After Ruan Ning and the other three left that dormitory, the door ultimately failed to withstand the heavy impacts. With a muffled crash, it shattered into pieces.
Without the door blocking its way, the Tier Three wood-type zombie quickly rushed into the dormitory.
At that moment, everyone inside the dormitory had already left. It keenly caught the lingering scent of living people in the air and, following its instincts, traced the smell to the windowsill before jumping down from there.
Zombies, of course, would not remember that there was still a rope hanging from the balcony, nor would they think to grab the rope and climb down. Logically speaking, even if zombies could not feel pain, falling straight from the third floor would still easily break their legs and hinder their movement. But this zombie happened to be a wood-type zombie, able to control vines, and somehow it managed to descend smoothly from the third floor to the first floor.
At this time, Ruan Ning and the others had not yet left the area below the building.
It was not that they did not want to leave, nor were they deliberately waiting here for the zombie to come after them. It was simply because Jiang Jingyang’s injuries were far too severe. If he continued to be dragged around with them, he would lose his life.
A large chunk of flesh on his right wrist had been bitten off by a zombie back in Dormitory Building 3-A. One could even see the white bone inside. No matter how strong an ability user’s recovery ability was, it could not withstand a wound being repeatedly torn open and bleeding nonstop.
There was also the bruise on his knee. Such a large necrotic area had already lost all feeling. If they delayed any longer, his entire leg might become permanently disabled. Perhaps before they even left B University, he would already be beyond saving.
Compared to him, the minor superficial wounds on Ruan Ning’s body were hardly worth mentioning.
Seeing this, Ruan Ning could not help but admire Jiang Jingyang’s willpower. No wonder he had been able to survive in this living area, where danger lurked everywhere. He had actually dragged such a battered body around and held on for so long. If he had not nearly fainted and lost his balance while catching up with Jiang Jingchao, causing the others to notice something was wrong, they might truly not have realised that his injuries had already reached such a serious state.
Ruan Ning had to treat him as quickly as possible.
Hearing the movement from the zombie upstairs, Gu Yicheng narrowed his eyes and said, “Lin Yang, take Ningning and the others to find a safe place nearby to treat his injuries. I’ll deal with this wood-type zombie.”
Jiang Jingyang’s wound was severely infected, and he had a persistent high fever. His consciousness was now blurred, and he had begun muttering nonsense. Jiang Jingchao supported him, and seeing him like this, his face was full of heartache. “Jingyang, hold on.”
Even though she knew the male lead was strong, when Ruan Ning thought about how the thing he was about to face was still a Tier Three zombie, she hesitated for a while. Before leaving the area, she still walked over to Gu Yicheng and said, “Brother, when you kill the zombie later, be careful. Don’t let it hurt you.”
Hearing the girl’s words, a hint of a smile appeared in Gu Yicheng’s eyes. He reached out and rubbed her head. Feeling the softness beneath his palm, his voice turned gentle. “Mm. Brother will be careful. Ningning, you also need to take good care of yourself. Also, Jingyang’s injuries are all relying on you.”
Ruan Ning nodded. “Mm-hmm.”
If it had not been for everyone in the team looking after her, Ruan Ning would not have been able to live so easily and comfortably in this man-eating apocalypse. Compared to most people in the apocalypse, she was already living very well.
Now that Chaozi’s younger brother, Jiang Jingyang, was so badly injured, and she had the ability to help, she would naturally do everything she could to heal him.
…
Everyone else present left. Only Xie Fei, who possessed a fire ability, stayed behind to help Gu Yicheng deal with the Tier Three zombie.
“Young Master Gu, just tell me whatever you need me to do. Today, I refuse to believe we can’t deal with this zombie.” Earlier, when Xie Fei had been chased one-sidedly by this Tier Three zombie upstairs, he had already been holding back a bellyful of anger. On top of that, after seeing Jiang Jingyang’s injuries just now, his hatred for zombies grew even deeper. He wished he could wipe out every single one of these creatures.
Gu Yicheng said, “You don’t need to do anything right now. Just wait at the side. When I tell you to set fire later, then you act.”
If this zombie had not come down and appeared before him, then for the sake of treating Jiang Jingyang’s injuries as soon as possible, Gu Yicheng might have let it go. But now that it had delivered itself to his door, he had no reason to fear it or run away.
Gu Yicheng also happened to want to see just how strong this Tier Three wood-type mutated zombie, which had occupied the entire living area, really was.
As for the Tier Three crystal nucleus inside this zombie’s head, he was naturally determined to obtain it.
Below this side of the dormitory building was a cement clearing, and not far away was a small basketball court. There were far fewer plants nearby than in other parts of the living area. As far as the eye could see, there were only withered trees and fallen leaves, entirely devoid of vitality, desolate and ruined.
