Chapter 44 - The beginning of the repulsive changes in human nature (1/2)
Chapter 44 - The beginning of the repulsive changes in human nature
TL-ed by Wei
Edited by LD
At 6 o’clock in the morning, it was as dark as ink outside. With an ongoing “pitter, patter”, the rain continued to fall from the thunderstorm that was neither too major nor minor. Occasionally, booms of thunder resounded, startling the humans below.
Ran Hongxia was unable to fall asleep.
Despite having changed out of her drenched clothing into a sweater from the female dormitory and then even draping a curtain over her, Ran Hongxia still felt cold from top to bottom, s.h.i.+vering incessantly.
This was not strange at all, Ran Hongxia’s feelings fluctuated rapidly. Firstly, she’d had to tail along on the extermination of the insects. She had then been drenched by the rain for such a prolonged amount of time, and lastly, she had also been captured by the Abyssal Vine Demoness. In spite of the fact that she was the Sword Saintess of the future and had also undergone the strengthening of the Insect Cores, her body was not able to hold up. At present, she still felt light-headed. Perhaps she had caught a fever.
However, at this point in time, a mere fever was considered insignificant. Tonight, the temperatures were probably at 7 or 8 degrees. Coupled with the heavy moisture in the air, the cold breeze that wafted through the dilapidated windows made everyone huddle up. The people who were down with a cold, fever, and runny nose numbered way too high.
Compared with certain people, catching a cold or a fever was nothing. For example, there was a girl who had not been able to handle the pressure and silently committed suicide by leaping off the building.
By rough estimates, this was already the third person who had committed suicide.
They could not bear the cold nor could they bear the endless darkness and even more so the fear of the future. These individuals could not bear the stress that the apocalypse had brought them, so they chose to free themselves. An early death equated to an early reincarnation; there was hope in the next life.
The nature of humans is extremely fragile. If this had been the peaceful era and a student from Xijiang University had committed suicide, it would definitely cause a sensation throughout the campus. However, now that it occurred, especially within this cold, dark, and terrifying night, no one uttered a single word. Other than shedding a few tears silently, nothing else could be done.
In fact, the rest of them were very lost as well. To drift and live without purpose in this horrifying era—was it truly worth more than seeking freedom through suicide?
300 to 400 people were lying on the horizontal rows of desks. Those without a spot either slept on the cold ground or leaned against the walls. Occasionally, there were snoring sounds, but there were more sounds of m.u.f.fled sobs and close friends consoling each other.
There were four corners in the large hall and placed in each corner, there were eight lamps made from a gelatinous material with lighted candles inside them. In the dark, the pale white candle flames danced with grace. This made the students, who were long accustomed to fluorescent lights, feel even more bitter.
“President Ran, the girls in the second hall can’t endure it any longer and entrusted me to ask if the third hall has any surplus of clothes? Even if the clothes have been soaked through… The girls are frail. I’m afraid that if this goes on, they’ll get high fevers…”
A tall juvenile, sporting a white vest and a pair of gold-rimmed spectacles, walked over to Ran Hongxia’s side and smiled bitterly. He had given up his own jacket to a girl who was freezing earlier, and he was now breaking out in gooseb.u.mps due to the cold. However, he had no regrets. This person was one of the few who had dared to shoulder responsibility. At the same time, he was also another vice-president of Xijiang University’s student union.
“Sorry… there are no more clothes left…”
Ran Hongxia heaved out a warm breath. She painstakingly got on her feet and said apologetically,
“Why don’t you take this curtain to them? Even though it’s rather thin, it can still be used as a blanket. Oh… this sweater, take it as well…”
“No, no, no. Don’t do this, President Ran. I’m able to tell that you’ve caught a cold. Your health is important. We can’t allow your body to run into any mishaps. After all, you’re one of our combat forces. If the insects swarm over, we still need you to deal with them…”
Having said that, Jiang Feng felt embarra.s.sed. In fact, he very much wished to shoulder the burden of protecting his cla.s.smates and combat the insects. However, his physical fitness could only be said to be ordinary, and he was not even qualified to be an axe-wielder. However, he joined the transport team later on and moved at least 5 rounds worth of items: six boxes of biscuits; five boxes of ham; and many more fruit knives.
“Don’t say that. Compared to those warriors who sacrificed their lives, I am nothing…”
Out of the fifteen axe-wielders that tailed behind Li Jiayu, two died in the teaching block and another two at the girl's dormitory. Then during the battle with Abyssal Vine Demoness, four of them died and three fell into comas, leaving only four axe-wielders completely without harm to protect the transport team!
The mortality rate was abnormally high. It made Jiang Feng shudder whenever he was reminded of it. If he had truly been selected to be on the axe-wielder's team, then he might have ended up dead without a complete corpse!
“President Ran, let me ask you a question… Li Jiayu, he…” Jiang Feng had hesitated for a long time before trying to probe for the answer.
“What are you asking this for?” Ran Hongxia’s stature shook as she asked solemnly.
“Did anything happen to Li Jiayu? Are his wounds severe…?”
Ran Hongxia parted her mouth, yet she did not know where to start. In the end, she could only sigh,
“It’s pretty serious… Princ.i.p.al Hsiao Wanqing is in the midst of resuscitating him. May the G.o.ds above help him cross this hurdle.”