Chapter 23
Not knowing how long they had been asleep, they were awakened by a knocking sound, disturbing the person who was sleeping soundly in Su Mo's embrace.
Being someone who was a bit grumpy when waking up, the knocking sound was like a concert in their ears for Lu Jia, who wanted to stay in bed. It felt like someone had turned up the volume, and it made her extremely unhappy even without opening her eyes.
Hearing Lu Jia's extremely impatient muttering and grumbling, it suddenly made the usually composed Su Mo irritable, and she quickly moved her body away from someone's legs.
With her head no longer supported by Su Mo's body, Lu Jia vaguely remembered wanting to get up. But little did she know that getting up too suddenly and having her legs been sat on by Su Mo for too long made it impossible for her to stand up.
"Ouch," her legs felt weak and she ended up falling over right when she tried to get up.
Only separated by a door, Su Mo smelled a fragrance that was even better than the usual food, something she could eat. And the things outside made Lu Jia emit a bad smell, which made her unhappy.
However, Lu Jia's voice came from behind her, and in the end, she chose to let go of the doorknob.
Because Lu Jia had her hands to support her, she didn't fall heavily, but because it happened suddenly, she let out a cry of surprise.
Feeling the coolness in her hands, Lu Jia looked at Su Mo squatting in front of her, holding her hands and inspecting them. This made Lu Jia have a feeling that Su Mo might see her as a fragile porcelain doll.
"I'm fine, don't worry," Lu Jia had to explain and comfort Su Mo proactively.
"Bang bang~"
Since no one responded inside the house, the knocking sound echoed again, "Open the door, I heard a voice."
Hearing the displeased tone outside the house, Lu Jia instinctively let go of Su Mo's hand and decided to go and open the door to see what was going on.
But someone was holding her hand too tightly, she couldn't loosen it at all, so in the end, she had no choice but to bring the person along to the door, saying, "You have to be quiet and obedient."
After seeing the person in front nod affirmatively, Lu Jia finally opened the door slightly, and she peeked outside through the crack.
"Who are you?" At the door stood someone who wasn't the usual person who delivered food, and Lu Jia didn't recognize them.
The person outside the door glanced at her with their eyes and spoke impatiently, saying, "The meeting has started, you need to come down by yourself."
"Oh, okay, got it."
After receiving Lu Jia's reply, the person didn't stay any longer and turned around to leave.
Listening to the person's footsteps fade away, Lu Jia peeked outside and made sure there was no one there before closing the door.
Turning around to look at the person standing beside her, she silently leaned against the door, her gaze fixed on Su Mo, thinking about Su Mo's sudden rush to the door earlier. She clearly understood something and asked, "You little troublemaker, what were you trying to do just now?"
Even though Su Mo was called out, all she could manage was a couple of "ah-ah" sounds. Even if she wanted to explain herself, she couldn't say anything, so in the end, she had to keep her mouth shut.
Even though Su Mo looked gentle and cute in front of her, enough to melt someone's heart, Lu Jia knew she had to be tough-hearted, otherwise, if the door had been opened just now, it would have had disastrous consequences.
With a serious tone, Lu Jia said, "Su Mo, what did I tell you before? We can't just randomly hurt them, and we definitely can't eat them."
"Do you know, I was really angry with you just now." Hmm, the tone was about right, that's enough, someone thought to themselves.
"If you keep doing this, I will no longer take care of you."
As a last resort, threat is effective for Su Mo, who is not mentally mature.
Not... Seeing the pitiful person in front of her, Lu Jia knew that her goal had been achieved.
"You're not allowed to do this again, do you understand?"
Su Mo nodded, her face slightly puffy, tempting Lu Jia to poke her hand, but she managed to resist.
"Also, I need to go out for a bit. You stay here and wait for me."
Su Mo nodded again, then shook her head. She silently looked at Lu Jia and even pulled on the hand that Lu Jia was holding, appearing very pitiful.
Used to Su Mo's clinginess, Lu Jia looked at the person who didn't want her to leave and said, "Don't worry, I'll be back soon. I promise."
With her assurance, Su Mo nodded again, indicating her agreement.
However, despite this, Lu Jia still felt a bit worried as she looked at Su Mo. At this moment, she finally understood a little bit about how mothers on TV worry about their children.
"If you feel bored, you can watch people from the little box," she decided to find something for Su Mo to do.
The little box specifically refers to a computer screen, and watching people from the little box naturally means watching videos.
Originally, Lu Jia was going to teach Su Mo to call it a computer, but Su Mo didn't seem to like that name very much. Whenever she thought of a computer, Su Mo would use her fingers to signal a rectangular box. Lu Jia said "box" once because of it. But Su Mo obviously liked this name better, so they just kept using it.
And now, manipulating the computer wasn't very difficult for Su Mo, especially when it came to playing videos. She had mastered the basic operations.
As for the videos on the computer, in order to feel at ease, Lu Jia had already deleted anything about zombies or bloody things. The remaining videos were either cartoons or idol dramas, perfectly safe.
