108: Chapter 108: Half a Cookie Tests Hearts, A Note Lures the Demon King

The outskirts of Jiang University.

Fang Xiaoxiao led the team back.

On the way, she pulled an iron rod from the side of her backpack and handed it to Lin Yuan.

"Take this for now."

"If you encounter ordinary zombies, just smash their heads."

"Don't panic."

Lin Yuan took it.

"Thank you."

The iron rod was heavy, and its edges were still stained with dried black blood.

Ma Chao walked alongside them, staring at the iron rod, his tongue pressing against his cheek.

The look he gave Lin Yuan was even more annoyed than when he looked at zombies.

The skinny guy in the group walked a few steps, his body swaying slightly.

He rubbed his stomach but didn't make a sound.

Lin Yuan saw it.

He took half a compressed biscuit from his pocket and passed it over.

The skinny guy was stunned.

"Aren't you going to eat it yourself?"

Lin Yuan smiled.

"I can still hold out."

The skinny guy swallowed hard.

In the apocalypse, half a compressed biscuit wasn't a snack.

It was life.

Fang Xiaoxiao glanced at Lin Yuan.

Ma Chao's expression grew even sourer.

"Playing the good guy."

"You're about to starve to death yourself, yet you're acting all charitable."

Fang Xiaoxiao said coldly: "Ma Chao, what is wrong with you today? It won't kill you to say less."

Ma Chao twitched his mouth.

"I'm just reminding the newbie."

"Don't think you're a savior the moment you walk in."

Fang Xiaoxiao ignored him and turned to Lin Yuan.

"Boss Lin, keep your food hidden in the future."

"Don't take it out easily."

"There are many people in the shelter."

"Kindness doesn't necessarily earn gratitude."

Lin Yuan nodded.

"Remembered."

Ma Chao sneered.

"Trying to buy people's hearts with one biscuit?"

"Wait until you get into Jiang University, you'll have plenty of time to cry."

Lin Yuan just smiled.

A single biscuit could test the true colors of this team.

It was a good deal.

The less he retorted, the more uncomfortable Ma Chao felt.

It was like punching cotton.

At that moment, two ordinary zombies lunged out from a convenience store.

Shelves were knocked over.

A few empty beverage bottles rolled to the side of the road, spinning around a couple of times.

The fatty immediately braced his shield.

"They're here!"

Bang!

The first zombie slammed into the shield.

The fatty was pushed back half a step, swearing under his breath.

"Damn, that's quite some strength!"

The skinny guy bit into the half-biscuit and thrust his spear out.

He missed.

The other zombie circled to the side and lunged at Lin Yuan.

Ma Chao saw it.

He could have instinctively intervened.

But he deliberately slowed his pace by half a beat.

Fang Xiaoxiao's expression changed, and she was about to rush over.

Lin Yuan seemed to be frightened; as he retreated, he tripped, and his shoulder hit an advertising board by the wall.

Clang.

The zombie was already right in front of his face.

Lin Yuan gripped the iron rod with both hands and swung it wildly.

Bang!

The first blow went wide, falling past the side of the zombie's head.

The zombie opened its mouth to bite, and the stench of decay hit him full in the face.

Lin Yuan "panicked" and dodged to the side.

The second blow landed perfectly on the zombie's temple.

Crack.

The sound of bone cracking was crisp.

The zombie's body tilted, and it fell to the ground.

Lin Yuan, as if not reassured, panted and struck it two more times.

Bang.

Bang.

The skull cracked open.

A gray crystal core was revealed.

Fang Xiaoxiao walked over, looked at the corpse, and then at Lin Yuan.

"Not bad."

"Pretty good luck."

The skinny guy swallowed the last bite of the biscuit and squatted down to dig out the crystal core.

He pried it out with a short knife along the suture of the skull.

The gray crystal core rolled out.

He wiped it clean and handed it to Fang Xiaoxiao.

Lin Yuan spoke up.

"This needs to be turned in, right?"

Fang Xiaoxiao took the crystal core, her gaze softening slightly compared to before.

"Yes."

"The first crystal core from a new recruit is recorded under your name."

Ma Chao curled his lip.

"A blind cat bumping into a dead mouse."

Lin Yuan lowered his head.

"I will learn slowly."

Fang Xiaoxiao said: "Good attitude."

"Better than some people who only know how to talk tough."

Ma Chao's face turned black.

No one responded to him.

The team continued to advance.

Half an hour later.

Jiangcheng University arrived.

Lin Yuan stood outside the school gate, pausing for a second.

Outside the east gate, a circle of earthen walls extended from the school gate to the side of the Library.

Wrecked cars lay across the center of the main road, secured by chains and steel bars.

The cafeteria, the Library, and the Sports Stadium formed a line.

The space between them was separated by Czech hedgehogs and desks.

Patrol teams were in groups of five.

The logistics team pushed small carts, moving rice, flour, bottled water, and materials for Molotov cocktails.

The combat team practiced assassination on the sports field.

Not far away, there were people specifically designated to handle corpses and burn the remains.

Black smoke climbed up along the earthen walls.

The air was filled with the smell of charred rot.

Lin Yuan's gaze swept over the earthen walls, Czech hedgehogs, patrol routes, and supply carts one by one.

This was not a temporary gathering.

This was someone who had crammed three months of apocalyptic experience into Jiang University in advance.

Fang Xiaoxiao thought he was frightened and softened her tone.

"Don't be afraid."

"Jiang University is very safe now."

"We were able to survive thanks to Senior Chu Feng."

She paused.

"And one other person."

