Gu Ning was walking at the end and subconsciously glanced down when she passed the zombie dog, then she stopped her footsteps. She bent down and reached into the battered head of the zombie dog with her cuffed hand and squeezed out a green glowing bead from the rotting flesh. Before Gu Ning could take a closer look, someone behind her gave her a rude shove and chided her impatiently: “Hurry up! What are you dawdling about!”
Gu Ning stumbled as she was pushed but she smoothly shoved the green bead into her sweater pocket before turning her head to look at the twenty-five or twenty-six year old man who wore a dark blue shirt, she gave a faint glance that held neither anger nor resentment.
However, after glanced from these light-coloured eyes, the man felt a chill running down his back and it creeped out in his mind but he acted tough and said: “What are you looking at? Move it?!”
The cars waiting outside were two green military trucks.
Gu Ning understood where those guns they had were from.
There were a few people standing on top of that army truck, and when they saw Gu Ning and her group of ten people, they said to the man in the lead: “*Brother San, you have a small catch, huh?”
(T/N: *三哥 sān gē means literary the third brother.)
“Enough, a brother had die. There was actually a zombie wolfdog in that yard. If we hadn’t reacted quickly, there would probably be more than one casualty.” The man who was referred as Brother San said with a frown.
Those men climbed down from the roof of the truck and asked in surprise: “What zombie wolfdog? The wolfdog has turned into a zombie too?!”
Brother San still frowned tightly: “Hmm. And a shot to the head doesn’t kill it. Let’s not head anywhere else for now, we’ve to go back and report to Bai Lang.”
When those few people saw the solemn look on Brother San’s face, they all couldn’t help but paled a little and hurriedly got into the car respectively. Then pulled Cheng Ming and the others up into the last truck.
“Why is there an injured person here? Didn’t Bai Lang boss say that he wouldn’t accept any injured people?” A young, flathead man around twenty-three or four was about to reach out and pulled Gu Ning into the truck when he saw her handcuffs and the injury. He then turned his head to ask Brother San who was standing outside the car, watching them getting in.
Brother San glanced at him and replied: “What, there are so many of you and you are still afraid of a woman? Even if she turn into a zombie, you guys can still handle it.” In fact, according to the rules of the colony, whoever was injured was not allowed to enter, but for some reason, when he asked those people who was their leader and they all glanced over to Gu Ning. Thus, he felt that this young-looking girl must be somehow special. What was even more remarkable was that the others were more or less nervous when they saw the guns in their hands, but he couldn’t see any nervousness or fear in her eyes. It was not a feigned calmness but she was really not afraid of them. Coupled with the fact that those people were looking at her with a vague sense of her being the leading one, made him subconsciously felt that this was someone he had to bring back with him.
Once Gu Ning was pulled in, they unlocked a side of Gu Ning’s handcuff and cuffed it to a corner at the end of the truck. Gu Ning was speechless for a moment, but since she was already in the truck, she didn’t retaliated any further.
Brother San also followed into the truck and seated near the door resting with his eyes closed.
Afterwards the truck’s door was slammed shut.
The truck was suddenly plunged into dimness.
The atmosphere in the carriage was very heavy.
Gu Ning was arranged to sit in the innermost corner and the little flathead sitting opposite was looking at her nervously. As if he was on the verge of looking at a mortal enemy and as long as Gu Ning showed the slightest sign of zombification, he wouldn’t hesitate to put a bullet in Gu Ning’s head.
Soon, the truck started moving.
In the dimmed light, Gu Ning took out the green bead in her pocket that she had picked up from the zombie dog’s head. The dimmed light didn’t affect her ability to examine closely at the bead. The colour was emerald green and in the shape and sizes of a marble which she used to play with as a child. At this moment, it laid quietly on the palm of her hand and the emerald green shone as if it contained a vigorous vitality.
Moreover, it looked very tasty…
Gu Ning was taken aback by the sudden thought that popped in her mind, eat it? How was that possible… This was something that was dug out from the brain of a zombie wolfdog. Thinking about the foul smelling rotten flesh, Gu Ning felt a little sick to her stomach and hastily put the bead back into her pocket to stop her “horrible” thoughts.
“Can I ask you a few questions?” Gu Ning suddenly asked the little flathead across the truck.
The little flathead glanced at Brother San who was sitting near the door and saw that there was no intention of intervening so he cautiously looked at Gu Ning and replied: “What?”
Gu Ning asked: “How long have you all been conducting your search for survivors like this?”
