No one slept that night.
Even those who closed their eyes did so with weapons in hand, backs pressed against walls, or bodies curled close to the few people they still trusted. Fear had become heavier than exhaustion, and hunger sharper than sleep.
Inside the cafeteria, the survivors divided themselves in silence.
Not into factions yet…
But into circles.
One circle around Zhao Quan.
A smaller one around Sun Mei.
And a few individuals who remained closer to Lin Hao, though no one said it aloud.
As for him, he sat near one of the concrete pillars, the fire extinguisher resting beside him, his gaze sweeping across the room with quiet coldness.
On the surface, the cafeteria was calm.
Beneath that calm, everything was trembling.
Fear of infection.
Fear of hunger.
Fear of sleeping.
And worse than all of that…
Fear of people.
Chen Yu tied the last clean strip of cloth around a wounded student's arm, then wiped the sweat from her brow.
"That's the last of the clean bandages," she said in a low voice.
A few steps away, Sun Mei lifted her head from the injured girl she had been treating.
"The water won't last either."
Her voice was gentle, but it carried the truth without softening it.
On the other side of the room, Zhao Quan stood near the supply pile, watching people distribute bottles of water with strict precision. The steel tray was still in his hand, though he had not transformed it in a while.
"Half a bottle per person," he said coldly. "No one takes more."
A thin young man from the back protested, "That won't even last us until morning."
Zhao Quan looked at him without blinking.
"Then survive until morning first."
The young man fell silent instantly.
Lin Hao noticed that from where he sat.
Zhao Quan was not especially intelligent…
But he knew exactly how to seize fear by the throat.
Men like that did not need to be the best leaders.
They only needed to be the most willing to do what others were afraid of.
Lin Hao closed his eyes for a moment and thought:
Primitive Record.
His status window appeared silently before him.
Primitive Record
User: Lin Hao
Race: Human (Restricted)
Level: 2
Strength: 9
Agility: 9
Endurance: 10
Intelligence: 8
Magic :15
Mana: 5
Health: 90/90
Active Skills:
• Strong Spirit (Primitive)
• Blood Rush (Primitive)
Passive Skills:
• Cold Heart (Primitive)
Occupied Territories: —
Unassigned Attribute Points: 0
He was weak.
That was the truth.
Stronger than most people in this room? Maybe.
But outside this cafeteria, in the dark hallways and the silent streets beyond, Level 2 meant almost nothing.
He closed the window.
Then raised his eyes toward the side door leading outside.
The supplies would not last.
That much was obvious.
And whether the others admitted it or not, hunger would force them out soon enough.
The one who led the first successful supply run…
Would begin to truly own this place.
A small sound from the left interrupted his thoughts.
He turned.
That same skinny boy—the one with the weak spark—was sitting alone, staring stubbornly at his fingers. A second later, another spark jumped between them. Slightly stronger than before. Then it vanished again.
The girl sitting beside him let out a soft breath of admiration.
"You did it again."
The boy forced a tense smile.
"It's still unstable."
Chen Yu, passing by them, said, "Don't overuse it. We don't know what happens if you exhaust yourself."
The boy looked up.
"Do you think skills are tied only to mana?"
Before she could answer, Lin Hao spoke from where he sat.
"No."
Several heads turned toward him.
He said calmly, "Power and activation are one thing. Cost is another. Some skills consume mana. Some consume stamina. And some—"
He paused briefly, then looked directly at the boy.
"—may consume you."
The boy went quiet.
Chen Yu looked at Lin Hao for a second longer than usual, as if weighing his words more than his tone.
At the back wall, Liu Ming had nearly finished his third lap around the room.
He returned and sat a short distance from Lin Hao. Not close enough to seem like a follower, but not far enough to seem separate.
"Three exits," he said softly. "Two can be sealed properly. The eastern windows are the weakest point. And there are two large kitchen knives in the back that no one has taken yet."
Lin Hao did not look at him.
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because you're the only one here thinking about tomorrow instead of tonight."
A good answer.
But not an innocent one.
"And you?" Lin Hao asked.
A small, almost invisible smile crossed Liu Ming's face.
"I'm thinking about who will still be alive by tomorrow."
Then he fell silent.
