Chapter 40 Blocking the Way

About ten kilometers from the county seat, there is a relatively narrow abandoned national highway.

Ruan Ning was driving his modified SUV and was about to accelerate through when he saw that the road ahead was blocked by several dilapidated cars and trucks lying haphazardly, leaving only a gap that could barely allow one car to pass.

Five men with menacing expressions, wielding machetes and iron bars, stood beside the roadblock, with two motorcycles parked nearby.

A man with a scarred face, who looked like a gang leader, stepped forward, knocked on Ruan Ning's car window, and grinned, revealing yellow teeth: "Girl, this road is blocked. If you want to pass, you have to pay the 'road maintenance fee'."

Ruan Ning rolled down the car window, her face expressionless: "How much?"

Seeing that she was a lone woman driving a nice car, Scarface's greed intensified: "Not much, all the food in your car, or... something of equal value." His accomplices behind him chuckled maliciously.

Just then, a series of urgent and chaotic honking horns and engine roars came from behind! Looking in the rearview mirror, Ruan Ning saw three or four obviously overloaded and dilapidated cars speeding towards them, followed by a cloud of dust and a large group of howling, chasing zombies, numbering no less than fifty or sixty! Clearly, it was the group of panicked survivors who had attracted them.

"Damn it! Let them through!" Scarface also saw what was happening behind him, his expression changed drastically, and he roared at his men.

But it was too late. The fleeing vehicles, instead of slowing down upon seeing the roadblock, tried to force their way through as if they had found a lifeline. One vehicle crashed into the roadblock truck with a loud bang, completely blocking the gap!

"Damn it!" Scarface and his accomplices were both shocked and furious.

At this moment, the horde of zombies was already closing in!

"roar--!"

The howls of zombies instantly filled our ears. The fleeing survivors abandoned their vehicles in terror, trying to climb over the roadblocks or find other ways to survive, creating chaos. Scarface and his gang, no longer caring about collecting "tolls," hastily engaged in battle, but they clearly underestimated the number and frenzy of the zombie horde.

One of the men blocking the way was instantly pounced on by two zombies, screaming in agony. Scarface swung his knife, slashing down an approaching zombie, and yelled furiously at Ruan Ning, "What are you standing there for! Attack together! Otherwise, nobody's going to live!"

Ruan Ning's eyes were icy. These roadblocks were no threat to their deaths, but once the horde of corpses completely engulfed the area, her car would have a hard time escaping.

She pushed open the car door, got out with a machete in hand, but didn't immediately join the battle. Instead, she quickly assessed the situation. The main horde of zombies was drawn to the fleeing survivors and Scarface's gang and was surging towards her from the front, but a few scattered zombies were beginning to flank her.

"He asked for it." She sneered, showing no sympathy for Scarface's predicament.

Ruan Ning first dealt with the threats that were close to him.

Three zombies roared and pounced. Ruan Ning moved nimbly, dodging the first zombie's attack. Her machete flashed, slicing off half its head. Simultaneously, her left leg whipped out, kicking the second zombie hard in the knee. With a cracking sound, the zombie lost its balance and fell to its knees, where she finished it off with a backhand strike. The third zombie seized the opportunity to close in, its rotting arm reaching for her. Ruan Ning didn't dodge; her left hand flashed out, grabbing its wrist and twisting it sharply, while her right hand plunged the machete upwards into its jaw.

Clean and efficient, she dispatched three ordinary zombies in the blink of an eye. Her formidable skills even stunned the scarred man struggling to stay a short distance away.

But the main force of the horde had already surged to the roadblock, climbing over the abandoned vehicles like a gray tide. Scarface and his gang, along with the few surviving civilians, were being pushed back by the horde and were on the verge of being swallowed up.

Ruan Ning knew she could no longer hold back.

She sheathed the machete behind her back, raised her hands slightly, and her level-two water-based supernatural power surged within her.

"Ice Vines Extend!"

Centered on her feet, a chilling aura spread rapidly forward along the ground, freezing a smooth and resilient layer of ice wherever it passed. The dozen or so zombies at the forefront slipped and fell to the ground, tripping the zombies behind them and halting their advance.

"Water Blade Ranbu!"

Seven or eight rapidly spinning pale blue water blades condensed in the air, like a living storm, howling and engulfing the fallen horde of zombies. The water blades were incredibly sharp, easily slicing through the zombies' limbs and heads, sending bits of flesh flying everywhere, and dark red blood staining the ice surface.

This sudden area-of-effect attack instantly wiped out a large number of zombies, not only relieving the pressure on Scarface and his men, but also giving those desperate survivors a glimmer of hope.

Scarface stared at Ruan Ning in shock, finally realizing what kind of person he had just provoked.

Without pausing, Ruan Ning locked onto several potential mutants in the horde that were noticeably faster or more robust, and tapped them repeatedly with her fingertips.

"Water Arrow - Rapid Fire!"

A series of condensed water arrows shot out like sniper bullets, accurately hitting the vulnerable parts of the special zombies, such as their eye sockets and temples, killing them one by one.

Her attacks were efficient and deadly; every strike brought down a zombie, greatly curbing the horde's momentum.

With Ruan Ning's powerful supernatural abilities, the remaining zombies were quickly cleared away. The roads were littered with mutilated corpses, and the air was filled with a nauseating stench of blood.

Scarface and his two remaining men collapsed to the ground, panting heavily, both bruised and battered. Their eyes were filled with fear and lingering dread as they looked at Ruan Ning. The survivors who had attracted the horde of zombies were even more shaken, cowering to one side.

Soon, all the zombies were cleared out, not a single one was left behind. Ruan Ning wiped the knife clean, put on gloves, and began digging for crystal cores. The chance of finding crystal cores in the heads of ordinary zombies was relatively small, but almost all level one zombies did. Ruan Ning harvested twenty or thirty crystal cores.

After collecting the crystal cores, Ruan Ning walked up to the scarred man, her eyes indifferent: "Is the road passable now?"

Scarface jolted awake and scrambled to his feet, yelling at his men, "Quick! Move the roadblocks away!" All he wanted now was to get rid of this killing machine as soon as possible.

The roadblocks were quickly cleared. Ruan Ning didn't look at them again, nor did she pay attention to the survivors' thanks, and went straight back to her off-road vehicle.

The engine started, the SUV growled, and it drove smoothly over the road littered with corpses, leaving the bloody chaos behind.

To her, this was just a trivial episode, a common occurrence in the post-apocalyptic journey, a testament to the survival of the fittest. She would neither indiscriminately show kindness nor deliberately commit evil; everything she did was solely for the purpose of reaching her destination faster, and—becoming stronger.

The vehicle continued towards the base, leaving behind only the blood-stained road and a few survivors with varying mindsets who had just escaped death.

They arrived at Dawn Base just before nightfall.

The base gates usually close at 8 p.m. If you don't return to the base before 8 p.m., even if you are a second-generation military officer, you will be locked outside the base overnight. This is even more true for ordinary people.

With half an hour to go before 8 o'clock, the survivors who had come from all over the country eagerly lined up.

Ruan Ning had already returned to the base before them. As a resident of the base, she did not need to undergo quarantine and inspection. She only needed to stand in front of the zombie virus detection device set up at another entrance to confirm that she was not carrying the virus. After handing over a certain number of crystal cores or food, she could enter the base.

Since she's out on a mission, she doesn't need to hand in the crystal cores or food; she only needs to hand in the mission certificate.