ATDIWR Chapter 70

Chapter 70: Escape from Death – Gu Jinsheng, you useless person, I saved…

Ji An flinched from the burn, yanked his hand back, and in that instant, an ability struck down, directly shattering a rock on the ground. The impact of the airwave sent the little cat tumbling several times.

If Ji An had pulled his arm back even a second later, it would undoubtedly have been broken at that moment.

“Mental Power Zombie King!” Ji An recognized the attacking ability as the most primitive energy form of the Mental Power Ability.

Ji An suddenly turned his head. Behind the left window stood a figure. Seeing Ji An look over, it quickly flashed away and hid. Gu Jinsheng had already charged forward, using his Thunder-Fire ability to directly blast open the window glass, and then jumped inside.

Ji An glanced at the room, then glanced at the little cat, deciding to catch the little cat first. After all, this was the second thing, besides Power User Crystal Cores, that the Spatial Necklace had reacted to. And the little cat was too weak; the slightest disturbance could potentially cost it its life!

Ji An took two large steps, extending his hand towards the little cat again. Halfway there, he had to pull back; abilities struck at him one after another.

Ji An dodged the ability attacks left and right, while the Thunder Dragon coiled around him let out a roar, seemingly angered that someone dared to harm the human it was protecting.

The Thunder Dragon whoosh flew out from Ji An, leaped up, and viciously bit down on the head of the zombie that was attacking Ji An.

Taking advantage of the Thunder Dragon’s cover, Ji An rolled on the spot, rolling behind a house.

At this moment, the Thunder Dragon and the zombie were locked in combat, “You give me an ability, I give you a big fireball.”

However, the Thunder Dragon was clearly gaining the upper hand, almost suppressing the zombie. The zombie retreated steadily, no match for the Thunder Dragon at all.

The Thunder Dragon played with the zombie like a tabby cat plays with a mouse. When it had played enough, it bit off the zombie’s head in one bite.

Having dealt with the zombie, the Thunder Dragon turned back towards Ji An, wagging its head and tail proudly, seemingly showing off its mouse-catching skills to Ji An.

Ji An gave the Thunder Dragon a thumbs-up. He noticed that the Thunder Dragon materialized by Gu Jinsheng was like a child, liking to show off and liking to be praised.

But just as Ji An gave the thumbs-up, the pride in the Thunder Dragon’s big eyes turned into terror. Ji An, almost without thinking, immediately raised the long blade in his hand and stabbed backward.

Ji An leaned back, pushing hard against the house wall with his feet, directly pushing the pierced object about a meter away. When he couldn’t push any further, Ji An let go and jumped up.

Seeing the situation behind him clearly, Ji An himself broke out in a cold sweat.

Fortunately, he reacted quickly, otherwise, he would have been dead.

It turned out that three zombies had appeared behind Ji An at some unknown time. Ji An’s stab hit one zombie, and what was cool was the push; it directly skewered the three zombies together and pinned them to the wall behind him.

Zombies don’t feel pain; they were only angry about being pinned to the wall. They released abilities one by one, attacking Ji An.

At this moment, the Thunder Dragon had already roared and charged towards Ji An, swallowing one ability with a bite, grabbing one with a swing of its claw, and flicking away another with a sweep of its large tail.

The Thunder Dragon dealt with these zombies easily. Ji An quickly took advantage of this moment to look for the little cat.

Zombies like fresh blood and flesh the most, especially unmutated blood and flesh.

With so many zombies here, the little cat was like a rabbit dropped into a wolf pack; how could it survive?

As Ji An turned around and ran back quickly, he heard a faint meowing sound.

Ji An knew it was bad. As expected, when he ran over, he saw the little cat being held in a zombie’s hand and being stuffed into its gaping, bloody maw.

Ji An pulled out a short knife from his spatial dimension and threw it at the zombie’s arm. The short knife spun as it flew, accompanied by a chilling wind.

Ji An slid out in a kneeling motion, extending both hands at the same time.

Just as he slid into place, the short knife cut off the zombie’s arm. Ji An caught both the little cat and the arm together.

Ji An pulled out another short knife from his spatial dimension. With a few quick slashes, he cut off the zombie’s fingers without harming the little cat in the slightest.

