ATDIWR Chapter 48

“I’m sorry, Zhou Qin.” Gou Chong’s face streamed with tears, his eyes filled with pain. “You shouldn’t have saved me that day.”

Zhou Qin wanted to say something, but he knew he probably wouldn’t be able to speak anymore. He could feel that mysterious force blowing his temple hair, about to pierce his brain.

However, just then, Ji An’s arrow finally caught up. It shot into that mysterious force, instantly shattering the energy.

At the same time, Ji An’s second arrow reached the zombie king. The zombie king unleashed a surge of power to block it, but it couldn’t stop Ji An’s powerful, unstoppable arrow at all. Helpless, it could only extend its arm to block Ji An’s arrow.

Ji An’s arrow plunged into the zombie king’s arm, shooting directly through its bone. The zombie king let out a miserable shriek, and immediately countless zombies surged forward, surrounding the zombie king.

Just as Zhou Qin was about to feel the joy of escaping death, his body was violently pushed forward again by a great force, sending him stumbling into the zombie horde. Ji An, who had been aiming at the zombie king, preparing to unleash his third arrow, had to retract his bow and arrow and turn to pull Zhou Qin, trying to drag him back before he was grabbed by the zombies.

But the zombie also discovered Zhou Qin, who had been backstabbed. It was as fast as Ji An, reaching out with its long claws to grab Zhou Qin.

The speed of the man and the zombie was the same, and they were almost simultaneously about to land on Zhou Qin’s arm and leg.

The only difference was that Ji An grabbing Zhou Qin wouldn’t hurt him. But if the zombie’s long claws went down, they would immediately pierce Zhou Qin’s leg bone, leaving two bloody holes.

The bloody holes left by the zombie were not just simple bloody holes; they carried the zombie virus, which could infect the entire bloodstream within just three seconds.

Both hands were about to touch Zhou Qin’s skin. In at most one second, Zhou Qin could do nothing but wait for the zombie to pierce his leg bone and watch Gou Chong, who had betrayed him a second time, with desperate eyes.

Gou Chong also looked back at Zhou Qin with a pained expression, his eyes reflecting his good brother’s desperate gaze.

Just as Ji An and the zombie simultaneously grabbed Zhou Qin, a wind blade carrying the power to cleave the heavens and destroy the earth also descended, instantly severing Zhou Qin.

The zombie snatched the lower leg with its dirty black long claws deeply embedded in the calf bone. Ji An grabbed Zhou Qin’s arm, pulling back all of him except for the lower leg.

Ji An was knocked full-force by Zhou Qin, staggering backward. A large hand made of wind gently and softly held Ji An, lifting him slightly.

Ji An stood up, holding Zhou Qin, feeling a mix ofrelief/luck and lingering fear as he looked at Zhou Qin’s severed leg.

If Gu Jinsheng’s wind blade had been even slightly later, even by just a second, the zombie’s claws would have already been deeply embedded in Zhou Qin’s leg bone. At that point, even if he had dragged Zhou Qin back, it would have been too late; the zombie virus would have already entered Zhou Qin’s body.

If Gu Jinsheng had hesitated too much, choosing to cut the zombie’s arm instead of severing Zhou Qin’s lower leg, then at this moment, the Zhou Qin he saved would have had something that didn’t belong to him—the zombie’s severed arm, deeply embedded in his flesh and bone.

Zhou Qin would have been finished as well.

Fortunately, Gu Jinsheng decisively chose to sever Zhou Qin’s lower leg, sacrificing a limb to save a life, thus preserving Zhou Qin’s life.

Zhou Qin was truly a tough, iron-blooded man. The intense pain of his leg being severed made him unable to stand even with Ji An supporting him. He immediately sat down on the ground with a thud, his forehead covered in cold sweat, his entire body drenched as if washed with water. However, after a single scream, he stopped crying out, tightly biting his back molars and enduring the pain.

Ji An took out the first-aid kit from his spatial ability, quickly washed his hands with alcohol after taking off his gloves, and then put on new sterile gloves. Only then did he take out a tourniquet and tie it around Zhou Qin’s severed leg. To prevent infection, Ji An directly poured a bottle of alcohol onto the wound. The alcohol poured onto the severed end was no less painful than having his leg broken again, causing Zhou Qin to let out a miserable cry and roll on the ground.

