Dong Junwei widened her eyes, and in the dim light, she saw three figures slowly approaching.
From their outlines, one of them was carrying a huge object on their shoulder.
...
As Chen Mu and his group got closer, illuminated by the faint moonlight, they were startled by the miserable state of their classmates. They initially thought there had been some kind of attack.
But as Dong Junwei and Qian Fei went forward to greet them, they realized that their classmates were just weakened to the extreme.
Wei Dalei put down the water bucket.
The few who were still conscious felt revitalized at the sight of the full bucket of water.
Chen Mu approached and opened a sealed part of the water bucket.
"How do we drink this?" Qian Fei asked, swallowing as he looked at the clear and transparent water. They couldn't all just lean over the bucket to drink.
Dong Junwei looked at Chen Mu.
Chen Mu didn't need her reminder; he nodded and said, "I'll make some cups."
Creating cups, which were not heavy and had a simple structure, was something Chen Mu could easily do now.
He removed a part of the plastic spoon he had made before and then skillfully transformed it into cups.
Soon, round cups were formed in his hands.
To speed up the process, he didn't add handles to the cups.
The appearance was a bit rough, maybe more like bowls.
But at this moment, nobody cared about that. They took the cups and gathered around the water bucket.
Considering hygiene, Dong Junwei didn't allow everyone to scoop water individually from the bucket. Instead, she used one cup to scoop the water and then distributed it to each person.
Even though they were almost unable to bear the thirst, they still instinctively formed a queue, with girls in the front and Qian Fei at the back.
Each person had their turn to take a cup, drink it, return to the end of the line, and then queue again for the second round.
The scene was quiet, and the sound of everyone gulping down water was particularly clear.
Wei Dalei was a little anxious and said, "Squad leader, Xiaoyan and the others are still asleep."
He had to support the water bucket so that Dong Junwei could scoop water more easily. Besides, Chen Mu's craftsmanship was a bit rough, and the bottom of the water bucket wasn't very stable. If he didn't support it, it might tip over.
Tang Jing smiled and said, "I'll wake them up."
After saying that, she went to wake up the three people still sleeping on the towels, including Zhao Xiaoyan and Gu Ping.
Each person's endurance for thirst was different. Zhao Xiaoyan didn't talk much, and although she was thirsty like everyone else, she seemed to be handling it better.
After Gu Ping was awakened, he quickly understood the situation. Holding his own cup, he lowered his head and went to the water bucket to receive the "gift" from the squad leader. He knew the water had been brought by Wei Dalei and didn't dare to look at him throughout the process.
Although Wei Dalei and Chen Mu weren't on good terms, Wei Dalei didn't hesitate to share water with him. After all, they couldn't just watch their classmates die of thirst.
After everyone had finished drinking, Dong Junwei finally poured herself a full cup of water and forced herself to drink slowly.
Chen Mu had already quenched his thirst and now watched Dong Junwei, admiring her determination.
He knew he could do it too, but his resilience came from growing up in difficult circumstances. On the other hand, Dong Junwei came from a wealthy family. Her father was a well-known entrepreneur in the city, and Chen Mu often saw him on the news.
For a girl like her to show such self-control and sense of responsibility was truly commendable.
The effects of the water were immediate. The previously lifeless scene became lively again, and everyone seemed to be reborn, laughing and talking.
They had only used less than a third of the water in the bucket, which meant it could last for about three more days.
Dong Junwei approached Chen Mu.
"Chen Mu, you should go to sleep early. From getting the cakes until now, you've been busy. Honestly, I feel a bit guilty."
"It's nothing. I'm just doing what I can," Chen Mu replied and added, "I'll go to bed now."
Considering the time, it was only around seven or eight in the evening. In mid-May, before the college entrance exams, this was the final stage of intense revision.
But now, there were no college entrance exams.
Perhaps that was the only advantage of the apocalypse.
...
Chen Mu had indeed exerted a lot of physical and mental energy throughout the day, so he desperately needed a good night's sleep to recover.
Before sleeping, he sealed the water bucket to prevent dust or anything else from contaminating it.
After the events of the previous night, he found a spot on the edge of the towels to lie down.
There were several towels scattered on the ground, but Dong Junwei insisted that everyone sleep on one towel together to avoid anyone being singled out for an attack. Thankfully, the space was large enough, so it didn't feel crowded.
After lying down, Chen Mu quickly fell asleep.
Dong Junwei still arranged for people to take turns keeping watch at night. Except for Chen Mu and Wei Dalei, everyone had two hours of watch duty. Luckily, while Chen Mu and his group went to fetch water, the others managed to catch some sleep, so they could still hold on.
"Class monitor, I'm not tired, I can take a shift too," Wei Dalei assured, patting his chest.
Dong Junwei said, "I know you're not tired, but carrying such heavy things all the way definitely affected your stamina. Right now, you are the strongest in our team. In case anything happens, we need your strength. We don't need one less person now. Go rest for a while."
Wei Dalei initially wanted to persist, but Zhao Xiaoyan came over and persuaded him, so he obediently ran towards the towels and found a spot not far from Chen Mu to lie down and sleep.
Dong Junwei sighed, "It seems that it takes one to handle another. Big Dalei is like a stubborn bull, and it takes Xiaoyan to manage him."
Zhao Xiaoyan blushed.
...
Since Chen Mu had gone to bed early the night before, he woke up when it was just getting light, amidst Wei Dalei's snoring.
Judging by the degree of brightness, it was probably around five o'clock.
He looked around and noticed that the two people on watch had also fallen asleep, leaning against each other.
This late-night shift was indeed tough. After all, they were just ordinary high school students and couldn't maintain strict discipline like the military.
After a good night's sleep, Chen Mu felt his body and mind restored to their peak condition. He then picked up his weapon and headed towards the gap in the door.
For 99% of people, the first thing to do upon waking up in the morning is to use the restroom.
Chen Mu bent down to walk out of the gap and first took a breath of the air outside, which carried the fragrance of grass. Then, he found a gap in the cement floor to take care of his personal needs.
However, he didn't go too far away.
As the saying goes, the early bird catches the worm.
Chen Mu didn't want to be that worm.
Thinking of Luo Hui's fate, he sighed to himself.
He and Luo Hui weren't particularly close, just classmates.
But if Luo Hui hadn't died, having someone with the ability to fly in the group would have been a huge help.
Thinking of superpowers, Chen Mu once again wielded his "weapon."
He was considering whether to do some morning exercises when he heard someone approaching from behind.
"Waking up so early?" Tang Jing walked over while using her fingers to comb her long hair.