Chapter 191

Chapter 191: The Door to Rebirth in the Apocalypse

As soon as Gu Ning reached the sixth floor, she noticed a person lying on the ground. She crouched down to check his pulse and found it still beating, which immediately relieved her. It seemed he was in the same condition as Zhang Xiaobai had been at Lishui Hospital—poisoned by the tail of a mutated zombie. This poison only caused instant loss of bodily control and paralysis, but it wasn’t life-threatening.

Gu Ning extended her hand, and vines burst from the ground, wrapping around the man like a cocoon, leaving only a small gap for breathing. The surroundings were eerily quiet, and the mutated zombie seemed to have fled.

Gu Ning was certain the mutated zombie was still on this floor. She even felt a pair of cold eyes watching her from the shadows, waiting for the right moment. While she appeared to be strolling casually, her muscles were tense beneath her clothes, her pores dilated, sensing any danger in the air. She wasn’t panicked or afraid; every step she took was steady, though her grip on the knife tightened slightly. She realized this mutated zombie was on a completely different level from the ones below.

One by one, she pushed open the dormitory doors but found no trace of the zombie.

Only the last room at the end of the corridor remained.

Gu Ning had a strong premonition that what she was looking for was behind that door.

The door was slightly ajar.

Gu Ning used the tip of her knife to push it open slowly.

Her gaze swept across the room, finding nothing unusual at first. But as she shifted her focus, her eyes snapped back to a corner.

A small figure in a black jacket was curled up there, head buried in its knees, trembling with fear. If not for her careful observation, it would have been easy to miss.

Gu Ning approached slowly, calling out, “Little one?”

The figure didn’t respond, only shaking more violently, as if terrified of her approach.

Gu Ning tightened her grip on the knife and continued to move closer.

Just as she was about to reach the child, it suddenly looked up—

A pale, lifeless face with grayish skin appeared in Gu Ning’s vision. In that split second of shock, the child lunged at her like lightning! Its grayish-white eyes locked onto Gu Ning, filled with a hunger for flesh.

Gu Ning quickly sidestepped, but the little zombie had anticipated her move! Instead of continuing the attack, it landed on its feet and bolted toward the door!

Gu Ning spun around and chased after it. In the corridor, the “child” ran on all fours with incredible speed, covering over ten meters in an instant. Gu Ning activated her special ability, and a vine burst from the ground in front of the child, rapidly coiling toward it. The zombie’s body jerked to a halt, then it leaped onto the wall, avoiding the vine. It clung to the wall like a gecko, moving swiftly across the surface.

Crack!

Tiles at the stairway shattered as several vines burst through, growing rapidly and intertwining to form a thick net that blocked the stairs. The zombie, initially planning to escape through the stairs, jumped onto the vine net, tearing at it futilely before leaping back to the ground. It crouched, glaring coldly at Gu Ning as she approached.

Gu Ning didn’t use her gun; the zombie’s speed made it impossible to aim accurately. Her inner energy surged, ready to respond to her commands.

“Screech—!”

At that moment, the child zombie let out an ear-piercing scream, causing intense pressure on Gu Ning’s eardrums and a sharp pain. The close-range scream forced Gu Ning to stagger back, her face contorted in discomfort. Then, a loud crash came from behind as the window at the end of the corridor shattered. A female zombie burst through, charging at Gu Ning over the broken glass. The attack was so fierce that even Gu Ning had to dodge. She grabbed a vine hanging from the ceiling, kicked off the walls, and swung herself into a mid-air split, narrowly avoiding the charging zombie.

It was clear the zombie wasn’t targeting her. It rushed past without hesitation, heading straight for the little zombie. Seeing the danger, Gu Ning released the vine, dropped to the ground, and hurled her knife with all her might.

The female zombie had already grabbed the little zombie, who clung to her neck. As Gu Ning’s knife flew toward them, the zombie dodged, but the blade still grazed its side, leaving a gaping wound. It snarled at Gu Ning, clutching the little zombie, and dashed into the nearest dormitory. Gu Ning picked up her knife and followed, only to see the zombie leap from the balcony with the little zombie in its arms.

Gu Ning rushed to the balcony and looked down.

The zombie fell like a broken kite, but as it reached the fourth floor, it suddenly spread its limbs and slapped the wall, sticking to it as if it had suction cups on its hands and feet. The little zombie, hanging from its neck, looked up with cold, grayish-white eyes, glaring at Gu Ning from the balcony.

Gu Ning felt a chill. She knew it had remembered her. She could see hatred in those eyes.

It reminded her of the girl zombie from the Zhongnan Base. She always believed the fall of Zhongnan Base was connected to that mutated zombie.

This child zombie wasn’t as strong as that one, but if it escaped, it would become the base’s greatest threat. She would have to be on constant guard, never at peace. The horrors of Zhongnan Base were still vivid in her mind, and she couldn’t let her own base suffer the same fate. A fierce determination flashed in Gu Ning’s eyes. She sheathed her knife, climbed onto the balcony, and took a deep breath before leaping down.

