Chapter Four: The Advent of the Apocalypse!

For several days, the temperature had been abnormal, and everyone spent their military training hours lying in their dorms. Qin Sheng was resting on her bed, eyes closed, when suddenly she heard anguished screams and unnatural, furious shouts from downstairs. Her eyes snapped open.

The apocalypse—hell on earth! At last, it had arrived.

Qin Sheng quickly got up and looked out into the corridor. Just as she expected, some students at the school had already begun to mutate and were attacking others indiscriminately.

The dormitory was no exception. Jiang Miaomiao, terrified, ran toward their room. Seeing Qin Sheng still standing in the doorway, she didn’t hesitate—she grabbed Qin Sheng and pulled her inside.

She locked the door quickly. Qin Sheng raised her eyebrows, a bit surprised. She’d only gone out to observe the zombies’ current range, and had confirmed they were still just on the first floor before Jiang Miaomiao had dragged her back.

Jiang Miaomiao’s tears fell instantly, her whole body trembling as she clutched Qin Sheng’s hand, her voice quivering, “Qin Sheng, they’ve all turned into monsters…”

Qin Sheng pressed her lips together, guided Jiang Miaomiao to her bed, then turned to move the cabinet, intending to barricade the door. At that moment, someone began pounding violently on the door. Jiang Miaomiao grew tense again, while Qin Sheng discreetly summoned her Tang sword from her spatial pocket, hiding it behind her and gripping it tightly.

“Jiang Miaomiao! Qin Sheng, open the door, quick!” Yu Ziyue shouted loudly. Qin Sheng put away the Tang sword and swiftly opened the door. Yu Ziyue and Huo Ran rushed inside the moment it opened.

Qin Sheng locked the door again and pushed the cabinet against it. Jiang Miaomiao, regaining some strength, helped block it with several chairs.

“Why did you take so long to open the door? There are zombies everywhere outside! Even if you hate us, you shouldn’t ignore our lives!” Yu Ziyue, once she caught her breath, began accusing Qin Sheng and Jiang Miaomiao.

“You said yourself there are zombies everywhere. How could we dare open the door carelessly?” Jiang Miaomiao retorted directly. Yu Ziyue, not used to being confronted by Jiang Miaomiao, was momentarily speechless.

Qin Sheng turned to pick up a basin and kettle, hurrying to the bathroom to fill them with water.

“Hurry and fetch water. They’ll cut off water and power soon,” Qin Sheng said, unusually speaking up. As soon as she finished, Yu Ziyue was the first to grab a basin and dash to the water room. Just as Qin Sheng predicted, the dormitory soon lost water and electricity.

Apart from helping with chores, Jiang Miaomiao stayed close to Qin Sheng, as if only Qin Sheng’s presence gave her any sense of safety.

“Don’t be afraid. Go lie down—you’ve had a scare today,” Qin Sheng said softly, noticing the timid girl following her like a little shadow.

Jiang Miaomiao didn’t reply, nodding and then shaking her head.

Qin Sheng shook her head helplessly. “Sleep in my bed; I’ll join you in a bit.”

Only then did Jiang Miaomiao react, taking off her shoes and lying down in Qin Sheng’s bed.

Qin Sheng finished reinforcing the door, then walked into the bathroom. Each dorm bathroom had a window, and since Qin Sheng’s room was on the top floor, she could see the basketball court not far away.

Once vibrant with youthful energy, it now lay strewn with severed limbs and pools of blood, evidence of the brutal scene that had just unfolded.

Qin Sheng’s gaze was calm. The apocalypse had arrived—this would become the norm. She neither had the means nor the power to save everyone.

On the basketball court, zombies wandered aimlessly in packs, quietly awaiting their next prey, ready to pounce and tear them apart.

Suddenly, a glimmer caught Qin Sheng’s eye—a ray reflected from a shard of mirror. So faint, just like its owner: powerless, yet still clinging to hope, still seeking rescue.

Qin Sheng pressed her lips together, watching the light grow weaker. With a sigh, she roughly deduced its source: the third room on the fifth floor of the red-roofed dormitory opposite.

At Beijing University, several dorms were connected by passageways. Qin Sheng mapped out several swift, relatively safe routes, then locked the window and quickly changed into the clothes she’d prepared long ago, ready to head out.

“What are you doing?” Yu Ziyue, who’d been watching Qin Sheng from the start, grew instantly alert as she saw her about to leave.

Jiang Miaomiao, not asleep, sat up anxiously when she heard Qin Sheng was going out. “Qin Sheng, there are zombies everywhere outside.”

Qin Sheng remained calm. To her, these zombies were nothing, but to Jiang Miaomiao and the others, venturing out meant certain death.

“If you want to die, don’t drag us down with you,” Yu Ziyue muttered irritably.

Qin Sheng ignored her, telling Jiang Miaomiao, “Don’t worry about me. I know what I’m doing. Once I leave, barricade the door. When I return, I’ll knock with the secret code—three long, two short.”

