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“Is anybody there?” Lin Feng’s whisper seeped through the air as he approached the restroom, his words directed toward the unresponsive door.

The faint voice he’d heard had originated from within the girls’ restroom, but now all that reached his ears was the rhythmic drip-drop of a leaky faucet.

“It’s all in my head,” Lin Feng mused, attempting to pacify his fluttering nerves. My anxiety must be getting to me -a voice hah. As if those zombies outside would sit idly by and allow a survivor to just huddle in the corner?

“Hold on, this is the second floor.”

An epiphany struck Lin Feng as he recalled the incident involving the flashlight beam from the second floor when the principal used the megaphone. Yet, as he navigated through the classrooms en route, they were either teeming with zombies or unnervingly deserted.

Disregarding gender conventions in this moment of crisis, Lin Feng ventured into the girls’ restroom. As he’d anticipated, one of the stalls was locked, and a maimed zombie clawed at the door, etching deep scratches in the wood.

Eschewing any detailed observation of first venture into the female restroom, Lin Feng strode forward and eliminated the zombie sprawled on the floor. He then rapped lightly on the locked stall.

“Is there anyone inside?”

Silence was the only answer.

Frustrated, Lin Feng vaulted up, seizing the top of the stall. As he’d surmised, an unconscious girl was huddled inside. Her shredded clothes revealed pale thighs, while she clutched a flashlight, an empty lunchbox lay discarded by her feet.

With nimble agility, Lin Feng alighted in front of the girl and brushed her cheek lightly.

“Wake up, please.”

Startled by the touch, the girl gradually stirred back to consciousness and swiftly raised the flashlight, directing it toward Lin Feng.

Reacting instinctively, Lin Feng seized the oncoming flashlight. Her actions appeared lethargic in contrast to his agility and posed no threat. He noticed her haggard form, a sign of malnourishment.

“Don’t panic; I’m not a zombie. Let me explain,” Lin Feng implored.

“Monster!” The girl disregarded his plea and continued her defensive kicks. Finding no alternative, Lin Feng immobilized her flailing leg and hand, resulting in an awkward tableau.

Just when Lin Feng assumed she would relent, the girl inhaled sharply, evidently readying herself to scream.

“****, have you gone mad?!” If she screamed, they would surely draw a throng of zombies to their location. Even with his enhanced abilities, dealing with such a crowd would be perilous.

Acting on impulse, Lin Feng leaned in and sealed her lips with his own.

Her eyes widened, her face flushed with rage, and her body quaked before eventually lapsing into unconsciousness, slumping onto the toilet seat. A thin trail of saliva dangled from the spot where Lin Feng’s mouth had been. He studied the unconscious girl before him.

…….

Lin Feng ran a hand through his hair, a veneer of vexation creeping into his expression as he studied the girl.

An unusual predicament indeed — surrendering his first kiss to a stranger. He had envisioned such a moment with Yan Aoxue. But with his other hands occupied with stopping her kicks, there wasn’t much choice.

Regardless, it was hardly a matter of grave importance. The girl’s distinctly Western attributes, marked by her blonde hair, kindled a curiosity in Lin Feng about her origins. That said, she was undeniably endearing. A cursory examination revealed no apparent injuries on her.

Effortlessly lifting the girl in a princess cuddle, she felt as light as a marionette in his arms. Spotting her university club’s emblem on her attire, Lin Feng’s intrigue was piqued further.

As he ascended the stairs, he passed Song Zhe, who wore an expression of befuddlement as he handed the girl over to him, simply leaving behind instructions to look after her.

Subsequently, he navigated the stairs once more, this time unimpeded in his journey. As long as he refrained from antagonizing the zombies, he felt confident in his ability to traverse to the medical room, thanks to his nimble agility.

Upon exiting the classroom block, the previously heavy atmosphere felt somewhat alleviated. The endless claustrophobia of the enclosed classroom was far from pleasurable.

Lin Feng stretched languidly, drawing in the fresh air permeating the ground floor.

“Alright, it’s high time I started. Tonight, I must procure some antipyretics,” Lin Feng steeled his resolve as he scaled a proximate tree, his gaze wandering towards the distant medical room.

The medical room was a brief distance from the teaching building, with a supermarket conveniently located nearby. The school’s administration had thoughtfully planned this for the students’ convenience. However, reaching the medical room necessitated traversing the school’s lotus pond. Given the currently mild temperature, the lotus buds remained closed.

For the school principal, the lotus flower embodied auspiciousness and prosperity. Consequently, the school emblem was redesigned to incorporate the lotus shape.

Lin Feng surveyed the bridge arching over the lotus pond. A handful of students, now zombies, shambled aimlessly across it. Some had unwittingly plunged into the pond, ensnared in the muck, agitating the already turbid water.

With stealth reminiscent of a specter, he slid up to the edge of the bridge, vigilantly evaluating his path. The figures on the bridge were glaringly conspicuous, presenting him with a binary choice: an upfront, forceful onslaught or a cautious detour. Regrettably, he lacked any suitable equipment at the moment. If only he possessed a bow and arrow…

Once his foray into the medical ward was over, he fully intended to procure himself just such implements. There was no need to venture beyond the school grounds, as the campus itself housed an archery club. When he was first offered the option to join a university clib, Lin Feng had briefly joined the Archery Club. Short though that stint was, he was confident that with his superior vision and a bow and arrow, he would be a formidable archer.

