14 – Saving People
Looking at the unconscious man on the ground, she recalled that last time she saw him, he was driving a modified military vehicle. This time, he was wearing a military uniform and had exceptional combat skills—was he a soldier?
Ye Jin crouched down and turned the man over from his side-lying position to examine his injuries.
After unbuttoning his military jacket, she saw that the white shirt underneath was stained red with blood from his abdomen.
A gunshot wound?
No matter what type of Special Ability an Ability User possessed, by the time they reached the second tier, their speed was incredibly fast. With his exceptional skills, ordinary weapons shouldn’t have been able to harm him.
Moreover, the shot was fired from the front—this could only mean that the person who injured him was someone he knew and trusted deeply!
It seemed the situation was more complicated than she thought. Had the military already started to fracture so quickly?
But what about this large pit? It looked as if it had been corroded by something.
Regardless, she still had to save him.
This man likely knew many secrets. At the very least, he was the most capable person she had encountered so far and probably held a high position in the military.
Ye Jin retrieved a medical kit from her Dimension, along with sterile gauze. After disinfecting the items, she dug out the bullet from his abdomen, rinsed the wound clean with Spirit Spring Water, and bandaged it up.
Having survived five years in the apocalypse in her previous life, she had dealt with countless injuries, both major and minor. As long as no limbs were severed, she could handle situations like this.
Ability Users recovered quickly, and since the wound wasn’t in a vital area like the heart, it wasn’t a serious injury.
The smell of blood here was too strong and would attract Zombies if they stayed too long. Ye Jin had no choice but to carry him to the vehicle herself.
So heavy! This man must be at least 188 cm tall.
Even with her own height of 170 cm, carrying him was quite a strain. Fortunately, her strength had increased after Marrow cleansing.
She was in a hurry to collect gasoline and had planned to take him back and leave him with Zhang Yiyi. But as soon as she reached the entrance of the residential complex, she noticed that the area around her building was swarming with Zombies.
Could Yu Ruanruan and the others have attracted them? When Ye Jin had shaken off Yu Ruanruan and run, she had glanced back and seen Yu Ruanruan trying to stick close to Yu Lejia and the others.
With so many Zombies, clearing them out would be difficult. There was no other option—she had to find another place.
…
“You bitch! Get out of here!” Yu Lejia shouted furiously at Yu Ruanruan.
It had to be said, Ye Jin had guessed correctly.
“Enough! Stop it! Ruanruan didn’t do it on purpose!”
Yuan Mo then turned to Yu Ruanruan, who was quietly sobbing, and said, “Don’t be afraid. This isn’t your fault—you were just too scared.”
Hearing Yuan Mo’s words, Yu Lejia grew even angrier: “If it weren’t for her, my boyfriend wouldn’t have gotten hurt!”
Yu Ruanruan thought to herself that she hadn’t intentionally caused Yang Yu to get scratched by a Zombie.
The Protective shield provided by her System had run out, and the Zombies had rushed toward her. In her panic, she had hidden behind Yang Yu, who was closest to her.
Suddenly, all the Zombies that had been targeting Yu Ruanruan turned their attention to Yang Yu. Caught off guard, Yang Yu was scratched on the chest.
“I’m sorry, it really is my fault. But being scratched by a Zombie doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll turn into one—you might even develop a Special Ability!”
Afraid that Yu Lejia wouldn’t believe her, she added, “That friend of Ye Jin’s was bitten by a Zombie, and after one night, she woke up fine and had a Special Ability!”
Yu Ruanruan was lying, but since Ye Jin had said something similar, it was better than being driven out now—at least it could buy some time.
“Is that true?” Yu Lejia asked, somewhat excited.
“It’s true!” Yu Ruanruan nodded.
Yuan Mo immediately chimed in, “Regardless, let’s get through tonight first. At least the part about Special Abilities is real—don’t you have one too?”Among their group, there were two Ability Users: Yuan Mo with earth element abilities and Yu Lejia with water abilities—they belonged to the same department.
When the apocalypse broke out, they had been gathered together working on a group project. It was precisely because they had Ability Users, and Yu Lejia’s boyfriend Yang Yu was a national boxing team athlete, that they dared to form their own team and venture out.
They just never expected the outside world to be far more terrifying than they imagined. Several classmates had already died just getting out of the school, and now only a few of them remained.
“For now, let’s leave it at this. It would be best if Yang Yu wakes up! We don’t have many people left anyway!” Zhang Wei, who was closer to Yuan Mo, also tried to mediate, especially since it was Yu Ruanruan who had brought them to this house.
“Hmph! It better be this way, or I’ll definitely throw you into a zombie horde!” Yu Lejia didn’t have much energy to cause trouble now—she needed to care for Yang Yu.
If Yang Yu really turned into a zombie, she would absolutely follow through on her threat.
Yuan Mo frowned slightly. They were half-sisters by blood, so why was there such deep hatred between them?
He was friends with Fu Yihao, and Ye Jin used to frequently visit Fu Yihao with Yu Ruanruan tagging along. Since he and Yu Lejia shared the same academic advisor, he naturally knew about their relationship. But in his memory, Yu Lejia had disliked Yu Ruanruan from the very beginning.
Actually, he felt quite favorably toward Yu Ruanruan himself.
