Chapter 5: Unlucky Jiang Yi
Is there really a portion of food for every zombie killed? If that’s the case, then he would never have to worry about food again! After eating and drinking his fill, Jiang Yi shouldered his backpack, picked up his Skull-Severing Blade, and gently opened the door. A foul stench assailed his nostrils as he stepped out, walking over a pile of emaciated corpses.
He was eager to return, to tell Jiazhi that he had also become an Ability User. He could provide her with a stable life, and that she would never have to exhaust herself daily just to secure water rations anymore!
Jiang Yi liked Chen Jiazhi very much, not because she was exceptionally beautiful, but because ever since high school, she, from the same school, had been famously known as a diligent and good student. Although her grades were only average, her positive and cheerful personality made her well-liked by many!
Back then, Jiang Yi, who was somewhat introverted, never imagined that during their second year of high school, he would receive a confession from Chen Jiazhi. To be honest, Jiang Yi had been really flustered at the time.
Although his looks weren’t bad, Jiang Yi had always been a minor figure in school. When mentioned, people would just say “Oh, you mean that top student from xxx class.”
Being confessed to undoubtedly stirred his heart. After several interactions, the two officially entered a relationship. However, as they were at a critical juncture in their lives, their relationship remained emotionally charged but physically restrained.
Although Chen Jiazhi’s academic performance was average, Jiang Yi took the initiative to tutor her. Through sheer effort, he managed to boost her from middling grades to excelling in the college entrance exams, allowing her to gain admission to Long Province University of Technology with outstanding results.
Jiang Yi’s own scores were high enough to get him into top universities in major capitals. But because Chen Jiazhi didn’t want them to be separated, Jiang Yi gritted his teeth and also applied to Long Province University of Technology.
Just like that, their relationship remained very stable. Jiang Yi even had a feeling that if things continued this way, they would likely reach the point of discussing marriage after graduation. Unfortunately, everything was ruined by this damn apocalypse.
Chen Jiazhi’s dorm was on the third floor. Jiang Yi, clutching his knife while carefully moving along the wall towards the staircase. He wasn’t arrogant enough to think that his extraordinary system ability meant he could move around recklessly. Now, nearly four-fifths of the university’s students had turned into zombies, spread throughout the campus! And every day, more survivors were infected and joined the zombie hordes.
If not for the university campus’s vast area, the massive number of zombies would have cornered and killed everyone. Fortunately, someone discovered that, likely due to the intense summer heat, zombies were noticeably less active during the day, their senses also duller. They only became particularly active after nightfall, emerging from various dark corners to hunt.
So, as long as one didn’t make too much noise during the day, it was generally possible to avoid encountering large groups of zombies. This was also why despite the commotion Jiang Yi had caused in his dorm, only a mere seven zombies had surrounded him.
But don’t think for a second that daytime was safe. Zombies merely disliked sunlight but they weren’t afraid of it. If fresh, living humans got close, they absolutely wouldn’t mind dining under the scorching sun!
Jiang Yi, only at Level 2, didn’t believe he could take on a horde of zombies head-on now. In fact, due to his low attributes, even facing a single zombie was a struggle for him. “I hope I don’t run into any zombies!” he thought as he stealthily made his way downstairs. He was just starting to feel pleased that he really hadn’t encountered a single zombie. Just as he was about to reach the dormitory’s main entrance, suddenly a black shadow fell from above, landing heavily on the ground outside the door!
Jiang Yi stared in shock through the doorway at the cement ground outside, where a young, vibrant-looking girl, completely naked and covered in blood, had crashed onto the ground. Her limbs were twisted, twitching strangely. Her unwilling eyes stared blankly into the distance.
“Dammit!” Jiang Yi cursed loudly, turned, and ran, darting directly into the empty guardroom. Immediately after, he heard the sound of frantic running and roaring outside the dormitory building. He crawled below the windowsill and peeked outside. What he saw chilled his heart to the core…
The fresh flesh and blood had attracted all the zombies previously hidden around the building. A large number of zombies gathered at the dormitory entrance, frantically pouncing on the suicidal girl’s body.
With just one glance, Jiang Yi counted at least over a dozen zombies gathered outside, feasting heartily. “Damn it, couldn’t she have chosen to die later?” Jiang Yi gritted his teeth in frustration. He had been so close to escaping the dorm.
He truly hadn’t expected there to still be survivors in this dormitory building. But thinking about it, it made sense. Girls were relatively weaker. In this chaotic time, hiding in the dorms was probably safer than trying to flee.
However, the depletion of food and water, coupled with the terror of being alone in a nest of zombies, had pushed many people to psychological breaking points. Jiang Yi was already somewhat accustomed to suicides like this; he had even seen several instances of people, driven insane by fear, running straight into zombie hordes.
