All of them were startled by the raucous sound.
It is a peacock's cry.
It startled not just their group, but some of the passersby too. It's not common to keep peacock's cry as the ringtone.
Yanlong looked at her phone, checked the latest text she received.
Someone responded to her apocalypse blog.
She set the special alarm for the blog.
They go to the same university as her and they want to meet her tomorrow.
Yanlong sent her assent. She did not expect she would find a comrade in arms.
Though she was capable of much on her own, there were far too many situations where there's a heaven and earth difference just by having one more pair of eyes and arms.
She's not going to be like those apocalypse heroes who do not like to share.
She is going to share as much as possible.
Even if she perishes, the knowledge of the apocalypse must survive.
"Oh! Is that a boy's name I see?" Biyu asked from beside her.
"Study group." Yanlong lied easily.
They all had knowing smiles on their faces, as if they knew it was a tryst rather than study group.
Regardless of their teasing, Yanlong did not respond.
She wanted to pretend to be embarrassed and such, but she had become too old for such silly reactions now.
Fortunately, the shop is nearby, though in a fairly shady area. Yanlong quickly picked up all the apparatus she wanted.
As expected, Huomei bought the full thief set, including grappling hook and rope.
In fact, she would have bought even more if Yanlong did not cut in and weeded out all useless and quality less trinkets.
Huomei of the future has told her how much of an otaku girl she had been.
Even so, Yanlong did not expect it to be this bad.
If not for that otaku knowledge, Huomei probably would not have survived.
Regardless, this time around all her roommates will have means to protect themselves, if not the will. After all, many students panicked rather than turning into zombies.
Their school and surrounding areas had the lowest level of zombie infection. Yet, their survival rate did not differ from other places, for the transit to safe areas is long and perilous.
They had the unfortunate fate of being the center of a trifecta of very powerful cities, L city not included.
Compared to those three metros, L city could probably be called only a cute town.
The basin surrounded by mountain ranges existed within this triangle, like a circle.
The edge of the mountain ranges is full of tourist resorts of various kinds. Thus, the holiday population is high at the edges of the basin.
On top of that, a national highway connected two of the cities and passed through a third.
Imagine the zombie population of all of these cities blocking the road…
No matter which direction they ran towards, the losses will be very heavy.
Unfortunately for the survivors, L city's tourist traffic is at peak these two weeks owing to a plethora of ancient temples opening and beautiful scenery of indigenous flora, flowering, etc…
A series of little mishaps adding to that, all survivors got cut down before they could get to any base.
After the lockpicking tools were bought, Yanlong went on to buy a GPS tracker for her baby brother.
The tracker came with an app, showing any added trackers location. This can pretty much be done with a smartphone.
The selling point of the tracker is that they are military grade. i.e. the location can be confirmed with a variety of tools, including ham radios as long as the unique code of the tracker is known.
She bought the sturdiest and manliest chain she can add to that.
In Yanlong's past life, the company which made these trackers would integrate into base B.
Yanlong herself was in base H. This particular tracker's price was one of the ongoing contentions between two bases.
After the tracker was set, Yanlong chose a mechanical watch.
She could not afford the super expensive military style one, so she bought an old second hand watch, while her friends bought the expensive ones with all the trims and jingles.
Huomei decided that these GPS trackers are as good as soldier tags, so they all got the chains and trackers instead of soldier tags.
once again, Huomei foots the bill for Yanlong.
By now, they all got used to it.
Seems this way more comfortable this way than Yanlong putting her foot down due to needless pride.
They did not hold back for the fear of upsetting Yanlong's 'poor' sensibilities, nor do they have to worry they are placing too much burden on their college friend.
Sometimes Yanlong thought it a miracle that all the girls in her dorm have such good character.
None of them derailed even under the pressure of the apocalypse, even when others oppressed them.
Then, Yanlong went to her final destination, L city library.
This time around, her friends opted to sit this one out and wait for her in the library's café.
There is a reason for making sure to come here. This particular library has a museum of blueprints from preindustrial era to present, at least the outdated kind of ones.
Yes, the internet teaches how to make homemade bombs and such.
However, her country very closely monitored such things, if not blocking them outright.
On top of that, what's needed in the era of apocalypse are more flour mills than homemade bombs.
Even basic cart building is painful and full of trial and errors if exact specifications are not known.
If ever there is a metal user, do you think he can make blades for snow skating boots with exact curvature and measurement on the fly? It's not possible.
Museum's blueprint book solved that. There is an extremely expensive option which is only open to DIY enthusiasts.
The last stop is an electronics store. Yanlong exhausted all she can spend by now, even with choosing the cheapest items has blown through her entire month's pocket money.
She shamelessly borrowed from Huomei to buy three solar powered battery rechargers.
Along with batteries, she bought the basic soldering set, pocket toolset with sharpest knife and a precision screwdriver set.
Twenty year old Yanlong did not know what to do with these, but apocalypse survivor Yanlong can blow up half a city with just these items in her hand if need be.
"You are just like an old man. " Biyu criticized again, looking at the extremely practical and ugly design Yanlong had chosen, just to obtain the discount.
"Ai ya big sister! If you have complaints, all you need to do is sponsor the pretty set." Yanlong retorted.
Biyu looked like Christmas came early, startling Yanlong.
"Fine. if you promise to do my English intro essay." Biyu countered back, as if she is waiting for Yanlong to beg her.
"Then just this much wont do at all. You need to buy me a fireproof smartphone skin set." Yanlong bargained.
Had she been twenty, she would have been insulted till she wished for suicide, to accept these many alms. However, she's thirty and an apocalypse survivor.
However, she knew this is Biyu's style of making friends.
Given half her friends are white lotuses, rest green tea bitches, Biyu learned to drive off opportunists earlier than many her own age.
