Zombie Siege: The Road to Survival Begins at School - Chapter 20

Zhang Wei’s face turned ashen.

Zhou An looked flustered, and Lu Renjia was even more terrified—because missing along with the supplies was his girlfriend, Hu Die.

Zhang Wei quickly ruled out the possibility of zombies. If it were zombies, they wouldn’t have taken all the food.

Their group had been scavenging on the 6th floor—not that far away. If anyone downstairs had called out, they would’ve heard it.

Which meant whoever entered dorm 511 hadn’t broken in. Otherwise, the lock would’ve been damaged, and they would’ve heard the noise.

The missing food and the disappearance of the two girls—it had to be someone they knew.

Zhang Wei clenched his teeth. “Xu Long!!”

Only Xu Long could’ve made Hu Die and Li Xiaoqian open the door without hesitation.

Zhang Wei opened the door and checked the hallway. The door to 510 was still shut.

He had already suspected Xu Long wasn’t dead. He’d seen Liu Feng’s corpse downstairs.

His plan to have the three of them—Qin Shao, Liu Feng, and Xu Long—kill each other hadn’t gone as expected.

Xu Long and he had some history. Zhang Wei had considered getting rid of him quickly and cleanly.

But he didn’t want to come off as cold-blooded. That would make it harder to lead the group.

So he decided not to kill Xu Long himself—just leave him to his own fate.

After finding Liu Feng’s corpse, Zhang Wei hadn’t bothered checking Xu Long’s room.

But now, it was clear—Xu Long had made his move.

According to Zhang Wei’s estimates, the food and water he’d given Xu Long a few days ago should’ve run out by now, even if he rationed it carefully.

Xu Long had reasons to kidnap Hu Die and Li Xiaoqian: one, to use them as leverage; two, because they hadn’t spoken up for him when Zhang Wei kicked him out; and three, to make Zhang Wei hesitate—he couldn’t break down 510’s door without risking Lu Renjia turning against him, since his girlfriend might be inside.

Now Zhang Wei had a valid reason to kill Xu Long. He’d already given him a chance.

If Xu Long had just taken a portion of the food and left the girls alone, Zhang Wei wouldn’t be this furious.

Taking all the food meant Xu Long never cared whether they lived or died.

Zhang Wei crouched by the door of 510 and listened carefully.

Suddenly, his face changed.

He heard zombie growls.

“Sh1t! Something’s wrong!” Zhang Wei turned to Zhou An and Lu Renjia.

He rushed back to the dorm and grabbed an air conditioner blanket, folded it carefully, and placed it over the door’s lock.

He’d given his only key to Xu Long—he’d have to break in.

Gritting his teeth, Zhang Wei kicked the door.

With a dull thud, the door swung open. A black figure lunged at them. A wave of rot and decay hit their noses—and in a flash, Zhang Wei plunged a watermelon knife into the zombie’s eye socket.

It kept struggling, so Zhang Wei twisted the blade with both hands.

It was an unfamiliar face, but clearly a student from their school.

“Urgh…” Zhou An vomited up all the dog food he’d eaten earlier.

“Hu Die?” Lu Renjia rushed in.

But the dorm room was empty.

Even the bathroom—only a few plastic buckets remained.

“Where the hell did Xu Long go?” Zhang Wei was deep in thought.

First of all, Xu Long couldn’t have left the building.

After entering 511, he likely interrogated Hu Die and Li Xiaoqian about their location. He definitely didn’t go to the 6th floor, and the rooftop was still locked—he couldn’t have gone up there.

That meant Xu Long was either still on the 5th floor or had gone lower.

Zhang Wei quickly returned to 511. His stash of over a hundred keys was still there, and the storage locker showed no signs of tampering.

Xu Long wouldn’t have wandered freely from floor to floor—that was too risky.

There was only one possibility: he found another dorm to hide in.

But Xu Long didn’t have spare keys… unless there were other survivors.

Zhang Wei suddenly understood everything.

He explained his reasoning to Zhou An and Lu Renjia.

“What should we do? Go look for Hu Die and Li Xiaoqian?” Lu Renjia was already a mess after Hu Die’s disappearance.

“We wait,” Zhang Wei said firmly.

“Wait? How can we just wait?” Lu Renjia was still worried about Hu Die’s safety.

“Yes, we have to wait. Before we went upstairs, we told them not to open the door unless they heard the agreed knock pattern. But they still opened it. Whether or not Xu Long forced them to leave, and whether or not he managed to trap a zombie in 510—he couldn’t have done all that alone.”

“Right. When Wei-ge and I carried a corpse, it was already tough,” Zhou An added.

“If it was a live zombie, it would take three or four people at least—and it’d be very risky. But if it was already dead or someone infected but not yet turned, then the risk would be lower. Either way, the fact that Xu Long was able to lock it in there means he has a better hiding place now—one he didn’t know about before. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been so desperate to break into 511 on exam day…”

“So here’s my bold guess: Xu Long found someone willing to help him. And he offered them our food—and maybe even his new safe room—as his ‘pledge of loyalty.’ You guys know what that means, right?”

Zhou An and Lu Renjia nodded.

“That’s why we can’t charge in blindly—we might walk right into a trap. That zombie in 510? That was probably bait.”

Zhang Wei inspected the zombie’s body carefully. Sure enough, there were bite marks on its back.

Fortunately, the zombie had already fully turned. If it had just been unconscious or still human, it might’ve ambushed them from behind.

“No matter what, Xu Long can’t be allowed to leave this building alive!” Zhang Wei growled.

“So what, we just sit here and wait for them to come?” Zhou An was still uneasy.

“We’ve got cards to play. We found food on the 6th floor, we have all the dorm keys, we have access to the 7th-floor rooftop as a fallback, and we might be able to get Zhao Zhenxiong from 608 as an ally. Plus, they don’t know where we are right now…” Zhang Wei listed their advantages.

He told Zhou An to take out the key to dorm 512 and opened the door.

Lu Renjia was surprised. This room was way more secure than 511.

“So, now what?”

“Now, we eat instant noodles.” Zhang Wei pulled out Zhou An’s last two buckets of suancai beef ramen.

He found a stainless-steel lunch box, poured in what little bottled water they had left, and lit two candles underneath to heat it.

By the time the candles had burned halfway down, the water finally boiled. Zhang Wei poured it into the noodle cups, sealed the lids, and said, “There are only two cups, but I’ve got some crushed bits of noodle hidden in my pillow. We’ll make it work for three people.”

Lu Renjia hesitated.

Zhang Wei said, “Eat first. On nights without power, everyone’s on equal footing. We’ll move out after dark.”