This is the toughness of a Power User. If it were an ordinary person subjected to such torment, they would be dead or at least half-dead.

Ji An used snow-white gauze to wrap Zhou Qin’s wound. Almost the instant the gauze was wrapped, it was immediately soaked through with fresh blood, turning bright red.

“Retreat!” Gu Jinsheng carried a person, released a minivan, and the group immediately got in. Even Gou Chong, who had been sittingstunned/dazed on the ground like a walking corpse with no soul since backstabbing Zhou Qin, as if unaware of everything happening around him, was dragged into the car.

The car started. Ji An sat by the window. Looking out from there, the zombie was frantically gnawing at Zhou Qin’s severed leg, tearing off large chunks of flesh and blood, chewing them in its mouth. It devoured the meat greedily without much chewing, as if it hadn’t eaten for hundreds of lifetimes.

Even while eating, its eyes were still fixed on Ji An and the group. Ji An met the zombie’s gaze and could clearly see the disgusting greed in its eyes.

Just then, a thunderball the size of a millstone flew out from the car, burning with thunder flames that seemed capable of burning away all sin in the world, heading straight for the zombie. The zombie wanted to resist or escape, but the torrential fire rained down, and in the blink of an eye, the zombie was burned into a pile of charred earth.

Including the lower leg held in the zombie’s arms, which was torn into pieces within seconds, revealing the bone, was also burned to ash.

A lower leg gnawed by a zombie to that extent was useless even if recovered. It was full of the zombie virus. Even if well-preserved and frozen, it couldn’t be used anymore.

If such a lower leg were reattached, the possibility of the owner becoming a corpse rather than a human was almost 100%.

“Zhou Qin, this is anesthetic I carry with me. I’ll pour it on the gauze and let you breathe it in for a while. You’ll fall asleep. Do you want to try?” The pain of a severed leg was too intense. Power Users were also human, and their perception and tolerance of pain were the same, although they were more resilient to hardship than ordinary people.

However, when faced with the torment of pain, being more resilient wasn’t necessarily a good thing; it meant enduring more suffering.

Zhou Qin shook his head; he refused. He couldn’t speak; his mouth was stuffed with gauze, put there out of fear that he might bite his tongue from extreme pain.

Zhou Qin’s eyes scanned the car interior, finally finding the person he was looking for—Gou Chong.

Gou Chong was bound like azongzi – a rice dumpling, implying tightly wrapped by various materialized abilities. No one allowed him to sit in a seat; he was simply tossed into the narrow car aisle.

Gou Chong didn’t struggle, didn’t speak, looking like a soulless walking dead. His eyes were vacant, staring blankly at a certain spot on the ground, perhaps thinking of something, or perhaps thinking of nothing at all.

Seeing Gou Chong like this, Zhou Qin suddenly closed his eyes, his face showing a pained expression. It was unclear whether it was due to his friend’s betrayal or the pain of his severed leg.

Gu Jinsheng personally drove the car back. He drove very fast, pressing the accelerator to the floor, almost reaching the car’s maximum speed. This was only possible because it was The Apocalypse and there were almost no pedestrians on the road. If it were before The Apocalypse, they would have crashed into a dozen people in minutes.

However, this speed was truly fast. They returned to Jing Shi Base in less than half the time it took to come.

By chance, Wan Xueying had just returned from trading jade with other bases. She had acquired a large batch of jade at a low price and was in a good mood. Seeing Gu Jinsheng and their car return, she walked over to greet them, “Boss, you guys are so fast! As expected, a one-tier difference in high-level abilities is a huge gap…”

Wan Xueying didn’t finish her sentence before she saw Gu Jinsheng’s blood-covered protective suit and his serious expression. At the same time, she caught the strong, pungent smell of blood.

That strong smell was definitely not from zombie splatter during a kill; the source of the bleeding must be inside the car.

Wan Xueying’s face immediately changed drastically, and her good mood vanished completely. “Who got injured?”

At that moment, the first person who flashed through her mind was Ji An.

But then she quickly dismissed it. Ji An’s mental power was so strong, capable of challenging higher tiers. If he encountered danger, even if he couldn’t win, he could at least escape. Besides, their boss was protecting him.

