Chapter 188

Chapter 188: Mutant Waterweed

The student dormitory looked as desolate as it did during past New Year holidays, with cold winds howling and occasionally lifting plastic bags off the ground, sending them flying into the air before they slowly drifted back down. Scattered zombies wandered aimlessly in the snow, leaving behind trails of footprints.

The snow fell heavier and heavier, the wind stinging their faces. Their shoes, soaked by the snow, had wet their socks, which alternated between cold and warm as their feet generated heat. It was uncomfortable, but there was no time to worry about such things now.

“Wait,” Gu Ning suddenly called out.

“What’s wrong?” The group behind her immediately stopped.

They had reached a lakeside, where stone benches and tables were placed. The willow trees by the shore were laden with snow, and the surroundings were eerily quiet, with only the sound of snowflakes falling into the lake, creating ripples that quickly disappeared. Gu Ning, however, stared intently at the calm, deep lake. After a while, there was still no movement.

Seeing Gu Ning’s intense focus on the lake, the others held their breath. After a moment, Zhang Xiaobai couldn’t help but whisper, “Gu Ning, what’s wrong?”

Gu Ning slowly relaxed her tense body and said, “It’s nothing. Let’s keep going.” Perhaps the ripple she saw was just a pebble rolling into the water. She thought she might be overreacting.

They walked past the lake, leaving a trail of footprints.

Deep beneath the surface of the water, upright, withered corpses lay at the bottom, their eyes wide open, staring up at the surface. Their faces were twisted in horrifying expressions, as if still filled with despair and fear. Their flesh seemed to have been sucked dry, leaving only skin wrapped around bones. Their legs were entangled with layers of dark green waterweed, firmly anchoring them to the bottom. The waterweed swayed as if alive…

After scouting the gymnasium, student dormitory, and campus, they drove around nearby areas that might be alerted by gunfire. They found that the zombies were concentrated in those three areas, while the ones outside were scattered and fewer in number.

Back in the warmth of the vehicle, everyone felt much more at ease.

Thanks to Xiang Xu, the psychic-type ability user, they had saved a lot of effort and managed to retreat safely.

On their way back, they made a detour to Base One.

“Gu Ning, Happy New Year!” Zhuang Chen seemed to be in good spirits lately, her complexion glowing. Gu Ning had been sending fresh meat every week for her and Yi Shaoqing to distribute.

To avoid drawing attention, Zhuang Chen hadn’t visited the settlement point in over a month and had no idea how it had developed.

So when Gu Ning told her they were scouting today, she was surprised. “It’s starting already?”

Gu Ning nodded and asked, “Has your ability returned?”

At this, Zhuang Chen’s face lit up with excitement. “This morning, I woke up feeling something, and sure enough, my ability is back.” With a wave of her hand, a small whirlwind appeared beside her, swirling the surrounding snowflakes.

Relieved that Zhuang Chen’s ability had returned, Gu Ning learned that Yi Shaoqing was still in the lab on New Year’s Day and decided not to disturb him. She simply asked Zhuang Chen to pass on her New Year’s greetings before bidding farewell.

Zhuang Chen wished her to be careful.

Back at the settlement point, they mobilized ten large trucks and four buses, transporting over 700 people toward the new campus.

At the drop-off point, the fully armed group of over 700 people disembarked, quickly filling the entire intersection.

Tasks had been assigned beforehand. To maximize speed and avoid attracting more zombies from other areas, the three zones were divided into three large teams for simultaneous clearing.

Earlier, when Gu Ning’s team set out, Third Brother Jia Daozhang distributed the remaining crystal cores proportionally to each team. Compared to the previous evolution ratio of the Three-Linked Team, the results this time were somewhat disappointing. Out of 36 evolution-type crystal cores, only six ability users emerged: Liu Mei with wood-type, Xia Yu with earth-type, He He, Zuo You, and Wu Sen each received three cores, but only Zuo You evolved an earth-type ability. Lin Zihao, due to his outstanding performance at the settlement point, also received a core and successfully evolved a water-type ability. Additionally, two more water-type ability users emerged from the female group: Hu Ye, a 19-year-old skilled in close combat, and Wang Yu, who excelled in all areas.

No mutation-type abilities appeared, and the scarce psychic-type was still missing.

