The incident of a zombie appearing downstairs in Lanzhou Garden Building 2 last night had already been reported by Dorm Manager Auntie Lian to the Student Service Center.
Some students also tried reporting it through the mini-program previously launched by the Student Service Center.
They opened the [Haishi University Student Service Center] mini-program and scrolled to the last row.
Then they tapped [Abnormal Zombie Report].
They filled in the time and location of the zombie’s appearance, and set the number of zombies to “1.”
Then they clicked confirm and submitted it.
Now that the school had suddenly announced blood sample collection for all students from tonight until tomorrow, they guessed it was a precautionary measure.
In case some students had already been infected with the zombie virus but had not yet turned, and were still mixed among the densely populated dorm buildings.
If they mutated later, it would truly become a disaster.
At present, they only knew that the zombie virus could likely be transmitted through blood.
For example, being bitten by a zombie or having zombie blood come into contact with an open wound could both lead to infection.
That was why, after returning from fighting the zombie last night, everyone immediately showered and changed clothes.
Dorm Manager Auntie Lian said that when the research lab staff arrived, they would notify everyone to prepare in advance.
As for when exactly they would arrive, it was still unclear.
It was already past midnight, and some students had likely gone to sleep.
If the blood collection was carried out overnight, someone would probably notify the group chat, or staff might come directly to knock on the dorm doors.
For now, they could only wait for updates in their dorms.
If there really were people carrying the virus without symptoms, they did not dare to go out carelessly.
The news was like a torpedo thrown into a lake, instantly stirring up waves of discussion in the Lanzhou Garden Building 2 group chat.
After last night’s heroic fight, they had been full of confidence.
But this new message immediately knocked them back to reality.
Everyone became extremely anxious, afraid that when they woke up tomorrow, their roommate might have turned into a zombie.
Even worse, they feared being strangled and eaten in their sleep, never even seeing the next sunrise.
No matter how they looked at it, this was not good news.
The temperature outside dropped again at night, and they huddled in the corners holding their blankets, shivering.
Chen Jianwei still could not sleep.
After Liu Huan left, the four of them dragged their blankets off their beds, wrapped themselves up completely, and sat on the electric blanket mat, playing card games round after round out of sheer boredom.
By around two in the morning, the messages in the dorm group chat slowed down, and most students had likely fallen asleep. They quickly washed up and went back to bed with their blankets.
Ever since the sudden drop in temperature, they had to prepare thoroughly before sleeping every night to keep warm.
Before zipping up her bed curtain, Duan Minmin poked her head out and said, “Do you think we look like survivors hiding in a shelter on the Antarctic ice field?”
Ying Ran checked the current temperature on her phone and sighed. “Antarctica is probably warmer than here right now.”
Duan Minmin shrank back into her bed and immediately turned off her bedside lamp.
Chen Jianwei also turned off her lamp and curled up quietly under her blanket.
In truth, she felt uneasy as well.
Last night, they had all gone down to fight the zombie. Their weapons had been stained with zombie blood, and it was inevitable that a few drops might have splashed onto them. Although they had showered and changed clothes immediately after returning, what if they had been unlucky and gotten infected?
There were already countless posts online analyzing the zombie virus. The “virus faction” and the “fungus faction” had argued endlessly, yet no official scientific conclusion had been released.
However, now that the zombie virus research lab was coming to collect blood samples, there should already be some findings.
All they could do was pray that they were not the unlucky ones, and that no one in their dorm building was infected.
Otherwise, everything would truly be over.
Chen Jianwei tossed and turned for a long time before finally drifting into sleep.
She even had a bizarre dream about fighting zombies.
In the dream, Duan Minmin rode in on a dinosaur-like bird, holding a massive weapon and throwing it into a crowd of zombies.
With a loud boom, the zombies were blasted skyward.
Chen Jianwei felt her scalp go numb as she realized she was splattered with zombie blood.
That was when she suddenly woke up from the strange dream.
Through the gap in her bed curtain, she saw that it was still dark outside, though a faint sliver of light had begun to seep in.
Chen Jianwei carefully pulled back a corner of her curtain and rubbed her eyes before seeing clearly.
Duan Minmin was sitting cross-legged on the mat below, holding a flashlight, with her small desk placed in front of her.
She was carefully laying out tarot cards, muttering something under her breath.
With her eyes closed, she placed the final card. The white beam of light fell across her face.
Her expression was solemn, almost like a statue bathed in soft light.
Chen Jianwei checked the time on her phone. It was four in the morning.
Duan Minmin was doing tarot readings in the middle of the night?
