"Ding dong—class time has arrived, teacher, you've worked hard!"
At 7:30 PM, the school's evening self-study bell rang punctually, its clear sound echoing through the hellish campus.
"The school really loves its students, still attracting zombies for us at this hour."
A slight twitch of the lips, Meng Xiaochun expressionlessly tossed the clothes in his hands downstairs. At this time, no student union or dorm manager would care about him littering.
As soon as he recovered his strength, Meng Xiaochun began to clean up the scene, throwing the corpses downstairs, wearing gloves and wrapping them with tape, and using thick clothes to clean up the blood and filth in the dormitory, even rinsing it with water. It looked as if nothing had happened now.
"Fortunately, there are still two bottles of intact toilet cleaner in the bathroom, otherwise it would have been really troublesome."
The school bell rang twice, and now the roaring sound of running and door-slamming could be heard in the corridor. If it were usual times, the dorm manager aunt would have already dissuaded them. Now, that kind aunt had probably become one of the happy runners below.
Although some zombies were attracted to the central teaching building, a large number of zombies still remained in the dormitory building.
After all, how could anyone live without air conditioning in this weather? Many dormitories were closed with doors and were enjoying air conditioning. This is why there were so many sounds of doors being smashed.
The food in the dormitory would not last long, and the corridor might be a safe place, but Meng Xiaochun still planned to make a rope from bedsheets and curtains to allow him to descend from the fifth floor to the ground floor.
Four sets of bed sheets and bedding, plus some clothes, and spare bed sheets in the wardrobe should be enough, perhaps still short by about two meters.
But it was not a big deal; a height of 2 meters would not cause an ankle sprain if one was careful, and if absolutely necessary, one could climb into someone else's dorm balcony. If one went out to go downstairs, the risk would multiply.
"I hope my brothers aren't sunbathing on the balcony shirtless in the middle of summer. Oh, right! Didn't they say there would be a broadcast at eight o'clock?" Thinking of this, Meng Xiaochun quickly turned on his phone and quietly checked the time.
It was just a few minutes until eight o'clock.
"So soon?!"
As expected, time wears away without one noticing.
"To all fellow survivors..."
The broadcast sound echoed in his earphones, and Meng Xiaochun was engrossed in obtaining information.
When the broadcast ended, Meng Xiaochun also sighed heavily. They were in a biologically infected zone. Although it looked very close to the Tianfu safe zone, less than 110 kilometers away, it was as difficult as ascending to heaven for ground troops to get here due to road damage and chain car accidents.
"I can only rely on myself to survive."
As he said this, Meng Xiaochun felt something was wrong.
Did he forget to do something?
This afternoon he sent his second brother on his way and cleaned the house, it seemed he had forgotten.
Download the information!
Meng Xiaochun's mind suddenly cleared, and he quickly opened his computer to check the network.
Seeing that the Internet was connected on the computer, he breathed a heavy sigh of relief.
The most proud weapon of mankind, apart from deception, was knowledge. If one had to say, deception was also a kind of knowledge.
And now, detailed knowledge and technology that were normally inaccessible, or even unheard of, were available on this short website.
With excitement, Meng Xiaochun clicked on the website. The interface was very familiar; a red flag covered half of the background, and the first thing that popped up was a prompt.
"The situation has reached an extremely critical moment, comrades, arm yourselves with knowledge, and we will eventually win, and the sun will rise as usual!"
After closing the prompt, the interface displayed various knowledge categories.
"Manufacturing of Explosives and Dangerous Goods:
1 - Identification tutorials for useful chemical materials in common items
2 - Manufacturing of explosives and raw material extraction
3 - Manufacturing of disinfectant and raw material extraction
4 - Manufacturing of corrosive solvents and raw material extraction
5 - Manufacturing of simple smoke bombs and raw material extraction
6 - Manufacturing of simple anti-riot spray and raw material extraction
..."
