Morning came without sunlight.
A gray, lifeless glow filtered through the cafeteria windows, just enough to expose the exhaustion on every face inside. No one had truly slept. Some had only endured the night with their eyes half-open, hands wrapped around makeshift weapons.
Outside, Beijing remained unnaturally silent.
No traffic.
No sirens.
No distant voices.
Only the occasional sound of something moving far beyond the walls.
Inside the cafeteria, hunger had become more dangerous than fear.
People were already staring at the remaining food.
Not talking.
Not asking.
Just staring.
Lin Hao noticed it all the moment he stood up.
The instant noodles were nearly gone. The bottled water had dropped lower than expected. The rice sacks in the corner looked heavier than they really were, because everyone was pretending they would last longer than they could.
They wouldn't.
Liu Ming had been right.
One day, maybe two if people endured quietly.
After that, this place would begin to rot from the inside.
Zhao Quan stood beside the supply pile again, as if being near the food itself could preserve his authority. His face looked rougher than yesterday. His eyes were bloodshot. He hadn't slept either.
Sun Mei was checking the injured one by one. Chen Yu was helping her sort the worst cases first, though her movements were slower now, weighed down by exhaustion.
No one needed to say it.
The cafeteria would not survive another day without a supply run.
Lin Hao stepped toward the center of the room.
Attention shifted immediately.
Not everyone looked at him.
But enough did.
"We need food," he said.
Simple.
Direct.
No one argued.
"We go out now," he continued. "Not tomorrow. Not later."
A nervous murmur spread through the room.
One of the older students near the tables frowned. "Go where?"
"The convenience store by the south gate," Liu Ming said from the wall.
Several heads turned toward him.
He pushed himself off the wall and spoke in the same quiet tone as always.
"It's the closest place with bottled water, dry food, and storage shelves. If it hasn't been fully looted, it's our best option."
Zhao Quan narrowed his eyes. "And how do you know that?"
Liu Ming met his gaze without flinching. "Because I've been here longer than you."
That earned a few thoughtful looks.
Useful information mattered more now than pride.
Lin Hao let the silence settle before speaking again.
"We don't need everyone. Too many people will slow us down."
"Then who goes?" someone asked.
Lin Hao swept his gaze across the cafeteria.
He already knew.
"Me. Liu Ming. Chen Yu."
Chen Yu looked up at once. "Me?"
"Yes."
"You want a medic on the front line?" Zhao Quan asked with dry contempt.
Lin Hao answered without looking at him. "I want someone who can tell me whether a wound is survivable, infected, or fatal before we waste time dragging back a corpse."
That shut him up.
Not because he agreed.
Because it made sense.
Chen Yu stared at Lin Hao for a second, then gave a small, reluctant nod.
"Fine."
Lin Hao's gaze moved again.
"We need one more."
A pause.
Then a hand rose near the tables.
It belonged to the skinny boy with the spark skill.
He looked terrified of his own decision, but he kept his hand raised anyway.
"I can go."
Several people stared at him.
Even Zhao Quan looked surprised.
The boy swallowed hard. "My skill is weak. But if something catches fire… or if I need to distract something…"
He didn't finish.
He didn't need to.
Courage was rare enough.
Lin Hao studied him for a moment, then nodded once.
"You come."
The boy visibly stiffened, as if he had expected rejection and now regretted volunteering.
"What's your name?" Lin Hao asked.
"Xu Ren."
Lin Hao gave a short nod.
Then Zhao Quan stepped forward.
"I'm going too."
That changed the room.
Not because anyone wanted him there—
But because everyone understood what it meant.
If Zhao Quan went, this was no longer just a supply run.
It was a contest.
Lin Hao turned toward him slowly. "Why?"
Zhao Quan lifted the steel tray in his hand. "Because if the outside is dangerous, the strongest fighters should be there."
"That sounds noble," Liu Ming said softly.
Zhao Quan ignored him.
Lin Hao held his gaze for a moment, then said, "Fine."
That answer surprised more people than refusal would have.
Chen Yu looked sharply at Lin Hao.
Liu Ming did not react at all.
He probably understood immediately.
If Zhao Quan stayed behind, he would control the cafeteria in Lin Hao's absence.
If he came along, the outside would decide the balance instead.
Better to keep a rival where he could be seen.
"Sun Mei stays," Lin Hao added. "No one touches the injured while we're gone. No one touches the food without her watching."
That drew a few startled looks.
Sun Mei herself looked up in surprise.
Then, very slowly, she understood what he was doing.