“I’ll go with you!” Jiang Miaomiao said, about to put on her shoes. Only after Qin Sheng repeatedly assured her did Jiang Miaomiao reluctantly agree to stay. Bringing her along would have been too risky.

Qin Sheng crouched low, using the mirror in her hand to observe for a while, making sure there were no zombies on her floor before opening the door. Only after Jiang Miaomiao locked the door behind her did Qin Sheng summon her Tang sword.

No one was more experienced at dealing with zombies than she. Taking a deep breath, she minimized her breathing sounds and, at the fastest speed, crossed the passage to the red-roofed dormitory opposite.

Just as she prepared to go downstairs, she encountered several stray zombies. Qin Sheng dispatched them swiftly, severing their heads with her Tang sword. Within minutes, she reached the target room.

Carefully, she took out a selfie stick, attached the mirror, and slowly slid it to the door. Inside, two zombies remained—one bound, likely tied up before its mutation, and another wandering aimlessly, probably a former resident, its obsession lingering.

Qin Sheng gripped her Tang sword, and, seizing the moment as the roaming zombie turned away, struck its head decisively. Brain matter splattered onto her, the nauseating stench filling her nostrils, but she merely frowned, showing no hesitation as she finished off the bound zombie as well.

“Come out. It’s safe now,” Qin Sheng said, knocking on the bathroom door and grabbing tissues from a nearby bed to wipe herself clean.

The girl inside waited until she was sure it was safe, then opened the door shakily. Seeing the blood and brains on the floor, she couldn’t help but vomit.

Qin Sheng shook her head, handed her tissues when she was done.

“Than—”

“Shh!” Before the girl could finish, Qin Sheng interrupted, hearing faint footsteps at the door. The girl clung to Qin Sheng’s arm, trembling.

Qin Sheng gripped her Tang sword tightly, eyes fixed on the entrance. As the footsteps approached, she drew her sword and swung it at the intruder’s neck.

“Wait! Wang Ting, Yu Yan—is that you?” The girl Qin Sheng had just rescued saw her friends and immediately grabbed Qin Sheng’s arm, stopping her.

Both girls had probably noticed the floor was clear of zombies and decided to return to their dorms—thanks to Qin Sheng, who had already cleaned out the level.

Qin Sheng put away her sword and asked seriously, “Do you have any wounds?”

The two girls shook their heads, trembling. “We’ve been hiding in the trash bin… We didn’t encounter any zombies.”

“Do you know how many others on this floor are still safe?” Qin Sheng pressed.

“We locked the door when we left. Our roommates were all asleep at the time,” one replied.

Qin Sheng nodded. “Help me block the stairwell with these corpses.”

At the sight of zombies, all three girls looked terrified.

“Don’t worry. Without their heads, they can’t move,” Qin Sheng assured them. Only then did they relax.

Once certain none of them were infected, Qin Sheng left some food she’d picked up during her checks.

“After I leave, barricade the door as I showed you. Don’t go out, and let no one in,” Qin Sheng instructed sternly, repeating herself several times before leaving.

On her way back, she encountered a few more lone zombies, decapitating them and blocking the floor’s passage and stairwell, reinforcing it.

“Students, please remain calm…” The school’s broadcast crackled, then a scream rang out, followed by only the sounds of tearing and chewing.

Qin Sheng crouched low, making her way back to her dormitory at top speed. Following the secret code she’d agreed upon with Jiang Miaomiao—three long, two short knocks—she took a deep breath and knocked.

The silent hallway made her knocks unnaturally loud, jarring against the hush.

After the secret knock, there was still no movement inside. Qin Sheng frowned; knowing Jiang Miaomiao’s character, she’d have opened the door immediately. The code was done, so someone must have stopped her.

It was almost certainly Yu Ziyue.

Qin Sheng’s gaze grew cold. Without hesitation, she kicked the door forcefully.

The crash inside made everyone tremble with fear.

“Qin Sheng…” Jiang Miaomiao, seizing the moment while Yu Ziyue was startled, broke free from the hand covering her mouth and shouted, only to be cut off again.

Qin Sheng heard Jiang Miaomiao’s cry and clenched her fists, her voice icy, “If you don’t open the door, I won’t hesitate to lure the zombies upstairs.”

The threat worked. The door was flung open almost instantly.

Yu Ziyue, facing Qin Sheng’s chilling gaze, couldn’t utter a word of her prepared excuses. Qin Sheng’s stare made her inexplicably guilty, though she quickly hid it behind her conviction.

“Who knows if there are zombies outside? We can’t just open the door,” Yu Ziyue said, folding her arms and snorting coldly.

Unable to stand the blood reek on herself, Qin Sheng ignored Yu Ziyue and strode inside.

Jiang Miaomiao, freed from restraint, rushed to Qin Sheng’s side like a little quail seeking its mother, anxiously checking her all over. Her adorable face was filled with worry. “Qin Sheng, are you hurt?”