Zombie Siege: The Road to Survival Begins at School - Chapter 7

A crowd quickly gathered around, showing concern, and Qin Shaofeng crouched down to cradle Zhang Ya’s foot.

“Aya, are you okay? Why does it still hurt?”

“I don’t know. Could it be from the bathwater just now? That damn Zhang Wei!” Zhang Ya immediately shifted the blame back onto Zhang Wei.

Zhang Wei casually twirled the watermelon knife in the air.

Everyone knew that taking the knife from Zhang Wei by force wouldn’t be easy.

No one wanted to get hurt at a time like this.

Zhang Wei understood as well—having a knife didn’t make him invincible.

Even a chicken, after having its throat slit, still struggles for a few minutes before dying.

Let alone a human?

Besides, people like Xu Long had a reputation for being aggressive and combative at school. They weren’t to be underestimated.

In an apocalyptic crisis like this, if he really used the knife, they would fight back with their lives.

The knife was more useful as a deterrent than a weapon.

Zhang Wei wasn’t afraid of death, but under the current conditions, getting seriously injured was basically the same as dying.

Fractures or bleeding wounds could easily lead to severe infections.

The medicine he had bought from the campus shop was only good for basic anti-inflammatory treatment.

Without access to a hospital, it was essentially a slow death.

As his eyes scanned the group, Zhang Wei had an idea: stir up some distrust among them.

“Zhang Ya, you were scratched by a zombie, right? If you’re infected with the virus, the pain probably won’t stop.”

He dropped a bomb.

Xu Long and Qin Shaofeng both liked Zhang Ya, but the other guys didn’t necessarily care for her that much.

Everyone froze in shock, instinctively taking two steps back.

A flash of panic flickered in Zhang Ya’s eyes, but she quickly screamed, “Zhang Wei, don’t you dare slander me! I got this cut climbing through the window!”

“Through the window? Didn’t you say it was from a rock? Did anyone actually see it?”

The group looked around, shaking their heads.

Zhang Ya’s panicked defense was starting to unravel.

“It doesn’t hurt anymore. Maybe it was just the water from earlier…”

Qin Shaofeng hugged her tightly and glared at Zhang Wei. “Zhang Wei, shut up!”

The others seemed convinced by Zhang Ya’s explanation and shot Zhang Wei annoyed looks.

After all, antiseptic splashing on an open wound would sting like hell. Zhang Ya’s skin was already red and irritated in several places.

“Fine, since you all hate me, I’ll go stay in the bathroom,” Zhang Wei said, using it as an excuse to separate himself from the group.

He was genuinely worried that Zhang Ya might turn into a zombie early and attack.

Even though he had some experience dealing with zombies, Zhang Wei couldn’t guarantee he’d escape unscathed in such a confined space—especially with a bunch of fools who might try to protect the zombie.

But once separated, his safety increased tenfold.

Even if the only barrier was the glass door of the bathroom.

Naturally, no one stopped him.

In fact, they were glad to see him go—out of sight, out of mind.

Zhang Wei openly grabbed a bottle of water and some food, walked straight into the bathroom, and locked the door behind him.

Then he sat down and slowly began to eat.

“Preserving my strength is the key to survival.”

“Those bastards ruined a good portion of the food I stockpiled earlier. If I had known, I wouldn’t have stashed so much.”

Zhang Wei carefully inspected the bathroom door.

Even so, this isolation wasn’t entirely secure.

After all, a glass door could be shattered with a good hit—and all he had was a watermelon knife.

“The best option would be to move to another dorm.”

“Too bad that’s not possible right now.”

As night fell, Zhang Wei was lost in thought while outside, the others were chatting about him.

“Feels so much better not seeing Zhang Wei around. Everyone should get some rest! Who knows? We might get rescued tomorrow morning!” Zhang Ya remained optimistic.

“Wang Peng doesn’t look good. He’s lost consciousness…”

“If he dies, Zhang Wei has to pay. It’ll be considered murder…”

The people in the dorm were strangely optimistic.

They had full bellies, eight beds to sleep on—far better than being outside.

Darkness slowly descended, and the dorm fell silent. Everyone began resting.

Most of them were already exhausted.

Zhang Wei sat on an overturned water bucket, gradually calming his mind.

He thought about sneaking out in the dark to kill them, but after considering it, he gave up on the idea.

Killing them all now wouldn’t bring any real benefit—and there was a high chance someone would discover it midway.

“If everyone sees me as a cold-blooded killer, I won’t be able to earn anyone’s trust.”

