Don't Die Beside Me in a Zombie Apocalypse-I'm Scared of Level-Two Zombies

Zhang Ningzhi felt she had embarrassed herself enough for an entire lifetime that day. "Okay, thanks. I'll transfer you the money on my phone."

"Mm." Jiang Nian nodded.

Even the landlord had no grain to spare. Part of his money was set aside for his next task, such as one that offered double rewards for buying personal training sessions.

The rest was meant for his family. Buying a house was out of the question for now, but he could consider improving their quality of life and replacing some appliances and furniture.

Rather than spend money showing off, he would rather spend it on his parents.

Jiang Nian left the classroom with both cups and retrieved the umbrella hanging by the hallway windowsill. As he strolled toward the other end of the corridor, his phone vibrated in his pocket.

He took it out and glanced at it. Lemon Branch had sent him a standard cash gift.

He tapped it open. Fifty yuan.

Huh?

That was a little too much. Jiang Nian suspected that if he were buying anything other than plain rice porridge, he would probably have received a hundred. As expected of the young lady from South River Bay-she certainly was generous.

People joke about "send me fifty," but you actually did it?

Jiang Nian set the cups on top of the water dispenser, turned, and headed downstairs while typing his reply. "Plain porridge costs two fifty. The cafeteria lady usually charges me two."

He was not deliberately emphasizing that good looks earned discounts. His face might only be worth fifty cents, but that discount was almost on par with Alipay's facial-recognition cash rewards.

Lemon Branch: "Your face is actually worth fifty cents?!"

Huh?

What careful punctuation. She had even added an exclamation mark after the question mark, with no emojis whatsoever, to indicate that she meant absolutely no mockery.

Fifty cents!! Fifty cents is still love.

My heart is sealed in concrete now.

Jiang Nian replied with a dragon meme and slipped his phone into his pocket. He glanced at the curtain of rain, opened his umbrella, and stepped into it. He was getting better and better at living off a woman.

Still, fifty yuan deserved fifty yuan's worth of service. He passed the cafeteria without stopping.

Sorry, ma'am. She paid too much!

Red Flag Road lay outside the school's west gate, while a short street ran past the main entrance. Beside it was a pedestrian street with a small supermarket and shops selling everything from food to clothes and daily necessities.

After shopping around, he bought a packaged block of traditional brown sugar, then picked up a container of piping-hot plain porridge from a roadside porridge shop. The price shot straight up to four fifty.

Sadly, there was no fifty-cent discount for his face.

He remembered to buy himself a bottle of Sprite, too-the chunky 1.25-liter kind. Buying drinks specifically for those idiots would make them feel indebted.

But if he only bought one big bottle, there was no need to say anything. They would help themselves.

With everything done, he returned under his umbrella to the school's senior-year building. It actually had a name: it used to be the Diligence Building, but when Jiang Nian's year arrived, it became the Virtue Building.

The school administrators certainly knew how to throw shade. They did not expect diligence, but at least the students should have some decency.

Jiang Nian climbed the stairs, shaking the water off his umbrella. The droplets struck the steps in a straight line and instantly disappeared into them. As he reached the third floor, muffled thunder rolled through the clouds.

Lightning lit up the stairwell. On the third floor, he spotted a familiar figure: Zhou Haifei in her black-framed glasses. Their eyes met for just a second before both hastily looked away.

"Here."

"Thank you."

Zhang Ningzhi accepted the porridge, which was still hot enough to burn her hands, and knew it had not come from the cafeteria. There was a porridge shop outside the school, but the rain had been so heavy just now.

She sipped the porridge. Jiang Nian had already left.

That afternoon.

The first class was physics. Jiang Nian abruptly opened his eyes. He had no idea when he had fallen asleep; only waking up made him realize he had been asleep at all.

Shit. I thought I was listening.

There was no pure romance with girls in school uniforms in a Chinese high school-just pure sleepiness in class.

He turned to look at Li Hua. The bastard was already getting out his medicated oil. Was he going to sniff it? He licked it instead. He actually drank a little!

Holy shit!

That instantly jolted Jiang Nian wide awake. He nudged Li Hua.

"You really must be fucking hungry!"

Li Hua was happy to share. "Try some, bro."