Just as Ji An was about to be happy, he felt abilities carrying powerful wind blades scraping towards him. He looked up, wanting only to curse. Had he poked a zombie nest? How could a whole horde of zombies attack him just around the corner?

Ji An pulled out several hand grenades from his spatial dimension, pulled the pins quickly, and threw them towards the zombie horde behind him.

‘Bang bang’ explosion sounds rang out. Ji An didn’t even look at the results behind him. He then pulled out a flare from his spatial dimension, ignited it with difficulty using one hand, threw it backward, and then charged forward like crazy as if being pursued.

Ji An ran desperately while looking back.

Wherever the flare went, it burned a line of fire like a fire dragon, igniting an unknown number of zombies.

Among these were Water-type Ability zombies, whose intelligence was clearly poor. Instead of first saving their lightly injured companions, they sprayed water at the line of raging fire.

The zombie companions initially only had a corner of their clothes burned. They tried to put it out a few times but failed, and the fire became more intense, eventually engulfing them.

Even though many zombies perished in the sea of fire and explosions, still more zombies surged forward in a continuous stream.

Among them were many zombies with missing limbs from the bombs.

It was clearly Gu Jinsheng who poked the zombie nest, yet these zombies didn’t chase Gu Jinsheng; instead, they all came after Ji An.

Bullying the weak and fearing the strong shouldn’t be like this. Ji An seriously suspected that the Mental Power Zombie King was behind all of this mischief.

Holding the little cat, Ji An jumped into the room through the nearest window, turning back to shoot at the zombie horde behind him while calling for help in Gu Jinsheng’s direction: “Gu Jinsheng, save me!”

At the same time, he roared at the zombies behind him: “Why are you all coming for me? Go get Gu Jinsheng! He’s messing with your boss!”

As soon as Ji An jumped into the window, several abilities exploded beside him. He didn’t stop but immediately smashed out through another window, holding the little cat.

Cracking and popping abilities exploded at Ji An’s feet, blasting out deep pits. Ji An, holding the little cat, charged through one window after another.

Inside the room, Gu Jinsheng, who was bravely fighting zombies, “…”

At the same time, the people who received the Mental Power Zombie King’s exact location, were rushing over desperately, and heard Ji An’s loud words through the internal walkie-talkies, “…”

At this moment, Gu Jinsheng, Wan Xueying, and another high-level Power User were each surrounded and attacked by about ten zombies.

And that Mental Power Zombie King was hiding behind all the zombies, occasionally releasing abilities when Gu Jinsheng was unprepared, and also directing other zombies to cooperate in attacking Gu Jinsheng, preventing him from being able to distract himself to attack it.

The Mental Power Zombie King’s mental power threads were divided into thousands of strands, controlling dozens of zombies to block in front of it. It manipulated these zombies through mental threads to protect it, and if necessary, could directly use the zombies to block attacks, completely indifferent to the lives of its zombie subordinates.

It was at this moment that Gu Jinsheng heard Ji An’s call for help. Although Ji An’s words were somewhat difficult to describe, Gu Jinsheng was still very anxious.

Ji An’s side must have been surrounded by many zombies. Otherwise, given Ji An’s arrogance, and with the Thunder Dragon left to protect him, he wouldn’t have called for help.

The Thunder Dragon was Gu Jinsheng’s main combat force split off from him. If the Thunder Dragon was struggling, Gu Jinsheng didn’t dare to imagine how many zombies were truly attacking Ji An.

Gu Jinsheng’s anxiety was evident. The abilities he released were becoming faster and more powerful, one after another. Some were even aimed directly at the Mental Power Zombie King.

The Mental Power Zombie King was like a big boss manipulating everything from the shadows. It directly used mental threads to manipulate a zombie to block in front of it. That zombie was directly blasted into a splatter of blood by Gu Jinsheng’s ability.

Blood splattered all over the Mental Power Zombie King. The Zombie King, however, stretched out its tongue and licked the bloodstains on its face, seemingly provoking Gu Jinsheng.

Gu Jinsheng wanted to kill the Mental Power Zombie King, but it was hiding at the very back and couldn’t be killed. He wanted to rush out to save Ji An, but more than a dozen zombies surrounded him, preventing him from breaking through. His heart was burning with anxiety.

