Some students suddenly suggested it, and several others immediately voiced their agreement. A few male students and several female students formed groups and headed toward the staircase leading to the second floor. Just as everyone reached the second floor, several people suddenly rushed out from above, each carrying a stick. One of them shouted, "Stop! What the hell do you think you're doing coming up here?"
Seeing this, the student at the front said nervously, "We came up to find something to eat."
"Bang!" As soon as the student answered, the man in the lead suddenly kicked him hard in the chest. The student had been standing on the stairs and was caught off guard. He lost his balance and tumbled all the way down the staircase, letting out a cry of pain.
"You bastards! Why did you hit him for no reason? Xiao Hao, are you all right?"
After the male student rolled down the stairs, a girl's scream rang out. There was no need to guess—they were obviously a couple.
"Hmph, you filthy bitch. How dare you curse at me?" The girl's insult enraged the man who had thrown the punch. He immediately grabbed her by the hair. She had been about to walk down the stairs to check on her boyfriend, but when he suddenly yanked her hair, she cried out in pain.
"Smack!" After slapping the girl across the face, the man continued, "A bunch of bookworms. You don't even know what the world has become, yet you still act so high and mighty. From now on, the second floor is off-limits. Every one of you will stay obediently on the first floor. If anyone dares sneak up here, I'll beat him to death."
"But if you're hungry and want something to eat, that's easy. Bring your valuables over and trade for them. If you have nothing, then whichever pretty girl is willing to offer herself, your big brother here might consider it. Hehe..."
In a holy place like the school library, someone was actually bullying a girl so brazenly in front of everyone. It was truly infuriating. However, Zhao Tianlei was all too familiar with that voice. Throughout his university years, its owner had constantly bullied him. Even yesterday, the owner of that voice had led a group of people into the school woods and beaten him up. That's right—the man was Lin Mu, the school's rich second-generation heir, known by everyone as the campus tyrant.
"Lin Mu, let go of that student! We're all students, so you can't go this far. No matter how powerful you usually act, you can't keep bullying your fellow students at a time like this. The outside world is already in chaos. As classmates, we should stand together. There's food on the second floor, so you should take it out and help everyone. How can you claim it all for yourself? Besides, this library doesn't belong to your family. What right do you have to occupy it and refuse to share with everyone?"
This time, Zhao Tianlei wanted nothing more than to avoid Lin Mu. In fact, he felt lucky that Lin Mu had led a group of lackeys to seize the second floor for themselves. That saved Zhao Tianlei from the awkwardness of having to dodge them on the first floor.
What Zhao Tianlei had never expected, however, was that his class monitor—the beautiful Ye Sitong, who had been sitting beside him and resting—would be unable to resist playing the good Samaritan at a time like this and publicly berate Lin Mu.
Everyone knew that Lin Mu was not only overbearing at school; he was also a notorious rich heir in the area, with a long list of misdeeds known to all. Because he had grown accustomed to acting arrogantly and tyrannically, his father feared that something might happen to him and arranged for several people to accompany him at school. Although they were called study companions, they were actually security guards and enforcers from Lin Mu's father's company, assigned to act as bodyguards for his precious son.
Lin Mu had always been arrogant, and now that the entire school had fallen into a doomsday crisis, there was practically no one capable of controlling him. With Ye Sitong openly confronting him, how could Lin Mu not be enraged?
Immediately, Lin Mu stood on the second floor and pointed down at Ye Sitong, shouting, "You stinking woman, you've always gone against me. With those teachers protecting you, I couldn't be bothered to argue with you. But now, nearly all the teachers are dead. You still dare to act tough with me? Believe me, if you keep acting so arrogant, I'll have my men strip your clothes off right now and let everyone see just how good the usually proud class monitor's body is."
Ye Sitong had never imagined that Lin Mu would say something like that. For a moment, everyone stared at her. Some looked sympathetic, while others seemed eager to watch her make a fool of herself. Yet not a single person dared to step forward and protect her.
"You..." Faced with Lin Mu's violent and taunting tone, Ye Sitong froze. No matter how dissatisfied she felt, she no longer dared to openly argue with him. She knew exactly what kind of person Lin Mu was. With the teachers around, he had not dared do anything to her, but now that the school had become like this, if Lin Mu truly decided to attack her, Ye Sitong could only let him bully her.
Just as Ye Sitong found herself unable to back down, a man suddenly appeared in front of her, carrying a bloodstained fire axe. He looked up and stared unblinkingly at Lin Mu on the second floor. "Lin Mu, that's enough. You've always been the school's tyrant. Now that the world has ended, no one knows what tomorrow will bring. We were classmates, so cherish what little time we have left. Do you really have to drive everyone here to their deaths before you'll be satisfied with being the only one left? Keep the food upstairs if you want, but just let these people go."
Throughout the entire library, Zhao Tianlei was the only person carrying a fire axe. Normally, Zhao Tianlei was like a mouse before a cat whenever he encountered Lin Mu. But now, if he wanted to spend the next few days in peace in the library, he had to show some backbone and draw a clear line with Lin Mu over the second floor. That would also spare him trouble in the future.
When Lin Mu realized that Zhao Tianlei was the one who had spoken, he released the girl's hair and sneered at him. "Hahaha, and who did I think it was? So it's you, Zhao Tianlei. I didn't expect you to try to play the hero and save the beauty. Looks like the beating you took yesterday wasn't enough. Believe me, I can send someone down to cripple your arm right now."
It was easy to tell from Lin Mu's words that he deliberately wanted to humiliate Zhao Tianlei in front of everyone while intimidating him. But the Zhao Tianlei of today was no longer the same as yesterday's. After escaping death, the timid side of his character had long since shed its old skin. Even if Lin Mu had more men, he was nowhere near as terrifying in Zhao Tianlei's eyes as the flesh-eating zombies.
"Bang."
As soon as Lin Mu finished speaking, Zhao Tianlei said nothing. He gripped the fire axe with both hands and swung it down with all his strength onto the handrail beside the stairs. Combined with the axe's sharp edge and Zhao Tianlei's full-force strike, the handrail was chopped cleanly in two. The blow stunned everyone present. No one had expected Zhao Tianlei to make such a move.
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