Seeing that Gu Ning was simply asking about this, the little flathead relaxed slightly and replied: “It’s been more than half a month.” He spoke with some pride: “We have already gathered several thousand people in our colony. There are hundreds in the search and rescue teams. Every day the colony will send out teams to search for survivors like you, and when we find them, we will bring them back to the colony.”
Gu Ning asked: “So did you guys ever find a middle-aged couple when you were out searching for survivors? The woman was wearing a black dress and the man was wearing a light grey T-shirt, and wore a near-sighted glasses with one side of the lens broken. Also they were in their forties and the man had an injury on the right leg.”
The little flathead thought seriously then replied: “I don’t remember much, but as you said the one who had an injury on the right leg, we don’t take in people who have been injured in our colony.” He paused and added emphatically: “You’re a special case.”
Jia DaoZhang inquired from the side: “Gu Ning are you asking about the whereabouts of your parents?”
Gu Ning nodded, the presence of zombie wolfdogs made the world far more dangerous and this made her mood heavier and more anxious. At this point, the glimmer of hope was shattered once more and she couldn’t help but grimed a little.
“It’s been ten minutes, can you unlock her cuffs now?” Cheng Ming said to Brother San who was resting with his eyes closed.
Brother San opened his eyes a little and glanced at Gu Ning, then said to the man sitting next to him: “Go and take it off for her.”
The man then came over with the keys and just when he stopped in front of Gu Ning. Suddenly! The truck which was driving at an uniform speed, abruptly swayed violently and then screeched to a stop. Due to the inertia, the man with the keys slammed onto the wall in the carriage and screamed in pain. The keys in his hand fell under the seat of the little flathead.
The people in the car, all tumbled around and a few girls even screamed in fear.
Gu Ning’s heart inexplicably tightened and she felt some bad omens.
“What’s going on?!” Brother San who was seated near the door, jerked from his seat and picked up a black walkie-talkie behind his back and shouted into the intercom: “Chen He, what’s happening?!”
A noisy male voice came from the intercom, obviously unsure of the current situation and replied: “Brother San, I don’t know either, the truck in front of me suddenly stopped.”
Brother San frowned and shouted into the intercom again: “Zhao Jie Zhao Jie! Why stopped the truck? What the hell is going on over there?!”
The intercom was silence.
This silence made the atmosphere in the dimly lit compartment instantly tensed and unsettling.
At this very moment! Out of nowhere! “Pang!” There was a loud crash!
It was as if a heavy object had fallen from the sky and hit the roof of the truck with a loud thud that rattled the ears.
Several of the girls were so frightened that they screamed out loud.
“Shut the f*** up all of you!” Brother San bellowed.
The screams were met with a pause.
Immediately followed by incessant thud of heavy objects falling onto the roof of the truck. Suddenly there were several rapid gunshots and shrilled scream from the front, while at the same time the walkie-talkie in Brother San’s hand went off frantically: “Brother San! There are zombies! Lots of them… Ah ! ! ! !”The voice was cut off, quickly followed by the sound of shattered glass accompanied with screams from the truck in front.
The uneasy atmosphere in the compartment had risen to the peak, everyone’s face were grimed, and several girls’ looked a shade paler as their blood drained away from their face and they all squeezed into the corner opposite from Gu Ning. Huang MengYao who sat beside Cheng Ming was frightened and pale too but she didn’t shift to the corner nor did she scream. Cheng Ming and the boys were a bit shocked but they tried to keep their composure while the search and rescue team held onto their guns tightly in their hands. Whereas Jia DaoZhang’s face was faded into paleness too.
“First, help me unlock the handcuffs.” Gu Ning calmly said to the little flathead opposite of her.
The little flathead was at a loss for words and glanced at Brother San, who glared at him and said: “Why are you looking at me! Just unlock it for her!”
The little flathead then warily took the key over to Gu Ning to open the lock but his hand kept shaking and it couldn’t match into the keyhole. Gu Ning was very patient and didn’t urge him, as it was normal to feel frightened in this situation.
What was being strange was her, oddly enough, she thought she would feel some fear and dread, but to her surprise, she didn’t feel much fear other than being nervous. She was too calm in a way that was little out of her expectation.
The calmness and composure which she displayed was very different from the few girls who had already cowered into a ball of fear. This caught Brother San’s attention.
The little flathead finally managed to unlock the handcuffs on Gu Ning’s hands.
As soon as Gu Ning’s hands were free, her first reaction was to unload her backpack and took out a scarf from inside the mass of clothes and wrapped it around her neck in layers before tying it in a dead knot. It encircled her slender neck without revealing any flesh, then she walked straight to Brother San who was looking at her with a puzzled expression and said: “I need a gun, and also, I need you to teach me how to shoot.”