“Why are you still here?” Lin Yang looked at the group, his tone not exactly friendly.
Anyone who was in a hurry to leave the school, only to see the same group of people who had pestered them endlessly still waiting there, probably would not be in a good mood.
Actually, if it were simply a matter of taking a group of students out of the school, Lin Yang would not have had any objections. After all, they were leaving anyway. As long as these people behaved, did not cause trouble, and could be brought out along the way, saving a few more people and adding a few more survivors to the human side was not something he would oppose.
The problem was that some people in this group had said such ridiculous things that it had soured Lin Yang’s impression of all of them.
The other members of the Morning Light Squad also had no fondness for this group. Apart from Lin Yang, no one else spoke.
For a moment, the atmosphere became rather cold.
Instead, a girl in that team recognised Jiang Jingyang. Looking at him with a pleasantly surprised expression, she said, “Class Monitor Jiang, I’m Li Lulu. We’re from the same department. Do you remember me?”
In the philosophy department, there were usually many more girls than boys. For example, in Jiang Jingyang’s class, there were five boys and twenty girls, a male-to-female ratio of one to four.
Li Lulu was not in the same class as Jiang Jingyang. She was from another class in the philosophy department.
When the apocalypse broke out, it had been around the end of September or the beginning of October. They were all first-year students who had just finished military training and had barely attended classes together for a few days. People from different classes in the same department were not particularly familiar with one another, which was why Li Lulu asked this.
Li Lulu had been rather lucky. When the incident happened, she had been helping a teacher organise documents in the school office and had not returned to the living area. The school office was also close to the third cafeteria, so afterward, she had hidden there together with everyone else. In a way, she had passed this terrifying month of apocalyptic life relatively peacefully. It was only when the cafeteria ran out of food, and after waiting for a long time without anyone sent by the country coming to rescue them, that they finally made up their minds to leave the cafeteria and find another way out.
After what had happened three days ago, Jiang Jingyang now felt no particular affection toward schoolmates from the same university. Hearing her somewhat excited words, he only replied rather coldly, “Sorry, I don’t have much of an impression of you.”
“Ah… I see. But it’s normal that you don’t know me. We really haven’t seen each other many times since school started. I didn’t expect that the person they went to the living area to find was you.”
Jiang Jingyang was tall and slim, and his looks were not bad either, so he had been quite popular among the first-year girls. There were already few boys in the philosophy department, and one as handsome as him was even rarer. Li Lulu had actually had a bit of a crush on Jiang Jingyang before the apocalypse. Now, meeting him under these circumstances, even though she knew there was a ninety percent chance he would not recognise her, hearing him say that still inevitably made her feel a little disappointed.
However, Li Lulu was not especially thick-skinned. Seeing that her attempt to establish a connection had failed, she greeted Jiang Jingyang once and then retreated dejectedly back into the team.
This team of a dozen or so people was led by a boy wearing black-framed glasses. Among these dozen people, he could more or less be counted as half a leader. The bespectacled boy could hear the lack of welcome in Lin Yang’s words and was also clear about the others’ attitude toward them. He rubbed his nose and said sincerely, “I know this request is a little abrupt, but we still want to trouble you… Could you take us with you out of the school?”
He sounded especially lacking in confidence when he said this.
He was actually quite helpless too. Earlier, there had been some unpleasantness between them and these people. Two girls in their team had been too blunt and had said some unpleasant things, offending them.
They were clearly the side asking for help, yet someone on their side had been tactless and had completely ruined the matter. This group already had a good temper. In the end, they had only ignored them and left. If it had been someone more hot-tempered, they might have started fighting. And how could they possibly win? At that point, they would definitely have ended up being beaten one-sidedly.
When the bespectacled boy had encountered this group at noon, he had already sensed that these people were very strong, which was why he had taken the initiative to ask whether they could bring them along.
If the place this group had been going to at that time had not been one of the areas B University’s survivors had already confirmed as having the highest danger level, he actually would have really wanted to follow them.
Sigh! If only his stance had been firmer back then. The bespectacled boy sighed inwardly.
Although those two girls had failed to understand the situation earlier and had spoken without thinking, leading to this awkward scene now, everyone was still classmates after all. It was not as though they could really do anything to them. So he could only thicken his skin and come forward to negotiate with this group.
While the bespectacled boy was speaking to Gu Yicheng’s group, behind him in the team, two girls lowered their heads, their eyes flickering as they silently endured the eye-rolls from the people around them. They had not expected that these people would actually be able to find someone in the eastern district and come out completely unharmed. But that only proved even more that their strength was extraordinary. Perhaps they really could lead everyone out of this place. Now, the two girls could not help feeling deeply regretful about what they had said and done earlier. Why had they not controlled their mouths at that time?
