, the first thing to fall would be their game.
Now they could only play offline games or play in-person games with their roommates.
“The apocalypse is really boring! Sometimes I’d rather go out and fight zombies freely and wholeheartedly,” Duan Minmin sighed deeply with emotion.
Chen Jianwei, however, felt that things were still manageable for now. At least they were not in a situation where survival was impossible.
If she had been living alone like Liu Huan, she really would have gone crazy.
So she understood why Liu Huan had been so active in the group chat recently.
Listening to music and chatting with Duan Minmin, after a while Duan Minmin went back to her own bed to sleep, and Chen Jianwei also lay down to sleep.
She used to love staying in bed on days without classes, but certainly not like this kind of wish coming true.
When college students made wishes, they never accepted substitutions.
Chen Jianwei tossed and turned for a while before finally falling asleep.
It was not until 5:30 in the afternoon that she woke up groggily. When she checked the time on her phone, she was startled.
But after thinking about it, she had not missed the harvest time, so she lingered a bit longer before slowly getting up.
After getting down from the bed, she saw Ying Ran sitting on the electric blanket, with a blanket draped over her legs, holding her phone and reading something.
Duan Minmin and Luo Mushi had not woken up yet. Hearing Chen Jianwei get down, Ying Ran turned her head, and Chen Jianwei saw her bright smile.
“Ah Wei, come look.” Ying Ran smiled happily, and Chen Jianwei leaned over to see.
It was still a pinned announcement in the class group and dorm group.
The notice, issued by the Administrative Office and the Academic Affairs Office, arranged staggered outings for students.
Later, the Student Service Center would release specific time schedules. Students would go out by dormitory floors at designated times under the supervision of dorm managers, and walk around in assigned areas.
Earlier that morning, Lanzhou Garden Building 2 had just experienced a serious incident where a student used a rope to jump down from the second floor. It was very likely that similar incidents had occurred in other dorm buildings.
After all, with so many students on campus, nothing that happened would be surprising.
In addition, there had been cases a few nights ago of students suddenly having mental breakdowns. The school was likely worried that more students might develop psychological issues.
If more students lost control and caused trouble, the school would have difficulty handling the aftermath.
According to information circulating in various group chats, the zombies on campus had probably already been cleared out.
The school must have felt confident in controlling the situation, which was why they dared to make such arrangements.
Otherwise, if a zombie suddenly rushed out and bit a student during their outing, it would be completely unacceptable.
Since safety was ensured, being able to go out for a walk was still a good thing.
Staying inside the dorm all day, even if they could stand on the balcony and breathe fresh air, felt completely different from actually leaving the building and walking outside.
However, although the announcement had been posted in both the class and dorm groups, the Student Service Center had not yet released specific arrangements. They did not know when their turn would be, nor what things would look like at that time.
That did not stop them from feeling happy now.
Chen Jianwei and Ying Ran spun around happily a couple of times before sitting down comfortably.
Recently, she felt that the weather had been getting colder day by day. The dorm was relatively warm, but the warmest place of all was still the blanket she never wanted to leave.
If they were allowed to go out, they would definitely bundle themselves up tightly before daring to step outside.
Before the zombie outbreak, it had just entered early autumn. They had not expected the disaster and the cold wave to arrive so quickly, and their winter clothes were still packed away at the bottom of their wardrobes.
Chen Jianwei began rummaging through her closet for the down jacket she had stored last year.
Since there was no way to take it out for dry cleaning now, she could only iron it and then hang it on the balcony to air out.
Unfortunately, there had been no sunlight recently. The white expanse of snow outside made her feel irritable.
When Duan Minmin and Luo Mushi woke up and learned about the school’s arrangement, they were also very happy.
Then they began discussing what to eat for dinner.
Ever since the zombie outbreak and campus lockdown, their daily routine had revolved around three questions: what to eat for breakfast, what to eat for lunch, and what to eat for dinner.
The weather was extremely cold, so Luo Mushi suggested making sticky rice that night, which would also help warm their bodies.
Last winter, their favorite thing to eat at night had been sticky rice.
Since all four of them preferred sweet food, they did not like the savory sticky rice sold outside the school gate, so they made it themselves in the dorm.
They rinsed the glutinous rice twice, then laid a layer of sliced red dates in a bowl before steaming it in a pot.
Once the rice was cooked, they mixed it well, and the grains took on the color of the dates, becoming fragrant and sweet.
As the aroma of food rose gently into the air, this dinner tasted especially delightful.
The dorm felt warm and cozy as well. They sat around the table on the electric blanket mat, eating while playing a board game of Aeroplane Chess.
No one knew how long this peaceful calm could last, but for now, they could only take it one day at a time.
After dinner, Ye Wan from Dorm 620 shared a mini-program game of “Who is the Undercover” in the group chat. Everyone joined the game room, playing while passing the time.
During the chat, they also mentioned the afternoon announcement about the dorm outings, and everyone started discussing it animatedly.
Chen Xiaoqi said she was a little scared. Although she was happy to go out, it would be terrible if she got bitten by a zombie.
Liu Huan said that since the school dared to organize outings, it must be able to guarantee student safety.
After all, there was a huge difference between students going out on their own and getting bitten by zombies, and being bitten during a school-organized outing.
“I hope so.” Chen Xiaoqi fell silent for a moment before letting out a long sigh.
They all knew that Chen Xiaoqi was timid, but her roommate Liu Ruyan was particularly bold.
Liu Ruyan mentioned that she had practiced taekwondo before, and by her freshman year she had already reached the red belt level.
Unfortunately, being trapped now meant she could not continue practicing.
The public chat was immediately filled with amazed reactions.
Even though they did not know much about taekwondo rankings, from Liu Ruyan’s tone, they could tell it was quite impressive.
But if they really encountered a group of zombies, no matter how skilled someone was, it would be useless.
Unless they could escape, they would only be a living target in the eyes of the zombies.
Seeing how the Balala Squad used high-tech methods to fight zombies, it was clear that relying on kitchen knives alone was not very effective.
Right now, they all felt uncertain about the future, and could only take things day by day.
Fighting zombies was not something they dared to think about yet. Their weapons and combat ability were too primitive. Not only could they not compare to a powerhouse team like the Balala Squad, even a lone zombie would be difficult for them to handle.
While their combat ability could not be improved for the time being, there was still room to improve their equipment.
For example, the items in Farm Game’s [Market] → [Armory].
They were expensive, but their performance was probably quite good.
Their points were not enough yet, but one day they would reach that level.
Duan Minmin was more optimistic. She felt that since something like the “Farm Game,” which current technology could not achieve, had already appeared, then repelling zombies might not be so difficult after all.
Then Luo Mushi immediately shot her down. “How could it not be difficult! I just hope I never have to face those things head-on in my life.”
Chen Jianwei: +1
The mini-program game continued in full swing. After one round of the undercover game ended, a new round of cards was dealt.
Chen Jianwei tapped open her new card. The blue card flipped over, revealing two small words: zombie.
She was speechless.
What kind of lousy mini-game was this?
Making this kind of joke with players was not funny at all.
Everyone in this round felt rather annoyed, whether they were civilians holding the “zombie” card or the undercover holding the “undead” card.
And when the game was halfway through, Liu Ruyan suddenly shouted that Dorm Manager Auntie Lian had posted the Student Service Center’s schedule for staggered student outings in the Lanzhou Garden Building 2 group chat.
So everyone left the game, exited the room, returned to the dorm group chat, and opened the schedule to check the information.