Chuunibyou college students would believe in the arrival of a natural disaster apocalypse.
Chuunibyou college students would also believe that they would be the survivors of the apocalypse.
Just like how they firmly believed in the results of tarot divination.
Duan Minmin’s face lit up. “An apocalyptic disaster? Then we won’t have to attend early morning classes anymore!”
A moment later, her mood dropped. “But that means we won’t get our diplomas either. All those early classes I suffered through last year would have been for nothing!”
Ying Ran, however, did not think it was that serious. “Unless all the teachers, principals, and administrators are dead, how could classes just stop? Even if zombies tear the school down, classes will still continue.”
Duan Minmin sank further into gloom.
“Then tomorrow…” Chen Jianwei hesitated.
In her nightmare, there had been torrential rain, a blood moon, and a meteor.
What would come next?
The virus and mutations brought by the meteor, perhaps a zombie siege would really occur.
Luo Mushi felt conflicted. “Even if a zombie outbreak really happens tomorrow, what can we do? Should we tell the counselor?”
Duan Minmin punched her lightly. “Are you joking on an international level!”
If there was no disaster tomorrow, they would be spreading rumors.
If a disaster really did happen, others might think they had caused it, or even capture them for research.
Chen Jianwei wanted to call her mother.
She had to take a three-hour flight to come to Haishi for school, and the last time she had seen her family was during the summer vacation.
If the apocalypse arrived, who knew when she would see her family again.
But it was already late at night. Calling her mother out of the blue might make her think something had happened.
Besides, adults would likely think it was just youthful chuunibyou acting up.
If the disaster began with the torrential rain, the blood moon, and the meteor, then it should start in Haishi.
Whether it was zombies or some strange illness, it would not spread thousands of miles to her hometown in such a short time.
Aside from Duan Minmin, who believed it completely, and Ying Ran and Luo Mushi, who half believed it, there would not be a fifth person who believed in the apocalypse.
The four of them agreed to wake up early the next day and go outside the campus to stock up on supplies.
According to apocalypse novels, they at least needed to store clean water and food to fill their stomachs.
Besides, they were inside the school, which was relatively a safe place.
Lying in bed, Chen Jianwei still tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep.
She hoped there would be no disaster, no apocalypse.
She hoped they could graduate smoothly.
It was not until the latter half of the night that Chen Jianwei finally drifted into a hazy sleep.
Early the next morning, she was woken up by an extremely excited Duan Minmin. Only then did she remember that they had agreed to go out and stockpile supplies this morning.
It was already six o’clock in the morning. Aside from the humanities students who needed to attend morning reading sessions, the other students with eight o’clock classes were likely still immersed in sweet dreams.
Duan Minmin, who firmly believed in the disaster, persistently woke up Ying Ran and Luo Mushi as well. After a quick five-minute wash, they prepared to head out.
It was still late October, but overnight it had already turned into deep autumn outside.
The moment Duan Minmin pushed open the dorm door, her hair was blown into disarray by the wind. She hurried back inside and added a scarf.
Luo Mushi grumbled, “It’s not even November yet, and the wind is already this bleak. Now I believe the disaster is really coming.”
The four of them put on coats, grabbed their umbrellas, and headed out, shivering.
The corridor on the first floor of the dormitory was enclosed with iron mesh to prevent students from climbing in and out during curfew hours.
The dorm entrance required a card to enter and exit, and directly faced the dorm manager auntie’s duty room.
Aside from Ying Ran, the other three all had their own means of transportation.
Duan Minmin and Chen Jianwei each had a small electric scooter, while Luo Mushi had a self-balancing scooter.
Ying Ran, on the other hand, simply had poor balance. Chen Jianwei had once tried to teach her how to ride a bicycle, but after falling several times, she gave up.
Even so, electric scooters and balance scooters were convenient for carrying things.
They went to the parking shed first to get their vehicles. Ying Ran rode on the back of Chen Jianwei’s scooter.