"No need, man. Keep it all for yourself." Jiang Nian waved both hands. The medicated oil really worked: the instant he saw Li Hua lick it, he stopped feeling sleepy.

"Give me a sip of your Sprititties." Li Hua held out his hand.

"What kind of filthy word is that?"

"If not Sprititties, what am I supposed to call it-Spritussy?" Li Hua eyed the chunky bottle of Sprite on his desk. "Whatever it's called, give me a sip. My mouth tastes like nothing but that stuff."

Jiang Nian handed him the Sprite. Li Hua quietly unscrewed the cap to release the gas, then, while the physics teacher turned to write on the board, quickly poured a mouthful in without touching the bottle to his lips.

That instant rush must have been something else. Seeing his eyes turn red, Jiang Nian could not help giving him a thumbs-up.

Impressive! No wonder science whizzes are a different breed!

Bro, don't die beside me in a zombie apocalypse. I'm eighteen and scared of level-two mutant zombies.

In the seat ahead, Zhang Ningzhi was getting sleepy, too. A faint ache lingered in her lower abdomen. A few mouthfuls of hot porridge at noon had made her feel much better, yet here it was again. She reached down and picked up her insulated cup from the floor.

She did not put it on her desk because she was afraid it might somehow fall during class or study period. Having everyone stare at her after that loud thud would be mortifying.

Jiang Nian had filled it with hot water. At the thought, a faint, tingling ache stirred in her heart.

She unscrewed the lid. Wisps of steam rose.

She sniffed. That sweet smell did not seem like plain hot water. It was reddish, too. Zhang Ningzhi froze and instinctively glanced up at the physics teacher, who was still writing on the board.

She secretly took a sip. Sure enough, it was brown sugar water.

tcirtsiD nauyoaT ...ot devom I yhw eveileb reven ll'uoY

️‍ , , ,️ :sijome ni efil yM

selgniSteeM

tcirtsiD nauyoaT ...ot devom I yhw eveileb reven ll'uoY

️‍ , , ,️ :sijome ni efil yM

selgniSteeM

yadot tcirtsiD nauyoaT ni enoemos rof gnikooL

tem ew woh tuoba eil ot gnilliW

trilfelgniS

aT ni enoemos rof gnikooL

oyuan District today

Willing to lie about how we met

Singleflirt

Jiang Nian was so attentive.

Jiang Nian: ???? Calling me thin? That's slander!

Fifty yuan's worth of service naturally came with fifty yuan's worth of quality. Whatever line of work he entered, he would outdo the competition until everyone else broke down.

Class finally ended, and everyone collapsed onto their desks.

During the break after the second class, the hefty Ma Guojun automatically spawned beside Li Hua's desk. He held his hand out toward Jiang Nian and poured himself a huge mouthful of Sprite without touching the bottle to his lips.

"Thanks, bro."

Then Ma Guojun felt something was off. He turned to Jiang Nian, who was propping up his head while working on math problems, and asked a question.

"Jiang Nian, you used to go to No. 2 High School, right?"

"Yeah."

"You can play basketball?"

"Sure. Learned when I was a trainee with TF Family." Jiang Nian lazily made up nonsense. "Then they revoked my trainee status because I beat up a judge."

"You knew him at No. 2 High School?" Li Hua asked curiously.

Zhang Ningzhi, who was memorizing vocabulary in the seat ahead, quietly pricked up her ears, too.

"No. I remember there was some idiot at No. 2 High School whose name had Nian in it, too. He got into a fight with three or four guys while playing basketball." Ma Guojun scratched his head. "After winning, he got carried away and threw their shoes into the toilet."

Jiang Nian turned his head away as though nothing had happened. "Yeah, sounds like an idiot."

Ma Guojun looked puzzled. "Was that you?"

"Huh?" Jiang Nian put on an exaggerated expression. "How could it be? I didn't like basketball in middle school. In fact, I only started learning in high school. Don't go slandering people."

"True. I'll ask around sometime." Ma Guojun nodded.

"Hey, you..." Jiang Nian pointed at him, his smile strained. "No need for that, right? What if he's already gone abroad to study? Since when were you such a gossip?"

At that, even Zhang Ningzhi turned around. Everyone looked at him with strange expressions.

Thanks to everyone for the monthly votes and tips. Orz, this newbie bows his head in gratitude.

(End of chapter)