LATEST UPDATES

Published at 30th of January 2022 08:34:53 AM


Chapter 79

If audio player doesn't work, press Stop then Play button again




After listening to Yi ShaoQing’s suggestion, Gu Ning was very troubled.

With the so-called art of pestering.

Before the apocalypse happened, she used this method on Lu JiaZi. In the past, when Lu JiaZi had not yet moved away, Gu Ning used to visit his home every day. Later on, when he had moved, she would still visit him there at least once a week. As compared to her past self, she used to be a spoiled and pestering little girl.

After the apocalypse happened, Gu Ning grew up at a very fast pace. When she had discovered Lu JiaZi’s relationship with Jiang Yu, she even put on a strong front while her personality became colder each day that making jokes were eventually a rare sight of her.

It had only been three months since then.

Gu Ning had a spoon in her hand and glanced at Ji JiuZe who was strolling over with a tray of food while her gaze was a little lax.

Ji JiuZe was expressionless as he walked, his figure was slender and his posture was straight like a pine tree with an exquisite aura around him. Being a new face and member of the Five Stars Brigade, all the soldiers knew about them which made him stand out from the crowd even more. With a tray of food in his hand, he straight away sit down next to Yi ShaoQing, which was directly opposite of Gu Ning, and gave her a slight nod as a greeting before he started eating.

Gu Ning feigned her unconcern but in fact, she was carefully observing him between each inadvertent glance.

His expressionless face was somewhat cold, even the sharpness of his eyebrows and eyes gave a vague sense of aggression. When he was eating, he sat up straight, and his action of using a chopstick to pick up the tofu on his plate and into his mouth was so righteous. It gave people a meticulous feeling unlike Yi ShaoQing’s playfulness or Zhuang Chen’s casualness. Since Yin Sang didn’t come to the cafeteria to eat, Gu Ning had no way to compare her to him. Yet such righteousness didn’t seem like a stereotype in the least and it was like the baseline that contributed to his demeanor.

Perhaps Ji JiuZe’s aura was too powerful, except for Zhuang Chen and Yi ShaoQing who were talking and laughing, Zhang XiaoBai, Zhong Xu, and Chen Gen who were at the same table didn’t dare to speak much as they just buried their heads and ate.

With this kind of person, who needs courage to even speak to, how could she use the art of pestering him?

Looking at his upright posture, if she spoke at this moment, she might even be reprimanded by him for speaking while eating. Gu Ning thought of this and couldn’t help but hesitate a little. If she really learn close combat from him, would he be infuriated at every turn? On second thought, if he was really as good as Yi ShaoQing had claimed, even if she had to suffer, it would be still worth it.

Yi ShaoQing bit on his spoon while glancing at the expressionless Ji JiuZe for a moment then at the same blank-faced Gu Ning, he couldn’t help but mutter in his heart.

After eating, they all left the canteen together.

Yi ShaoQing suddenly asked Gu Ning: “Gu Ning, yesterday didn’t you tell me that you had something to say to our captain? Then we’ll leave first, you can join us later after you’ve talked to captain.”

Gu Ning was caught off guard by his words and stared at him stunned. Yi ShaoQing blinked furiously at her a few times before dragging Zhuang Chen away. Zhang XiaoBai and the others were not sure what to do and just gave Gu Ning a strange look before following Yi ShaoQing too.

Ji JiuZe, however, stopped and peered down at Gu Ning: “You have something to tell me?”

Gu Ning felt nervous for no reason, but she only panicked for a moment before she calmed down: “I heard from Yi ShaoQing that you are the best in close combat, so I want to ask you if you can teach me after I’ve entered the Five Stars Brigade?”

Ji JiuZe already seemed to know what Gu Ning was going to ask, so he refused almost without thinking: “Nope.”

Gu Ning was prepared for rejection, but she didn’t expect it to be such a concise and sharp rejection without any explanation. Yet she wasn’t overly surprised and her expression was calm as she had accepted it frankly.

