Chapter 94

Chapter 94: The Door to Rebirth in the Apocalypse – Full Novel Website

Chapter 94

After receiving Gu Ning’s resolute reply, Ji Jiuzhe left with a casual “Come to the training room after you finish eating,” and walked away without looking back.

In the past few days of sparring with Zhuang Chen, Gu Ning had a rough idea of Zhuang Chen’s limits. She guessed that Zhuang Chen wouldn’t be able to teach her much longer. From what she knew, Yin Sang’s close combat skills were superior to Zhuang Chen’s, but since she and Yin Sang had already clashed, if Yin Sang were to take over her training, Gu Ning would likely suffer.

Unexpectedly, it turned out to be Ji Jiuzhe. This was a pleasant surprise.

In less than two minutes, Gu Ning was knocked down by Ji Jiuzhe.

Gu Ning got up from the ground, cautiously looking at Ji Jiuzhe. She felt a sense of helplessness, similar to her first encounter with Zhuang Chen, but even more intense. She had come close to Zhuang Chen’s level, so unlike the first time she was knocked down by Zhuang Chen, which was more exciting, being easily defeated by Ji Jiuzhe after such improvement was a blow to her confidence and a shock at Ji Jiuzhe’s strength.

Although she had always known that Ji Jiuzhe was the strongest in close combat among them, this level was just too monstrous.

Her reaction speed was fast, but Ji Jiuzhe’s was even faster. Even the strength she relied on was matched by Ji Jiuzhe. What shocked Gu Ning even more was that the strength Ji Jiuzhe displayed wasn’t even his full potential…

Gu Ning swallowed hard, her golden bangs slightly trembling, her pupils narrowing, filled with wariness.

In stark contrast to her tension, Ji Jiuzhe stood there calmly, waiting for Gu Ning to launch her second attack.

Unlike Zhuang Chen’s “practice style,” Ji Jiuzhe was a “real combat” type.

The fundamental difference between practice and real combat is that one is safe, and the other involves some suffering.

After nearly ten days of training with Zhuang Chen, Gu Ning had no injuries. But after just half a day with Ji Jiuzhe, her knees and arms were already bruised.

The pain wasn’t just physical but also mental. Gu Ning was essentially being dominated by Ji Jiuzhe, feeling like a small boat tossed by waves in a stormy sea, always on the verge of capsizing. Even when facing the tentacle-mutated zombie, Gu Ning hadn’t felt this powerless.

Not only Gu Ning, but even the onlookers—Zhang Xiaobai, Zhong Xu, and Chen Gen—looked on with sympathy, as if they were the ones being thrown around. But every time Gu Ning fell, she stubbornly got back up, leaving them no chance to intervene, only able to watch as she repeatedly hit the wall, fell, and got back up.

The entire morning, Gu Ning’s little boat was battered by the roaring waves of Ji Jiuzhe’s vast ocean. It wasn’t until lunchtime that Ji Jiuzhe declared the morning’s training over.

Gu Ning was so beaten that she was numb, unusually listless during lunch.

After lunch, there was a two-hour break.

Gu Ning felt a sharp pain in her elbow. Rolling up her sleeve, she saw a large bruise—a result of her full-force elbow strike against Ji Jiuzhe, which had accidentally hit the wall. This was after Ji Jiuzhe had absorbed some of the impact. If she had hit the wall at full force, her bone might have cracked.

Despite being beaten all morning, Gu Ning wasn’t without gains. However, unlike with Zhuang Chen, where she could observe his moves, Ji Jiuzhe’s attacks were so fierce that Gu Ning had to focus entirely on defending. A moment of distraction, and she’d be knocked down by Ji Jiuzhe from who-knows-where.

Gu Ning spent a week under this intense pressure, countless times wanting to ask Ji Jiuzhe if he had a grudge against her, but she always swallowed her words.

Although Gu Ning was reluctant to use her special ability, the bruises were too severe, and she couldn’t survive Ji Jiuzhe’s brutal training without healing herself every night.

At the same time, Gu Ning could feel herself rapidly improving under this high-intensity training. So, despite new bruises appearing every night, she gritted her teeth and endured, even secretly thanking Ji Jiuzhe after seeing the benefits.

The turning point came one afternoon when Yi Shaoqing, having regained his energy, suddenly decided to skip his experiment time and visit the training room to see how Ji Jiuzhe was training Gu Ning.

When he saw Gu Ning being mercilessly knocked down by Ji Jiuzhe repeatedly, his expression turned peculiar.

He had to pause their training and mysteriously called Ji Jiuzhe over.

