You could say they were clever and liked to study, or that they were study machines.
But you should never equate moral character with academic achievement.
Hearing such words now only made him feel sick to his stomach.
"In this apocalyptic world, how long we can survive is anyone’s guess. If you want to keep her for yourself, you need to find your own food. But just look outside, it’s all zombies. Where can you search? We have to be realistic. Some things aren’t that important. We can swear, just this once, take it as a trade. We’ll give you a third of our food. If you ration it, you could live at least another half a month. Maybe in that half month, we’ll get out of this damned place," he said, while persuading with a charm of his own.
Gao Shang pushed up his glasses, eating his food while slowly swaying him.
"Impossible," the boyfriend of the couple rejected him, but his refusal seemed hesitant.
Gao Shang said, "Is your girlfriend pretty? She’s just average. In the past, we might not have even given her a second glance. You’ve had your fun with her, what’s so interesting about that? Why not think about trading her for some supplies? Don’t you think that being alive is the only hope?"
"Moreover, once we’ve eaten enough, our strength will gradually return, while your bodies will become weaker and weaker. Do you think by then you can protect her? Is it worth risking your life to defend your so-called dignity?"
Gao Shang noticed a change in the boyfriend’s eyes.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t be reasoned with.
It was his last shred of dignity that was tormenting him.
Gao Shang’s words didn’t elicit the same resolute refusal from the boyfriend.
Instead, he stared straight at the food in the box.
He felt Gao Shang made sense; considering his current situation, if they regained their strength, it wasn’t just a matter of food – surviving at all would be in question.
No one dared underestimate the people who had survived this far.
Whether it was their spirit or mindset, they were all teetering on the brink of collapse.
The boyfriend turned to look at his girlfriend hiding behind him.
The girlfriend, seeing the look in her boyfriend’s eyes, was struck with a sudden shock. She couldn’t believe it and began stepping back, "You... you’re considering agreeing to them?"
They had known each other for seven years, been together since college. If the apocalypse hadn’t happened, they might already be married. Even though her parents had always disapproved, thinking his hometown was too poor,
she hadn’t listened, thinking it was enough that he was good to her. Besides, what did it matter if his hometown was poor? They would work hard together.
"Lan, just agree, I promise I won’t despise you. With a third of the supplies, we can survive for a long time, really," he pleaded.
The boyfriend had been persuaded by Gao Shang.
In fact, if such a trade had been proposed earlier, he would’ve agreed anyway. It was just that he had a dignity as thin as paper, which, once lightly touched, would shatter completely.
All he needed was a little nudge.
"Are you really going to sell me out?" Li Lan asked, her face ashen.
The boyfriend lowered his head, "Let it go. You’re thinking about food too, aren’t you? It’s just a matter of closing your eyes."
Li Lan said, "I do want it, but not . We can jump off here together right now and drown together. I’m not scared one bit. Are you willing to join me?"
The boyfriend shook his head, "I don’t want to die, I want to live. Lan, please, just agree. It’s not your first time, and who’s to say it makes any difference with whom? As long as you agree, we’ll have lots of food, and we can keep on living."
"Bullshit, no way," Li Lan resisted.
Gao Shang, who was eating, chimed in, "You’re running out of time, can’t even handle a woman, huh?"
Upon hearing this, the boyfriend, as if he’d made up his mind, suddenly stepped in front of Li Lan and with a slap, knocked down the girlfriend he had once cherished.
"Dammit, you’ll agree whether you want to or not. What act are you putting on in front of me? What haven’t you done when you were with me? Right now, I just want to live. Didn’t you say you’d do anything for me? Now when I ask you to get food, you refuse?"
Li Lan covered her face, looking at the boyfriend in front of her with a ferocious and terrifying expression, almost unrecognizable to her. She had never imagined that just a few words from someone else could turn him into this.
The boyfriend said to Gao Shang, "Here she is, I’m handing her over to you. I don’t care about the rest, and I don’t want her anymore. Just tie her up, and whenever you want to use her, go ahead. I just want to survive; there’s nothing more important than that."
Gao Shang exchanged glances with the student.
They stood up and walked toward Li Lan, at the same time reaching out with their vile hands.
Meanwhile, the boyfriend, not even looking, pounced like a mad dog on the box filled with food, tearing open a bag and gulping it down, heedless of the disgrace soon to befall his girlfriend.
Even to him, it seemed to bear no relation to himself anymore.
"Don’t come any closer."
Li Lan backed away, terrified by the bestial men approaching her. In that moment, she felt utterly hopeless. Her boyfriend, whom she had considered her rock, was gobbling up food like a dog, completely ignoring her plight.
The two men sneered sleazily, their eyes filled with mockery. In the oppressive atmosphere, their thoughts had long since warped, or rather, their darkest sides had erupted.
Li Lan, reaching the yacht’s railing and turning her head to glance below, seemed to make a certain decision. She was about to leap over the railing and jump off the yacht, but just as she was preparing to cross it, one of the students caught her by the waist and brought her down.