“Oh my god! That’s Gu Ning!” someone from the rescue team below shouted as they saw her on the sixth-floor balcony. His cry drew everyone’s attention, and in that moment, Gu Ning jumped from the balcony.

“Ah!”

A collective gasp rose from the crowd as they watched Gu Ning plummet from the sixth floor.

Finally, someone screamed, “Gu Ning is jumping!!!”

Gu Ning didn’t notice the reactions below. Her inner energy surged wildly. As she reached the fourth floor, a thick branch burst through the wall, and she grabbed it, using it to swing herself onto another branch that had emerged from the wall. She now stood firmly on the fourth-floor wall.

The onlookers below gasped, holding their breath as they watched Gu Ning nimbly leap from branch to branch on the wall.

“There’s a zombie!” someone finally noticed the mutated zombie on the wall and shouted.

Gu Ning’s actions now made sense.

The little zombie, clearly not expecting Gu Ning to pursue it so relentlessly, let out angry screeches. The female zombie began moving rapidly across the wall like a gecko, incredibly agile and flexible.

Seeing them about to disappear from view, Gu Ning looked up and a vine shot out from the wall above, swinging toward her. She grabbed it and kicked off the wall, swinging like a pendulum.

“Oh my god—” The crowd fell silent, watching in awe as if they were witnessing a scene from a movie.

The wind roared in her ears, the cold air stinging her face, and her clothes flapped wildly. Gu Ning held the vine tightly, focusing intently on the zombies trying to circle to the other side of the building. She calculated the distance and, just as she was about to pass over the zombies, released the vine and flew through the air.

Liu Xin covered her mouth, afraid her scream would distract Gu Ning, her heart pounding as she watched.

Gu Ning landed precisely behind the female zombie and immediately wrapped her arm around its neck.

The zombie, unaware of what was happening behind it, was suddenly yanked backward by the force, its hands losing their grip on the wall. Its upper body tilted back, and the little zombie, hanging from its neck, let out a sharp cry as it flew out of the zombie’s arms, only its hands still clinging to the neck.

At that moment, another hand was also around the neck.

The little zombie stared in shock as a person emerged from behind the female zombie.

Gu Ning, who had already drawn her knife, faced the little zombie and thrust the blade toward its face.

“Screech!” The little zombie dodged, releasing its grip and leaning back to avoid the strike.

The female zombie, meanwhile, struggled fiercely, trying to shake Gu Ning off its back. But Gu Ning’s grip was unyielding, no matter how violently it thrashed or how fast it moved across the wall. Gu Ning even found time to continue attacking the little zombie, which was waiting for an opportunity to strike.

The two zombies and Gu Ning were now locked in a deadly dance on the high wall, each move heart-stopping for the onlookers below. They formed a human wall, ready to catch Gu Ning if she fell. Xiang Xu, meanwhile, prepared a mental net in mid-air to cushion her fall if needed.

Gu Ning, unaware of the scene below, was fully focused, her inner energy ready.

The little zombie, realizing Gu Ning’s persistence, seized an opening and slipped out of the female zombie’s grasp, clinging to the wall and moving away quickly.

But Gu Ning’s eyes flashed with determination. Now was the time!

Bang!

A vine, charged with immense force, burst through the wall and pierced the little zombie’s stomach, impaling it and carrying it three meters before stopping.

The female zombie, witnessing this, let out a furious scream and charged upward. But Gu Ning didn’t give it a chance to rescue the little zombie. She raised her knife and plunged it into the back of the female zombie’s head.

The zombie shuddered, its grayish-white eyes fixed on the little zombie, as its hands and feet slowly lost their grip on the wall.

“Xiang Xu!” Gu Ning shouted.

Xiang Xu immediately understood, and the mental net he had prepared closed in.

Gu Ning released the zombie’s neck and dropped, landing on a solid object as expected. She used the momentum to leap up, grabbing the vine that had burst through the wall. Below, the zombie’s body fell, and the crowd scattered like a receding tide. The body hit the ground with a thud.

Gu Ning looked up, swung on the vine a few times, and then flipped onto it, standing firmly.

The little zombie, impaled on the vine, was still alive despite the wound. It clung to the vine, trying to pull itself free, its grayish-white eyes filled with hatred and anger, as if it wanted to tear Gu Ning apart. Gu Ning walked over, knife in hand, and with a swift motion, beheaded it.

The head flew off, and the crowd below screamed and scattered. The head rolled on the ground but didn’t break, instead rolling a few times before coming to a stop. The crowd gathered again, curious to see what this formidable zombie looked like.

By the time they looked back up, Gu Ning had already climbed into the fifth-floor balcony, leaving behind only a slender figure.

The vines and branches protruding from the wall were proof that what they had just witnessed wasn’t an illusion. For the first time, they truly understood Gu Ning’s strength and why the Three-Linked Team, representing the power center of the settlement, held her in such awe despite her seemingly ordinary marksmanship and combat skills.

The intense battle they had just witnessed would forever be etched in their memories.