As Su Mo sat back on the bed, Lu Jia felt somewhat relieved. With this sense of relief, she locked the door and went downstairs to the dormitory building.
When she reached the first floor, there were already many people there. Almost everyone was sitting on books that they had placed under their bottoms.
In front of the first floor, there was a larger open space that could accommodate quite a few people.
At the very front of the empty space is a fence. Outside the fence, a zombie crawls on the fence, roaring towards the inside desperately wanting to rush in.
Seeing the horde of corpses outside, Lu Jia couldn't understand why some people would expose themselves on the first floor.
She didn't know whether to admire everyone's courage or worry about the lack of crisis awareness among the people in the sleeping quarters.
However, those sitting on the empty space clearly didn't share these thoughts. They were chatting and laughing, as if nothing had changed.
Watching all of this, Lu Jia didn't plan to join in. So, she chose to continue standing in place until a girl walked towards her with a pen and paper, handing her a notebook.
"Classmate, please fill this out."
Taking the given notebook, she glanced at it. The pages of the notebook were filled with tables, each labeled: ID number, name, age, grade, college, living quarters, separated clearly.
Picking up the ballpoint pen clipped inside the notebook, Lu Jia filled in her own information accordingly, one by one. The ID number in front of her was 197, so she added the number 198 before her own name.
After filling it out, she willingly handed the belongings back to the girl. The girl took the notebook, glanced at it, and didn't say anything before leaving with the notebook.
Lu Jia watched as the girl interacted with the people coming in one by one, repeating their requests and actions. In her mind, she wondered about the numbers and realized her previous guess was correct - there were at least 200 people here.
With a sigh in her heart about the 200 people, she shifted her gaze away from the girl. Instead of sitting down, she found a wall and leaned against it for support, deciding to endure the meeting in this spot.
However, shortly after she leaned against the wall, her hoped-for solitude was interrupted by a voice.
"Sister Lu!"
She followed the sound with her eyes and saw a boy running towards her.
Lu Jia looked at the boy, who was wearing a black short-sleeved shirt and had a slightly flushed face, probably from being in the sun. He had an overall clean and tidy appearance.
"Hmm, who are you?"
However, Lu Jia had no memory of this person.
"Sister, it's me, Jiang Bei. We met at the student council event last time. We even had dinner together."
Listening to the boy's explanation, Lu Jia began searching for her memories.
Previously, for no reason, she was elected by the school and became a famous person in the school. After that, to go along with this name, she cooperated with the school's requirements and the student council in a publicity campaign.
She did remember that such an event existed in her memory, but she didn't remember anyone from that event. Everyone just had shallow interactions.
However, she did know the name Jiang Bei. He was the student council president of History College. But that was all she knew. Now, looking at the boy in front of her, she could only relate him to the name Jiang Bei.
"Oh, yes, that's right."
She used a very standard answer.
But the boy didn't seem to mind. He even seemed happy.
"Sister, have you been doing well these days? I've been busy dealing with everyone's matters, so I haven't had the chance to come and see you," the boy said, and his gaze unintentionally shifted elsewhere. There was a slightly guilty expression on his face, giving people the feeling that he was shy.
Hearing her words, Lu Jia didn't want anyone to come and see her, especially at Room 417. "Sorry, I don't think we're very familiar. You can focus on your own tasks."
"Um... yeah," the awkward boy subconsciously licked his dry lips. He already knew Lu Jia was cold and not very easy to get along with, so he was somewhat mentally prepared.
As for Lu Jia, they weren't familiar with each other and had nothing to talk about. She naturally didn't pay attention to the person beside her, silently leaning against the wall on the first floor, casually looking around.
Feeling the indifference surrounding him, the boy awkwardly withdrew his hand. But he didn't want to give up, he even wanted to continue finding a topic to talk about. If no one came to drag him away, he might actually find a topic.
"What are you doing? You're the protagonist, you have to speak up."
The person who came was taller than Jiang Bei, with slightly dark skin and visible muscles on his arms. Judging from his appearance, it was obvious he could fight.
He grabbed Jiang Bei's head and pinned it under his armpit, muttering as he dragged him away from Lu Jia.
The person being pinned had a pale face, but still managed to say to Lu Jia, "Senior, I'm leaving first."
Watching the two walk away, compared to Jiang Bei, Lu Jia knew this later guy better. In this week, he caused the most trouble and had a loud voice that often annoyed everyone.
According to the information she learned, this person was Li Hua, the Vice Chairman of the Sports Academy's Student Union. He was in the same college as Cheng Du, her roommate, who happened to be the President of the Student Union in the Sports Academy.
It is said that Li Hua worked the hardest in rescuing his companions and finding food. He was a boy who was both feared and respected here. He and his good friend were the ones who initiated gathering the people together to fight against the zombies.
As Lu Jia watched the two of them leave, she could basically confirm that this so-called good friend was Jiang Bei.
The two of them, one literary and one martial, were indeed a good combination. It seemed that they were the initiators and protagonists of today's meeting, Lu Jia thought.
