All of them were startled by the raucous sound.
It is a peacock's cry.
It startled not just their group, but some of the passersby too. It's not common to keep peacock's cry as the ringtone.
Yanlong looked at her phone, checked the latest text she received.
Someone responded to her apocalypse blog.
She set the special alarm for the blog.
They go to the same university as her and they want to meet her tomorrow.
Yanlong sent her assent. She did not expect she would find a comrade in arms.
Though she was capable of much on her own, there were far too many situations where there's a heaven and earth difference just by having one more pair of eyes and arms.
She's not going to be like those apocalypse heroes who do not like to share.
She is going to share as much as possible.
Even if she perishes, the knowledge of the apocalypse must survive.
"Oh! Is that a boy's name I see?" Biyu asked from beside her.
"Study group." Yanlong lied easily.
They all had knowing smiles on their faces, as if they knew it was a tryst rather than study group.
Regardless of their teasing, Yanlong did not respond.
She wanted to pretend to be embarrassed and such, but she had become too old for such silly reactions now.
Fortunately, the shop is nearby, though in a fairly shady area. Yanlong quickly picked up all the apparatus she wanted.
As expected, Huomei bought the full thief set, including grappling hook and rope.
In fact, she would have bought even more if Yanlong did not cut in and weeded out all useless and quality less trinkets.
Huomei of the future has told her how much of an otaku girl she had been.
Even so, Yanlong did not expect it to be this bad.
If not for that otaku knowledge, Huomei probably would not have survived.
Regardless, this time around all her roommates will have means to protect themselves, if not the will. After all, many students panicked rather than turning into zombies.
Their school and surrounding areas had the lowest level of zombie infection. Yet, their survival rate did not differ from other places, for the transit to safe areas is long and perilous.
They had the unfortunate fate of being the center of a trifecta of very powerful cities, L city not included.
Compared to those three metros, L city could probably be called only a cute town.
The basin surrounded by mountain ranges existed within this triangle, like a circle.
The edge of the mountain ranges is full of tourist resorts of various kinds. Thus, the holiday population is high at the edges of the basin.
On top of that, a national highway connected two of the cities and passed through a third.
Imagine the zombie population of all of these cities blocking the road…
No matter which direction they ran towards, the losses will be very heavy.
Unfortunately for the survivors, L city's tourist traffic is at peak these two weeks owing to a plethora of ancient temples opening and beautiful scenery of indigenous flora, flowering, etc…
A series of little mishaps adding to that, all survivors got cut down before they could get to any base.
After the lockpicking tools were bought, Yanlong went on to buy a GPS tracker for her baby brother.
The tracker came with an app, showing any added trackers location. This can pretty much be done with a smartphone.
The selling point of the tracker is that they are military grade. i.e. the location can be confirmed with a variety of tools, including ham radios as long as the unique code of the tracker is known.
She bought the sturdiest and manliest chain she can add to that.
In Yanlong's past life, the company which made these trackers would integrate into base B.
Yanlong herself was in base H. This particular tracker's price was one of the ongoing contentions between two bases.
After the tracker was set, Yanlong chose a mechanical watch.
She could not afford the super expensive military style one, so she bought an old second hand watch, while her friends bought the expensive ones with all the trims and jingles.
Huomei decided that these GPS trackers are as good as soldier tags, so they all got the chains and trackers instead of soldier tags.
once again, Huomei foots the bill for Yanlong.
By now, they all got used to it.
Seems this way more comfortable this way than Yanlong putting her foot down due to needless pride.
They did not hold back for the fear of upsetting Yanlong’s ‘poor’ sensibilities, nor do they have to worry they are placing too much burden on their college friend.
Sometimes Yanlong thought it a miracle that all the girls in her dorm have such good character.
None of them derailed even under the pressure of the apocalypse, even when others oppressed them.
Then, Yanlong went to her final destination, L city library.
This time around, her friends opted to sit this one out and wait for her in the library's café.
There is a reason for making sure to come here. This particular library has a museum of blueprints from preindustrial era to present, at least the outdated kind of ones.
Yes, the internet teaches how to make homemade bombs and such.
However, her country very closely monitored such things, if not blocking them outright.
On top of that, what's needed in the era of apocalypse are more flour mills than homemade bombs.
Even basic cart building is painful and full of trial and errors if exact specifications are not known.
If ever there is a metal user, do you think he can make blades for snow skating boots with exact curvature and measurement on the fly? It's not possible.
Museum's blueprint book solved that. There is an extremely expensive option which is only open to DIY enthusiasts.