Chen Jianwei found it quite intriguing. She quietly got out of bed, intending to use the bathroom as well.
Hearing movement, Duan Minmin was clearly startled. When their eyes met, she showed an awkward expression.
“I’m going to the bathroom,” Chen Jianwei said as she put on her shoes.
After quickly returning, she saw Duan Minmin still propping her chin in her hand, staring at the spread of tarot cards with a troubled look.
Chen Jianwei took off her shoes, sat beside her, and leaned in to look.
“How do you interpret tarot cards?” she asked curiously.
“Do you want to learn?” Duan Minmin immediately perked up. “There’s also Plum Blossom Divination and Xiao Liu Ren. Which one do you want to learn?”
Chen Jianwei was not particularly interested in learning. She simply enjoyed watching Duan Minmin do readings.
“I heard divination consumes energy,” she said with some concern. “Mushi also told you not to do it at night. What if…” She trailed off, deciding not to finish the sentence in the middle of the night.
Duan Minmin stroked the cards and fell silent for a moment before asking, “Do you believe in metaphysics?”
Chen Jianwei nodded.
Since the appearance of zombies, her worldview had already been shattered several times.
If she did not believe in it, how could she explain her dreams?
Perhaps it was a warning from the blood moon.
Science and metaphysics were like twin flowers growing from the same root.
In a world not yet fully understood, there were always answers waiting to be uncovered.
“Where do you think zombies came from?” Duan Minmin reshuffled the deck, drew a card, placed it face down, and asked.
“Isn’t the general belief that they came from extraterrestrial organisms brought by the meteor?” Chen Jianwei replied.
Duan Minmin flipped the card.
Major Arcana, card fourteen.
[Temperance]
She felt that this card matched her current state of mind.
Her attraction to the outside world and her fear of it were perfectly balanced.
Zombies were appearing one after another on campus, impossible to guard against.
Their unspoken agreement now was that rather than waiting to die, it was better to take the initiative when the zombies were isolated.
Moreover, the farm’s hidden missions might also be related to killing zombies.
But the unknown dangers and harsh weather were major constraints.
Even someone like Liu Ruyan, who had some combat ability, did not dare to act recklessly.
Let alone a group of inexperienced novices like them.
“Why don’t we play Werewolf tonight? You and Ying Ran can try persuading Wu Zhenyi and the others. You’re the most eloquent,” Duan Minmin suddenly said, putting away the cards and tugging at Chen Jianwei’s arm in a coaxing tone.
Chen Jianwei was startled by her sudden change in tone, goosebumps rising all over her body.
And bringing up Werewolf out of nowhere left her confused.
“As long as you believe in metaphysics, I’ll do another reading tonight,” Duan Minmin said, already having an idea in mind.
Chen Jianwei had no idea what she was planning, but she agreed anyway.
Duan Minmin packed up her things and went back to bed, and Chen Jianwei returned to hers.
Lying there, she kept thinking about Duan Minmin’s earlier words and began to connect certain ideas.
But she felt Duan Minmin might be overthinking things.
From a scientific perspective, whether it was an extraterrestrial virus or fungus brought by the meteor, it could all be explained logically.
From a metaphysical perspective…
A blood moon curse, human mutation.
It was not impossible that this was a real-life version of a werewolf massacre game.
However, Chen Jianwei had no interest in exploring the origin of the world.
She lay there and drifted back into sleep.
Around five in the morning, she vaguely heard fluctuating noises from outside, not knowing whether it was the lab staff arriving for blood collection or zombies climbing in again.
Still lying down, she reached for her phone under the blanket.
There was a new announcement in the dorm group chat.
Half an hour earlier, Dorm Manager Auntie Lian had updated the notice.
Due to weather conditions, the laboratory staff had been unable to arrive on time, and the blood sample collection had been postponed indefinitely.
The weather had indeed been terrible.
Chen Jianwei did not think much of it and went back to sleep.
When she woke up in the morning, she went through her usual groggy routine, first harvesting a batch of leeks in the game.
There were still three crops from special seeds that had not matured, so there was no need to stay by the floating panel.
After washing up, Chen Jianwei carried the clothes from the basin to the balcony and put them into the washing machine.
The moment she opened a small gap in the balcony door, cold wind rushed in violently.
In that instant, she felt as though she were about to freeze solid.
Looking outside, the once lush green hills from a few days ago had completely disappeared, replaced by endless white snow.
The blizzard from last night had left a thick layer of snow on the ground. Students living on the first floor could see that the snow had piled up to the height of the balcony railings.