These six newly evolved ability users, along with the twelve existing ones at the settlement point and the eleven from the Three-Linked Team, brought the total number of ability users at the settlement point to 29. For a settlement of just over 2,000 people, this ratio might not seem high. However, compared to Base One, which had nearly 400,000 people but only around 400 ability users, this ratio was astonishingly high. Yet, Third Brother and the others hadn’t realized this and were still somewhat frustrated, as the Three-Linked Team had once had a nearly 50% evolution rate, and they had no concept of the evolution rates outside.

This time, aside from Third Brother staying behind to oversee the settlement point, all the ability users from the settlement point were mobilized. The medical room was left with only Gao Yue, while everyone else who could administer injections joined the teams, taking half of the settlement’s stock of antidotes.

With 28 ability users, each team averaged nine members, leaving one extra person—Gu Ning, who joined the team assigned to the student dormitory, where Xiang Xu had marked the highest concentration of zombies.

The nine ability users in this team were Xiang Xu (psychic-type), Jia Daozhang (ice-type), Method (speed-type), Liu Mei (wood-type), Xia Yu (earth-type), Lin Zihao (water-type), Zuo You (earth-type), and two others: Huang Sheng (speed-type) from the Eighth Team and Zhang Bo (earth-type).

The ability users had to conserve their powers. Their target wasn’t the ordinary zombies or even the higher-level evolved zombies, but the mutant zombies that could appear at any moment and cause massive devastation.

Xiang Xu’s task was to locate these mutant zombies. The mutant zombies seemed capable of shielding themselves from psychic detection, so Xiang Xu had to focus intensely to have any chance of finding them. This meant her search area was reduced a hundredfold, requiring more time.

The first gunshot rang out from the gymnasium, followed by a continuous barrage of gunfire that soon spread across all three zones.

“Head! Head! Head! Aim for their heads! Don’t waste bullets!” The team leaders’ shouts could be heard amidst the gunfire.

Clearly, facing so many zombies for the first time had rattled the group, and many instinctively pulled the trigger without aiming. Most of the first shots missed the zombies’ heads, but soon, under the leaders’ frantic shouts, they adjusted and began aiming more carefully.

Zombies fell in rows, but more kept coming.

Compared to the horde in the gymnasium, the zombies at the student dormitory were just starting to emerge from the buildings, almost like curious onlookers. The team aimed and fired at the zombies pouring out of the stairwells.

“I’ll handle this side!” Method shouted at the dozen or so zombies approaching from the east. Before his words faded, only a blur remained as he dashed toward the zombies, leaving a long trail in the snow.

“Xiang Xu, keep going,” Gu Ning said, drawing the knife from her pants. With a twist, the long rod split into two, and a blade sprang out from the tip. She flicked her wrist, her fingers tightening around the knife as she charged into the zombie horde.

Gu Ning moved like a swift swallow, weaving through the narrow gaps between the zombies. Her knife mercilessly sliced through their necks or cleaved off half their heads. The sharp blade met little resistance as it cut through a zombie’s skull, sending the top of its head flying. The zombie stood still for a moment, its eyes rolling in confusion before it collapsed.

The blade traced deadly arcs, the sound of cutting flesh and bone composing a grim symphony for the zombies.

“Look at her!” A man couldn’t help but call out to his companion, watching in awe as Gu Ning single-handedly decapitated zombies. “She’s fucking amazing!”

“Ugh!” His companion hacked at a zombie’s neck, pulling the blade free. “Fu Qiang, this isn’t the time for a show!”

Though they needed to conserve their strength for mutant zombies, the mutants were nowhere to be seen, while evolved zombies kept increasing. The ability users were growing impatient.

Xia Yu saw a high-level speed-type zombie charging toward a girl engaged in close combat with another zombie. Panicking, he waved his hand, and an earth wall erupted behind the girl. With a loud crash, the speed-type zombie slammed into the wall, letting out an angry roar.

The girl finished off the zombie she was fighting and turned to see the earth wall behind her. She shot Xia Yu a grateful look.

Xia Yu, thrilled by his successful move, felt the immense power of his ability for the first time. But in his excitement, he failed to notice the speed-type zombie, now furious, leaping over the wall and charging straight at him!

Swish! Swish! Swish!

In a panic, Xia Yu summoned three earth walls in quick succession. As a newly evolved ability user, he immediately felt a significant drain on his energy, which pained him. The walls, however, did little to stop the zombie. This high-level speed-type zombie effortlessly leaped over the two-meter-high walls and lunged at Xia Yu!

“Watch out!” Jia Daozhang’s voice rang out as a half-meter-long ice spike shot through the air, piercing the zombie’s chest mid-leap. With a thud, the zombie was pinned to the earth wall.

