In the dead silent corridor, the thick smell of blood was like a tangible curtain, weighing heavily on everyone's hearts.
The broken window was barely blocked by layers of debris and corpses piled high, but the dull thuds and the roars of the ghouls still clung to everyone like maggots to bone, reminding them that death was only temporarily held at bay, just inches away.
Under the dim emergency lights, the survivors, as if drained of their souls, slumped in the cold, sticky blood.
Heavy breathing, suppressed sobbing, the painful groans of the wounded, and whispers of despair filled the air.
Li Mingyu leaned against the wall, heavily panting, propped up by a bent, deformed steel pipe stained with black and red blood scabs.
The excruciating pain from overusing his Buli (Brute Force) ability felt like countless red-hot steel needles repeatedly piercing every muscle fiber, and cold sweat mixed with grime rolled down his forehead.
He dared not look at his brother, Li Zhenguo. His brother's shoulder, which he had injured with his own hands, was now being urgently treated by Zhou Xiaoyu with the last of the bandages and hemostatic agents.
Every time he saw Li Zhenguo's brows slightly furrowed in pain, Li Mingyu's heart felt as if it were being tightly squeezed by an invisible hand.
"Count the casualties… inventory the remaining supplies…" Li Zhenguo's voice was hoarse, yet it carried an undeniable calmness.
He endured the sharp pain in his left shoulder, his keen gaze sweeping over the chaotic battlefield.
Wang Lei's left arm was bitten, deep enough to see bone, and Zhou Xiaoyu was bandaging it with the last of the disinfectant gel and bandages. Zhao Xiaowen sat in a corner, hugging her knees, her tactical helmet's visor shattered, her face scratched and pale with lingering shock.
The students… suffered heavy casualties. A preliminary count showed nine more students dead, three severely wounded and critical, and countless lightly injured. Of the entire Senior Class 3… fewer than twenty were still able to stand.
Despair, like a cold tide, silently spread once more. Food and water had long run out. Medicine was scarce.
As for weapons… besides Li Mingyu's steel pipe, Sun Qiang's metal fists, and Zhou Yunguang's charred and useless lamp tube, there were only a few sharpened table legs and broken mop handles left.
And outside the window… was an endless tide of corpses.
"Brother…" Li Mingyu's voice was thick with a nasal tone and trembled. He finally mustered the courage to look at Li Zhenguo, "I… I'm sorry…"
Li Zhenguo looked up, his deep gaze falling on his brother's blood-stained and tear-streaked face.
There was no blame, no anger in his eyes, only a heavy, Boulder-like weariness and… a hint of imperceptible concern. He slowly raised his uninjured right hand and heavily patted Li Mingyu's arm.
"As long as you're alive… that's good." His voice was low, every word seemingly carrying immense weight, "Now is not the time for apologies. Tell me, what exactly is the situation here?"
Li Mingyu took a deep breath, forcing down his surging emotions.
He knew this was not the time to wallow in personal feelings. His brother needed information. Everyone… needed a direction to survive.
He propped himself up with the steel pipe, struggling to stand straight, his gaze sweeping over the surviving students and soldiers.
"Our class… originally had over forty people. Now… this is all that's left." His voice carried suppressed grief as he gestured to the people slumped against the wall, "Those who can fight… aren't many."
He pointed to Sun Qiang: "Sun Qiang has the Iron Wall ability. His skin can metalize, and his defense is very strong, but his joints are a weakness, and… he can't maintain it indefinitely."
Sun Qiang nodded silently, his metalized skin covered in crisscrossing claw marks, some places even showing tiny cracks, and its luster was dull.
"Zhou Yunguang has the Guangren (Light Blade) ability. He can launch light blades using that lamp tube, it's very powerful, but… the lamp tube is broken, and he's exhausted and unconscious."
Li Mingyu looked at the unconscious Zhou Yunguang in the corner, with Lin Wei watching over him, her face pale.
"And… Ling Chen… he has the Beast Control ability. Those three bats on his shoulder are mutated beasts he acquired during one of his explorations, but they were severely injured when they first arrived… and they haven't recovered yet."
Ling Chen huddled in the corner, three bats perched on his right shoulder. His face was pale, and he said nothing. Chen Xue stood by his side, looking worried.
"The others… are all ordinary people." Li Mingyu's voice carried a hint of bitterness, "Weapons… are just these." He gestured to the crude weapons scattered on the ground.
Li Zhenguo listened silently, his gaze sharp as an eagle, quickly assessing.
One defensive type, one nearly useless long-range attacker, one weak reconnaissance and control type. The rest… were all burdens.
Combat power… was even weaker than expected. He looked at Li Mingyu: "And you? What is your ability?"
"I…" Li Mingyu tightened his grip on the steel pipe, "I call it… Buli (Brute Force). I can unleash several times my strength and speed for a short period. But… it can't last, and if I use it too much, my muscles will tear."
