Chapter 130

Chapter 130: The Door to Rebirth in the Apocalypse – Full Novel Website

Chapter 130

“What’s your name?” Gu Ning asked.

The girl, frightened by Gu Ning’s icy gaze, stammered out her name: “Ch… Chen Wen.”

Gu Ning stared at Chen Wen and said, “Alright, Chen Wen. Listen carefully. If you want to safely follow us back to the base, keep your mouth shut from now on. Can you do that?”

Chen Wen, tears streaming down her face, was too scared to speak after Gu Ning’s earlier threat. She quickly nodded, and only when she stopped crying did Gu Ning return to the front of the group to continue leading the way.

Method patted Chen Wen’s shoulder as if to comfort her, then followed behind Gu Ning.

The current formation had Gu Ning and Method walking side by side at the front, followed by Third Brother, with the girls behind him, and Cheng Ming bringing up the rear.

The sudden sound of gunfire and Method collapsing to the ground startled everyone. Chen Wen screamed in fright, only to have Cheng Ming quickly cover her mouth.

The knife in Gu Ning’s hand flew out the moment the gunshot rang out, heading straight for the second-floor balcony of a nearby courtyard!

A scream followed, along with the heavy thud of something falling and the clatter of a gun hitting the ground. Then came a panicked shout: “Shit! We hit someone! It’s not a zombie!”

“Gu Ning! Method’s been shot.” Third Brother immediately turned off the lights on both his and Method’s heads and dragged Method behind a large tree. In the darkness, he felt the blood on Method’s stomach and his voice trembled slightly.

Gu Ning rushed over and saw that Method had been shot in the abdomen. The bullet had pierced through his belt and lodged inside his body. Gu Ning carefully opened his jacket to find his undershirt soaked in blood, still gushing out. Method’s face was pale, covered in cold sweat, and he gritted his teeth as he leaned against Third Brother.

Gu Ning examined the wound and realized the bullet hadn’t gone all the way through but was stuck inside. This made things more complicated. While her healing ability could mend the wound, it couldn’t remove the bullet lodged in his flesh. She had to stop the bleeding first.

“I’ll stop the bleeding for now,” Gu Ning said, pressing her hand against Method’s gunshot wound. As her special ability activated, green light particles began to appear. Method suddenly grabbed her hand and shook his head, whispering, “The bullet isn’t deep. I can hold on.” He glanced toward Cheng Ming, where Chen Wen was staring intently at them. The green light from the healing ability was too conspicuous in the dark, and with a group of unknown people nearby, Method took a deep breath and said to Third Brother, “Third Brother, there’s gauze in my backpack. Get it and help me stop the bleeding.”

Third Brother quickly took off Method’s backpack, pulled out a roll of gauze, and roughly stuffed a wad of it into the wound. Method grunted in pain but managed a weak smile at Gu Ning. “Don’t worry, I know my limits.”

Gu Ning’s nose twitched, and she frowned. In one swift motion, she unslung her rifle from her back, aimed it at the second-floor balcony across the way, and pulled the trigger. The sound of gunfire was followed by the shattering of glass.

After the scream, a nervous voice called out from inside: “Don’t shoot!” The person, likely hiding behind the balcony, shouted, “We thought you were zombies! If anyone’s hurt, we have medical supplies to help! Please, don’t shoot again!”

Gu Ning’s finger remained on the trigger, her gun still aimed in their direction, ready to fire at any moment. She coldly said, “Raise your hands and stand up from behind the balcony.”

“You have to promise not to shoot!”

“1—”

“Okay! Okay! I’m standing up! Don’t shoot!” The voice hurriedly shouted. Through her scope, Gu Ning saw a pair of hands slowly rise from behind the balcony. “I’m standing up now! We mean no harm! Please, please don’t shoot!” A head cautiously peeked out from behind the balcony, revealing a young face in Gu Ning’s scope. If she wanted to kill him, it would only take a flick of her finger. Unable to see Gu Ning’s position, he raised his hands and faced forward, visibly nervous. “We just arrived at the Zhongnan Base. They said we couldn’t enter until morning, so we found a place to stay for the night. We didn’t expect so many zombies to show up. And we definitely didn’t expect to run into people… My friend didn’t mean to hurt anyone!”

Gu Ning glanced back at Third Brother, who nodded at her. She then shouted toward the balcony, “How many of you are there?”

There was a pause before the reply came: “Six. We have women and children with us. We’re not bad people!” He seized every opportunity to plead his case, fearing a bullet might come from nowhere and end him.

Third Brother asked, “How many of you have special abilities?”

“What? Special abilities? Sorry, I don’t understand. I was a student at Jinyong University—”

Hearing “Jinyong University,” Gu Ning froze, her eyes leaving the scope to look directly at the young man.

Cheng Ming couldn’t help but ask, “You’re from Jinyong University?”

The young man seemed surprised by the question. “Uh… yeah, I’m a junior at Jinyong University. My name’s Lin Zihao… Wait, are you guys from Jinyong too?!” He suddenly grew excited. “Then we’re all on the same side!”

