Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Hitting the Road – The Door to Rebirth in the Apocalypse – Full Book Online

Hitting the Road (Revised)

Since Gu Ning had previously discussed the route to the capital with Lu Jiazhi, she could basically determine the direction they were heading. Although three days had passed, given the current situation, the road was not easy to navigate, and they might not have gone far. As long as they hurried, they should be able to catch up soon. Thinking about her parents’ possible predicament at this moment, Gu Ning was already extremely anxious.

After settling some miscellaneous matters, Gu Ning and Method switched places.

“Eat something first, then get some sleep. Take over for me in the middle of the night.”

Method looked at Gu Ning in shock upon hearing this: “What do you mean? You’re not telling me you plan to drive through the night, are you? Gu Ning, are you kidding?”

“I need to catch up with them as soon as possible,” Gu Ning said as she started the car.

“Gu Ning, I know you’re worried about your parents, but driving at night is really unsafe right now. If we accidentally drive into a zombie nest, we won’t even have bones left. Let’s find a safe place to sleep first, and we’ll hit the road at dawn. We won’t be delayed too much,” Method earnestly advised.

“How many zombies are following our car?” Gu Ning suddenly interrupted.

“Huh?” Method was a bit slow to react. He looked in the rearview mirror, but it was pitch black, so he said, “It’s pitch dark with no lights. How can I see?”

“I can see,” Gu Ning glanced at the rearview mirror and said, “There are about thirty or forty. The one in the lead is wearing a denim jacket.”

Method found a flashlight in the car, rolled down the window, and shone it behind them. His face turned pale as he quickly turned off the flashlight and asked Gu Ning, “How can you see?”

Before he could finish his sentence, the car door was violently hit by a zombie!

Method was startled and turned to face a zombie that had grabbed the car door! He had forgotten to close the window after rolling it down, and the zombie had taken advantage of the situation. Two rotting hands tightly gripped the door, and Method’s hair stood on end. He frantically jabbed the flashlight at the zombie’s face! But the zombie seemed determined not to let go, enduring the flashlight blows to its face, stubbornly holding onto the window.

This zombie had clearly been undead for a long time. One of its eyeballs hung from its socket, while the other was just a black hole. Its right cheek was completely rotten, and Method’s flashlight strikes had turned it into a mess, emitting a foul stench. It kept writhing, trying to get into the car, its mouth open to bite Method.

Method’s strikes were so forceful that he accidentally dropped the flashlight out of the car!

Panicking, Method saw the zombie’s foul-smelling mouth coming to bite him! Without thinking, he grabbed the zombie’s head and pushed it back with all his might! But despite the zombie’s slow speed, its strength was terrifying, and Method couldn’t hold it back! The zombie’s entire head was now inside the car.

Even though Method had killed a few zombies before, he couldn’t help but scream in terror!

Seeing this, Gu Ning quickly turned the steering wheel. The tires screeched against the road, and the car made a sharp turn, flinging the zombie out! It also knocked over a few zombies following behind.

Method hurriedly rolled up the window and collapsed onto the seat, drenched in cold sweat, his face pale as a sheet, unable to speak for a long time.

“Are you okay?” Gu Ning asked.

It took a while for Method to recover and reply, “I-I’m fine.” His voice and hands were still trembling.

After a long pause, Method finally said, “Let’s drive through the night then. We need to pick up your parents as soon as possible.” He was clearly shaken by the zombie and couldn’t bear the thought of his parents facing such horrors.

Gu Ning nodded and said, “Alright. You sleep first.”

Method couldn’t help but stare at Gu Ning. She was focused on the road ahead, as if the earlier scare was just his imagination. He suddenly asked, “Gu Ning, weren’t you scared just now?”

Gu Ning calmly shook her head.

Seeing Gu Ning’s composed expression, which didn’t seem feigned, Method felt a bit embarrassed about his earlier panic.

Noticing Gu Ning’s alertness, Method didn’t refuse. He had been driving all day and was exhausted. The scare had left him drained. After eating a chocolate bar and taking a few sips of water, he wrapped himself in his coat and fell asleep in the passenger seat, soon snoring lightly.

After he fell asleep, Gu Ning turned off the headlights. Her night vision was now as good as daylight, even without any light source.

This area was relatively quiet, with only a few zombies wandering the streets, drawn by the sound of the car. Gu Ning’s family didn’t own a car, and she had only gotten her driver’s license because her mother insisted, saying it would be useful in the future. She hadn’t driven since passing the test a year ago.

But for some reason, holding the steering wheel now felt incredibly familiar.

She stepped on the accelerator and charged straight at the zombies trying to block the road!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The car shook violently from the impact.

The noise woke Method, who opened his eyes in panic and asked, “What happened?!”

“Nothing. Just hit a few zombies,” Gu Ning said calmly. “Fasten your seatbelt.”

Method looked at Gu Ning’s profile, feeling speechless. He had admired her unusual calmness when they last met, but now she seemed almost unnervingly composed.

He didn’t know what had happened to Gu Ning during their time apart, but in this apocalyptic world, such a change was undoubtedly beneficial.

He didn’t dwell on it and closed his eyes again. He desperately needed sleep to take over when Gu Ning got tired.

