Apocalypse Escape: Day One of Survival

"Ah! Ah!" The person sitting by the door had it the worst. Chen Chong’s kick sent him flying into the crowd.

"Oof."

"Luo Jinyong, you moron! You landed on me!"

"Sis!"

Hearing that incredibly familiar voice, Xie Ning’s spirits instantly lifted.

Song You’ai, however, was stunned by the scene before her.

In a tiny room, less than five square meters, fifty or sixty people were crammed together...

Some were hanging from the light fixtures on the side, while others were squatting on the water cooler.

The ventilation grate above had been crudely forced open with some kind of tool.

Just as Xie Ning and her group kicked the door in, one student was perched on another’s shoulders, and the one below was being held aloft by several others linking their arms. It looked like a human pyramid, all focused on the ventilation grate...

For a moment, everyone was dead silent.

Pair after pair of eyes, filled with joyous surprise, stared straight at Xie Ning and her group.

"Sis! Auntie."

Song You’ai snapped out of her daze and saw her nephew, Song Shijun, in the middle of the crowd, waving frantically at them.

Song You’ai hurriedly nodded to her nephew. "Everyone, get out of there! Quickly!"

One by one, the whole group poured out of the small breakroom, gasping and desperately gulping for air.

After a full day and night, they had nearly suffocated to death in there.

Xie Ning retracted the metal collar from around Chen Jiajia’s neck and strode toward her younger cousin.

Her younger cousin’s once-fitted white shirt was now hopelessly wrinkled from the crush of bodies, and his short hair was a mess.

’He’s alive!’

’Mom is here, Song Kexin is here, Song Shijun is here... Everyone is here!’

With tears in her eyes, Xie Ning stepped forward and pulled her younger cousin, who was half a head taller than her, into a tight hug. "It’s good you’re okay."

She grabbed Song Shijun’s left arm, her grip tightening. "Are you hurt?"

Song Shijun, even more emotional than Xie Ning and Song You’ai, quickly shook his head. "I’m not hurt. I’m fine."

Just then, a middle-aged man stepped forward. "You must have come specifically for Shijun, right? Thank you so much for saving all of us in the process."

"That’s right, yes! Our sincerest thanks!"

"Song, your sister is amazing. Coming all this way to find you must have taken a lot of courage and strength."

"Sis, this is Teacher Zhou," Song Shijun explained. "When the zombie outbreak started, he and Mr. Yang were the ones who protected us while we escaped."

"Oh, thank you so much, then. Thank you, thank you," Song You’ai said gratefully.

"What are you two doing here?" Just then, a student with a center-parted hairstyle suddenly pointed at Chen Chong and his daughter and roared.

"Luo Jinyong, keep your voice down, you idiot! Are you trying to attract every zombie in the building?" A short, skinny student beside him glared at the boy with the center part.

Luo Jinyong swore under his breath, lowering his voice a bit. "You people from Su City Second Middle School still have the nerve to show your faces?"

Chen Chong, his face filled with rage, held his sobbing daughter. "I’ve already told you, the whole thing was Director Shen’s idea! It has nothing to do with me and my daughter."

A faint mark from the metal collar was still visible on Chen Jiajia’s neck, and the sight of it made Chen Chong’s heart ache.

"What’s going on?" Xie Ning asked her cousin.

"Yesterday morning, during our academic competition exam, someone suddenly passed out with a fever."

"At first, the teachers were all calling for emergency services, but then the people who woke up started grabbing and biting anyone they could."

"The situation got out of control. In the panic, we followed Teacher Zhou and Mr. Yang and ran downstairs." Song Shijun pointed at Chen Chong. "The group from Su City Second Middle School locked the lecture hall."