Chapter 116

Chapter 116: Leaving the Building

As Gu Ning and the others reached the ground floor, they heard Huang Mengyao’s anxious voice: “Third Brother, be careful!”

Gu Ning and Method exchanged a glance and immediately ran towards the source of the voice.

The staircase they descended was quite far from the one they had come up, and they had to circle around a hall to get there.

Once again, Gu Ning saw the mutated zombie that had confronted her earlier and then mysteriously retreated, now being surrounded and attacked by their group.

Gu Ning felt its gaze once more, and it seemed to hesitate, its previously “joyfully” flailing tentacles pausing momentarily. Before Gu Ning could get closer, the mutated zombie, with an expression of utter shock, decisively wriggled its body and turned around, fleeing at the fastest speed it could muster—

Not only Gu Ning, but even the other ability users who had been tense due to the mutated zombie were completely stunned, unsure of what had just happened.

After a moment of surprise, Method looked at Gu Ning beside him and said with a strange tone, “Gu Ning… it seems like it was scared off by you…”

Gu Ning was momentarily stunned.

Third Brother and the others were equally baffled by the sudden retreat of the mutated zombie. Seeing Gu Ning and the others coming down, they quickly approached: “Gu Ning, how did it go? Did you find anything?”

Seeing that Gu Ning and Method were empty-handed, they knew there had been no success.

The others also gathered around and asked, “Where are the rest?”

“They’re behind,” Method continued. “After we went up, we found the helicopter, but after searching several times, we found no documents or anything related to the vaccine. No people either, and no bodies. It seems those people took the vaccine research documents and ran.”

Clearly, none of them had expected this outcome. Most had hoped those people were dead, so they could simply take the helicopter and return with the items. Now, with the people gone and the documents missing, how would they explain this to the base? If the base didn’t acknowledge their efforts, wouldn’t this trip have been in vain? Not to mention the loss of personnel. Thinking this, everyone’s expressions turned uneasy.

“So, what do we do now?” Liang Le, the leader of the Green Tree Team, had already pulled herself out of her earlier grief and looked much calmer, regaining her initial determination.

Wang Sheng, the leader of the Night Eagle Team, frowned and said, “Are we supposed to go after those people now? Who knows which direction they went? They might have already returned to the base.”

Yuan Ge, frowning, interrupted Wang Sheng as he looked at the zombie horde blocked by the earth walls created by several earth-type ability users: “Let’s figure out how to get out of here first. This isn’t a good place for discussions.”

Outside, the zombie horde, numbering at least two to three hundred, was continuously pounding against the earth walls. The sound of fabric rubbing and their hungry growls was enough to send chills down anyone’s spine. The earth walls were shaking precariously, as if they could collapse at any moment.

Gu Ning approached and peered through a gap between the earth walls. Suddenly, a zombie’s arm shot through the gap, clawing desperately at Gu Ning’s face.

Liang Le was startled and was about to warn Gu Ning to be careful when she saw Gu Ning, unfazed, grab the zombie’s wrist. With a strong push outward, she then yanked the zombie’s already rotting arm inward with great force. With a loud *thud*, the zombie’s head slammed into the earth wall, brains splattering everywhere.

Liang Le’s mouth hung open in shock, and the girls in her team were equally stunned, watching as Gu Ning casually wiped her hand on the earth wall. The members of the other teams looked as if they had just swallowed flies, as Gu Ning once again pushed the limits of their tolerance. The Three-Linked Team, however, was already used to such scenes.

If they tried to break through from the front, it would likely attract even more zombies.

Gu Ning, looking at the number of zombies outside, walked over nonchalantly and said to Third Brother, “Third Brother, add a few more earth walls.” Third Brother complied, reinforcing the defenses. Gu Ning then turned to the leaders of the other teams and said, “If we try to get out from here, we’ll probably attract more zombies, and there will be casualties in the chaos. I took a look, and the building across is about fifty meters away. We can use a zip line to slide over. Who here has wood-type abilities?”