Wan Xueying saw Gu Jinsheng’s anxiety and said into the internal walkie-talkie: “Boss, fighting like this won’t work at all. This zombie has intelligence; it can also manipulate other zombies to block attacks for itself without regard for their lives. If we keep fighting like this, we won’t win, we’ll only give the Mental Power Zombie King a chance to escape.”

Another Power User said: “If it escapes this time, who knows when we’ll be able to track it down again? This Mental Power Zombie King is growing too fast. In just one month, it has already risen two small ranks.”

“What should we do? It’s going to escape.” The Mental Power Zombie had already moved to the window. As long as it jumped out the window, it could escape.

And Gu Jinsheng, Wan Xueying, and others were entangled with zombies, willing but unable to go after it.

Moreover, for every zombie that died, two or even more zombies would be controlled by the Mental Power Zombie King and would rush in to protect it. The continuous stream of zombies prevented them from getting close to the Zombie King at all.

Just at this moment, the wall behind the Mental Power Zombie King was blasted with a boom from behind, creating a hole. Several zombies protecting the Zombie King behind it were blown away.

Something rolled in from that hole. Everyone looked towards it, and then realized that the thing that had rushed in was actually Ji An.

Ji An himself didn’t know how many windows he had crashed through or how many turns he had taken. So many zombies were attacking just him. Not to mention he had no ability; even if he did, a strong tiger can’t withstand a pack of wolves.

Just moments ago, another zombie used its ability to blast a hole in the wall in front of Ji An. Ji An plunged in without a second thought, thinking that at worst he could just crash out of another window.

This is how Ji An managed to escape so far. Otherwise, if he had just been sprinting for his life across the open ground, even if those zombies were idiots, their abilities would have hit him long ago.

Houses were the best cover. Some zombies’ brains weren’t very flexible.

Ji An’s sudden appearance stunned everyone in the room, whether human or the Mental Power Zombie King. They all looked towards Ji An.

Only then did Ji An realize he didn’t know how he had circled around, but he had ended up in the same house as Gu Jinsheng. He met Gu Jinsheng’s gaze and could feel Gu Jinsheng clearly sighing in relief upon seeing him.

Then Ji An realized that his position was just right. He was only a few steps away from the Mental Power Zombie King, close enough to reach the Zombie King with a raised knife.

What was he waiting for? Ji An tucked the little cat into his pocket. The gun in his hand had been destroyed during the chase from the zombie horde, so he pulled out his long blade from his spatial dimension.

Holding the long blade with both hands above his head, he leaped up, kicked off the wall on his right twice, soaring into the air, and brought the blade down towards the zombie’s head.

Gu Jinsheng also reacted at this moment. He raised his hand, and large streams of ability surged from his palm, directly infusing Ji An’s long blade. The long blade was instantly surrounded by raging fire, crackling with lightning and sparks, becoming a Thunder-Fire Blade.

The Thunder-Fire Blade struck directly on top of the Mental Power Zombie King’s head, embedding itself deeply into the Zombie King’s skull. Ji An landed, let go of the blade, and rolled about ten steps away from the Zombie King.

The Mental Power Zombie King’s head instantly burst into flames. It seemed to know it couldn’t escape death and wanted to take someone down with it on the path to the underworld. Several abilities shot towards Ji An consecutively.

At such a close distance, even if Ji An had an ability, let alone not having one, he couldn’t dodge.

Even if the abilities of Gu Jinsheng, Wan Xueying, and all the Power Users who had come here were to strike the Mental Power Zombie King now, it would be useless. The Zombie King was simply too close to Ji An; their abilities couldn’t possibly catch up to the Zombie King’s abilities.

“Little An!” Gu Jinsheng’s eyes were splitting with rage, roaring heartbrokenly.

“Boss Ji!” Wan Xueying cried out in panic.

“Researcher Ji!” The other people were also extremely anxious.

Ji An turned back, his eyes reflecting the primitive energy pillar belonging to the Mental Power Ability. Flaky substances seemed to be mixed within the pillar, as well as the Mental Power Zombie King, whose entire body was engulfed in raging fire.

