Ch107 - Midway Transfer

Translator: transcendentwings

The feeling of galloping freely under the sun was a long lost sensation.

No need to inspect through the glass, no need to stand by the window yearning, no need to exhaust oneself until nightfall.

The blue sky, the white clouds, the gentle breeze.

When was the last time the weather was this good?

They could no longer remember.

Winter in this city was always gloomy and muddy with few strong winds. Even when there were a few clear days, that azure sky overhead was shrouded in a lingering white haze.

It was rare to see it as clear and bright as it was now, like a forest or mountain untouched by industrial pollution.

Song Fei belatedly realized that the smog he’d experienced when he escaped the dormitory seemed to be the last one of these recent days. Since then, there have been winds, snow, and even sleet, but the sky has grown clearer and brighter day by day.

He likes the current sky.

Yet deep down, he inexplicably yearned for the past when the blue wasn’t quite so clear.

Qi Yan reached out and cranked the car window up.

Song Fei shot him a look in confusion. Qi Yan pointed at his comrades in the two rows behind him, suppressing a laugh as he informed: “You may be cold-resistant, but they’re going to be blown to death by the wind.”

Wu Zhou, who had been wanting to protest for a long time, saw that even Qi Yan couldn’t bear it anymore and protested in support: “The car door’s already leaking like it’s open, yet you’re still opening the window, it’s as if the both of you**are unafraid of the cold. . .”

He glanced at the six comrades in the two rows. Aside from Feng Qibai, who still wore a cold expression that screamed, strangers don’t come close, the others huddled together, shivering. Wu Zhou and Fu Xiyuan simply skipped over Feng Qibai and squeezed together, their arms thrown around each other. Song Fei felt a sudden pang of guilt and swiftly sat down obediently, continuing to perch on hisBF’s lap as a quiet passenger.

In reality, the students understood Song Fei’s feelings, how could everyone not feel the same way. Like a prisoner suddenly released from incarceration, they longed to go to great lengths, searching the heavens and earth to experience the exhilaration of finally being free.

But firstly, they weren’t as sentimental as Song-tongxue, insisting on opening the window and letting the cold winds ruffle their hair; Secondly, no matter how beautiful the weather was, they could only gaze upwards. When they lowered their gaze and looked straight ahead, they still could only see the bleak reality that starkly contrasted with the magnificent sky.

Leaving the underground parking lot would only lead to the main road outside the university gates. The road was built along with the university town making it wide and smooth, enough to keep traffic flowing freely even if it were to be placed at the city center during peak traffic conditions. Thus, paving it in this remote suburb seemed a bit like overkill.

Out of the ten times Song Fei left the university gates, he’d seen buses and the occasional private car whizzing by three times. Three other times, he’d only seen one bus or one private car speeding by and the remaining four times, there was nothing but the empty road and only with luck would one catch a few cycling enthusiasts squeeze by on their bikes.

And now, it was busier than ever.

Crashed and damaged vehicles were everywhere, some parked in the middle of the road, others tumbled into the barren lands on either side. Vast smears of blood covered the tarmac road, dried but still a gruesome sight.

None of the wrecked cars were occupied, but zombies milled the road, there were students, even some workers, some had mutilated limbs, others sported gnawed on faces. . .

Zhou Yilu carefully navigated these obstacles, but the price he had to pay for slowing down was being assaulted by these roaming zombies. Fortunately, having adapted to manual transmission, Zhou Yilu’s driving skills were excellent, and he always managed to shake off the zombies at the last moment, escaping danger.

Qiao Siqi wasn’t so reckless as to charge headfirst, after all, a jeep wasn’t a tank, so it still needed to steer clear of obstacles. However, compared to Zhou Yilu’s slow, yet precise approach, he was fast and aggressive. Noticing their jeep nearly wrecked, his companions forced him to abandon the main road and drive into the deserted lands beside it.

Fortunately, the farmland had long been expropriated and hadn’t been planted in years. The planned construction had been delayed due to lack of funding and other factors, so the road was still without obstacles like a horse galloping in the plains.

The Wrangler’s off-road capabilities were fully utilized on this road surface. It wasn’t long before he had pulled ahead at a significant gap before Zhou Yilu, who was still running the obstacle course.

By the end, even the screams of their comrades in the jeep had faded, leaving the others in the van to stew in their heightened anxiety—

Song Fei: “Why don’t we just stop circling and head into the wilderness!”