Then it could only be those newly advanced low-level Power Users. It must be these guys who, having just advanced, didn’t know their limits and actively provoked high-level zombies that were much stronger than them.

However, the next sentence stunned Wan Xueying, leaving her completely bewildered and unable to react. “Zhou Qin’s leg is broken. Surgery immediately.”

A guard on duty at the city gate nearby heard that the injured person was their deputy commander. Without a word, he turned and ran, not even bothering to pick up his hat that flew off.

There was a hospital right by the city gate, specifically prepared for injured Power Users returning from missions.

Firstly, severe injuries could be treated immediately. Secondly, it facilitated isolation. This was to prevent internal infection within the city hospital if the injured person turned out to be infected with the zombie virus, which would have unimaginable consequences.

Gu Jinsheng didn’t wait for a stretcher. He carried Zhou Qin on his back and rushed into the hospital.

Zhou Qin was already becoming disoriented due to excessive blood loss. Despite this, he was still concerned, saying, “Don’t torture Gou Chong. I… I want to ask him myself.”

“Okay,” Gu Jinsheng readily agreed. “After you wake up.”

When they rushed into the emergency room, the notifying guard had just explained the situation and was about to push a stretcher out for rescue. Now, they directly placed Zhou Qin on the stretcher and pushed him towards the operating room.

Fortunately, before each mission, The Base would check the blood type of the personnel going out to prevent accidents. Now, the medical staff only needed to find the blood type results from that morning and could immediately transfuse blood to Zhou Qin.

The emergency room surgical light lit up. Only then did Ji An and the others’ emotions slightly stabilize.

Wan Xueying’s face was solemn. “What happened? How did Zhou Qin get injured like this?”

For several years in The Apocalypse, they had almost always worked together. They were all clear about each other’s strength. So when Wan Xueying realized someone was injured, Zhou Qin was not the first person she thought of.

Ji An replied, “Gou Chong backstabbed him.”

Wan Xueying immediately swore and roared like a mother lion who had lost her cub, about to rush out to avenge Zhou Qin. “Bastard! I’ll kill him!”

“Don’t go,” Gu Jinsheng stopped her with his ability. “Zhou Qin said before he passed out not to touch him, and that he’ll question him himself when he wakes up.”

Wan Xueying’s eyes instantly welled up with tears, and she cried out, “Gou Chong is such a bastard! How could he do that? Zhou Qin was so good to him, pouring his heart out. Last time, for his sake, he didn’t even care about his own life, determined to die with him. How could he do this to him!”

No one could answer Wan Xueying’s question. A silence fell over the corridor.

After a short while, Kong Zhongcheng arrived with Fang Rurong. Fang Rurong ran with sweat all over her face, her shoes almost falling off several times.

As soon as she arrived, she almost immediately said to Gu Jinsheng, “General Commander Gu, you know my healing ability is only Tier 4. Helping those with lower ability levels is absolutely no problem. I am very confident, even in complete regeneration.”

Fang Rurong looked troubled. “But if the patient is Commander Zhou, and he just recently advanced to Tier 5 initial stage, I’m afraid I might be willing but unable…”

Gu Jinsheng gently patted Fang Rurong’s shoulder to comfort her. “Don’t feel pressured. We understand. Just do your best. If it’s not possible, don’t force yourself.”

Fang Rurong’s heart, which had been hanging since she received the task, finally settled. When she knew the injured person was Zhou Qin and she was needed to help treat him, her pressure was immense.

That was the deputy general commander of The Base, the brother of the other three general commanders. If she couldn’t heal Zhou Qin, would they think she didn’t do her best and resent her?

In fact, cross-tier healing was inherently impossible. Even healing a minor superficial wound for a Power User higher in level than oneself might consume far more energy than saving a low-level Power User’s life.

This was the gap in ability tiers.

Wan Xueying stepped forward and hugged Fang Rurong. “Thank you for coming. Just do your best, and don’t hurt yourself. There are other injured people in The Base waiting for you.”

This was true. Healing-type Power Users were already rare, and zombies with awakened healing abilities were even rarer.

Healing-type Power Users could only advance through self-cultivation.