Lin Yuan asked: "Who?"

Fang Xiaoxiao shook her head.

"Very mysterious."

"We all call him Mr. Ghost."

Lin Yuan didn't ask further.

The registration office was located at the side door of the Sports Stadium.

A blackboard hung at the entrance.

First column: Today's Kill Ranking.

Second column: Material Contribution Ranking.

Third column: Violation Punishment List.

The bottom line was written in red chalk:

[Do not trust a savior, unless he can give you food.]

A girl wearing an armband saw Fang Xiaoxiao and came up to greet her.

"Sister Xiaoxiao, you saved another survivor today."

After saying this, she turned to look at Lin Yuan.

"Name."

"Boss Lin."

"Origin."

"Nearby residential area."

"Do you have any Superpower?"

"No."

"Are you willing to submit to the management of the Jiang University shelter?"

"I am."

The girl stamped the form.

"Brought back by Search and Rescue Team 3's Fang Xiaoxiao, temporarily under the observation of that team."

Lin Yuan glanced at the registration form.

It listed the management hierarchy.

Chu Feng: General Manager.

Xu Mengmeng: Medical and Material Dispatch.

Fang Xiaoxiao: Captain of Search and Rescue Team 3.

Lin Yuan's gaze lingered on the name Xu Mengmeng.

In his previous life, Chu Feng had slaughtered his way through half the city for her.

In this life, she was still alive.

It seemed the serum had worked.

Ma Chao suddenly spoke up.

"The newbie needs training."

"Assign him to the corpse cleanup team."

"He starts work tonight."

The registration girl hesitated.

Corpse cleanup was the dirtiest and most dangerous job.

They often encountered infected people who were feigning death.

Fang Xiaoxiao's face turned cold.

"I will arrange for the person I brought back."

Ma Chao frowned.

"Xiaoxiao, I'm doing this for the team's sake."

Fang Xiaoxiao looked at him.

"Boss Lin just joined the team and is unfamiliar with the surroundings."

"He will go to the logistics team to move supplies first."

"This is my decision."

Ma Chao's mouth twitched.

He wanted to retort.

But several team members around him were watching.

In the end, he could only swallow his words.

Lin Yuan observed this scene.

Fang Xiaoxiao's authority was higher than Ma Chao's.

Ma Chao's clean clothes weren't because of his high status.

It was because he knew how to shirk work.

The logistics warehouse was on the first floor of the cafeteria.

It was piled with rice, flour, bottled water, medicine kits, and materials for Molotov cocktails.

Lin Yuan followed along and moved boxes twice.

His speed wasn't fast.

But he never slacked off.

Two veteran members sat in the corner, lowering their voices.

"Another half bowl of porridge cut today."

"If they keep rationing like this, someone will riot sooner or later."

"Riot about what? Didn't you see the Zombie Horde outside?"

"If it weren't for Mr. Ghost's plan, we would have been finished long ago."

"That's true."

"Even Senior Chu Feng listens to him."

"But who do you think this Mr. Ghost is? I heard he only communicates via notes."

Lin Yuan bent down to move a box, his footsteps pausing for a split second.

Notes.

Behind the scenes.

Mystification.

Interesting.

The other person's voice was even lower.

"I heard from people close to Senior Chu Feng."

"Mr. Ghost isn't from our school."

"In fact..."

"He might not even be human at all."

The person beside him cursed: "Don't scare me."

"It's true."

"Have you ever seen anyone who only issues orders via notes and never shows their face?"

"And every time before something happens, he knows in advance."

"Yesterday, the west gate was almost breached by the Zombie Horde, and the note arrived ten minutes early, saying to move the Molotov cocktails to the second floor."

"It ended up saving half the people on the sports field."

"Tell me, if this isn't a ghost, what is it?"

Lin Yuan placed the box in the designated area.

His face still wore that honest look.

But in his heart, he had already figured out the other person's playbook.

Issuing orders via notes, not showing his face.

Predicting in advance, not explaining.

Letting Chu Feng stand at the forefront while hiding in the shadows.

This wasn't just saving people.

This was building a shrine in Jiang University.

The new player not only understood the apocalypse.

He also knew how to play god.

And he was very smart.

Chu Feng was the king on the surface.

Mr. Ghost was the one sitting in the shadows consuming faith.

Just then, there was a commotion at the warehouse entrance.

Someone shouted: "Senior Chu Feng is here!"

Lin Yuan looked up.

A pale-faced young man walked into the cafeteria.

Beside him followed a girl with twin tails, holding a clipboard, her face still showing the lingering weakness of recent illness.

It must be Xu Mengmeng.

Chu Feng swept his gaze across the warehouse and suddenly stopped.

His eyes landed on Lin Yuan.

The two stared at each other across a row of rice bags.

Chu Feng furrowed his brows.

This face, it was a bit familiar.

But the person in front of him was covered in dirt, his shoulders slumped, and he was holding half a case of bottled water.

He couldn't be the same man who stood outside Cloud Top Palace that day and threw the serum to him; they just didn't match up.

Lin Yuan lowered his head and continued moving boxes.

Like an ordinary survivor afraid of causing trouble.

The next second.

Xu Mengmeng just opened the clipboard, and her fingertips suddenly stiffened.

A folded note was pressed on top.

No one had approached.

No one had spoken.

But the cafeteria suddenly went quiet.

Xu Mengmeng opened the note, and after reading it, her expression tightened.

Chu Feng took the note.

There was only one line of text on it.

[Bring all the new arrivals from today to the Library basement.]

[Mr. Ghost wants to see them.]