Chapter 16: Scumbag, Signs of Turning into a Zombie?

Bian Changxi nodded, but in her heart she was thinking: tomorrow, the poisonous zombies will make their appearance. If they act tomorrow, one careless move could result in heavy casualties. But if they don’t leave tomorrow, the number of zombies will explode exponentially, making their chances even slimmer.

So many people missed their window of opportunity and ended up trapped and dying in this city. In her previous life, she managed to escape against all odds, despite having no powers or physical strength and facing her teammates’ disdain. Chen Yisha’s unwavering support was one reason, but she also had to admit, luck played a part.

Her eyes flickered slightly, but she stayed silent.

Cheng Haijun saw that she wasn’t moved and sighed, “Forget it, I can tell you have your own resources. Our team is just a bunch of classmates who happened to run into each other and grouped up—nothing but a ragtag band. Honestly, you might be in more danger with us. Just be careful out there. Don’t worry about the car and weapons, I’ll have them returned to you right away. They weren’t always so aggressive—it’s just that everything happened so suddenly, everyone’s still in shock. Don’t take it to heart.”

Bian Changxi was a little surprised. Seeing that Cheng Haijun’s expression was sincere, she couldn’t help but think better of him. She smiled, “I know. It was mainly Zhang Yuwen and Wang Yan stirring things up, and I didn’t have the best attitude either.”

She pointed at her watch-like communicator. “Since Gu Xu gave you this reward and you’re just fulfilling your duty, you deserve to keep it. But I’m really interested in these two communicators. Could you give them to me? I don’t have anything to trade right now, but if you trust me, consider it a favor I owe you. How about that?”

“If you want them, take them. No need to talk about favors.” Cheng Haijun quickly handed her the remaining communicator, then held his pistol and bullets, falling silent for a moment before saying with some frustration, “Speaking of Zhang Yuwen and Wang Yan… We ran into them while escaping from the university district. We’d met a few times at school events. They said people from S University are spoiled and rude, can’t handle hardship, and act like they know everything, which is why they asked to join us. I guess they thought highly of us, even if they don’t always cooperate…”

Bian Changxi looked like she’d heard a tall tale. “So they think they’re underappreciated geniuses?” She shook her head in disbelief. “With their family backgrounds and brains, they’re at the bottom of the barrel at S University. Who are they to look down on others?”

So Zhang and Wang were pushed out by S University people, not the other way around? Cheng Haijun was surprised. “But isn’t S University full of spoiled rich kids…?”

Realizing he’d misspoken, he trailed off awkwardly. After all, Bian Changxi was from S University.

“What’s wrong with being a rich kid?” Bian Changxi didn’t mind. “Captain Cheng, you should know, there are a lot of students at school, but not many turned into monsters. For the first two days, people were relatively safe. The ones who led the escape from the start were those with a strong sense of crisis, who predicted that the dense crowds would spell disaster. How many like that do you have at A University? At S University, there were dozens.”

Not counting those who followed later, the first to step up and organize people needed both leadership and foresight. As far as Bian Changxi knew, the senior who led her group out in her previous life was remarkable—she’d heard he later held a high position at the Su City base. He, too, had been a carefree rich kid before the apocalypse.

People always said S University was full of spoiled rich kids, but in reality, among the heirs of family businesses and conglomerates, even if only one in ten was truly capable, their vision and intelligence surpassed that of a hundred ordinary people. That’s why S University had the highest survival rate among the universities in the district, and at the Su City base, they even formed a sizable organization. But that’s a story for another time.

Ten minutes later, Bian Changxi was riding a knockoff Yamaha, speeding out of the warehouse yard under the blood-red setting sun, watched by Zhang Yuwen’s cold glare, Wang Yan’s resentment, and the others’ mocking, worried, or envious eyes.

She raced past bloodstained bus stops, abandoned vehicles, smashed-up shops, and mangled corpses. Occasionally, she saw a few people hurrying by, or brushed past clusters of zombies lurking in the shadows, but she never slowed, heading straight for Xinfeng Community at top speed. She finally parked steadily under Building 5 just before the sun set completely.

Luckily, the warehouse wasn’t far, and she was familiar with the area—otherwise, it would have been risky at night.

She got off the bike, took off her helmet, and ran her fingers through her messy hair, all while scanning her surroundings.

There were some changes in the neighborhood. First, there were more zombie corpses on the ground, with signs of human casualties. The greenbelts were badly damaged, some cars had been moved, and there were dents, scratches, and bloodstains on their bodies.

It seemed some people had ventured out recently. These early risk-takers had gained experience, toughened themselves, and gathered information, giving them a firsthand understanding of the world’s brutality. This would be invaluable for their future survival. Those still hesitating would only fall further behind. In the apocalypse, there were reasons why the strong became strong.

She looked up at the surrounding buildings. Every window was tightly shut, curtains drawn so tightly that no light escaped, but if you looked closely, you could spot silhouettes behind many windows.

She pushed her bike inside, walked to a blind spot for both sight and surveillance, glanced around, then placed her left hand on the handlebars. With a thought, her jade bracelet flashed with a barely noticeable cold light, and the bike vanished into thin air.

Bian Changxi blinked, a satisfied smile on her lips. She stowed her backpack into the bracelet as well, drew her straight blade, and carefully climbed the stairs.

Luck was on her side—she made it from the first to the third floor without incident. Only after she’d checked the kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom of apartment 303 and found nothing unusual did she finally relax, collapsing onto the sofa.

The power had long since gone out, and the room was dark and silent. Bian Changxi, so hungry she could eat a horse, ignored her rumbling stomach and hurriedly took out the watch communicator, switched to the “Captain Gu” contact, and decisively sent a call request.

Listening to the “beep beep” of the call connecting, her heart began to race.

Putting everything else aside, today she stood at the forefront of the strong, holding a key that could change his fate. The feeling was indescribable to anyone who hadn’t experienced it themselves.

After about three seconds, the call was answered. A voice came through the watch: “Hello?”

Bian Changxi lowered her voice and asked, “Gu Xu?”

There was a brief silence on the other end, faint gunshots and zombie snarls in the background, and a deep, booming voice shouting for cover. It sounded like things were urgent. Bian Changxi frowned—fighting at dusk meant they’d run into trouble. As she was thinking, Gu Xu’s deep, steady voice came through: “Yes, it’s me. Are you the girl from yesterday?”

His voice was just as she remembered—rich, resolute, with a hint of coldness. The impressions from two timelines seemed to merge across the abyss of history, creating a strange sense of impact.

She forced herself to stay calm, drawing on the authority she’d gained in her previous life, and spoke clearly: “That’s right. Captain Gu, your time is valuable, so I’ll get straight to the point. I don’t like owing favors. You saved my life, so I intend to repay you. I have some interesting information that might be useful to you, but I hope you’ll promise me one thing first: no matter what happens, don’t investigate the source of this intel, and don’t tell anyone it came from me.”

She made her intentions clear up front, afraid Gu Xu would hang up impatiently. By asking for a promise, she ensured he would take her words seriously.

When dealing with Gu Xu, any beating around the bush would be ruthlessly cut off, and trying to curry favor would only leave a bad impression. Being open and direct was the best way to earn his respect.

Unlike her vague warning to Cheng Haijun, revealing the existence of poisonous zombies to Gu Xu was a risk. If they ever met again, he would surely pay extra attention to her. Since that was inevitable, it was far better to leave a good impression with the strongest than to end up on his blacklist.

She held her breath, waiting for Gu Xu’s reply."