Chapter 15

Although it was New Year's Day and there weren't that many students, it wasn't empty either. The surviving students and the nearby residents who had gathered there numbered, conservatively, five to six thousand.
The zombies outnumbered them several times over.
That was partly because only a small town and a commercial center surrounded the North University district.
Even so, trying to pull five to six thousand people out of tens of thousands of corpses would be extremely difficult.
Ye Xiao and the others devised a plan: first draw the hordes surrounding the university town away, then drive buses in to evacuate people.
While Ye Xiao, Bai Cheng and the others studied the electronic map at the coffee table, Xu Qin was already in the underground lab, with the help of two scientists and staff members, making explosives.
They finalized several smaller plans. For example, toward the train station from the North University, about three kilometers out there was a bridge; they'd lure a pack of zombies across it and then blow the bridge once the zombies were over it.
Or in the West District of the North University there was a campus under construction; they could lure the zombies in, seal the exits, and temporarily trap them inside.
For example, they could lure the zombies into the underground parking garage and then blow it up, burying them all beneath the rubble.
By day the zombies were still slow and stiff, but at night they became terrifyingly active, so they had to finish this operation before dark. The time was alarmingly tight.
Ye Xiao hadn't rested during the few hours before noon either. He had Jiang Xiaotian scour the surveillance feeds, then, after checking the footage, had them retrieve the only 120 medevac helicopter from a private hospital, fly it to the public security bureau, and clear out the armory there.
Their ammunition was nearly exhausted.
Lin Tantan, nibbling on a dry piece of bread, saw a bright red helicopter flying toward them and, shortly after, Ye Xiao came downstairs. With him were Zhong Xiong, a man dressed as a police officer, and two plainclothes men.
Lin Tantan was startled, where had these three come from? And why did Ye Xiao and Zhong Xiong look like they'd just come back from a big fight?
When she learned that in just an hour or two Ye Xiao had pulled off two major feats and even rescued three people from the public security bureau, she was at a loss for words. Weren't they moving a bit fast?
Soon she boarded that 120 medevac chopper as well.
Zhong Xiong piloted. Inside the cabin were Ye Xiao, Mei Baisheng, and her. They planned to make first landings in the North University district, go through the various campuses, and organize the survivors so they could retreat immediately when the time came.
She hadn't been scheduled to participate, but when she heard Mei Baisheng would be involved she insisted on coming, too afraid that if she wasn't close by, Mei Baisheng might lose his life.
The helicopter set down on the roof of a teaching building in Yang City University. Lin Tantan, Ye Xiao and Mei Baisheng disembarked; Zhong Xiong took off again, the only helicopter had other missions to attend to.
"Be careful when we move," Ye Xiao told the two of them, then asked Lin Tantan, "Do you remember how I taught you to use a gun?"
"Mm-hm." Lin Tantan had a gun on her too. She didn't really need it, but Ye Xiao worried that if, at a critical moment, her ability failed, having a firearm would be safer.
From the rooftop they looked down at the campus and saw zombies everywhere. There shouldn't have been so many, but people from nearby universities had been moving this way and had brought the zombies with them, in other words, their approach only swelled the zombie horde.
Ye Xiao pressed his earpiece. "Cai Chengliang."
Across from them, in a large auditorium, more than three hundred students sat on edge, fear written across their faces. The auditorium was big enough that three hundred didn't look cramped, but they had escaped with almost no food. One day and night had passed and many were starving. Outside the building the zombies pressed close, their endless howls and the crashes of their assaults battered the nerves, and the information people were getting on their phones about the outside world had everyone near breaking point.
"Cai Chengliang, when is the rescue you promised coming?!" a broad-shouldered boy couldn't hold back and suddenly lashed out at the young man sitting in the corner.
Cai Chengliang shrank back. "It's coming, it's almost here." Everyone stared at him as if waiting for a definitive answer. He felt unjustly attacked. These people were relying on him to get them out, yet they were so ungrateful. If it weren't for his grandfather sending help, they'd all be dead.
But he also knew that when you're the last hope for a group and that hope doesn't arrive, everyone's fear and anger inevitably get vented on you.
Cai Chengliang regretted speaking too quickly. Since word got out that help was coming, from yesterday until now most of his classmates had been hovering around him, food and drink were reserved for him, and even the department belle and the campus beauty who usually treated him curtly were now vying for his attention.
It was then that someone noticed a red helicopter flying over the teaching building across the way.
"What's that?" someone shouted. They only saw the chopper disappear onto the roof and weren't sure if it had landed on the top floor.
"Cai Chengliang, is that the rescue?" someone asked him.
"One helicopter, how many people can it take?" someone else said, and everyone exchanged glances; expressions shifted. Those who had been friendly with Cai immediately moved to flatter him. "Chengliang, aren't we friends?"