Cheng Ming looked at Gu Ning, who gave a slight nod and lowered her gun.

The two groups met, and Lin Zihao hadn’t lied. There were indeed six of them: three young women, a woman with a young boy around ten years old, the middle-aged man who had shot Method and was now dead with Gu Ning’s knife in his head, and Lin Zihao himself. The three young women turned pale when they saw Cheng Ming and Third Brother carrying the wounded Method inside, huddling in a corner and nervously eyeing the muscular Third Brother.

Lin Zihao took the gun from the dead man’s hand and the knife from his head, slinging the gun over his shoulder and handing the knife back to Third Brother. When Third Brother passed the knife to Gu Ning, Lin Zihao’s eyes flickered with surprise, but he suppressed his curiosity and explained, “That guy we met after arriving in Zhongnan. He stole our supplies and our gun. He was the one who fired the shot.”

Cheng Ming and Third Brother laid Method down on the couch. Method had already passed out from blood loss, his face deathly pale, but the bleeding had temporarily stopped. They needed to remove the bullet as soon as possible.

Gu Ning said to Cheng Ming, “Cheng Ming, stay here and take care of Method. Third Brother and I will go.”

“Just the two of you?!” Cheng Ming was uneasy. “That area’s crawling with zombies. It’s too dangerous for just the two of you!”

“Four people would be just as dangerous,” Third Brother said, placing his backpack on the ground and unzipping it. “There’s medicine inside. Gao Yue labeled which ones to take for gunshot wounds. Make sure Method takes them. Gu Ning and I will handle things and meet back up with you. No time to waste. Gu Ning, let’s go.”

Lin Zihao hesitated but finally asked, “Is there anything I can do to help?”

Gu Ning glanced at him and said, “Just don’t shoot him again.” With that, she grabbed her knife and walked out the door.

Third Brother exchanged a look with Cheng Ming before following Gu Ning down the stairs. They sealed the front and back doors with earth walls to prevent zombies from breaking in, then followed Gu Ning.

With the group reduced to two, they moved much faster. In less than two minutes, they reached a small alley next to a snack shop that Gu Ning had spotted from the watchtower. They squeezed into the narrow space between two buildings, nervously watching the zombies shuffling down the main road toward the base.

Gu Ning surveyed the area and realized the zombies were much denser than she had seen from the watchtower. They had wasted too much time, and now with only her and Third Brother, charging out would mean certain death, swallowed by the horde without a trace. But the main road was packed with zombies, and more were pouring in. If they didn’t stem the flow, the base would be under increasing pressure.

Third Brother suddenly tapped Gu Ning’s shoulder and pointed upward.

The two climbed the vines hanging from the second floor, quickly scaling the building and peeking over the balcony. The sight made their scalps tingle. The base was about a hundred meters away, and as far as the eye could see, there were countless zombie heads. The closer they looked toward the base, the denser the horde became, enough to trigger trypophobia.

Gu Ning kicked open the balcony door and stabbed a zombie sitting on the bed through the head. She then opened the door to the opposite room and looked out the window. Less than two meters away was a single-story flat-roofed building. With Gu Ning and Third Brother’s abilities, jumping down shouldn’t be a problem. Gu Ning assessed the surroundings and discussed escape routes with Third Brother in case they were chased by zombies. She used vines to set up a perimeter, making it easier for them to flee if needed. The best-case scenario was that they could complete their mission quietly, unnoticed by the zombies, and return safely to the base. But Gu Ning and Third Brother always prepared for the worst.

It was time to act.

After consuming evolution-type crystal cores for over two months, Third Brother’s special ability had grown significantly.

He took a deep breath and thrust his hands toward the road. Instantly, his special ability surged!

Rumble!

A thick earth wall, over ten meters long and one meter thick, rose from the ground, cutting through the zombie horde. Zombies within a one-meter radius were lifted off the ground, hanging from the wall as it grew taller. When the wall reached two meters, Third Brother began to grit his teeth—outputting such a large amount of energy at once was a massive drain on his reserves. But he couldn’t stop. The wall continued to grow until it reached three meters, at which point Third Brother gradually stopped, his face pale. Gu Ning quickly fed him a crystal core to replenish his energy.

Zombies behind the wall surged forward, pounding against the sudden barrier. But the wall was a full meter thick, nearly depleting Third Brother’s energy reserves in one go. There was no way the zombies could break through.

Gu Ning helped Third Brother into the room to rest, then stepped onto the balcony. Her special ability began to churn—

Vines rapidly spread across the earth wall, covering it entirely. Sharp thorns grew from the thick vines, each over a meter long, with needle-like tips. The zombies, oblivious, continued to surge forward, impaling themselves on the thorns. Some were pierced through the head.

Soon, the entire wall was covered in impaled zombies.

Even the evolved zombies attempting to climb over the wall were skewered higher up.

Gu Ning was about to return to the room to fetch Third Brother and reunite with Method and the others when her gaze suddenly froze. Among the endless stream of zombies rushing toward the wall stood a little girl in a white dress.