The itinerary arranged by the Student Service Center was extremely detailed, listing time slots in a table from the four dormitory zones down to individual dorms.
Chen Jianwei searched and located their dorm’s entry.
Lanzhou Garden Building 2, Room 618
October 31, 16:30–17:00
October 31, which was tomorrow.
The schedule also outlined the designated activity area for students, limited to the surroundings of Lanzhou Garden Building 2 and the flowerbed plaza in front of it.
Some students immediately complained in the dorm group chat, asking whether this meant they were being sent out for drills.
In any case, no one knew exactly how the school would arrange things, so they could only wait and see what would happen tomorrow morning.
Ying Ran said the information had once again come from the student leader group.
It was said that over the past two days, the school had installed gate surveillance alarm devices at all three campus entrances, specifically to guard against zombies.
This showed that the school had indeed made preparations.
“Do you still remember the girl who jumped down from the second floor and ran away this morning?” Wu Zhenyi suddenly brought it up in the group chat. She said the counselor had investigated and identified her, apparently a student from the class next to theirs. There were three or four of them who had really gone out carrying kitchen knives, and it seemed the counselor still had not been able to contact them.
Chen Jianwei immediately guessed that the “kitchen knife squad” had taken action. Now they could only wish them good luck.
The Lanzhou Garden Building 2 group chat was still buzzing with discussions. There were also people like Chen Xiaoqi who were unwilling to go out, tagging Dorm Manager Auntie Lian in the chat to ask whether they could opt out.
Auntie Lian came forward to persuade them, saying that going outside for a walk and getting some fresh air was better than staying cooped up in the dorm.
Besides, such an opportunity was rare, and no one knew when the next chance would come.
If zombies appeared again, even if it was just a single one, they would not dare to act rashly anymore.
However, most students were still looking forward to this outing.
After being confined in the dorm for so many days, being able to go out for a walk and move around sounded quite nice.
Moreover, with the surveillance alarm devices at the campus gates, even if zombies appeared, it would still be safe.
When the alarm rang, they prepared to harvest the first batch of ripe mulberries.
After harvesting the second batch tomorrow at noon, they could plant another round of crops.
Moreover, the experience gained from harvesting mulberries was higher than they had expected. If they were lucky, they might even level up to Level 5 directly.
“But what if the harvest time overlaps with when we go out?” Luo Mushi was worried. They could not possibly open the floating game panel in front of everyone, that would be far too awkward.
Chen Jianwei imagined that scene for a moment and agreed it would indeed be inappropriate.
However, she had already calculated the timing of the two harvest cycles, and there should not be any conflict.
Coincidentally, the schedule was arranged by dorm order, so they, along with Dorms 617, 619, and 620, would go out in the same time slot, along with some other dorms they were less familiar with.
Chen Jianwei took a screenshot of their section of the schedule and sent it to the group chat.
“Then let’s go together tomorrow,” Liu Huan said in the group, followed by a smiling emoji.
After chatting for a while, Chen Jianwei turned her head and suddenly saw Duan Minmin sitting cross-legged by the table, muttering to herself while drawing tarot cards.
As a fellow member of the “fortune-teller camp,” Chen Jianwei was quite concerned about the result of the reading.
She moved over and sat across from Duan Minmin to watch her draw the cards.
Although she did not understand tarot cards or their interpretations, Duan Minmin would usually explain the results to them after each reading.
Only this time, after finishing the reading, Duan Minmin wore a constipated expression.
“What is it?” Chen Jianwei asked, since she could not understand the reading.
“Lately it’s been bad omens every day. I feel like my forehead is dark and there’s bloodshed in my future.” Duan Minmin put away the tarot cards and began her usual sighing.
As for this reading, Duan Minmin only said in general terms that the recent “energy field” was not very good. In theory, it was likely influenced by the zombies, and most probably the zombie situation would not end anytime soon.
Chen Jianwei also felt that the zombies would not disappear anytime soon. They were already preparing for a long-term struggle.
“Minmin’s tarot readings are just like Ah Wei’s dreams, sometimes accurate and sometimes not,” Luo Mushi said from the bathroom while washing clothes by hand, the sound of running water splashing loudly as she spoke to Ying Ran, who was showering.
But Ying Ran did not respond for quite a while. Hearing only the sound of water running, Luo Mushi became a little worried and knocked on the bathroom door. “Xiao Ran, are you still there?” In such freezing weather, she was genuinely worried that Ying Ran might faint from the cold while showering.
After a moment, Ying Ran finally responded in a muffled voice. “I just checked the weather forecast. It says the temperature will drop even further tomorrow.”
Luo Mushi immediately perked up and began complaining loudly. “Then I might as well freeze to death.”
Hearing this, Chen Jianwei also opened the weather app.
October 31
Lowest temperature: -7°C
Highest temperature: 2°C
So cold!
Based on Chen Jianwei’s initial speculation, the zombies were probably only the first wave.
