Chapter 64

Chapter 64: The Door to Rebirth in the Apocalypse – Full Book Online

Chapter 64

Gu Ning stood on the shore for a while before she realized what was wrong. Her previously fractured leg didn’t seem to hurt at all? She tentatively moved her leg, feeling no pain whatsoever. She removed the two chair legs that had been used to immobilize her leg and kicked it around, feeling no pain or stiffness. Was it completely healed?

Gu Ning was somewhat bewildered.

Meanwhile, in the outside world, a room full of people was staring wide-eyed at the empty earthen bed, each imagining countless strange reasons for its emptiness.

Hong Jie even went to check the bathroom and bedroom, but found no trace of Gu Ning.

Zhang Xiaobai felt around the earthen bed for a while before saying in a daze, “How can a person just disappear like that?”

Zhong Xu said, “…It’s like she vanished into thin air.”

“Cheng Ming…” Jia Daozhang suddenly called out to Cheng Ming, his expression strange. “Do you remember the last time something like this happened to Gu Ning?”

Cheng Ming, who had been feeling a bit empty-headed, thought for a while before recalling, “You mean that time in the parking lot?”

“What parking lot? What happened?” Zhang Xiaobai asked urgently.

Under the flickering candlelight, Jia Daozhang’s expression seemed oddly eerie. “That was the first time I met Gu Ning. Cheng Ming was there too. We were resting in a closed parking lot at night. She slept by the wall, but when we woke up in the morning, she was gone. The situation was too chaotic at the time, and we didn’t think much of it. Gu Ning’s explanation afterward made sense, but now that I think about it, could it be that she disappeared just like she did now?”

Cheng Ming was visibly shaken.

The others felt a chill run down their spines.

No one had seen how Gu Ning disappeared. The room was small, and any movement would have been noticed, but Gu Ning’s disappearance was completely silent, as if she had evaporated into thin air.

Luo Long suddenly shivered and rubbed his arms. “Stop talking, I’m getting goosebumps.”

Only Hong Jie caught the key point and asked, “How did Gu Ning come back last time?”

Jia Daozhang said, “The next day, when we were being chased by a horde of zombies, Gu Ning suddenly appeared out of nowhere.”

Luo Long suddenly said, “And don’t you think Gu Ning is usually a bit elusive?”

Jia Daozhang nodded, recalling Gu Ning’s many solo missions.

Hong Jie, however, remembered the previous night when Gu Ning had gone out alone and only reappeared the next morning.

Luo Long’s words seemed to bring everyone’s memories of Gu Ning into focus, and they realized that the image they had of Gu Ning was indeed shrouded in mystery. Even though Gu Ning had recently seemed closer to them, she rarely spoke, and aside from necessary conversations, there was little other interaction. Although they considered Gu Ning a comrade, her attitude towards them was somewhat aloof, always maintaining a certain distance.

Third Brother had never been able to figure Gu Ning out, but it was precisely this mysteriousness that gave him an inexplicable confidence in her, feeling that Gu Ning always had some hidden tricks up her sleeve.

But this time, Third Brother was genuinely shocked. A living, breathing person had just vanished without a trace, something completely beyond human comprehension.

After discussing for a long time, the group still couldn’t figure out where Gu Ning had gone.

They looked at each other, wide-eyed, not knowing what to say.

Zhang Xiaobai asked, “Third Brother, what do we do now?”

Third Brother said, “What do we do? What can we do? We wait. Didn’t Old Jia say that Gu Ning disappeared and then reappeared last time? We’ll just wait and see when she shows up.”

Jia Daozhang’s face darkened at being called “Old Jia,” but now wasn’t the time to argue about it.

They weren’t worried about Gu Ning’s safety; their confidence in her was even greater than their confidence in themselves.

So, all that was left was to wait.

They discussed the previous battle, reflecting on their shortcomings and the awkwardness of controlling their special abilities. Practical experience was the best way to increase combat power, and each battle increased their chances of survival in the future. Moreover, having just evolved their abilities and fought against mutated zombies several levels above their strength, the benefits they gained were immense.

After running out of things to say, they were left with the tedious task of waiting.

They waited until the afternoon, and even Xiang Xu had woken up. Upon hearing about Gu Ning’s disappearance, she fell silent. She didn’t know the reason; the fragments of the future she had seen hadn’t provided this information. But she firmly believed that Gu Ning would reappear.

Despite her young age, Xiang Xu displayed a maturity far beyond her years. Gu Ning’s trust in her, combined with her own formidable strength, gave her words a calming effect on the group.

At first, there was a sense of anticipation and curiosity, waiting to see how Gu Ning would reappear. But as time dragged on, unease began to set in.

Zhang Xiaobai was the first to ask, “It’s already afternoon. Why hasn’t Gu Ning shown up yet?”

“Should we keep waiting?” Hong Jie said. “It’s almost one o’clock, and there are only three hours left before it gets dark. If we don’t go out to search for supplies soon, we won’t have much time left today.”

