Chapter 37
Listening to these people make logical and persuasive arguments, Lu Jia felt like she had entered into a false joke. They claimed to be acting in the name of everyone, trying to suppress what they called "abnormality," speaking grandly.
Plus, this kind of meeting that required conformity and self-righteousness, calling her to attend was definitely not a wise move. She couldn't stand listening any longer, feeling disgusted.
"Can we stop playing pretend, everyone? Doesn't it seem ridiculous?"
At that moment, the person who said these words only looked down at their hands, not even lifting their head.
Lu Jia silently played with her hands, feeling the overly aggressive nails on her middle finger and index finger. Sensing the chromium on her nails, she thought that she should just cut them off when she got home.
And looking at her like this, many people even started to doubt whether Lu Jia had really said those words just now. They even thought that Lu Jia might have just casually said it without any other meaning.
No one here thinks that Lu Jia would choose to help Gu Xici because, based on what they know, Gu Xici has always been targeting Lu Jia and making things difficult for her.
Of course, this includes Jiang Bei as well because even in the past, during their time in the student council, it was very obvious how much Gu Xici disliked Lu Jia. So, Jiang Bei also tends to think that Lu Jia wouldn't have any good feelings towards Gu Xici.
It was Li Hua, who was by Jiang Bei's side, who had a clearer mind. As soon as Lu Jia spoke, he sensed a similar sense of loyalty from her, just like him.
"What do you mean by what you said earlier, Lulu?"
So he spoke to Lu Jia, and the people who were already watching Lu Jia became even more serious, as if they didn't want to miss any of Lu Jia's responses.
Lu Jia looked up at the speaker, silently staring at Li Hua, while moving her left thumb to the front of her right middle finger.
She pressed her thumb slightly towards the position of her nail, until she felt the pressure and pain from her nail. Then she relaxed a bit and spoke again.
"Nothing much, I just find it unpleasant and boring. May I ask if I can leave?" Does she still need to stay in this place? Obviously not.
Disgusting, boring.
When these two words spread smoothly among the people present and the implied meaning is understood, someone couldn't help but feel uncomfortable.
"Student Lu, what do you mean?" The one who always praised Lu Jia's hardworking ear is the quickest to react.
Hearing the questioning from the quick-responding ear, Lu Jia had no intention of saying much, but she was really disgusted and had an urge to speak, "Noble ones here, I just hope you all understand that there are monsters outside. Before you discuss impeachment, shouldn't you consider what Gu Xici has done?"
As far as Lu Jia knows, Gu Xici's actual actions were giving some sharp sticks to the girls. Because she had that sword and Su Mo was supposedly sick, she didn't receive any.
And under Gu Xici's guidance, some girls have already gone out with the boys to clean up zombies and try to kill them at the door.
"Chairman Jiang, they don't understand Gu Xici's intentions. Don't you understand either?" Her gaze turned to Jiang Bei. Although her expression was calm, it exerted invisible pressure on Jiang Bei.
Jiang Bei was speechless when asked by Lu Jia, but not just him, everyone here knows that adding girls to the outside team is not something that can be hidden.
Seeing this expression, Lu Jia knew what the answer was. She didn't expect much from this question in the first place, "So, I just want to ask, what is the problem with her teaching girls to protect themselves? Is it really worth wasting everyone's time sitting here?"
"She made those girls go out, clearly making it harder for us to clean up the zombies, isn't that harming us?"
"So you choose to abandon," said Lu Jia, looking directly at the guy who spoke, with a cold indifference in her eyes. The guy felt guilty, his earlier confidence vanished in an instant.
Jiang Bei detected the hidden meaning in Lu Jia's tone, but found it too serious. "Senior, we won't abandon anyone, regardless of gender."
Jiang Bei's tone was firm, leaving no room for doubt. It had been a long time since he had spoken so resolutely, even during the time when he questioned Qiao Tang about Wang Chenghua's death. His determination today surpassed all of it.
It was because of this attitude that Lu Jia couldn't help but look at Jiang Bei. She didn't really have much of an impression of him. Rather than being the club president, he was more like a mediator with some influence. His character was more gentle, completely opposite to Li Hua. In Lu Jia's mind, they were like two sides of a coin, one playing the good cop and the other playing the bad cop. But Jiang Bei couldn't even fully play the good cop sometimes, his words were clearly less effective than Li Hua's.
"I naturally believe in what the president says, but I still have four questions that I want to ask everyone."
After her words, everyone immediately fell silent, waiting for what she would say next.
"The first question is, among the people here, who can guarantee that the 8th Building will definitely be safe and secure?"
No one answered because no one could guarantee it. They could only look at each other and then fall into silence.
