Chapter 12

Chapter 12: The Door to Rebirth in the Apocalypse – Full Novel Website

Chapter 12

Gu Ning found a hidden spot, made sure no one was around, and then, with a thought, returned to her space.

Gu Ning looked at the Taiji symbol on the door, then reached out and turned the black side in the opposite direction.

She checked the time. 6:00 PM.

Her hand pressed down on the door handle, giving it a gentle push.

A golden light flashed.

Gu Ning was back in her familiar bedroom.

Her first reaction was to look up at the clock on the wall.

The clock showed 8:00 AM.

Gu Ning breathed a sigh of relief, then pushed the door open and walked out.

“Didn’t you say you were going to sleep in and told me not to wake you? Why are you up already?” Gu Mama, coming out of the kitchen with a bowl of noodles, saw Gu Ning emerging from her room and looked surprised at her sportswear. “Why are you wearing those old clothes again?”

“They’re comfortable,” Gu Ning said, heading straight for the bathroom.

“Where’s Dad?” Gu Ning came out of the bathroom and sat down at the table, picking up the bowl of noodles and eating voraciously. For some reason, she felt unusually hungry these days, her appetite huge. In the apocalypse, eating two bread rolls at noon barely kept her from starving. She tilted her head back and drank all the soup from the bowl, finally feeling somewhat full, but not enough. Gu Ning felt like what she wanted most right now was to eat a big chunk of meat.

“Where’s Dad?” Gu Ning asked Gu Mama, who was still busy in the kitchen.

“He’s still in bed, hasn’t gotten up yet. I don’t know what’s wrong, but last night he suddenly said his knee hurt badly and couldn’t sleep half the night,” Gu Mama said worriedly.

Gu Ning’s face changed slightly, then she walked to her father’s bedroom, gently pushed the door open, and went in.

Gu Ning tiptoed to the bed, looking at her father lying there.

Gu Siyuan was forty-six, lying in bed fast asleep, his chest rising and falling slightly. His hair had started to gray, and even in sleep, his brows were slightly furrowed. He had been a teacher for twenty years, a role model for Gu Ning, guiding her when she was confused.

Gu Ning couldn’t imagine the pain of losing him, and she didn’t dare to think about it.

Gu Mama said his knee hurt last night. In the apocalypse, he had also injured his knee. Gu Ning wasn’t sure if there was a connection, but her heart grew heavier.

Gu Ning sat by the bed for a while, then stood up, her eyes shining with determination, and quietly left.

She told Gu Mama she was going back to sleep and might not get up for lunch. Then she returned to her bedroom, locked the door, and glanced at the wall clock before leaving: 8:30 AM.

Back in her space, the first thing Gu Ning did was turn the golden pointer back to the white side.

Then she opened the door and returned to the apocalypse.

It was already September, and the night wind carried a hint of chill. Gu Ning checked her watch: 6:15 PM.

She exhaled, her expression resolute.

“Gu Ning, good news!” Fang Fa spotted Gu Ning from afar and hurried over, his face filled with excitement. “We found it!”

Gu Ning was about to ask what they found but instantly realized and urgently asked, “Where?!”

Fang Fa pointed in a direction.

Gu Ning looked and saw the familiar yellow minibus.

Gu Ning took a deep breath and ran towards it.

Fang Fa followed closely, and Zhuang Chen locked the minibus door before joining them.

The people inside the minibus were anxiously worrying about the road ahead. Their journey had been tough, and the next part seemed even more challenging.

“Jiazhi, I just saw that policeman, Fang Fa,” Jiang Yu closed the window and said to Lu Jiazhi.

“Who?” Lu Jiazhi was frowning, sketching plans for their route and arrangements in a notebook, only half-listening.

Jiang Yu said, “That policeman Gu Ning brought back before.”

At the mention of Gu Ning’s name, Lu Jiazhi’s pen paused slightly, then continued as usual. “What about seeing him?”

“We could ask him for some food,” Jiang Yu whispered. “He seems nice. If he has any, he’ll definitely lend us some…”

Before Jiang Yu could finish, the minibus door was suddenly pounded.

The loud noise startled everyone inside, and curses erupted.

Jiang Yu’s eyes lit up. “Could it be Fang Fa?”

She immediately smiled with joy and got up to open the minibus door.

As the door opened, Jiang Yu’s smile froze, her eyes filled with shock and fear, making her expression look very strange.

Lu Jiazhi slowly stood up, looking in disbelief at the person at the door. “…Gu Ning?”