The department belle and the campus beauty quickly made their positions known. "Senior Cai, you said you'd get me out." "You bitch, get away from me!"
Before anyone could really figure things out, those on edge from a day and a night without relief were on the verge of fighting.
At that moment, the helicopter flew off again.
"Why did it leave? We're still here!" the students cried in despair.
Cai Chengliang felt even more crushed. "I'm here! I'm still here!" He fumbled to call, but the phone he'd been clutching rang first, it was the same number, the same voice.
"Cai Chengliang."
"Yes, yes, it's me! Captain Ye, I'm still here, I'm in the auditorium! Don't leave!" Cai stammered, panic-stricken.
"We haven't left." From the rooftop, Ye Xiao looked at the auditorium across from them and spoke calmly, "Calm down. Are there a lot of people around you? Put the phone on speaker."
Cai Chengliang hesitated a moment, then did as he was told.
Ye Xiao's voice came clearly through the phone; not everyone in the auditorium could hear it, but those nearby did.
"My name is Ye Xiao. My teammates and I are on top of Teaching Building 6. We're going to draw the zombies away from the outside of the auditorium. Don't make any noise inside and don't rush out. Wait for us; we'll come and escort you to the gymnasium."
The broad boy who had confronted Cai Chengliang asked quickly, "Are we all going together?"
"Yes, all of you together. This operation will be extremely difficult and I need everyone's cooperation. There are two things I need you to do now. First, notify as many people as you can in the North University district, tell them rescue is arriving, ask anyone who can to hold on a little longer, and for those who can, organize and gather as many people as possible and try to move toward Yang City University's gymnasium, which is the final rally point. Second, find anything around you that can be used as a weapon."
After saying that, Ye Xiao temporarily ended the call.
While Ye Xiao was speaking, Lin Tantan kept sneaking glances at him, her eyes sparkling with stars, the thought in her head was simple: when her idol got serious he was so cool, so charming, and so dependable. But the moment Ye Xiao looked her way she quickly drew her gaze back and acted as if nothing had happened, as if the fangirl a moment ago hadn't been her.
A faint smile flickered in Ye Xiao's naturally bright, smiling eyes, but when he saw Mei Baisheng nearby he paused, quickly composed himself and said, "Go down."
They swept the building quickly but found no survivors. Lin Tantan and Mei Baisheng went to the basement to plant explosives while Ye Xiao went out to lure the zombies over.
"Heh heh, our leader's so handsome, right?" Mei Baisheng said to Lin Tantan with a grin.
Lin Tantan replied, "Yeah, very handsome."
"I saw you, sneaking glances at him," Mei Baisheng said gossipily. "Do you like him? Oh, don't be shy."
Lin Tantan jumped inwardly, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. "No way, don't say that!" If Bai Cheng heard that...
She immediately thought of the many apocalypse memoirs she'd read, all mentioning Bai Cheng's absolute control over personnel at the Zhengyang base. Far too many people had been exiled to the frontier by him, some with clearly malicious intent, but others didn't even know what they'd done to offend him.
Then fans let their imaginations run wild, convinced that Bai Cheng was jealous of anyone who got too close to Ye Xiao and might threaten his position.
Ship-fans wouldn't accept that explanation. Their theories were wilder: clearly Bai Cheng couldn't stand others getting close to Ye Xiao and felt threatened! Look into the records and many of those sent away were attractive men and women, case closed; it proved someone was using power plays out of jealousy!
And then almost every fanfic had this scene,
A certain man or woman would fawn over Ye Xiao; Ye Xiao, with his straight-male mindset or simply obliviousness in these matters, would be unmoved and completely unaware. Then Bai Cheng in the corner would give a cool glance, drop his eyes to hide the cold in them, and before long, the sycophant would fall into a trap and meet a miserable end.
Back when Lin Tantan used to hide under the covers reading novels, she, like many fans, had cooed over the scheming queen: so adorable, so lovable, wanted to squeeze, hug, lift her up. But when the deathly gaze might actually turn on her, she decidedly did not feel cute at all.
Lin Tantan shivered and hurriedly said, "Don't talk about such scary things!"
Mei Baisheng: "?" Scary?
"Anyway, I don't like your captain, no, no, I have someone I like!" Lin Tantan said solemnly. "I have someone I like!"
"Oh, oh." Mei Baisheng nodded dumbly, then scratched his head. If she likes someone, fine, no need to get so worked up, right?
Lin Tantan thought to herself: had she been too obvious? Hmm, she couldn't keep staring at her idol anymore, she had to rein herself in, stay calm, suppress her excitement, even keep her distance when necessary. Above all, she mustn't cause any misunderstandings.
She'd finally managed to get familiar with the team.