Fu Xiyuan: “Yeah, yes, that’s right, it’s easier over there, no cars or zombies!”

Zhou Yilu’s nose was beaded with sweat, already more nervous than anyone else in the car, but also more cautious. “Don’t look at the flatness of this wasteland. Crops haven’t been grown there for a long time so it’s all rocky and lumpy. Off-road vehicles are fine, but our small, domestically made vans won’t be able to handle it. . . sh*t!”

As they spoke, a zombie appeared out of nowhere and slammed into the windshield. Zhou Yilu instinctively went to slam on the brakes, but caught himself before actually stomping on it and immediately stepped on the accelerator instead, revving the engine, flooring it!

The zombie was undoubtedly knocked aside.

However after shooting forward, a sideways bus was brought right before him!

Zhou Yilu made a sharp turn, destabilizing the van’s chassis, making it nearly drift off the road. Fortunately, the vehicle was overloaded and thanks to the weight of the nine passengers, especially the one surnamed Zhao, it eventually stabilized itself.

Now it was impossible to not switch directions, so Zhou Yilu stopped hesitating. He stared straight ahead, pressed down on the accelerator and drove off the asphalt road, plunging into the deserted land.

The abandoned farmland wasn’t entirely devoid of cars and zombies, but in the vast expanse of flat land, these scattered sightings were negligible.

“Calling the jeep team, hailing the jeep team,” Song Fei snatched the walkie-talkie from Qi Yan’s hand and pressed a button, “Can’t you guys slow down a little and wait for us?”

The reply from the other end was almost instantaneous: “We also wanted to slow downah—”

Song Fei glanced at Qi Yan with curiosity: “How did the walkie-talkie end up in Luo Geng’s hands?”

The latter spread his hands: “It’s the same no matter who it is, besides, judging from their tone, they seem to be sincere.”

Song Fei sighed and patted the head of hisBF, who had accompanied Qiao Siqi to search for the cars: “Thank you for your hard work.”

Qi Yan pulled the hand off his head, giving it a swift peck: “No matter how hard or tiring, my heart feels sweet inside.”

“. . .” Song Fei turned to stone, petrified for a long moment before he seriously studied Qi Yan again, humbly asking, “When did you upgrade your dialogue system?”

Qi Yan smiled, half-heartedly joking: “I have some even cheesier lines, want them?”

Song Fei swallowed audibly: “That, then let’s start with the ten yuan one to listen to first. . .”

UY KqM’k cYNk mZicpM’W lPcN oiW mizc, lYk ozZDk mizbPp YM q XPMWcP, mlqzuYMX Dqe: “GO G’p nMZDM eZi’p PMp iN kYWWYMX cYnP WlYk, G DZicp lqbP DZznPp lqzpPz WZ kPqzml OZz q bPlYmcP.”

“. . .”

UmqB yMl’c eMOrk cRrBMw, elc eMOrk xmRqwlqB, MWmklmqc OBlkOkMw. . . IMk eM kmSw elWcMSo km bM rMcMrsMw, km XmqkrmS elWcMSo, km xrMkMqw keOk eM wlwq’k XOrM.

“You’ve changed, you’re no longer that simple student union member, but I like itaooo—”

flZi KYci kWqzPp kWzqYXlW qlPqp, OZmikPp kZcPce ZM WlP cZMX rZizMPe.

Wu-Fu-Ma-Zhao-Kuang-Feng all turned their heads, each gazing out the windows—The faint scent of**from the zombies thick with the stench of rot was still far more pleasing than the overpowering stink of gay men in love.

The frantic driver, Qiao-tongxue, finally retained some sanity and gradually slowed down. A moment later, the red jeep was in the van team’s sights.

flZi KYci knYzWPp q NzZuYMPMW NZWlZcP qMp kcYXlWce YMmzPqkPp WlP NzPkkizP ZM WlP qmmPcPzqWZz, lZNYMX WZ mqWml iN. . .

Gedengdeng!

ElP bqM rZcWPp bYZcPMWce DYWlZiW DqzMYMX qMp RZMX JPY’k lPqp kcquuPp pYzPmWce YMWZ WlP zZZO ZO WlP bqM. ElP NqYM YMkWqMWce PaWYMXiYklPp WlP kDPPWMPkk ZO cZbP, cPqbYMX ZMce WlP qXZMe ZO WlP YuNqmW: “tlqW’k XZYMX ZM?!”

Feng Qibai, who was sitting on the ground, was the most direct victim. His butt was nearly split into eight pieces as he gritted his teeth to keep from crying out.