Since they had come out early, they hardly encountered anyone along the way.
The autumn wind was bleak, and the campus roads felt somewhat desolate.
This awful weather put people in a terrible mood.
Chen Jianwei kept looking around, worried that a zombie might suddenly rush out from somewhere.
Fortunately, they made it safely to the large shopping mall outside the campus and went straight to the food section.
Self-heating rice, instant noodles, canned fruit, canned beef…
In the end, they also placed four 4.5-liter bottles of mineral water into their cart.
According to Duan Minmin, even if the apocalypse did not arrive, they would still eat these foods in daily life.
Considering that even if the apocalypse came, water and electricity would likely last for a period of time, they also took a 2.5-kilogram bag of rice, two packs of egg noodles, each pack containing 20 portions of 65 grams, as well as small packages of oats, mung beans, red beans, and other coarse grains.
After checking out, Luo Mushi looked at the pile of goods with a lifeless expression. “I really believed your nonsense. There might not even be a disaster, because you are the disaster.”
Duan Minmin, on the other hand, happily nibbled on her favorite white bread. “We can finish all this in three years.”
Luo Mushi sighed repeatedly. “I feel like we look like a bunch of suspicious weirdos.”
Mainly because buying so much at once really did look strange.
Carrying bags large and small, they returned to campus, and also bought breakfast from a roadside stall. By the time they moved everything back to the dorm, it was only 7:30.
Luo Mushi climbed back into bed to continue sleeping and set an alarm for 9:30.
The things they bought were all placed on the shared table behind the door, to be sorted out after class at noon.
Chen Jianwei searched online for the latest news about the “meteor,” but found nothing.
It was as if a rock had simply fallen from the sky.
And that was it.
This was far too strange.
Chen Jianwei decided to call home first.
Her parents ran a small convenience store, so there was no need to worry about food supplies at home.
After the call connected, Chen Jianwei told them to avoid going out unnecessarily for the time being.
The weather outside had turned gloomy again, as if it was about to rain once more.
Ying Ran carried a basin of dirty clothes to the balcony, preparing to throw them into the washing machine and hang them up to dry.
Seeing the weather, she worried that the clothes would be difficult to dry in the coming days.
But classes still had to go on.
To prepare for another downpour at noon, they stuffed disposable raincoats into their bags before heading to class.
The morning class was in the teaching building closest to the Lanzhou Garden dormitory, and since it was a theoretical course, there was no need to go outside for practical work.
It was not until after class, when they went to the Lanzhou Garden cafeteria to buy food and returned to the dorm, that the torrential rain started again.
Luo Mushi’s bed was near the window. As she ate, she stared outside and sighed, wondering how long this rain would last.
The weather forecast predicted heavy rain.
The Meteorological Bureau updated its report on rainfall in Haitong District:
[Haishi Meteorological Bureau: As of 13:00 on October 23, rainfall in Haitong District has reached 18 mm per hour. Citizens who are still outdoors are advised to return indoors as soon as possible, close doors and windows securely, and take precautions against lightning.]
At the same time, Yaobei District in Haishi remained overcast.
On the central island of a lake, a group of university students from outside the campus were playing a location-based hide-and-seek game.
With only ten seconds left on the countdown displayed on her phone, one girl, still searching for a hiding place, spotted a dense patch of grass and decided to hide inside it.
When the countdown ended, the phone’s location tracking was automatically disabled.
The girl focused intently on watching the area outside the grass, unaware that a pair of green eyes was slowly rising behind her.
“Ah!!!”
Her scream echoed across the lake island. By the time her companions heard it and rushed over, they found nothing but a pool of black blood in the grass, along with a few tufts of grayish-brown fur.
In Haitong District, the heavy rain continued throughout the entire afternoon.
Only then did the residents of Room 618 begin sorting the supplies they had purchased that morning. They placed rice, flour, and grains together, and divided the snacks and canned goods among themselves.