If someone can't stand her poisonous tongue, bye bye. If someone has too thin skin, poke them to death. The remaining, treat them like a branded handbag. That is Biyu's philosophy in life.
Huomei took it up as her own motto after Biyu died saving Mingzhu and Huomei. Even Yanlong has a secondary memory of the incident, given how much their group changed after Biyu's death.
Biyu famously said 'you die, we all die.' to Huomei. It happened when students were travelling as a group. It is also the moment Huomei turned into a flame empress.
Their journey was easy after that, but Huomei never forgave herself. Simply put, Biyu's death woke them up to the realities of the apocalypse last time around...
Yanlong picked up a ham radio and a pair of walkie talkies along with all the trimmings. Huomei, after some deliberation, bought a set of walkie talkies. Yanlong added other little trinkets, such as a mini flashlight, compass and odds and ends till it came up to thousand bucks, limit set by Biyu.
She could live without these, but no need to hold herself back when she's going to do honest work for it.
Though she doubted she would write an english essay in this life.
She made a deal with Biyu to do her entire semester's work for 'mad witch', their unmarried English professor.
In return, Biyu will pay up front. This time, it's not Huomei but Meibing who copied her, buying all the same stuff Yanlong has chosen.
Yanlong silently added a drone and camera set to Meibing's shopping cart. Meibing just looked at her before accepting those and moving on.
The drone was expensive and powerful, so was the camera.
Yanlong bought a few prayer beads, Feng Shui beads and any other types of stone beads with remaining money.
The girls went all out in the shop, given Biyu and Mingzhu are self anointed experts on fashion and jewelry, respectively.
In her past, these kinds of beads had super powers. Many held space, others time, yet others even more mysterious powers.
Even if she bought them by the kilogram, it wouldn't hurt her. So, Yanlong bought all she could. Even if only one of these beads gets super powers, it is still one more power in her arsenal.
Last time around, she could only barely sense the beads from the second year of apocalypse onwards. It helped greatly towards her survival.
Before long, it's time for the return trip.
Given how much their weapons weigh, they rented a cargo cabin on the train. Soon, the train is cruising along happily. Theirs is a cabin.
So , the doors were closed, girls all started doing their night time maintenance one by one.
Yanlong also left for her turn, though she did not do much maintenance.
She has to talk to her family about the apocalypse.
Unlike all other apocalypse heroes in novels, she has a fully functioning normal family who would laugh in her face if she were to warn them about the apocalypse.
On top of that, she knew beyond doubt her mother had turned into a zombie.
Her father eventually killed her, but he got infected.
Her brother looked after her father, and eventually escaped after killing their father. However, It left an unhealable psychological scar on him.
Her brother and little nephew were caught in one of the earlier survivor camps which took advantage of children.
Her nephew was lost in a scuffle there. Her brother still suffered from PTSD about the camp, he did not open up about the experience, not even once.
Yanlong would prevent it by all means.
She called him using Suyan's phone.
He picked up on the first ring.
"Xiao Long! It's your sister." she said before he could say a word.
"What did you call for?" her brother asked her gruffly, though his voice cracked a little.
He is thirteen about to turn fourteen. It's sometimes cute, sometimes annoying, and always funny. Yet, she choked up right now.
She called her parents on the first day, but her brother wasn't there. There is nothing Yanlong regretted more than not looking for him during her escape. She had the means.
She had been one of the few ordinary people that can fight well against zombies in their group, not owing to athletic prowess, but only because of her stout heart.
She was puffed up for some time after being called 'brave dragon', before understanding it's half in mockery, half in jest.
However, right now she has a con to accomplish, she will make up the lies correctly and prepare her family for the apocalypse. Yanlong hardened her heart and continued.
"I have something very important to tell you. I found a way to get that PS3 you wanted, but it's a roundabout way and depends on how well you can convince mom and dad to follow through." Yanlong said.
"You are not kidding with me, right?" Her brother asked.
"No. I am not. I applied for participation in a TV show and made it to the first round. Show's about the apocalypse."
Her brother hummed. Yanlong continued.
"In the program, we are supposed to call our families and tell them the apocalypse is occurring the day after tomorrow. We get points based on how well the family responds to it. Obviously, I am not supposed to give you this call. "
"hmm.... "
"If I get caught, I will be disqualified. Even now, I am calling you from the restroom. They are going to catch up with me. You must explain to mom and dad, make them agree and do well. I have to go now. You should expect a call from me soon."
Yanlong hung up the phone there.
She hopes her brother will not look through her fib and they will do some preparations, even if they only survived up to two weeks, it's still two weeks of time she has to find them.
It's not that she can save them singlehandedly, but at least she can give them a fighting chance…
In a few minutes she called her home again.
"Mom, Dad I have something very important to tell you." Yanlong began.
Her mother's voice responded back very stiffly. It seems she has heard she will be on TV and the awkwardness showed.
"Ah ha ha haha! My beloved daughter. What do you want to tell us?" It's as if she is trying to sound very elegant, but failing at it.
'As expected of my brother, king of tattling.' Yanlong cribbed, though it is in fondness. There is nothing like a PS3 to move her brother.
"I love you guys." Yanlong said without preamble. That seemed to have relaxed her family, along with the tension in her own body.
"Ah.. look at this girl trying to curry favor. Go on and tell us. What is it?" Her mother asked in a more normal tone this time around.
"Hmm.. Mother, you must believe me regardless of how absurd what I say sounds."
Yanlong gave a dramatic pause.
"Apocalypse is coming tomorrow night. You guys must prepare and stay safe at least until I can get to you guys." Yanlong told her plaintively.
"What sort of preparations should we do?" Yanlong's mother asked.