The vines were so damaged by the psychic powers that they were unable to regenerate for a while.
The others all carefully lowered the cocoons wrapped in vines that were hanging from the walls. Then they used their knives to quickly unravel the vines.
The bodies of a soldier and four children were lying next to each other on the ground as they were dragged away by the vines during the confusion. It was too late for the crowd to save them and with each cocoon unravelled, the crowd’s hearts twitched while the dark sky was still drizzling as if they were attending a funeral.
Gao Yue knelt on the ground and gave artificial respiration and CPR to the children one by one but she could only watch in vain as their bodies turned cold under the rain.
Only one cocoon left that remained unravelled.
Fang Fa’s hands began to tremble uncontrollably.
Then he was pushed aside by Cheng Ming, who took over the knife and began cutting the vines hurriedly.
When Wu Sen’s ghastly white face emerged from the vines, Cheng Ming’s hand shook uncontrollably. Fang Fa was the closest, and when he saw that the last cocoon was not Gu Ning either, he couldn’t help but feel his legs go weak and he sat down in the mud at once while his face paled with misery.
Wo Wo and Zuo You pounced over and hugged the pale Wu Sen and started crying.
Everyone was silent except for the sound of the two small children crying and the raindrops falling on the bodies. Everyone’s faces were drenched, not knowing if it was from the rain or tears.
Suddenly, a violent coughing fit sounded out of nowhere! Everyone was stunned.
Gao Yue was the first to react and quickly pushed aside the frightened and frozen Wo Wo and Zuo You. She lunged forward, plucking away all the vines that were wrapped around Wu Sen’s body. Wu Sen coughed for a while before he slowly calmed down, then opened his eyes. His hand was still holding the dagger tightly while his body was covered in blood from cutting away those vines.
It turned out that after he was bound, luckily he had held onto his small dagger and managed to cut a small opening in the vine for breathing, thus he wasn’t suffocated alive.
Wo Wo and Zuo You cried and laughed when they saw that Wu Sen was still alive.
Gao Yue hurriedly got someone to carry Wu Sen back to the truck.
After checking the surrounding area thoroughly there was still no sign of Gu Ning.
Those vines had been uprooted.
It was impossible to describe how everyone felt when the ground was dug up and saw the roots of those vines sprouting out of a girl’s body.
Those vines were rooted in the girl’s corpse, making the corpse look as if it were alive, in flesh and blood undried, eyes tightly closed. On closer look, it was actually the girl in the photo of the family of three.
Jia DaoZhang stared at it pitifully: “What a tragedy.” Then recited silently the transcendental sutra under his breath.
Worried that the bodies of the dead children and soldier would be eaten by other mutated plants for their flesh and blood, they had no choice but to get Huang MengYao to set a fire and burn them on the spot. Then they picked up some ashes and keep them in a mineral water bottle before heading back to the truck.
The girl’s ashes were buried next to her parents in the hope that they might meet again in the afterlife.
Once they got back into the truck, all of them were drenched and the group felt like they had just been through a nightmare.
After so many days without casualties, five people had died in just one short hour. One of them was a soldier named Wang Yang whom they spend a lot of time with and the four children with innocent smiles….
Moreover, Gu Ning, whose life and death was still uncertain.
The atmosphere in the truck was heavy as if it had been filled with concrete, making everyone breathless.
Father Gu, Mother Gu, Hong Jie, and Gao Yue, as well as those children who were extremely frightened, were all in another truck.
They hadn’t told Gu Ning’s parents about her disappearance yet.
Jia DaoZhang glanced around everyone in the truck and suddenly asked strangely: “Why do all of you look as if Gu Ning is dead?!”
The crowd was drawn to his words.
Jia DaoZhang continued: “Have you all forgotten what happened in that basement at Eleventh Square last time?”
When Jia DaoZhang mentioned the incident, Brother San, Cheng Ming, and the rest were all shocked. They might have been in turmoil because of the cold corpses of their close comrades and they were too preoccupied with their concerns and worries. Right now when Jia DaoZhang had pointed it out, they almost immediately recalled what incident Jia DaoZhang was referring to.
It was not the first time that Gu Ning had disappeared without notice like this, it had already happened once in the basement of Eleventh Square!
Also after a few hours, Gu Ning had reappeared in the basement again.
That means Gu Ning might not have met with any mishaps at this point but might have passively returned to that mysterious space of hers again!
After thinking this through, Brother San and several others immediately looked much better, with almost ecstatic expressions appearing.