Just at this critical moment, a Thunder Dragon crackling with lightning and sparks suddenly rushed in, directly heading towards that stream of Mental Power Ability, then opened its large mouth, swallowed it in one bite, and let out a burp.

Everyone: “…”

Gu Jinsheng released a big move. A tongue of fire shot out from his palm, sweeping towards the zombies opposite like it would swallow the sky and earth.

And the zombie horde, without the control of the Mental Power Zombie King, was like scattered sand, completely unable to resist. They were immediately burned by Gu Jinsheng, creating a path of blood.

The zombies only knew how to resist by instinctively releasing their abilities. Without coordinated combat ability, they couldn’t withstand Gu Jinsheng’s full power attack at all. They immediately collapsed like a falling mountain; some died, some were injured, and some fled.

“Clear out the zombie horde.” Gu Jinsheng ordered, while also walking through the dense sea of fire towards Ji An.

Ji An got up from the ground and rubbed the Thunder Dragon’s big head. The Thunder Dragon rubbed back affectionately. Ji An’s eyes filled with a smile.

By this time, the Mental Power Zombie King had been burned into a pile of dust within seconds. Ji An bent down and picked up the Zombie Crystal Core from it.

The Mental Power Ability Crystal Core was very beautiful. The core itself was clear and translucent like crystal, transparent all around, glittering with seven colors under the refraction of sunlight.

This was a Level 4 Crystal Core, considered a mid-level crystal core. Its purity was good, making it even more beautiful.

Ji An was fiddling with the crystal core when suddenly he was pulled up by a strong force, bumping into an embrace as hard as iron. Then he felt himself being held tightly with such force that Ji An’s ribs ached.

Gu Jinsheng couldn’t suppress the surging emotions in his chest. He said somewhat suppressed with pain: “Little An, don’t scare me like this again!”

The Thunder Dragon blinked its big eyes wide. It looked at Gu Jinsheng for a moment, then at Ji An for a moment, poking its head around like a curious baby. It moved up and down, constantly wagging its large dragon tail, somewhat agitated, trying to find a spot to push Gu Jinsheng away and squeeze into Ji An’s embrace itself. But Gu Jinsheng held Ji An very tightly, and the Thunder Dragon couldn’t find a single gap to exploit.

Ji An’s heart pounded wildly. The rapid rhythm momentarily almost made Ji An take out a whole bottle of heart medicine from his spatial dimension and swallow it.

“I’m sorry, I, I won’t make you worry next time.” Ji An was very obedient, like a good child in kindergarten who admitted their mistake to their parent. Both obedient and docile.

This attitude soothed Gu Jinsheng’s anxiety and strangely calmed him down. He released the hands that were tightly holding the person, pushed him back slightly to an arm’s length, looked at Ji An’s face, and was just about to say something affectionate.

The Thunder Dragon, which had been watching covetously from the side and finally found an opportunity, squeezed in between the two of them. Its huge dragon face then directly confronted Gu Jinsheng. “Little An, I…”

Gu Jinsheng couldn’t finish the rest of his words. Looking at the Thunder Dragon’s imposing face, he only felt it was extremely annoying.

The Thunder Dragon probably felt the same way, because it immediately turned its face towards Ji An, presenting Gu Jinsheng with a dismissive back of the head.

Gu Jinsheng: “…”

The Thunder Dragon smiled fawningly at Ji An, then used its big head to rub against Ji An’s face.

Ji An knew the Thunder Dragon wouldn’t hurt him, so he didn’t hide, standing obediently and letting it rub against him.

Just as the Thunder Dragon’s face was only a millimeter away from Ji An’s face, the Thunder Dragon was grabbed by its dragon horns by a large hand and ripped off Ji An’s body.

The Thunder Dragon was like a cat whose neck had been seized by fate, only able to roar futilely.

Gu Jinsheng said with a dark face: “What are you doing? Also, didn’t I tell you to protect Little An before? How did you protect him?”

The Thunder Dragon roared unsatisfactorily, like a child talking back to a parent.

What was strange was that Ji An seemed to understand the Thunder Dragon’s sophistry, or perhaps not sophistry, but rather its feeling of being in the right.