Not only was he shocked to see Gu Ning alive when he thought she was dead, but the changes in her also left him stunned.

Gu Ning gave him a cold look, stepped onto the bus, pushed aside the stunned Jiang Yu, and stood in the aisle, quickly scanning everyone’s faces.

When they saw the golden-haired person standing there, their expressions turned incredibly vivid.

But Gu Ning had no interest in their varied expressions. She looked around the bus once, twice, thrice…

Nothing… nothing… still nothing!

Gu Ning felt her blood rushing to her head, her body as if thrown into an ice cave, chilling to the bone. She grabbed Lu Jiazhi’s collar, her eyes icy, and coldly demanded, “Where are my parents? Where are they?!”

Lu Jiazhi, stared down by Gu Ning’s light-colored eyes, felt a chill rise from his tailbone, momentarily speechless.

“Gu Ning! Gu Ning, calm down first,” seeing the situation turning bad, Fang Fa quickly stepped forward to hold Gu Ning back, his left hand shielding Lu Jiazhi, fearing he might attack Gu Ning.

Zhuang Chen stood with her arms crossed, scanning the faces in the bus, seeing their strange yet guilty expressions, and more or less guessed what had happened.

“Ningning… your parents got off the bus halfway to look for you. I tried to stop them but couldn’t. I’m sorry…” Jiang Yuezhou, sitting at the back, said guiltily.

Lin Meifeng, sitting next to him, tugged at him and said discontentedly, “What’s it got to do with you? They insisted on going! We tried to persuade and stop them, did our best!”

“Did your best?” Gu Ning turned sharply to Lin Meifeng, almost gritting her teeth. “When the apocalypse broke out, I drove to save your family, pulled you out of zombie hordes more than once! And now you tell me you did your best?!” Gu Ning’s gaze swept over everyone’s faces, icy cold. “And all of you, I should have let you die back then.” She didn’t shout, just spoke with chilling calm.

No one could retort. Though they felt insulted, their faces burning as if slapped by Gu Ning, they couldn’t argue back because everything she said was true.

Lin Meifeng wanted to argue, but Jiang Yuezhou, unable to bear it, shouted, “Enough! Shut up!”

Fang Fa looked at them. Gu Ning had never told him anything, brushing it off as being separated when he asked. But now, seeing their expressions and hearing their words, he suddenly understood. He let go of Gu Ning, his gaze turning cold.

Then a young girl whispered, “Gu Ning, we didn’t mean to abandon you. Jiang Yu said you were bitten by a zombie, so we…”

Jiang Yu panicked, then looked at Gu Ning with委屈. “No, Gu Ning, I saw your hand bleeding a lot, so I thought… but I never said to abandon you!” She suddenly grabbed Gu Ning’s arm, looking at her with concern. “…But none of that matters now. What’s important is you’re back safe. Ningning, you know, these days I’ve been living in guilt and pain, having nightmares every night, feeling like I caused your death…”

“Didn’t you?” Gu Ning shook off her hand, looking at her coldly.

Jiang Yu’s eyes widened in disbelief, tears quickly welling up and falling from her beautiful eyes. “Gu Ning…”

“Tsk.” Zhuang Chen, who had been standing silently with her arms crossed, suddenly made a sound, drawing everyone’s attention. She looked at Jiang Yu with a mocking smile. “Truly astonishing.”

She said nothing more, but the sarcasm was thick.

Jiang Yu’s tears, once pitiful, now seemed somewhat ridiculous.

Then, Lu Jiazhi, who had been silent, finally spoke. He frowned slightly, looking at Gu Ning as if she were a child throwing a tantrum. “Gu Ning. At that time, if you had really been bitten by a zombie, letting you on the bus would have endangered everyone…”

Zhuang Chen spoke again, mockingly, “So you just left her behind?”

Lu Jiazhi frowned, displeased, and continued, “If it had been anyone else outside the bus, I would have made the same decision.”

“If I had gotten on the bus, even if I had been bitten, the time it takes to turn into a zombie would have been enough for you to handle. But you didn’t even confirm if I was really bitten, just because you didn’t want to take the slightest risk, you let me die…” Gu Ning paused, then looked at him coldly. “I’m not just anyone. I’m Gu Ning.”

After saying this, she didn’t give Lu Jiazhi a chance to speak. She continued, “You haven’t forgotten that I’m the one who got this bus, have you?”

