Chapter 35: Chapter 29: Trapped in the Dormitory
"What is that..." Song Qing mumbled, unable to believe her eyes.
On the road below, massive beasts roamed. A few mangled human bodies lay on the ground—they could no longer be called human, only... pieces.
The mutant beasts from the news stood over two meters tall. Their heads looked like enlarged crocodile heads, filled with sharp teeth. Drool dripped from the corners of their mouths onto the ground.
Their bodies resembled giant rhinoceroses, and they dragged long tails behind them.
They were covered from head to toe in a slimy fluid, a disgusting sight to behold.
Tang Mo scanned the area and counted two or three mutant beasts. And that was just below her dorm building. It was terrifying to imagine how many were now roaming the campus.
For now, due to the fog’s limitations, these were only Basic-level Mutant Beasts. Their movements were relatively slow, and their running speed was about the same as an average adult man’s. Their five senses weren’t particularly sharp either.
Unlike her shocked roommates, Tang Mo carefully observed the mutant beasts’ movements for a moment and came to a conclusion: she could outrun them.
In a direct confrontation, it would take three adult men—all with decent Strength Values—to barely hold their own against one mutant beast.
But when it came to escaping, Tang Mo was absolutely confident she could do it alone. In terms of speed and agility, she far surpassed the mutant beasts.
Of course, in terms of Strength, a single swat from a mutant beast would probably kill her before she could even draw her knife.
’As long as I don’t let my mind slip, there are always more solutions than problems.’
Tang Mo quickly ran through various scenarios in her head, planning countermeasures for a potential encounter with a mutant beast.
Her attribute values were high, she had a knife, and she even had a gun for self-defense. She had long been prepared for a situation like this, so she wasn’t panicking.
"How did the things from the fog get out?"
Song Qing pushed up the glasses on her nose. The news had said the mutant beasts were trapped in the fog and couldn’t get out. So why were they suddenly running rampant?
She immediately checked her ID Watch. No new alerts!
’Looks like the mutant beasts have only appeared at our school. The outside world is still normal.’
"It must have been the people who went into the fog today! They led these things out!" Li Lanlan’s voice was choked with sobs.
Hate to say it, but she’d hit the nail on the head again.
"This isn’t a school, it’s basically Hell," Li Lanlan finally burst into tears, unable to hold back any longer.
Tang Mo silently watched the giant monsters roaming below. ’I wonder if Hell is even this terrifying.’
Even though they knew the mutant beasts couldn’t fly up to the third floor, the girls still slammed the windows shut and locked them tight.
They pushed their chairs together and sat huddled side by side. No one spoke.
Soon, students in the neighboring dorms saw the sight outside their own windows. A wave of commotion was followed by a swift, deadening silence that fell over the entire hallway.
"I’m so scared..."
The usually carefree Li Lanlan was trembling. Sitting pressed against her, Tang Mo could feel her whole body shaking.
Tang Mo checked her watch. ’No message from Qin Ling. I wonder how he’s doing... if he’s run into danger.’
"Let’s get to bed," Tang Mo said, the first to take off her shoes and climb into her bunk. She kept her clothes on and placed her backpack at the head of the bed, within easy reach. Only then did she feel a sense of security.
’Emotions are useless. They do nothing but make you miserable.’
’It’s too dark outside now; no one would dare go out. The mutant beasts’ intelligence clearly hasn’t reached the point where they’d think to come upstairs. We have no choice but to stay in the dorm. We’ll have to wait and see what the school arranges tomorrow.’
By the next day, everyone had been waiting until noon, but the school still hadn’t made any announcement.
The students’ panic intensified. Mutant beasts were roaming outside, they were trapped in their dorms without food or water, and there hadn’t been a single announcement.
Many students had reached their breaking point. One girl, alone in her dorm, couldn’t take the immense pressure and leaped from an upper floor.
Everyone heard the loud THUD, but they all seemed to collectively ignore it, pretending as if nothing had happened.
The nearby mutant beasts smelled the blood and quickly swarmed the location. They sniffed at the body, then slowly began to feed.
Tang Mo knew why the school hadn’t acted yet. ’It’s because An Yang isn’t here.’
An Yang had always handled all student-related matters. Now, the only one left in charge was Tang Lianjie, and that useless figurehead didn’t know how to do anything.
Besides, the school’s leadership was too busy saving their own skins to worry about the students.
Tang Mo sat in her chair, silently training her spiritual power. She wasn’t sure if she was imagining it, but ever since the mutant beasts had charged out of the fog last night, her spiritual power had felt somewhat agitated.
As she trained her spiritual power today, she could clearly feel it growing much faster than before. She suspected the mutant beasts had brought some kind of special substance out of the fog with them.
So, she seized this opportunity to train even harder. It was obviously too dangerous to go out and practice with her knife at night, so she focused all her time on her spiritual power.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK. "Lanlan, are you in there?" a voice called from outside.
Hearing the voice, Tang Mo quickly hid her backpack under the desk. In one swift motion, she swept the food and water on the table into a drawer.
Only after seeing Tang Mo hide everything did Li Lanlan get up to open the door.
"Oh, it’s you, Li Ying. What’s up?" Li Lanlan said, recognizing the visitor and letting her in.
Song Qing and Tang Mo knew Li Ying as well. They were all from the Life Science Institute, and her room was just two doors down. Though they didn’t interact much, she was a familiar face.
However, neither Song Qing nor Tang Mo socialized much with their classmates; only Li Lanlan knew her a little better.
"Lanlan, I’m desperate," Li Ying began. "The monsters outside are terrifying, the school isn’t giving out food or water... I really can’t take it anymore."
As she spoke, Li Ying burst into tears.
Unfortunately for her, none of them—not Tang Mo, not Song Qing, not even Li Lanlan—said a word.
What she said was true, but who on campus wasn’t in the same situation? Who was in a position to pity anyone else?
Seeing that no one was responding, Li Ying wiped her tears away and continued, "I was hoping I could borrow a little food from you. Not much, just a bottle of water and a pack of instant noodles would be enough. Or... or some crackers would be fine too. I’ll eat anything, I’m not picky!"
A bottle of water and a pack of instant noodles—in the current situation, that was a four-day supply of food for one person.
Borrow? And what could she possibly use to repay it?
Li Lanlan was a straightforward person. She directly pulled open her own locker door.
"It’s not that I don’t want to help, but we really don’t have anything either," she said. "No one has any food. You’re not the only one."
"Then... then what about Tang Mo? I know you must have some!" Li Ying turned her gaze to Tang Mo.
She had seen how readily Tang Mo had brought out so much food to trade with Song Qing before. She refused to believe Tang Mo had been so generous as to give away her entire stash.
In fact, she had come here today specifically for Tang Mo.
Secretly pinching her own thigh, Li Ying managed to squeeze out more tears.
’I’m crying so pitifully. As a fellow student, she can’t just watch me die without lifting a finger, right?’
"I don’t have any either." Tang Mo shook her head and said nothing more.
’I’m not friends with Li Ying. Even if my locker were empty, I see no reason to open it for her.’
’Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you have to.’
