The Abused Novel Heroine Became a Clingy Sweetheart [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 59

The water cage trapped Ji Zhou’s attempts to escape.

Although it was only for a few short seconds, it was enough for the Green-level zombie behind her to catch up.

The foul stench swept over her.

Taking this opportunity, Duan Fu frantically ran towards Shen Jiahang: “Brother Jiahang! Save me quickly!”

A’Nu turned around and saw the Green-level zombie’s claw-like hand about to gouge out Ji Zhou’s heart.

Although he and Ji Zhou didn’t have much connection on a daily basis, they had shared life and death for a period.

He urgently shouted, “This is bad, Brother Jiahang, Ji Zhou is still there!”

While speaking quickly, he threw a fireball at it as hard as he could.

A’Nu didn’t expect the fireball to cause any damage to the Green-level zombie; he only hoped to use it to attract a sliver of its attention.

Shen Jiahang also saw the critical situation. His pupils contracted slightly, and he raised his hand, preparing to activate his ability and rush over to save Ji Zhou.

However, his arm was tightly held by Duan Fu. Her face was pale as she cried, “Brother Jiahang, forget about her! More and more zombies are surrounding us!”

A flash of undetectable impatience crossed Shen Jiahang’s eyes. He said coldly, “Let go!”

Then he forcefully pushed Duan Fu away and ran back towards Ji Zhou.

His ability was unleashed to the maximum, throwing out wind blades like they were free.

Duan Fu froze on the spot.

She had known Brother Jiahang for so long, and this was the first time he had ever lost his temper with her so severely.

And it was all for that useless person!

Watching Shen Jiahang’s retreating figure, Duan Fu clenched her fists tightly, extreme jealousy filling her heart.

Fortunately.

No matter how fast Shen Jiahang was, he couldn’t be faster than the Green-level zombie’s movements.

A look of triumph appeared on her face. She widened her eyes, wanting to personally witness the scene of Ji Zhou bleeding on the spot.

Ji Zhou thought she was going to die.

Her lips trembled, and she closed her eyes.

That hand, stained with blood and decay, seemed like it would pierce her heart in the next second.

Strangely, at the last moment of her life, Ji Zhou didn’t feel much fear.

She thought that perhaps, in this era, this was the final destination for ordinary people like her.

She had no family and couldn’t really be considered friends with Shen Jiahang and the others.

If she died, she would be like a grain of sand falling into the earth, causing no impact on anyone.

What was life like before the apocalypse…?

It was too distant; Ji Zhou couldn’t quite remember.

She only remembered the empty room with whitewashed walls. Looking out from the narrow window, she could glimpse a sliver of the sky’s blue.

That translucent blue, she hadn’t seen it for a long, long time.

Perhaps, in the world after death, she might see it again.

Thinking this, the last trace of fear in Ji Zhou’s heart completely vanished.

She felt the lollipop in her pocket, clutching it tightly, waiting for the shadow of death to fall.

A long moment passed.

The frantic, eerie screams of the surrounding zombies were constant, yet the anticipated pain did not arrive.

Ji Zhou slowly opened her astonished eyes.

Standing in front of her was a tall figure.

The woman’s long hair was casually tied into a high ponytail, hanging spiritedly behind her head.

Some slightly messy strands of hair were blown by the wind, forming slight arcs in the air.

She faced the Green-level zombie, opening her fair palm.

You Ting stared directly at the Green-level zombie’s mottled, bloody face, her eyes lightly flickering.

A purple ball of lightning rose from her palm. At the same time, she used her mind to issue a command to the Green-level zombie:

“Play dead.”

The Green-level zombie tilted its head: Gah?

The thunder in You Ting’s hand suddenly shot forward. In an instant, lightning flashed and thunder roared.

The enormous sound of thunder shook the heavens and earth, causing all the zombies to momentarily pause their actions.

As the dust scattered, the tall Green-level zombie fell heavily and rigidly to the ground, appearing completely incapable of fighting back.

Shen Jiahang, Duan Fu, and the others looked astonished. Everything that had just happened was too fast, occurring in mere moments.

By the time they recovered from the shock, You Ting had already walked over to the fallen Green-level zombie.

She bent down, reached out, as if to retrieve the Green-level zombie’s source stone.

From an angle hidden from the others, You Ting lightly brushed her fingertip, and the source stone in the Green-level zombie’s chest instantly lost its color and was enveloped by the surrounding decaying flesh.

