Chapter 57: Scavenging the Cafeteria, Plotting

Looking at Lin Qianshan's swollen red eyes, filled with self-recrimination, Ye Zian felt it was best not to say much more.

Even an ability user would be at a disadvantage when facing mutated zombies alone, let alone Lin Qianshan, who was not yet an ability user and was just a physically strong ordinary person.

In the previous situation, aside from Ye Zian, anyone chosen by the Shadow Walker would have met a grim fate.

Ye Zian gently patted Lin Qianshan on the head and said, "You don't need to blame yourself too much. Mutated zombies are not something ordinary people can handle. If you want to blame someone, blame the dead Su Chen."

Lin Qianshan replied fiercely, "He deserved to die. I never expected he would turn out to be such a person."

Guided by Ye Zian's words, and now that the protagonist role had shifted to Ye Zian, Lin Qianshan's hatred for Su Chen reached its peak.

In the cafeteria, aside from a few seriously injured individuals groaning on the floor, there were no other survivors. Most of the female survivors who had been in the cafeteria had taken advantage of the chaos to escape back to the girls' dormitory.

In a show of mercy, Ye Zian ended the lives of those lying on the ground, preventing them from turning into zombies.

The team split again into pairs to search for the supplies left behind by Su Chen.

Ye Zian and Huizi searched the first floor storage room of the cafeteria. The room only contained a lot of storable food like rice and flour, while the meat had long since rotted, piled in a corner, likely left by Su Chen to lure zombies.

In a corner of the cold storage, Ye Zian discovered the body of a foreign mercenary who had already died. The numerous bruises on his skin were shocking, and his limbs were covered in cuts from blades, indicating he had endured considerable torment at Su Chen's hands while alive.

However, these people were mainly contacted by Ye Er through the dark web, and most were unaware of Ye Zian's true identity. Even if they wanted to betray him, they wouldn't be able to.

Additionally, Ye Zian found two green supply cards in the office drawer, specifically for potato and tomato seeds. This was an unexpected delight, as although the card quality was low, the yield was stable and grew quickly in the apocalypse, providing some much-needed vitamins.

Thinking about the large number of survivors that would be added to the fortress upon returning, Ye Zian looked at the rows of tables and chairs in the cafeteria and waved his hand.

All the tables, chairs, pots, and dishes were collected into his space. The first floor of the cafeteria was now just a sea of corpses, with no remnants of its former state.

On the second floor, Lin Qianshan found the supplies that Su Chen had looted from other places recently, including a lot of storable instant food, snacks, and alcohol.

After collecting their supplies, the two teams regrouped at the staircase.

Looking at the now-empty cafeteria, which was only filled with corpses, Ye Zian led the three of them back to the girls' dormitory.

From a distance, the girls' dormitory was only lit on the top floor where Ye Zian was, while the other floors were dark. Occasionally, whispered conversations could be heard from within, indicating that someone was still living there, but Ye Zian paid it no mind.

With the returning survivors recounting their tragic experiences, it would likely reduce the resistance when bringing them back to the fortress tomorrow. Especially since most of the supplies on campus had fallen into Ye Zian's hands, those people had no other choice but to stay and wait for death.

After gently coaxing Lin Qianshan to sleep, Ye Zian pondered how to deal with the Shadow Walker tomorrow in the corridor.

The Shadow Walker was different from the Rage Beast King; it moved incredibly fast and could easily hide in the darkness, launching surprise attacks on its enemies.

If Ye Zian didn't successfully deal with the Shadow Walker by midnight, the Blood Moon would enhance the Shadow Walker's speed even further, making it even more difficult to kill.

Ye Zian had already searched the system store, but today's offerings were mostly attribute potions, with nothing valuable to exchange. It seemed he would have to wait for the refresh at midnight.

Leaning against the railing, Ye Zian analyzed the current situation. With Su Chen dead and the male group in the cafeteria scattered, there was little threat left.

