Chapter 33: I’m a Vibe of Delicate Weakness (2)
The footsteps outside were unhurried, and they could faintly hear the sound of metal chains dragging on the floor.
As the sound drew closer, Jiang Zhiyan trembled even more, covering her mouth tightly, tears streaming down her face.
The system didn’t understand how she could cry on command, and so convincingly.
Jiang Zhiyan tugged at Si Xu’s clothes. Si Xu gently patted her back to comfort her, but Jiang Zhiyan continued to tremble.
Only the system could see the amusement in Jiang Zhiyan’s eyes. It was curious whether her trembling was feigned fear or something else.
The sound stopped at their door.
The two stared at the door, their vigilance at its peak. Si Xu’s hand rested on the table. She had already replicated eight pens, and these replicas would only last for three hours. This was her current limit. She needed to rest for a while before she could replicate again.
The sound at the door didn’t reappear. They were in a stalemate with the thing outside for a full ten minutes.
If Si Xu wasn’t there, Jiang Zhiyan would have probably grabbed a weapon and rushed out to send it to the next life.
Clearly, Si Xu was also getting impatient. She patted Jiang Zhiyan’s hand, telling her to let go, then stood up and walked towards the door.
“Your feet!”
The instant Jiang Zhiyan spoke, Si Xu had already stabbed the pens at the black, oil-like substance on the floor. The monster, hit, lost its patience and smashed the already flimsy door. Splinters of wood flew everywhere, cutting Si Xu’s cheek, a few even embedding themselves in her flesh.
Jiang Zhiyan was unharmed. She crouched under the table, watching the blood trickle down Si Xu’s cheek, and frowned slightly.
The monster at the door wasn’t the same type as the one before. This one was much shorter and stockier, its body shape similar to a human’s, but its face wasn’t two eyes, one nose, and one mouth. Instead, it had sixteen eyes packed densely together, enough to make anyone lose their sanity. Its two hands held giant metal hammers, which it had just used to smash the door.
It seemed to possess basic thinking skills, mainly because its gaze shifted between Si Xu and Jiang Zhiyan, who had peeked out from under the table. The drool dripping from its mouth showed that it was considering who to eat first. The black oil slowly flowed into the room, and Si Xu took a few steps back.
Such a commotion should have attracted other monsters, but it didn’t.
Jiang Zhiyan glanced out the window and noticed a few eight-tentacled monsters trying to approach, but as if wary of something, they retreated.
Just as evolved humans had levels, so did the monsters. This ugly creature was clearly higher level than the eight-tentacled ones. How much higher, she wasn’t sure. The script she received was about being protected, and then morally coercing others into sacrificing themselves, nothing more.
But she shouldn’t encounter a high-level monster for a few more days.
The hammer swung towards Jiang Zhiyan. Grabbing a pen, she rolled on the floor, dodging it. The hammer grazed her, messing up her carefully styled hair. The monster was clearly very strong, creating a crater in the floor, revealing the floor below.
Unfortunately, there were people hiding below, and they were crushed by the falling ceiling debris and desk. Jiang Zhiyan glanced at them, covered her mouth, then looked away.
Just as she got up from the floor, Si Xu jumped down through the hole.
“Come down quickly! I can’t beat it!”
Jiang Zhiyan didn’t hesitate and jumped down after her, landing on the rubble. Si Xu had intended to catch her, but it turned out to be unnecessary. Pretending her legs were weak, Jiang Zhiyan let Si Xu drag her away.
After running for a while, Si Xu glanced at Jiang Zhiyan with some confusion.
Although Jiang Zhiyan looked scared, her legs weak, as if she was about to collapse at any moment, her legs moved quickly, not hesitating at all as they ran.
The monster also jumped down, but it was clearly the type with strong attack power but poor agility, very bulky, unable to keep up with their speed. However, the black, oil-like substance on the floor continued to follow them closely.
Jiang Zhiyan held her hand behind her back. A pen flew out, striking one of the monster’s eyes. It roared in pain, completely enraged. The “thump, thump, thump” of its footsteps seemed to shake the ground. Si Xu was surprised but didn’t look back.
“Host, you can’t kill it, the pen isn’t strong enough.” The system reminded her. “But your fan definitely can.”
Jiang Zhiyan ignored it, casually snapping off a nearby doorknob and throwing it backward, hitting another eye.
The system examined the broken doorknob and hesitantly opened Jiang Zhiyan’s character profile.
???
Why was there a “super strength” added to Jiang Zhiyan’s evolution direction? It wasn’t there a few minutes ago.
So, was it because Jiang Zhiyan’s strength was great, causing the profile to automatically fill in “super strength,” or was it another bug?
This world was too strange.
However, the system didn’t report any errors. If it was really a bug, and it was fixed later, it felt that Jiang Zhiyan would drag it out and beat it up.
