Chapter 129

Chapter 129: Survivors

The cold glint of the blade carved deadly arcs in the night. In less than a minute, Gu Ning had already taken down over a dozen zombies closing in. By the time Third Brother and the other two jumped down from the wall, Gu Ning had cleared the area, with the nearest zombie still a good ten meters away.

Gu Ning turned and urged the three, “Hurry.”

Then she took the lead, striding forward quickly.

If they couldn’t block the zombies behind them fast enough, their efforts would be meaningless.

They didn’t waste time killing zombies several meters away on the roadside. Fortunately, only one in a hundred zombies was an evolved type, and the ordinary ones were still slow. Both Gu Ning and Third Brother Cheng Ming were in excellent physical condition. To avoid attracting more zombies and to conserve their special abilities, they only used the new knives Gu Ning had given them to cut down the zombies blocking their path. Despite having developed special abilities, under Third Brother’s insistence, the Three-Linked Team hadn’t neglected their physical training while refining their control over their powers. In fact, Cheng Ming and Third Brother rarely had to act; Gu Ning and Method charged ahead, taking care of all the zombies in their way. They only needed to watch out for zombies lunging from the sides.

The Green Tree Team jumped down from the wall five minutes later. Seeing the ground littered with zombie corpses, they fell silent, then quickly followed the path the Three-Linked Team had taken, heading towards the main road. The four of them dealt with the continuous onslaught of zombies, with the Earth-type Special Ability user standing in the middle, constantly summoning earth walls to form a barricade.

This entire area was a single-story house district, with the tallest buildings being three-story structures, mostly rented to nearby businesspeople due to the cheap rent. A few college students also lived here. The narrow alleys were cluttered with various obstacles.

Because the alleys were narrow, there weren’t many zombies. While Gu Ning’s vision was unaffected, Third Brother and the others, despite using flashlights, inevitably bumped into the clutter, creating sharp, piercing noises in the night that made their hearts race every time.

Gu Ning stabbed a zombie through the jaw, grabbed its collar, pushed the corpse aside, and continued forward.

Cheng Ming wiped the sweat from his forehead and carefully stepped over a large bag of empty water bottles. They were now very close to the main road, only about two hundred meters away. Unfamiliar with the terrain and with many branching paths, they had taken a detour, wasting over twenty minutes. They had to quicken their pace.

Suddenly! Gu Ning, who was leading, stopped and raised her right hand, signaling Third Brother and the others to halt.

“What’s wrong?” Method asked in a tense, hushed voice.

“Shh!” Gu Ning glanced back at them, signaling them to be quiet.

The world fell silent again.

Any slight sound was amplified, becoming unnervingly clear.

From around the corner came the sound of sharp teeth tearing into flesh, sticky and wet. It was unclear whether the victim was an animal or a human, but they were already dead, making no sound except for the tearing of flesh and the guttural swallowing noises. Gu Ning had heard similar sounds from infected zombie dogs, but the key was that it didn’t sound like just one zombie dog.

As they approached, the tearing sounds suddenly stopped.

Gu Ning and the others held their breath.

After a deathly silence, the tearing sounds resumed.

Gu Ning thought they didn’t need to confront these zombie dogs head-on. There was another path that should lead to the main road. She waved her hand backward, signaling a retreat, and carefully stepped back.

Third Brother, Method, and Cheng Ming, also holding their breath, slowly retreated with Gu Ning.

“Crunch—” Method stepped on an empty soda can, the sound in the silent night startling enough to make one’s heart leap.

Gu Ning abruptly stopped retreating, gripping her knife tightly, and whispered, “Be careful! They’re coming!”

The tearing sounds had stopped again.

As soon as Gu Ning spoke, a wolfdog emerged from the corner. A large chunk had been torn from its neck, likely the source of its infection. Behind it, two more zombie dogs stepped out.

The three zombie dogs lined up and walked towards them under the beam of Third Brother’s flashlight. They moved slowly but with an oppressive presence.

“Let me handle this,” Cheng Ming stepped forward from the back, his special ability activating. Several wind blades silently formed and shot towards the zombie dogs.

The previously slow-moving zombie dogs suddenly became extremely agile, dodging the dense wind blades as they ran through the narrow alley. Despite their agility, some wind blades still struck them, though none caused fatal damage.

