Chapter 114 Training

Ruan Ning walked into the hotel lobby and looked around. Zombie corpses lay on the ground, their blood staining the dusty floor tiles. She turned to Sun Hong and the others who were following behind and said, "Drag all the corpses out and pile them in the backyard. Be quick."

Without hesitation, the women immediately formed groups of two or three, enduring their nausea, and grabbed the zombies by their ankles or tattered clothes, laboriously dragging the emitting foul odors out of the hotel and into the overgrown yard behind it.

Soon, more than twenty corpses were piled up into a small mountain, which looked even more nauseating under the midday sun.

The fire followed Ruan Ning to the backyard. Ruan Ning nodded to it. The fire took a few steps forward, took a deep breath, and then opened its mouth to spew out a blazing reddish-white flame, precisely covering the pile of corpses.

"boom--"

The flames roared to life, the intense heat distorting the air, and the crackling sound of burning flesh and an even stronger stench filled the air. The women stepped back, covering their mouths and noses with their hands, watching the flames devour the monsters that had once terrified them, their eyes filled with complex emotions.

“This county town isn’t big, and the zombie density shouldn’t be too high, making it suitable for you to practice.” Ruan Ning looked at the burning pile of corpses, her voice clearly reaching everyone’s ears. “We’ll rest here for two days. During these two days, you will split into small teams and, under Sun Hong’s coordination, gradually clear and search the area around this inn. The objective is to familiarize yourself with combat and collect all useful supplies—food, water, medicine, fuel, tools, clothing, anything you think you can use or exchange.”

She turned around, her gaze sweeping over the weary and bewildered faces: "Remember, I'm only taking you to the Northwest Base. From here on out, you'll have to walk your own path. To survive in this apocalypse, relying on others for protection is less important than relying on your own sword and your own strength. The more zombies you kill and the more dangers you face, the faster you'll adapt. Only when you're strong enough will you stop being locked up like cargo."

Sun Hong nodded vigorously, then turned to the women and shouted, "Did you all hear that? Captain Ruan gave us a chance, so we have to live up to it! It's too risky to work in pairs, so work in groups of four! Watch your backs! We'll start this afternoon, beginning with these nearby buildings! Don't panic if you see zombies, just do what we learned this morning! Keep your eyes peeled when you're looking for things!"

The women encouraged each other, their faces still showing fear, but with a newfound resolve. They quickly regrouped, checked their weapons, and prepared to begin their first proactive search and battle.

The plan was set.

In the afternoon, Sun Hong led the women, divided into several small teams, armed with simple weapons, and cautiously stepped out of the hotel's walls to begin exploring and clearing the surrounding abandoned residential buildings and small shops.

Progress was slow at first, with screams and chaos occurring intermittently, but no one ran away. They clumsily cooperated, painstakingly killing the scattered zombies, then panting and trembling as they dug out the crystal cores, carefully searching every corner where supplies might be hidden.

Ruan Ning stood in the best-view room on the sixth floor of the hotel, observing through the broken window. She could "see" the women's process of gradually becoming skilled from their initial awkwardness, and she could "hear" their short words of encouragement and reminders to each other.

As dusk approached, Sun Hong led the search teams back one after another.

Everyone looked as if they had rolled in the dirt. Their faces, hands, and clothes were covered in sweat, dust, and blackened bloodstains. Their hair was matted together with sweat. But deep within their exhaustion, their eyes shone with a different kind of light.

They carried bulging backpacks on their backs and bundles hastily made from bed sheets or rags in their hands, jingling with various odds and ends they had found—a few unopened bottles of mineral water, a few crumpled biscuits, some rusty but still usable tools, and some even dragged back a small roll of relatively clean plastic sheeting.

There weren't many items, just a miscellaneous collection, but they were things they had found themselves.

Ruan Ning stood at the hotel entrance and waited until they had all entered the courtyard before speaking: "I've filled the water tank on the roof. The bathrooms in a few rooms on the sixth floor should be usable. Hurry up and take turns washing up. Test the faucets in your own rooms; some may have rusty water, so let some out."

These words silenced the previously noisy courtyard for a moment.

bath?

For these women who had struggled for who knows how long in captivity and filth, those two words were almost an unreal luxury. They looked down at their blackened hands, smelled the pungent stench of sweat, blood, and dust on their bodies, and could hardly believe it.

After a brief moment of stunned silence, an barely suppressed excitement and cautiousness filled the air. No one cheered, but everyone quickened their pace, their eyes gleaming with eagerness.

They quickly went upstairs. Sure enough, in some rooms, when they turned on the rusty faucets, yellowish-brown, rusty water initially flowed out, but after a while, it gradually became clear. The water flow was small, a trickle, but it was definitely clean water!

The women treated this washing up process with almost a reverent attitude.

They huddled together in the cramped, filthy bathroom, helping each other. Using towels they found, dampened with cool water, they painstakingly wiped away the thick grime from their faces and necks.

Dark gray sewage flowed down their bodies, pooling into muddy puddles on the ground. Some people closed their eyes, letting the water run over their hair and cheeks, their bodies trembling slightly; others scrubbed vigorously at the old stains and scars on their arms that they could never wash off.

The process was unusually quiet, with only the sound of rushing water and occasional suppressed, almost sobbing, deep breaths. No one wasted a single drop of water. The clean faces and necks revealed previously concealed pale or sallow skin; though thin and tired, at least they were clean.

After changing into the clean clothes they found and casually drying their wet hair with a towel, they felt lighter as they left the room.

It wasn't that their appearance had changed much, but rather that the feeling that emanated from their very bones—a feeling of finally being able to breathe after being shrouded in filth for so long—made their eyes clearer.

Sun Hong was among the last to finish washing. She vigorously rubbed her short hair with a relatively clean rag, then went downstairs and saw that Ruan Ning and the other two had already lit a stove with a pot on it, cooking their own food. The fire was burning a little further away.

“Captain Ruan,” Sun Hong’s voice was still a little hoarse, but much clearer, “thank you for today…”

Ruan Ning was adding some dehydrated vegetables to the pot when she heard this. Without even looking up, she said, "Thank you and them. Take a rest and we'll continue tomorrow."

Sun Hong nodded emphatically, said nothing more, and turned to walk towards the corner where her team was gathered.

There, the women were already gathered together, carefully sharing the small amount of food they had found that day, whispering about their experiences and lessons learned during the day. The firelight illuminated their faces, still haggard after washing, but no longer completely numb.