This also meant that, for the time being, this wood-type zombie had lost its natural advantage in this location. The scarcity of plants put it at an even greater disadvantage, making it no different from an ordinary Tier Three zombie. It might even be weaker than some zombies in terms of attack power.
While Gu Yicheng was thinking, the Tier Three wood-type zombie had already arrived before him.
Before it died, this wood-type zombie had been an adult man. It was tall, and aside from its head and limbs, most of its remaining body was made up of tangled plant vines. Precisely because of this, its walking speed was not fast. It could even be described as somewhat clumsy.
However, this zombie was clearly more interested in moving living things than motionless ones. After arriving downstairs, it did not pay attention to Gu Yicheng and Xie Fei, who were closer to it. Instead, it immediately released the vines around its body to chase after the others who were jogging away.
But compared with it, Gu Yicheng’s movements were faster. Before it could act, Gu Yicheng intercepted it with a bolt of lightning.
After the lightning split off one of the zombie’s vines, it struck the ground, cracking the cement surface open with a fissure as thick as an arm.
The zombie was successfully attracted by Gu Yicheng’s large movement.
The handsome young man raised his brows slightly, his deep black eyes looking coldly at the zombie.
“Before you go after them, you’ll have to defeat me first.”
….
On the other side.
Ruan Ning and the others left the area around Dormitory Building 4-B and found another relatively safe place to hide.
Lin Yang and Jiang Jingchao guarded the outermost perimeter, while Xi Chen and Li Bao protected Ruan Ning and the seriously injured Jiang Jingyang, preventing zombies and other dangerous things from approaching.
Ruan Ning stayed within the protective circle, using the crystal nuclei she had taken from her space to treat Jiang Jingyang’s wounds.
Jiang Jingyang’s injuries were indeed very serious. Ruan Ning took a deep breath and forced herself to concentrate fully as she treated him.
This was the first time she had treated such a severely injured person. In the past, it had always been small superficial wounds.
Fortunately, healing abilities were highly sought after in the apocalypse for good reason. Under Ruan Ning’s persistent efforts, Jiang Jingyang’s repeatedly torn, bloody wrist wound gradually stopped bleeding completely, and his fever also began to subside. Although the wound had not fully healed or scabbed over yet, he already looked much better overall.
Instead, Ruan Ning, who was treating him at the side, gradually went from having a rosy complexion to turning pale. Her delicate and beautiful face gained a few traces of fragility, and she looked sickly and weak, making people feel as if she would soon become the next person to faint after Jiang Jingyang.
Seeing her like this, Lin Yang felt both worried and distressed. “Sister Ruan Ning, you’ve worked hard. Brother Gu hasn’t finished over there yet, so rest here for now. We’ll deal with the zombies.” Seeing such a lively little beauty become so weak made him feel very uncomfortable.
Even Jiang Jingchao, Jiang Jingyang’s own elder brother, felt a little more guilty when he saw that she had made herself like this in order to save someone.
“Mm. Then I’ll leave the zombies to you.” Seeing that Jiang Jingyang was temporarily out of life-threatening danger, and considering that she had just finished treating someone and was now exhausted both physically and mentally, Ruan Ning did not force herself to stand up and kill zombies with everyone else.
Ruan Ning leaned against the wall to rest. Before long, she saw a flash of firelight in the distance, in the direction they had come from. It looked as though something over there had caught fire, and the flames were not small.
Below Dormitory Building 4-B, Gu Yicheng watched coldly as the wood-type zombie was finally burned into a charred corpse. A jade-green crystal nucleus was revealed inside the corpse’s head.
The Tier Three crystal nucleus was in hand.
All things both generate and restrain one another. This zombie’s greatest weakness was fire. While fighting it, Gu Yicheng had also poured gasoline over its body, and then Xie Fei had quickly ignited it with a fireball.
Gu Yicheng picked up the crystal nucleus, put it into his space, narrowed his eyes, and said in a low voice, “Let’s go over there first and regroup with the others. Then we’ll go do something big.”
A Tier Three wood-type zombie could not have constructed such a large domain alone, nor could it have catalysed all the plants inside it into killing weapons by itself. So within this living area, there had to be something else helping it control these plants.
As for what that thing was… he thought the target was already very obvious, wasn’t it?
Gu Yicheng raised his dark eyes and looked toward the tall, upright scholar tree standing not far away, out of place in every way compared with its surroundings.
It was like a peculiar existence. Every person who had just entered the living area could see that scholar tree, yet very few people would focus their attention on it.
Before entering, Gu Yicheng had told Xie Fei not to act rashly or waste his ability on the surrounding plant vines precisely because those plants were not the key cause of the living area’s current state.
Even if they painstakingly burned all of them away, after they left and some time passed, those burned plants would grow back again, and this place would once more become a hell on earth.
Since they had already come here, Gu Yicheng had never intended to let go of this lifeform that posed a threat to humanity.
Moreover, he had a feeling that the scholar tree would bring him an even greater surprise.
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