However, apart from the few people who witnessed Gu Ning’s disappearance last time, Fang Fa had no idea what Jia DaoZhang was referring to. Yet when looking at the instantaneous burst of hope on the faces of others, Fang Fa realised that there was still a chance for things to turn around and he looked at Jia DaoZhang and asked eagerly: “Jia DaoZhang, what is going on?”
Fang Fa was a kind person and had always been respectful toward Jia DaoZhang. Although they had not known each other for a long time, they had a good relationship. Thus, at this moment seeing his face full of urgency, Fang Fa must be very worried about Gu Ning’s safety. Jia DaoZhang silently swallowed his customary words of teasing and went straight into a brief and concise account of what had happened that day at Eleventh Square.
“What happened that day is only known to those of us who were there. Gu Ning instructed us to keep it a secret, so now that we’ve told you, you should keep it to yourself.”
Fang Fa didn’t care about all this, but eagerly ascertained and asked: “In other words, it is highly likely that Gu Ning is now back inside that space of hers?”
“Eighty to ninety percent certainty.” Jia DaoZhang nodded and explained: “You had also said that Gu Ning’s door was locked, which means that she didn’t go out. Besides, although today was a dangerous situation, these mutated vines were not particularly powerful, and if we were able to get out alive, how could Gu Ning be trapped with her strength? In all probability, it was just like that day when she was unknowingly transferred into the space while she was asleep.”
This was a convincing analysis by Jia DaoZhang, and those who were worried about Gu Ning could finally relax their knotted brows after hearing this.
Jia DaoZhang continued: “Everyone let’s change out of our wet clothes to avoid catching a cold. Put your worries aside and stay in the truck for the night, maybe Gu Ning will appear once again in the morning.” Then he also instructed Luo long: “Xiao Long, you go and inform Mr. Gu and the others, don’t let them worry about it.”
“Why me…” Luo Long complained smoothly under his breath, but in a flash, he jumped up from his seat, got out of the truck, and rushed into the rain to report to the other trucks.
After hearing that analysis from Jia DaoZhang, the others in the truck looked much more relaxed. It was really hard to imagine how they were going to explain to Teacher Gu and the others if something happened to Gu Ning. It was only then that they realised that Gu Ning had taken a vital place in their ranks and hearts, and their first thought when they realised that Gu Ning could be in distress was that everything was over. They had unconsciously developed a sense of dependence on Gu Ning like she was their pillar of support in their group.
Zhang Yang suddenly commented: “If Gu Ning had been here, maybe there won’t be so many death tonight.”
He had meant to say that if Gu Ning had been here, all those people might have been rescued.
Brother San immediately changed expression and was unspeakably serious: “You should not say such words when Gu Ning returns.”
Everyone present was not stupid, and when Brother San stated this, everyone knew what it meant.
This couldn’t be Gu Ning’s fault, but Brother San was just afraid that she would carry those blame on her shoulders when she saw the situation after she had returned. Also, if even they thought so too, then Gu Ning would feel even worse in her heart.
Zhang Yang knew that he had spoken wrongly, hastily pursed his lips, and stopped talking.
Brother San didn’t reprimand anymore and just ordered: “You guys go get some rest first after changing your clothes. Cheng Ming, Zhang Yang, tonight we will trouble the both of you to keep watch with me. Zhang XiaoBai and Zhong Xu, you two go rest now and take over the second half of the night to keep watch.”
By this time, the rain had subsided and it was only drizzling. The three of them changed into dry clothes, each took a quilt and climbed onto the roof of the truck, while Brother San conjured an earth shield to shelter them from the rain.
The three men sat on top of the truck, all subconsciously glancing over to the house, and kept thinking that Gu Ning would pop out from it.
Brother San was slightly guilty, after just a few days of peace and quiet, his sense of crisis had faded a lot. If tonight wasn’t for Luo long’s warning, more people would have died. If he had sent a few more people to keep watch beforehand, then those mutated vines might have been discovered as soon as they crawled into the window.
Cheng Ming suddenly spoke up as he stared at the house: “Now even those vines had mutated and became man-eating monsters. What the hell do you guys think the world will become in the future?”
Zhang Yang just clutched the gun in his hand without knowing how to answer that question.
Brother San was also silent, just staring at the house in the darkness. For the first time, there was some confusion in his eyes as just like what Cheng Ming had pointed out, even those vines had mutated and were coming out to eat people, what the hell would this world become in the end? Will the human race not be able to escape the fate of extinction in the end?
Gu Ning, who was in another world, was oblivious to all of these. While they were fighting to the death against those mutated vines, she was enjoying her breakfast in the comfort of absolute safety, without any fear, looking out of the window at the dawn while relaxing her tensed nerves.
Meanwhile, the post-apocalyptic world was in infinite darkness.