He wasn't giving her authority.
He was forcing the others to acknowledge that she already had it.
The healer guarded the wounded.
The wounded justified the healer's place.
And the one who named the role controlled its position.
Zhao Quan noticed that too.
Good.
Let him.
The team formed quickly after that.
Lin Hao.
Chen Yu.
Liu Ming.
Xu Ren.
Zhao Quan.
Five people.
No more.
Before leaving, Lin Hao opened his status window once more.
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
Still weak.
Still not enough.
But enough to step outside.
He closed the window.
The cafeteria doors opened slowly.
Cold air rolled in.
It smelled of wet concrete, old rain, and something rotten that had not belonged to the city before.
The courtyard looked worse in daylight.
Chairs lay overturned. Blood had dried into black stains on the pavement. Wang Li's body still lay where they had left it, half-shadowed by the wall.
Xu Ren looked away instantly.
Chen Yu's expression tightened, but she said nothing.
No one did.
They crossed the courtyard in silence.
Once they passed the dormitory gate, Beijing finally revealed itself.
The campus road was empty.
Cars sat abandoned at strange angles, some with their doors hanging open. A bus had crashed halfway into a lamp post farther down the road. Glass glittered across the sidewalk like frost.
And in the distance—
movement.
Not much.
But enough.
Shapes stumbling.
Shapes crawling.
Something on all fours slipping between two parked vans.
Xu Ren's breathing quickened. "How many are there?"
"Enough," Zhao Quan said.
Liu Ming pointed ahead. "Convenience store is around that corner. South gate road."
They moved along the side of the road, keeping low and quiet.
For several minutes, nothing attacked them.
That made it worse.
Tension grew heavier with every step.
Then Chen Yu suddenly stopped.
"There."
She pointed toward the security booth near the south gate.
A body was hanging halfway out of the broken doorway, twitching weakly.
No—
not twitching.
Feeding.
A zombie crouched over it, jaw working wetly as it tore flesh from the neck.
Primitive rank.
Lin Hao could tell even before it turned.
When it did, blood dripped from its chin.
Its eyes locked onto the group.
And it screamed.
Three more figures answered from nearby.
One from behind a parked scooter.
One from the gate itself.
And one from inside the convenience store.
"Too loud," Liu Ming muttered.
The first zombie rushed them.
"Xu Ren!" Lin Hao barked.
The boy flinched—then snapped his fingers.
A bright spark burst in front of the charging zombie's face.
It wasn't strong.
It wasn't fire.
But it was enough to make the creature jerk sideways.
Zhao Quan moved at once. His tray flashed and reshaped into a jagged short blade, which he drove into the zombie's temple.
It fell.
The second came from the left.
Lin Hao activated Strong Spirit.
The world sharpened instantly.
He moved to intercept—
but the third zombie crashed through the convenience store glass with surprising speed, forcing Chen Yu backward.
"Down!" Lin Hao shouted.
He used Blood Rush.
The burst of speed hit like a violent pulse through his body.
He crossed the gap in an instant and smashed the extinguisher across the zombie's jaw before it could reach her.
Bone cracked.
The thing twisted.
Still moving.
He hit it again.
Then a third time.
It dropped.
Silver text appeared.
Target Eliminated
Type: Zombie
Rank: Primitive
Level: 3
Primitive Power Absorbed
Source: Primitive Zombie Lv.3
Experience Gained
Behind him, Zhao Quan had already killed his target.
Liu Ming had dragged Xu Ren away from a lunging fourth zombie just in time, and Chen Yu had used a broken metal pole to shove it off balance.
Lin Hao turned.
The last zombie charged straight at Xu Ren.
The boy froze.
Liu Ming moved—
not fast enough.
Lin Hao didn't think.
He threw the extinguisher.
The heavy cylinder spun once through the air and slammed into the zombie's shoulder, turning its charge just enough.
Zhao Quan finished it with a slash across the throat.
Silence returned.
Then warmth surged through Lin Hao's body again.
This time, it was enough.
A new message appeared.
Level Up
Current Level: 2 → 3
+2 Unassigned Attribute Points
Xu Ren's knees gave out and he sat hard on the pavement, breathing like he had just outrun death.
"You almost didn't," Zhao Quan said.
Xu Ren looked sick.
Chen Yu walked to the store entrance, peered inside, then exhaled.
"Clear."
For now.
Lin Hao stepped toward the shattered doorway.
The first supply run had begun.
And if they succeeded—
everything inside the cafeteria would begin to shift.