"Everyone, quiet down. There are currently two tasks. The first is to go up the mountain to catch rabbits and pheasants.
The other task is to go down to the lake and catch fish. Everyone, decide which one you want to do.
Those who want to go up the mountain, please stand on my left. Those who want to catch fish, stand on my right," An Yang shouted through a megaphone.
"Pheasants can still eat some bugs, but rabbits eat grass. All the plants are dead now, so how could there be any wild rabbits on the mountain? This is such a waste of time," Li Lanlan muttered.
Her initial excitement about the news faded. The more Li Lanlan thought about it, the more it felt wrong.
How could the rabbits have survived without food? The school must be messing with them.
"Maybe the rabbits started eating bugs, just like the chickens," Tang Mo replied.
And it was true. That celestial rain hadn't just increased human attribute values; animals had also mutated to varying degrees. The natural food chain was now in utter chaos, completely different from before.
Forget eating bugs; some were even eating rocks.
In just a few minutes, everyone had chosen their task.
"You guys..." Looking at the self-organized teams, An Yang and the student leaders next to him were all a bit speechless.
To An Yang's left stood a massive, dense crowd of people, the line stretching so long its end couldn't be seen.
Meanwhile, to An Yang's right, there were only eight people, including Tang Mo. They looked utterly pathetic.
Tang Mo glanced at the people standing beside her. They were all guys. She couldn't help but silently salute them in her mind. 'Warriors. I'm impressed!'
It was already the end of August, which was autumn anyway. On top of that, it seemed to have gotten cold especially fast this year. Everyone felt a bit chilly even in light jackets, let alone having to get into the water.
That's right, get into the water.
Although the lake at T University wasn't deep—only reaching an adult man's chest—it was massive in area.
Catching fish in there wasn't exactly like finding a needle in a haystack, but it was still a task with a high degree of difficulty.
The school had two small boats, but no fishing nets, and certainly no food to use as bait. Whether or not you could catch fish was entirely up to your own abilities.
Who would want to spend all day in the freezing lake water?
'Wouldn't that just be asking for trouble?'
Even Tang Mo couldn't understand what these brave brothers beside her were thinking. If it weren't for her own special objective, she'd have to have been kicked in the head by a donkey to choose to get in the water.
'Going up the mountain is so much better. Even if you can't catch any pheasants or rabbits, you can at least sit for a while. No one would notice if you slacked off.'
"For the students who chose to go up the mountain, you will need to report for duty five days a week. For the students going to catch fish, due to the special nature of the task, you only need to report for duty one day a week."
Seeing such a huge disparity in numbers between the two groups, An Yang immediately changed the rules.
In truth, they had no idea if there were even any animals left on the mountain.
But there were definitely, undeniably fish in the lake. Every day when they crossed the bridge, they could see schools of fish swimming cheerfully below.
"Everyone, you can think it over and choose again."
As soon as An Yang finished speaking, quiet discussions broke out in the crowd.
A continuous stream of boys left the large group and came over to stand by Tang Mo's side.
Li Lanlan and Song Qing were standing in their line, stomping their feet anxiously. Taking advantage of the chaos, they finally ran over and grabbed Tang Mo.
"Tang Mo, are you stupid? It's so cold now! Why would you go suffer like that? Hurry up and come over to our side," Li Lanlan said urgently.
"It's not good for a girl's health to be soaking in cold water all the time. Come with us," Song Qing's voice was tinged with emotion for the first time, her eyes filled with worry.
Seeing her two roommates so concerned for her, Tang Mo felt a warmth in her heart. She reached out and held both of their hands.
"Don't worry. I love sleeping in so much, I really can't get up early every day. I'm in great health, and I've loved playing in the water since I was a kid. You two should go back."
Tang Mo said it so convincingly that she almost believed it herself.
In reality, her decision to go catch fish was something she had planned long ago. There was something in that lake that she absolutely had to obtain.
In the apocalypse, the appearance of every abnormal treasure caused a huge stir. In her past life, three abnormal treasures had appeared at the school within half a year.
One was the Spiritual Power Mushroom she had already consumed. The second was a silver koi fish in the lake.
That koi was caught in the lake by a male student in the third month of the apocalypse. By then, the authorities had already announced information about abnormal treasures.
When a fish of such a strange color appeared, even a fool would know it was no ordinary thing. So, that student secretly hid the fish, took it back, and cooked and ate it.
