What Ian Song inherited were only his predecessor's memories, without a trace of emotion—like watching a vivid movie. So, he felt no resentment toward Cindy Ma or Eric Guo, and simply regarded them as familiar acquaintances.
"Ian Song, is that you?" Bella Ning waved at him.
"It's me! We've already killed all the zombies on the first and second floors—you can come down now!" Ian Song said with a smile.
"Haha, that's fantastic!"
The more than twenty students upstairs couldn't help but be overjoyed when they heard this—except for Eric Guo and Cindy Ma, whose expressions were rather grim.
Soon, the group moved aside the tables and chairs blocking the third-floor door and made their way down to the second floor.
Bella Ning looked Ian Song up and down with curiosity. "I never would've guessed you were this strong. By the way, did you come here because you knew Cindy was trapped and came to save her on purpose?"
"Of course not. It was just a coincidence!" Ian Song replied calmly.
Standing at the back of the crowd, Cindy Ma felt a strange sense of loss after hearing Ian Song's words.
Bella Ning eyed Ian Song suspiciously. "You really didn't come here on purpose?"
Ian Song shook his head. "These days, we've gathered a few hundred surviving students at our base, but we're running out of food. We're planning to move our camp to the cafeteria, so after we cleared out the zombies here, the main group will be coming over soon."
Hearing this, Bella Ning stopped pressing and instead asked with concern, "How many people have you gathered?"
Ian Song replied seriously, "A little over three hundred—all survivors from the men's dorms. Once we've moved here, I'll take people to rescue the survivors in the women's dorms."
"What? Only a little over three hundred?" Bella Ning couldn't help but exclaim, and the others were just as shocked—after all, there were at least seven or eight thousand people living in the eleven men's dorm buildings.
Even if not everyone was in their rooms, there should've been at least six thousand people.
In other words, at least five or six thousand people either turned into zombies or were eaten by them. Just thinking about it made everyone shudder.
"How many survivors are left in the women's dorms?" Bella Ning asked again.
"Probably not more than four hundred!" Ian Song replied.
South China University has over seven thousand male students, and around twelve thousand female students.
Out of these twenty thousand, the dorms house the majority, but in the end, there aren't even a thousand survivors left. That means fewer than one in twenty made it.
Just then, Jason Long came up from the first floor after collecting Evolution Crystals.
"Jason, I'm leaving this place to you. I'll head back and bring the main group over!" Seeing Jason Long arrive, Ian Song turned to him and said.
"Don't worry, boss. I've got this." Jason Long thumped his chest in assurance.
Ian Song nodded to Bella Ning, then left without once looking at Cindy Ma. Watching his departing figure, Cindy couldn't help but feel regret—and even a trace of resentment.
Ian Song had already checked the cafeteria's food stores using his Clairvoyant Vision—they were more than enough to feed five hundred people for a month.
Besides this, the campus had eight more cafeterias.
Once the main group arrived, Ian planned to lead people to bring over the food from the other eight cafeterias as well.
The transfer of the main group went very smoothly.
Since Ian Song and Jason Long had already cleared out the zombies along the way, the few stray zombies that appeared weren't even enough for the five squads to kill.
All five squads had taken Evolution Crystals.
Moreover, when Leo Liao and the others picked team members, they deliberately chose the strong ones. After taking an Evolution Crystal, each gained about thirty kilograms of strength.
Plus, they'd learned how to kill zombies, so even the ordinary members could handle two zombies on their own.
What's more, if they wanted more Evolution Crystals, they had to earn Merit Points.
The Merit Point system was set up by Kevin Zhou and Leo Liao.
Killing a zombie earned one Merit Point. Ten Merit Points could be exchanged for one Evolution Crystal.
After taking Evolution Crystals, all the squad members knew how valuable they were for getting stronger, so nobody passed up a chance to kill zombies.
When passing by the laboratory building, Ian Song said to Leo Liao and Jimmy Zhu, "There are over a hundred zombies and a dozen survivors in this building. You two take your teams and clear out the zombies, and rescue the people while you're at it!"
"Ian, isn't it risky to send just two squads against a hundred zombies? How about I take my squad too, just to be safe!" Mark Mao volunteered.
"Get lost! It's not like all hundred zombies are gathered in one spot—they're scattered throughout the building. Even one squad would be enough!" Leo Liao sneered. Mark Mao was clearly trying to snatch the credit.
To be a good leader, you naturally have to fight for benefits for your own people. Those hundred zombies were clearly a chance to rack up Merit Points, so when Mark Mao tried to join in, Leo Liao was the first to object.
"That's right, Mark. With Leo Liao and me here, that's plenty!" Jimmy Zhu wasn't foolish—he immediately saw through Mark Mao's intentions and joined Leo Liao in standing firm.
"Enough chatter. You two, get moving!" Ian Song said impatiently.
"Yes, boss! We're on it!"
With a wave, Leo Liao called out, "Let's go, brothers—time to earn some Merit Points!"
Merit Points could be exchanged not only for Evolution Crystals, but also for food.
Seeing Ian Song refuse to let him join the fight, Mark Mao couldn't help looking frustrated.
Noticing this, Ian Song said with a touch of annoyance, "Fine. Once we've moved the group to the cafeteria, we'll go clear out the zombies in the women's dorms—there'll be plenty of chances for you to earn credit!"
Mark Mao's eyes lit up. He nodded and said no more.
Soon, Ian Song led the main group to the cafeteria.
Without needing Ian Song's instructions, everyone worked together to clear the cafeteria of zombie corpses.
They carried all the bodies outside and set them on fire. Of course, the resulting smell was far from pleasant.
An hour later, Leo Liao and Jimmy Zhu returned with their squads, bringing a dozen survivors with them.
With dozens of newcomers joining the group,
Kevin Zhou suggested gathering everyone for a meeting to explain the rules and regulations to the new arrivals.
Ian Song had little interest in giving speeches, so he let Kevin Zhou handle it.
Kevin Zhou knew how to play his cards right. He deliberately emphasized Ian Song's authority, so the newcomers all glanced at Ian Song, who sat off to the side. Eric Guo and Ma Qianqian's expressions grew even more complicated, since Ian Song was the boss of this base.
If Ian Song wanted to deal with them, it would be no trouble at all. He wouldn't even need to do it himself—just a hint would have people lining up to take action. Didn't they hear that all the food and water was distributed under central management?
Controlling food and water meant controlling people's lifelines.
If Ian Song knew what they were thinking, he'd tell them they were overthinking it.