“There was a pothole.” Zhou Yilu explained glumly.

Zhao He angrily questioned: “Then why didn’t you avoid it?”

“I did go around, but it was a d*mned series of potholesah!” Zhou Yilu was helpless. Since he’d chosen the wild, untamed road, he had to bear with the inevitable pits.

“Don’t just look at the ground,” Feng Qibai suggested, “Take a look at the jeep team. If they’ve already taken a detour, we can follow them and avoid unnecessary obstacles.”

Zhou Yilu: “He didn’t even avoid that first hole.”

All the comrades: “. . .”

There was no gap without comparison, but a few potholes was still less stressful than the possibility of facing theBlack and White Impermanenceat any moment,en.

The Wusheng class sped north through the fields for over half an hour.

The university town had long been left behind. There was not only their campus, but also a series of sibling colleges, but now, they were too busy taking care of themselves and could only pray for the good luck of their fellow students.

The wasteland stretched endlessly as far as the eye could see, as if it would never end, but the sun continued to rise, illuminating the world more and more brightly.

“Pinging the van crew, summoning the van crew. . .” Qiao Siqi’s voice came through over the walkie-talkie.

Song Fei’s body jolted. He was particularly afraid of Qiao Siqi now, a sense of foreboding pervading him.

He brought the walkie-talkie up to his lips: “Copy, we hear you, what’s going on?”

Qiao Siqi: “Does your van still have gas?”

Song Fei’s heart sank: “Don’t tell me you’re out of gas! Even movies don’t use that trope anymore!”

“You can insult me, but you can’t insult my purchasing philosophy. I always fill up my tank. It’s enough to run downtown, not to mention back to the university!”

“. . . Then what are you calling us for?”

“It just suddenly occurred to me, and I wanted to give you a heads-up, otherwise later, when I drive too far ahead, then look back and see that you guys disappeared.”

“Roger that, just focus on drivingba!”

After ending the call, Song Fei immediately went to check the fuel gauge. Although Qiao Siqi’s driving was unreliable, he was an experienced driver after all, and the reminder was a timely rain.

Who knew that Zhou Yilu would push his head away: “No need to look, I just checked.”

“Oh oh,” Song Fei was finally relieved, “Enough to useha.”

Zhou Yilu: “Uh. . .”

Song Fei: “. . . What does this monosyllable mean!”

Zhou Yilu scratched his head with one hand. “There’s good news and bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?”

. . . Only a fool would try to guess!

“Don’t tell me you’ve really fallen into that trope!”

“How could I be so unrefined!”

“That’s good. . .”

“But it seems that the tank seems to be leaking.”

“. . .”

“Smell, isn’t that the faint aroma of gasoline?”

“Aroma, your, sister!!!”

The jeep team didn’t hear Song Fei’s roar, but they heard the electrical crackle of the walkie-talkie—

“The one ahead, stop for a second, we’ve got a problem here.”

Qiao Siqi drove with one hand and pressed the walkie-talkie with the other: “What is wrong?”

The calm Qi Yan on the other end of the walkie-talkie stated: “I think we hit something when we went over the pothole earlier, the tank’s leaking, I don’t think we’ll make it to the city.”

Qiao Siqi: “I feel faint, then what should we do? Are you all going to squeeze into my car?”

The entire van squad: “No—”

Qiao Siqi frowned.

Before he could ask further, Qi Yan bluntly continued: “Zhou Yilu said he just spotted a gas station sign on the road over there.”

Qiao Siqi slammed on the brakes and warned sternly: “I know that gas station, you want to go there to switch vehicles? I think it’s a bit risky. It’s in the middle of nowhere, completely deserted. I didn’t see a single other car when I went there.”

Qi Yan: “We can only take it one step at a time.”

Qiao Siqi: “Fineba.”

With the other half of their companions consenting, Zhou Yilu made a U-turn, stepped on the accelerator and sped back as swiftly as he could.

Thankfully, this stretch of road was deserted, far from both the university town and the city, truly a place where no one would be there to care for it, therefore there were no collisions and the road was clear.

The red jeep immediately turned and followed as well.

Within two minutes, they saw the gas station sign. The van in front of them also began to slow down, clearly deciding not to go in and stop fully in the station, rather hovering at the entrance to the gas station to case the location out first.

Qiao Siqi pulled up close behind them, stepping on the brakes to slow down. But before he could slow down, he saw a car zigzagging towards him in the distance!

