Chapter 59: The Rules of the Cafeteria

"What right do they have to keep us out? This is a school, and we are all students here! It's not like the cafeteria belongs to them!"

Dongfang Tian's words made Ji Dou and Li Huiyu roll their eyes involuntarily. Had Dongfang Tian already forgotten? Just yesterday, he had arbitrarily taken control of the gymnasium and forbidden anyone from entering or leaving as he pleased.

Zhu Caijun did not look at him, keeping his gaze fixed on Jiang Yi instead. Jiang Yi nodded. "That's right, Cafeteria Number One is accessible to everyone, but it is managed by teachers and the school's administrative staff. Therefore, President Dongfang's previous methods can probably no longer be used."

Hearing Jiang Yi's words, a flash of brilliance crossed Zhu Caijun's eyes. As the student council president of the school, he could be considered part of the administrative staff. If Cafeteria Number One was still controlled by the school, that would be the best possible outcome for him!

The moment he thought about regaining his lofty status, Zhu Caijun could hardly wait to rush right over, though he still carefully listened to Jiang Yi's explanation about the cafeteria.

Jiang Yi raised three fingers. "Compared to other places, the cafeteria already has relatively well-established rules! If you really want to go there, I hope both of you will abide by them; otherwise, the consequences really won't be as pleasant as you might imagine."

Looking at the two men whose expressions had turned inscrutable, Jiang Yi lowered one finger. "First, all supplies within the cafeteria must be handed over for unified management, and regardless of who you are, everyone needs to go outside to scavenge for more supplies. Those who are unwilling to go out can stay in the cafeteria to do some defensive work. In short, the cafeteria does not feed idlers!"

Except for those administrative staff members, of course—Jiang Yi muttered inwardly...

"Second, private fights and looting of supplies are strictly prohibited inside the cafeteria! Anyone caught will be directly expelled from the cafeteria!"

Too bad this rule only applied to ordinary survivors; awakened individuals were already high above...

"Third, no one is allowed to organize private groups. Anyone wanting to join must accept the cafeteria's reassignment! Forming cliques is strictly forbidden!" Jiang Yi said while observing the changes in the two men's expressions!

Sure enough, upon hearing the third rule, both men, who had been scheming in their hearts, saw their faces turn unsightly!

Although the cafeteria held a large number of survivors, these three ironclad rules completely cut off any thoughts they might have had of staging a comeback through the cafeteria!

Even without communicating, the two men quickly made a decision: they had to go to the cafeteria now, because apart from that place, they had nowhere else to go! Without a stable environment, having more subordinates would be completely useless.

Seeing that the two no longer said anything, Jiang Yi tapped the table with a smile. "Also, I forgot to tell you, if you want to join the cafeteria, you can't go empty-handed! Before I left, the cafeteria established a rule that every new entrant must deliver ten catties or more of food or equivalent supplies."

"What? Ten catties? That's so much!" Zhu Caijun jumped up, crying out in shock. You've got to be kidding, they still had nearly twenty people left, which meant over two hundred catties of food! And that was just the minimum requirement to get in the door. According to the first rule, if they wanted to go to the cafeteria, any supplies they had on them would have to be handed over, otherwise they wouldn't even have the qualification to stay there!

Two hundred catties of food made both men's faces look rather grim! After all, under the current circumstances, edible things had already been mostly divided up among everyone. No matter how formidable they were, it was impossible for them to conjure up that much food out of thin air!

Jiang Yi watched with a smile as the two men wore frustrated expressions, then turned back to ask Guo Hanzhou, "Hanzhou, while we were eating just now, didn't you mention that the infirmary isn't far from here?"

Guo Hanzhou had actually frowned upon hearing so many requirements. She had thought the cafeteria was the last pure land in the university town, but truly, that 'pure land' might not be as wonderful as she had imagined.

Hearing Jiang Yi's question, she was startled for a moment. "Yes, it's not far from here—it's the medical building. Why do you ask?"

Jiang Yi motioned toward the two men. "President Dongfang, President Zhu, I imagine the cafeteria side is quite short of medicine right now. I wonder if the two of you would be interested in making a trip to the medical building?"

A light dawned in the eyes of the two men, obviously thinking of using medicine as a substitute for food.

Soon, however, fear flashed in Zhu Caijun's eyes. "We can't go there. Before the end of the world, that place was where corpses were processed. It's probably already overrun by zombies by now. If we go over there, we're just walking to our deaths!"

Dongfang Tian thought of this as well, and his expression turned grim. After all, watching such a good solution slip away like this was far too regrettable.

"Actually!" Jiang Yi leaned forward slightly. "Maybe things aren't as bad as you think. President Zhu is right; that might have been where the zombies first broke out, but you have to remember that zombies need to feed too. So much time has passed, and without food, they certainly won't stay put!

To zombies, medicine is no different from rocks on the roadside. If we don't go now, once the people from the cafeteria arrive, we really won't have any chance left at all!"

Guo Hanzhou looked at her team leader with some confusion. Instinctively, she felt that Jiang Yi was casting a massive net, step by step binding these two fellows onto his 'boat'!

It wasn't until the two men, forced by Jiang Yi to make up their minds, left to prepare that Guo Hanzhou asked, "What on earth are you planning? Why insist on going to the medical building? Don't tell me it's for the medicine; those things aren't of much use to you!"

