The day after.
"Son, you may think that I'm being annoying, but sometimes a decision you make will determine your life. Whether it's heaven or hell is a very thin line…"
"Mom, I want to repeat a year of high school!" Chang clenched his teeth, ending his mother's rant.
"Well, well, well, this is what you said; we didn't force you!" As if she didn't understand her son's current mood, Hua finally cracked a smile.
"You know, our family has always been democratic. Since you chose you own path, you need to study hard this year. In order to support your choice, we have contacted a boarding school for you. There are fewer students in each grade, so it'll be less chaotic. We figure that the time you wasted on commuting to school could've been used to study. Since you chose to pursue this path, every second is important. Some students who've repeated high school already have a head start..."
...
The next day, Chang packed his luggage, grabbed some utensils and a few sets of clothes and arrived in Xing Zhi, a small boarding school. As all the students there had repeated high school, their motivation to study was erased by the summer heat. After just 3 days, old habits were restored.
Three days were enough for the boarding students to get to know each other. After night class, Chang took a shower and laid on his bunk bed, chatting with his roommates.
"Hey, did you guys choose to repeat a year?" Chang said as he looked at the other three.
One man wore glasses and seemed like he never cared about his hygiene. His hair was always greasy. Most of the time, he held a thick book. Judging from his appearance, it looked like he was a hard working student, but apparently he went in the wrong direction – the book he read wasn't a textbook. So obviously, he didn't choose to come here.
"I'm not sure, I didn't even pass the examination. I wanted to go to an engineering school or something, but my dad disagreed." The man wearing glasses responded; his gaze never left his book.
"Hey kid, what do you read every day then?" A voice came from the upper bed. Pang Zi was a chubby man and also a fan of web fiction, but he didn't like whatever that man was reading.
"Apocalyptic fiction."
"Come on, let me take a look," Pang Zi took the book away swiftly. Within a few glances he said, "Zombies again? Why does all apocalyptic fiction mention zombies? It's such a joke!"
Pang Zi returned the glasses man's book while ranting.
"It's been more than 10 years since the release of the Resident Evil series, yet everyone still thinks that zombies are a key element of apocalyptic fiction. They have no creativity at all! If viruses aren't transmittable through the air, then zombies can't be considered a threat to humans."
"Breathing heavily, walking slowly, mental retardation and those stupid 'ah, ah' sounds they make. For any normal human, it's impossible to be bitten by such a creature. Think of our ancestors from ancient times. Facing all kind of predators who were way stronger and more flexible than humans, humankind still managed to thrive."
"I'm not bragging, but even if all the students in our school turned into zombies one day, I could still run out of here safe and sound, if you know what I mean."
Pang Zi shook his belly while talking.
The last person in the dorm interrupted Pang Zi's lecture as he became arrogant.
"In fact, the zombie theme didn't originate from Resident Evil series, but rather from European Medieval Literature. In 1968, the American movie 'Night of the Living Dead' set the tone for apocalyptic novels and movies. The concept of killing zombies by shooting their heads and viruses being contagious through zombie bites…that movie basically proposed everything we know about zombies today."
Tao explained calmly. Within the four of them, he was the only one with a good academic standing. Tao was really close to getting into Peking University, which was one of the best universities in the country. Unsurprisingly, not only was he good at studying, but he also had extensive knowledge in different disciplines. From time to time, Tao loved to show off his mastery of all kinds of knowledge.
"Hence, the zombie theme has been boring ever since it was popularized four or five decades ago. And Pang Zi, your opinion is correct; we don't need to fear zombies. As long as they aren't intelligent, their chances of being a threat to humans is infinitely close to zero."
"Hey, I was asking whether or not you came here voluntarily. Stop changing the topic." Chang interrupted the "good student" and brought the conversation back on track.
"Obviously no one came here voluntarily aside from me," Tao concluded everything with a single sentence.
"Ah, these days, we never really get to make our own choices, even though our parents insist that they respect our decisions. From my viewpoint, it'd be better for me if they just said things straightforwardly." Chang laid on the bed and recalled what happened a few days ago.
Right after he spoke, the door opened and a teacher wearing a pair of rimless glasses came in.
"Stop chitchatting and go to sleep, you have classes early in the morning." He shut the door upon leaving the command, but his last statement snuck through the door, "In the history of evolution, small and medium sized predators who made heavy footsteps became extinct, not to mention those who moved slowly. There's no significance in discussing this issue, so go sleep!"