The vines were so damaged by the psychic powers that they were unable to regenerate for a while.
The others all carefully lowered the cocoons wrapped in vines that were hanging from the walls. Then they used their knives to quickly unravel the vines.
The bodies of a soldier and four children were lying next to each other on the ground as they were dragged away by the vines during the confusion. It was too late for the crowd to save them and with each cocoon unravelled, the crowd’s hearts twitched while the dark sky was still drizzling as if they were attending a funeral.
Gao Yue knelt on the ground and gave artificial respiration and CPR to the children one by one but she could only watch in vain as their bodies turned cold under the rain.
Only one cocoon left that remained unravelled.
Fang Fa’s hands began to tremble uncontrollably.
Then he was pushed aside by Cheng Ming, who took over the knife and began cutting the vines hurriedly.
When Wu Sen’s ghastly white face emerged from the vines, Cheng Ming’s hand shook uncontrollably. Fang Fa was the closest, and when he saw that the last cocoon was not Gu Ning either, he couldn’t help but feel his legs go weak and he sat down in the mud at once while his face paled with misery.
Wo Wo and Zuo You pounced over and hugged the pale Wu Sen and started crying.
Everyone was silent except for the sound of the two small children crying and the raindrops falling on the bodies. Everyone’s faces were drenched, not knowing if it was from the rain or tears.
Suddenly, a violent coughing fit sounded out of nowhere! Everyone was stunned.
Gao Yue was the first to react and quickly pushed aside the frightened and frozen Wo Wo and Zuo You. She lunged forward, plucking away all the vines that were wrapped around Wu Sen’s body. Wu Sen coughed for a while before he slowly calmed down, then opened his eyes. His hand was still holding the dagger tightly while his body was covered in blood from cutting away those vines.
It turned out that after he was bound, luckily he had held onto his small dagger and managed to cut a small opening in the vine for breathing, thus he wasn’t suffocated alive.
Wo Wo and Zuo You cried and laughed when they saw that Wu Sen was still alive.
Gao Yue hurriedly got someone to carry Wu Sen back to the truck.
After checking the surrounding area thoroughly there was still no sign of Gu Ning.
Those vines had been uprooted.
It was impossible to describe how everyone felt when the ground was dug up and saw the roots of those vines sprouting out of a girl’s body.
Those vines were rooted in the girl’s corpse, making the corpse look as if it were alive, in flesh and blood undried, eyes tightly closed. On closer look, it was actually the girl in the photo of the family of three.
Jia DaoZhang stared at it pitifully: “What a tragedy.” Then recited silently the transcendental sutra under his breath.
Worried that the bodies of the dead children and soldier would be eaten by other mutated plants for their flesh and blood, they had no choice but to get Huang MengYao to set a fire and burn them on the spot. Then they picked up some ashes and keep them in a mineral water bottle before heading back to the truck.
The girl’s ashes were buried next to her parents in the hope that they might meet again in the afterlife.
Once they got back into the truck, all of them were drenched and the group felt like they had just been through a nightmare.
After so many days without casualties, five people had died in just one short hour. One of them was a soldier named Wang Yang whom they spend a lot of time with and the four children with innocent smiles….
Moreover, Gu Ning, whose life and death was still uncertain.
The atmosphere in the truck was heavy as if it had been filled with concrete, making everyone breathless.
Father Gu, Mother Gu, Hong Jie, and Gao Yue, as well as those children who were extremely frightened, were all in another truck.
They hadn’t told Gu Ning’s parents about her disappearance yet.
Jia DaoZhang glanced around everyone in the truck and suddenly asked strangely: “Why do all of you look as if Gu Ning is dead?!”
The crowd was drawn to his words.
Jia DaoZhang continued: “Have you all forgotten what happened in that basement at Eleventh Square last time?”
When Jia DaoZhang mentioned the incident, Brother San, Cheng Ming, and the rest were all shocked. They might have been in turmoil because of the cold corpses of their close comrades and they were too preoccupied with their concerns and worries. Right now when Jia DaoZhang had pointed it out, they almost immediately recalled what incident Jia DaoZhang was referring to.
It was not the first time that Gu Ning had disappeared without notice like this, it had already happened once in the basement of Eleventh Square!
Also after a few hours, Gu Ning had reappeared in the basement again.
That means Gu Ning might not have met with any mishaps at this point but might have passively returned to that mysterious space of hers again!
After thinking this through, Brother San and several others immediately looked much better, with almost ecstatic expressions appearing.