Jiang Yi wagged his finger. "No, no, I really do want the medicine."

Seeing Guo Hanzhou's incredulous look, he relaxed his shoulders and shook his head with a smile. "Fine, I'll tell you! Besides medicine, I want to kill zombies even more! Around here, apart from that place, I can't think of anywhere else with a large horde of zombies!"

"You're out of your mind!" Guo Hanzhou exclaimed. "I know your ability requires you to keep killing zombies, but you can't drag all those people from the first floor into it just for that!"

Seeing Guo Hanzhou's face full of anger, Jiang Yi suddenly smiled. "What kind of person do you take me for? While I do need to kill zombies, wanting to help them out is also true. They can't get into the cafeteria without equivalent supplies, and we surely can't provide them with over two hundred catties of food ourselves—do you happen to have that much?"

Guo Hanzhou let out a huff, clearly unwilling to answer Jiang Yi's question. Jiang Yi patted her shoulder. "You have to understand, in the apocalypse, weakness is not an excuse! Over at the cafeteria, there are plenty of people weaker and physically inferior to them, yet they still kill zombies and scavenge for supplies every day! This is the iron rule of the apocalypse, from which no one is spared. People with no value only deserve to be thrown out to feed the zombies!"

Jiang Yi's expression was exceptionally cold. He had once been among the weakest group of people in the cafeteria, and he had deeply experienced what it meant for the strong to prey on the weak. In the apocalypse, there was no sympathy; there was only respect for the strong and the unyielding belief in growing stronger.

He had to admit he was lucky to have transformed from an ordinary person into an awakened one!

However, Jiang Yi would never pity the weak just because he understood their suffering; rather, he hoped even more to see them grow strong as well. And strength required tempering through life and death...

Guo Hanzhou went to pack her things, somewhat battered. The four of them didn't have much to take; the little bit of rice they had managed to scavenge on the second floor had already been eaten clean by the four voracious eaters. As for the remaining odds and ends, they let Qing Dou stuff them into a small backpack to carry on his back!

Since her purple arrows were completely depleted, Guo Hanzhou strapped her large golden bow to her back and carried a boning knife in her hand. Li Huiyu also carried a backpack, playing with the short blade that had never left his side, casting sideways glances at Jiang Yi!

Due to Qing Dou's insistence, Jiang Yi traveled unusually light, carrying only a black saber in his hand!

Hastily pulling on a set of clothes scavenged from the second floor, Jiang Yi led the three downstairs. When their figures appeared on the first floor, nearly twenty gazes from the first floor all fell upon them!

Jiang Yi looked around the room. Among those gazes were envy, jealousy, ingratiating flattery, and anger!

Yet no one dared to step forward to curry favor or question them! Because they knew that Jiang Yi and his group were strong—so strong that they could instill despair!

Dongfang Tian and Zhu Caijun looked at Jiang Yi's imposing figure and buried the thoughts in their hearts deep down. Right now, getting into the cafeteria still required the powerful protection of Jiang Yi and his subordinates, so they had no choice but to endure!

"Just wait, Jiang Yi, sooner or later, I will tear you to pieces!"

Channeling everything into his hatred for Jiang Yi, Dongfang Tian smiled and nodded. "Captain Jiang, everyone is ready. Let's set off!"

Jiang Yi nodded. Apparently, the two of them had already briefed everyone, and the surviving people no longer showed the heavy despair of yesterday. Instead, their anticipation and nervousness regarding the cafeteria made them appear much more lively.

Li Gang stood in the crowd, his gaze locked onto Jiang Yi's retreating back as he clenched his fists tightly...

Sustaining heavy injuries, he was unable to exert much strength and could only mingle among the ordinary people, cautiously trying to survive.

Two boys quietly opened the supermarket doors, and immediately, several arms reached out from beneath the crack of the newly opened door!

Frightened, the two retreated hastily, while the others cried out in alarm, some even dropping their weapons onto the ground in terror!

Jiang Yi rolled his eyes and gave a subtle cue. Qing Dou immediately strode forward and shoved the rolling shutter door all the way open!

"Roar!" The zombies that had been blocking here since yesterday rushed in frantically!

Dongfang Tian and the others cursed Qing Dou in fright, but those who had long psychological preparations immediately rushed forward to hack and slash frantically at the ordinary zombies! Li Huiyu and Qing Dou also charged out alongside them!

Li Huiyu's right hand gripped his short knife, agile as a fluttering butterfly, his body constantly flickering as he always managed to appear at the most appropriate angle to drive his blade straight into a zombie's neck...

Qing Dou held his saber in one hand, slashing wildly with the other. Not a single zombie was a match for him; whereas before he could only hack halfway into a neck, now with a single sweep of his strength, the heads of the zombies right in front of him were instantly sent flying along with a spray of putrid gore!

Strength, speed, spirit... all had been tremendously enhanced. Qing Dou felt that at this moment, he might even be stronger than his father!

Jiang Yi observed for a moment before losing interest. Although he was curious about Qing Dou's ability, since Qing Dou was being mysterious and wanted to keep it secret for now, Jiang Yi chose not to pry. After all, these ordinary zombies shouldn't be worth an awakened Qing Dou using his special abilities yet!