“Do you know how many zombies were chasing An An? So many! If I hadn’t been protecting and intercepting from behind, could An An have escaped safely?” The Thunder Dragon glared at Gu Jinsheng unhappily. “If I hadn’t arrived in time and swallowed that ugly guy’s ability in one bite, An An would have been in danger! You useless person! You didn’t help at all then, and you still dare to question me in that tone!”

The Thunder Dragon was huffing and puffing with anger. Gu Jinsheng might have felt that the Thunder Dragon had a point and couldn’t find a reason to refute it for a moment. He became somewhat angry from embarrassment and directly waved his ability, dispelling the Thunder Dragon completely.

Ji An, who had witnessed all of this and oddly understood the argument between the human and the dragon, was quite…

As for the others in the room, they didn’t understand what the Thunder Dragon’s roars meant, and everything became strange.

They only saw their boss suddenly questioning the Thunder Dragon formed from his ability as if he were mentally unstable. No matter how vividly materialized the Thunder Dragon was, in the end, it was just an ability manifestation; it had no independent thought and was only controlled and directed by its master.

Therefore, the people who couldn’t understand the Thunder Dragon’s roaring retorts thought their boss’s behavior was too bizarre, as if something was wrong.

What happened next was even more terrifying. Their boss talked to himself, got himself angry, and even used his ability to blast his own ability!

This wasn’t just a little problem; everyone was completely sure that their boss’s mind had a huge problem!!!

Wan Xueying swallowed a mouthful of saliva, looking cautiously at Gu Jinsheng, as if afraid of stimulating his sensitive nerves. “Um, Boss, how about after we go back this time, you apply for another month of leave, or perhaps we get a brain CT scan?”

Gu Jinsheng glared sharply at Wan Xueying, giving her a death stare. His thin lips parted, and a cold voice flowed out, “Are you saying I have a problem with my brain?”

Wan Xueying was visibly nervous. The companion beside her carefully said: “But Boss, your behavior just now was very strange?”

“Yes, Boss, you were a little scary just now!” Another companion also echoed hesitantly.

Gu Jinsheng had actually sensed that something was wrong as early as when Wan Xueying asked. Looking at the concern mixed with caution from everyone at this moment, he rubbed his brow and said weakly: “Thank you for your kind reminders. I know. It might be that just losing an ability has caused my recent mental state to be a bit disordered. I will try my best to control it.”

Gu Jinsheng said: “Now, you all go and clear out the zombies. Not a single zombie here should be left, eliminate them all.”

“Received.”

“Received…”

Everyone immediately agreed and then dispersed.

Ji An rubbed his chin, lost in thought.

Gu Jinsheng asked: “What are you thinking about?”

“You and the Thunder Dragon,” Ji An replied.

Gu Jinsheng said: “I only wish you would answer the former.”

Ji An’s mouth twitched. “I suddenly discovered that the Thunder Dragon seems to really have its own thoughts, and it doesn’t seem to be as simple as just your ability materializing.”

Ji An always felt that the Thunder Dragon’s change might not be a bad thing for Gu Jinsheng. “Generally speaking, after an ability materializes, no matter how lifelike, it is still essentially an ability and can only attack when controlled by its master.”

“But the Thunder Dragon is different. You told it to protect me, and it really protected me. It can fight independently, and it even knows how to analyze the situation and judge how to fight more advantageously.”

“Especially just now, er, when you were arguing, the Thunder Dragon’s retort had a complete chain of logic, and it even managed to defeat you in the argument.”

Gu Jinsheng’s dark, fathomless eyes gazed leisurely at Ji An. “Little An, actually, you didn’t need to add that last sentence.”

Ji An noticed that the discarding of the Wind-type Ability still had an impact on Gu Jinsheng. Gu Jinsheng was much more outwardly emotional now than before, especially when facing him.

Before, no matter how eager he was in his actions, he was very reserved in his words, never willing to express his feelings so directly.

But ever since he woke up after his fake death, which was after Gu Jinsheng self-discarded his Wind-type Ability, his words became as direct as his actions, throwing a direct fastball every now and then.

Even the way he looked at him became less restrained and more direct. But Gu Jinsheng was completely normal when dealing with others, even showing a tendency to become more indifferent. Of course, this didn’t mean he was cold-hearted towards his subordinates, but rather in his speech.