Qiao Siqi slammed down on the brakes, not even stopping the car as he hollered into the intercom: “Watch out ahead—”

The companions in the van were all focused on the gas station ahead. Startled by John’s shout, they instinctively looked back only to see a car hurtling toward them like crazy, its front swaying left and right as if the driver was drunk. It was about to crash straight into the van with no signs of slowing down.

All of the blood in Zhou Yilu’s body ran cold and his pitch was off: “Jump from the car—”

All the doors of the van flew open almost simultaneously, and the nine companions scrambled out, sprinting across the road in one breath, desperate to hide in the abandoned lands!

However, before they could escape into the wild, the crazed vehicle was already before them and the expected collision didn’t occur. Just before it hit the van, it abruptly, without warning, swerved to the left and spun into the gas station!

Peng—

It ultimately collided, but avoided the gas tanks on either side, with it finally slamming into the aluminum door frame of the gas station supermarket.

The glass shattered, the door frame was dented and deformed, and from the Wusheng class’s position, the front of the car couldn’t be seen.

However in the next second, five zombies emerged from the wrecked supermarket, clearly drawn in by the noise and the impact.

Song Fei’s heart tightened, and he instinctively tried to rush forward, yet was tightly held back by Qi Yan.

“There are people in the car!” Song Fei’s heart was in his throat.

Qi Yan understood his feelings, but the more serious the situation, the more one needed to remain level-headed: “Take a closer look, those are zombies!”

Song Fei froze, confused. He raised his head dully and looked over blankly, only after a long moment did he realize that something was wrong.

The four zombies that emerged from the supermarket didn’t rush to the vehicle, nor did they bang on the windows or yank on the doors. They simply circled the car a few times, as if they were more interested in the object than the people inside.

“Thisisn’t right,” Zhou Yilu also noticed, “It doesn’t make sense for them to leave the living alone and not bite themah.”

“Unless. . .” Qi Yan’s eyes darkened, “There’s no one alive in the car.”

The same hypothesis, Wang Qingyuan in the jeep, also shared and disseminated to his fellow comrades.

The comrades, who had originally wanted to alight and stage a rescue like Song Fei, gradually calmed down.

The sound of voices attracted the attention of the four zombies. They slowly lifted their heads in their direction then in the next moment, they suddenly howled at the sky, entering the long-awaited hunting mode of the Wusheng class!

“F*ck—”

With a curse from Zhao He, the entire van squad went on alert, drawing their weapons!

They’ve been making a break for it all this way and now it was nine against four, who the hell was still running awayah, chargeba!

Song Fei had never loved the desolate location of the university he attended more than he did at that moment. In the end, the zombies screamed at the top of their lungs, but no reinforcements arrived. Thus, nine. . . no, it was sixteen against four, a near-crushing victory.

The six comrades who had finally escaped from Qiao-sijiwere reluctant to get back in, so they simply gathered around the car that had rammed the door.

Song Fei and his companions had originally wanted to find a car, but ended up experiencing a hailstorm of ice. Nothing could be more satisfying.

As Qi Yan and Wang Qingyuan had suspected, the people in the car had been affected. They’d probably just happened to turn due to the virus while driving and now, completely transformed into zombies, not knowing how to open the doors, only surveying their surroundings in confusion.

When they saw the sixteen people outside, the zombies suddenly went berserk!

The comrades tried, but the door wouldn’t open. Finally Qi Yan and Wang Qingyuan worked together to smash the driver’s window, putting an end to the zombies inside.

Just as Qiao Siqi had mentioned, the gas station was utterly desolate. Of the six zombies, two were uniformed gas station attendants, three were in plain clothes, it was unknown if they were perhaps supermarket employees or outsiders, and one of them was the driver who had barged in right in front of them, and then after that, the entire station was empty.

Even emptier than the gas station was the supermarket. The companions combed through it thoroughly but couldn’t find much of anything useful, let alone any food as it had all been looted completely.

“Look at the bright side, at least someone is relying on this to survive.” Song Fei consoled his distraught companions as they walked out of the supermarket.

Over there, Zhou Yilu had already boarded the car that had crashed into the door and was slowly backing it into the space between two rows of gas tanks. He waved at them: “Only the bumper fell off, everything else is fine, and there’s enough gas!”

Zhou Yilu’s voice was filled with excitement, the kind that couldn’t be contained by the phrase “everything else is operable, there’s sufficient gas”.