The last stop is an electronics store. Yanlong exhausted all she can spend by now, even with choosing the cheapest items has blown through her entire month's pocket money.
She shamelessly borrowed from Huomei to buy three solar powered battery rechargers.
Along with batteries, she bought the basic soldering set, pocket toolset with sharpest knife and a precision screwdriver set.
Twenty year old Yanlong did not know what to do with these, but apocalypse survivor Yanlong can blow up half a city with just these items in her hand if need be.
"You are just like an old man. " Biyu criticized again, looking at the extremely practical and ugly design Yanlong had chosen, just to obtain the discount.
"Ai ya big sister! If you have complaints, all you need to do is sponsor the pretty set." Yanlong retorted.
Biyu looked like Christmas came early, startling Yanlong.
"Fine. if you promise to do my English intro essay." Biyu countered back, as if she is waiting for Yanlong to beg her.
"Then just this much wont do at all. You need to buy me a fireproof smartphone skin set." Yanlong bargained.
Had she been twenty, she would have been insulted till she wished for suicide, to accept these many alms. However, she’s thirty and an apocalypse survivor.
However, she knew this is Biyu's style of making friends.
Given half her friends are white lotuses, rest green tea bitches, Biyu learned to drive off opportunists earlier than many her own age.
If someone can't stand her poisonous tongue, bye bye. If someone has too thin skin, poke them to death. The remaining, treat them like a branded handbag. That is Biyu's philosophy in life.
Huomei took it up as her own motto after Biyu died saving Mingzhu and Huomei. Even Yanlong has a secondary memory of the incident, given how much their group changed after Biyu's death.
Biyu famously said 'you die, we all die.' to Huomei. It happened when students were travelling as a group. It is also the moment Huomei turned into a flame empress.
Their journey was easy after that, but Huomei never forgave herself. Simply put, Biyu's death woke them up to the realities of the apocalypse last time around...
Yanlong picked up a ham radio and a pair of walkie talkies along with all the trimmings. Huomei, after some deliberation, bought a set of walkie talkies. Yanlong added other little trinkets, such as a mini flashlight, compass and odds and ends till it came up to thousand bucks, limit set by Biyu.
She could live without these, but no need to hold herself back when she's going to do honest work for it.
Though she doubted she would write an english essay in this life.
She made a deal with Biyu to do her entire semester's work for 'mad witch', their unmarried English professor.
In return, Biyu will pay up front. This time, it's not Huomei but Meibing who copied her, buying all the same stuff Yanlong has chosen.
Yanlong silently added a drone and camera set to Meibing's shopping cart. Meibing just looked at her before accepting those and moving on.
The drone was expensive and powerful, so was the camera.
Yanlong bought a few prayer beads, Feng Shui beads and any other types of stone beads with remaining money.
The girls went all out in the shop, given Biyu and Mingzhu are self anointed experts on fashion and jewelry, respectively.
In her past, these kinds of beads had super powers. Many held space, others time, yet others even more mysterious powers.
Even if she bought them by the kilogram, it wouldn't hurt her. So, Yanlong bought all she could. Even if only one of these beads gets super powers, it is still one more power in her arsenal.
Last time around, she could only barely sense the beads from the second year of apocalypse onwards. It helped greatly towards her survival.
Before long, it's time for the return trip.
Given how much their weapons weigh, they rented a cargo cabin on the train. Soon, the train is cruising along happily. Theirs is a cabin.
So , the doors were closed, girls all started doing their night time maintenance one by one.
Yanlong also left for her turn, though she did not do much maintenance.
She has to talk to her family about the apocalypse.
Unlike all other apocalypse heroes in novels, she has a fully functioning normal family who would laugh in her face if she were to warn them about the apocalypse.
On top of that, she knew beyond doubt her mother had turned into a zombie.
Her father eventually killed her, but he got infected.
Her brother looked after her father, and eventually escaped after killing their father. However, It left an unhealable psychological scar on him.
Her brother and little nephew were caught in one of the earlier survivor camps which took advantage of children.
Her nephew was lost in a scuffle there. Her brother still suffered from PTSD about the camp, he did not open up about the experience, not even once.
Yanlong would prevent it by all means.
She called him using Suyan's phone.
He picked up on the first ring.
"Xiao Long! It's your sister." she said before he could say a word.
"What did you call for?" her brother asked her gruffly, though his voice cracked a little.
He is thirteen about to turn fourteen. It's sometimes cute, sometimes annoying, and always funny. Yet, she choked up right now.