This time, even if the car shook violently, he could at least fall back asleep immediately after being startled.

Gu Ning held the steering wheel, feeling her own transformation. She had become incredibly calm, and her thinking had sharpened. She could feel every thought in her mind, her reasoning crystal clear. Looking at the zombies stumbling in the dark like demons, she felt almost no fear.

She didn’t know what other changes her body would undergo, and the thought weighed heavily on her. But soon, she felt a sense of relief. She had already died once; this life was like a bonus, a gift. So far, all the changes in her body had been positive.

She exhaled deeply and focused on the road ahead.

When Method woke up again, it was already dawn.

He quickly sat up and looked at Gu Ning: “Gu Ning, what time is it?”

Gu Ning, holding the steering wheel, kept scanning the buildings on both sides of the road. She looked alert, showing no signs of fatigue from driving all night. She glanced at her watch and said, “Seven-thirty.”

“I slept that long? Why didn’t you wake me?!” Method’s surprise quickly turned to alarm.

“I wasn’t tired, so I didn’t wake you,” Gu Ning said matter-of-factly. She then turned the steering wheel, hitting another zombie that lunged at them, and added, “If you’re awake, let’s switch places. I need to eat something.”

The zombies here were more densely packed, with groups of them wandering the streets.

“Did you drive all night without stopping?” Method asked as he unbuckled his seatbelt.

“Yeah,” Gu Ning replied. She drove to an open area, opened the door, and switched places with Method.

The whole process took less than ten seconds, and the zombies stumbling towards them hadn’t even reached the car before it sped off.

“Keep an eye out for any yellow minibuses,” Gu Ning said as she grabbed her backpack, took out some chocolate and water, and started eating.

Method watched as Gu Ning quickly devoured a chocolate bar and gulped down half a bottle of water, showing no signs of conserving their supplies. He kindly reminded her, “Gu Ning, we don’t have much food…”

Gu Ning stuffed the last piece of chocolate into her mouth but still didn’t feel full. She stopped herself and checked her watch, saying, “Find a safe place to stop. I need to use the bathroom.”

Method was taken aback but nodded, “Alright.”

The car stopped about half an hour later.

“You’d better hurry,” Method said as he got out of the car, opening the door and scanning the surroundings warily, a knife in hand, afraid a zombie might jump out from somewhere.

“Give me five minutes,” Gu Ning said before quickly heading into an alley around the corner.

After making sure no one was around, Gu Ning closed her eyes.

When she opened them again, she was in that mysterious space. She walked to the door and instinctively glanced at the pointer, still set where she had moved it yesterday. She pressed the door handle, and with a flash of golden light, she was back in her room.

She took a deep breath. It was eight o’clock; her parents should be up preparing breakfast. She would go out to greet them and then return.

Just as she was about to push the door open, her hand froze on the handle.

She stared in shock at the sunflower-shaped clock on the wall.

The hour hand pointed to 3:00 AM, and the second hand ticked forward with a loud click.

Gu Ning quickly looked at her wristwatch and was stunned. The digital watch, which had shown 8:00, now displayed 3:00 AM.

What was going on? Why was the time here out of sync with the other world?

Gu Ning cautiously opened the door and stepped into the hall, checking the wall clock—it also showed 3:00 AM. The red numbers blinked in the dark, adding to the eerie atmosphere that matched her current mood.

Gu Ning retreated to her bedroom and sat on the bed, confused.

But she had a gut feeling that the time discrepancy between the two worlds was related to the “Tai Chi” symbol on the black door.

With a thought, she returned to that space.

She looked at the golden pointer she had moved slightly towards the white side, feeling a profound sense of mystery. The time difference between the two worlds must have been caused by her moving this pointer.

In the apocalyptic world, ten hours had passed from 10:00 PM to 8:00 AM, but here, only five hours had gone by.

So, time here moved slower than in the apocalypse—almost half the speed. Spending two days in the apocalypse might only be one day here? Conversely, if she moved the pointer towards the black side, would time speed up here?

Gu Ning pondered this, glancing at her watch. It was 3:05.

She reached out to move the golden pointer further towards the white side, but after several attempts, it wouldn’t budge. She tried moving it back and found it worked, but moving it towards the white side again only allowed it to go as far as before.

Gu Ning stared at the Tai Chi compass, still unable to figure it out. She left the pointer where it was and pressed the door handle again.

Back in the dead end, she heard Method’s anxious voice: “Gu Ning! Are you still there? Can you answer me? If you don’t respond, I’m coming over! I’m really coming…”

Before he could finish, Gu Ning walked out.

Seeing Gu Ning, Method sighed in relief but then complained, “You said five minutes, but it’s been over ten. And you didn’t answer when I called. I thought something had happened to you.”

Gu Ning checked her watch—it was now 8:15 here. She realized she needed to adjust the Tai Chi time as soon as she entered next time.

“Sorry, my stomach wasn’t feeling well,” Gu Ning apologized.

“It’s fine. Just answer next time I call, okay? I was worried… things are different now,” Method said as he opened the driver’s door and got in.

Gu Ning glanced at the male zombie lying on the ground, its head smashed open—probably Method’s doing. She walked around it and got into the car.

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Author’s Note: QAQ Currently 56 collections. Will add more chapters when it reaches 100.

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