“Just like in my previous life, I’ll be fighting alone from the start. Even Zhou An might end up parting ways with me.”

“I need to hold on to what little humanity I have left in this apocalypse.”

“It’d be better to wait for Zhang Ya to turn and attack a few people. Then I’ll make my move.”

“Hopefully Zhou An doesn’t get bitten.”

Zhang Wei had initially thought about saving everyone in the dorm. After all, they were classmates.

Old grudges seemed petty when compared to survival and death.

But these people had deeply disappointed him.

In the apocalypse, the darkest sides of human nature were fully exposed.

Zhang Wei didn’t plan to “deal with” all of them—he still needed people to take turns keeping watch.

Doing everything alone would cost too much energy. Keeping a few around had its advantages.

Zhang Wei leaned against the wall and rested on the bucket for half an hour.

This was the kind of hyper-vigilance needed in a world gone to hell.

Every now and then, banging sounds echoed from the hallway—unclear whether from survivors or zombies.

Each time the banging started, Zhang Wei would tense up.

His instincts wouldn’t allow him to relax.

Meanwhile, the group outside remained silent. Some even started snoring, though Zhang Wei wasn’t sure if it was fake.

If he were Xu Long or any of the others, there was no way he’d be able to sleep knowing someone was in the bathroom armed with a knife.

Around 6:30, Zhang Ya suddenly screamed in pain and curled up on the floor.

At the same time, another terrified voice rang out, “Wang Peng… Wang Peng isn’t breathing…”

Everyone jolted awake.

When they checked, Wang Peng had indeed stopped breathing—he’d bled out.

“Zhang Wei, you killed him!!”

“No, that was excessive self-defense!” Zhang Wei replied calmly from the bathroom.

As for Zhang Ya, her entire foot had turned black.

The wound was oozing thick pus, black and red like stewed pork knuckle from a restaurant.

A nauseating stench filled the room.

Zhang Wei stepped out of the bathroom, his eyes fixed calmly on Zhang Ya as she began to transform.

“It hurts! It hurts so much… Shaofeng… Shaofeng…” she cried, unable to bear the pain.

The zombie virus had reached her bones, sending waves of agony through her body.

Qin Shaofeng was both terrified and concerned, but still instinctively pulled her into his arms.

“Aya, what’s happening? Your foot—what the hell is that swelling?”

The other survivors looked stunned. Finally, someone remembered what Zhang Wei had said earlier.

“Wait… was Zhang Ya really scratched by a zombie?”

A few people turned to stare at Zhang Wei. He shrugged, “Might just be an infected wound. Don’t worry, it’s probably fine.”

“Yeah right! You’re still mocking me?” Zhang Ya shouted. “I was not bitten! Maybe… maybe the virus got in through the air—through my wound?”

She was clearly panicking now, grasping at any explanation.

To her credit, her quick thinking found a halfway decent excuse.

“That must be it! The virus is airborne. Otherwise, how did so many people suddenly go berserk?” one of the girls nodded.

“So, what do we do now? Vice class rep won’t really turn, will she?” Li Xiaoqian asked, pretending to be concerned while subtly stepping back.

“I’ll be fine! Give me some painkillers! The infirmary has ibuprofen… Oh, right! Our phones! We left them at the front table before the exam. If someone gets them, maybe we can call the police. There has to be a rescue team! Maybe the zombies are just in our school!” Zhang Ya was clearly clutching at straws.

“Yeah, we had to hand over our phones for the final exam. If I get mine back, I can call my dad—he drives a freight truck. He could smash through the school gate and run over the zombies!” another student piped up excitedly.

It was true—only a few troublemaker students secretly kept phones.

Most schools didn’t allow smartphones, especially at the high school level.

But teachers often turned a blind eye—as long as they weren’t fighting or causing trouble, they let it slide, only collecting phones before major exams.

“The army or police will definitely come to clear out the zombies. We’ll be fine. We just need to get those phones!” Xu Long added.

Now they were all united in one goal—retrieve the phones and contact the outside world.

One by one, their gazes fell on Zhang Wei.

Qin Shaofeng, sensing a chance to assert leadership over Xu Long, quickly issued a command.

“Zhang Wei, you’ve got a knife. Why don’t you try breaking out? If we don’t do something, we’re all dead… Oh, and grab some painkillers from the infirmary while you’re at it. As for that guy you killed, we’ll cover for you—just say he was bitten by a zombie like everyone else out there.”