Chapter 84

Chapter 84: Crawler 3

Gu Ning’s heart surged with killing intent. This battle made her realize that although her special ability was powerful for long-range attacks, her control over it wasn’t very proficient due to the short time since she had evolved it. The precision was limited, not as nimble as her own limbs. With a determined heart, Gu Ning decided to take a risk. She tightened her grip on the knife in her hand and simultaneously activated her special ability. Two thick vines, as thick as her forearms, suddenly burst out from the concrete in front of her feet, quickly wrapping around her calves and lifting her entire body! Gu Ning manipulated the vines to leap directly into the air, then charged towards the remaining mutated zombie!

The mutated zombie, seeing Gu Ning soaring into the air, raised its head. Its eyes were tightly shut, but Gu Ning could feel it watching her. At this moment, she felt little fear, only a forward momentum.

The mutated zombie, sensing danger, glanced at Gu Ning and then turned to flee! But Gu Ning didn’t give it that chance, directly controlling the vines to wrap around it again! The moment the vines entangled it, Gu Ning didn’t allow the zombie to use the mucus on its body to escape. With a thought, the tips of the vines suddenly became extremely sharp, lifting and then stabbing fiercely into the zombie’s body!

Several vines pierced into the zombie’s body. The zombie, in pain, let out a sharp scream and struggled desperately! Although the vines had pierced its flesh, they hadn’t gone deep enough. A few more struggles, and it might escape again. Its tail even stabbed towards the vines on its body, trying to repeat its trick—

Gu Ning’s gaze turned cold and fierce. With a wave of her right hand, several more vines burst out from the ground! No matter how flexible the zombie’s tail was, it was still attached to its body. The vines followed the tail all the way to its tip, then the sharp ends of the vines stabbed into the ground, firmly pinning the tail to the floor!

Seeing the zombie completely restrained, Gu Ning didn’t hesitate any longer. Gripping her knife, she aimed at the zombie’s head and charged down from the ceiling!

The zombie raised its head. Though its eyes were closed, Gu Ning knew it was looking at her. Her expression remained as steady as a mountain, her lips moving slightly, forming the words: “Die.” Then she landed from the air, kneeling on one knee, her long knife deeply piercing through the zombie’s head and into the ground.

From its brain, bright red blood, like that of a human, spilled out. The zombie’s body, which had been struggling, twitched twice and then moved no more.

Without a moment’s pause, Gu Ning pulled the knife from the ground and swung it forcefully to the left! The long knife flew from her hand towards another mutated zombie crawling out of a hospital room!

This zombie had been badly hurt from the previous fall, much of its mucus dried up. Just as it emerged from the room, a knife came flying towards it! Instinctively, it raised its tail to strike at the knife! Gu Ning’s strength was extraordinary, and the full force of her throw combined with the knife’s sharpness made its lethality hard to estimate. The zombie, relying on its tail’s defensive capability, struck directly at the knife’s blade. The collision of forces cleanly severed the zombie’s tail!

With an extremely shrill scream, the severed tail fell to the ground, still wriggling, disgustingly.

Having lost its most effective weapon and in great pain, the zombie completely lost its previous “cunning” and went berserk, recklessly charging at Gu Ning with all four limbs!

Gu Ning sneered inwardly. She was more afraid of it running away; facing it head-on, she had no fear. She controlled the vines under her feet to retreat quickly while several more vines burst from the ground, entangling the zombie! The zombie, now frenzied, moved even faster. Seeing the vines coming, it changed direction, climbing up the wall! Its speed was now so fast that even Gu Ning’s vines were a step behind. With a wave of her hand, the long knife on the ground was picked up by the vines and delivered to her hand. She tightly watched the zombie, but suddenly felt a warning. She looked down sharply to see the zombie had reached Third Brother’s head! Third Brother was desperately defending against another zombie and had no idea one was silently climbing above him, opening its mouth wide, ready to pounce!

Gu Ning was instantly horrified! She shouted, “Third Brother! Retreat!” while her special ability surged wildly! Hearing Gu Ning’s shout, Third Brother, influenced by her usually strong demeanor, retreated without hesitation! The moment he stepped back, several sharp-tipped vines burst from where he had stood, shooting up like sharp green bamboo with formidable force, meeting the diving zombie mid-air!

The sound of sharp instruments piercing flesh was heard, followed by the zombie’s shrill scream!

Its entire abdomen and chest were pierced by the vines, the tips stabbing into the ceiling. Its blood flowed down the vines, and its body slowly descended. With each inch it fell, its screams grew more piercing. The remaining three zombies also screamed, but their cries held not just anger but also a hint of fear—

Gu Ning stepped forward, knife in hand, and without hesitation, swung it to sever the zombie’s head. Her hand was slightly numb, but she gripped the knife even tighter.