He showed the ruptured wound on his right leg and the bleeding bandage on his left arm.
Li Zhenguo nodded. A strength-burst type. Very practical, but endurance and defense were its weaknesses. He quickly calculated in his mind. With such a combat power configuration, facing the endless tide of corpses outside was like a mantis trying to stop a chariot. They had to… find a way out. Or… wait for rescue. But when would rescue… arrive?
"Food and water… are completely gone." Wu Tao's voice was hoarse with despair, breaking the silence, "Medicine… is almost used up too. We… can't last much longer."
The atmosphere once again dropped to freezing point. Hunger, thirst, pain, the threat of death… like an invisible noose, tightened around everyone's necks.
Just then.
"Cough… cough, cough…" A suppressed, violent coughing sound, as if someone was trying to cough up their lungs, broke the silence.
Everyone's gaze instantly focused.
Ling Chen, leaning next to Chen Xue, was convulsing violently, an abnormal flush spreading across his pale face, and new blood foam constantly spilling from the corners of his mouth! He struggled to open his eyes, his gaze unfocused and pained, as if he might faint again at any moment.
"Ling Chen! Ling Chen, how are you?!" Chen Xue cried, frantically wiping the blood from the corners of his mouth with a cloth.
"Water… water…" Ling Chen's voice was as faint as a wisp, his cracked lips moving.
"Water… there's no water left…" Chen Xue's eyes welled up with tears in her urgency.
"I have some!" Zhou Xiaoyu immediately rummaged through her first-aid kit, pulled out the last half-bottle of saline solution, unscrewed the cap, and carefully held it to Ling Chen's lips.
Ling Chen greedily sucked a few mouthfuls, and his violent coughing finally subsided slightly. He panted, his unfocused gaze seeming to regain a hint of clarity as he slowly scanned everyone, finally resting on Li Zhenguo.
"Li… Captain Li…" His voice was hoarse, intermittent, "The… Academy… can't… stay long…"
Li Zhenguo immediately squatted down, closer to Ling Chen: "Why? What do you know?"
Ling Chen struggled to breathe, as if every word cost him all his strength: "The ghouls… are… evolving… In the Academy… there's… something… even more terrifying…"
"What is it?!" Li Zhenguo pressed, his eyes sharp.
"Fourth floor… west side… abandoned… chemistry lab…" Ling Chen's voice carried a deep-seated fear, "There… is… a Rat Nest…"
"Rat Nest?" Li Zhenguo frowned.
"Not ordinary rats…" Ling Chen suddenly coughed violently, spitting out another mouthful of blood, which Chen Xue hastily wiped away. "They are… mutated rats… countless in number… They lie dormant during the day… at night… especially… when there's no moon… they are most active…"
"Before… we encountered them… they were very difficult to deal with."
He paused, seemingly gathering strength, his voice becoming more urgent: "They… fear strong light… light… can… drive them away… But once the Rat King awakens… or is strongly provoked… they will swarm out… leaving… nothing alive in their path…"
Scale-clawed rat swarm! Thousands upon thousands! Afraid of light! Rat King!
Li Zhenguo's heart sank! He remembered those few incredibly fast, sharp-clawed and fanged mutated beasts mixed in with the mutated crowd just now! If there really were thousands upon thousands of them… that would be a devastating disaster!
"And under the Sports Hall…"
Ling Chen's voice was faint,
"My bats can detect it. There… are the foundations of the old school building buried… Below is an air-raid shelter… The entrance… is blocked… But inside… there's something… a very… terrifying presence… It's attracting the ghouls…"
Under the Sports Hall? Air-raid shelter? Terrifying presence? Attracting ghouls?
Li Zhenguo's pupils constricted! This explained why ghouls were continuously gathering at the Academy! It wasn't just the scent of survivors' flesh and blood! There was an even more terrifying source attracting them!
"And… the Sports Hall…" Ling Chen's voice was almost inaudible, "That's… where most of the physical education teachers are buried… The PE teachers employed by Linghui Academy… all had very strong physiques… When my bats passed by there… one ghoul almost snatched them out of the air with a single leap."
Zheng Xiyun's nest! Mental pollution! Illusions!
One after another, bombshell revelations poured from Ling Chen's weak mouth, like cold iron hammers, striking everyone's hearts!
The atmosphere of despair was instantly replaced by a deeper chill, named "unknown terror"!
"How do you… know all this?" Li Zhenguo stared intently into Ling Chen's eyes, trying to find a flaw. This young man… severely wounded and near death, yet he knew so much top-secret information about the Academy? Too suspicious!
"I… cough, cough…" Ling Chen coughed violently again, fresh blood staining the front of his shirt, "This school was built by my family… When I went out to scout and find food before… I used my bats to explore."
Hmm?