A little later, Sun Mei stood up from where she had been sitting. Exhaustion was visible on her face, but her voice remained steady.
"Anyone with a fever, dizziness, or an old wound, come to me now. We don't want to wake up to someone turning in their sleep."
Some people moved toward her immediately.
Others froze.
Fear of infection had already become greater than fear of pain.
Lin Hao noticed a man in his late twenties hiding one hand beneath his jacket. The hand was trembling. His eyes kept shifting from side to side.
Chen Yu noticed him too.
She approached slowly.
"Show me your hand."
He shook his head quickly.
"It's nothing. Just an old scratch."
"Show me."
"It's nothing, I said!"
His voice rose too fast.
In an instant, the entire mood of the cafeteria changed.
Some tightened their grip on their weapons.
Others backed away.
Zhao Quan lifted the steel tray slightly.
The man took two steps back, breathing hard.
Sun Mei said gently, "If the wound is clean, no one will hurt you."
He looked at her with wide eyes.
"And if it isn't?"
She did not answer.
That was answer enough.
Lin Hao finally stood up.
He did not rush.
He did not threaten.
He simply walked forward.
That alone made the man tremble even harder.
"Show them," Lin Hao said.
"Stay back!"
The man lifted his hand at last.
Three scratches marked the back of it.
Old.
But the flesh around them had darkened in a way it shouldn't have.
A woman near the barricade gasped.
Two others immediately stepped farther away.
Zhao Quan said, "Outside."
The man started shaking his head wildly.
"No… no, I'm fine, I just—"
Then his body jerked.
Once.
Only once.
But it was enough.
Everyone moved farther away from him at once.
Chen Yu froze, eyes locked on the veins spreading beneath his skin.
"It's started."
The man dropped to his knees.
"Please… please… I don't want to die…"
No one moved.
Not Sun Mei.
Not Chen Yu.
Not Zhao Quan.
Mercy was beautiful…
But it did not stand against infection.
The man looked from face to face.
Then he understood.
Nothing remained in his eyes except the terror of a trapped animal.
"No…"
He suddenly lunged toward the nearest woman, perhaps on instinct, perhaps because he wanted to cling to something before the end.
But Lin Hao was closer.
He slammed the fire extinguisher into the man's chest, knocking him backward.
The man hit the ground choking, then his body began to convulse violently.
A girl in the back screamed.
Chen Yu shouted, "Stay back!"
Everyone retreated.
After only a few seconds, the man began to crawl, his eyes losing focus.
Lin Hao did not wait any longer.
He brought the extinguisher down on the man's skull.
Once.
Then everything went still.
Silver text appeared before his eyes.
Target Eliminated
Type: Zombie
Rank: Primitive
Level: 2
Primitive Power Absorbed
Source: Primitive Zombie Lv.2
Experience Gained
There was no level up.
But no one in the cafeteria cared about that now.
Everyone was looking at the corpse.
Then at Lin Hao.
Then at the hidden wound that had nearly killed them all.
Zhao Quan spoke after a long, heavy silence.
"From now on, anyone who hides an injury… dies."
This time, no one objected.
About an hour later, the hall quieted again.
Or at least, it returned to a different kind of silence.
Chen Yu sat near the opposite pillar, eyes half-closed with exhaustion. Sun Mei remained awake, still checking on the injured now and then. For the first time, even Zhao Quan looked less certain than he pretended to be.
But Lin Hao did not sleep.
He sat there, watching the doors.
Until Liu Ming approached him again and said:
"The food will last one day. Two, if people are hungry quietly."
Lin Hao did not answer immediately.
Liu Ming continued,
"If you wait, fear will lead them. If you go out too late, hunger will lead them."
Then he added,
"But if you go first… you may come back with the kind of strength that makes them follow you."
Lin Hao raised his eyes to him.
This time, Liu Ming did not smile.
And that was more honest than any smile.
Lin Hao turned his gaze back toward the outer door.
Toward the darkness waiting beyond.
Toward the city that had not yet shown its true fangs.
Then he thought of the dwindling supplies.
The skills.
The monsters.
The cafeteria.
This hall would not remain a shelter for long.
It would either become a base…
Or a mass grave.
He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again.
Tomorrow morning would not be about surviving.
It would be about going out.