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2: Long-Legged Goddess, Xu Wanting

Shancheng University was built long ago, so its dormitories were aging buildings, and the rooms stood very close to one another.

Even with the dense black fog in the way, Shen Yi could still vaguely see the girls’ dormitory across the gap.

He just could not make out exactly what was going on …

He had no idea why a girl was screaming.

Could she, like the boy downstairs, have run into some mutated creature?

Shen Yi shut the window tight and immediately opened the group chats to look for relevant news.

After scrolling through several groups, he finally found something.

Foreign Languages Class 201, Wang Yuan: “Holy crap! Zhang Yifeng just got eaten by his own damn cactus!!!”

Literature Class 203, Chen Xiaoxiao: “Huh? What are you talking about? That sentence is so niche I can’t understand it right now!”

Physical Education Class 101, Zhao Tianlin: “What happened? Can you elaborate?”

Foreign Languages Class 201, Wang Yuan: “Monster! That cactus is a straight-up monster! It’s scarier than anything in the movies! Somebody save me!!”

[Wang Yuan from Foreign Languages Class 201 shared a video in the group]

Shen Yi tapped it open at once to watch.

The footage shook and wobbled, yet the contents were still clear enough.

In the frame, Vines studded with eerie spheres spread out of a flowerpot, nearly filling the entire dorm, and at their center a motionless corpse was being dragged into a gaping maw.

He could vaguely tell it was a cactus, yet for some reason it had grown enormous, its appearance grotesquely altered, and it now possessed a mouth-like opening that was feeding!

Bloody, brutal, terrifying!

Physical Education Class 101, Zhao Tianlin: “Holy sh*t! What kind of monster is that? Are we shooting a movie or what?!”

A flood of question marks filled the chat; everyone found it unbelievable.

Somebody kept @-mentioning Wang Yuan.

But Wang Yuan never replied …

Shen Yi felt his heart sink.

If Wang Yuan had been silent this long, something had probably happened to him as well.

The mutated cactus he had just seen was on the 3rd or 4th floor, fairly far from him, so he was safe for the moment, yet he still needed to prepare… either relocate or find a weapon for self-defense.

As Shen Yi was about to exit the chat, a new video suddenly appeared.

In the clip, a tall boy held crackling blue lightning in his palm; with a forceful flick he shot it like a bullet that punched straight through a soda can!

Physical Education Class 205, Zhao Tao: “Brothers, sisters, if you need shelter come find me! I’ll carry the whole school! A few mutant plants are nothing to worry about!”

Physical Education Class 101, Zhao Tianlin: “Holy sh*t! What is that? CGI or superpowers?? Are you sure this isn’t a film set?!”

Physical Education Class 205, Zhao Tao: “It’s not CGI.”

While replying, Zhao Tao posted another video showing lightning surging in his hand, proving his ability was real and not special effects.

Physical Education Class 101, Zhao Tianlin: “Damn! Awesome, Brother Tao! You actually have superpowers! Are you the fated protagonist straight out of a novel? Please carry me!!”

Literature Class 203, Chen Xiaoxiao: “Wow! Brother Tao is amazing! Please add me!”

Foreign Languages Class 301, self-proclaimed campus hunk Wang Yu: “Carry me +1.”

“……”

“So that’s… a superpower?” Shen Yi felt both shocked and envious after watching.

What he lacked right now was the power to protect himself; the System guaranteed food and supplies, yet without combat strength, stockpiling rations was pointless.

Others stockpiled guns while I hoarded food… was I going to turn into someone else’s pantry?

Shen Yi wondered how superpowers were obtained.

Did they awaken after doomsday like his System; was his own superpower the System itself?

Or was there some other way to gain powers …

He scrutinized the chat history, hoping to glean some clues.

Just like that, another day passed.

Official rescue still had not arrived.

The black fog downstairs grew denser and seemed to be creeping upward; it rose very slowly, yet one could see it rising with the naked eye.

“At this rate the fog will reach my floor in at most 10 days,” Shen Yi muttered, eating a self-heating hotpot, taking a swig of water, and gazing downstairs with a grave look.

After a full day of screen-watching, he had found no new information about superpowers.

Across all the groups, only Zhao Tao was flaunting an ability.

Apparently he was the only one who had awakened.

A few girls had begun sending friend requests to Shen Yi; he accepted them all and asked each to send a photo first.

Unfortunately, not one of them met the System’s criteria.

With no other choice, Shen Yi simply deleted them.

Then he went on using alternate accounts to post ads in every major group …

This time no one kicked Shen Yi out.

As time passed and rescue remained absent, the survivors who still had supplies grew increasingly wary.

They kept Shen Yi around in case he proved useful later.

…

Time flowed on, and two more days went by.

It was the fifth day since the black fog descended.

Even though Shen Yi had been frugal, the snacks and stored food in his room were almost gone.

The others were in even worse shape.

Water was the worst; someone in the chat had offered ¥3,000 for a single bottle, and still no one would sell!

Quite a few students began harboring dangerous thoughts, and their former moral codes were crumbling fast …

In the face of disaster and hunger, morality was worthless.

For example, many girls were now adding Shen Yi, including several who had previously called him a creep.

“Hey, boy over there, can you hear me?”

While Shen Yi was replying to a new girl, a shout suddenly drifted in through the window.

The dorm walls offered practically no soundproofing.

Shen Yi stepped onto the balcony, first making sure the cactus below had not climbed up, then opened the window and looked at the girl calling from the next building.

