Chapter 39 -Setting out to hunt for crystal cores

After hearing the news brought by Gu Ning, Third Brother did not slow down for a long time.

Suddenly, Third Brother let out a cry of pain, which turned out to be the half of the cigarette in his hand that had burnt to the bottom and burned his finger.

After throwing the cigarette away, Brother San slowed down a little and looked at Gu Ning and said, "Say it again? What kind of crystal core that grows out of the head of that certain zombie can give people supernatural powers after eating it?"

"For short, supernatural powers." Daoist Jia added on the side.

Third Brother subconsciously licked his dry lips, "Why does this sound so arcane?"

Gu Ning, however, didn't give Third Brother much time to react and said, "Third Brother, by now everyone in the world who knows what the crystal cores do should be on the move by now. From now on, every minute we delay, chances are we'll be one minute behind everyone else ..."

As soon as San heard this, he stood up from the ground and said to the group of soldiers who were already dumbfounded, "Then what else is there to say? All of you, cheer up! Bring enough guns and ammunition and we'll leave in ten minutes!"

Third Brother then said, "Lin Kai, Wang Yang, Yang Bo, Zhang Feng, you four are responsible for staying behind. Protect Gu Ning's parents."

The excitement on Lin Kai's face was immediately poured over like a pot of cold water, but they didn't disobey Third Brother's order, they just replied in a breathless voice, "Yes, Third Brother."

"Don't worry, you guys will definitely get your share." Zhang Xiaobai said comfortingly as he loaded bullets into the magazine. Zhang Yang was overjoyed, not expecting that Third Brother would let himself follow him out instead of letting him stay behind.

Gu Ning looked at them as they busily prepared their guns and ammunition and reminded them, "If not necessary, we'd better not shoot, lest we attract the zombies. These guns are only for saving the day."

Third Brother said, "Don't worry. We certainly know that when we are out there every day. These guns are only for emergencies in case we encounter an opponent like that zombie dog we couldn't deal with, or a horde of zombies we would only shoot. After all, one shot is one less, so we usually can't afford to use them."

Gu Ning nodded, relieved. Third Brother and the others were no less experienced in killing zombies than she was, so it was her who had been overly worried.

Ten minutes later the soldiers all finished dressing up.

They formed up in two lines.

The soldiers were rare in that they did not look as grave as they usually did when they went out to search for survivors, and the excitement on their faces could not be concealed at all.

"Third Brother, can I say a few words?" Gu Ning suddenly said.

Third Brother froze for a moment before saying, "You come."

Then he gave way to Gu Ning.

The soldiers all looked at her somewhat suspiciously, not impatiently of course, but with good-natured suspicion, after all, they all understood how important that news Gu Ning had brought was, and the fact that she had shared such important news with them for free was undoubtedly a very big favour. So even the soldiers who had not dealt with Gu Ning before were looking at her with kindness in their eyes at this time.

Gu Ning's gaze swept over the soldiers' faces for a week before he said in a deep voice, "Now that the entire world is evolving, it's not just humans who have gained this opportunity, but also zombies, and those zombie animals that are more threatening than zombies. I hope that everyone will not be overwhelmed by the crystal cores, remain calm at all times, and act in a way that preserves their lives in all actions."

At those words, the excitement and thrill on the soldiers' faces all slightly diminished. Indeed, what was on their minds right now was to hunt for zombies with crystal cores as soon as possible, and if they kept this up, they would probably lose the vigilance they should have.

The third brother also nodded at his words, his sharp gaze sweeping over the soldiers' faces one by one before saying solemnly, "Gu Ning is right, crystal nuclei are important, but your lives are even more important! I want as many of you as there are when you go and as many as there are when you come back!" He paused and looked at the soldiers, his tone tinged with a hint of sadness, "There are only this many of you left in the Third Company, we can't let me, the commander of the Third Company, become the commander of a bare rod."

Thinking of those comrades who died on the road, or who didn't even break out of the unit, the excitement on the soldiers' faces receded and turned into steadfastness: ""Yes! Company Commander!"

San did not correct their names, then gave a nod to Gu Ning, signalling that it was time to depart.

By this time, the children were already up, and when they saw that the soldiers were going out again, they all huddled on the windowsill or by the door and looked at them blearily.

The soldiers were very patient and said goodbye to them, saying that they would bring them back good food.

Suddenly, Gu Ning felt a small hand timidly shake hers and then quickly let it go, she was a little surprised to look down and see a little girl who looked even younger than Xiang Xu, probably only six or seven years old, looking up at her with a pair of deer-like wet eyes, some curiosity in her eyes, some admiration, and some timidity, as if she was afraid Gu Ning would blame her. Gu Ning suddenly felt her heart being tightened, but she couldn't help but smile at her face. The little girl froze for a moment, then also showed a big smile to Gu Ning.

Until she sat down in the car, Gu Ning's mind was still filled with that small, sincere smile from time to time.

The twenty-three people, including Third Brother, plus Gu Ning, Jia Daoist Cheng Ming, Xie Yuhong, Huang Mengyao, and Xiang Xu and Xiang Yi, made up a total of thirty people.

At first, Third Brother was surprised that Gu Ning was taking Xiang Xu with him, and was even more amazed when he heard about Xiang Xu's supernatural abilities.

The thirty people were divided into two cars.

Gu Ning's car included Daoist Jia, Cheng Ming, Huang Mengyao, Xie Yuhong Xiang Xu Xiang Yi, and Zhang Yang Zhang Xiaobai along with four other soldiers, one was the soldier who stood guard with Zhang Xiaobai that day, called Shi Lei, the soldiers called him Stone. The other three soldiers are called Cai Yong, Tian Fei and Hu Guangming. In that world Gu Ning had all met each other in the Third Company, only here, they could only be dismissed as unknown.