“What are you waiting for?” Jia Daozhang sent another ice spike through the zombie’s head before turning to Xia Yu.

Xia Yu, embarrassed, grabbed his gun and moved away.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! The deafening gunfire continued, making it hard to hear anything else. All they could do was aim and fire.

A ten-person squad made their way to the lakeside, maintaining formation as they shot at the zombies staggering toward them from all directions.

“Damn it! How are there still so many after we’ve killed so many?” Zhang Jun cursed as he reloaded, watching the zombies closing in from all sides.

“Stay calm, conserve your bullets! Wait until they’re closer before shooting!” The squad leader shouted, aiming at the nearest zombie’s head. They were running low on ammo, and once it was gone, they’d have to engage the zombies up close. Though they had antidotes, they were separated from the main group and hadn’t seen any medics. If bitten or scratched, it would be a serious problem.

“Damn it!” Zhang Jun cursed again, slamming his gun. “It’s jammed!”

“What the hell!” Another man in the squad exclaimed.

Zhang Jun fiddled with the gun, but as the zombies drew closer, he grew increasingly frantic. Finally, he tossed the gun aside and drew a small knife from his belt. “Screw it, I’ll fight them hand-to-hand!” He took a step forward but slipped on the snow, falling hard. Though not seriously hurt, his fall caught the attention of his teammates. “Are you okay?!”

Zhang Jun cursed his bad luck as he got up. “I’m fi—” Before he could finish, his expression changed drastically, and he fell back into the snow, his face buried. He turned his head in terror to see a dark green waterweed winding up his leg.

“Zhang Jun, what the hell are you doing?!” The squad leader turned impatiently, only to see Zhang Jun’s face filled with fear and horror. The next second, Zhang Jun let out a terrified scream: “Help!” The leader watched as Zhang Jun was dragged toward the lake, leaving a trail in the snow. Zhang Jun flailed, trying to grab onto something, but the thick snow and short grass offered no purchase. He was swiftly pulled toward the water.

The leader’s face paled. He rushed over, seeing Zhang Jun’s feet touch the water. Without hesitation, he lunged forward, grabbing Zhang Jun’s arm. Instantly, he felt an immense force pulling him toward the water. “Help! Someone help!” he shouted.

The others, already alarmed, turned to see Zhang Jun being dragged toward the lake, with the leader desperately holding on but being slowly pulled in as well.

Hearing the leader’s cry, two men dropped their guns and rushed to help pull Zhang Jun back. Another man ran to the lakeside, aiming his gun at the waterweed gripping Zhang Jun’s leg—only to feel something crawling up his own leg. A chill shot up his spine as he looked down to see the same dark green waterweed winding around his calf. A powerful force yanked him off balance, and he fell backward into the snow, dropping his gun. Close to the water, the waterweed tightened and pulled him swiftly into the lake. He screamed, reaching out for something to hold onto but only grabbing handfuls of snow. With a splash, he was dragged underwater, his desperate cries for help fading as he sank deeper, his wide eyes filled with terror as he struggled in vain.

“Junyu!” More people rushed to the lakeside, but all they could see were the ripples from Wang Junyu’s struggles beneath the surface.

“Junyu!” A young squad member dropped his gun and stripped off his jacket, ready to jump in. But the leader tackled him, shouting, “Are you insane?!”

The man struggled fiercely, his face red with anger and grief, veins bulging on his forehead. “I have to save him!”

The leader’s voice was just as loud. “Do you even know what’s down there?! You want to go die?! Your wife and kid are waiting for you at home!”

The mention of his family seemed to break the young man’s resolve. He stopped struggling, his face filled with sorrow.

The zombies, however, showed no mercy, continuing to close in. The squad members kept firing, dropping zombies one after another.

By the lakeside, an oppressive silence fell.

Zhang Jun lay half on the snow, pale and shaken, staring at the now-calm water. The waterweed around his leg had been cut by two squad members and quickly retracted into the water.

“What the hell was that thing?” someone finally broke the silence, their voice trembling with fear.

The leader’s eyes also showed fear. “Mutant waterweed… I’ve encountered mutant trees before. They killed several of my comrades. Let’s get up and move away from here.”

Zhang Jun took a few deep breaths and struggled to his feet, eager to leave the terrifying lakeside. But as he took a step, two strands of waterweed shot out of the water like snakes, darting toward him!

Zhang Jun was oblivious, but the leader, glancing back, saw the waterweed slithering across the snow. “Zhang Jun! Watch out!” he shouted in alarm.