If his roommate hadn't reported him later, no one would have ever thought you could find an abnormal treasure just by catching fish.
According to the student, the fish had given him a full 10-point agility attribute value, making it one of the abnormal treasures with a very high attribute boost to appear in the early days of the apocalypse.
Tang Mo wasn't confident she could be the one lucky enough to catch that fish. However, since information about abnormal treasures hadn't been released yet, as long as she paid close attention to see if anyone around her caught it first, the possibility of her getting it in the end wasn't zero.
Even if there was only a one percent chance, she had to try. For a 10-point agility attribute, forget just getting in a lake; she would charge through a rain of blades!
Seeing that Tang Mo's mind was made up and that further persuasion would be useless, Li Lanlan and Song Qing could only let go of her hands. They walked back to the mountain-climbing group, looking back every few steps.
Seeing the "you're an idiot" looks from her two roommates, Tang Mo couldn't help but smile.
After another 20 minutes, the teams had mostly settled. The fish-catching group, originally just 8 people, had now expanded to over 80. An Yang was satisfied.
He conferred with Tang Lianjie, who was standing to the side, then picked up the microphone to speak.
Just as An Yang raised the microphone, he habitually scanned the crowd below. Suddenly, he spotted Tang Mo, who stood out like a crane among chickens in the group of boys.
"Excuse me, miss. Have you thought this through? It's not very convenient for a girl to get in the water."
An Yang had a meticulous personality and tended to consider all aspects of a situation thoroughly.
Tang Lianjie followed An Yang's gaze, and his eyes lit up.
Despite her short hair and plain sportswear, Tang Mo's delicate face and tall figure were still incredibly eye-catching in the crowd, making it hard for anyone to look away.
Especially standing among a group of big, burly guys, her short hair fluttering in the wind gave her a uniquely heroic and dashing aura.
Tang Mo naturally noticed Tang Lianjie's sleazy gaze, and a flicker of barely perceptible disgust crossed her eyes.
"It's fine. I know what I'm doing," Tang Mo replied, her favorable impression of An Yang increasing a little more.
'Some people are just born to be leaders. A person like An Yang will definitely accomplish great things after leaving school.'
'His bearing is similar to the organizers of those small survivor bases. I wonder what he did after leaving school in my last life.' Tang Mo carefully racked her brain, thinking about the small bases she had visited, but she didn't seem to have heard of this old classmate.
"Alright then. You're all dismissed for now. Assemble on the athletic field on time tomorrow morning, and we'll all head out together!"
His reminder having been ineffective, An Yang didn't press the issue. He respected Tang Mo's personal choice and then announced the dismissal.
...
The next morning, everyone gathered again on the school's athletic field. Fearing there wouldn't be time to distribute the noon meal, the school simply handed out the day's rations early for everyone to carry and eat at their own discretion.
An Yang and Tang Lianjie each led the mountain-climbing and fish-catching teams to begin their day's work.
Tang Mo looked at Tang Lianjie standing in front of her team, feeling a sense of helplessness.
'What bad luck. How did I end up with him?'
The school had five small boats, all ornamental rowboats that required manual paddling. Each boat could seat about six people, so the fish-catchers automatically split into two groups, rotating every hour.
"Alright everyone, take off your shirts and get in the water," Tang Lianjie said, before sitting down on a chair on the shore with an air of complete detachment.
Of the six people in the boat, two would stay on board to paddle, watch for any movement, and guard their things, while the other four had to get in the water. Of course, Tang Lianjie wouldn't be participating in any of this; he only supervised from the shore.
Watching the boys take off their shirts one by one until they were only in their pants, Tang Lianjie shifted his gaze to Tang Mo, who was standing in the boat, his eyes filled with lechery.
"Tang Mo, you stay here and watch the oars. I'll go down." One of the boys who was supposed to paddle stood up, tossed the oar aside, and prepared to take off his shirt.
Tang Mo squinted her eyes and recalled. She knew this guy. He was also from the Life Science Institute and was the president of her class. They didn't usually interact much and weren't particularly close; they were merely acquaintances.
Although Shi Xuan was the class president and considered a cadre in the student organization, he still had to do his share of the work. Not everyone could sit around like a lord, the way Tang Lianjie did.
As a member of the student organization, Shi Xuan had more contact with Tang Lianjie and had noticed his ulterior motives toward Tang Mo.
Out of a sense of protectiveness for a classmate, and the chivalry a boy feels toward a girl, Shi Xuan stepped forward.