She was a tall, pretty girl in denim shorts, her smooth long legs on full display.

Shen Yi recognized her… Xu Wanting, also from the Foreign Languages Department and the department belle to boot.

Her father was a diplomat, her family wealthy and well-connected; coupled with her looks she acted haughtily, never giving the boys in class, Shen Yi included, a proper glance.

[Ding!]

[A goddess meeting System standards detected; initiating detailed scan]

[Name: Xu Wanting]

[Age: 20]

[Appearance: 89]

[Figure: 95]

[Inner Quality: 100 (a blank slate)]

[Total Score: 95]

[Assessment: Taking her in will unlock one random item]

95 points?

Shen Yi felt a surge of delight; he could finally unlock new supplies!

Dozens of girls had added him these past days, yet not one had met the System’s standard!

Spotting Shen Yi, Xu Wanting recognized him and kept shouting, “Hey, Shen Yi, do you have any water over there?”

They were in the same class but had little interaction… she was a pampered princess while he was an ordinary nobody.

Still, they did know each other by sight.

“Yes, I’ve got bottled water.” Shen Yi took out a bottle and gave it a shake.

“Shen Yi, I haven’t had water for hours; can you toss that bottle over so I can drink a little? I’ll pay you ¥1,000, okay?”

Xu Wanting licked her dry lips, her eyes practically shining.

She had seen Shen Yi’s “take-in girls” posts in the group earlier and had despised him, thinking he was just hunting for sex.

She had never expected him to actually have water.

The bottle was unopened, clearly untouched by the black fog.

Her dorm still had a thermos and a few drinks, but perhaps they were not sealed well; the water in the thermos had turned slightly dark, obviously tainted by the fog and undrinkable.

The few beverages had been consumed over the past days.

She still had plenty of snacks, sealed and therefore unspoiled, yet without water, eating them only intensified her thirst and dehydration.

“No, I don’t want money.” Shen Yi shook his head and tossed the bottle onto the desk behind him.

“Then what do you want? ¥1,000 is a lot! Even if water is valuable now, you can’t fleece me; otherwise you’ll earn nothing! Think about it… 1,000 is half a month’s part-time wage for you, right?”

Xu Wanting grew angry, a trace of disgust flickering in her eyes.

Typical pauper loser!

If she weren’t dying of thirst, she would never fork out 1,000 for a bottle of water.

Shen Yi was blatantly extorting her!

In her view the state would surely mount a rescue; paying 1,000 for water was already a huge loss, and now Shen Yi dared raise the price on the spot.

“Cut the nonsense… if you want water, come to the boys’ dorm; as soon as you get here I’ll give it to you for free,” Shen Yi said coolly.

It was the apocalypse; what good was money?

It was too rough even to wipe your ass.

“What!? Dream on! You think a bottle of water is enough to buy my body? What do you take me for?!”

Xu Wanting gnashed her teeth in fury.

She could easily read Shen Yi’s intent; if a girl went to the boys’ dorm, no explanation was needed.

Was he inviting her over to play Parcheesi or what?

“Heh, I’m not lying; just come over and there’ll be plenty of water.”

As he spoke, Shen Yi pretended to bend down for the bottle, but in fact he took three more from System Space; letting her see them, he twisted one open and gulped down a huge mouthful.

Afterwards, he poured the remaining half-bottle straight out the window.

Water splashed down the balcony railing …

Xu Wanting’s eyes went wide at the sight.

“You! How can you waste water like that!”

“Even if you have tons of water, you can’t afford to waste it now!!”

“You’d rather pour it out than let me drink? Are you insane!!!”

Xu Wanting was truly infuriated.

The past two days she had tried to ration a single sip into two portions, yet Shen Yi had just dumped half a bottle he hadn’t finished!

Was he even a man? He had zero gentlemanly manners!

“Remember, I’m in dorm 606; if you want water, come yourself, otherwise forget it.” Shen Yi couldn’t be bothered to argue and shut the window. Much as he wanted to unlock new items, he would never risk going to the girls’ dorm; who knew whether more mutated cacti lurked in the fog below… he had heard plenty of screams these two days.

If he went downstairs and got killed, no amount of loot would matter.

Having Xu Wanting come over was the safest plan.

If something happened to her on the way, Shen Yi would not bother himself.

She could either die of thirst or take a gamble; a gamble at least gave her a chance, otherwise she could simply wait to dry out.

“Bastard!!!” Xu Wanting stamped her foot in rage.

He really was an ill-bred pauper loser!

If she weren’t desperate, she would never speak to such a loser!

Had this disaster not happened, she would never have crossed paths with someone like Shen Yi!

Talking to this common-born guy was a waste of time.

Yet the only reachable person who had water right now was Shen Yi.

Most of her dormmates were gone; there was no one else to ask for help.

She had tried contacting her parents, but both were abroad and unreachable for some unknown reason.

Even the police hotline was busy.

Totally at a loss, she had yelled the moment she saw movement in the boys’ dorm opposite.

Who knew she would run into that creepy guy!

And so, cursing Shen Yi all the while, several more hours slipped by …

Dusk drew near.

Xu Wanting was parched, her mouth hardly producing saliva; if this continued she would die of thirst long before any rescue arrived.

She looked toward the boys’ dorm across the way.

Through the window she could faintly see Shen Yi drinking water.

Watching him, she swallowed unconsciously.

Only to find there was none to swallow …

It was all that bastard’s fault!!!

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