Of course, Gu Ning was slightly disappointed but she had long expected that the path of getting him to teach her would not be so smooth. Since there would be many opportunities later, it meant that she would also have many chances to get Ji JiuZe to change his current mind.

The next step was the troop handover. Gu Ning was not a soldier, so she didn’t need to do any handover at all. Thus she just went back to her room in the little white building and packed her things briefly. Zhuang Chen even drove the car to pick her up downstairs. Her fondness for Zhuang Chen came from her knowledge of her in the post-apocalyptic world but Zhuang Chen’s passionate affection towards Gu Ning left her feeling a little baffled.

She was not aware of the feud between Zhuang Chen and Yin Sang at this time, so naturally, she didn’t know that most of Zhuang Chen’s affections towards her stemmed from the fact that she had made such a mess of Yin Sang.

Along with Gu Ning, Zhang XiaoBai, Zhong Xu and Chen Gen all packed their bags and boarded the Five Stars Brigade’s special car.

Ji JiuZe was driving the red off-road vehicle and Gu Ning felt a little deja-vu when she got back into the car once again. Yet no one could share this feeling with her and when she thought about this, she suddenly felt a little lonely.

Ji JiuZe was lost in thoughts after glancing at Gu Ning in the mirror as she looked out of the window.

The car drove for nearly two hours before arriving.

Gu Ning stepped down from the car and could hardly hide her surprise, it was hard to imagine that the Jinyong branch of the Five Stars Brigade would be in such a place.

It was a large double-story detached villa, occupying an extremely large area and there weren’t any other houses in the surroundings. There was a three-metre-high fence enclosing the whole villa, and an exaggeratedly large front yard after the metal gates, all covered in lawn and cascading greenery on both sides.

Walking to the main door, Zhuang Chen directly placed her hand on the sensor plate by the door. The door clicked open and Zhuang Chen informed them as they strolled into the house: “Later on, I’ll input all of your palm prints into the system.”

The living room was very spacious after entering, and once Yi ShaoQing entered, he dropped Gu Ning’s luggage to the side and plopped himself into the sofa while saying comfortably: “Our home is still the best.  Zhuang Chen, go show them around, I’ll catch up on my sleep.” Then he simply rolled over, hid his face in the sofa and ignored the rest of them.

Zhuang Chen rolled her eyes, but didn’t bother about him, and led Gu Ning and the others to tour around the house.

The front was dedicated to accommodation, the first floor was the lounge for normal activity while the second floor was their personal space.

Each bedroom was very spacious, with all kinds of furniture, and was decorated in a bright palette, very simple and clean. On the second floor, there were at least a dozen of rooms that were of various sizes.

“I’ve already reserved a room for you, Gu Ning, it’s this room.” The room Zhuang Chen mentioned was the one closest to hers: “I’ll make a call later and have them deliver all the bedding. You can also make a list of what you need and write down your specific requirements.”

In addition to their personal room, there was a large common study room. Half of it was for books and the other half of the room was equipped with a long table and a few chairs which Zhuang Chen mentioned was their usual spot for meeting.

On the second floor, there was a corridor leading to the back of the building.

If the building front section was for their daily life, then the back was where they had trained.

Gu Ning roughly estimated that there were at least 300 square feet, all of the rooms were linked and filled with all sorts of equipment, including sandbags and all those gym facilities which Gu Ning couldn’t quite understand. What puzzled her was in the corner there was a ping pong table, a storage box with various tennis rackets, badminton rackets, and other sports equipment, as well as a dart target hanging on the wall.

Zhuang Chen laughed slightly awkwardly: “When I’m bored, I usually just play around.”

Gu Ning, Zhang XiaoBai, Chen Gen, and Zhong Xu, all four looked at each other with their bellies full of confusion.

In all seriousness, none of the four of them knew what the Five Stars Brigade was supposed to do. They had thought that they would be pulled into a group training ground like the army and then had to go through a very tough training period. Instead, when they had arrived here, it was very different from what they had imagined and it made them feel more uneasy than being happy.

Zhuang Chen explained: “Don’t worry guys, the other squads would be sending people over in the next few days.”