Therefore, reaching Tier 4 was already considered a high-level Power User.

People went out on missions every day in The Base, and people were injured every day. However, the number of healing-type Power Users was limited, and the energy they could expend was limited. So, in some ways, Fang Rurong was no less valuable than Zhou Qin. The Base couldn’t function without her.

Kong Zhongcheng also came forward to express his stance, stating that if she couldn’t heal Zhou Qin, they would not make things difficult for her. At the same time, he bowed deeply to Fang Rurong, saying, “Regardless, please try your best. Success or failure is his fate. We will absolutely not trouble you.”

With the words of the three commanders, Fang Rurong felt relieved and entered the operating room. About half an hour later, the operating room light turned off, and Fang Rurong and Zhou Qin were pushed out simultaneously. Both lay on stretchers, looking pale.

The only noticeable difference was that Zhou Qin had an IV drip, while Fang Rurong did not.

“How is it?”

Everyone gathered around to ask.

The doctor took off his mask and said, “With the help of Ms. Fang Rurong, we successfully stopped Commander Zhou’s bleeding, and Ms. Fang Rurong also healed Commander Zhou’s wound, eliminating the risk of infection.

Commander Zhou is now out of danger and is expected to wake up soon. However, his leg couldn’t be saved, and he will likely need to use crutches in the future.

As for Ms. Fang Rurong, she has overused her abilities and needs a long period of rest.”

Gu Jinsheng led the way, followed by Kong Zhongcheng, Wan Xueying, and Ji An, all bowing deeply to Fang Rurong in gratitude. “Thank you.”

It might sound simple, just healing a wound. But that was a severed leg wound. If it didn’t heal quickly, it would be very dangerous in The Apocalypse, with the risk of infection at any moment.

Fang Rurong wanted to get up and help them, but her abilities were too depleted to move. She could only passively accept the reverence from these Power Users, who held the highest status in The Base.

Wan Xueying said, “I’ll leave things here to you. I’ll take Fang Rurong back.”

“Okay,” Gu Jinsheng replied.

The few people had already changed out of the protective suits they wore fighting zombies outside and were wearing disposable sterile visitation gowns. However, they still didn’t dare to get too close to Zhou Qin. They simply checked his condition briefly and then let the medical staff push Zhou Qin into the isolation room.

Base regulations stated that all personnel returning from outside had to be quarantined: seven days for those with external injuries, and three days for those without.

When Fang Rurong and Wan Xueying interacted with them just now, they were both wearing isolation suits and masks.

Now that Zhou Qin’s condition was stable, everyone dispersed and returned to their respective isolation rooms to rest.

Ji An and Gu Jinsheng were quarantined in the same room. After returning, Ji An said to Gu Jinsheng, “Did you notice that today’s zombie horde was different from the ones we’ve encountered before?”

Ji An had been thinking about this on the way back. “This zombie horde was clearly organized and disciplined. At certain moments, they could even restrain their innate zombie hunger instinct to follow orders.”

Gu Jinsheng had also noticed this. “The problem lies with the zombie king.”

“Yes,” Ji An said. “I suspect the zombie king of that group is a mental power zombie.”

Gu Jinsheng suddenly looked at Ji An. Mental power zombies were very, very rare, just as rare as healing-type Power User zombies.

Furthermore, because these two types of abilities were weak in the initial stages and needed to develop slowly, and zombie hordes were not groups known for brotherly love and respect, sometimes when they went without food for too long, they would even cannibalize their own kind. Thus, the weakest mental power and healing-type Power User zombies were the easiest targets for those zombies.

Even if mental power Power User zombies and healing-type Power User zombies were born, they would likely be eaten by the zombie horde itself even before being discovered by human Power Users.

If a mental power zombie could survive its weakest period and grow into a zombie king of a horde, then this mental power zombie must not be underestimated.

Ji An’s thoughts went much deeper than that. His face was grim as he said, “Didn’t you notice how disciplined this zombie horde was? When they saw that our two groups, ours and Zhou Qin’s, were strong, they didn’t fight us but instead went to surround and attack the relatively weaker Power Users.

Later, when we went to help, the zombie horde split off a portion of its numbers to surround and attack you, the strongest one, in order to tie you down.

