During her cancer treatments, Fang Yangyang had read plenty of novels, ranging from female-oriented romances to male-oriented progression fantasies.
The book she had transmigrated into was a classic male-oriented apocalyptic novel with an ensemble cast. The primary, secondary, and tertiary male leads were all noble, positive figures. Centered on the survival and eventual revival of humanity, the plot spanned from the initial outbreak to a decade later, when the human base was officially established.
The original Fang Yangyang was merely a minor cannon fodder character who died early in the story.
To survive, Fang Yangyang had confessed her feelings to Dou Qing, the third male lead, before the disaster struck. Once she realized she was not stuck in a lucid dream, she knew her only immediate asset was her looks.
She assumed Dou Qing had agreed to date her simply because she was pretty. After all, few single male college students would turn down a confession from an attractive girl.
Even if he had gently refused, she could still have used the excuse of being his pursuer to stay close to him, relying on his protection to survive the harsh new world.
It was not the most honorable strategy.
Confessing to the third male lead; concealing the coming apocalypse; arriving early at the cafeteria…
She saw Dou Qing jog through the cafeteria entrance, breathing heavily. He paused, startled to see her already seated. “Have you been waiting long?” he asked apologetically.
“Not at all.” Fang Yangyang offered him a bright smile. Her large, bright eyes looked dewy and fresh. It had been more than ten minutes since Dou Qing headed downstairs. Ten minutes ago, she had dealt with Yan Fengji, sending him away with a cold shoulder so she could focus entirely on Dou Qing. “Have you eaten yet?”
Caught in her clear gaze, Dou Qing felt a sudden surge of sweetness in his chest.
“Not yet. Have you?”
He seemed somewhat at a loss for words. The tips of his ears reddened. Bringing a fist to his lips, he cleared his throat softly. “Is there anything you’d like to eat?”
College couples usually dated on tight budgets, relying on allowances from their parents and splitting costs as a matter of course.
The original Fang Yangyang came from a well-off family whose parents were constantly traveling for business. Her monthly allowance started at ten thousand yuan, and they had even bought her an apartment near Xichi University.
Fang Yangyang’s eyes flickered. Pressing her lips together, she said softly, “I’d like to get food from that stall over…”
Before she could finish, Dou Qing was already on his feet. “I’ll get it for you. Just stay here and wait.”
He strode off toward the cafeteria counter she had pointed at.
Fang Yangyang paused, caught off guard. She had not even taken out her meal card to pay for it before he rushed off. Resting her chin in one hand, she lowered her gaze, lost in thought.
Dou Qing returned in no time, carrying a tray loaded with food. At a glance, he seemed to have bought almost every dish available at that stall.
She could not help laughing. “Why did you get so much? I can’t possibly finish all of this.”
“It’s fine,” Dou Qing said. He glanced at her, growing nervous at the sight of the smile playing on her cheeks. “If you can’t finish, I’ll eat the rest.”
“All right. Thank you… my boyfriend.”
Her voice was sweet and tender, her clear gaze captivating, radiant with delicate charm.
Dou Qing’s face flushed crimson instantly. Flustered, he shifted awkwardly in his seat, crossing one leg over the other as he quickly looked away.
With a faint smile, Fang Yangyang picked up her chopsticks and began to eat, using a clean pair to set aside some food for Dou Qing first.
“Have you been busy lately?” she asked softly, chuckling midway through her thought. “Do you have any lab work tonight?”
Dou Qing was a third-year student. At Xichi University, juniors were typically already working with undergraduate advisors on their graduation projects. Since his major required collecting extensive data in the biological research laboratory, she naturally wondered about his schedule.
When the conversation turned to his field of expertise, his confidence shone through. He steadily described the data surveys he had been conducting with his advisor.
Pausing briefly, Dou Qing added, “If that Agricultural Research Society you joined ever needs data, you can always ask me. A few days ago, I put together an analysis report on the emergence rates of wheat and rice…”
“Thanks. If the chance comes up, I’ll definitely take you up on that.”
