Chapter 5 Bloodstained Practice

Tuesday, July 17.

Ruan Ning got out of bed and walked to the window. She parted the curtains and looked outside. The sky was darker than usual, and there was no one on the street.

Ruan Ning ate breakfast as planned and then began her practice. Having just finished a round of swordsmanship practice, she was about to enter her spatial dimension to replenish her water and rest when an unusual, continuous series of impacts and faint roars caught her attention.

She immediately held her breath and silently moved to the living room window, cautiously peering down through the gaps in the metal grille and heavy curtains.

The streets were a mess, with abandoned vehicles lying haphazardly and trash and scattered items everywhere. Under the blood-red light, several figures staggered forward.

Their movements were stiff and contorted, their steps were sluggish, and some of them wore tattered clothes stained with dark red dirt.

Its skin was a deathly gray color, its eyes were cloudy and lifeless, and its mouth was agape, revealing teeth stained with unknown blood and flesh, emitting meaningless "hoarse" sounds.

It's zombies!

They wandered aimlessly, and one of them seemed to be attracted by a car with its door open by the roadside, and repeatedly banged its head against the car window, making a dull "bang, bang" sound.

The other one was lying on the ground, seemingly gnawing on something... judging by its shape, it looked like an arm.

Further away, a piercing scream and the sound of shattering glass suddenly came from a residential building, but soon fell silent again, leaving only more staggering figures drawn in.

On the fourth day after the apocalypse began, zombies finally started appearing on the streets in large numbers.

Because hospitals receive a large number of patients, they are the first to fall, and then, with hospitals as the radiation center, the zombies quickly spread.

Instead of restoring order as people had hoped, the world has descended into utter chaos.

The real test of survival is only just beginning.

Ruan Ningjing looked calmly at the hellish scene downstairs, her face expressionless, only a cold glint flashing deep in her eyes.

She knew that before long, this city, and even the whole world, would become a hunting ground for these walking corpses.

And she was ready to take the first step out of this safe house.

Lin Jiaojiao, Lin Wanyun... and that selfish father.

She was eager to see what kind of situation they would end up in in such a desperate apocalypse, having lost their advantage and having no space to rely on.

She withdrew her gaze, drew the curtains tight, and completely shut out the bloodshed and screams from the outside world.

Turning towards the entrance to the space, she needed to make one last adjustment before taking the initiative.

As evening fell, Ruan Ning decided to go downstairs to the neighborhood to kill zombies and gain more practical experience.

Ruan Ning stood behind the door and checked the equipment one last time.

He was wearing a black, durable windproof jacket, hard-soled military boots, and cut-resistant gloves.

A gleaming machete was slung across his back, a heavy fire axe was tucked into his waistband, and a military dagger was tucked into the straps on his calves.

The lightweight backpack contained only a small amount of high-calorie food, a bottle of water diluted with a little bit of spring water, and some first-aid supplies.

She took a deep breath, feeling the power surging within her body nourished by the spiritual spring, her eyes calm and undisturbed.

“Clatter.”

The heavy security door was gently pushed open a crack.

A strong, indescribable stench instantly assaulted my senses!

It was a mixture of rotting flesh, excrement, and some indescribable stench, enough to make anyone unprepared feel nauseous.

Ruan Ning frowned slightly, but her movements were without the slightest hesitation. She quickly slipped out, gently closing and locking the door behind her.

The hallway was deserted, with only the emergency lights casting a ghastly green glow that illuminated several shocking, dried, bloody handprints on the wall.

The elevator had already stopped, and Ruan Ning, carrying a knife on her back, walked briskly down from the 13th floor.

She moved lightly, like a cat descending the slope. Her mind was highly focused, her ears catching the slightest sound.

She stopped at the corner between the second and third floors.

In the stairwell, a figure with its back to her was mechanically banging its head against the fire door, making a dull "thump...thump..." sound.

It was wearing a security guard uniform, half of its cheek was missing, revealing stark white bones and wriggling maggots, and its exposed skin had a corpse-like bluish-gray hue.

It's a zombie.

Ruan Ning gripped the machete tightly; the cold touch of the hilt calmed her.

She didn't act immediately, but observed carefully.

After confirming that there were no other zombies around, he assessed the frequency of the zombie's movements and its possible reaction speed.

Her memories from her past life and her observations by the window over the past three days gave her a basic understanding of the characteristics of early-stage zombies: slow-moving, relying on hearing and smell, and their weak point is their head.

Now!

She suddenly exerted force with her feet, and her enhanced body burst forth with astonishing speed, rushing down the stairs in two or three steps at a time, making almost no sound.

It wasn't until she was within two or three meters of him that the zombie security guard seemed to sense the presence of a living person. He stopped banging on the door, stiffly making a "crackling" sound as he tried to turn around.

Too slow!

Ruan Ning's eyes flashed with a fierce light. He channeled all his strength from his waist and abdomen to his arms, and the cleaver in his hand sliced ​​through the dim air with a chilling arc, precisely slashing down at the zombie's neck!

Pfft!

The blade slid into the rotting flesh with a dull, sluggish feel, making it more difficult to cut than expected. But Ruan Ning's strength far surpassed that of ordinary people; this strike was powerful and heavy!

With almost no resistance from bones, the blade sliced ​​open most of the neck! Dark red, foul-smelling, viscous blood gushed out like a burst water bag, splashing onto the wall and Ruan Ning's down jacket.

The zombie froze instantly, its head tilted at an eerie angle, held together only by the remaining skin and flesh, and its body swayed.

But it hadn't completely collapsed yet; its murky eyes turned toward Ruan Ning, and its rotting arms rose as if to scratch.

Without hesitation, Ruan Ning flipped his wrist, pulled back his cleaver, and then delivered another horizontal slash!

This time, the target is the top of the head!

Crack!

With a crisp cracking sound as the skull shattered, the blade embedded itself deeply. The zombie's last movement ceased completely, its body collapsing to the ground with a thud, like a piece of rotten wood, its dark red blood quickly spreading across the surface.

An even stronger stench spread out.

Ruan Ning quickly took two steps back, avoiding the pool of blood, her chest heaving slightly. It wasn't from exhaustion, but from the physical and psychological shock of ending a life that had once belonged to one of her own, a life she was experiencing for the first time.

Her hands were steady, but her eyes remained cold.

Feeling the warm current flowing slightly faster within her body due to the recent outburst, she confirmed that she was not injured and that no blood had splattered into her mouth, nose, or eyes.

She walked over, turned the zombie's body over with her foot, and only after confirming that it was completely still did she pull out her machete and wipe the grime off the blade on the relatively clean ground nearby.

"Strength is sufficient, but skill and precision need improvement." She calmly assessed in her mind, "Dealing with a single sluggish zombie is not a problem, but if facing multiple at the same time, or encountering faster ones, I must be more efficient and kill them with one blow."

She didn't leave immediately, but stood there, calmed her breathing slightly, and became even more alert to the movements around her.

This was just the beginning. It was her first blood-soaked practice on the path to revenge and survival.