Apocalypse Escape: Day One of Survival

Xie Ning glanced over. The material of this Divine Weapon seemed similar to the Heavenly Blade that young man had given her earlier.

’It’s just that he’s clearly trained,’ she thought wryly, ’even his opening stance with the sword looks much better than mine.’

"Captain."

"Prepare to fire."

Xie Ning guided the electric net, making it shoot up and slam against the tunnel ceiling with a BANG.

The huge commotion drew furious roars from the mutated zombies.

The members of Team A were already in position. The moment the grid moved, they began firing for their lives.

The hundred or so zombies, already dazed and disoriented from the electricity, had lost their ability to move. Now, getting headshotted made for a picture-perfect scene.

After the first volley of shots, Gu Chen kicked off the wall, launching himself sideways toward the area behind the mound of earth.

With a swift slash of his sword, a zombie’s howl echoed from behind the mound.

While no one was looking, Xie Ning silently retrieved the person-high electric net she had fixed to the ceiling, storing it in her villa’s dining room.

Crafting this metal grid had drained more than half of her superpower energy. On the principle that nothing should be wasted, Xie Ning decided to keep it.

’Even if they ask me later where the grid went, I can just make something up... say that I lost control and it smashed to pieces against the tunnel ceiling?’

’That should be enough to fool them, right?’

"Miss Xie, hurry and get some rest!" a few team members urged when they noticed her pale face.

Xie Ning felt she was still okay; her superpower wasn’t completely depleted.

It was just that those few zombies from before, under the control of the First-stage Mutated Zombie, had been ramming her metal grid so desperately that it left her feeling a bit internally injured.

But a little rest later should be enough to fix it.

Xie Ning offered them a few words of reassurance, her gaze shifting to the First-stage Mutated Zombie fighting Gu Chen.

Now, she could see its full appearance clearly.

Over its tattered clothes, it wore a piece of white window curtain. As it bared its fangs and claws, fighting Gu Chen, it gave off a strange, er... ethereal feeling.

’Pah! What’s so ethereal about a damn zombie?’

Xie Ning suddenly remembered—wasn’t this the cultivation-like zombie she’d seen on the roof of Tianrun Supermarket in her dream??

’Why would I see a Spiritual System mutated zombie in my dream?’

"Watch out for its Spiritual Ability attacks!" Xie Ning shouted a hasty warning.

This type of Spiritual System zombie had incredible control abilities, but its combat skills were somewhat lacking.

’But running into a tough nut like Xiao Gu seems a bit tragic for it...’

Just as Xie Ning finished her warning, she saw Gu Chen kick the zombie against the tunnel wall.

Before the dazed zombie could lift its head and roar, the ink-black longsword had already plunged into its skull, even twisting viciously to vent some frustration.

The pitiful mutated zombie opened its mouth but could no longer let out a sound as its body slumped and fell.

Xie Ning rushed forward, running up to Xiao Gu and circling him anxiously. "Are you okay? You didn’t feel anything during the fight?"

Gu Chen was in the middle of cutting open the zombie’s head to retrieve a sparkling Crystal Core the size of a grain of rice.

He turned his head and almost collided with the young woman circling him, making him chuckle. "I’m fine. Just felt a little dizzy while fighting it."

Xie Ning gave him a deadpan look. "Oh."

’Is he seriously not just flexing?’ She had felt incredibly dizzy just from a few of the zombie’s roars.

He was so close to the mutated zombie, right in the middle of a fight, and only felt ’a little dizzy’ with no other effects. Ningning was speechless.

She was about to turn and leave when Xiao Gu grabbed her slender arm. "Here."

Xie Ning looked down at the Crystal Core pressed into her hand, her expression flickering slightly. "This..."

"I already have two. That’s more than enough to send them for research. You’ve helped us out so much time and again; I won’t let you refuse this."

After the apocalypse began, the Crystal Core of a mutated zombie would be worth ten times the price of a regular one.

Thinking of the large family she had to support, Ningning no longer refused. She nodded and accepted it briskly.

’At most, if there’s anything else I can help with in the future, I’ll be duty-bound to do so.’

The zombies that had been digging around the earthen mound were strewn all over the ground, leaving almost no room to step.

Xie Ning glanced around with a hint of disgust.

Gu Chen waved his hand, signaling his teammates to move forward, toss the grotesquely contorted zombies aside, and clear a path.

He then walked up and circled the earthen mound, a look of surprise on his face.

"Wow, what a genius!" one of the teammates said, rather speechless. "This pit is sealed so tightly. Won’t they suffocate in there?"

"An Earth Ability User can control earth. As long as they left a few small gaps, they probably wouldn’t suffocate," Xie Ning said, stamping on the ground beside the mound.

"How do we get them out..." A teammate’s mouth twitched as he looked speechlessly at their captain.

"Go get some tools and let’s dig," Gu Chen said, equally speechless.

’What could he say? Team B is just full of unique talents.’

Just as the group was about to head back to the cars for digging tools, the earthen mound began to shift. The soil slowly parted, slanting to the left and right.

A slick, bald head POPPED out from the middle of the mound.

"Wu!!" everyone exclaimed, rushing forward to help pull him out.

"Captain Gu." Wang Bingwu was both shocked and overjoyed to see who it was. "Quick, come on out! It’s safe now! Captain Gu is here to save us!"

At this point, the mound had completely collapsed, and more than twenty people emerged from the pile of dirt, coughing incessantly.

"Captain Gu." Seeing him, the group of dirt-caked young men were moved to the brink of tears.

"Captain Gu, please, check on Qiangzi! I don’t think he’s going to make it."

"We were trapped here for a whole day and night. A lot of our teammates were bitten by zombies and turned. If Qiangzi hadn’t suddenly manifested a strange Earth Ability to protect the rest of us, we’d all be dead by now."

They carried their brother named Qiangzi out and laid him flat on the ground.

Xie Ning, still wearing her big helmet, sauntered over. She reached out to touch Qiangzi’s forehead, her expression turning serious. "He overused his superpower. Get him into a car to rest, quickly."

Overusing a superpower was a matter that could be either major or minor.

It wasn’t unheard of for some unlucky people to fall into a coma from superpower overuse and never wake up.

Everyone turned to look at her in unison. "Then what should we do?"

"All you can do is let him get plenty of rest, let him sleep, and give him lots of water. If you have any Nutrient Liquid, giving him some would be even better."

Gu Chen nodded, taking note. He had a few teammates carry Qiangzi and escort him back to a car to rest.

Just then, a haggard young man in black clothes with a dirt-smudged face stepped forward. "Gu Chen, what is the meaning of this? He’s our teammate. We will naturally take care of him. There’s no need for you to stick your nose in our business."

The members of Team B clamped their mouths shut, furious but not daring to speak out.

Gu Chen stood up and shot the man a look. He suddenly grabbed him by the collar and yanked him forward, as effortlessly as lifting a baby chick—swift and fierce.

A heavy punch landed squarely on the man’s stomach.

Xie Ning blinked. ’That punch from Xiao Gu,’ she thought, ’seems a lot more vicious than the one he gave that idiot Yu Tianfeng.’