Chapter 40

Chapter 40: Zombie Nest – Rebirth Gate of the Apocalypse

Chapter 40: Zombie Nest

Even with Xiang Xu acting as their radar, Gu Ning didn’t dare to relax for a moment. Her right hand tightly gripped the long blade, and her eyes, nose, ears, and even her pores were on high alert, sensing any potential changes and dangers around them.

Without needing to feel Gu Ning’s tension, the others were already on high alert.

The group of thirteen moved in silence. The streets were eerily empty, with no living soul in sight. Every few steps, they would come across a rotting, sun-dried corpse—men, women, children, all lying haphazardly on the road. The silence was deafening, broken only by the occasional rustle of trees as the wind blew, accompanied by the sound of their footsteps. The entire city felt like a ghost town, yet it seemed as if countless eyes were watching them from above, cold and indifferent.

“They’re coming,” Xiang Xu, who had been silent until now, finally spoke.

In an instant, the group of thirteen tensed up, gripping their weapons tightly.

Gu Ning’s calm voice broke the silence, “From where?”

“About a dozen zombies are coming from the west, moving slowly. They’ll take at least five minutes to reach us. From the east, two streets over, three zombies are heading this way—and they’re fast!” Xiang Xu reported.

Gu Ning shouted, “Xiang Yi, Cheng Ming, you two protect Xiang Xu! Everyone else, get ready!”

As soon as she finished speaking, three zombies burst out from the east. Their speed was astonishing, faster than a normal human sprinting at full speed! They emerged from an alley and charged straight at the group, giving them almost no time to react.

Except for Gu Ning, this was the first time the others had seen zombies running, and at such a terrifying speed. They were all momentarily stunned. Gu Ning was scared too—in fact, she was probably the most scared of dying. But the more scared she was, the more she realized how weak she was. And if she was weak, she needed to get stronger. To get stronger, she had to push her fear aside.

So she tightened her grip on her blade and charged at the leading zombie.

She had never learned any combat skills or techniques. All she had was the instinct to survive, honed through countless life-and-death encounters with zombies and their gaping, bloodthirsty mouths.

She crouched low, dodging the zombie’s grasping hands, and swung her blade at the back of its head.

As Gu Ning charged forward, the others, who had been momentarily frozen in shock, finally snapped out of it. Except for Xiang Yi and Cheng Ming, who were tasked with protecting Xiang Xu, the rest of the group rushed forward.

“Let me handle this!” a voice suddenly shouted.

Everyone was startled as they saw Jia Daozhang, dressed in his Taoist robes, sprinting to the front and charging at the zombie.

The soldiers silently praised his bravery.

Cheng Ming, who had spent the most time with Jia Daozhang, was surprised. In the past, whenever Jia Daozhang saw a zombie, his first reaction was to run. If he couldn’t run, he would hide behind the others. He had never taken the lead like this before. Cheng Ming couldn’t help but feel puzzled by Jia Daozhang’s sudden display of courage.

However, after only a few steps, Jia Daozhang tripped over a corpse’s outstretched arm and stumbled, falling to his knees with his hands on the ground, looking utterly狼狈.

The people behind him were all stunned.

Despite the tense situation, Cheng Ming managed to suppress a laugh and quickly helped Jia Daozhang up, dragging him back to Xiang Xu’s side.

Jia Daozhang kept muttering, “A mistake, just a mistake!”

The zombies, despite their speed, lacked intelligence. Gu Ning didn’t have much trouble dealing with one. After a quick glance at the others who were busy taking down the remaining two zombies, she confidently began to crack open the zombie’s skull, retrieving a transparent crystal core.

Gu Ning felt a slight disappointment. She wiped the core clean on the zombie’s clothes and tossed it to Xiang Xu.

The other two zombies were also taken down, and to their delight, one of them had a blue crystal core.

Before they set out, Gu Ning and Third Brother had agreed that whoever killed a zombie would get its crystal core.

However, since the last zombie was a group effort, it was unclear who should get the core. In the end, they decided to give it to Gu Ning, saying they would sort it out later.

Gu Ning handed it over to Xiang Xu for safekeeping.

They continued forward, avoiding a small horde of over a hundred zombies coming from another direction, and soon encountered a group of twenty zombies. Fortunately, these were just ordinary zombies, slow and clumsy, making them easy to deal with.

Gu Ning grabbed a female zombie by the hair and yanked it to the ground. With her left hand, she plunged a small knife into its eye socket. She rolled to the side, swung her long blade, and severed another zombie’s legs at the knees. The zombie howled in pain and collapsed. Gu Ning swiftly decapitated it, then stood up and charged at a smaller zombie.

The smaller zombie lunged at her.

Gu Ning didn’t waste any time. She swung her blade directly at the zombie’s head. The zombie reached out and grabbed the blade with both hands. Gu Ning tried to pull it free but couldn’t. She was slightly surprised—she had thought it was just an ordinary zombie, but it was much stronger than expected. However, Gu Ning’s strength was no joke either. With a powerful tug, she yanked the blade free, slicing through the zombie’s grayish hands. The zombie, unfazed, continued to lunge at her, driven by instinct.

Gu Ning remained calm, her expression as still as water. She tightened her grip on the blade and swung it at the zombie again, this time with all her strength. The blade cut through the zombie’s hands and struck its head. Gu Ning could feel that this zombie’s skull was tougher than the others she had dealt with, but it was only slightly tougher. Her blade, though no longer very sharp and even slightly chipped, still managed to split the zombie’s head open with a sickening crunch.