Studying the car logo once more, the companions had a sudden realization—a BMW.

All humans have hobbies. Some like clothes, some prefer bags, some lean towards figurines, and some find joy. . .uh, in studying. While not all of these interests could be understood, Song Fei still respects them.

It’s just that—

Song Fei peered at his fellow van squad members: “If a van becomes a sedan, can it still seat nine?”

The seven comrades exchanged a bewildered glance, then charged at the sedan together!

Song Fei cursed “shameless”, and followed suit.

No one gave way to the other, and actually all squeezed in!

However space was limited, and both those who had secured seats and those who had somehow crammed in felt nearly suffocated.

The six comrades in the jeep crew resigned themselves to their fate. Now indifferent to the world, they folded their arms, squinted their eyes, and waited quietly for their new members to be appointed.

Zhou Yilu looked at the car that was practically warped from being stuffed full of his companions with mixed feelings: “I know you all have deep feelings for me, but the door really can’t close like thisah!”

The eight comrades: “It’s okay. . . Just focus on driving. . .”

Zhou Yilu frowned: “You can’t even breathe, just surrender, everyone!”

The eight comrades: “. . .”

Zhou Yilu: “How about this, rock-paper-scissors?”

Song Fei collapsed: “Take a good look, do we have the room to stretch out our arms?!”

Zhou Yilu also wanted to breakdown: “But we have to get going eventually—”

Zhao He: “Just drive like this!”

Zhou Yilu: “One step on the accelerator could send all of you guys flying, you guys may be that reckless and are going all in, but I can’t bear it!!!”

Zhou Yilu had never roared so passionately before, and for a moment, he stunned the entire car.

There was a long, utterly quiet silence.

Even the sun grew impatient and hid behind a drifting cloud.

Song Fei blinked, then suddenly questioned the driver: “What did you just say?”

Zhou Yilu cradled his forehead with his hand: “I’m telling you if you guys are like this, it’s hard to bear!”

Song Fei: “Reluctantly. . . part with what one loves?”

Zhou Yilu was taken aback.

Qi Yan readily took the hint: “Love to, but unable to help.”

Zhao He, with rare wit, piped up: “Helping others brings joy!”

Fu Xiyuan: “Joy turns to sorrow!”

Feng Qibai: “Sorrowful times, pitying the people!”

Wu Zhou: “People's footprints are rare to the extreme!”

Kuang Ye: “Extremely unwavering faith until death!”

Ma Weisen: “Yu. . . sh*t!!!”

The six comrades of the jeep squad, along with the driver, welcomed their new classmates with open arms.

The seven comrades of the sedan squad, along with the driver, watched their old classmate’s tragic figures gradually recede, feeling a surge of emotion.

—Knowledge, determines fateah.

Author’s Chapter Summary: Galloping freely into the deserted land, the most painful thing in life is a separation to withstand!

The translator has something to say: I really do enjoy their ability to stay positive, their movements like a well-oiled machine (most of the time), and the various bad jokes, flirting, pick-up lines, and bickering. Truly, never change and they will be able to accomplish anything

Translator’s explanation: no excuses really, sorry for taking so long to post a new chapter, I’m, in some ways getting my life back on track. I had started a new job and there were just many changes I had to balance plus new trainings and readings/lecture videos I had to watch in my off time to gather enough credits in order to take a credentialing exam, which I still have to study for, so bear with me.

With my new job, I had also naively thought I’d be able to get back into some of my other hobbies which I had put off for so long and I may have tried to start too many projects at the same time which messed thing up. If I were to be frank I have probably 10 (?) ongoing projects now, whoops. I will endeavor to finish them all and try to figure out some sort of schedule, but in turn I had neglected finishing these projects which I am very sorry about, though I figure you all are all tired of listening to my various excuses.

I’m sorry and afraid of making promises as life has been a bit crazy lately (including catching up on some health stuff for myself as I have insurance again yay! But also because some family members are also going through some health stuff which you would think family would listen to you since you work in the field but no, they have to be a stubborn *ss and fight you at every turn saying they know better as if my hard earned degree accounts for nothing, any who sorry for the rant), but I will try my best to get back on track to post every week to every two weeks at the very most.

As an additional motivator I will also be trialing a new editor in the coming chapters in which I hope will keep me more on track in posting, I hope this new partnership works out unlike the last one who ghosted me ahahaha

Thank you all so much for continuing to follow me on this journey, you all have been incredible and I really appreciate it even if I don’t really show it