Li Zhenguo felt suspicious, looking at Ling Chen with a strange gaze, then turning to Li Mingyu with a questioning look.
Seeing this, Li Mingyu quickly said: "Yes, strictly speaking, this school belongs to Ling Chen's family, but they didn't really care about it later and sold off most of their shares."
This explanation…
Li Zhenguo was somewhat speechless. A student, in the early stages of the apocalypse, exploring everywhere for survival, discovering some hidden dangerous areas, and this school was built by his family, so being familiar with the environment was also reasonable. Moreover, the places and monsters Ling Chen described… the details were real, not like something fabricated.
"Then… a way out?" Li Mingyu couldn't help but ask, his voice tinged with hope, "In the Academy… is there… a safe place? Or… a way to escape?"
Ling Chen shook his head with difficulty, his eyes dim: "The walls… are all… sealed by… ghouls and mutated vines… The main gate has the most ghouls… The only relatively safe place… is… the observatory on the top floor of the Experiment Building… The view there is good… easy to defend and hard to attack… But there's no food… and water…"
Experiment Building top floor observatory? Easy to defend and hard to attack? But no supplies.
This was as good as no way out. Just a… cage to await death.
"Then… what… do we do?" A girl asked, her voice tearful.
Despair, like a cold viper, once again coiled around everyone's hearts.
Ling Chen's gaze slowly swept over everyone's desperate faces, finally resting on Li Zhenguo, his voice faint but carrying an undeniable resolve: "Hold on… or… die…"
He paused, as if using his last ounce of strength, and said word by word: "The army… will come… As long as… we can… hold… here… send out… a signal… they… will surely… find… us…"
The army will come! Just hold on! Send out a signal!
It was like a faint glimmer of starlight appearing again in endless darkness!
Everyone's eyes instantly lit up! A faint glimmer of hope was injected into the stagnant waters of despair!
"Right! Hold this place! Send out a signal!"
"Do we still have flare guns?"
"Captain Li! Do you have a way to contact the army?"
The students discussed excitedly.
Li Zhenguo looked at Ling Chen, a glint flashing in his eyes. This young man… though severely wounded, his mind was clear, and his will was firm! He was right! Hold the stronghold, send out a signal, and wait for rescue! This was the only viable strategy at the moment!
"We have flares! And short-range communicators!" Li Zhenguo said in a deep, powerful voice, "Although the signal is heavily jammed, it's not completely ineffective! As long as we can hold this place, establish a stable defense, and continuously send out signals, the army's reconnaissance forces will surely discover us!"
He stood up, his gaze sweeping over everyone, whose hope had been rekindled, his voice deep and strong: "Did you all hear that? What we need to do is, at all costs, hold this place! Survive! Send out a signal! Wait for rescue!"
He pointed to the window blocked by debris: "Reinforce this place! Use everything you can find! Cement! Rebar! Corpses! Block it! Reinforce it!"
He pointed to the stairwells leading to other floors: "Block all passages! Set up obstacles! Create traps!"
He looked at Li Mingyu and Sun Qiang: "You two, take turns on alert! Ability users are the last line of defense! Conserve your stamina! Don't unleash your full power unless absolutely necessary!"
He looked at Zhou Xiaoyu and Chen Xue: "Gather all medicines! Prioritize treating the severely wounded! Use sparingly!"
He looked at Wu Tao and the other students: "Collect everything that can burn! Make torches! The rat swarm fears light! Fire! Is our weapon against them! Collect metal! Make simple weapons! Reinforce doors and windows!"
Command after command was issued clearly and decisively! It was like injecting new power into this sinking, broken ship! The atmosphere of despair was replaced by a desperate resolve!
"Yes!"
"Understood!"
"Let's do it!"
The students and soldiers responded in unison! Their eyes filled with bloodshot determination and fierce resolve! To survive! To send out a signal! To wait for rescue!
Li Mingyu looked at his brother's steady, mountain-like figure, calmly giving orders, and at his injured shoulder. The regret in his heart was replaced by an unprecedented determination. He tightened his grip on the steel pipe and walked to Li Zhenguo's side: "Brother… I'll help you reinforce the doors and windows."
Li Zhenguo glanced at him, nodded, and handed him a bundle of military paracord: "Use this to tie those iron cabinets together and reinforce the debris blocking the door. Be careful, don't make too much noise."
"Okay!" Li Mingyu took the paracord and walked towards the pile of debris without hesitation.
Li Zhenguo watched his brother's busy back, then glanced at the "unconscious" Ling Chen, his eyes deep as an abyss.
This young man named Ling Chen… though severely wounded and near death, he could provide crucial information at a critical moment and stabilize morale… He was definitely not simple. His talk of "exploring"… was it really just something a student could do?
But now was not the time for deep investigation.
Survive. Hold this place. Send out a signal.
And then… wait for the main force to arrive at dawn.
Or… sink into eternal darkness… with this Academy.