Gu Ning frowned: “So we have to wait for everyone to arrive before we can start learning things?”

Zhuang Chen was stunned by Gu Ning’s question, then laughed: “Don’t worry, if you want, I can teach you later.”

“Really?” Gu Ning’s eyes lit up.

“You’re such a strange person.” Zhuang Chen said: “Don’t cry when the time comes.”

Gu Ning only laughed and didn’t say anything.

After that Zhuang Chen took Gu Ning to the training room.

“Did you learn any martial art foundation before?” Zhuang Chen asked.

Gu Ning shook her head honestly.

“For me, there are no special moves for close combat. How to deal the most damage to the enemy is the best move and can only be taught to you in actual drills. So you should try attacking me now.” Zhuang Chen stood there and waited for her.

Gu Ning stared at Zhuang Chen who stood there casually, a bit unsure of how to start. She hadn’t learned any close combat skills and only knew how to use her knife to slash directly. Thus, when Zhuang Chen asked her to attack, she didn’t know how to react to it for a while.

“What’s wrong?” Zhuang Chen asked curiously as she stared at Gu Ning who didn’t react.

It was a rare moment for Gu Ning to be a little embarrassed but she replied honestly: “I don’t know how to attack——“

Zhuang Chen’s expression was a little odd: “Then how did you get Yin Sang into such a mess? Just do what you did to Yin Sang and do the same to me too.”

Gu Ning had a somewhat struggling expression on her face before she sighed and resigned herself to fate as she rushed towards Zhuang Chen.

“What is Gu Ning doing?” Yi ShaoQing asked in surprise. Not sure when did he come over and watch Gu Ning’s training but right now she was charging towards Zhuang Chen like a fighting bull.

“Uh…… that’s probably a way of how Gu Ning’s attack.” Zhang XiaoBai, Zhong Xu, and Chen Gen, who was also watching the scene from the side, replied with some embarrassment.

Gu Ning’s first attack ended with her being viciously flipped to the ground by Zhuang Chen.

Zhang XiaoBai and the two onlookers, all winced at the scene.

Yi ShaoQing, on the other hand, was stunned: “How did she get Yin Sang into such a mess like that?! She didn’t cheat, did she?”

Gu Ning stood up from the ground, thought for a moment then said to Zhuang Chen: “I think you should attack me instead?”

Zhuang Chen was stunned: “What?” Then she quickly responded: “Are you sure?”

Gu Ning nodded her head.

Yi ShaoQing chuckled: “Tsk tsk, such courageous.”

After Zhuang Chen confirmed that Gu Ning was being serious, she didn’t hesitate any more and launched a quick punch toward Gu Ning’s face. She only used a quarter of her strength in this punch, fearing that she would injure her in the process. Zhuang Chen’s close combat was not the most powerful, but her punches were still fast. However, Gu Ning, who was passive in this fight had finally found her way to react. Even though Zhuang Chen’s punches were fast, Gu Ning’s reactions were even faster. She sidestepped to avoid the punch and her eyes flashed brightly as she had found the same feeling she had in the post-apocalyptic world. After avoiding it, her elbow gathered strength and slammed it hard towards Zhuang Chen’s waist!

The playful look on Yi ShaoQing’s face was gone and he exclaimed in shock: “What a quick reaction!”

He didn’t know that Gu Ning’s reaction had been honed in countless life-and-death situations, and a split second of judgement was a matter between life and death, so how could she dare to make the slightest mistake?

Zhuang Chen was equally surprised as Yi ShaoQing as how could the difference between attacking and being attacked be so great? As surprised as she was, Zhuang Chen didn’t panic, and with the same rich experience in combat, she dodged it sideways. Her hands reached out like lightning and grabbed onto Gu Ning’s elbow that had missed the strike, and then flipped it with force!

Both of them were empty-handed, and Gu Ning managed to sustain nearly twenty moves before being knocked to the ground by Zhuang Chen again.

This time, her eyes were suddenly lit up, and after getting up from the ground, she said excitedly to Zhuang Chen: “Again!”





Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!