"Weapon Manufacturing:
1 - Process and raw material cutting for simple firearm manufacturing
2 - Process and raw material extraction for simple lead bullet production
3 - Process and raw material cutting and assembly for simple crossbow manufacturing
4 - Process for making crude furnaces and raw material cutting..."
"Manufacturing of Agricultural Tools: ..."
"Methods for planting various crops: ..."
"Disease identification and treatment: ..."
"Protection in hazardous environments: ..."
"Lethal Combat Techniques: ..."
"..."
Each category had a large red sound symbol. Clicking it would prompt that the volume was not lowered to a safe level or that earphones were not inserted.
After inserting earphones, it could be played.
"Please download the information as soon as possible, the network connection may be interrupted at any time! If you are illiterate, click the button with two arrows pointing to it, and memorize the knowledge you deem important as much as possible! Repeat..."
At the very top was a large download button as mentioned in the voice, marked in red, with two arrows pointing to it.
Of course, Meng Xiaochun clicked it the first moment he opened the website.
The school's wireless network was a bit unstable, but the wired connection was still smooth.
The download speed was acceptable.
It would be completed in 3-4 hours.
Praying in his heart for a stable network, he had already picked up a pen and notebook. While it was still downloading, he recorded the knowledge he considered important, even though each piece of it was very important.
Time passed by. When Meng Xiaochun felt a little tired, he decisively stopped writing and rested.
Maintaining good spirits at all times was very important, especially in a very dangerous environment.
The school was now a paradise for zombies, and the danger level in the dormitory area was even more than twice that of residential buildings.
Therefore, he had to rest.
The roars of zombies were still heard outside, and Meng Xiaochun was also worried if he could fall asleep.
Looking at the download progress, he found that it was already 80% complete, so he decided to watch for a while longer.
He prepared the instant noodles and placed the leftover lunch and dinner next to them. After finishing the noodles, he would pour them in and heat them using the residual heat. This way, it would be both salty and not wasteful, and he could eat his fill.
His roommate's power bank was also almost fully charged. Looking at the current supplies, Meng Xiaochun did not feel so helpless.
At least he could still listen to music.
...
Two short days passed. During these two days, Meng Xiaochun reinforced his weapons and protective gear.
His body also got used to the heat and weight of wearing "book armor."
He was fortunate that he did a few push-ups and ran a few laps every day in college, so his physical fitness was still acceptable.
Of course, in addition to appropriate exercise and copying important knowledge during these two days, the most gratifying thing was that the "rope" was finished.
The rope was composed of 8 duvet covers, 8 bed sheets, and 15 pairs of trousers. Each section was tightened with a duvet and wrapped with tape, using up the dormitory's tape and glue inventory. Each rope head was tied with a reef knot (ps: also known as a surgical knot, or a square knot or other double rope knot; a single rope knot is not secure).
The head was tied to the bed leg with a bowline knot (ps: you can search for knot-tying methods online, describing it in text is confusing, at least the author doesn't have that skill, you need to see a demonstration). Although the balcony railing was secured with expansion bolts, the material was hollow stainless steel tubing. Relying on one or two pieces to support a person carried some risk.
Making such a "rope" took a lot of time. Just twisting the bedsheets and wrapping both ends, then tying knots, was very physically demanding.
Don't underestimate thin bedsheets; when twisted into a rope and tied properly, it really takes some effort.
Fortunately, all of this was completed successfully.
The food in the dormitory was almost depleted during these two days to conserve energy. In the next few days, he would have to venture out to find a new shelter.
The school was large, and most of the zombies were attracted to the teaching building for "class" by the broadcast. There were some independent buildings in the school, such as the practical factory of the mechanical engineering department, but before that, he had to go to the secluded chemical engineering experimental building where there was a small shop. The route was safe and on the way.
And going to the factory might even allow him to handcraft an axe, a hammer, various powerful cold weapons, and even a firearm was not impossible.
