Chapter 116 Danger

Soon, they rushed to an abandoned small square in the center of the county town.

In the center of the square, a emaciated zombie, dressed in a tattered suit, with an abnormally swollen head and grayish-white skin, was clutching its head, making painful groans, with black blood seeping from its eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.

Scattered around it were a dozen or so ordinary zombie corpses, their expressions contorted as if they had died in silent screams—possibly killed by its out-of-control mental energy.

This is the fourth-tier mental zombie! At this moment, its most powerful mental attack has been temporarily broken by the strange sound waves of the black wooden whistle and has suffered a backlash, leaving it in its most vulnerable and chaotic state!

It tried to regroup its spiritual power, but the invisible sonic interference seemed to continue to affect it, preventing it from effectively concentrating its power.

"Die!" Ruan Ning gave it no chance to breathe. The mental suppression had been broken, and the physical destructive power of her fourth-tier water-based ability was enough to deal with its vulnerable body that had lost its protection!

Her figure rushed forward like lightning, and a highly compressed torrent of water blade condensed on her Tang horizontal sword, carrying a sharpness that could cut through anything, and cleaved straight at the zombie's abnormally swollen head!

The zombie tried to dodge, but its movements became sluggish and distorted due to the backlash from the zombie's mind.

"Pfft!"

A flash of light, and the enormous head flew high into the air! Black blood splattered!

The headless corpse swayed and fell to the ground.

The fire was fueled by another burst of flames, completely incinerating the corpse and head.

Ruan Ning used the tip of his knife to probe through the ashes and quickly found a crystal core the size of a walnut, as black as ink, with gray mist slowly flowing inside, radiating a strong spiritual fluctuation.

A fourth-tier mental-type zombie crystal core! Extremely rare and precious!

She quickly put away the crystal core and glanced at the dissipating flames.

"Go back." She led the fire away from the square quickly.

When Ruan Ning and Da Huo rushed back to the hotel, they found a chaotic battlefield.

Inside and outside the hotel walls, at least two hundred zombies swarmed in, a dark mass! They roared, frantically ramming against the rickety iron gate and climbing over the low walls.

The air was thick with the stench of decay and blood.

In the courtyard, Lin Yan and Zhou Min were locked in fierce combat, their backs to the main building entrance. Lin Yan's swordsmanship remained sharp, but she bore several scratch marks and was breathing heavily, clearly having been fighting for quite some time. Around them lay the corpses of over thirty zombies.

Zhou Min's face was deathly pale, her mental energy greatly depleted. She managed to use her mental energy to disrupt the approaching zombies and buy Lin Yan a chance to catch her breath, but the effect was getting weaker and weaker.

Further out, there were the women led by Sun Hong.

Their situation was even worse. Most of them were injured; some had bitten arms that were bleeding profusely, while others had deep, bone-revealing claw wounds on their legs, making it difficult for them to stand.

Four or five women lay motionless on the ground, their fates unknown. Their defensive line was loose and fragile, held up only by sheer grit and rudimentary weapons, constantly being forced to retreat, and on the verge of being completely overwhelmed by the horde of corpses.

But in this desperate battle, an unexpected change occurred!

A young woman who had almost been pounced on by a zombie screamed and reached out her hand in extreme fear and the will to survive. Suddenly, a chilling aura burst from her palm, freezing the head and upper body of the zombie in front of her instantly!

Although it only lasted for two seconds before shattering, it was enough to save her life and leave her stunned on the spot—she had awakened her ice-type superpower!

In an attempt to protect her injured companion, another middle-aged woman stomped her feet on the ground, causing a half-meter-high earthen wall to rise up in front of her. Although it was rough and unsightly, it tripped up two zombies that were rushing towards her.

Her eyes widened as she looked at her hand—earth-based superpower!

Their newly awakened powers were still weak and uncontrollable, but they gave them a breather and an unbelievable glimmer of hope in their desperate situation. The two clumsily tried to use their powers again; the ice spikes veered off course and the clods of earth crumbled, but they did begin to fight back in a real way.

Just as the defense line was about to collapse—

"Fire!" Ruan Ning's cold voice pierced through the noisy roar.

"Roar—!" A burning golden figure crashed into the horde of corpses from the side like a tank! The raging flames and claws instantly cleared an area, creating an opening in front of Sun Hong and the others who were under the most pressure.

Immediately afterwards, several water arrows, like precise sniper bullets, shot from another direction, each piercing the eye socket or temple of a zombie, instantly felling them all.

Wielding the Tang-style horizontal sword, Ruan Ning moved into the battlefield like a ghost. Wherever the sword flashed and the water blades passed, zombies fell like wheat being harvested. The power of his fourth-tier water-based ability was fully unleashed, making him a completely different person from before.

"It's Captain Ruan! Da Huo is back!" someone shouted excitedly.

The sheer joy of escaping death instantly overwhelmed their exhaustion and fear. Lin Yan and Zhou Min rallied, cooperating with Ruan Ning and the raging fire to launch a counterattack. Sun Hong, her voice hoarse, shouted, "Sisters! Hold on! Cooperate with Captain Ruan!"

The situation reversed instantly. With Ruan Ning as a powerful attack point and Da Huo as a tank with area-of-effect damage, the horde's advance was contained, divided, and quickly cleared. The newly awakened ice and earth-elemental women gritted their teeth and continued to try using their abilities; although they were still clumsy, they were able to help to some extent.

In just over ten minutes, the remaining zombies were cleared away. The courtyard was littered with corpses and blood, and flames flickered on some of the zombie remains.

The battle ended, and the tension suddenly eased. Many people collapsed to the ground, panting heavily, overwhelmed by the exhaustion of surviving a close call.

But soon, suppressed sobs began.

It was Sun Hong's side. Several women were badly injured, lying on the ground groaning, their wounds bloody and mangled, with bits of flesh visible. They knew what being scratched and bitten by zombies meant, their faces filled with despair and fear.

Some people hugged their injured companions and wept silently, while others stared blankly at the sky.

Ruan Ning walked over to the group of injured women. Sun Hong, her eyes red-rimmed, said in a hoarse voice, "Captain Ruan, they...they were bitten, they were scratched..."

Ruan Ning crouched down and examined the most seriously injured. Their injuries were indeed severe; the zombie virus had definitely invaded them. She took a water bottle from her bag—actually from her spatial storage—and fed each of the injured women a small sip of spiritual spring water.

The cool water seemed to slightly alleviate the injured people's painful groans as it flowed into their mouths.

"Don't cry yet." Ruan Ning stood up, her voice exceptionally clear in the quiet courtyard. "The official research institute has a non-public report that ordinary people who are scratched or bitten by zombies are not necessarily 100% guaranteed to mutate. There are two possibilities: one is that they can't withstand the virus and become zombies; the other..." She paused, her gaze sweeping over the desperate faces, "...is that under extreme pressure and the will to survive, their physical potential is stimulated, awakening superpowers. Although the probability is low, it's not impossible."

Her words were like a pebble thrown into stagnant water. The weeping subsided, and the women looked up at her in disbelief, a faint glimmer of hope rekindling in their eyes.