Chapter 47

Chapter 47: Sharing the Crystal Cores – The Door to Rebirth in the Apocalypse

Volume 1, Chapter 47: Sharing the Crystal Cores

Gu Ning looked at the disheveled and dusty figures of Lu Jiazhi, Jiang Yu, Lin Meifeng, and Jiang Yuezhou inside the truck cabin. For a moment, she wasn’t sure what expression to wear on her face.

Should she lament the tricks of fate or their relentless haunting?

Her resentment toward them hadn’t been erased just because she had successfully found her parents. It was a thorn deeply embedded in her heart, one she hadn’t thought about in a long time, so it hadn’t caused her pain. But now, as she looked at the people in the cabin, that thorn began to dig deeper, causing sharp, intermittent pain.

Gu Ning, furious to the point of laughter, looked at Lu Jiazhi, Jiang Yu, Lin Meifeng, and Jiang Yuezhou, and simply laughed.

No one else laughed.

Third Brother, seeing the smile on Gu Ning’s face, suddenly felt he might have made a mistake.

Lu Jiazhi looked at Gu Ning, not expecting their reunion to be like this. He clearly saw the coldness and a hint of pain in her eyes. The slight joy he had felt upon seeing her vanished instantly. He opened his mouth but found it difficult to even call out her name.

Jiang Yuezhou, on the other hand, felt a wave of guilt and couldn’t help but shout, “Ning Ning…”

Gu Ning’s smile vanished instantly as she turned to Third Brother and said, “Third Brother, I don’t know these people.”

She continued, “But for some reason, seeing them makes me feel very uncomfortable. So, I’d appreciate it if you could ask them to get off the truck.”

Her words were so matter-of-fact that no one believed she truly didn’t know them.

Third Brother wasn’t a fool. He could clearly sense Gu Ning’s hostility. Though he didn’t know what had caused such strong animosity, since they were now standing together, Gu Ning’s enemies were naturally his enemies as well.

Without hesitation, and without feeling the slightest bit embarrassed, he said to the people in the cabin, “Sorry, but we’re a bit inconvenienced right now. Could you please get off the truck?”

What inconvenience? Gu Ning’s displeasure was their inconvenience.

Lin Meifeng, who had been keeping a “low profile,” finally exploded. She stood up abruptly, rushed to the door, and pointed at Gu Ning, cursing, “Gu Ning, you damn bitch! If you hadn’t smashed our car, would we be in such a miserable state today?! You don’t even acknowledge your own uncle! You’ll be struck by lightning! Your parents raised a heartless, ungrateful wretch!”

**BANG!**

A loud gunshot rang out, accompanied by Lin Meifeng’s pig-like scream. A bullet grazed her ear, narrowly missing her head. Lin Meifeng clutched her ear, blood seeping through her fingers, a horrifying sight.

Gu Ning, holding the gun, said coldly, “Say one more word, and I’ll kill you.”

The shot came without warning, startling even those who hadn’t been involved. Seeing the coldness in Gu Ning’s eyes, they could guess what had happened.

Lin Meifeng wanted to continue cursing, but the pain in her ear and Gu Ning’s icy expression made her too afraid to speak. Though she couldn’t believe it, she was genuinely scared that Gu Ning might go crazy and kill her.

Jiang Yu rushed over to shield Lin Meifeng, her beautiful eyes wide with disbelief. “Gu Ning, have you gone mad?!”

Jiang Yuezhou supported Lin Meifeng, trembling all over, unsure whether from anger or fear, but he didn’t dare meet Gu Ning’s gaze.

“Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot! We’ll get off!” The two young strangers, thoroughly frightened, quickly jumped off the truck.

“Let’s get off,” Lu Jiazhi said calmly, then jumped off the truck himself.

He looked at Gu Ning, his eyes filled with sorrow. “Gu Ning, I regret it. I regretted it the moment the car started moving.”

Gu Ning knew what he was referring to, but she no longer cared. She didn’t even want to discern whether his words were genuine. She didn’t even glance at the face she had once adored so much, simply saying indifferently, “What does that have to do with me?”

Gu Ning knew clearly in her heart that the version of herself who had loved Lu Jiazhi for ten years or more, who had trusted him unconditionally, was dead.

She walked past Lu Jiazhi without a second glance and boarded the truck. The soldiers, snapping out of their daze, gave the group a strange look before following her onto the truck. Cheng Ming’s gaze, however, was more cautious. He had seen this man before. When Gu Ning graduated from school, it was Lu Jiazhi who had driven to pick her up.

Lu Jiazhi kept his eyes on the cabin, but Gu Ning didn’t spare him a single glance.

Only when the door closed did it cut off his view.

The tires screeched, splashing mud as the two trucks sped away, quickly disappearing from sight.

Lin Meifeng, clutching her bleeding ear, still had the energy to curse.

Jiang Yu, pale-faced, looked at Lu Jiazhi. She had heard his words but didn’t dare question what he meant. She no longer had the privilege of being arrogant in front of him…

The atmosphere in the cabin was heavy.

Gu Ning sat in the corner with her eyes closed, looking exhausted.

Third Brother felt awkward. He had meant to give Gu Ning a pleasant surprise, but it had turned out to be anything but pleasant.

The others in the cabin exchanged intense glances, silently discussing Gu Ning’s relationship with those people. Though they were curious, Gu Ning showed no desire to talk, so they wisely avoided the topic.

Unlike the restrained atmosphere in this truck, the people in the front truck were completely unrestrained, eagerly discussing Gu Ning’s gossip.