Two consecutive days of torrential rain.
Then the blood moon meteor.
Then the appearance of zombies.
And now, a rapid drop in temperature.
Each event seemed designed to take their lives in a different way.
Who knew what other strange things were waiting for them next?
This world was terrifying.
Ying Ran hurriedly finished her shower, got dressed, and came out to sit on the electric blanket to warm herself.
If the weather became even colder tomorrow, going outside could easily cause them to catch a chill again, leading to a vicious cycle of illness.
In any case, none of it sounded good.
Tonight, they needed to prepare enough warm clothing and supplies to get through this long winter.
They logged into Farm Game’s [Market] and found that most of the cold-weather items available, such as sleeping bags, down jackets, and hot water bottles, were things they already had in their dorm. There was no need to waste points buying them.
Besides, they even had an electric blanket, which already put them in a better situation than many other dorms.
Just earlier, they had seen someone in the Lanzhou Garden Building 2 group chat crying that they were about to become the Little Match Girl.
Through the glass window above the dorm door, they could see that the row of dorms diagonally across had already turned off their lights.
Their own dorm was relatively comfortable.
Earlier, when Luo Mushi went out to hang clothes, the moment she opened the balcony door, cold wind rushed in through the gap, making them shiver uncontrollably.
As for tomorrow’s outing, they had already begun to hesitate.
In such cold weather, if they encountered zombies, they would not even be able to run fast.
The hot water bottles were already charged and placed in the blankets in advance to warm them up.
It was almost 11:30 when they finally climbed back into bed, grumbling inwardly.
The dorm fell into darkness, with only a faint glow leaking out from the gaps in their bed curtains.
They chatted idly for a while before quickly drifting into sleep.
Chen Jianwei slept comfortably until, at some unknown time, a loud bang suddenly rang out, jolting her awake from her sweet dream.
Immediately afterward, she heard a low “ah” from the neighboring bed.
It was probably Luo Mushi, who had also been startled awake.
“What was that?” Ying Ran poked her head out from behind her bed curtain. Chen Jianwei also pulled hers open and saw that it was still clearly night outside.
If Ying Ran and Luo Mushi had not both been awakened by that loud noise, Chen Jianwei might have thought she was just having a nightmare.
The three of them looked at each other in the darkness, too frightened to speak.
Who knew what might be outside.
Chen Jianwei carefully took out her phone and checked the time. It was only 3:30 in the morning.
No matter what had happened outside, they were safest inside the dorm for now.
If there was truly some unavoidable danger, then no matter how hard they tried to survive, they would still die.
In that case, they might as well lie flat and go back to sleep.
Chen Jianwei glanced at her phone a few more times, then burrowed back into her blanket.
She no longer felt sleepy, but the warmth of the blanket was comforting.
From the neighboring bed came the rustling sound of someone tossing and turning.
Ying Ran and Luo Mushi’s beds were both close to the balcony window, making it easier for them to observe outside.
Only Duan Minmin remained asleep, her breathing steady and even.
About twenty minutes later, just as Chen Jianwei was about to fall asleep again, the loud noise sounded once more, even louder than before.
Chen Jianwei had no choice but to get up again and peek out from behind her curtain.
She did not want to get out of bed, so through the gap, she saw that Ying Ran seemed to have opened a corner of the curtain. Chen Jianwei quietly asked whether she could see anything outside.
“It’s too dark, I can’t see clearly.” Half of Ying Ran’s body was pressed against the window. She rubbed her eyes, but still could not make out anything.
The snow had not stopped that night. There was no moon, and the entire world looked hazy.
They could not see anything, nor could they determine what had happened from the sound.
Chen Jianwei opened the Lanzhou Garden Building 2 group chat on her phone and saw that everyone had already started discussing it.
Because of the freezing weather and the unknown situation, no one dared to go out to investigate.
But that did not stop people from speculating wildly, suspecting that someone might have jumped off the building.
The sound just now had indeed resembled something heavy hitting the ground. Since it had happened twice, it might mean two people had jumped one after another.
“If someone dies now, would they turn into a zombie?” Qiu Xi from Dorm 121 suddenly asked in the group chat.
The previously lively chat instantly fell silent.
When it came to zombies, no one dared to speak carelessly.
What if they jinxed it?
Qiu Xi continued, “Have you seen that post about Meiyue Lake? The one analyzing the origin and cause of the zombies. I heard the earliest victims were two students who were at Meiyue Lake.”
The post Qiu Xi mentioned was the one published by students from Haiqing Normal University on the Haishi University Plaza. It had gone viral at the early stage of the zombie outbreak.
Even if they had not read the post, they had all heard about the incident on the lake island the day before the outbreak, where students from Haiqing Normal University had been killed.
Only Liu Huan from Dorm 619, who had mustered the courage to step onto the balcony, took a glance outside.
In that instant, she felt herself freeze in place.