“ROAR!” A tremendous roar snapped Jiang Yi out of his upset. He hurriedly looked up and saw that the previously relatively harmonious feeding scene outside had suddenly descended into chaos. An unexpected figure charged in, swatting away two zombies with one blow. It even lifted one zombie up, roaring at the sky, and tore it apart with its bare hands. Foul blood and flesh showered its body, exciting it even further, while the ordinary zombies around shrank back in fear. The massive zombie, satisfied, then walked over to the girl’s body, crouched down, dug out her heart, and stuffed it into its mouth.
Jiang Yi’s eyes widened in horror as he spotted a flicker of red light on the forehead of the powerful zombie…
“Oh no! It’s an evolved zombie!” He immediately lay on the ground, instinctively holding his breath. A group of ordinary zombies was already despair-inducing; now, with an evolved zombie appearing, Jiang Yi didn’t even have a shred of thought about resisting!
He was all too familiar with this type of zombie. The zombie core he had secretly kept before had precisely dropped from a corpse similar to this one!
That zombie, along with a group of survivors, had broken into the cafeteria. It moved among the ordinary survivors like a wolf among sheep! Fortunately, its immense strength caused it to break through the floorboards, getting stuck between floors and unable to move which allowed the gathered Ability Users to finally kill it.
Even so, it had cost the lives of seven Ability Users! Later assessments showed that this single zombie had caused nearly forty casualties among the cafeteria’s population.
It was also because no one dared to deal with that corpse afterward that Jiang Yi was assigned the task and managed to pick up a windfall. Knowing the terror of this type of zombie, Jiang Yi had absolutely no intention of fighting it.
Although he had gained an extraordinary ability, it hadn’t brought him any significant power boost from the start. In fact, he was even weaker now than before. What did he have to face such a large number of zombies with?
Cursing bitterly a couple of times, Jiang Yi knew he was temporarily stuck here. He could only wait for the zombie horde outside to gradually disperse. However, in an environment with such a strong scent of blood, it was unlikely they would leave anytime soon.
He slowly raised his head, wanting to check the situation outside again. As he lifted his head, he found himself staring directly into a pair of pale, lifeless eyes. Even with his mental fortitude, Jiang Yi was so startled he fell back onto his rear.
He saw that a zombie had somehow been attracted to the guardroom window. The zombie seemed to have heard the noise inside and roared, slamming a palm against the window! The fragile glass shattered instantly.
However, the triple-layer plastic window glass didn’t break completely. The zombie’s palm hit the window, leaving behind a web of cracks and a dark bloodstain! Jiang Yi’s face turned pale. He scrambled up and prepared to rush out of the guardroom.
He couldn’t stay on the first floor. With this much noise, the main door would probably be broken down by the zombies soon. Staying here meant waiting for death! The moment he ran out of the guardroom, Jiang Yi’s eyes lit up and grabbed a large bunch of spare keys hanging on the wall!
The disappearing food source made the zombie outside the window even more frantic. The sound of it beating against the window attracted more zombies. Hearing the roars and shattering glass from downstairs, Jiang Yi didn’t dare look back and ran straight upstairs. Thankfully, zombies couldn’t climb stairs yet. As long as he reached the upper floors, he could avoid the danger of being surrounded.
He ran all the way to the fourth floor in one breath. His face was as pale as paper, and all his strength was spent on gasping for air. His physical fitness was still too weak, even worse than an ordinary person’s. Just as he was thinking about catching his breath, a small, frail-looking zombie suddenly rushed out from the fourth-floor corridor!
“ROAR!” Female zombies were generally thinner and relatively weaker than male zombies. But its sudden appearance still gave Jiang Yi a fright. By the time he reacted, the zombie was already very close. There was no time to draw his knife properly. Jiang Yi could only hurriedly raise the sheathed blade to block the zombie’s arms!
The immense force pushed Jiang Yi backward continuously. He almost got pushed down the stairs! Bracing against the handrail behind him, he barely managed to stop his retreat. But zombies were naturally stronger than ordinary humans, and Jiang Yi’s current strength was only a quarter of a normal person’s.
In their struggle, Jiang Yi was being pressed backward, leaning further and further back. The commotion from their fight caused the zombies on the fourth floor to frantically pound against their doors. Fortunately, most zombies were locked inside their rooms and couldn’t break out immediately.
Jiang Yi strained to hold back the zombie’s arms, took a deep breath and suddenly kicked out, while simultaneously twisting the blade he was using to block to the right. The stupid zombie never expected its prey to use such a method to dissipate its strength! Its body tilted and it tumbled down the stairs with a shriek!
Gasping for breath, Jiang Yi looked at the zombie struggling to get up on the stairs. His eyes lit up, and his left hand tightened around the Skull-Severing Blade. Just as he was about to finish off the zombie, suddenly a nearby dorm room door suffered a massive impact, a crack splitting the already flimsy door.
Jiang Yi hesitated for a moment, then gave up on killing the zombie. He turned and ran towards the fifth floor! Alone now, he didn’t dare to get entangled with the zombies of the entire building.
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