She called her parents on the first day, but her brother wasn't there. There is nothing Yanlong regretted more than not looking for him during her escape. She had the means.
She had been one of the few ordinary people that can fight well against zombies in their group, not owing to athletic prowess, but only because of her stout heart.
She was puffed up for some time after being called 'brave dragon', before understanding it's half in mockery, half in jest.
However, right now she has a con to accomplish, she will make up the lies correctly and prepare her family for the apocalypse. Yanlong hardened her heart and continued.
"I have something very important to tell you. I found a way to get that PS3 you wanted, but it's a roundabout way and depends on how well you can convince mom and dad to follow through." Yanlong said.
"You are not kidding with me, right?" Her brother asked.
"No. I am not. I applied for participation in a TV show and made it to the first round. Show's about the apocalypse."
Her brother hummed. Yanlong continued.
"In the program, we are supposed to call our families and tell them the apocalypse is occurring the day after tomorrow. We get points based on how well the family responds to it. Obviously, I am not supposed to give you this call. "
"hmm.... "
"If I get caught, I will be disqualified. Even now, I am calling you from the restroom. They are going to catch up with me. You must explain to mom and dad, make them agree and do well. I have to go now. You should expect a call from me soon."
Yanlong hung up the phone there.
She hopes her brother will not look through her fib and they will do some preparations, even if they only survived up to two weeks, it's still two weeks of time she has to find them.
It's not that she can save them singlehandedly, but at least she can give them a fighting chance…
In a few minutes she called her home again.
"Mom, Dad I have something very important to tell you." Yanlong began.
Her mother's voice responded back very stiffly. It seems she has heard she will be on TV and the awkwardness showed.
"Ah ha ha haha! My beloved daughter. What do you want to tell us?" It's as if she is trying to sound very elegant, but failing at it.
'As expected of my brother, king of tattling.' Yanlong cribbed, though it is in fondness. There is nothing like a PS3 to move her brother.
"I love you guys." Yanlong said without preamble. That seemed to have relaxed her family, along with the tension in her own body.
"Ah.. look at this girl trying to curry favor. Go on and tell us. What is it?" Her mother asked in a more normal tone this time around.
"Hmm.. Mother, you must believe me regardless of how absurd what I say sounds."
Yanlong gave a dramatic pause.
"Apocalypse is coming tomorrow night. You guys must prepare and stay safe at least until I can get to you guys." Yanlong told her plaintively.
"What sort of preparations should we do?" Yanlong's mother asked.
Yanlong is glad her mother is at least willing to listen and make preparations to survive the apocalypse.Ofcourse, a major part of the success of this plan is owed to the non-existent prize money. Plus, her little brother’s dramatic introduction!On top of it, her father is an extremely competitive person. He could not resist a competition where he can win and show off to people.He is a museum curator, any Television exposure is good for his career at this point. He is jumping at the chance, Just as Yanlong expected."Mother. There are few simple preparations.Take note; It’s more important to check all the ticks on the specific preparatio
Just like that, it's dawn of Christmas eve. The count down to what's sarcastically termed Christmas gift has turned from days to hours. She's meeting her fellow believer this morning.Yanlong couldn't help but be a little excited. Two hands are always better than one.Soon, two boys stopped nearby, looked at Yanlong's table like someone killed their cat. One looked like a senior, other a little younger than a freshman.It must be rare baby faced one, Yanlong thought as she looked at him.She called the friends who said they will meet her today. The older one's phone rang. They both looked as if they are fortifying themselves to face the devil it self as they reached the seats in front of her step by step. Yanlong smiled at them."CutieSale and LoneWolf?""Yes." they both answered.Yanlong subtly checked their expressions. They are disappo
Yanlong opened her eyes after a long time. The walls of bathroom are coated with green dust, looking very much like a mold.The shower is still running. In the water, a trough formed in green dust leading to drain. She slowly stood up, observing her surroundings.'Huh' is her first thought.The lights are still on.She wanted to turn off the shower, but she could not see the tap. She turned around slowly, she is surrounded by four walls. Then she looked down. Her feet are small. Small, like baby feet.She swore.She had a plan for every contingency and more, but this is too far out of her expectations. Her mobility is limited. Her strength is limited. She is predetermined prey for almost ninety nine percent of the living creatures living, dead and otherwise.Damn, she can't even get her backpack from where it hung. She could barely turn o
Protocol says the first task one needs to do in a crisis is make an inventory. Yet, that is not what Yanlong did.Like a bona fide teenage girl, she searched for her phone and checked messages.Huomei sent her ten messages already.Huomei - Where are you?Huomei - Something's very wrong.Huomei - There's a burning monster in bathrooms.Huomei - Get back soon, we are locking down our room.Huomei - Answer me!!!Huomei - ANSWER ME!!!!!!!!!!!Huomei - Any one? Could you check if the girl in the picture below is anywhere nearby? Is she okay?Huomei - Please send a message to ******* if you have found the phone.That is the last message. Yanlong guessed they are anxiously waiting by the door for her.Yanlong carried her bag, entered the next shower. The soap stains on her body were dried over. Her head hurt. she set her bag to the corne
