Bai Zemin knew that getting home to meet his family would be a real challenge. If the university grounds alone were already so dangerous, then how dangerous would it be on the streets? One only needed to think for a moment to come to the conclusion that the outside world where animals ran rampant and zombies gathered in numbers would be far more dangerous.
However, he still had to make that journey regardless of the consequences and regardless of the difficulties.
Now that he had some strength to face creatures of First Order and was no longer devoid of means like when he fought against the Blazing Beetle, Bai Zemin planned to get out of the university as soon as possible.
However, now that Shangguan Bing Xue had managed to find the keys to some school buses, everything was simpler and he was willing to wait a couple more days.
"Alright." Bai Zemin nodded naturally with nothing against what she said. "However, you'd better remember the rules we imposed on the group or else you'll have to take out part of your rations."
Without waiting for an answer, Bai Zemin turned around and walked towards the exit of the building to join the rest of the survivors.
"He completely ignored me..." Chen He didn't know whether to laugh or cry as he looked at Bai Zemin's back disappearing at the end of the corridor. "For better or worse I'm also one of the main fighters, no? Why did you only say that to Bing Xue?"
Gao Min, Li Na, and Fan Wu looked at him strangely.
"Isn't that obvious?" Wu Yijun chuckled softly and while looking at the now empty corridor said slowly, "It's because he knows that if Bing Xue agrees to something then you will too. Easy, isn't it?"
Cough! Cough!
Chen He blushed slightly and looked at Wu Yijun with a bitter smile as if telling her why she said it in such a way.
"Stop playing around and let's get out of here."
Shangguan Bing Xue sighed feeling tired before walking towards the exit as well. She really needed a good night's rest or she might end up collapsing from mental exhaustion.
* * *
The group of survivors rescued from Qiao Long's tyranny as well as the female students who were rescued from the female dormitory soon began to move under the leadership of Bai Zemin, Shangguan Bing Xue, Chen He, Liang Peng, Fu Xuefeng, Cai Jinyi, and Zhong De.As for Kang Lan, because she only possessed a healing skill, at this time she could not do much in combat so Bai Zemin kept her by his side.
Because there were only a few people to protect so many, the group had no choice but to move slowly as Chen He and Fu Xuefeng went ahead to clear out any straggling zombies that may have sneaked in. Although they had already cleared the area, there was a possibility that some new infected would appear in the vicinity.
Before moving to the gym, the group of over three hundred survivors stopped in the same restaurant as before and emptied it completely. With now over three hundred people on the move, it was natural to take the opportunity to gather as much food as possible. Even perishable food was taken and carried by the survivors since with the increase in population the food that expired faster than the rest could at least last two or three days even without proper care conditions.
Liang Peng and Zhong De even carried two huge freezers on their shoulders in order to store more food and to make it last longer. Because of this, the already slow speed of the group was further reduced as Zhong De needed to rest for twenty minutes after his Power Boost skill went into cooldown time; after all without this skill Zhong De's strength was insufficient. Even Liang Peng needed to stop to rest occasionally and the freezers were slowly loaded by other male students in groups of four or five.
When they arrived at the gym again there was a lot of work to be done so even though the sun was about to set a conference was held to discuss important things.
"We can't go on like this." Bai Zemin frowned and looked at the people in front of him as he leaned against the wall.
"What do you mean?" Jia Jao asked with some confusion in her voice.
"What he means is that we need to move from this place." Wu Yujin interjected, Although technically she didn't have any kind of power, she was smart and Shangguan Bing Xue backed her up so no one said anything about it.
Bai Zemin did not look at her and nodded as he looked out.
"That's right. We are currently more than five hundred people here already but we don't even have beds to sleep in and only the girls were able to get clothes to change into after we cleaned the female dormitory but we men don't have anything yet."
"It''s not only that." Chen He added: "The lighting in the place is poorly distributed and the overall atmosphere is gloomy. I'm afraid that if we stay here too long the others will start to get mentally ill because of all the accumulated stress."
The small group of people were silent until Shangguan Bing Xue's voice rang out.
"Decided then." She looked at Bai Zemin and said in a firm voice, "In two days' time, we will start moving slowly south. In the process we will clear the surrounding buildings and move some mattresses from the female and male dormitory to be able to sleep."
No one objected to the idea and everyone nodded to express their consent on the matter. Bai Zemin also nodded as this move corresponded to what he had planned to do so it was more than he could expect.
After a few things were planned, the small conference ended and everyone left, leaving Bai Zemin alone in the dimly lit room.
Well... Not so alone.
"Lilith, come, look at this."
His voice was low but excited like a small child's and his casual, indifferent expression was nowhere to be seen. He sat on a table next to the window as he waved to the beautiful woman who had been silently observing the situation at all times.
She approached with a genuine smile as it was something new for her to see him acting this excited and sat down next to him, bringing a lovely scent of roses along with the swing of her jet black hair.
"Let me see, pretty boy." She chuckled and stretched her hand out to him to signal him to take it.
He reached out his right hand and took Lilith's hand.
This was the first time he had touched her skin directly of his own free will as the only two previous times were beyond his power of decision; once he had fainted and today she had jumped on him.
Now, Bai Zemin was amazed at how soft her skin was. Even the finest and most expensive silk in the world probably could not compare to the flawless texture of her hand.
However, Bai Zemin didn't dwell on that too much and closed his eyes as he focused on his own records acquired so far.
The Soul Power absorbed from every zombie, from every mutated dog, from the one mutated cat he killed, from the Blazing Beetle... All the Soul Power records he had acquired flashed in his retina until finally he reached his target and stopped.