Chapter 43 - A Hard Life
Shangguan Bing Xue's words cooled the atmosphere even more than it already was and the eyes of the few present, including the newcomer Ming Shi Shi, unconsciously turned in Bai Zemin's direction waiting for his response.
Shangguan Bing Xue's gaze was fixed in Bai Zemin's eyes. She wanted to wait and see what kind of answer he would give after she said those words. However, she figured that considering how indifferent Bai Zemin had been so far, he would refuse.
After all, who would risk their own life for a mere worthless word that was mentioned in the past? Let alone considering that he was a man. Honestly, Shangguan Bing Xue was already mentally prepared to hear his negative response.
However, Bai Zemin surprisingly nodded calmly and slowly said, "Good. Since you put it that way, then I'll help you rescue those people... At the very least, I promise to do my best."
Bai Zemin's father was a severe man who rarely expressed his emotions and did not get so involved in Bai Zemin's education because he knew that his thoughts were outdated. However, there was only one thing he always reminded Bai Zemin since he was a little kid: 'A man's word is more valuable than gold itself. If you can't even keep your own promises, then you are not worthy of being called a man'.
Bai Zemin might have countless flaws, but he always kept his word and respected his parents, who sacrificed everything to raise him and give him the best life possible. Poor? Yes. But never a coward or a liar.
Shangguan Bing Xue clearly did not expect this response from Bai Zemin, partly due to her disdain and hate for men. Therefore, when she saw him nodding his head and saying such words without even hesitating for more than a few seconds, she was surprised and for a moment did not know what to say.
She looked at him as if she were looking at an alien and asked with some disbelief, "What did you say?"
Bai Zemin ignored her question and stood up as he said, "We should plan some things first. My left hand is currently practically broken as a result of my battle against the First Order Blazing Beetle three days ago and I will need some time to fully recover."
Saying that, Bai Zemin moved his left arm in various angles and everyone quickly noticed that, indeed, the hand that was covered by a strange glove was moving erratically as if it were jelly.
"Why not wait until you recover then?" Chen He looked at him with some concern and proposed, "If you fight without being at your peak you are likely to die. After all, that zombie might be just as strong or even stronger than the Blazing Beetle you faced before."
"But if we wait too long those girls in the female dorm might actually end up starving to death." Liang Peng pointed out the problem.
"That's just the way things are." Bai Zemin looked at everyone one by one, studying the reaction of certain people and trying to understand what they were thinking.
Chen He looked at him with some surprise, jealousy, a hint of fear, and another hint of worry.
Liang Peng looked at him with complex eyes. After all, not long ago the two of them had had a verbal confrontation that had almost turned into a confrontation of muscle and, considering what Liang Peng had seen so far from Bai Zemin, it was simply impossible for him to win.
Cai Jingyi, Fu Xuefeng, and the other two students who had decided to follow Bai Zemin earlier were looking at him with concern. After all, Bai Zemin was basically the only source from which they could currently obtain power. Especially Fu Xuefeng, who also felt extremely grateful to him.
As for Shangguan Bing Xue, she was still seemingly stunned by something Bai Zemin did not understand.
"Then, listen carefully as I will need your help for the odds of success to increase. Otherwise we only have at most a 50 to 60% chance of getting out of that place alive." Bai Zemin began to explain each person's role as well as his idea for dealing with the evolved zombie.
* * *
In the female dormitory.
Inside a room on the fourth floor, several items were stacked in front of the door to block it. Four girls were crowded on a bed, eyes filled with fear and exhaustion.
Silence reigned throughout the room, as if there was no one living there. The atmosphere was extremely depressing. The 4 girls clearly understood that the zombies could tell where they were by the sounds. Therefore none of them dared to speak too loudly.
A girl whose stature was quite small whispered a question in an extremely low voice, "Gao Min, I'm hungry, is there anything left to eat?"
Gao Min, with a wry smile, said, "Li Na, that last packet of dry cookies left wasn't finished this morning by all of us?"
"Gao Min, are you saying that we are going to die?" Suddenly, another girl whose face was extremely adorable like that of a baby called Fan Wu said this while looking at Gao Min. Her heart was filled with fear and anxiety as hunger began to test her sanity.
Gao Min looked at her friend and comforted, "Don't worry, Fan Wu. I'm sure someone will come soon to rescue us."
"But.. The whole place is plagued by zombies and although one person killed several of them a few days ago and seemed to be extremely strong, in the end he even had to retreat." Li Na recalled the scene where Qiao Long slaughtered zombies apparently invincible.
At that moment, as the four girls peeked out of the window in hiding, they thought they were safe. However, even that man with strange powers was forced to flee miserably after going up a couple of floors.
The atmosphere became much heavier and even Gao Min could not utter words of comfort this time. To be honest, even she had no hope of getting out of this place alive; the world had already become a mess and here they were, locked up without daring to lift a finger... So why would anyone risk their lives to save them? However, that little hope was the only thing that kept these four girls together and sane after not eating properly for almost a week.
"I don't care who it is... If someone saves my life and gets me out of this hell, I'm willing to be his woman." Said suddenly the only one of the four friends who had remained silent.
Finding the opportunity, Gao Min joked softly, "To be our Princess Charming's boyfriend, I wonder who will be so lucky."
"Bah." The girl from before rolled her eyes and giggled softly. Her name was Wu Yijun, she had long black hair, a charming oval face, a beautiful pair of bright eyes, and her body was impressive; the bosom area was especially well fleshed out.
Wu Yijun was actually the second most beautiful woman in the entire university, right after Shangguan Bing Xue. Therefore, the number of men who courted her daily before the apocalypse were countless, and probably many of them would be willing to take the risk if they knew what she had just said.
After the room was silent for several minutes, Wu Yijun asked somewhat worriedly, "You all think Bing Xue is safe?"
"She is definitely fine." Gao Min didn't even hesitate this time and responded with certainty. Although she had only met Shangguan Bing Xue in the university, they had become quite close and she knew that Shangguan Bing Xue was not a woman who gave up easily.
"You're right..." Wu Yijun sighed. She and Shangguan Bing Xue had been friends for many years so it was clear to her that although her friend could be arrogant at times and her indifferent attitude could be a bit annoying to most, due to her family's strict upbringing and because of past problems, Shangguan Bing Xue would definitely not sit around and wait for death, unlike the four of them.
Since Shangguan Bing Xue's life had already been hard and sad enough in the past, this new world would not be able to break her. This was what Wu Yujin firmly believed.
Bang!
Suddenly, the sound of something crashing in the distance rang out amidst the silence.