Gu Yicheng’s long, narrow eyes swept coldly over the people in front of him. He had no extra time to waste listening to him here, so he said in a low voice, “We’re leaving the school now. If you want to follow, then follow. But you’d better keep quiet on the way, unless you want to attract zombies. We won’t solve your trouble for you.”
“No problem! Don’t worry about that. We absolutely won’t cause trouble, absolutely won’t!” Hearing that they were willing to let them come along, the bespectacled boy quickly raised his hand and promised, afraid that if he was even a step too late, this group would change their minds.
At a time like this, if anyone among them still caused trouble, then they would truly be stupid. Perhaps before the Morning Light Squad even became impatient, their own group would already turn on them first.
Ruan Ning stood to the side and watched as the male lead boss decided just like that to bring these people along. In truth, when it came to saving people, she had always maintained a neutral attitude: saving them was fine, and not saving them was also fine.
But this was also because, deep in her heart, Ruan Ning believed that Gu Yicheng could handle everything properly. He never did anything he was not confident about. Since he had agreed to bring these people along, then he had the ability to handle every situation that might arise next.
…
Facts proved that the bespectacled boy’s choice was correct.
Over the next stretch of time, he clearly felt just how easy it was to follow behind a powerful team. Even though these people had said they would not help them deal with zombies and would only allow them to follow, meaning they had to rely on themselves for everything, because they were benefiting from their presence, the pressure from the zombies along the way instantly lessened by more than half.
Even when they walked out of the south gate, he still could not believe that a road which, in their eyes, had been no different from a narrow escape from death, had actually been passed through so smoothly.
“I’m… out?” someone said in disbelief. “Quick, pinch my arm and tell me whether this is real.”
When the person beside him heard this, they really did pinch him. That person cried out in pain, then became so happy he almost shed tears. “It’s real! It’s real! I finally left that damned place!”
Seeing the familiar school gate in front of them and the university campus behind them that had been like a cage, everyone’s faces were filled with excitement and joy. Some even hugged each other in pairs and cried quietly.
“Thank you for not holding our previous offence against us and bringing us out. Thank you! Truly, thank you so much!” The bespectacled boy walked up to the Morning Light Squad and said sincerely.
He realised that the way this team left the school was extremely simple and direct. To sum it up: if one zombie came, they killed one; if a group came, they killed the group. However, this seemingly effortless action was definitely not something a team at their level could manage.
If it had truly been that easy, there would not still be so many people trapped inside the school, unable to escape.
As early as half an hour ago, before they had left the school, the sun had already set.
Now, half an hour had passed, and the sky outside was growing darker and darker. The pitch-black environment also greatly increased the sense of danger. However, many people were still immersed in the joy of escaping suffering and had either not noticed this issue or had subconsciously ignored it.
In fact, this time, the Morning Light Squad had not only brought this team of a dozen or so people out. There were also others: one or two lone survivors they had encountered, as well as other groups of survivors. Scattered here and there, the total number added up to around thirty or forty people.
Since bringing one group was still bringing people, and bringing two groups was also bringing people, the Morning Light Squad could not be bothered to reject them one by one. They simply brought them all along, treating it as their good deed for the day.
Fortunately, these dozens of people were all relatively well-behaved. Along the way, no one caused any further trouble, and they left the school smoothly.
“There’s no need to thank us. Since you’ve also come out of the school, we’ll part ways here,” Gu Yicheng said. “We still have other things to do, so we’ll be leaving first.”
They had brought these people out of a university full of zombies. They had done all they could. As for where these people went next, or where they wanted to go, that had nothing to do with them.
There were also some people and teams who had tasted the benefits of following behind the Morning Light Squad this time and wanted to continue following them. After being rejected, they still refused to give up and quietly trailed behind. But after only a few attempts, they were blocked by zombies. By the time they finished killing the zombies and turned back to look, Ruan Ning’s group had already disappeared without a trace.
Earlier, the Morning Light Squad had said they would not concern themselves with these people, but in reality, they had still given them a suitable amount of care, ensuring that they all left the school alive.
If they had truly wanted to shake them off, there were plenty of ways to do it, just like now.
After being trapped inside the university for more than a month, every survivor who managed to escape from inside did not remain excited for long before they soon had to face the next very serious problem.
The outside world was unfamiliar to them, and they had no idea what kind of situation it was in. Most of their time in the school had been spent hiding from zombies. The ones who had truly gained training, like Jiang Jingyang and Xi Chen, were still in the minority.
As for those who had managed to make up their minds early and leave, the luckier ones had already left the school long ago. They had not needed to wait in one place for more than a month until their food ran out before finally thinking of a way to leave.
In the apocalypse, the fittest survived. As for where they should go in the future, in the end, they would still have to decide for themselves.
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