Chapter 91: Target

The feeling of escaping with their lives and regaining their freedom was exhilarating.

Fortunately, the path down was clear. They didn’t see a single moving zombie on the way.

After the group left the building, Teacher Zhou once again expressed his gratitude to Xie Ning and her companions.

"How are you all getting out of here? Our school bus is parked just a short distance away."

Xie Ning glanced at them. "You all must be anxious to get home. We still have a few things to take care of elsewhere."

"Alright then, we’ll part ways here." Teacher Zhou looked toward Song Shijun. "So, Shijun will be going with you?"

"Yes." Xie Ning gave a slight nod.

"Then we won’t impose any further. We have no idea what the situation is at home, so we must hurry back and see. If we’re fortunate enough to meet again, I’ll be sure to repay you for saving us today."

"You’re welcome." After a moment’s thought, Xie Ning took the remaining kitchen knives from her backpack and handed them out for self-defense. "Be careful on the road. Take care."

"You all take care too."

"Shijun, take care."

Led by their teachers, the students exchanged a few more words of farewell before hurrying away.

Song Shijun finally turned to Xie Ning, a bashful blush on his handsome face. "Sis, can I... go use the bathroom, real quick?"

"Go on." Song You’ai looked at her nephew with a pained expression. ’He was cooped up in that tiny cubicle for a whole day and night. He must be about to burst.’

"Do you want your auntie to come with you?"

"No, no need! I’ll be right back."

"Oh, this boy." Song You’ai was exasperated. "Ningning, we should go too. It’ll be less trouble on the road later."

Xie Ning and Song You’ai came out of the ground-floor restroom.

Song You’ai instinctively turned on the faucet.

"Mom!" Xie Ning called out quickly.

"Ugh." Song You’ai now saw it clearly: a stream of yellowish-brown water was flowing from the faucet.

"This water..." Song You’ai frowned. "You can’t even think about drinking this. I doubt you could even wash your face or bathe with it."

With a grave expression, Xie Ning nodded slightly. "Yeah."

Song Shijun came out from the men’s room next door. Xie Ning handed him a wet wipe. "Make do with this for now. Let’s get out of here."

"Oh, dear. What are we going to do if there’s no water for washing our hands or bathing from now on?" her mother muttered as she followed behind the two. "Are we going to revert to the stone age?"

"Auntie, we can gather some materials to build our own filter. Then we’ll see if the filtered water is clean enough for washing hands."

"You know how to do that?" Xie Ning was rather surprised.

"Yeah, sort of. We did stuff like this for some small experiments back in school." Song Shijun scratched his head. "Sis, where are we headed now?"

"To an instant noodle factory." Xie Ning’s gaze was distant.

"It’s about six or seven kilometers from here, right on our way back."

The four of them retraced their steps to the entrance of the competition hall. The first thing they saw was Xiao Huang Mao and the others, clothes torn as if they’d been in a fight, faces bruised and swollen.

"What happened?" Song You’ai hurried over to ask.

"Aunt Song." Seeing them emerge, Xiao Huang Mao’s eyes lit up with relief. "Are you all okay?"

"We’re fine. What happened to you?"

"Ugh, don’t even ask. A group of about a dozen people ran out and tried to jack our car the moment they saw it." Xiao Huang Mao pointed at the zombies scattered on the ground. "We had to fight them off while also dealing with the zombies."

"Good thing Ms. Ning took the car keys earlier. They took off when they realized they couldn’t start it." Ji Taixian wiped the sweat from his brow as he approached, sizing up Song Shijun, who was standing behind Xie Ning. "This must be your younger cousin."