A girl from the Green Tree Team, looking about twenty years old, hesitantly stepped forward under her teammates’ gazes: “I do.”

A girl with a ponytail from the Survival Team, around twenty-two or twenty-three, also stepped forward. She seemed much braver, her eyes shining as she looked at Gu Ning: “Me too.”

There was also a male wood-type ability user from Zhang Ji’s team.

“Let’s head up to the third floor first,” Gu Ning said to the team leaders.

They exchanged glances and nodded in agreement.

On their way to the third floor, they ran into Zhang Xiaobai, Cheng Ming, and Zhang Ji, who had just managed to come down from above. Hearing they had to go back up, they couldn’t help but sigh.

Once on the third floor, Gu Ning looked out the window and saw evolved zombies mixed in with the horde. To be safe, they went up two more floors to the fifth.

They found a room near the staircase, but it was locked. Third Brother simply kicked the door open. As soon as the door opened, a foul stench wafted out, and a male zombie in a suit and tie, who hadn’t eaten in who knows how long, lunged at them! Third Brother was startled but not panicked. With a powerful elbow strike, he knocked the zombie’s jaw askew, sending it crashing into the wall with a loud *thud*, where it was pinned by an earth spike.

The others dealt with a few zombies in the hallway that had been drawn by the scent of humans and entered the room, closing the door behind them.

“Which of you three can extend vines from here to that building over there?” Gu Ning opened the sliding glass door in the room, stepped out onto the balcony, and pointed to a building over ten stories high across the way.

“I can’t…” The wood-type ability user from the Green Tree Team was the first to speak timidly: “I just recently evolved my ability and don’t have much power.”

“I’ll try!” said Li Xin, a girl from Yuan Ge’s Survival Team: “I’ve never tried such a long distance before, but I can give it a shot.”

Gu Ning stepped aside.

Under everyone’s watchful eyes, Li Xin took a deep breath, stepped forward, and with a stomp of her right foot, her ability surged. A vine as thick as a forearm burst through the balcony tiles with a *whoosh*! It grew rapidly, extending out from the balcony and swiftly reaching towards the opposite building.

Everyone watched nervously as the vine extended… five meters… ten meters… twenty meters… thirty meters…

Li Xin’s forehead was beaded with sweat. This wasn’t just about outputting her ability; she also had to keep the vine suspended in mid-air, which was the most challenging part. But now, she was clearly struggling.

Xiang Xu keenly noticed her rapid depletion of energy: “She can’t hold on. Her control is too weak, causing her ability to drain too quickly.”

Gu Ning glanced at Li Xin and indeed saw her face turning pale. The vine began to sway precariously, and its growth slowed significantly.

Gu Ning frowned, then suddenly had an idea: “Taoist Priest! Freeze it with ice!”

Although puzzled, Jia Daozhang complied. He reached out and grasped the vine on the balcony, and cold air instantly spread from his palm, racing along the vine. Where the cold air passed, frost formed on the vine’s surface, quickly turning into ice—

*Crack crack crack—*

Jia Daozhang’s ice ability spread along the vine even faster than the vine had initially extended, given his far greater energy reserves compared to Li Xin.

Soon, Jia Daozhang’s cold air caught up to the vine’s tip. By then, Li Xin’s energy was nearly depleted, but thanks to the thick layer of ice now coating the vine, it remained rigidly suspended in mid-air without falling.

No one had expected Jia Daozhang’s intervention to be used in this way.

Jia Daozhang chuckled, “Heh, Gu Ning, you’re really clever!”

Gu Ning smiled, then turned to the ability user from Zhang Ji’s team: “There’s about twenty meters left. Can you handle it?”

“Should be fine,” the ability user replied, realizing after seeing Li Xin’s performance that this wasn’t as simple as he had thought, especially since Li Xin was slightly stronger than him.

