Zombie Siege: The Road to Survival Begins at School - Chapter 23

“A classmate? Do you even know how this guy used to treat me?” Zhang Wei pointed his watermelon knife at Xu Long, seething with hatred and looking like he might stab him then and there.

He still remembered the bullying he suffered at Xu Long’s hands.

Back in school, Xu Long once spat on him in the boys’ restroom in front of several classmates. He even twisted his privates and deliberately peed on Zhang Wei… In the summer, he’d slap Zhang Wei in the face with a pair of dirty, black flip-flops and make him lick them clean. He stuck chewed-up gum in Zhang Wei’s hair, stuffed betel nut residue into his underwear…

And recently, that zombie in Room 510—Zhang Wei was almost certain Xu Long had intentionally left the door unlocked.

“I… I didn’t know…” Li Xiaoqian had her suspicions, but she could only pretend to be unaware at this point.

“Then you must know how Liu Feng died, right?” Zhang Wei stared at Xu Long as he asked.

“Liu Feng? Didn’t he get scratched by Zhang Ya or someone and then jump off the building at night?” Li Xiaoqian also knew about Liu Feng’s body down on the ground, head smashed in, no sign of zombification.

“Oh, so that’s what Xu Long told you, huh? Think about it—someone who jumped off the fifth floor at night… how likely is it they’d land headfirst and get their skull split open?”

“Yeah, I killed Liu Feng,” Xu Long said nonchalantly, as if he had just killed a chicken. “He’d already been scratched by a zombie and would’ve turned eventually. You’ve seen what happened to Zhang Ya. Strangling him with a towel was better than letting us both turn into monsters.”

The people nearby began murmuring in shock. Liu Feng had been something of an athlete, once a member of the school’s track and field team.

And this was the first time most of them learned that being scratched by a zombie could also lead to infection—they’d always assumed it only happened through bites.

Zhang Wei stayed silent for a moment, then continued, “You’re all okay letting a murderer like him live here with you? What if one day, someone in your group gets scratched or bitten? Will you be okay with Xu Long strangling them too?”

“If someone really turns into a zombie, of course we won’t stop him. We’d even help out,” one of the athletic guys said defiantly.

“Hmph. I killed Liu Feng because I had no choice. But Zhang Wei, when you kicked me and those two infected guys out, wasn’t that your way of killing us without getting your hands dirty?” Xu Long sneered.

“If that’s what I wanted, why would I give the three of you food before you left?” Zhang Wei said casually.

Hu Die nodded in agreement—Zhang Wei had indeed asked Li Xiaoqian to hand over some food. Xu Long, on the other hand, had taken everything he could carry.

“And you’re the one who’s trying to get others killed,” Zhang Wei added. “The zombie locked in Room 510… that was an athlete too, right? I saw he was wearing sportswear, and he had a bite mark on his back…”

Everyone’s expression changed. Clearly, they knew who that zombie was.

One of the athletic students spoke up, “He was our roommate. Two nights ago, he was on watch duty in the hallway on the fourth floor. A zombie snuck up on him and bit him. Xu Long saved him and said he might turn, so we should lock him up… After that, we stopped doing watch duty and just hid in the dorms.”

Zhang Wei finally understood why his group hadn’t run into any guards on their way down.

Still, he was skeptical that Xu Long had saved someone just to help them.

“Xu Long, you and I—we settle this here and now!” Zhang Wei glanced at the solid wooden ping-pong table. He was tempted to jump on top and challenge Xu Long to a fight to the death.

He remembered watching those last-man-standing style death matches in his past life. Fights decided everything—winner takes all, loser dies.

“You looking for a fight? Did you ask us first?” One of the athletic students swaggered over, tilting his head. He looked so much like a knockoff Nicholas Zhao Si that Zhang Wei couldn’t help wondering how this guy ever ended up in the jock crowd.

Then again, athletes often had more brawn than brains—Zhang Wei could understand that.

What, did they still think he was the same wimp they bullied in the bathroom? If it came to life or death, he’d even stab himself if it meant survival.

Without flinching, Zhang Wei flashed his knife.

It was a watermelon knife—longer than usual. Normally, longer meant stronger, but in the tight quarters of a dorm room, shorter blades were better.

He remembered a movie he’d seen once, Kung Fu Jungle. Old Wang from next door had played a martial arts maniac who used nothing but a box cutter and still went toe-to-toe with a long-weapon master—eventually slicing his opponent’s throat.

Just thinking about that scene with the box cutter gave Zhang Wei chills.

The jock hesitated when he saw the blade.

He’d heard from Li Xiaoqian not long ago that Zhang Wei had killed class belle Zhang Ya with that very knife—and taken down three zombies in a single breath.

Li Xiaoqian had exaggerated a bit, but she hadn’t lied. Xu Long hadn’t refuted her story when she told it, which spoke volumes.

“You might be able to kill me, but some of you will die too! The school is crawling with zombies—we can’t get to a hospital. Think about it: if your artery gets cut, do you think you’ll survive?” Zhang Wei raised the knife in front of his eyes.

Not bad—it even worked as a mirror.

That was the final straw. The jock visibly backed down.

They were used to swaggering around and fighting, but when it came to actual knife fights—life-or-death ones—they didn’t have the guts.

Some of the other athletes looked like they still wanted to fight under Xu Long’s instigation, but the hesitant jock stopped them.

Apparently, he only acted like Zhao Si. His brain still worked.

After a moment’s pause, he said, “Zombies are getting worse. We humans can’t afford to fight each other—we need to stick together. The stuff Xu Long brought, you can take it back. But Xu Long’s our brother. You can’t touch him.”

“Fine.”

Zhang Wei was willing to let this go—for now. His seven-day survival plan had reached day six. Tomorrow, he’d start a new one.

In a direct fight, he might not beat Xu Long yet. But in a survival scenario, Xu Long wouldn’t last long outside the dorm.

Xu Long tried to rally the group again, but no one responded. Zhang Wei’s cold glare forced him to shut up.

The jocks started rummaging through their supplies, gathering what Xu Long had brought.

When Zhang Wei looked, all that was left were seven unopened bottles of water, fewer than ten sausages, and a few opened but mostly untouched packs of biscuits.

“We’ve got more people, so…” The jock looked embarrassed. He turned and dug through a cabinet. “Here’s half a tub of protein powder—we use it for muscle gain. Take it as compensation. As for water, we had four or five water jugs at first, but we’ve gone through most of it already…”

That’s when Zhang Wei finally understood how the dozen or so of them had survived with no food.

They were athletes. Their dorms were stocked with things like protein powder and milk powder.

He remembered finding protein powder in his own dorm once—probably a roommate’s.

Without further hesitation, he motioned for Zhou An and Zhao Zhenxiong to pack up the goods.

Then he called for the two girls to leave with them.

But just as they were about to head out, Li Xiaoqian—who had just stepped through the door—suddenly backed away and returned.