“I won’t. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
Gu Yicheng’s deep voice carried a calming reassurance, gradually easing the fear and unease in Ruan Ning’s heart.
After all, it was just a scratch from a zombie, right? She had survived in the apocalypse for more than half a month now, seen countless zombies, and it was impossible for her to fall so inexplicably here.
Besides, getting scratched by a zombie didn’t necessarily mean turning into one. Sometimes, misfortune could turn into a blessing.
Perhaps this incident might even awaken her special powers.
She wouldn’t die here! Definitely not!!
To avoid distracting the male lead further with her emotions, Ruan Ning pulled herself together, forcing a smile to cheer herself on. She also decisively abandoned the golf club, which could only be used for defence, and picked up the gun Gu Yicheng had given her.
Maybe because she had already been scratched, Ruan Ning thought that a few more injuries wouldn’t change anything. This time, her moves to kill zombies were no longer as hesitant as before. Surprisingly, she was quite accurate, taking down several small zombies that tried to sneak up on her.
“Brother Gu, let us help you.”
The situation on the other side had stabilized, but Gu Yicheng and Ruan Ning were alone here, and the zombie boy was clearly a special case among the group. It was more intelligent and much harder to deal with.
Lin Yang and Jiang Jingchao, worried after resolving Xue Chen’s crisis, came over together to help.
The three of them had developed a tacit understanding through the battles over the past few days. Gu Yicheng had not yet returned to the peak of his sixth-level powers from his past life. With so many zombies, and the added responsibility of protecting Ruan Ning, his movements were somewhat restricted.
The boy zombie, having already sensed a threat from Gu Yicheng and angered by his relentless attacks, had long given up on Ruan Ning and was fixated on Gu Yicheng. The two were now locked in combat.
The boy zombie’s movements were agile, and it commanded the other zombies to interfere. For a moment, even Gu Yicheng couldn’t do much against it.
Now that Lin Yang and Jiang Jingchao were handling the other zombies, Gu Yicheng could finally focus on this troublesome zombie boy.
Thinking about the wound on Ruan Ning and her pale, frightened face, Gu Yicheng’s gaze grew colder as he faced the zombie. He raised his palm, slowly gathering a ball of lightning the size of a ping-pong ball, crackling with electricity.
When Ruan Ning caught sight of the lightning ball, a flicker of astonishment appeared on her face. This was a move the male lead had created in his past life, compressing his lightning power into a sphere. He had used this very move to defeat the Zombie King back then.
The power of this attack was several times greater than directly releasing his ability. However, it also demanded precise control and consumed a significant amount of energy to form.
Even from a distance, Ruan Ning could sense the immense power within the lightning ball.
The boy zombie also sensed the danger. When it attempted to dodge to the side, as it had several times before, the lightning ball suddenly exploded mid-air, expanding into a web that quickly trapped the zombie within it.
Lightning abilities inherently dealt extra damage to zombies. Though zombies felt no pain, they instinctively feared lightning. Trapped inside the web, it roared angrily at Gu Yicheng.
Although this boy zombie had some intelligence, it had no abilities of its own and couldn’t break free. It clawed desperately at the lightning web but to no avail.
Gu Yicheng’s expression was cold as he sent another burst of lightning energy directly at the zombie’s head. The boy zombie, immobilized within the web, could no longer rely on its agility and was ultimately reduced to a charred corpse on the ground. A transparent crystal nucleus fell from its head.
This nucleus was about the same size as the one they had retrieved from the fire-element mutated zombie earlier. It seemed this zombie was close to or had already reached the second tier, which explained the size of its crystal nucleus.
While ability users enhanced their powers using crystal nuclei, zombies advanced by consuming human flesh. This meant the boy zombie had likely harmed countless humans in this area.
If it had fully awakened its abilities, with its intelligence and the troublesome smaller zombies under its control, it might have wreaked havoc across most of S City, reducing it to a dead city.
After the boy zombie’s death, the remaining zombies were much easier to deal with.
However, after this battle, Gu Yicheng’s abilities were nearly depleted. The others were also exhausted, both physically and mentally. Continuing to fight would only worsen their situation.
Realizing this, the group stopped fighting and retreated to their car, seeking an opportunity to leave.
With no more zombies swarming their vehicle, the group quickly drove away, shaking off the remaining zombies.
Once they were sure the zombies were no longer chasing them, the tense atmosphere in the car finally relaxed.
Sitting in the back seat, Ruan Ning couldn’t help but glance at Gu Yicheng beside her.
This was the first time she had ever seen the male lead in such a dishevelled state. Although he wasn’t injured, his clothes were dirty and torn, which was a rare sight for someone like him.
“Brother Gu,” she called softly.
Gu Yicheng had just taken out a medical kit from under his seat to treat Ruan Ning’s wound. Hearing her call, he paused, looked up, and asked warmly, “Ningning, what’s wrong? Does it hurt a lot?”
His voice carried a rare hint of guilt and worry. After all, she had been injured trying to help him.
“It’s not that.”
Ruan Ning looked at Gu Yicheng, her heart filled with complicated emotions. Surprisingly, she didn’t regret stopping the zombie from attacking him earlier.
She knew full well that, with her limited combat skills, she wouldn’t have survived this long without Gu Yicheng protecting her. A minor injury was better than the male lead being seriously hurt.
Ruan Ning also knew Gu Yicheng didn’t realize she wasn’t a real ability user, so he naturally hadn’t considered whether her injury might lead to infection.
“Brother Gu, I… I…”
At that moment, Ruan Ning suddenly felt an unbearable tightness in her chest, furrowing her delicate brows.
She wasn’t sure if it was psychological, but her body felt terrible—painful and heavy. The pain came from her wounded hand, but the heaviness felt like a weight pressing on her chest.
Strangely, her heart rate had also skyrocketed. By her estimate, it had exceeded 200 beats per minute.
A normal person’s heart rate ranged between 60 and 100. Hers was already double that. Under normal circumstances, she should have died of cardiac arrest, yet she was still alive, albeit unwell. Something was definitely off.
Wait… Could she be turning into a zombie?!
Ruan Ning glanced at the wound on her hand. The two scratches spanned her entire hand, looking gruesome and dripping blood that stained her sleeve. The area around the wound had also turned an unhealthy shade similar to a zombie’s skin.
Maybe she could try using a crystal nucleus?
She remembered how she had once used a crystal nucleus to heal her arm, leaving no scars. Perhaps it could help expel the zombie virus as well.
With no other options, Ruan Ning decided to give it a shot. Doing something was better than doing nothing and just waiting for a miracle.
She pulled out the largest crystal nucleus from her spatial storage.
As before, the nucleus quickly melted into liquid and seeped into her skin, sending a warm current through her body.
Yet, after using more than ten nuclei, her wound continued bleeding. Seeing this, Ruan Ning’s heart sank.
Could it be that this method wouldn’t work for a zombie infection?
Despite her despair, she continued absorbing the nuclei one after another.
What she didn’t notice, however, was that the black discoloration around her wound was gradually fading. The blood flowing from the wound had returned to a bright red, no longer the ominous black-red from before.
Gu Yicheng, who was closest to her and about to treat her wound, noticed this abnormal phenomenon. The two scratches were already scabbing over after just a sprinkle of medicinal powder.
The wound was healing on its own?
Gu Yicheng’s eyes narrowed slightly, a hint of surprise flickering within them.
While ability users did heal faster than ordinary people, it wasn’t to this miraculous extent.
In such a short time, the wound was visibly healing. The only power capable of this level of healing was likely a healing-type ability.
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