Dealing with the remaining three zombies became much easier.

After only two zombies were left, Gu Ning handed them over to Cheng Ming and the others, then prepared to go to the third floor to find Method and Jia Daozhang. Halfway there, she saw Method carrying Zhang Xiaobai down, with Jia Daozhang following behind, a bloody cut on his face.

“How is Zhang Xiaobai?” Cheng Ming and the others, having dealt with the two zombies, gathered around.

Zhang Xiaobai had been fed a crystal core but was still weak, lying on Method’s back, his face slightly green.

Seeing him in such discomfort and fearing something might happen, Gu Ning stepped forward to heal him. But Zhang Xiaobai moved aside, avoiding her, hoarsely saying, “I’ll be fine after a rest, don’t waste it…”

Gu Ning was momentarily stunned, then firmly grabbed Zhang Xiaobai’s wrist. For some reason, she could feel that his special ability was completely depleted. She tentatively channeled a healing ability into him, and soon the grayish-green hue on his face faded, though he still looked pale.

Gu Ning withdrew her hand and said, “I’ll go upstairs for a bit, wait here for me.”

Then she ran up to the third floor.

In the hallway, she saw the corpse of the mutated zombie, its body pierced by a row of ice spikes, its head impaled by one, the crystal core already extracted, but its tail discarded to the side. Gu Ning went into a hospital room, took a sheet, tore it into strips, then went to the tail, using her knife to cut off the finger-length sharp tip, wrapping it in cloth several times.

After coming down, Third Brother and the others had already extracted the crystal cores from the five zombies below. Gu Ning went forward, cut off the tips of their tails, wrapped them in cloth, and stored them in her space.

The others were puzzled by Gu Ning’s actions. Method asked, “Gu Ning, these things are so toxic, why are you keeping them?”

“Not sure, but they might come in handy later.” Since they were already on the second floor, Gu Ning also took the opportunity to store any useful items in her space, then looked around and said, “Let’s go.”

The others were waiting for Gu Ning’s signal, truly frightened by the mutated zombies. Fortunately, Zhang Xiaobai was only injured, not in critical condition, and the others had only expended a lot of their special abilities. Comparatively, Gu Ning had paid the highest price.

The group of nine left the hospital without looking back, running out and driving away without further delay.

On the way, Gu Ning inventoried their spoils. Besides the highly useful medicines and various medical equipment, there were six mutated zombie crystal cores, plus the one from the previous zombie, totaling seven mutated crystal cores. It was a considerable harvest, and considering the danger, it was lucky that only Zhang Xiaobai was injured.

Halfway back, they encountered the people who had asked to ride with them earlier, now being chased by two evolved zombies. Seeing the car, they ran towards it in desperation, shouting for help.

Third Brother, eyeing the crystal cores of the two primary evolved zombies, stopped the car and took them out, then naturally went to extract the cores.

“Hey! Wait! We lured these zombies. At least we should get half, right?” one of the men protested.

Before Third Brother could respond, the young man who had interacted with him before departure pulled him back, frowning, “Huang Bin, what are you doing? They brought us here and just saved our lives.”

Huang Bin, however, retorted righteously, “Zhong Shujun, we didn’t come here for free. And we were planning to kill these zombies ourselves. Is it too much to ask for just one core?”

“Forget it, Huang Bin,” the only girl in the group also spoke up.

“Mind your own business! Do you even have a say?” Huang Bin glared at the girl, cursing harshly.

The girl’s face flashed with anger but she said nothing more.

Third Brother ignored them, pocketed the crystal cores, and turned to walk back to the car.

Huang Bin quickly chased after him, cursing, “Hey! Are you deaf?! I told you to leave one!”

Third Brother didn’t look back, but a row of earth spikes burst from the ground behind him! Swish, swish, swish! They lined up right in front of Huang Bin’s feet. Had he taken one more step, his foot would have been impaled—

Huang Bin fell to the ground, pale from the sudden appearance of the earth spikes. He had thought Third Brother was an easy mark since he had let them on the car for just a piece of bread…

Zhong Shujun, watching the military truck drive away, frowned at Huang Bin, “Huang Bin, if you act like this again, I’ll have to part ways with you.”

Huang Bin looked embarrassed, no longer as arrogant as before.

Zhong Shujun watched the military truck disappear into the distance, unconsciously tightening his grip on the crystal core in his pocket. If he consumed this core, would he become as strong as them…