Although if something happened to his subordinates, Gu Jinsheng would go all out to help in action, but in words, he became increasingly stingy with expression, seeming not to want to talk to anyone. It was as if he wished everyone could understand his eyes so he wouldn’t have to waste another word with them.

Ji An intuitively felt that all these changes seemed to have some inexplicable connection with the Spiritual Spring Water.

Thinking of the Spiritual Spring Water, Ji An remembered the little cat that had made his spatial dimension react.

Ji An quickly took the little cat out of his embrace. At this moment, the little cat had been battered to the point of being on the verge of death, with only a thread of life remaining.

Ji An quickly took out the Spiritual Spring Water. Fearing that the little cat couldn’t withstand the energy of the Spiritual Spring Water, Ji An mixed in a large amount of ordinary water and fed it to the little cat. He also fed the little cat a nutritional supplement for ordinary people. The little cat recovered its vitality after a few minutes.

Moreover, the injuries it had sustained healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Gu Jinsheng witnessed the miraculous effect of the Spiritual Spring Water firsthand for the first time. Although he had long associated the Spiritual Spring Water’s effects with Tang Tang’s healing ability, seeing it with his own eyes was still a significant shock.

However, Gu Jinsheng didn’t ask a single word.

Ji An picked up the little cat and held it over his head, looking at it. “You, tell me, what is so miraculous about you?”

The little cat meowed. After its body became comfortable, it became naughty, struggling restlessly in Ji An’s embrace and in his hands.

“Boss, all zombies have been cleared.” Wan Xueying reported.

Gu Jinsheng said: “Gather the team!”

The group got into the cars. This time, Gu Jinsheng didn’t summon the Thunder Dragon, but instead unleashed an ability, directly burning down the entire village where the zombies had stayed.

This wasn’t waste, but the unspoken understanding of all bases. Any place where zombies had lived could be contaminated with the zombie virus. The zombie virus lurked in dark corners and didn’t die out with the passage of time; it would only proliferate more and more.

Therefore, it was the default rule among all Power Users that any large area where zombies had resided, if it couldn’t be thoroughly cleaned or guaranteed not to be reoccupied by zombies in the future, would be completely burned down to avoid infecting other humans or creatures who might mistakenly enter.

Gu Jinsheng and Ji An and the others returned to the base. As usual, they needed three days of quarantine. Gu Jinsheng stayed in the same room as Ji An. The staff led everyone towards the Isolation Point. Suddenly, they heard a loud bang.

Everyone looked up and out the window, and saw beautiful multi-colored fireworks blooming in the sky.

While admiring the fireworks, Ji An asked: “Is today some special occasion? Why is someone suddenly setting off fireworks?”

The staff member immediately became a little embarrassed and stammered, seeming unsure how to answer.

Ji An asked strangely: “Is there something difficult to say?”

“Not exactly.” The staff member glanced at Gu Jinsheng, seemingly a little scared.

Gu Jinsheng’s cold voice sounded one word: “Speak.”

“It’s Director Han Yaokun! His research has achieved a significant breakthrough!”

When the staff member spoke, his tone was quite excited, happy for the base’s development and growth, yet also a little cautious, fearing that Ji An, who had just lost an ability, might feel sensitive and uncomfortable in his heart.

They saw Gu Jinsheng also look at Ji An, seemingly afraid that Ji An would feel bad.

However, not at all!

Ji An genuinely followed along happily: “Really? That’s great! Director Han is amazing! Jing Shi Base will definitely develop better and better, becoming stronger and stronger!”

Gu Jinsheng looked at Ji An’s smiling eyes. Between his brows, there was truly a natural outpouring of joy, without the slightest hint of forced cheerfulness.

He was even a little engrossed watching the fireworks blooming outside the window, not at all affected by the news. If anything, it was a positive joy.

Seeing Ji An like this, Gu Jinsheng didn’t know how he could possibly not love him.

But at this moment, some people were different from Ji An’s openness and generosity.

Zhao Zhen only felt like a serf who had finally turned the tables and was singing. They had finally, finally turned things around and stepped on Ji An, who would from now on only be able to struggle bitterly under his feet, never to rise again for eternity!!!