Lu Jiazhi suddenly had a bad feeling. He was about to speak, but Gu Ning didn’t give him the chance. She tapped the armrest with her long knife and said to everyone in the bus, “Now, all of you, get out!” She paused, her gaze sweeping over Lu Jiazhi, Jiang Yu, and Lin Meifeng, even Jiang Yuezhou, with no extra emotion, just icy coldness. “Everyone.”

The bus erupted into chaos, the guilt on their faces replaced by panic and anger…

“Gu Ning, how can you say that? What right do you have to make us get off? This bus isn’t yours!” A middle-aged woman stood up, agitated.

Lin Meifeng sneered, “Gu Ning, your father taught for so many years, and this is the kind of unreasonable daughter he raised?!”

Everyone stayed in their seats, some even挑衅, as if saying, “What can you do if we don’t get off?” A few didn’t dare to meet Gu Ning’s gaze, just kept their heads down, but didn’t move.

Everyone knew that without this bus, their danger would increase significantly. In the face of life, what did pride matter?

Just as they were feeling smug, thinking Gu Ning couldn’t do anything, suddenly! A loud bang! A gunshot!

Even Fang Fa was startled.

Many in the bus screamed in fright.

Then everyone’s eyes focused on Zhuang Chen’s hand, holding a gun. She was the one who had fired, and now there was a black bullet hole above her head. The gun in her hand looked particularly threatening.

Fang Fa instinctively touched his waist, only to find it empty.

Zhuang Chen raised the gun, smiling at everyone in the bus. The smile was beautiful, but to them, it was terrifyingly cold. She said with a smile, “Do you think anyone would care if I killed someone now?”

Fang Fa’s mouth moved, but he said nothing.

Zhuang Chen’s smile faded, and she said coldly, “Do you want to see if I dare to kill?” She then swept the gun’s muzzle across their faces, and whoever it pointed at quickly turned pale, all falling silent.

Zhuang Chen said disdainfully, “Gu Ning, you see, some people are just born贱, can’t reason with them. Look, they’re obedient now.”

“Zhuang Chen, you scared them,” Gu Ning smiled and pressed down Zhuang Chen’s gun, then said, “Most of the people here are elders who watched me grow up. We shouldn’t be too harsh.” She paused, “Don’t dirty your hands.”

Zhuang Chen raised an eyebrow in surprise.

Just as the people in the bus secretly sighed in relief, Lu Jiazhi, seeing the smile on Gu Ning’s lips, felt a bad premonition.

Then, Gu Ning’s knife stabbed into the window glass next to the first seat! With a crisp “Crack!” Gu Ning’s strength was so great that she shattered the window glass in one go! Glass shards flew, and the person sitting there was so scared by the knife that brushed past his nose that he went limp, collapsing in his seat, not daring to breathe.

The others were completely shocked by Gu Ning’s actions and violence!

But Gu Ning didn’t stop. She then smashed the opposite window with her knife!

Just as she was about to attack the third window, Lu Jiazhi finally reacted and moved to stop her, but the gun’s muzzle was pointed at him. Zhuang Chen, with a frosty expression, instantly aimed the gun at his head, her finger on the trigger, ready to pull.

Lu Jiazhi, seeing the killing intent in Zhuang Chen’s slightly raised eyes, didn’t dare to move.

The others in the bus, who were all talk and no action, didn’t dare to say a word now.

They could only watch as Gu Ning smashed every piece of the minibus’s glass, leaving none intact.

Even the front windshield wasn’t spared.

The loud noise naturally attracted the attention of some people outside. Seeing Gu Ning smashing the bus’s glass one by one, they wondered what grudge this girl had against the people inside.

A bus without glass was like a bus without protection, completely unsafe on the road, practically报废.

After smashing all the glass, Gu Ning finally felt some relief. She gave Lu Jiazhi and Jiang Yu one last cold look and said word by word, “You better start praying my parents are safe, or next time we meet, I won’t be so friendly.” She finished with a mocking smile, “Have a pleasant journey.”

With that, her expression turned cold, and without another glance at them, she stepped off the bus, walking over the shattered glass.

Zhuang Chen looked at Lu Jiazhi with a mocking smile, “I hope you don’t regret abandoning Gu Ning now.” Then she glanced at the shattered windows and said gleefully, imitating Gu Ning, “Have a pleasant journey.”

With that, she got off the bus.

Only Fang Fa said nothing, just gave Lu Jiazhi a complicated look, then followed Zhuang Chen off the bus.

Double update done.

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