Moreover, since it was almost the end of the semester, there wouldn't be many people in these places.
After listening to the broadcast at night, Meng Xiaochun confirmed his route. He knew the school's layout by heart over the past two years, and he also had the school's route map on his phone.
One was the information provided by the country, and the other was from his own school's app, both of which had been backed up. Meng Xiaochun had also hand-drawn three copies of the school map for safety.
On the morning of the third day, as the sun rose, Meng Xiaochun also woke up. The first thing he did was to check his backpack for any missing items.
Although it was unlikely, checking it once would make him feel more at ease. Moreover, he didn't just check it directly, but compared it against his meticulously revised item list.
For food, he only brought the remaining half bottle of nuts and a bottle of cooled boiled water in a Coca-Cola bottle.
The rest were four explosives, hung on his homemade belt. In his backpack, besides food, were hand-drawn maps, his phone, charging cable, and 3 fully charged power banks.
He brought one less than he could fit; bringing too many would affect his mobility, and there was no extra space to pack cotton to reduce noise. Packing another fitness grip strengthener was the limit.
Meng Xiaochun, fully armed, tried it on and found it slightly inconvenient.
Reluctantly, he had to send the backpack and the "spear" in his hand down with the rope first.
Then he put on a mask and prepared for rappelling.
In fact, the fifth floor was more than 14 meters above the ground (2.8x4 + 0.8x4).
Falling from this height would result in paraplegia below the neck in the best-case scenario.
So, the moment he properly climbed over the railing and gripped the rope, Meng Xiaochun's heart was beating very fast, and his breathing became rapid.
However, under the threat of death, he finally forced himself to calm down.
"Hoo—, open up."
Encouraging himself, Meng Xiaochun began to descend slowly.
Rappelling tested physical strength and arm strength greatly. Therefore, after observing that there was no one on the dorm balcony below, he would rest briefly to recover his strength.
Fortunately, in this weather, people in the dormitory building were not sunbathing on their balconies to absorb calcium.
Meng Xiaochun successfully descended to the ground floor without any incidents.
There were no zombies around, only some skeletal remains of bodies.
After watching these every day on the balcony for two days, Meng Xiaochun had become quite immune, at least he wouldn't vomit.
He ate a handful of nuts on the spot and the only mint candy he found under the bed.
This helped him recover some strength.
He determined the direction and walked quickly towards the experimental building.
The sound of walking in high-quality running shoes was almost nonexistent.
After leaving the dormitory area, Meng Xiaochun turned into a small grove and advanced along a secluded path.
"It's good that there are fewer couples doing bad things." Along the way, he didn't encounter any people or animals, nor did the cliché scene from novels where a cry of "Help me quickly!" suddenly sounded from a building.
He surprisingly arrived at the entrance of the experimental building smoothly. There was also a vehicle transporting chemical reagents parked there, but the contents were mostly empty shells.
This was a vehicle for disposing of expired laboratory reagents and experimental equipment at the end of the semester. After a careful look, only two bags of sodium chloride and a few brown bottles of reagents were left.
"It's quite good, not industrial salt."
The small shop next to it was clearly visible, in a mess. Further down the road lay three corpses, they didn't look like students, and they were wearing protective clothing.
The signs of being gnawed were minor.
He didn't know why they were spared by those zombies that were eager to chew their bones to pieces.
Meng Xiaochun was not curious, but only checked the situation of the small shop. The door to the internal small warehouse could not be opened, the observation hole above was also pitch black, and the owner was nowhere to be found.
"Could it be one of those three guys lying on the ground?"
Meng Xiaochun was a bit troubled. It was obvious that these three corpses were a bit strange, and going there now might encounter unknown danger.
After weighing the pros and cons, Meng Xiaochun decided not to investigate. The small shop still had enough food, and the experimental building was two small hills away from a cafeteria, with some vegetable patches outside, which should be enough for short-term survival.