“They said they were Gu Ning’s uncle and aunt, and that Jiang Yu is her cousin. What about Lu Jiazhi? Her cousin’s husband?” one soldier said. They had already exchanged names and had a rough idea of their relationship with Gu Ning.

“Something seems off. Look at how Gu Ning treats Lu Jiazhi—it doesn’t feel like he’s her cousin’s husband. Lu Jiazhi even said something about regretting things. He looks like a pretty boy, probably a heartbreaker. Maybe Jiang Yu stole Gu Ning’s boyfriend? That’s why Gu Ning acted like that today…” The soldier sounded indignant by the end.

Another soldier chimed in, “That doesn’t make sense. Gu Ning doesn’t seem like the type to act like that just because her boyfriend was stolen. I think there’s more to it.”

Zhong Xu suddenly said slowly, “The only thing I find strange is that someone dared to steal Gu Ning’s boyfriend?”

Luo Long, the only one who had truly witnessed Gu Ning’s terrifying side, nodded in agreement.

Who could have imagined that the Gu Ning who now “killed without batting an eye” had, just three months ago, been a girl who couldn’t even bear to watch someone kill a chicken?

The journey back to the gathering place went smoothly.

When they returned to the Third Company’s base, the few soldiers who had stayed behind were overjoyed. Seeing that some of their comrades were missing, they fell silent.

Gu Ning’s parents, who had been worried sick, finally relaxed when they saw Gu Ning unharmed.

The children cheered.

Gu Ning didn’t mention the incident on the way back, and though the others felt a bit off, they also didn’t bring it up.

After the excitement died down, they closed the doors to share the spoils.

Before distributing the loot, Third Brother, Zhong Xu, and Luo Long couldn’t resist showing off their special abilities, eliciting gasps from the soldiers who had stayed behind.

Gu’s father adjusted his glasses, holding the earth spike Third Brother had created, utterly shocked. “This… this defies scientific principles. How did you make this?”

Third Brother and the others couldn’t explain it. “It just appeared.”

Gu’s mother tested the sharpness of the spike with her finger. “It’s quite sharp. Be careful not to poke anyone.”

Then it was time to share the spoils.

Xiang Xu brought out the crystal cores Gu Ning had entrusted to her, placing them in a small basin of water. The water immediately turned murky.

After rinsing them twice, the crystal cores began to shine with their original brilliance.

There were eight colored crystal cores in total.

They lay at the bottom of the basin, shimmering with dazzling light as the water rippled.

“So these are crystal cores?” Wang Yang, who had stayed behind, swallowed hard.

Gu’s father picked one up and examined it closely through his glasses. “If you eat this, you can get special abilities like yours?”

Gu Ning added, “The chances aren’t 100%. Out of more than ten people, only three like Third Brother developed abilities. That’s already a high probability.”

Then came the question of how to distribute them.

Everyone silently looked at Gu Ning. In reality, Gu Ning only had two crystal cores, but there was no doubt she had killed the most zombies. Not to mention, if it hadn’t been for her vigilance the previous night, they might have all been chopped up, cooked, and dried as emergency rations.

So they tacitly agreed to let Gu Ning distribute the cores.

Gu Ning’s expression remained calm as she said, “Before we set out, we agreed that whoever killed the zombies would get the cores.”

With that, she fished out her three cores from the basin and gestured for the others to take theirs.

Xiang Yi was the first to silently pick out two cores.

Zhang Xiaobai took one.

Huang Mengyao took one.

Shi Tou took one.

The others were left empty-handed.

Though they had expected this, those without cores couldn’t hide their disappointment.

It wasn’t that they hadn’t killed zombies, but killing zombies also required a bit of luck. Colored cores were rare—you could kill ten evolved zombies and still not get one.

Take Huang Mengyao, for example. She had only killed one zombie, but that zombie happened to have a colored core.

However, when the number of zombies killed reached a certain point, the chances of getting a core that could awaken abilities increased.

Like Gu Ning, who had the most cores. It wasn’t because she was lucky—in fact, her luck was a bit bad. If she didn’t get a core after killing ten zombies, she’d kill twenty or thirty. It was precisely because she had killed so many that she ended up with three cores.

Though Huang Mengyao felt a bit ashamed, she tightly gripped her core. She knew this was a chance to change her fate, and she had to seize it.

Gu Ning, with her three cores, unsurprisingly gave two to her parents.

She still had one core left in her backpack, dug out from a zombie dog’s head, so she now had an extra one.

Gu Ning hesitated for a moment, then called out, “Cheng Ming.”

Cheng Ming, who had been feeling down, reflexively responded when he heard his name.

Under the astonished and envious gazes of the others, a fair hand casually extended toward him, holding a golden crystal core.

Gu Ning’s expression was indifferent as she said simply, “Good luck.”

As if it were just a trivial little thing.

But Cheng Ming knew it wasn’t trivial at all. He had seen how dangerous it was for Gu Ning to kill zombies. This core hadn’t come easily. He had killed six or seven evolved zombies without getting a single core, and most people here hadn’t either. Yet Gu Ning had casually handed it to him…

Gu Ning had never shown him any particular closeness before, rarely even speaking to him. Even if he killed more zombies, she never paid him any extra attention. He had thought… but now, all those thoughts were irrelevant. What mattered was that Gu Ning had given the core to him and no one else. The significance of this made Cheng Ming’s heart warm. After a long pause, he reached out and took the core. He looked at Gu Ning with utmost seriousness, saying nothing, but silently making a promise.