These don’t seem like instincts; it’s more like organized and disciplined command.”

Gu Jinsheng agreed. “Intelligence.”

The biggest difference between this zombie horde and other zombie hordes wasn’t their level, but that there seemed to be a zombie in the horde that had evolved intelligence.

Its intelligence might not be high, but this was terrifying.

People often cursed others by saying, “Are you a zombie? You have no brain.” This indirectly reflected the foolishness of the zombie population, and now foolish zombies had evolved intelligence!

Ji An narrowed his eyes slightly. “Looking at the situation during the battle just now, not all the zombies had brains. Most were still walking dead controlled by instinct. What they displayed was more like following orders. So I believe the problem lies with that zombie king. It’s likely that only it has evolved intelligence. Currently, it seems the level of intelligence isn’t very high.”

It was very possible for a mental power zombie to evolve intelligence. After all, mental power abilities were also known as brain power abilities.

“We must eliminate it as quickly as possible.” A zombie that had evolved intelligence must not be left alive. If allowed to grow further, it would definitely become a major threat.

Ji An continued, “You were tied down by the zombie horde and didn’t get a chance to confront the zombie king. I fought it. The ability it released was definitely a mental ability, but perhaps because its level is too low or the zombie king’s intelligence isn’t high enough, it’s still only releasing its ability based on instinct and doesn’t know how to materialize mental power or maximize its mental power attack value.”

“We absolutely cannot give it a chance to grow.”

Otherwise, humanity would be in danger!

“Once Zhou Qin is stable, we need a second sweep to eliminate the zombie king,” Gu Jinsheng immediately made the decision.

“Okay.”

About five hours later, Zhou Qin woke up. Gu Jinsheng and Ji An put on sterile gowns and visited him through the glass window.

Zhou Qin was still very weak, but perhaps because he had received blood transfusions and been treated by a healing-type Power User, his complexion was not so pale, and he wasn’t even on an IV drip.

However, he still seemed to lack strength and couldn’t move, only able to lie on the bed and look at them through the transparent glass.

Zhou Qin’s lips moved slightly, but his voice was too low. Even with the microphone by the bed, Ji An couldn’t hear what he was saying at all.

Gu Jinsheng, however, didn’t need to hear to guess. “We haven’t done anything to Gou Chong. He’s being held in a separate isolation room. You can question him yourself when you can get up.”

Zhou Qin blinked his eyes, indicating that he heard.

Three days later, Gu Jinsheng, Ji An, and the rest of the group were released from isolation. None of them were infected. Seven days later, Zhou Qin was released from isolation, also not infected. At the same time, the strong physical constitution of a Power User allowed Zhou Qin to recover mostly, despite still being somewhat weak, and he could be discharged.

On the day Zhou Qin was discharged, Gu Jinsheng, Ji An, Wan Xueying, Kong Zhongcheng, and others were all there.

Perhaps because he had waited too long and wanted an answer desperately, after being discharged, Zhou Qin didn’t exchange many pleasantries with others before going to find Gou Chong.

At this point, Gou Chong had already been taken to the interrogation room and isolated for four days.

For these four days, no one cared for him, no one gave him a drop of water or a bite of food. The guards only needed to ensure he was still alive and breathing.

Zhou Qin walked in. Gou Chong, who seemed about to faint from hunger, sobered up immediately when he saw it was him.

Gou Chong’s eyes stared intently at Zhou Qin. Suddenly, he cracked a smile and said in an intimate tone, “Zhou Qin, you’ve lost weight.”

It was as if nothing had happened between them.

However, this time, Zhou Qin did not respond with his usual playful grin. Instead, he stood there expressionlessly, leaning on his crutches, looking coldly at Gou Chong. That coldness was even more chilling than Gu Jinsheng’s indifference.

Only after watching Gou Chong until he couldn’t smile anymore did Zhou Qin finally speak. “Why?”

Gou Chong closed his eyes. His voice was hoarse, and his lips were cracked. “No reason. I was just jealous of you. Kill me. I deserve all of this.”

“Tell me the truth!” Zhou Qin suddenly roared. “Gou Chong, you’ve harmed me like this, broken my leg. Am I not even worthy of knowing the truth?”