The other vehicle was led by Third Brother, who drove ahead to open the road.

Each of the two vehicles was issued with a walkie-talkie to keep in communication at all times, with an effective range of up to one thousand metres.

Third Brother was initially surprised by the extra little girl beside Gu Ning, and even more so after learning of Xiang Xu's psychic abilities.

As for Xiang Xu, at the same time as the car made it out of the gates of the gathering place, his mental energy had already spread out silently, covering a five hundred metre range centred on this military truck, monitoring it at all times.

After briefly introducing themselves to each other, the soldiers began to bring out the food they had brought with them.

Perhaps because they wanted to save a mouthful of food for the children, their Chinese food was pitifully small, just a small piece of bread. Except for Zhang Yang, who was a little short and had a thin build, and Zhang Xiaobai, who was also slim, the others were all on the stout side, so you can imagine that this small piece of bread would not have filled them up at all. And they had forgotten what it was like to be full for a long time.

Gu Ning silently took a small bag of supplies out of his backpack, containing some chocolate sausages and bread. Gu Ning handed the bag to Zhang Yang and said, "Let's share it. We can't fight the war on a hungry stomach."

A few soldiers refused while swallowing, but in the end they each got enough supplies to fill their stomachs for the meal at Gu Ning's insistence.

But none of them had any intention of filling themselves up, and after eating a half-full meal in a very restrained manner, they put the rest of the supplies away.

At this time, both Jia Daochang Cheng Ming Xie Yuhong Huang Mengyao and the two newcomers Xiang Xu Xiangyi looked at this scene with some emotion. They had also come from this period, and were even worse off than them when they really couldn't find a bit of food, so they were more than able to feel how thankful they were now to be with Gu Ning, who always had a way to get some supplies as long as he left the gates of the gathering place, although the amount wasn't a lot, it was enough to drive people crazy for the end times.

But at this moment, they knew in their hearts that if they did not succeed in evolving their powers this time, they would only end up parting ways with Gu Ning. When he thought that he might go back to the days when he had to fight for his life for a mouthful of food, Jia Daochang silently made up his mind that this time he would have to show his valor even if he could not evolve his supernatural abilities.

For a while, several people in the carriage had different thoughts.

But it was Xiang Xu, who had already received Gu Ning's full approval, and the gift of Xiang Yi who were in a much more relaxed mood.

Xiang Xu, who had not spoken and sat quietly by Gu Ning's side, suddenly said, "There are five cars coming out of the gathering place. They're following us along our route."

Gu Ning immediately guessed that it should be White Wolf's group, who had already received information from Pei Jing. Perhaps there was also Pei Jing Yan Yu's group.

Gu Ning had a few worries, if the two sides were following the same route and both had the same purpose, they would inevitably clash once they met. The White Wolves had a lot of people on their side, and they also had an unknown number of psychics, and although they were all better marksmen, Gu Ning did not want a gunfight to break out as a last resort, and there was also Yin Sang, who Gu Ning was very wary of, so if a conflict broke out, it was their side that would suffer.

"Do you know how many psychics there are among them?" Gu Ning asked.

"Can't." Xiang Xu said honestly, "My current ability can only monitor the fluctuations of their supernatural powers when they use them ... They speed up." Xiang Xu said suddenly.

Gu Ning picked up the walkie-talkie, the first time she had ever used it, and asked for advice from Zhang Yang, who was sitting across from her, before she began to tell Third Brother through the walkie-talkie that the white wolves had also left the gathering place and were on the same route appropriately voicing her concerns.

The response from Third Brother was very calm: "We will each use our own means and not get in each other's way. You don't have to worry too much."

Gu Ning obviously did not let Third Brother's calmness make him less wary; after all, that man White Wolf, after just meeting him once, Gu Ning knew that he was a bad person to deal with. Even if they were willing to take a step back, there was no way they could retreat again and again.

White Wolf, on the other hand, was clearly a man who wanted to advance even after gaining an inch.

In less than five minutes, five cars roared up from behind the military truck, then quickly passed them and drove ahead.

There were no words in the carriage. But the faces of all but Gu Ning and Xu showed a bit of anxiety.

The difference between arriving early and arriving late was huge. Gu Ning settled down again. What she feared was that the White Wolves would hang back and wait for them to take advantage of the situation, but now that they were in such a hurry to get past them, Gu Ning settled down.

The two military trucks continued to drive forward at a leisurely pace, driving beyond the clearing area of the gathering, and gradually began to produce some collisions, as the cars rose and fell, the four wheels crushed over the corpses on the ground, and intestines and blood burst out all over the place.

Half an hour later, the two cars pulled up in a safe area that had passed Xiang Xu's test.

The location was near the edge of the downtown area, and three or four blocks past that was Eleventh Square and the pedestrian street immediately adjacent to it. That was also where Gu Ning had planned to go after their evolution, but now for them it was the most dangerous place in the world.

I don't know if it was an illusion, but Gu Ning could even feel the message of danger coming from three or four blocks away from there.

After getting out of the car, the two cars met up.

It was already 1.30pm, and at the rate the sun was setting now, it would be dark by five o'clock, so they didn't have much time left.

In order to complete this mission as quickly as possible, they had to split into two groups.

San had a very old-fashioned metal watch with him and after the two men had matched their watches they set a time that whatever happened, they had to be here at half past four. And to keep the situation informed through the intercom.

San said, "If we don't make it back in time, you guys take one of the cars and definitely don't wait."

Gu Ning nodded, then said, "Same."

Then the two teams hurriedly said their goodbyes and headed in two separate directions.

What would happen ahead, what dangers awaited them, they knew nothing at this point, and all they could do was move forward.