Chapter 114

Chapter 114: Retreat

Gu Ning picked up the emblem and examined it carefully in her palm, confirming that it was indeed the emblem of the Five-Star Brigade, with the five stars made of real gold. Whose emblem was this? Who was on the plane? Was it Zhuang Chen, Yi Shaoqing, or Ji Jiuzhe?

Thinking of the severed corpse she had just seen, Gu Ning felt a bit dazed.

Third Brother, seeing Gu Ning suddenly stop and pick something up from the ground, quickly approached and asked, “Gu Ning, are you okay?” He was also stunned when he saw the Five-Star emblem in her hand. “This… this looks like the emblem of the Five-Star Brigade. Could it be that someone from the Five-Star Brigade was on that plane?”

Gu Ning clenched the emblem in her hand, calming herself down, and didn’t rush forward anymore. Instead, she stayed by Xiang Xu’s side.

Time seemed to slow down, and Gu Ning grew increasingly anxious, resisting the urge to look back at the crashed helicopter.

Zhang Ji hesitated for a moment before walking over. “Gu Ning, are you okay?”

Gu Ning shook her head. “I’m fine.”

Zhang Ji had many questions but didn’t know where to start or how to ask them. Like, how did Gu Ning, who came in second to last in the 400-meter race, become like this?

At that moment, Xiang Xu, who had been keeping his eyes closed, suddenly opened them wide. “Found it!”

Gu Ning’s spirits lifted immediately. “Where?!”

Xiang Xu looked up at the top of the hotel. “On the rooftop.”

Gu Ning, Zhang Ji, and the others looked up at the towering building. Zhang Ji frowned. “This building has at least forty floors.”

Forty floors up, with no elevator, meant they had to climb step by step.

After dealing with the zombies that had gathered around, the group retreated into the hotel lobby. The lobby was a mess, with bodies of adults and children scattered everywhere, almost all bearing bite marks from zombies. It was hard to find a single intact corpse.

Gu Ning didn’t look too closely. “Half of us will go up, the other half will stay here.” She then added, “Method, Cheng Ming, Zhang Xiaobai, Zhong Xu, and Xiang Xu, you five come with me. Third Brother and Jia Daozhang, you stay here.”

Third Brother had no objections. “Be careful.”

No one suggested Gu Ning stay behind because they all knew very well that her stamina and combat skills far surpassed theirs.

Zhang Ji, having seen Gu Ning take down a large zombie, realized he had completely misjudged her role in the Three-Linked Team. He volunteered, “I’ll go up with you.”

Another Earth-type Special Ability user from his team and Zhou Jian’s sister, Wang Yan, also volunteered to go up. Gu Ning also selected the Psychic System Special Ability user from Zhang Ji’s team.

The other Special Ability teams each sent two or three of their fittest members to join Gu Ning.

Without further delay, Gu Ning led the team toward the stairs.

The staircase was narrow, allowing only three people to walk side by side. To avoid being caught off guard, they kept a meter’s distance between each person. The Three-Linked Team took the lead, followed by Zhang Ji’s team, the Survival Team, the Yuezhou Team, the Green Tree Team, and finally the Night Eagle Team.

The difference between Special Ability users and ordinary people wasn’t just their abilities; their physical stamina had also improved significantly. However, climbing over forty floors was still a daunting task.

Method, as a Speed Special Ability user, walked at the front of the group, his steps unusually light. It was understandable for him to maintain such a pace even after ten floors, but Gu Ning was right behind him, showing no signs of fatigue, her breathing steady as if she were walking on flat ground.

Zhang Xiaobai, Cheng Ming, and Zhong Xu were aware of Gu Ning’s incredible stamina, but the others weren’t. Her previous silence had been interpreted as timidity, but that image was now crumbling, replaced by the sight of her slashing through mutated zombies without batting an eye.

Zhang Ji’s feelings were even more complicated than the others.

Unlike Zhang Xiaobai and the others, Zhang Ji had known Gu Ning before. The girl who always smiled, hung around Lu Jiazhi, loved wearing all kinds of dresses, cooked delicious meals, and had almost no temper—it was hard to connect her with the current Gu Ning, with her short golden hair, wearing a dusty tracksuit, carrying a knife, and looking utterly indifferent.

Even if the apocalypse could change a person’s character, how did her combat skills become so formidable? It was baffling. Zhang Ji silently pondered.

Gu Ning’s emotions, which had been stirred by the Five-Star Brigade emblem, had calmed down, but she was still filled with unease and heaviness. Who did this emblem belong to? More importantly, was this person still alive…?

They had already climbed over thirty floors.

