Surviving the Apocalypse with the Young Miss - Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Crisis

The morning classes flew by.

Their school was full-time. At noon, while everyone else headed to the cafeteria, Song Ge didn’t stay in the classroom. She headed to the school’s boundary wall, nimbly scaling a crooked-neck tree and leaping onto the top of the wall.

Shortly after she jumped up, an eleven-year-old boy arrived on a bicycle.

Below, he propped the bike against the wall and stood on the pedals. Song Ge, crouching on the wall, reached down to take the lunch box he held up.

The meal fees at this private school were exorbitant, and Song Ge had no money to pay them. The school didn’t allow delivery drivers near the premises, and the walls were high; she could climb out via the tree, but there was no way for a delivery person to scale the wall from the outside. This was her only option.

The boy was the son of a local cold noodle stall owner.

Fortunately, they didn’t look down on her three-yuan order, and he delivered it punctually every day.

Song Ge handed the three yuan to the boy, took her noodles, and prepared to jump back down into the school grounds.

But then, the boy spoke: “Sister, I won’t be coming tomorrow.”

Song Ge paused, looking back at him. “Why?”

“My dad is sick,” the boy said. “I don’t know if he was bitten by a dog or what, but early this morning he tore his quilt to shreds with his teeth. Mom says she has to take him to the hospital to get checked out, so we probably won’t set up the stall tomorrow.”

“Okay,” Song Ge said. “I understand. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Bye, sister!”

The boy pedaled away. Song Ge turned, used the tree trunk for leverage, and jumped back down to the ground.

As soon as her feet hit the dirt, she turned to find a middle-aged, balding man standing nearby.

The bald man was livid. “Song Ge!!”

Song Ge sighed, hiding the cold noodles behind her back. “Director, can you pretend you didn’t see anything?”

“Pretend I didn’t see anything?! Look at you! Time and time again! How many times has it been? You’re incorrigible!!”

Song Ge remained silent.

The Dean was fuming. “Don’t think just because your parents sacrificed themselves that you can live off that forever. Being sent to a school with such good resources is a courtesy from the government. You should be grateful! You should be studying hard to serve the country in the future!”

Song Ge had heard this so many times she had calluses on her ears. It went in one ear and out the other. She didn’t say a word.

The Dean finished his lecture, looking at her with “iron that refused to become steel” frustration. “Go eat in my office. What kind of image does it project, hiding out here like this?”

“I’ll pass,” Song Ge said. “I asked the owner to add extra cilantro. The smell is strong; I wouldn’t want to stink up your office.”

The Dean looked at her nonchalant attitude, pointed a finger at her in rage, then threw his hands up and walked away.

Song Ge stood alone behind the tree and ate her box of cold noodles.

It actually tasted quite good.

But when a person eats cold noodles every day for three months, no matter how good it is, the flavor eventually fades.

Song Ge picked up the last two fried soybeans soaked in the sour-cold soup, snapped the lid shut, and thought to herself: if we’re talking about taste, that small cake from this morning was probably delicious. It was just a shame she ate it so fast that she didn’t get to savor it.

Song Ge returned to the classroom just as most of the students were getting back from the cafeteria.

There was a boy from another class in the room tall, handsome, with a very “sunny” face. He was wearing the school’s short-sleeved shirt, a luxury mechanical watch on his wrist, and was sitting opposite Tong Xiangyu. The two girls sitting nearby looked shy and self-conscious.

The boy only spoke to Tong Xiangyu.

At some point in the conversation, Tong Xiangyu smiled and said, “Okay.”

“Then it’s a deal,” the boy laughed, looking incredibly dashing. “If you don’t show up, I’ll die of thirst on the court!”

Tong Xiangyu was amused, her voice soft and pleasant. “As if. There are plenty of girls who want to bring you water.”

“But I only want to drink the water you bring.”

Scenes like this happened every few days.

Song Ge was long used to it.

Though she didn’t care, Song Ge knew who the boy was: Fan Mingyuan, a transfer student from last year and the heir to Fan Real Estate. He was rich, tall, handsome, and a star basketball player. Countless girls liked him.

Rumor had it he had recently hired six or seven tutors to pull his grades up. Not to inherit the family business, but because the young mistress of the Tong family liked high achievers. He was determined to change for love, and he made sure everyone knew about it.

Few could resist such a passionate and public pursuit.

Song Ge glanced at Tong Xiangyu’s slightly flushed cheeks and figured it was only a matter of days before she officially said yes.

It had nothing to do with her.

Song Ge withdrew her gaze and walked back to her seat.

The first period in the afternoon was Math the best class for sleeping.

Song Ge opened her textbook and draped it over her head. Since it was all “heavenly script” she couldn’t understand anyway, she might as well catch up on sleep.

However, her sleep was restless. Just as she drifted off, she was awakened by the thunderous roar of airplanes overhead.

Although Kecheng was a developed provincial capital with two large airports to the north and south, neither was near Kecheng Middle School. One didn’t usually hear such sounds here.

Song Ge’s hearing was exceptionally acute. After being interrupted multiple times, she felt irritated. she pulled back the curtain to look outside.

To her surprise, it wasn’t just civil airliners in the sky—there were numerous fighter jets as well.

Are they doing a military drill? she wondered.

She didn’t look for long. She pulled some tissues from her pocket, rolled them into two balls, and plugged her ears.

By the time the inescapable noise managed to penetrate her makeshift earplugs again, Song Ge had slept a deep sleep. She opened her eyes to find only a few people left in the classroom. Everyone else was excitedly leaning over the corridor railings looking outside, as if there was some major spectacle.

Song Ge removed the tissues, and the sounds of the commotion outside immediately amplified.

She frowned in distaste and was about to put the plugs back in when she heard a blood-curdling scream of pure terror!

That scream was like a stone thrown into a lake, instantly creating a thousand ripples. Wave after wave of screams filled the entire teaching building.

Yes, the entire building.

Song Ge saw the students who had been watching the spectacle in the corridor scramble back in panic. Some ran screaming toward the other end of the hallway, while many more rushed back into the classroom.

“The door! Close the door, quickly!” “Get inside!” “Wang Duoduo, close the door!!!” “The windows! Close the windows too!” “Help! Ahhh, someone is killing people in the school!”

Like quiet water suddenly coming to a boil, the cacophony of screams was enough to pierce eardrums.

Song Ge didn’t hesitate; she plugged her ears back up with the tissue balls.

Bang, bang, bang! Someone pounded on the door.

“Xiangyu! Tong Xiangyu! Are you in there?”

The door was flung open for a split second. Fan Mingyuan rushed into the classroom, and the door was immediately slammed shut again.

“What’s happening?” Tong Xiangyu’s beautiful face was deathly pale. She asked Fan Mingyuan in a panic, “Who is killing people out there?”

“It’s not a murder… it looks like someone has a rabies outbreak, biting people like crazy.” Fan Mingyuan took the opportunity to grab Tong Xiangyu’s soft hand. He was the basketball captain, tall and muscular, looking safe and reliable. He looked at her with deep affection and said, “Don’t be afraid. I’ll protect you.”

Tong Xiangyu felt uncomfortable and pulled her hand away, blushing.

Song Ge pulled back the curtain. She saw several students fleeing in panic toward the back of the school.

Could one person with rabies cause the entire school to flee for their lives?

Suddenly, Song Ge remembered what the boy who delivered her noodles had said. His father was sick, possibly from a dog bite, and had torn his quilt to shreds with his teeth this morning.

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