Yu Ruanruan strongly resembled his favorite anime girl. Though her features weren’t particularly delicate, she had a petite, soft figure and round, misty eyes when she looked at people—the kind that easily stirred protective instincts in others.
“Yang Yu seems to have a fever. I’ll help you watch over him tonight.”
Because of how Yuan Mo had just defended Yu Ruanruan, Yu Lejia ignored him.
Seeing this, Yuan Mo didn’t press his luck further. Instead, he turned to Yu Ruanruan and said gently, “You should go rest in the room first. There’s nothing here, so we’ll have to make do for now.”
“Ding! System detects Yuan Mo’s favorability at 50 points. Successful conquest rewards 1000 Points! Bonus Bust Enhancement Pill included. Host, please proceed with conquest quickly!”
Yu Ruanruan secretly rejoiced. She had suspected Yuan Mo might be interested in her, but never expected his favorability to be this high.
Meanwhile, Ye Jin—who had slept overnight at the gas station—looked at the unconscious man beside her with frustration.
In her previous life, she had suffered worse injuries than him yet never remained unconscious this long.
But she couldn’t just leave him here alone. What if those people trying to kill him showed up? Wouldn’t that make her rescue effort pointless?
Gu Jingzheng’s brow twitched slightly as he gradually regained consciousness. Sensing movement nearby, he opened his eyes and realized this wasn’t where he had been before collapsing.
Instantly fully alert, he quickly drew his pistol from his military trouser pocket, cocked it, and aimed at Ye Jin.
“Don’t move!” he shouted.
Ye Jin found his reaction amusing and chuckled lightly. “Quite the security awareness you’ve got there!”
The weak beam from the flashlight illuminated the woman’s face across from him—stunningly beautiful features that felt vaguely familiar. Still, Gu Jingzheng didn’t lower his gun.
“What? Don’t remember me?”
Recalling their first meeting, Ye Jin figured this man probably didn’t even know what she looked like. She prompted him: “You still owe me a car. Mine was completely totaled.”
Only then did Gu Jingzheng remember her. His tense body gradually relaxed as he lowered the pistol. Noticing his wounds had been bandaged, he asked, “You saved me?”Ye Jin replied, “I’ve been guarding you for a full day and night. You owe me twice now!”
Before Gu Jingzheng could respond, Ye Jin noticed movement outside again and immediately switched off the flashlight they were using for illumination.
She said to Gu Jingzheng, “You’re quite the popular one, aren’t you? It’s only been a day, and this is already the second group coming for you.”
The gas station they were currently hiding in was diagonally across from the pharmacy, separated by a wide road, giving them a clear view of the opposite side.
Unable to return to the residential area, Ye Jin had no choice but to find a place to rest. Worried about potential trouble from other survivors among the residents, she remembered that this gas station across the street had few zombies and offered the chance to collect gasoline, so she had returned.
To her surprise, over a dozen people had come looking for this man during the day alone. As the saying goes, the darkest place is under the lamp – this group had thoroughly searched the pharmacy inside and out without ever considering the gas station, and eventually left.
“Thank you!” Gu Jingzheng’s voice was hoarse, his eyes darkening as he watched the retreating backs of those who had finished searching the pharmacy.
“No need for thanks. Saving you came with conditions.” After saying this, she turned the flashlight back on and handed the man a bottle of water.
Gu Jingzheng unscrewed the cap and took a sip to moisten his throat, his Adam’s apple bobbing.
Conditions were to be expected. Even before the apocalypse, acts of heroism would earn you a little red flower, let alone now when his special status made rescuing him both dangerous and thankless work.
“What do you want? After I recover, I can arrange safe accommodation and food supplies for you and your family. Absolute security.”
Ye Jin asked directly, “What’s your name?”
“Gu Jingzheng.”
“Which department do you belong to in the military? What’s your rank?”
Gu Jingzheng frowned. Dark Reform was a state secret, so he evaded the main point: “The department is classified. My rank is equivalent to General.”
General? That’s quite a high rank. To reach that level, one would typically need to be at least in their forties or fifties, but this man looked only a few years older than her.
To be so young at that rank, he must either be exceptionally capable or have powerful connections.
The surname Gu? Could it be that Gu family she was thinking of?
“Are you from the capital?”
Gu Jingzheng said, “Don’t worry, since I’ve made the promise, I’ll definitely deliver.”
Ye Jin didn’t need his food supplies at all. Right now, she only wanted to know if she could get information about the whereabouts of the Ye family.
“I’ve heard the Gu family of the capital leads the four great families. You wouldn’t happen to be from that Gu family, would you? What are you doing in S Province?” Ye Jin probed.
“Heh~” Gu Jingzheng chuckled lightly: “Why the interrogation? Then what’s your name?”
He understood clearly that anyone who knew about the four great families couldn’t be ordinary – at minimum, they had to be from within those circles.
These two shrewd individuals were carefully testing each other.
Seeing she couldn’t get anything more from him, Ye Jin simply stopped asking. Turning her back to Gu Jingzheng, she said: “I’m not telling you. Going to sleep!”
She placed the Ancient blade horizontally between them.
Gu Jingzheng wasn’t annoyed, just shook his head with a slight smile, the corners of his mouth lifting. She was quite a sharp-witted girl.