“Big brother said he won’t be joining us,” Ruan Ning said.
Lin Yang just acknowledged with an “oh,” not thinking much of it. He assumed that Gu Yicheng had other plans. But he did feel a bit reluctant to part with the charming little beauty. He couldn’t help but suggest, “Gu Yicheng, actually, it’s the same whether we bring Ruan Ning sister along. Why let her go with these people?”
Lin Yang didn’t have any other thoughts; he simply believed that it would be better to let Ruan Ning go with them than to leave her with a group of strangers. They weren’t lacking in supplies, and they could afford to have a few more people like Ruan Ning with them.
However, Gu Yicheng didn’t accept his suggestion. He remained composed as he said, “It’s safer for Ning Ning to go with Captain Xue.”
Gu Yicheng’s reluctance to take Ruan Ning along did have something to do with not wanting to get involved in matters related to Gu Huasheng, but his statement about her safety wasn’t just empty words.
There were roughly two routes to the safe zone from here. The squad would most likely choose to return the way they came, passing by the City Hall building. The route was spacious, away from crowded commercial areas, and had fewer zombies. Basically, anyone with a bit of sense would choose this route when going to the outskirts of the city.
However, Gu Yicheng had an important matter to attend to and couldn’t take that route. They had to take another route. Although it was slightly closer to the safe zone, on the day the apocalypse broke out, there was a large exhibition held there. The streets were filled with people, so one could imagine how many zombies there would be after the apocalypse.
Enhanced individuals wouldn’t turn into zombies if scratched by zombies of the same level or lower. Even if accidentally scratched by zombies of a higher level, they would develop a certain level of immunity. However, ordinary people didn’t have this immunity.
If Gu Yicheng took Ruan Ning along, the three enhanced individuals would be accompanied by one without abilities, inevitably leading to some neglect.
If something happened to her under his watch, he didn’t want his father, who cherished her so much, to be bedridden out of anger.
Although Gu Yicheng didn’t mind having more people around, he still felt that bringing Ruan Ning would complicate things.
At this moment, Gu Yicheng didn’t consider that he would later willingly fall for this girl, whom he thought would be a big trouble, and be completely enamoured by her.
*****
In the end, Ruan “little tag-along” Ning still went with the squad of five.
The two groups parted ways at the entrance of the residential area.
During the farewell, Ruan Ning acted as if she couldn’t bear to leave, but the male lead still didn’t change his mind about taking her with them.
The squad’s vehicle had already been scrapped when they arrived, and due to the zombie blockade at the time, they had to abandon the supplies on board.
Gu Yicheng was surprisingly generous in this regard; he readily gave them half of the supplies in his car, including some good stuff like canned meat.
But what surprised and delighted Ruan Ning even more was that before leaving, Gu Yicheng actually gave her his gun for self-defence, along with dozens of bullets.
When Ruan Ning received this weighty item, to tell the truth, she felt a slight touch of emotion.
Ruan Ning began to consider whether she should reflect on herself. Perhaps she shouldn’t hold bias against the male lead due to the plot and the memories of the original protagonist?
Maybe the place he was heading to was really dangerous? Maybe it wasn’t all because he didn’t want her around?
The original novel had already reached five million words and still wasn’t finished. Ruan Ning didn’t have much patience for reading such long novels and usually just skimmed through chapters based on plot summaries.
If she had known she would transmigrate into this novel, she would’ve definitely read the entire thing! Twice!!
But there’s no regret medicine in this world. Faced with this fragmented and discontinuous plot that she already knew, Ruan Ning could only accept it. At least she could know some things even the male lead didn’t.
The squad of five plus Ruan Ning took two cars.
Because one of the teammates in the squad had been accidentally scratched by zombies during the previous encounter, he was initially contemplating suicide to avoid turning into one of those zombies. Gu Yicheng told them that not everyone scratched by zombies would turn into one; a small number might actually gain abilities instead of turning into zombies.
So the squad tied up the injured teammate with a rope and secured him in the back seat of one of the cars. But if he showed any signs of turning into a zombie, the driver would immediately shoot him, giving him a dignified death.
Fortunately, a couple of hours had passed, and the injured teammate hadn’t shown any signs of turning into a zombie yet.
Ruan Ning knew that this person had already awakened his abilities. However, after gaining abilities through such abnormal means, the body would become very weak for a period of time. Unlike those who were born with abilities, who would be lively and energetic after just a nap.
The squad leader, Xue Chen, was an ability user with a metal-based ability. Part of his body could transform into metal, which could withstand zombie attacks, even their nails couldn’t penetrate his skin.
Although the others were ordinary people like Ruan Ning without abilities, they had undergone daily training in the army, carrying heavy loads and running five kilometres without breaking a sweat.
Unlike Ruan Ning… just running five kilometres would probably tire her to death. Her stamina was nowhere near theirs.
The squad’s cars were all taken from the underground garage of the residential area. They were able to smoothly drive them out thanks to a person in the team named Li Bao. He managed to fix them with just a piece of wire. Despite his badass name, he was actually the most delicate-looking person in the entire team, with very delicate features.
The squad already had some experience on the way there. They chose cars with high chassis and stable driving. Sometimes when they encountered zombies, they didn’t need to waste effort killing them; they could just ram through, saving a lot of bullets and time.
That night, they planned to rest at a gas station and then set off again.
The gas station wasn’t big. Before they arrived, several people had already been staying there for some time.
When Ruan Ning got out of the car, she conscientiously put on her cap and also added a mask.
The mask was something she picked up while gathering supplies at the supermarket. There were plenty on the shelves, so she grabbed them all, enough to last her a year or two. At the time, she thought it would be handy to have something to cover her overly conspicuous face when needed.
Although she wasn’t alone now and was considered part of a group, she still wanted to avoid attracting any unwanted attention. It was just a precaution. Besides, it was October, the weather was cool, and she wouldn’t feel hot in this outfit.
The members of the squad had already seen Ruan Ning’s appearance, and they knew that anything could happen in this chaotic world. Therefore, they didn’t have any objections to her attire.
The squad member who had been unconscious woke up by the time they reached the gas station. As Ruan Ning had suspected, he had awakened his ability, which was fire-based. However, he was currently weak all over and needed several days of rest.
There was a small convenience store inside the gas station, stocked with food and drinks. The three men and three women who had been staying there didn’t look emaciated, but they seemed mentally drained from being on edge for several days. They were relatively silent.
Upon seeing the newcomers, they couldn’t help but approach and inquire about the situation outside.
Xue Chen briefly explained the situation to them.
“I want to find my dad, I want to go home…” A seven or eight-year-old girl said plaintively. She was accompanied by a woman in her thirties. That day, the woman was picking up her child from school when the apocalypse suddenly broke out, trapping them both in the gas station.
The woman was comforting the girl beside her, speaking softly to prevent their crying from attracting any nearby zombies.
Some people also asked where they were headed. When they heard that they were going to the safe zone outside the city, each of them felt tempted. After all, the six people who had entered, except for Ruan Ning, were all tall and sturdy, giving off a reassuring vibe.
The squad members didn’t refuse, considering they were heading to the safe zone anyway.
However, Ruan Ning noticed that Xue Chen was a very rational person in handling this matter. He didn’t take on too much responsibility or act overly kind, kind but not excessively so.
He simply agreed to let these people drive behind them and didn’t make any extra arrangements.
Otherwise, after reaching the safe zone, Ruan Ning might reconsider whether to continue travelling with them. Maintaining one’s original intentions in the apocalypse was a good thing, but being excessively kind would only harm oneself and others.
Leave a Reply