Even as she said the words, Fang Yangyang knew there would be no such opportunity in the future.
In just a few hours, the apocalypse would begin.
After finishing their meal, they left the cafeteria and sat down on a stone bench outside, chatting for a while.
As they talked, a white kitten mewed softly and rubbed against Fang Yangyang’s leg. She reached down, stroking its fur with gentle, tender strokes.
Dou Qing watched her, lost in thought.
After a moment, he asked, “Should I go buy some chicken breast for it?”
The cafeteria convenience store sold keto meal packs for fitness-conscious students. The unsalted chicken was a popular choice for students feeding stray cats and dogs.
“No need.” Fang Yangyang kept stroking the kitten. She knew that in just a few hours, this small creature would mutate, growing to several times its current size.
When the apocalypse first hit, many stray cats and dogs became the first wave of predatory beasts hunting humans. Mutated animals were far stronger than humans, whose superpowers would not awaken until five days later.
The first massive wave of human casualties occurred during those first four days of the apocalypse.
In the book, later generations called it the “Four Days of Darkness.”
She rubbed the kitten under its chin, and it purred softly, sweet and endearing.
Dou Qing did not understand why she would pet the kitten while refusing to feed it, but he did not dwell on the thought.
The clock ticked toward eight in the evening.
They spent over an hour together.
When the time came to head back to the dorms, Dou Qing said his goodbyes reluctantly. Overcoming his bashfulness, the young man gave her a brief, gentle hug.
That hug was enough to change Fang Yangyang’s mind.
Pulling away from Dou Qing’s arms, she pointed earnestly toward the canteen. “I’m not going back to my dorm tonight. I’m staying up all night here. Will you stay with me?”
Originally, she had planned to stay at Jiangpu Canteen to survive alongside the main male lead and the second male lead’s group, while the third male lead would safely make it through the eve of the apocalypse in another dining hall. Sticking to the original plot seemed like the safest bet.
That had been her plan, but not anymore.
There were only eight hours left until the apocalypse began.
Under the deep night sky, the streetlamp illuminated her warm smile. A hint of reluctance to part showed in her clear eyes, and though she left the rest unsaid, her expression brimmed with tenderness.
“Would you?”
Dou Qing, her newly minted boyfriend and the story’s third male lead, was captivated by her smile. With flushed cheeks and flickering eyes, he rubbed his nose and nodded in agreement.
Only a few students were pulling all-nighters in Jiangpu Canteen to study. By three in the morning, Fang Yangyang had dozed off against Dou Qing’s shoulder.
When she opened her eyes again, the other students in the hall were already glancing around, staring out into the night.
“What’s going on? I hear cats howling. Are they in heat?” one student asked, scratching his head in confusion. “Didn’t the campus catch all the stray cats and neuter them last semester? Did some slip through the cracks?”
“What the hell? I swear the trees outside just got way bigger. Am I dreaming?”
“Damn it! My cell service is completely gone!”
“Did a cell tower break down? Doesn’t the campus have one on the nearby peak? Should we call someone to fix it?”
Dou Qing felt Fang Yangyang give a subtle shudder beside him.
Biting on her knuckles, she stared blankly out into the pitch-black darkness before sunrise. One wall of the cafeteria was made entirely of a specialized glass, a patented material developed years ago by the Department of Chemical Engineering that was bulletproof, shatter-resistant, and explosion-proof.
Just outside that glass, several pairs of massive, blood-red eyes stared unblinkingly at the dozen or so students inside.
The canteen doors were still open. Someone spotted the dripping red eyes outside, and the closest student let out a startled shriek, slamming the door shut with frantic speed.
As he swung it closed, he yelled to the others inside, “Shut the windows and doors! Lock every single window!”
“What about the door? I just saw one of the cafeteria workers coming in for her shift!”
“Don’t lock the door all the way, let people in if they come. Watch the windows, don’t let those things jump through!”