The distance of five or six meters was covered in a few breaths. Gu Ning stepped past Cheng Ming, her knife spinning in her hand, adjusting to the optimal grip, and swung at the leading zombie dog.

The zombie dog leaped, its jagged teeth bared, lunging at Gu Ning! Gu Ning leaned back, and as the zombie dog passed over her, she swiftly slashed a cross with her knife. The sound of the blade cutting through flesh was heard, and the zombie dog landed on the ground, split in two, its intestines spilling out.

Third Brother stepped forward and stabbed the still-gnashing dog head through.

“This one’s for you!” Gu Ning sidestepped the second lunging zombie dog and faced the largest one, which stood at the corner, its green eyes cautiously watching her.

Gu Ning’s heart sank. This wasn’t a zombie dog; it was a mutated dog. Unlike the instinct-driven zombie dogs, mutated dogs retained their senses, making them much more dangerous.

Considering their limited time, Gu Ning didn’t give the mutated dog a chance to attack first and charged!

The mutated dog, seemingly surprised by Gu Ning’s initiative, agilely dodged her knife and circled behind her, aiming to bite her neck. However, Gu Ning’s reaction speed exceeded its expectations. As it leaped, Gu Ning turned and thrust her knife towards its belly! The mutated dog managed to twist mid-air, narrowly avoiding the blade, but a cut still opened on its right side, staining its fur red.

It bared its teeth at Gu Ning in anger, only to be met with another swift slash. It jumped away again, finally realizing that this human wasn’t easy prey.

As it prepared to change position and attack again, its four legs were suddenly pinned to the ground. It looked down to see the tiles cracking, with four vines sprouting and wrapping around its legs. As a dog, its simple mind couldn’t comprehend how grass could suddenly grow here. Before it could struggle free, a cold glint flashed before its eyes. It didn’t even feel the pain before its head slid off its neck, rolled to the ground, and was split in two by a knife.

Gu Ning bent down, stirred the mutated dog’s brain with her knife, and dug out a green crystal core, tossing it into her pocket. She turned to see Cheng Ming also extracting a crystal core from another zombie dog.

“Anyone hurt?” Gu Ning asked.

All three shook their heads.

Fortunately, it was a close call, and they continued forward.

Passing the corner, they saw the bloodied corpse, its stomach torn open, intestines spilling out.

They didn’t linger, but as they were about to leave, a small door beside the corpse creaked open.

The four immediately went on alert.

Third Brother raised his earth shield.

A girl in her early twenties emerged from the door. She glanced fearfully at the four, then her eyes fell on the bloodied corpse on the ground. Her face turned pale, and she collapsed to her knees, wailing, “Dad! Wuwuwuwu—”

Method and the others were surprised to find a survivor here. The scene easily painted a picture of what had happened: the father had been protecting his daughter when the zombie dogs tore him apart.

Watching the girl’s heart-wrenching sobs, they could only look at her with sympathy.

Gu Ning wasn’t without sympathy, but now wasn’t the time for it. She frowned at the girl, “This place isn’t safe. Do you have any other companions? If you want to come with us, you need to get up and follow us now.”

The girl, still sobbing, looked at Gu Ning with tear-streaked cheeks, “My dad was my only family. We heard there was a big base here, so we came. We didn’t expect so many zombies. We barely escaped here, and then these dogs—wuwu—”

Method said, “Then come with us.”

The girl cried, “What about my dad?”

Method didn’t know what to say.

Gu Ning didn’t have time to discuss the girl’s father’s remains. If Huang Mengyao were here, she could have cremated him. She coldly said, “Come or stay?”

The girl just cried.

“Let’s go,” Gu Ning turned and walked away.

“Gu Ning…” Method and Cheng Ming hesitated.

“Wait! I’ll go with you!” The girl stood up in panic, afraid they’d leave her behind, “I’ll go with you.”

Gu Ning continued forward.

The girl, still grieving, cried as she walked.

Gu Ning suddenly stopped, turned back, and walked up to the girl, saying coldly, “If you keep crying, we’ll have to leave you here. Or do you want to attract more zombies?!” In this situation, they were all trying to minimize noise, but the girl’s sobs were unrestrained. The thought of her cries drawing a horde of zombies, even evolved or mutated ones, made it hard for Gu Ning to maintain sympathy for her tragic loss.