But such plans would have to wait. Unable to traverse the bridge, Lin Feng circumvented towards the riverbank, using the edifices as a shield as he quietly dispatched the encroaching zombies. The zombies near the sports field appeared considerably disheveled, with some bearing weapons lodged in their bodies, evidence of their woeful tales.

On his journey, Lin Feng accumulated a trove of knives and batteries, items whose practicality made them valuable assets in his current predicament.

Fashioning a makeshift satchel from zombie clothing, he stashed all the knives within before suspending it from a tree. Upon his return, he could swiftly gather these resources.

Opting for the detour, Lin Feng’s initial target wasn’t the medical room but the entrepreneurial hub of the campus. This street was home to an array of student-run businesses, hosting a bubble tea shop, a computer store, a petite supermarket, and an electric scooter repair shop— all tucked neatly into its modest length.

Upon stepping into the bubble tea shop, Lin Feng found the store in disarray, tea powder canisters toppled over, their vibrant contents spilling haphazardly across the floor. The air was heavy with the blended aroma of various fruit-flavored teas. Still, the cloying sweetness of the scent puckered Lin Feng’s brows in subtle distaste.

Behind the wooden counter, a figure familiar to Lin Feng flailed her arms, smudged in tea powder. It was Li Weina, once known for her lively demeanor, often found playfully joking with boys. If he was lucky, he sometimes managed to coax a free bubble tea out of her.

Confronted with the formerly vivacious girl’s hollow state, Lin Feng found himself at a crossroads. His intention was to collect a large canister of tea powder, no more. His gaze shifted towards Li Weina, who appeared lost in her own world. As he prepared to depart, Li Weina’s hysteria escalated, her arms flailed erratically, dangerously close to a fruit knife on the table. Then, tragedy struck, and her flailing stopped.

A wave of sadness washed over Lin Feng, prompting him to quickly close the door. At the very least, bringing back the tea powder would undoubtedly delight the girls. In their dystopian existence, where hope seemed a scant commodity, small delights could help instill faith and solidarity within the group.

Now that his peers trusted him, he had an obligation to reciprocate that trust!

After depositing the tea powder by the entrance, he proceeded to the neighboring snack shop. With a swift spear thrust, he dispatched a male zombie, who appeared to be mid-shopping, clutching a bag of QQ candy.

Unfamiliar with Zhu Hanfang’s snack preferences, Lin Feng arbitrarily selected a variety of packets, filling a cardboard box with a diverse dozen. Carrying more would prove unwieldy, so he halted his collection there.

After securely stashing the tea powder and snacks high in a nearby tree, he descended silently. His canvas shoes barely whispering against the bark, though he yearned for a pair of athletic shoes. These canvas shoes, procured from a female zombie he’d encountered earlier, were slightly ill-fitting, causing mild discomfort. The climb down the tree was particularly painful, hinting at possible blisters. His strange penchant for tree climbing was starting to feel like a double-edged sword.

Recognizing the negligible importance of the computer store and the electric scooter repair shop, Lin Feng decided against further exploration. He slipped back into the cover of the tree line, edging closer to the medical room. The chill of the night air gnawed at his spine as he stifled a sneeze, bracing himself against the biting climate. In a few months, winter would descend, and he pondered how the zombies might react to the snowy conditions.

As the medical room emerged into his line of sight, Lin Feng shelved his idle musings. He had spotted lights in the medical room earlier. Having confirmed that the lights in the teaching building’s second floor originated from a young girl, he was now left wondering whether the medical room housed a group or a lone survivor.

From a strategic distance of about twenty meters, Lin Feng sought cover under a tree, carefully assessing the medical room.

Adjacent to the medical room, a grisly scene unfolded— a heap of zombie corpses, their skulls gruesomely crushed, lay discarded. The carnage suggested the medical room was likely not occupied by a solitary survivor.

Adopting a courteous demeanor, Lin Feng rapped lightly on the door. If the room housed his fellow schoolmates, he surmised that procuring fever-reducing medicine should pose no significant hurdle.

A frosty male voice responded from within the confines of the room, “Who’s there?”

“Hello, I’m a fellow student from this school,” Lin Feng responded. “Here’s my predicament: one of my classmates is suffering from a severe fever, and I’m in dire need of medicine. Would you be able to spare some?”

“You require medicine?” The voice retorted.

Taken aback by the unexpected coldness in the response, Lin Feng faltered, “Um…” Typically, camaraderie among students was instinctual, so why did this voice drip with such stark indifference?

“Regrettably, we can’t help. We don’t possess the medicine you require. We’d appreciate it if you could leave.”

“But… this is a medical room. It should surely contain some form of medicine,” Lin Feng protested, confused.

“We’ve already told you we can’t assist. Now, kindly take your leave.”

“Wait, at least let me in so I can search for it myself,” Lin Feng pleaded, the desperation in his tone reminiscent of Liu Mengqi’s plea back in the teaching building.

“No, leave now! We’ve clearly stated we don’t have the medication you’re seeking!”