Luo Long said, “What do we do? Gu Ning hasn’t come back yet. We can’t just leave her behind, can we? What if she comes back?”

Hong Jie pondered for a moment and then said, “I’ll stay. Your ability isn’t much help anyway, so you stay too. Give me five more people to wait here for Gu Ning. Xiao Xie, you take the others and go out to search for supplies. Don’t forget to block the door upstairs when you leave. If you can’t come back by two o’clock tomorrow afternoon, we’ll head back on our own.” Hong Jie’s words implied a grim possibility.

But undoubtedly, this was the best plan under the circumstances.

No one objected.

Luo Long had some objections to Hong Jie saying his ability wasn’t helpful, but he didn’t dare to voice them.

The abilities of the evolved individuals had been adjusted to their peak state. After the morning’s battle, they had a rough idea of their control over their abilities and had gained some combat experience. If they didn’t encounter mutated zombies far beyond their strength like they had in the morning, their current strength should be sufficient to handle most situations.

Zhang Xiaobai said, “Our luck can’t be that bad, can it? We won’t run into zombies like those mutated ones again this afternoon, right?”

Third Brother slapped Zhang Xiaobai on the mouth. “Can’t you say something more auspicious?”

Zhang Xiaobai quickly corrected himself, “Then let’s hope we return with a full load this afternoon.”

Third Brother nodded in satisfaction. “That’s more like it.”

After leaving Hong Jie and the others with ample ammunition and supplies to last until the next evening, Third Brother led the team out.

The once cramped house suddenly felt empty.

The few soldiers left behind didn’t know what to do.

Hong Jie simply said that if Gu Ning returned, they should wake her, and then she went to sleep in the adjacent bedroom.

Luo Long, who didn’t dare to show any disrespect to this woman whom even Third Brother treated with deference, kept glancing at the earthen bed, half-expecting Gu Ning to reappear silently.

Meanwhile, Gu Ning was standing on the waves, her feet firmly planted on the rolling green sea, her body rising and falling with the waves as she swiftly moved forward. She spread her arms and raised them, and two swirling water dragons burst out of the sea, surging towards the sky.

Eleventh Square was less than five hundred meters from Golden Gate Street, which was lined with shops selling branded clothes and cosmetics. The area around Eleventh Square was dominated by large shopping malls and numerous shops. Whether it was when they arrived or when Third Brother and the others came, they had been in too much of a hurry to escape to have the chance to scavenge for supplies. Today, they had come specifically for that purpose.

The ground was littered with dried-up corpses, men and women, young and old. Although they had seen many horrors of the apocalypse, the sight still filled them with sorrow.

After killing the mutated zombie, the group of six evolved individuals found that the primary evolved zombies posed no threat to them. Third Brother hadn’t forgotten Gu Ning’s advice and stuck to the original plan: when facing a small group of zombies, the ordinary people would take the lead in attacking, while the evolved individuals provided support. When encountering a large horde, they would immediately change formation, protecting the ordinary people in the center.

Xiang Xu was still responsible for reconnaissance. The reason she hadn’t detected the mutated zombie earlier was that it was far stronger than her, automatically blocking her spiritual power detection. However, she could still fully monitor these primary evolved zombies.

In such battles, they were all adapting to their abilities, learning to work together with their teammates, and discovering to their delight that cooperation yielded excellent results.

Zhong Xu’s water-type ability combined with Zhang Xiaobai’s lightning-type ability often caused widespread damage.

Jia Daozhang’s ice-type ability, built upon Zhong Xu’s water-type ability, created many ice sculptures, though extracting the crystal cores was laborious. Jia Daozhang improved the method by only freezing the zombies from the neck down, making it easier to retrieve the cores.

In terms of individual combat, Cheng Ming was the most eye-catching.

Aside from Zhang Xiaobai, he and Jia Daozhang had the most robust abilities. Within a meter of Cheng Ming, no zombie could get close, as a constant wind swirled around him, occasionally forming wind blades that silently sliced off half a zombie’s face. The energy consumption of such abilities was negligible for him, as it was balanced by his ability to replenish his energy. He was also very careful with his ability control, aiming his wind blades at the farthest zombies.

Compared to Zhang Xiaobai, Cheng Ming, and Jia Daozhang, Third Brother and Zhong Xu’s abilities were relatively average. If converted into earth walls, Third Brother could probably only create about twenty before running out of energy. As for earth spikes, he could only produce a few hundred. Zhong Xu was even busier, constantly creating rain to help Zhang Xiaobai unleash lightning and Jia Daozhang freeze zombies. So, while Zhang Xiaobai, Cheng Ming, and Jia Daozhang were effortlessly slaughtering zombies, Third Brother and Zhong Xu had to carefully manage their abilities.

They secretly regretted missing the opportunity to awaken their abilities alongside Gu Ning.