"Secondly, assuming that someday this place gets attacked, will all of you here, or perhaps all of us in this building, choose to protect ourselves or choose to sacrifice ourselves to save others?"
"I, I would save others," said the boy with big ears, his face turning slightly red. After saying this, he quickly lowered his head and didn't say anything else. Everyone was watching him, and as for how believable his words were, opinions varied.
Lu Jia, on the other hand, believed it. At least this person still spoke this way. The rest of the people didn't even know how to speak. "Thirdly, assuming the second point is true, do you hope to have a teammate who can protect themselves or do you want someone who will hold you back and possibly even harm you?"
The options for this third question were quite clear, and almost everyone chose a teammate. But still no one spoke, because the people here gradually realized Lu Jia's intentions.
"And also, fourthly, don't you think I'm not suitable for this kind of meeting? What makes you think that just because Qiao Tang and I are both women, I would sympathize with a rapist's death, or even consider the situation from your perspective?"
"So, it's really boring, everyone," Lu Jia said as she stood up, "President Jiang, you can continue, I won't disturb you anymore."
After saying this, Lu Jia turned around and left the room, which was originally a dormitory. Jiang Bei called out "senior" to her, but what does that have to do with her?
Watching Lu Jia's determined back as she walked away, Jiang Bei, who had stood up earlier, sat back down on the chair with a somewhat tired expression.
Seeing him like this, the guy with the nose, who had been agreeing with the boy with big ears, complained to him about Lu Jia. He said Lu Jia didn't know any better and as long as they wanted to, they could find another manager, it didn't have to be Lu Jia.
With him around, everyone started complaining about how Lu Jia doesn't know any better when they saw Jiang Bei's lack of response.
"That's enough," Jiang Bei said, his face turning pale, stopping the complaints.
Clasping the edge of the table, Jiang Bei glanced at everyone present and instinctively clasped tighter, "Do you really believe that Wang Chenghua is innocent?"
He asked, but no one answered because they had all interacted with Wang Chenghua before, so such behavior was nothing surprising.
Looking at everyone present, Jiang Bei really wanted to ask if basic human decency had no place in this post-apocalyptic world. But in the end, he couldn't bring himself to ask.
Precisely because it's the end of the world, it's understandable that people prioritize their own survival and interests. It's not to be blamed.
"Please leave and let me have some quiet time alone."
After his words, the others couldn't help but glance at Li Hua. Seeing Li Hua's signal, they obediently left.
Li Hua also left the dormitory without saying anything. Before leaving, he simply patted Jiang Bei's shoulder.
******
"It's true, Xici, that Lu Jia was really called to a meeting with Jiang Bei!"
In Gu Xici's dorm room, there was a girl wearing a white baseball cap and sporting short orange shoulder-length hair. She was talking non-stop with an angry expression on her face, pacing back and forth in front of Gu Xici, with her white sneakers.
As for Gu Xici's anger, she only nodded occasionally, trying to agree, but her gaze remained fixed on her notebook. She held a pen and was writing down the names of the girls who volunteered to go out and kill zombies tomorrow.
Gu Xici understood the importance of self-preservation, but she didn't force anyone to do anything. However, she could give everyone a choice. So, every day in advance, she would register a list of people who wanted to try going out the next day in order to allocate the tasks properly.
And now, it was clear that her mind was completely focused on this matter.
The girl with orange hair looked at Gu Xici as if she didn't care about her words at all. As a follower of Gu Xici, she became even more anxious. She heard this news from her dormmate, and she also saw Lu Jia entering the dormitory in C Building with Li Hua with her own eyes.
But why was Gu Xici not in a hurry at all?
"Qiao Tang, tell me, this Lu Jia looks hard to deal with. Can you bear to see Xici being oppressed like this?"
Sitting quietly on the bed, Qiao Tang was looking at the dormitory register. Somehow, she caught the attention of an impatient person and got dragged into the discussion.
"I...I think...Lu Jia doesn't seem like a bad person," Qiao Tang said, unable to even look at the woman who had just asked her the question.
"What! Which side are you on?" Hearing this stimulating tone, it was evident that Qiao Tang was still startled by the girl's reaction.
Seeing someone who was completely nervous from being scared, Gu Xici couldn't help but sigh, "Alright, Lu Man, don't scare Qiao Tang. I think Qiao Tang is right. Although I don't get along with Lu Jia, I don't think she would meddle in this matter."
"But...how do you explain the meeting then? She clearly went, and Li Hua personally came to pick her up. What kind of person is worth Li Hua personally picking up?"
However, Lu Man still believed in the importance of being cautious, especially when it came to someone named Lu Jia who had almost threatened Gu Xici's position from the very beginning and now showed signs of a resurgence. It was only natural to be on guard.
