Chapter Twenty-Eight: Journey to the Normal University

No wonder that before the apocalypse, the rich were particularly fond of yoga girls, adept at unlocking a variety of poses. Giving the person beside her a playful pat, Bai Xing lazily stretched, her exquisite figure fully revealed. She wished she could live every day like this, without the need for clothes, but life had to go on.

In just over ten minutes, Fang Xia was washed and ready. For breakfast, they ate canned meat. Rice balls were good, but after eating them for so long, one’s mouth would grow numb to the taste. In his past life, Fang Xia often managed just a bite or two every few days, eating purely to stave off hunger and survive. That was why rice balls, spicy strips, and even salt were so precious.

Today, Bai Xing wore a pink sports outfit, looking youthful and radiant. With her combat armor over it, she carried a heroic air as well. Sitting beside Fang Xia, she pulled out a bottle of yogurt and two whole-wheat breads from her ring. Last night, Fang Xia had filled her ring with supplies, first giving her all the women’s clothing, and filling the rest with various foods.

“Our main goal today is upgrade crystals; as for airdrop crates, we’ll leave it to luck…”

There’s a method to killing zombies; you can’t just mindlessly squat in one place and hack away, or you’ll eventually be overwhelmed and exhausted. “Shoot once, then change places”—this bit of wisdom from the older generation proved highly effective now.

With their current strength, Fang Xia and Bai Xing could swiftly dispatch any group of fewer than ten zombies; with twenty, it would be taxing and time-consuming. Attracting more was not only dangerous but made it impossible to loot the corpses—an utterly thankless endeavor.

Thus, the best places to hunt were semi-enclosed areas like schools, residential districts, or plazas. Fang Xia wasn’t familiar with the nearby residential districts and plazas, and neither was Bai Xing. But when it came to schools, Bai Xing knew quite a few. Aside from their own Institute of Technology, there was also a nearby Normal University and a Railway School. Further away lay the university town of Baicheng, home to even more colleges.

After several days of supply drops, if no one had cleared out the schools, the zombies inside would be numerous, and the vast campuses gave the pair ample room to hunt at their own pace. Fang Xia finally decided: they would head to the nearest, the Normal University.

The Normal University had a larger campus, and, importantly, most of the students were women. That meant the odds of zombies being cleared were low, and the chance of running into dangerous humans was much less.

As usual, they butchered their way through the lobby—this time, luck was average, collecting only three upgrade crystals.

Avoiding zombies on the main roads as much as possible, Fang Xia and Bai Xing quietly arrived at the Normal University’s entrance.

“Brother Fang, should we just fight our way in from the gate?”

After these past few days, Fang Xia noticed the girl was becoming increasingly violent, hardly bothering to think things through—a bad sign. Charging in through the main gate was practically begging to attract a horde from the street.

“Let’s observe first and find a spot with fewer zombies to climb over,” he said.

Bai Xing nodded, half understanding. Whatever Brother Fang said, she would follow; thinking too much was exhausting anyway.

“Come, this way.”

Through the gate, Fang Xia had already spotted a good landing point and led Bai Xing over. “I’ll go up first. Wait for my signal before you follow.”

He stowed both battle blades in his space, as carrying them would only get in the way. With a short running start, he vaulted easily over the three-meter wall, scanned the area, and saw only five zombies.

“Count ten seconds, then come in,” he called to Bai Xing before leaping down.

Ten seconds later, Bai Xing climbed over and entered the campus.

Five zombies, not a single upgrade crystal among them.

Inside the campus, the two relaxed considerably; no matter how much noise they made, there would be no endless hordes chasing them, so they could act more freely.

Ahead, three more zombies appeared. Fang Xia gave Bai Xing a look, and she strode forward. Her movements were fluid and effortless as she dispatched them—thanks to the boost from the upgrade serum, her combat prowess had reached a new level.

“We’ll split up—you take the left, I’ll go right. Be careful and meet at the teaching building ahead.”

Confident in their abilities, they divided forces for efficiency. Bai Xing had no objections; she was completely set on following Fang Xia’s lead.

The school, silent for days, suddenly buzzed with activity as these two uninvited guests arrived.

Fang Xia moved for speed, his two blades sweeping wide arcs, mowing down zombies without attracting new ones.

Bai Xing, in contrast, moved stealthily—two daggers in hand, she approached unseen and struck with deadly precision.

Different methods, but the same results.

By the time he reached their meeting point, Fang Xia had counted 177 zombies slain, but only harvested nine upgrade crystals.

He’d managed to turn first-tier upgrade crystals into the drop rate of second-tier ones—he could only hope Bai Xing fared better.

Arriving at the rendezvous, Bai Xing was nowhere in sight. Bored, Fang Xia cleared out another twenty zombies nearby—again, only one upgrade crystal, confirming a one-in-twenty drop rate.

He found a clean spot, sat down, and leisurely lit a cigarette to wait.

He could have followed Bai Xing’s path to look for her, but he didn’t. In the apocalypse, rapid growth required countless battles. In his previous life, there were ‘pay-to-win’ fighters—the most notorious being the city lord’s younger brother. The city lord doted on him, never letting him fight since the apocalypse began, and later fed him upgrade crystals until he reached fifth-tier warrior status.

His power soared, and he grew even more arrogant, throwing his weight around Dawn City. One time, he took a liking to a young girl and assaulted her in broad daylight; her father, driven by grief and rage, killed him. And that father was only a third-tier warrior.

People like that, even if you raised them to the tenth tier, were still useless trash.

After waiting another ten minutes, Fang Xia was growing impatient and prepared to go look for her.

At that moment, voices drifted from the end of the road. Squinting, Fang Xia saw Bai Xing approaching with two girls at her side, chatting familiarly. Behind them trailed more than a dozen other girls, silent and subdued.

Spotting Fang Xia, Bai Xing said something to the two beside her, then jogged over alone.

“Brother Fang, these two are my roommates, and the rest are friends they met recently. They…”

But seeing Fang Xia’s dark expression, Bai Xing’s voice grew smaller and smaller, until she dared not continue.

“Do you not understand the situation? Are you planning to support all these people?”

Fang Xia’s anger made Bai Xing all the more flustered.