Chapter 163: Sharing a Room

The roasted potato is fragrant, but because it can only be cooked on an iron plate, the surface is slightly charred; to keep the potato whole, this extent already brings out Du Jia Jia's strongest cooking skill.

The tomato provides plenty of moisture, so Chen Mu didn't need to use his water bottle.

Food isn't a big problem; if necessary, occasionally gnawing on ant legs could sustain them for a few days, but they dare not drink water indiscriminately.

One potato, one tomato.

That's already decent for lunch.

After resting for half an hour, the two resumed their journey.

For He Ying, the mental power consumed to lighten her own weight isn't much; the issue is how much weight to reduce.

At first she could at most halve her weight, but after days of study and practice she can now reduce it to one-tenth for a short time—maintaining that level lasts only about three to five seconds.

If she only needs the moment of jumping, she can become even lighter.

But the more weight she reduces, the more mental power is naturally consumed.

Therefore He Ying dares not push her ability to the limit, fearing another fainting spell like last time.

Thus, the later it gets, the slower their speed becomes.

Moreover, the frequency and duration of their rests increase as well.

Only when the sky grew slightly dim did they barely reach the third floor.

One floor remained, but today it was impossible to go up no matter what.

"Let's not go on today, rest for the night, and go up all the way tomorrow," Chen Mu said.

"Right here?"

Their current position is on the third-floor corridor; because the railings are enclosed, they cannot see the outside scenery.

Chen Mu gave up the idea of resting in a classroom, since that would waste a lot of time; building a shelter on the spot is the most economical choice.

"Mm, let's find a corner and pitch a tent."

As they spoke, the sky grew darker.

Chen Mu seized the moment and started working.

While waiting for He Ying, his mental power consumption wasn't actually large; on the contrary, when he was hung up, supporting his whole body with his right arm made it a bit sore.

The two quickly found a good spot.

This time Wei Dalei wasn't with them, so Chen Mu carried little material; he originally wanted each person to have a tent, but testing showed the thickness would be insufficient for any defensive effect.

In the end, they could only share one shelter.

To save as much material as possible, Chen Mu pitched the tent against the wall corner, thus saving the material for three walls.

Finally, a flat stainless-steel iron box, not much larger than a coffin, appeared before them; if these materials hadn't been lightened by Lu Shanshan, Chen Mu couldn't have made even this.

By then, the sky was completely dark.

Chen Mu estimated the time; it was about eight o'clock, which back then would have been a good time to do homework, binge-watch shows, and read novels.

But now, with no entertainment or homework, people's spiritual life is extremely deprived; they can only go to sleep early.

Fortunately, they were already exhausted today, so lying down let them fall asleep.

He Ying lay inside the iron box, Chen Mu lay down beside her, then he closed the box, leaving only a few finger-thick ventilation holes.

Honestly, these conditions can't compare to home, but having a safe place to sleep outdoors is already not bad; He Ying isn't particularly delicate and doesn't find it too harsh.

But after lying there for a while, neither could fall asleep.

"Actually, I feel a bit claustrophobic; if I were alone, I probably wouldn't dare sleep in such a box."

Their distance is only one body width, and the box's height is just enough to turn over— not even enough to let them stretch their arms straight up.

In such a setting, a man and a woman of this age will inevitably have some… thoughts.

Chen Mu could clearly smell He Ying's scent; saying he wasn't moved would be a lie, but for him, before the apocalypse he had to strive to live, and afterward he had to strive to survive, so he simply had neither the time nor the standing to dwell on it.

"Should we open the ventilation holes a bit wider?"

Chen Mu fell silent for a moment, then reluctantly came up with this answer.

"Better not; I'm more afraid something might crawl in."

"..."

The situation became a little awkward for a moment; Chen Mu suddenly became tongue-tied, not knowing what to say.

Fortunately, he usually sleeps well; while he was trying to think of a topic to ease the atmosphere… he actually fell asleep without realizing it.

He Ying was waiting for Chen Mu to speak, but soon she heard a faint snore; she first blinked, a bit angry, then she puffed out a laugh.

Upon realizing Chen Mu had fallen asleep, she relaxed even more, turned on her side, and quickly fell asleep as well.

Chen Mu was awakened by the chirping of sparrows.

The cool morning breeze blew in through the ventilation holes; without blankets, lying directly on the metal, it was still a bit chilly.

She turned over, and He Ying quickly woke up too.

"Morning."

"Morning."

Chen Mu opened the iron box; the sky was already half bright.

He lacks Tang Jing's ability to calculate time precisely, but he also knows it's roughly six or seven in the morning.

After packing up the tent, shouldering their packs again, the two continued on their way.

The morning air was very fresh.

Moreover, their spirits improved greatly; after a night's rest, He Ying had fully recovered and, like yesterday, took the lead.

Chen Mu, however, remained slow, yet he climbed the stairs without stopping.

Not long after, the two finally reached the fourth floor.

Chen Mu calculated that, adding yesterday's time, they had spent about five or six hours in total.

It's still within an acceptable range.

The office of Teacher Wan of the Labor Technology class is on the far west side of the fourth floor, while the stairs are on the east side, which means they still have to cross the entire teaching building to reach the office.

The width of Teaching Building No. 3 is 40 meters, which is not a short distance; walking would take about an hour.

And this stretch is almost completely exposed to the outdoors; the empty corridors of the teaching building now feel especially wide, with no place to hide.

The two walked west along the wall.

As they passed the classrooms, they noticed that only a few doors were open.

But even with the doors open, even in broad daylight, He Ying felt a gloomy feeling inside.

If the teachers and students on this floor had met with misfortune from the start, then these classrooms should have many corpses.

Thinking of this, He Ying's steps grew faster and faster.

Passing classroom after classroom, besides silence and deathly stillness, Chen Mu could find no words to describe it.

The birdsong in the garden not only failed to dispel this stillness, but made the entire teaching building seem even more gloomy and terrifying.

Both of them unconsciously quickened their pace.

Soon, they arrived at their destination.

Although this office is used by only one person, its area is still the same as other offices.

Chen Mu naturally thought of entering through the gap under the door.

However, when he and He Ying got close and looked, the door gap over a meter wide was completely blocked by something.