The vine began to extend, coiling around the previously frozen vine. Without needing to control its suspension, he found the task much easier and progressed quickly. However, extending from the end of the vine, the pressure increased significantly. His lack of control over his ability meant he had to expend much more energy, but fortunately, Li Xin had laid the groundwork. He only needed to hold on for about ten more meters.

When the vine broke through the window and wrapped around the aluminum window frame on the other side, everyone couldn’t help but let out a soft cheer.

Gu Ning, however, wasn’t fully reassured. She turned to the girl from the Green Tree Team and said, “Reinforce it.”

This time, the girl didn’t hesitate. She nodded, and her ability surged. A vine grew along the previous two, quickly reaching the other side and winding several times around the aluminum window frame.

With two forearm-thick vines now in place, it seemed sturdy enough.

But Gu Ning wasn’t satisfied and demanded two more vines be added before she was content.

To ensure smooth passage, Jia Daozhang froze all the vines, which together were about as thick as a person’s waist.

Next came the task of sliding across.

For better grip, the forearm-thick vines were adjusted to the most convenient size. Third Brother tested the strength and found it could support at least 300 pounds. None of them weighed over 200 pounds.

Circular vine loops were attached to the zip line. One had to grab the vine and slide directly across the line to the other side.

Looking down from the fifth floor, Jia Daozhang felt a bit dizzy: “If you fall from this height, your brains would probably splatter. If you don’t die, the zombies below would eat you…”

The thought sent shivers down everyone’s spines.

At that moment, a young man in his twenties from the Yuezhou Team stammered, “I-I have acrophobia. I-I can’t do it!”

Zhang Xiaobai, recognizing the guy who had been constantly suggesting they turn back along the way, sneered, “If you can’t do it, then stay here and keep the zombies company.”

Wei Xin, the leader of the Yuezhou Team, shot Zhang Xiaobai an unhappy look but, wary of the Three-Linked Team, said nothing.

Third Brother zipped his jacket all the way up and stepped forward: “I’ll go first then.”

Zhong Xu, Zhang Xiaobai, and Method all said at once, “Third Brother, let me go first!”

Third Brother laughed heartily: “Don’t worry, I’m not that old yet!”

The other teams had no objections to Third Brother taking the lead, secretly hoping they could go last.

He nodded to Gu Ning and the others, then agilely climbed onto the balcony and sat down. He grabbed the vine, pulled it towards him, and couldn’t help but glance down. A chill ran down his spine as he saw the densely packed zombies below, at least three to four hundred of them. The height alone was enough to trigger anyone’s acrophobia.

Gu Ning stepped forward and cautioned, “Third Brother, be careful. Once you’re over, watch out for zombies on the other side.”

Third Brother stopped looking down and said, “Don’t worry. I’ll go ahead then.”

Zhang Xiaobai cried out in alarm, “Ugh! What do you mean ‘go ahead’! Third Brother, watch your words!”

Third Brother was momentarily taken aback, then laughed: “You and your superstitions! Alright, I’m off!” With that, he slid off the balcony and dropped down!

Zhang Xiaobai and the others’ hearts skipped a beat, and even Gu Ning couldn’t help but tense up. The girls behind them gasped in fright. Before they could lean over to look, they saw Third Brother grab the vine and zip across the line at an incredible speed—

The vine from the fifth floor connected to the fourth floor on the other side, creating a slight downward curve. Combined with the ice acting as a lubricant, the speed was unimaginably fast. Even Third Brother, who always maintained a tough-guy image, couldn’t help but let out a scream, shattering his macho facade.

The scream was still ringing in their ears when Third Brother reached the other side in a flash. He probably hadn’t recovered yet, clinging to the vine mid-air for a good while before scrambling onto the window ledge.

Method blinked: “He’s already over?”

Zhang Xiaobai nodded: “That was fast.”

Zhong Xu swallowed nervously: “That was intense.”