However, apart from the few people who witnessed Gu Ning’s disappearance last time, Fang Fa had no idea what Jia DaoZhang was referring to. Yet when looking at the instantaneous burst of hope on the faces of others, Fang Fa realised that there was still a chance for things to turn around and he looked at Jia DaoZhang and asked eagerly: “Jia DaoZhang, what is going on?”
Fang Fa was a kind person and had always been respectful toward Jia DaoZhang. Although they had not known each other for a long time, they had a good relationship. Thus, at this moment seeing his face full of urgency, Fang Fa must be very worried about Gu Ning’s safety. Jia DaoZhang silently swallowed his customary words of teasing and went straight into a brief and concise account of what had happened that day at Eleventh Square.
“What happened that day is only known to those of us who were there. Gu Ning instructed us to keep it a secret, so now that we’ve told you, you should keep it to yourself.”
Fang Fa didn’t care about all this, but eagerly ascertained and asked: “In other words, it is highly likely that Gu Ning is now back inside that space of hers?”
“Eighty to ninety percent certainty.” Jia DaoZhang nodded and explained: “You had also said that Gu Ning’s door was locked, which means that she didn’t go out. Besides, although today was a dangerous situation, these mutated vines were not particularly powerful, and if we were able to get out alive, how could Gu Ning be trapped with her strength? In all probability, it was just like that day when she was unknowingly transferred into the space while she was asleep.”
This was a convincing analysis by Jia DaoZhang, and those who were worried about Gu Ning could finally relax their knotted brows after hearing this.
Jia DaoZhang continued: “Everyone let’s change out of our wet clothes to avoid catching a cold. Put your worries aside and stay in the truck for the night, maybe Gu Ning will appear once again in the morning.” Then he also instructed Luo long: “Xiao Long, you go and inform Mr. Gu and the others, don’t let them worry about it.”
“Why me…” Luo Long complained smoothly under his breath, but in a flash, he jumped up from his seat, got out of the truck, and rushed into the rain to report to the other trucks.
After hearing that analysis from Jia DaoZhang, the others in the truck looked much more relaxed. It was really hard to imagine how they were going to explain to Teacher Gu and the others if something happened to Gu Ning. It was only then that they realised that Gu Ning had taken a vital place in their ranks and hearts, and their first thought when they realised that Gu Ning could be in distress was that everything was over. They had unconsciously developed a sense of dependence on Gu Ning like she was their pillar of support in their group.
Zhang Yang suddenly commented: “If Gu Ning had been here, maybe there won’t be so many death tonight.”
He had meant to say that if Gu Ning had been here, all those people might have been rescued.
Brother San immediately changed expression and was unspeakably serious: “You should not say such words when Gu Ning returns.”
Everyone present was not stupid, and when Brother San stated this, everyone knew what it meant.
This couldn’t be Gu Ning’s fault, but Brother San was just afraid that she would carry those blame on her shoulders when she saw the situation after she had returned. Also, if even they thought so too, then Gu Ning would feel even worse in her heart.
Zhang Yang knew that he had spoken wrongly, hastily pursed his lips, and stopped talking.
Brother San didn’t reprimand anymore and just ordered: “You guys go get some rest first after changing your clothes. Cheng Ming, Zhang Yang, tonight we will trouble the both of you to keep watch with me. Zhang XiaoBai and Zhong Xu, you two go rest now and take over the second half of the night to keep watch.”
By this time, the rain had subsided and it was only drizzling. The three of them changed into dry clothes, each took a quilt and climbed onto the roof of the truck, while Brother San conjured an earth shield to shelter them from the rain.
The three men sat on top of the truck, all subconsciously glancing over to the house, and kept thinking that Gu Ning would pop out from it.
Brother San was slightly guilty, after just a few days of peace and quiet, his sense of crisis had faded a lot. If tonight wasn’t for Luo long’s warning, more people would have died. If he had sent a few more people to keep watch beforehand, then those mutated vines might have been discovered as soon as they crawled into the window.
Cheng Ming suddenly spoke up as he stared at the house: “Now even those vines had mutated and became man-eating monsters. What the hell do you guys think the world will become in the future?”
Zhang Yang just clutched the gun in his hand without knowing how to answer that question.
Brother San was also silent, just staring at the house in the darkness. For the first time, there was some confusion in his eyes as just like what Cheng Ming had pointed out, even those vines had mutated and were coming out to eat people, what the hell would this world become in the end? Will the human race not be able to escape the fate of extinction in the end?
Gu Ning, who was in another world, was oblivious to all of these. While they were fighting to the death against those mutated vines, she was enjoying her breakfast in the comfort of absolute safety, without any fear, looking out of the window at the dawn while relaxing her tensed nerves.
Meanwhile, the post-apocalyptic world was in infinite darkness.
