Chapter 129: Preparation To Scavenge the Mall
March 19th — 8:20 AM
Zone 3A-Δ – First Floor – Training Hall
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Everyone was here.
Not scattered. Not waiting. Already inside — seated, standing, watching — like they knew this wasn’t going to be a casual update.
Xu Lin sat with his back straight on the left row of benches, one hand resting on his knee. Beside him, Wen Qiming leaned forward, fingers laced, expression still and unreadable. His seven university militia were positioned around him — a loose cluster of faces that had stopped being students and started looking like survivors.
Across the room, Zhou Xue crouched near the training mat, fletching an arrow from one of the newer shafts I’d seen Old Zhou prepping. Deng Hua and Chen Xun were on either side of her, listening as she explained something, her voice low and precise.
Liang Qiu stood near the wall-mounted racks, arms behind her back, posture stiff. But her eyes kept flicking toward me, then toward Liang Mei, who now sat on a padded stool near the med supply locker.
She looked better today.
Clearer. Shoulders back. Sweater fresh. She tied her hair in a half-loop behind her neck. She didn’t fidget. Didn’t shrink. But when I met her gaze, she smiled — soft, warm, grateful. And didn’t look away.