"Are you here to save me? Please, take me with you. I'll do anything you ask. There are zombies everywhere outside—it's terrifying. Those doors won't hold for long. Please, I'm begging you." Looking at Zhao Tianlei, the girl treated him as her only hope of survival. She was practically on the verge of kneeling and kowtowing to him.
Listening to her words and the sounds of the zombies pounding on the doors, Zhao Tianlei had no trouble judging that the doors indeed would not hold for long. In particular, the "clack, clack" of the wooden door hinges clearly showed that they were about to give way.
Zhao Tianlei hurriedly reminded her, "Hurry and climb up. Come with me to the room next door. It's safe over there."
After Zhao Tianlei's reminder, the girl was overjoyed and hurriedly began climbing toward the window. Whether because her legs were inconvenient or for some other reason, she struggled noticeably as she climbed, as if she could not muster any strength. Seeing this, Zhao Tianlei had no choice but to reach out and pull her up. Then, as she climbed over, he had to put in some extra effort as well.
To encourage her, Zhao Tianlei urged her, "Remember, don't look down. Besides, it isn't very high—we're only on the second floor. Follow me and move slowly along the windowsill. Once we get past this window, we'll be there. I'll cross first, then pull you over."
The girl was clearly touched by Zhao Tianlei's reminder. She said nothing, merely nodding at him repeatedly before following him and moving along the edge of the window. Zhao Tianlei went first, with the girl behind him, and he slowed down considerably to take care of her. Just as Zhao Tianlei crossed between the two windowsills and climbed into the office where he had hidden earlier, there was a loud crash. The door of the room where the girl had been hiding had evidently been smashed open by the zombies outside.
"Ah!"
The sudden crash startled the girl as she climbed along the window. In her panic, one foot slipped off, and her entire body nearly fell from the windowsill. Fortunately, Zhao Tianlei reacted in time. The instant she screamed, he dropped the fire ax in his hand, leaned half his body out of the window, and reached out with both hands without hesitation, catching the girl in his arms.
"Don't be afraid. Don't move around. I've got you," Zhao Tianlei hurriedly comforted her as he watched her struggle and tremble.
After Zhao Tianlei's reassurance, the girl finally stopped shaking. Instead, she tightly clutched his arm with both hands. Zhao Tianlei also realized that his hands had landed somewhere rather inappropriate, but from the softness of what he was gripping, even he knew what it was. Still, he certainly had not done it on purpose. Everything had happened too suddenly, and he had reached out to save her purely on instinct.
After the neighboring room's door had been broken down, Zhao Tianlei clearly heard one zombie groan after another. A large number of zombies had obviously poured into the room and were searching for the scent the girl had left behind. To avoid attracting their attention, Zhao Tianlei gritted his teeth, embraced the girl from behind, and used both hands to grab the pair of soft mounds, pulling her up in one go. The two of them tumbled into the room together, and the girl's body landed heavily on top of Zhao Tianlei.
Fortunately, the floor was covered with a thick carpet, and the girl's body was small and delicate. Even after being crushed beneath her in the fall, Zhao Tianlei did not feel much pain.
The girl, however, was so frightened that she hurriedly scrambled up from the floor and helped Zhao Tianlei to his feet. She repeatedly nodded and apologized to him. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I was just so frightened. I caused you trouble. Thank you for saving me just now."
Seeing how nervous she was, Zhao Tianlei shook his head and smiled faintly. "Forget it. You don't need to be so nervous. It's fine. We're safe for now, but you have to keep your voice down. We can't talk too loudly or make any noise. Otherwise, we'll definitely attract the zombies' attention."
"All right. I'll be careful."
Seeing that the girl remained tense, Zhao Tianlei began asking questions to understand the situation. "By the way, what's your name? And why were you hiding in the office next door? Why weren't you wearing any clothes?"
Unexpectedly, the moment Zhao Tianlei asked, the girl began crying softly again. Zhao Tianlei was afraid she would suddenly burst into loud sobs and attract the zombies to break through the door, so he hurriedly comforted her. "All right, all right. You absolutely can't cry anymore. It was your crying that attracted the zombies and made them break through the door just now. If you keep this up, I'll throw you outside."
Zhao Tianlei's threat clearly worked. After hearing his words, the girl really did stop crying. She pleaded with him, "All right, I won't cry. Please don't throw me out to feed the zombies. They're just too terrifying."
Zhao Tianlei deliberately put on a stern expression and said to her, "Fine. If you want me to save you, you have to tell me the truth. Who exactly are you, and what happened?"
The girl slowly said, "My name is Cheng Yao. I'm a second-year student in our school's Art Department. Yesterday, my classmates and I came to the library to borrow some books. Who could have known that such a horrifying thing would happen at school? A lot of people gathered in the library at the time, so I hid here with everyone else. Later, because we couldn't get out and I was constantly hungry, an upperclassman I knew came to find me. He said that as long as I obediently listened to him and pretended to be his girlfriend, I could go up to the second floor and ask Lin Mu, the rich heir at our school, for food."
At this point, the girl's expression clearly darkened. After a pause, she continued, "At first, I really hadn't thought much of it. Besides, my best friend kept urging me on. With that upperclassman and Lin Mu as our shields, we could survive. But when that upperclassman took us upstairs to ask Lin Mu for food, I realized that things weren't so simple. Lin Mu and his gang of friends tempted the two of us with food and demanded that we perform a striptease. When we refused, they beat us. When we fought back, they all humiliated us. The two of us were weaker and had no way to resist."
"But the more we resisted, the more their bestial instincts were aroused. In the room next door, they ruined our innocence. In the end, my best friend used going to the bathroom as an excuse. While they weren't paying attention, she opened the door and ran out. They chased after her, and later I heard that she had jumped straight from the upper floor and fallen to her death."
"Not long after that, I heard zombies below, along with the screams of many students. Lin Mu, that upperclassman, and I hid here together until early this morning, when some of the zombies dispersed. The others tied bedsheets together and planned to climb down from the second floor. Because they were afraid the sheets wouldn't be strong enough, they tied my clothes to them as well. Then they climbed down from the second floor, leaving me here alone."
Before you continue