A blue orb rolled out as the zombie’s body hit the ground.

Gu Ning picked it up and pocketed it.

Then she moved on to the next zombie.

Xiang Yi, who had just pulled his blade from a zombie’s eye socket, didn’t miss what Gu Ning had just done. He couldn’t help but feel a sense of awe.

With the strongest zombie taken care of by Gu Ning, the rest of the ordinary zombies were easy to deal with. Zhang Xiaobai, surprisingly, performed exceptionally well. Despite his clean, scholarly appearance, he was the fastest at killing zombies after Gu Ning. And Gu Ning knew that his marksmanship was among the best in the Third Company.

In contrast, Huang Mengyao struggled. Although she had killed zombies before, facing these terrifying humanoid monsters again made her tremble with fear. Her hands turned white from gripping her blade too tightly, and her face was pale as a sheet. She had thought that killing a zombie before meant she had conquered her fear, but true fear wasn’t so easily overcome. She couldn’t help but glance at Gu Ning, who was kicking a zombie to the ground and finishing it off with a precise stab to the face before moving on to the next target.

Suddenly, Gu Ning seemed to sense Huang Mengyao’s gaze and turned to look at her. Huang Mengyao’s eyes trembled slightly, afraid of what she might see in Gu Ning’s eyes—disappointment, or perhaps reproach. But there was nothing. Gu Ning’s light-colored eyes simply glanced at her, devoid of any emotion—no disappointment, no reproach, nothing at all. Just a glance, and then she turned away, never looking back.

That one glance was enough for Huang Mengyao to realize something. No matter how hard she tried to take care of Gu Ning’s parents, she would never earn Gu Ning’s favor. She knew with absolute clarity that if she didn’t impress Gu Ning today, she would likely be kicked out of the dormitory…

The thought sent a chill down her spine. She forced herself to move, stepping toward the nearest zombie…

Two consecutive battles ended without major incidents. They had obtained two colored crystal cores, and so far, things were going smoothly. If they kept up this pace, they could return before 4:30. With that thought, everyone’s tense nerves relaxed slightly.

But Gu Ning didn’t relax.

After a short break, the group continued forward.

As they moved in silence, the walkie-talkie suddenly crackled to life. A frantic voice came through, the speaker seemingly running, their voice tense and urgent: “Gu Ning! We’ve stumbled into a zombie nest!”

That was all they heard before the walkie-talkie went silent again.

Zhang Xiaobai’s face turned pale. “That was Luo Long…”

The implications of Luo Long’s message were clear.

Soon after, Gu Ning faintly heard gunfire in the distance—

The faces of all thirteen members of the group turned grim.

They had been told not to use guns unless absolutely necessary. This was a rule set by Third Brother. It was clear that the situation over there was dire.

Zhang Xiaobai shouted into the walkie-talkie, “Luo Long! Where are you? Do you need backup?!”

But the walkie-talkie remained silent, offering no response.

The soldiers’ faces turned ashen.

Zhang Xiaobai held the walkie-talkie for a moment, feeling overwhelmed by fear. He couldn’t help but look at Gu Ning, as did the other soldiers. They wanted to go and help, but without knowing the specifics, they knew it must be extremely dangerous. They didn’t know how to ask Gu Ning to go… Before they could muster the courage, Gu Ning spoke, “Let’s go.”

The soldiers and Cheng Ming were taken aback, unsure where Gu Ning meant to go.

“It’s not 4:30 yet. We’ll go meet up with them,” Gu Ning said, then turned and started running back the way they came.

Cheng Ming and the others were stunned but quickly followed. The soldiers were equally surprised—they hadn’t expected Gu Ning to be willing to go back in such a situation. But now, all they felt was gratitude.

The group of thirteen quickly ran toward the direction of the gunfire.

“Xiang Xu! I need to know Third Brother’s location as soon as possible,” Gu Ning shouted coldly as they ran.

“Got it!” Xiang Xu focused his spiritual power, sending it out like tendrils toward the direction of the gunfire.

However, their rescue mission didn’t go smoothly.

Halfway there, they encountered a small group of zombies.

Worried about Third Brother’s safety, Gu Ning didn’t hold back. She pulled a small knife from her waist and hurled it at the first zombie charging toward them. Her aim was precise, and her strength was immense—the knife embedded itself in the zombie’s forehead. Before the zombie even hit the ground, Gu Ning was already upon it, yanking the knife free and swinging her long blade at another zombie’s midsection. She slowed it down, then used the zombie’s body as a stepping stone to leap into the air, delivering a powerful kick to its chest, sending it flying and knocking over several zombies behind it. Zhang Xiaobai was speechless at the sight, but he quickly snapped out of it and helped Gu Ning finish off a few zombies that tried to get close.

Jia Daozhang finally found a fighting style that suited him. Armed with an axe, he waited for Xiang Yi to distract a zombie from the front, then snuck up from behind and split its skull open.

Xiang Yi, however, wasn’t pleased. “Hey, you fraud! Why are you stealing my kills? Does this count as yours or mine?!”

Jia Daozhang, unfazed by the disrespectful nickname, pulled his axe free and chuckled, “Let’s split it 50-50! Don’t you think we make a good team?!”

Xiang Yi snorted but didn’t argue further.

With Xiang Xu at the center, their main role was defense. Gu Ning occasionally let a few zombies through for them to handle, which helped ease the pressure on the front lines.

When the last zombie fell, its head severed by Gu Ning, the area fell silent once more. It was only then that they realized the distant gunfire had stopped at some point…