Great, get inside

Most of the Alphas Jin Zhaoye had met were bold and confident, carrying an aggressive air that was off-putting.

It was rare to see one like Xie Li, who blushed and hid just from glancing at an Omega's waist.

But it was genuinely a bit cute.

Seeing the two believed her, the girl lowered her shirt and curled up on the sofa, wiping away tears as she tried to calm her nerves.

Xie Li also found a spot to sit down, and once the girl's emotions had stabilized a bit, they exchanged names.

The girl was a music major, a year above Xie Li. Her name was Jiang Nanxu, and she was an Omega.

'Senior Jiang,' Xie Li began carefully, 'we have something we need to do, and we can't take you with us. Maybe you should stay hidden here, and try to get out once things quiet down outside.'

Jiang Nanxu shook her head vigorously, fear lingering in her eyes. 'I don't want to be alone here. I want to go home... or back to my dorm.'

'In that case, let's go together,' Jin Zhaoye said without wasting words. It was normal for someone in fear to want to be in a familiar environment.

She made the decision directly: 'This is the first floor. We'll climb straight out the window.'

Jiang Nanxu hurriedly stopped her. 'You can't! There are a lot of zombies outside the window too. There weren't that many before, but then a huge group suddenly appeared and have been wandering around the back door.'

The air suddenly grew still, thick with awkwardness.

Xie Li cleared her throat awkwardly. 'Ahem... that might be our fault, from when we were running away earlier.'

Jin Zhaoye walked to the window, positioned herself sideways behind the curtain, and lifted a corner with two fingers to peer outside.

Outside the window was the teaching building's back door, with a small garden not far away. Zombies were scattered around the area.

Within sight, there were about thirty or forty of them—not an overwhelming number, but certainly not few either. Fortunately, they were spread out. If they ran through the garden, using the trees for cover, it should be relatively safe.

'The zombies aren't too dense. If we move fast, we can break through,' Jin Zhaoye said, dropping the curtain and turning back to the two of them.

Xie Li trusted Jin Zhaoye's judgment completely. She looked at Jiang Nanxu and asked, 'Senior, how are you? Can you still run?'

Jiang Nanxu nodded forcefully. 'I can do it.'

'After we get out, play it by ear,' Jin Zhaoye said, looking at Jiang Nanxu. 'We're heading to the Auditorium. After we break through, you can run toward the dorms on your own.'

Jiang Nanxu's gaze shifted between the two of them. Her lips parted slightly as if she wanted to say something, but she ultimately swallowed her words.

It was already the limit that they had saved her once. Asking them to escort her all the way back to her dorm would be pushing her luck.

Once again, Jin Zhaoye took the lead for the breakout. She pushed open the window, placed her palms on the windowsill, and leaped out, landing without a sound.

Jiang Nanxu stumbled upon landing, nearly falling over. Seeing this, Xie Li hurriedly jumped down from the windowsill and caught her.

By the time they steadied themselves, Jin Zhaoye had already taken down three or four zombies that had lunged at them.

'Let's go,' she called to the two of them and charged into the garden.

Xie Li covered the rear, constantly swinging her Baseball Bat to knock down any zombies trying to get close.

The three of them charged recklessly through the small garden. The flowers and plants originally planted there were now a mess from the sudden chaos.

Several mangled corpses lay by the flower beds. Some had been gnawed down to bare bones with shreds of flesh still clinging to them; others were just half a body, dragging a trail of intestines as they twitched and crawled toward the group.

Xie Li's gaze swept over the long, trailing intestines, and a wave of nausea rose in her stomach. She couldn't suppress a dry heave.

She hurriedly looked away, not daring to look again, and focused on escaping.

Using the trees for cover, the three of them sprinted through the small garden. The roars behind them gradually faded until they could no longer hear the sound of pursuit. They finally ducked into a thick clump of bushes, crouching together.

Xie Li parted the leaves in front of her and looked out. Not far beyond the garden was the Auditorium, less than two hundred meters in a straight line from their current position.

A few dozen meters ahead, an Electric Vehicle lay toppled on the curb, its key still in the ignition.

'There's an Electric Vehicle over there,' Xie Li nudged the panting Jiang Nanxu with her elbow. 'Senior, you could ride that away.'

Jiang Nanxu peeked out and asked, 'What about you two?'

Jin Zhaoye answered, 'We're already at our destination. We don't need the vehicle.'

Jiang Nanxu looked at them both. 'Then... be careful. I hope I get to see you again.'

'You be careful too. Ride it after we've drawn them away,' Jin Zhaoye instructed, then grabbed Xie Li's hand and charged out from the bushes.

As soon as they appeared, the few zombies wandering nearby immediately turned their heads and lunged at them with roars.

The two of them worked in perfect sync, fighting as they moved, quickly leading that group of zombies away and disappearing from Jiang Nanxu's sight.

The surrounding roars gradually died down. Jiang Nanxu waited a little longer, confirming it was safe, then hunched over and slipped out of the bushes. She hurried to the Electric Vehicle, twisted the throttle, and sped off toward the Omega Dormitory Building.

...

Meanwhile, Jin Zhaoye and Xie Li, after shaking off the zombies, jogged all the way to the front of the Auditorium.

The main doors were wide open. Even from dozens of meters away, they could see a seething mass of figures inside, densely packed, swaying back and forth in the room.

Xie Li couldn't help clicking her tongue. '...So many. Is this a convention?'

Jin Zhaoye frowned slightly. There really were too many zombies.

'Let's go, I'll take you through the fire exit,' Xie Li said, leading Jin Zhaoye around to the side of the Auditorium. They arrived at a fire door, and she pushed it. It didn't budge.

