Survival in the Class: I'm the Only Boy on the Bus

Jiang Chen was staring blankly at the scars on Old Master Zhang's arm.

It wasn't that he was impolite, but rather that these scars were so shocking that Jiang Chen suddenly felt as if he had also developed these scars on his own hands, as if he himself had experienced such shocking pain.

Zhang Zizhong's arms were covered with crisscrossing scars.

Some were cut with a knife, leaving a long, dark brown mark with slightly raised edges, like a centipede crawling on an arm.

Some were gunshot wounds, the round, indented scars standing out starkly against the wrinkled skin, like marks left by a cigarette butt.

There were several burn marks on the inside of his arm, and the skin was wrinkled into irregular white patches.

Grandpa Zhang noticed Jiang Chen's gaze, and a kind smile appeared on his lips.

Instead of hiding it, he boldly rolled up his sleeves and showed Jiang Chen his scars.

Zhang Zizhong had rolled up his sleeves above his elbows, revealing the scars on his forearms.

When Zhang Zizhong rolled up his sleeves, his exposed skin came into contact with the cold air, and he shivered slightly.

The temperature in this instance is significantly lower than that on the highway.

Zhang Zizhong could sense that the temperature inside the dungeon was only around 10 degrees Celsius, and that was with the protective shield in place, preventing any cold wind from getting in. If it were outside the protective shield, it would definitely be colder.

The trees outside the protective shield swayed in the cold wind, and golden leaves fell continuously, like a golden snowfall.

Grandpa Zhang showed Jiang Chen his wounds in a casual tone:

"I don't have that many wounds on my hands."

"My old sergeant had even more; several of his fingers were shot off."

As he spoke, Zhang Zizhong raised his right hand and gestured, bending his index and middle fingers:

"The old squad leader traded those two fingers for the lives of six Japanese chickens—it was worth it!"

Jiang Chen listened quietly.

As he spoke, Grandpa Zhang recalled his old squad leader who had always taken good care of him and the older brothers in the elite squad.

That's how old people are; as they get older, they start to like talking about their past with others.

Zhang Zizhong recalled that he was only fourteen and a half years old when he joined the elite platoon, an age when he should have been running on the ridges of the fields and catching fish and shrimp by the river.

But on the day that Japanese chicken stormed into the village with a gun, he hid in the woodshed and watched as his father's hands and feet were chopped off, and watched as his mother was dragged into the shed and never came out again.

Until his father was dying, he used his eyes to signal him to find a chance to escape.

So he cowardly ran away, until he finally collapsed in the mountains and was rescued by the elite squad.

Then Zhang Zizhong led the old squad leader and the others to wipe out that group of Japanese chickens.

But he was too late. His father and mother were dead, the entire village was dead, even his childhood friends were dead...

From that day on, he joined the elite squad, solely to avenge his blood feud.

Although the training was tough and people collapsed every day, the older brothers in the elite squad treated him very well and always shared a lot of their dry rations with him.

Although the old squad leader was fierce, he really taught him a lot of practical life-saving knowledge.

Zhang Zizhong knew that the old squad leader's fierceness was just an act; in reality, the old squad leader was a very cheerful person.

Zhang Zizhong originally thought he would live to see victory with his older brothers.

But until the last mission to escort civilians to a safe zone...

He was the only survivor of the entire elite squad...

He could only hide in the bushes and watch his older brothers being brutally murdered, unable to rush out and take a few Japanese chickens with him.

Zhang Zizhong has escaped again.

Like witnessing his father being killed and his mother being defiled, he ran away again...

Sometimes he even hated himself, wondering why he couldn't just rush out and kill a few people to take down with him.

I'd give my life for even one more!

But... the old squad leader had told him:

"Only by surviving can we kill more!"

When Zhang Zizhong spoke of his story, his voice was flat and lacked any inflection, as if he were just telling someone else's story, which had nothing to do with him.

He had told his story to others so many times that he was sometimes tired of hearing it himself.

But these stories are an integral part of his life; without them, he wouldn't be who he is.

As Zhang Zizhong spoke, he looked at the rows of chicken-like zombies outside the protective shield.

His expression, which had been quite calm, clenched his fists when he saw the Japanese zombie. His kind eyes and brows were no longer filled with kindness, but instead with the rage of someone who had fought his way through mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

In Zhang Zizhong's view, these "foot-basin chicken" zombies are indeed "foot-basin chickens".

Jiang Chen listened silently without making a sound to disturb him.

The girls on the bus listened quietly.

Zhang Zizhong's account was brief, lasting only a minute, but only he himself could truly understand the hardship and sorrow involved...

Seeing that Jiang Chen and the girls were all silent and the atmosphere was somewhat heavy, Zhang Zizhong smiled and teased, his wrinkled eyes crinkling again:

"I'm getting old! I'm not as passionate as I used to be. I really envy you young people who are like the sun."

"Young man, what's your name? My name is Zhang Zizhong, you can just call me Lao Zhang."

Jiang Chen bowed slightly:

"Grandpa Zhang, my name is Jiang Chen, you can just call me Xiao Chen."

When Zhang Zizhong heard "Grandpa Zhang" address him, his eyes crinkled into a wide smile, and the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes deepened into several deep grooves.

He raised his scarred and calloused hand and gently patted Jiang Chen's shoulder:

"Good, very good. There aren't many young people as good as you these days."

He glanced again at the beautiful girls leaning against the car windows behind Jiang Chen and burst into laughter.

Seeing this group of handsome men and beautiful women who were full of energy and spirit, Zhang Zizhong felt much younger and his mood improved.

He raised an eyebrow at Jiang Chen, a hint of admiration in his eyes:

"Good job, lad! So many pretty girls!"

"However... if you like a girl, you have to be responsible for her for a lifetime. Xiao Chen, you've got a busy life ahead of you!"

Jiang Chen nodded slightly to Zhang Zizhong, inwardly sighing, "The old man is indeed shrewd; I didn't expect Old Master Zhang to see through me so quickly..."

Jiang Chen turned his head to look at the bus.

The girls seemed to have heard what Grandpa Zhang said, and they all shyly shrank back, feeling a strange sense of meeting the parents...

Only Ying Feixue craned her neck to look at Jiang Chen.

Of course, Bai Nuonuo was the same; the ahoge (cowlick) on her head was swaying back and forth.

Zhang Zizhong saw through it but didn't say anything. He could tell that Xiao Chen was protecting these girls very well and wasn't the kind of scoundrel who didn't know how to respect women.

It is human nature to be attracted to beauty, but "a gentleman is attracted to beauty but not to excess; his feelings are expressed but restrained by propriety and righteousness."

You can enjoy watching beautiful women, and your short video recommendations can be full of beautiful women.

But when you actually see a beautiful woman in real life, your eyes should be filled with appreciation, not greed, and your behavior should be proper, not frivolous.

Just like appreciating a flower, a real man will admire its beauty, but he won't pluck it down and possess it just because he likes it.

After waving to the girls, Zhang Zizhong looked at the three screens behind Jiang Chen:

"Alright, let me see what kind of dungeon this time."