The area around the canteen had always attracted the largest gathering of stray cats and dogs. Packs of scavenging animals routinely clustered around the trash cans and swill buckets, filling their bellies on food scraps. With such heavy foot traffic, they often managed to beg for treats from students by acting cute.
The stray population at Xichi University had only begun to drop five years ago, eventually reaching a steady balance after the animal science department launched a massive spay and neuter initiative.
A report once estimated that fewer than thirty unsterilized strays entered the grounds each year. For a campus spanning over a thousand acres, it was an impressive management achievement.
Several pairs of bloodred eyes gleamed in the dark, and soon, more and more ignited around them.
The cafeteria worker gunned the throttle of her electric scooter. Her stout frame sped past mutated, oversized cats and dogs as she cursed under her breath.
“What the hell are these damn things? Trying to take a bite out of me, are you?!”
She leaned forward and wrenched the handlebars, slamming the front of the scooter into a few lunging beasts and knocking them to the side of the road.
Under normal circumstances, she was just a kindhearted woman who liked to toss scraps to stray animals whenever she had food to spare. But today was nothing like before.
Looking at this pack with their glowing red eyes, nothing about them seemed cute.
Hardening her heart, she left the battered creatures behind in her dust and sped all the way to the canteen entrance. She slammed on the brakes. As a student pulled the door open, she squeezed her chubby body through the gap.
Drenched in sweat, she caught her breath under the student’s concerned gaze. She explained that she had left home on her scooter at three thirty and arrived at the university gates around four. The moment the clock struck four, the entire campus had begun to warp.
“It was just like a horror movie,” the auntie said, pulling a flask of homemade tea from her bag and taking a heavy, panting sip.
“The trees were snapping and growing wildly out of control. I stuck to the paved roads on my way here, but even that didn’t stop those four-legged beasts. The cats and dogs have all grown so much bigger than before!”
Outside the glass wall, several students had been pulling all-nighters in Jiangpu Canteen to study for graduate entrance exams and professional certifications. Watching the scene unfold just a short distance away, they froze in shock before bursting into shrill screams.
A young girl in short-sleeved pajamas, who had clearly just fled from the dormitories, panicked when she saw the crowd gathered inside the cafeteria and tried to run toward them.
She wasn’t fast enough to outrun the four-legged yellow dog.
It was the very same stray that students warmly referred to as “Dahuang” on the Xichi University social media page. Now, a low rasp rattled in its throat, a ravenous crimson glint flashing in its eyes. Lunging forward, it aimed straight for the girl’s neck and clamped its jaws around her throat.
Blood sprayed through the air. Caught completely off guard, the girl collapsed straight to the ground.
Dou Qing heard a choke escape Fang Yangyang’s throat.
He immediately raised his hand to cover her eyes, but she gently pulled it away.
Her eyes were red and moist, with damp droplets clinging to her lashes like glistening glass. Struggling to speak, she parted her lips. “Dou Qing, am I dreaming?”
He looked up and stared straight through the glass wall. Beyond the young girl, a few scattered teachers and students who had come downstairs were also being attacked by the prowling stray cats and dogs.
This was clearly no dream.
Students on the upper dorm balconies had noticed the commotion. Many majoring in electrical engineering kept high-powered flashlights similar to those used for night fishing. Shining a beam down at the scene, one of them shouted at the top of his lungs, “Don’t come downstairs! Don’t go outside!”
The shout startled the birds resting in the trees. Piercing cries erupted one after another as a swarm surged upward like a dark cloud, targeting the boy on the balcony.
The beaks nearly pierced his eyes, but his roommate yanked him back inside just in time and slammed the balcony door shut.
It was four fifteen in the morning.
A handful of students had stayed up late working on graduation projects or experimental data, and the sight left them speechless with shock. They tried to contact classmates and distant family members to figure out what was happening, but there was no cell service, and not a single message would go through.
Most of the campus was still fast asleep.
Without warning, while humanity was entirely unprepared, the apocalypse had quietly arrived.