The phoenix dorm room-mates started their quest after a small break. Huomei this time is trying to burn only the neck of the zombie, so they can identify people by the faces.One of the rooms was open. Zombie must have come from that room. Suyan took a picture of the face for the record. They cautiously tied up everyone in the open room. This room is short of one person.So there are only five unconscious girls. Another person woke up as they were tying up.Explaining the situation took some time. Huomei kept watch. The girl was very skeptical until another one of the girls woke up as a zombie and attacked them.This time, Huomei is even faster, the throat of this zombie burned into white hot ashes, the head fell off without even the help of Suyan.The girl looked at them like monsters. If not for Meibing, who, even in the face of overwhelming fear and suspicion, explained
Yanlong looked at the set of people moving busily underneath her, setting up beds and barricades.They were at least following her basic instructions, blocking the door completely, locking it with all the elements they can, rather than just closing the door. Mei bing and Huomei offered to keep the first watch."You need to do the live show" Yanlong messaged Huo mei."Yanlong says we need to do a live show." Huo mei looked at Mei bing."Let's do it. If this thing is as truly global as we think it is, then we need to do more, but for now, we will just announce the show on the university website." Mei bing accepted."We will tell the world we are alive and still fighting. I can put you guys on campus channel." one of the girls interrupted them."Campus channel?" Huo mei questioned."Our versity owns a TV channel local to this c
Yanlong mixed a spoon of the cactus-grow in a tumbler, poured some of it in the pot.Then she placed her hand on the cactus and started encouraging it to grow.The water is completely absorbed, so she filled water two more times, pruned thorns three more times before the ball truly became a fat cactus ball and grew a sprout.Yanlong's uneasiness increased. She vaguely had a feeling this is not what the girl intended.The cactus is supposed to grow a flower on it's top, a beautiful combination of white and pink, on top of a glistening emerald green ball.Yanlong could feel the anger boiling over in her mind. She could vaguely identify these feelings are not hers, but it's like she is possessed by a demon.Her anger reached out to the plant, an absolute command with unyielding spirit. Yanlong filled out a bucket of water with all the fertilizer in it and started feeding the
It's a good thing Yanlong tied the frame of the false ceiling to the overhanging iron hook, which inturn is supported by the building's framework. The false ceiling frame had cracks all around. Right now, it is like a wooden board hanging from the ceiling like a swing, but unable to move because it's blocked by furniture all around.All the same, Yanlong decided upon a direction, gently pouring a prepared bottle of cactus-grow into the pot. Once the plant is watered, it goes into a cathartic state, where it does not attack unless it's touched directly.How did she know that?Simple! The plant has communicated that part with her… she just got sense of what the plant needs. As long as she satisfies those urges, the spiny cactus ball is obedient.Then, she turned around to see what happened in the night.There are no less than four Zombies in various states of being daggered
“ Shhh!!!!!” Yanlong gestured with all of her being, frowning at Huo Mei. Huo Mei was shocked into silence for a moment but only a moment. “ Baby! It’s dangerous here. Where are your parents ? Wait !!! Who are your parents ? “ she asked, kneeling down on the floor in a squat, making sure she’s avoiding the filth on the floor. When Huomei is level with Yanlong, she made her face as kind as possible, so as to not scare the little girl. Yanlong finally realized, perhaps Huomei’s face is half the reason for her misfortunes in her life. HuoMei is very beautiful, but it’s a kind of overbearing, domineering beauty. Despite trying to make her face look as kind as possible, she only looked like a fox demon trying to trick a child inorder to eat her. ‘ my poor friend! ‘ Yanlong lamented for a moment, even as she sneered at her. Huomei could not hold her kind face for long. The sneer on the three year old baby’s face, as if she is looking down on the entire world is all too funny. She h
While Yanlong was involved in chatting with her friends, Rufeng concentrated on retrieving the cactus thorns from the corridor.Yanlong jumped back in fright when one of the cactus thorns came flying at her pointy side down.She glared at Rufeng, then returned to talking with her friends.Rufeng concentrated this time, even so, he was barely able to stop the thorn from smacking him in the face with it’s flatside.Though one says flat side, the cactus thorns are as long as a man’s arm, and almost an inch thick. The pointy side glinted wickedly, almost like a metal.The flat side looked like a roughly broken branch, f
Rufeng was stuck in a cabinet-sized workroom, entangled with far too many computers and Id cards for the past two days.Thankfully, he brought his backpack with himself, as he was going to wait it out on the top floor along with Yanlong.So, he wasn’t lacking for food or water as of yet.The key word is ‘as of yet’.By tomorrow, his supplies would have been used up, and he would still be staying here, without a single solution.Ideally, at least one game and web novel obsessed fool would have broken out by now, and succeeded in wiping out the zombies.