Jiang Zhiyan broke off anything she could find along the way and threw it into the ugly monster’s eyes. Because of the awkward throwing positions, her arm was starting to ache. Si Xu seemed to sense something and looked back at Jiang Zhiyan several times, but each time she only saw Jiang Zhiyan’s pale and exhausted face.
Perhaps the monster gave up, or perhaps it changed its strategy. The footsteps disappeared again, even the oil-like substance was gone.
“Let’s go to the broadcasting room, the broadcast should still be working, let’s gather the survivors.” Si Xu said quickly.
“Where should we gather them?” Jiang Zhiyan asked.
“The auditorium in the activity center, it’s in the center of the school, convenient to get to from anywhere, and there are many paths, the overall structure is also good.”
“But the problem is… not everyone will be willing to risk coming out.” After all, it was only the first day, and the survivors were still in survival mode. Many, to be safe, would probably observe for a while before acting. “I hope everyone is okay.”
She “sincerely” wiped a tear from the corner of her eye.
“We have to try.” Si Xu frowned. “We shouldn’t be the only two who have evolved, there must be others. If we can be together, it’ll be safer.”
Si Xu was very familiar with the area. They took two shortcuts that Jiang Zhiyan considered absurd to get to the broadcasting room. Fortunately, they didn’t encounter any aliens along the way. Perhaps they were all scared off by that multi-eyed monster.
The door to the broadcasting room was wide open, the smell of blood thick in the air. Inside lay two corpses, desiccated, like they had been sucked dry. They must have been alive when it happened, their expressions frozen in pain and terror. There were no other external injuries, just a circular hole on their necks.
Si Xu frowned and turned away. Jiang Zhiyan closed her eyes and turned her back.
“Wait for me outside, I’ll move the bodies.”
“Don’t touch them directly, in case there’s something wrong with them.” Jiang Zhiyan tugged on Si Xu’s sleeve, reminding her.
“Okay.” Si Xu thought Jiang Zhiyan’s words made perfect sense, so she didn’t touch the bodies, simply bypassed them and used the equipment. “This is Si Xu.”
Si Xu was a well-known figure in the school before the apocalypse. Her name was familiar to most people. As Si Xu’s voice echoed through the school, the aliens wandering around the campus went into a frenzy again, searching for the source of the sound.
“What if they understand us and surround that location in advance?” Jiang Zhiyan asked. Although as long as people ran towards that location, it would definitely be surrounded, there was still a big difference.
Si Xu paused, as if thinking, then said: “It’s fine.”
Then Jiang Zhiyan heard a string of school slang, the kind of thing every school had, only understood by the students.
Actually, Si Xu had thought of many other encryption methods, but they were all rejected. These aliens clearly came from a more advanced world, and there might be intelligent aliens behind them. If they used encryption, it might be easily deciphered. And she didn’t have time to think of a more sophisticated method now. Even if she did, not everyone would be able to decipher it immediately.
The people hiding around campus, hearing the broadcast, couldn’t help but cover their mouths. The slang, usually used for jokes, sounded a bit comical when spoken so seriously by Si Xu, but everyone understood her meaning.
“I hope everyone can unite and work together to eliminate those monsters. They will only get stronger. If we don’t grow stronger, the only outcome is death.”
Si Xu turned off the broadcast and saw Jiang Zhiyan’s teary-eyed, adoring gaze. She rubbed her throat. She didn’t usually talk much, and she wondered if she had talked too much today. Her throat felt dry.
“Senior, you’re so amazing. If only I could be as calm as you.”
“But I think you’re very calm.” Si Xu said.
Jiang Zhiyan shook her head: “If I were alone, I would have fainted already. It’s all thanks to your strength, Senior! I, I don’t want to be a burden to you.”
Si Xu, looking at the light in Jiang Zhiyan’s eyes, quickly looked away as if she had been burned: “Let’s empty the vending machines.”
“Okay.” Jiang Zhiyan obediently followed Si Xu and held her hand. Si Xu instinctively tried to shake her off, but couldn’t. “Senior, I’m scared. You held my hand like this just now… I wiped my hands.”
Si Xu pursed her lips and didn’t try to shake her hand off again.
System: Ha, not surprising at all.
Jiang Zhiyan’s lips curled up slightly, looking at their joined hands. There would be countless times after the first.
“You should find a way to change your shoes.” Si Xu pried open the vending machine and stuffed the contents into the large bag she had taken from the office. Glancing at Jiang Zhiyan’s shoes, she frowned.
“Hmm?” Jiang Zhiyan looked down at her small leather shoes. Now that Si Xu mentioned it, she felt a stinging pain in her feet, they must have been rubbed raw. She bit her lip. “They do hurt a little, but where can I find shoes… I don’t want to wear someone else’s old shoes. Senior, am I being too spoiled?”
“It’s okay, I’ll think of something.”
“Senior…” Jiang Zhiyan said clingily, looking at Si Xu with increasingly adoring eyes.
Si Xu glanced at her, then quickly looked away.
This junior was really too enthusiastic.
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