“Is this how you’re training Gu Ning?” Yi Shaoqing glanced at Gu Ning, who was taking a quick rest, and whispered, “Are you training her or holding a grudge against her?!”

Ji Jiuzhe remained expressionless. “What’s the problem?”

Yi Shaoqing looked at Ji Jiuzhe exaggeratedly. “Because to me, it looks like you’re not training her but deliberately torturing her. I really don’t know how she’s lasted a whole week.”

Ji Jiuzhe said, “This kind of real combat training is the best method.”

“It’s not your training method that’s the problem. It’s that you haven’t considered that Gu Ning is a girl, have you?” Yi Shaoqing noticed Ji Jiuzhe’s slight pause and continued, “Even a grown man would be wrecked by your training. Gu Ning, no matter how strong, is still a girl. She might be too scared to say anything and just cry in private. I know you’ve never taken a disciple or personally trained anyone, but since you’ve finally taken one, shouldn’t you at least ensure you don’t cripple her? Real combat is real combat, but can’t you go a bit easier, let her fall a bit softer? A girl being thrown around like a sandbag…” Yi Jiuzhe kept ranting, accusing Ji Jiuzhe of his brutality.

Ji Jiuzhe was slightly shaken by Yi Shaoqing’s words. He glanced at Gu Ning, who was sitting against the wall, frowning and massaging her shoulder. He was momentarily stunned. As Yi Shaoqing said, Gu Ning was the first person he had personally trained. If he hadn’t seen her potential, he wouldn’t have bothered. Having never taken a disciple, he naturally lacked teaching experience. He had simply used the method he thought would yield the fastest results, completely forgetting that Gu Ning was a girl. Now that he thought about it, if it were Zhuang Chen, she would have long lost her temper. But Gu Ning, every morning and afternoon, arrived punctually at the training room, aside from necessary greetings and occasional questions, she barely spoke, silently getting up after each fall and continuing…

“She never told me,” Ji Jiuzhe said.

Yi Shaoqing couldn’t help but roll his eyes. “With your icy face every day, Gu Ning is probably too scared to say anything.”

Ji Jiuzhe’s brow furrowed slightly. Ignoring Yi Shaoqing’s continued ranting, he walked over to Gu Ning.

“Do you have any issues with my training method?”

Ji Jiuzhe’s opening line was direct.

Gu Ning was momentarily stunned, then, looking at Ji Jiuzhe’s cold face, instinctively replied, “No.” Then, under Ji Jiuzhe’s questioning gaze, she thought carefully and honestly said, “Really, no.”

Ji Jiuzhe was certain Gu Ning wasn’t lying, which only deepened his confusion.

Meanwhile, Gu Ning, who had been unexpectedly given half a day off, had no idea why.

Instead, she felt uneasy because of Ji Jiuzhe’s question.

That night, as Gu Ning was about to lock her door and sleep, there was a knock.

Opening the door, she was surprised to see Zhuang Chen holding a bottle of brown medicinal wine. “Zhuang Chen? What’s up?”

Zhuang Chen handed her the bottle. “No idea. Ji Jiuzhe asked me to bring this over. It’s a special remedy for bruises and sprains. Are you hurt?”

After Zhuang Chen left, Gu Ning looked at the bottle, guessing that Yi Shaoqing might have said something to Ji Jiuzhe during his visit to the training room that afternoon.

Gu Ning didn’t dwell on it.

However, the next day, she was told to take another day off, free to do as she pleased, with no restrictions on her movements.

After some confusion, Gu Ning decided to go home.

She hadn’t been back in two weeks.

Her excuse was that the child’s parents were too busy, so she couldn’t leave, and she mentioned double pay on Sundays, which somewhat appeased Gu Mama.

Gu Mama was thrilled to have Gu Ning home on a non-holiday.

She prepared a lavish lunch. Gu Ning had given her some money earlier, which she used to pay off some urgent debts. With Gu Dad starting to teach again, the family’s financial situation had improved significantly. If not for worrying her parents, Gu Ning would have paid off all their debts.

After lunch, Gu Ning returned to her bedroom, turned on her computer, and took out the Northern Song Dynasty Ru kiln celadon sunflower wash from her space, placing it beside her computer. She began researching the origins of this Ru kiln piece.

The search was shocking. Gu Ning discovered that her celadon sunflower wash was identical to the one that had sold for 200 million! Initially, she thought Jia Daozhang might have been exaggerating or mistaken, but now, comparing her piece to the one online, she confirmed they were exactly the same. If this was genuine, it was worth 200 million!!!

Gu Ning’s heart raced as she began contemplating how to sell this Ru kiln piece. Finding a method would be tricky—which pawnshop could handle such a valuable item?!