As for the Shadow Walker, its speed was astonishing, and it only appeared at night, making it hard to hunt. Fortunately, mutated zombies usually operated within fixed ranges and didn't roam widely.

Ye Zian looked at the cards in his space, constantly testing possible tactics. After a while, a rough plan formed in his mind. While he couldn't be completely certain of killing the Shadow Walker, a 70% success rate was worth the risk.

The sound of shuffling footsteps from the staircase interrupted Ye Zian's thoughts. Under the moonlight, Ouyang Xue's calm face appeared before him.

Ouyang Xue wore a worried expression, clearly affected by the tragic fates of the girls below, filling her with some despair about the future.

As if misfortune had struck at the worst time, the campus had suddenly lost its water supply starting tonight. Now, the girls in the dormitory were completely out of water, electricity, food, and other essentials for survival. The two exchanged a few low words before Ouyang Xue returned to her dorm room on the top floor.

Downstairs, voices from Zhou Ruyan and another girl could be heard.

"Ruyan, the supplies in the girls' dormitory are all used up now. It seems I'll have to go out of school tomorrow to find some. I wonder if that Ye Zian would lend us some for emergencies?"

It appeared that the girl was Zhou Ruyan's twin sister, Zhou Ruyun. As one of the few mental-type ability users in the story, she was highly intelligent, but her only flaw was that she was disabled and had to use a wheelchair due to illness. Otherwise, she would undoubtedly have a place as a campus beauty at Xucheng University.

Zhou Ruyun sighed and said, "Sister, don't be too naive. If there were fewer people, it might be different, but now the self-rescue association has nearly two thousand members. The daily consumption of food is not a small amount. Even if Ye Zian is willing to lend us some, a few hundred kilograms of food wouldn't solve anything."

Each person would need at least 300 grams of food a day, resulting in the need for 600 kilograms of rice, not to mention the lack of water now.

Her sister's words made sense, but Zhou Ruyan still held onto hope, asking, "I wonder if what his team members said is true—that there really is a fortress almost entirely made up of girls in the suburbs?"

Zhou Ruyun pondered for a moment before analyzing based on the information she had, "From their expressions, I don't think it's fake. I heard before the apocalypse that the Ye Group was building a fortress in the suburbs and was recruiting a large number of female elites nationwide."

Ye Zian's previous actions had made the news in Xucheng, leaving a strong impression on Zhou Ruyun, who was usually confined to her dorm.

"Forget it, there's no point in talking too much. Tomorrow, I'll see if I can borrow some supplies from Ye Zian to solve our immediate needs. I hope, as Teacher Ouyang said, that Ye Zian is as easy to talk to as before."

Zhou Ruyan knew that the best plan would be to leave Xucheng University and find a large supermarket to stay in, but thinking of the thousands of zombies at the school gate, along with her sister's mobility issues, she could only be forced to remain in the dormitory.

Ye Zian, listening from upstairs, heard every word of their conversation.

If he could win over Zhou Ruyan, it would increase his chances of dealing with the Shadow Walker tomorrow.

"It seems promising."

Ye Zian approached Zhou Ruyan's dormitory and gently knocked on the door.

"Who is it?"

Zhou Ruyan asked cautiously, quietly moving toward the door while tightly gripping a fruit knife in her hand, ready to deal with any potential threats.

•~~~•~~~•~~~•~~~•

𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝘁: '𝗕𝗼𝗴𝗱𝗮𝗻 𝗣𝗼𝗽𝗲𝘀𝗰𝘂' 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝘆 $5 𝗧𝗶𝗲𝗿.

𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝘁: '𝗝𝗰1202' 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝘆 $5 𝗧𝗶𝗲𝗿.

𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝙋𝙖𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙤𝙣 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 35+ 𝗔𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲:

𝙋𝙖𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙤𝙣.𝙘𝙤𝙢/𝗚𝗼𝗱𝗢𝗳𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