The distance between people was growing. Initially, it was just three steps, but now it was nine or ten. The last person was left behind on the twentieth floor. Even Zhang Xiaobai and Zhong Xu, who had excellent endurance, were starting to struggle. Cheng Ming was also gritting his teeth to keep going. Most were drenched in sweat, gasping for breath, clinging to the railings as they climbed.

Method, being a Speed Special Ability user, had the advantage, which everyone understood. What they couldn’t understand was how Gu Ning could maintain her speed without showing any signs of fatigue. If they remembered correctly, she was just a Space System Special Ability user, right?

“Method, wait,” Gu Ning called out to Method, who was still charging ahead, signaling him to check on the others. “Let’s take a break.”

Method glanced back at the panting, pale-faced group and scratched his head sheepishly before stopping.

Just as Method stopped, Gu Ning suddenly looked sharply in his direction. Method was standing on the platform between the twentieth and twenty-fourth floors, where a small door was set into the opposite wall. The door was closed and seemed normal, but for some reason, Gu Ning felt a sudden sense of alarm. She instinctively looked toward the Psychic System Special Ability user in Zhang Ji’s team, who was standing on the next floor with Zhou Yan. When Gu Ning looked over, they were also looking her way. The Psychic System Special Ability user seemed startled by Gu Ning’s sharp gaze and quickly averted her eyes, while Zhou Yan smirked with a mix of mockery and satisfaction.

Gu Ning’s heart skipped a beat, and her expression changed. She turned to look at the door just as it seemed to tremble slightly. Gu Ning shouted, “Method, watch out!” But before her words could fully leave her mouth, a loud crash echoed as a massive force slammed into the door, sending it flying toward Method!

Screams erupted from below!

Method, however, seemed frozen in place, not moving an inch.

Gu Ning’s heart sank, but her body reacted faster than her mind. In a flash, she lunged at Method, pushing him out of the way just as the door crashed into the wall, splintering into pieces. Although she had managed to save Method, the door had grazed her right shoulder, causing intense pain. Gu Ning gritted her teeth, ignoring the injury, and gripped her knife tightly. Her cold gaze shifted from the large stone pillar at her feet to the suspended walkway outside the shattered door, where a mutated zombie was crouched, glaring at her.

Gu Ning had seen many mutated zombies, but this one was the largest she had ever encountered. Its massive, sludge-like body nearly filled the entire walkway, with oozing fluids visible beneath its stretched skin. Its body was covered in wounds and slime, with one particularly deep gash running from one end to the other, leaking green fluid. Countless tentacles sprouted from its body, writhing and intertwining. Anyone with a fear of such things would have been sickened by the sight. Gu Ning, who had a mild case of trypophobia, also found it disgusting. However, upon closer inspection, she noticed something odd—some tentacles were thicker, while others were thinner and paler, as if they had recently grown. Combined with the wounds on its body, it seemed this zombie had recently been in a fierce battle…

If her guess was correct, it must have been the Five-Star Brigade members. The fact that they had fought this zombie meant they hadn’t crashed like the helicopter below but had managed to land safely. This thought brought a flicker of hope to Gu Ning’s heart.

Method suppressed the bile rising in his throat, utterly repulsed by the mutated zombie. The large-headed zombies from half an hour ago were bad enough, but this was on another level.

One of the zombie’s tentacles was wrapped around a large stone pillar, which it had used to smash the door. The tentacle, no thicker than an arm, had effortlessly swung the pillar, a sight both bizarre and unsettling.

Although Gu Ning couldn’t see the zombie’s eyes, she could feel its gaze fixed on her, filled with hatred and a deep sense of caution…

Zhang Ji, seeing Gu Ning and Method nearly hit by the door, immediately realized what had happened. Recalling Gu Ning’s sudden glance backward, he turned to look at Lu Qi and Zhou Yan. Lu Qi avoided his gaze, while Zhou Yan’s face was twisted with a mix of hatred and satisfaction, making Zhang Ji feel disgusted.

Zhang Xiaobai, Zhong Xu, and Cheng Ming, who had been stunned by the sudden turn of events, quickly rushed forward and saw the mutated zombie, immediately feeling nauseous.

Gu Ning’s eyes were locked on the zombie, as if trying to intimidate it. She whispered, “Get ready…” As she spoke, her Special Ability energy surged within her, preparing to shout “Run!”

But the zombie moved first!

It wasn’t attacking—it was retreating!

The massive creature was slowly backing away toward the stairs on the other side of the walkway, its tentacle still holding the stone pillar high, its “eyes” fixed on Gu Ning, as if ready to swing the pillar at any moment.

It continued to stare at Gu Ning as it retreated, eventually disappearing from her sight!