Growing up, almost every girl is her parents' little princess. It is even more so in this era of one child is more than enough ‘work’.When that one child is well behaved, does well in academics, on top of that, gets into a good university? pampering, praising and spoiling reach a new height, where their little princess evolves right into a selfish little princess not quite aware that the world doesn’t revolve around her.Some learn it in their first year as they look at their classmates.Some learn as they start their first romance.Some never learn it.Unfortunately, this little
Yanong left the olympian tablet in the cold space to integrate better with the both green tablets.The other powers are just floating around there.She looked around the room, and carefully picked up a brass vase.These power Jewels, she left without much protection this time. However, once a few more days pass, it will be utter idiocy to do so.The zombies did never grow in power enmasse, but the talents and mutants existed among Zombies from the very beginning.The Worst part of this phenomenon is that sensitive zombies are more powerful than sensitive humans.I.e. due to their nature of not picking fights with any random tom dick and harry, they exhibit a power similar to psychics. By the animal instinct, they only pick weaker zombies to pick upon.Overtime, they grew way too strong.So strong, I was able to affect
Yanlong slowly trekked upwards, carefully holding the chaotic bead towards empty air.She had a bad feeling this chaotic space will simply devour even concrete walls and metal doors if she so much as touches them with it.She stumbled onto the floor and heaved a great breath.The stink of blood and rotting meat is still in the air, but that's one thing all apocalypse survivors are accustomed to.She sent a message to Meibing.Yanlong; Cleaned up the spider zombie on the second floor.Yanlong; Handle the rest. I will trust you, MeiBing!Yanlong; I will meet you later. I have another urgent task to handle.Yanlong; Leaving now.MingZhu; Wait!MingZhu; You wait a moment, Yanlong!HuoMei; Bai Yanlong!HuoMei; Stop for me!
Yanlong put down all her paraphernalia, including her bag in the deans room.She took one storage bead with a foot of space in it, added a bottle of water, and first aid supplies and two biscuit packets to it .Everything else stayed with her backpack, including all the power stones, lock picking tools and all such.She retrieved her old jeans.She cut it in half, then sewn the cloth into an onesie for herself.Except for her eyes, everything else is covered in some form of fabric.She took two feng shui beads with her. One is the one foot storage, with her basic supplies.The other is the chaotic space bead.A hunting knife is affixed to one leg at thigh level, and phone holder to the other thigh.Yes, she is bringing her mobile phone to the battle ground, albeit in do not disturb mode.&n
Huomei and Meibing moved out cautiously over to the second floor.They have blocked the stairs of the floor below with iron bars. The entire complex of their university is in a horizontal I shaped building with each of the annexes containing girls dorms and boys dorms respectively.The building in the middle is the administration building, library, classrooms so on and so forth.Admin building is connected to each of the dorms through various catwalks.They moved over to the second floor.They removed the iron bars sealing the stairs to the second floor for the first time. Though they called it the second floor, it is more like the fourteenth floor, what with girls' dorms starting from tenth floor.The freshmen stayed in the first to third floor, fourth to sixth is the second years, and the sixth to pent house is upper class men, individual rooms and professo
Yanlong woke up from her sleep very much refreshed. She leisurely went to the bathroom. Dean's office sure has the best of everything in the entire university. The man sure knew how to live in style, questionable taste in subordinates aside. It's got the best view… It had the best furniture. The bathroom had a super size tub, along with a built-in projector. That's one interesting setup… exactly what is a person trying to do with movie theater in bathroom? The answer is .... Nothing! as the person is already dead twice over. One that she herself likes the setup of projector in bathroom … though she might use it far more innocently than the dean had during his life. She cleaned up the bathroom, and took a long and leisurely bath. Then she wrapped herself in