In the past, the dorm had often ordered various kinds of noodles together, including snail rice noodles, pasta, mixed noodles, and even instant noodles that had already expired.
After tidying up the dorm once more, and with the rain still not stopping by dinner time, they began cooking snail rice noodles on the balcony.
As Duan Minmin cooked, she joked with Chen Jianwei, “Our snail rice noodles smell too good! Room 718 upstairs is asking in the group who’s cooking them. They haven’t eaten dinner yet, and they’re about to come storming over with knives.”
Chen Jianwei had just added the pickled bamboo shoot packet into the boiling water. Hearing this, she leaned over to look at the phone.
“Are you done cooking yet?” Luo Mushi suddenly opened the door and poked her head out, her tone tense. “I just saw a post on the Haishi University Plaza. Look at this.”
Duan Minmin continued stirring the noodles, while Chen Jianwei walked into the room to Luo Mushi’s desk and looked at the computer. She casually asked, “What is it? Confirmed zombie outbreak?”
Luo Mushi opened a bookmarked topic. “Someone just said there seems to have been a murder on the lake island in Yaobei District. The police have already sealed off the area…”
She clicked on another newly updated post, and her brows gradually furrowed.
[Meiyue Lakeside: At noon, our club was having an outdoor gathering on the lake island. The two who got into trouble were senior students from our club. They were both bitten to death. But!!! Shortly after their bodies were discovered, they completely disappeared! It is said that some unidentified creature fur and remains were also found at the scene. Everyone must be careful!!!]
Meiyue Lake was the scenic lake of Haiqing Normal University, and the poster was most likely a student from that university.
The comments under the post were filled with speculation, some suspected a cannibal, others thought it was an unknown wild beast.
Some even suspected zombies.
Mainly because the disappearance of the victims’ bodies was too strange, making it easy to associate with something like zombies that defied the law of conservation of energy.
Luo Mushi and Chen Jianwei looked at each other.
Had zombies really appeared?
Originally, Luo Mushi had been half skeptical about the blood moon, meteor, and disaster theory, but after seeing this post, she immediately believed it completely.
“Ah Wei, stop cooking the snail noodles. Let’s go to the supermarket and stock up on more food!”
Turning to look at the already piled-up supplies on the shared table, Chen Jianwei hesitated for a moment, then gritted her teeth and nodded. “Alright.”
Duan Minmin had just brought the cooked snail noodles in from the balcony. Hearing their conversation, she excitedly said she would go with them.
Ying Ran, who had been using her computer, also said she would go along when she heard they were heading to the supermarket again.
They also took the trash they had just cleaned out of the dorm to throw away.
It was still raining outside. After throwing out the trash at the garbage area downstairs, they went straight to the Lanzhou Garden supermarket next to Building 2.
The four of them selected more biscuits, instant noodles, and snacks, and finally took two large bottles of mineral water.
In an era of disaster, clean water was undoubtedly the most important resource.
In zombie movies, water was easily contaminated by the virus, and drinking contaminated water would turn one into a zombie.
After spending the whole afternoon reading apocalypse survival guides, Duan Minmin suddenly smacked her forehead after leaving the supermarket. They should at least stock up on medicine, just in case.
They first carried the newly bought supplies back to the dorm and gathered all the medical supplies they could find. There were only two boxes of Banlangen granules, three boxes of ibuprofen sustained-release capsules, two bottles of alcohol, and one box of medical alcohol swabs.
All of these belonged to Ying Ran.
Because Ying Ran had a weaker constitution and often caught colds and fevers during seasonal changes.
There were only two pharmacies near the school, both of which offered delivery services.
They placed an order for a medical supply package through a delivery platform.
Half an hour later, the delivery arrived downstairs at the dorm, and the shop called them to come down and pick it up.
Chen Jianwei and Ying Ran went downstairs together.
The rain had stopped. There was no moon tonight.