She glanced back at Jin Zhaoye.

Jin Zhaoye leaned against the wall, the Baseball Bat in her hand hanging by her leg, a faint, unreadable smile in her eyes.

'It's locked...' Xie Li said flatly.

'Strategy?'

'...There's a Plan B. Follow me.' Xie Li pulled Jin Zhaoye along, continuing to circle around. They ducked through a greenbelt and arrived at an inconspicuous small door.

She pushed it, and the door opened smoothly.

Xie Li looked back at Jin Zhaoye, a hint of undeniable pride in her eyes.

Jin Zhaoye didn't puncture her little moment of triumph. Lowering her voice, she praised, 'Well done. Hurry inside.'

The two slipped inside, and the door closed behind them, cutting off the outside light.

The passageway was dimly lit, with only a few emergency lights on the walls glowing. The air was thick with a pungent smell of blood.

A row of trash cans and cleaning carts lined the wall. The two carefully avoided these obstacles, hunched over, and felt their way along the narrow, long corridor.

Their feet occasionally stepped on something sticky and slippery. Xie Li knew what it was. She didn't look down, keeping her eyes fixed ahead.

The quieter and darker the environment, the more tense it became. Every area out of sight could suddenly produce a zombie ready to take a bite out of her.

After walking dozens of meters inward, the heavy smell of blood grew stronger. It no longer smelled just like blood, but more like meat left out in high heat for too long, gone rancid and putrid.

It was even more nauseating than the simple metallic scent of blood.

After winding through the narrow corridor for a while, they arrived at a pair of double fire doors that were slightly ajar.

Jin Zhaoye made a gesture, signaling Xie Li to stop. She peeked half her head out to look.

The Auditorium's main hall had completely fallen. The floor was covered in bloodstains and dismembered limbs and flesh. At a rough glance, at least a hundred zombies were wandering inside.

Some were gnawing on the remains on the floor; others were stuck at the edge of the stage, bumping against the steps over and over, unable to climb up.

Her bag was in the lounge on the left side of the stage. Getting there from here seemed nearly impossible.

Jin Zhaoye pulled her gaze back and was just about to say something when a foul stench suddenly came from behind.

A zombie that had been hiding somewhere lunged out from a corner. It had concealed itself too well; neither of them had noticed until the stench suddenly appeared.

'Watch out!' Jin Zhaoye cried out, swinging her bat to block.

This zombie was unusually agile. Even mid-air, it managed to twist its body, evading Jin Zhaoye's swing, and pounced directly onto Xie Li.

'Thud!'

Xie Li was knocked to the ground, the back of her head hitting the floor, making her vision swim with black spots.

By the time her sight cleared, the zombie's pallid face was already right in front of hers, no more than twenty centimeters away.

Its gaping mouth dripped with a dark red fluid, hanging precariously in the air. A wave of foul stench hit her face.

Xie Li frowned tightly, pushing with all her might against the bat. The shaft was wedged between the zombie's chin and her chest, barely holding back that constantly snapping, hideous maw.

Her strength was clearly no match for this zombie. Her arms trembled continuously as the bat slowly pressed downward, bringing that mouth closer and closer to her face.

To make matters worse, a chaotic stampede of footsteps came from the main hall. Nearly a hundred zombies, all alerted by the commotion in the corridor, were rushing toward them at high speed.

Her face flushed red, Xie Li turned her head and shouted to Jin Zhaoye, 'Don't worry about me! Lock the door first!'

Jin Zhaoye knew what took priority. She turned and rushed to the fire doors, pushing the slightly ajar doors shut. She jammed her Baseball Bat through the handles as a temporary bar.

After doing that, she took two large strides to Xie Li's side.

The zombie was still pinning Xie Li down, its mouth gaping as it gnashed its teeth wildly at her.

Xie Li's face was already flushed crimson, veins bulging on her neck. Jin Zhaoye lifted her foot and kicked hard at the zombie.

The force of her kick was immense. The zombie flew back several meters like a ragdoll, slammed into the wall, bounced off, and lay twitching on the floor.

Gasping for air, Xie Li didn't have time to get up. She simply tossed her bat to Jin Zhaoye.

'Catch.'

Jin Zhaoye caught the Baseball Bat, took two steps forward, and brought the bat down on the zombie that hadn't yet gotten up. She struck again and again until its brains splattered and it stopped moving completely.

Behind them, the double fire doors began to shudder under violent impacts. The door panels trembled, and the bat jammed in the handles creaked ominously, threatening to snap at any moment.

The roars of the zombies filled the entire passageway, making their scalps crawl.

'We need to get out of here now,' Jin Zhaoye said, pulling Xie Li up and dragging her forward in a desperate dash.

They had only run a few dozen meters when a tremendous crash came from behind. The doors burst open, and zombies poured in like a tidal wave.

Xie Li didn't dare look back. She could only run for her life, her ears filled with the sound of her own panting and the roars growing closer and closer behind her.

The backstage area of the Auditorium was a maze of prop rooms, dressing rooms, and storage closets. The corridors twisted and turned, with forks appearing one after another. They had no time to figure out the direction and could only run blindly.

Zombies occasionally leaped out from corners, only to be sent flying by Jin Zhaoye's swinging bat.

With zombies blocking the way ahead and the pursuing horde behind growing larger, the roars were deafening.

Xie Li slapped at the doors they passed along the way. Every single one was tightly shut. They were about to be trapped.

Just then, a door ahead suddenly swung open.

A hand reached out from the darkness, grabbed Xie Li's wrist, and yanked her inside.

Losing her balance, Xie Li was dragged through the doorway by that hand.