However, misfortune never comes singly. Just as Meng Xiaochun was about to collect things and walk towards the experimental building, the three corpses behind him suddenly began to twitch incessantly.
"Damn it! They've been dead for three days and still have neural activity???"
This scene startled Meng Xiaochun, and his mind raced.
They were not zombies. Their abdomens were slightly distended, possibly due to parasites or similar things.
However, whether they were originally in the human body, he did not know.
Mutated parasites were terrifying existences in various novels and movies.
Meng Xiaochun was no exception; his legs were already shaking.
He could only quickly rummage through the residual reagents in the vehicle. The brown bottles usually contained volatile and dangerous substances, likely concentrated sulfuric acid or nitric acid.
But upon picking up the bottle, most of it was ammonia water, and only one bottle contained concentrated nitric acid, and it was about eighty percent full.
"Damn, I can only try concentrated saline." He now deeply regretted using up the toilet cleaner, otherwise, the 84 disinfectant would have been very effective.
He didn't want to escape, as he might be walking out of the frying pan into the fire. Moreover, his legs were truly weak, and he had no strength in his whole body. Descending the building using the rope had consumed too much energy.
Running would only lead to a quicker death.
Even if these things that popped out of their stomachs were cellular organisms!
Before their stomachs could burst open, Meng Xiaochun prepared a cup of saturated concentrated saline and a cup of dilute nitric acid. He also found a pair of goggles in the driver's seat and put them on, holding his weapon and waiting for the monsters to approach.
"Pop pop pop."
A cracking sound rang out, and three meat worms, like snakes with scarlet mucus, rushed out and directly attacked him.
The fastest one, without any attempt to dodge, was directly doused with a large cup of concentrated saline. The instantaneous change in osmotic pressure inside and outside had a lethality comparable to concentrated hydrochloric acid.
It immediately fell to the ground and writhed incessantly.
Dehydration was fatal!
Of the remaining two, one was doused with nitric acid solution and became inactive. The last one, however, rushed to Meng Xiaochun's front.
He could even see its disgusting head through the goggles.
At the critical moment, the door of the small warehouse of the small shop suddenly opened, and something unknown exploded in front of him!
The scattering powder landed on the slimy bodies of the parasitic monsters, emitting wisps of white smoke.
Quicklime!
Meng Xiaochun had no time to investigate. Taking advantage of this opportunity, he smashed their heads with the "spear" in his hand.
And quickly moved away to prevent insect eggs or similar things from splashing onto him.
Only when he saw that the worms on the ground were completely still did Meng Xiaochun breathe a sigh of relief and move further and further away from them.
While retreating, he also signaled to the senior sister who had just saved him.
Hurry! Stay away from them!
After all, most human parasites leave many eggs when they detach from the human body or die, to continue to take root and sprout within the host.
Who knew that his savior shook her head and said, "Don't worry, they don't have eggs inside them. I've seen their parasitic method before; they invade and parasitize from the outside. There is only one thing in each corpse."
No eggs?
Then there was only one possibility: this thing was not an originally endogenous parasite, but a mutated worm for some special reason.
Seeing Meng Xiaochun's expression, the senior sister who saved him also explained.
"This is a tapeworm that the medical school kept in our Level 4 protection laboratory. I don't know how it mutated like this. Those corpses are teachers from the medical school."
Even so, Meng Xiaochun was still somewhat shaken. He checked himself to confirm that there was no mucus or strange substances on him.
Then he took the quicklime powder from the senior sister's hand and continued to sprinkle it on the ground, completely eliminating their activity.
...
Thus, after completing the disinfection work, Meng Xiaochun found no abnormalities for several days and continued to survive with the senior sister, thus beginning a life of peril and joy (without shame or restraint) in the post-apocalyptic world.
Until he was successfully rescued by the safety zone rescue forces, he returned to civilized human society.