With the Green-level zombie down, the remaining lower-level zombies suddenly seemed to lose their guidance, becoming sluggish in their movements.

You Ting straightened up again and walked in front of the stunned Ji Zhou.

She offered a hand to Ji Zhou, who was on the ground.

Her five fingers were slender and fair, clean as new, without a trace of any foreign matter.

Ji Zhou blinked. After a long while, she finally reached out her hand.

Before her hand met You Ting’s palm, Ji Zhou saw the dirt on her own fingers and suddenly felt a sense of shame.

Her fingertips curled up, instinctively wanting to pull back.

But the person in front of her suddenly leaned forward and grasped her retreating fingers.

A long-lost warmth spread from her fingertips. It was then that Ji Zhou’s muddled mind finally regained a sliver of clarity.

Someone like her… someone was actually willing to stand in front of her and shield her from harm.

“Thank you,” Ji Zhou said.

Perhaps feeling that the apology was too simple, a flicker of self-annoyance crossed her eyes.

You Ting held Ji Zhou’s hand, using a little force to pull her up from the ground.

Seeing Ji Zhou looking down and remaining silent, she thought for a moment, took Ji Zhou’s hand, and drew a big smiley face on her palm.

A smile involuntarily spread across Ji Zhou’s lips.

After soothing her, You Ting turned around, her eyes icy as she looked at Duan Fu on the other side.

“Ji Zhou!” Shen Jiahang ran over, looking her up and down, his tension palpable as he asked, “Are you hurt?”

Ji Zhou shook her head and whispered, “I’m fine, thanks to…”

She thought for a moment and offered an uncertain title, “Sister Ting.”

After confirming she was fine, Shen Jiahang cast a subtly probing look at You Ting.

He only looked at her deeply once, asked no further questions, and then said, “Now that this group of lower-level zombies is leaderless, let’s leave quickly!”

It wasn’t that Shen Jiahang was afraid of fighting the lower-level zombies, but he was worried about attracting more powerful zombies nearby.

You Ting pretended to pick up her bag on the ground, and the source stone in her chest flickered.

The group of originally sluggish lower-level zombies suddenly and uniformly turned their heads toward Duan Fu’s direction.

Beneath those unrecognizable faces, a glint of excitement seemed to flash faintly.

“Heh-heh,” the hoarse and strange cries rang out one after another.

The scene was extremely bizarre. Duan Fu subconsciously sensed the danger and turned to shout at A’Nu next to her, “What are you standing there for! Hurry up and use your ability!”

Her ability level was the weakest in the team, and she usually only served as support.

She could handle one or two lower-level zombies, but facing a zombie horde like this, survival was impossible!

The zombies were densely packed, blocking the path between Duan Fu and Shen Jiahang and You Ting, and closing in on her.

She couldn’t see Shen Jiahang, and she panicked, yelling, “Brother Jiahang! Save me!”

Seeing the terrible situation, Duan Fu abandoned A’Nu without hesitation and fled forward on her own.

Cold sweat drenched her back. She desperately activated her ability, creating water cages to buy a second of time.

She only hoped that A’Nu, that brat, could buy her enough time to escape!

A’Nu was stunned, not expecting Duan Fu to run away so resolutely.

And ahead, the zombie horde was already swarming over.

A’Nu’s face changed dramatically. It was too late for him to escape now.

He could only grit his teeth, push his ability to the maximum, and form a wall of fire around himself.

The sudden change in the zombies’ behavior made Shen Jiahang’s expression slightly shift, and he frowned.

Seeing A’Nu in trouble, he and Uncle Xiu rushed over to rescue him.

The zombie group pressed forward like a swarm of locusts. A’Nu had already braced himself for death.

With a sense of martyrdom, he shouted, “Don’t worry about me! Brother Jiahang, Uncle Xiu, run!”

Uncle Xiu’s face was grim, and he acted as if he hadn’t heard, continuing to charge forward.

A’Nu’s shout still echoed in his ears, but Shen Jiahang’s movements suddenly paused.

The next second, Uncle Xiu also stopped.

The wall of fire around A’Nu had not yet dissipated, but the group of zombies completely ignored him, surging in a dark mass toward the direction Duan Fu had fled.

The righteous expression on his face gradually turned into a stunned look.

“What… what’s going on?”

He had been fighting zombies for so long, and this was the first time he had encountered such a situation.

On the side, You Ting subtly curled her red lips, maintaining her deep anonymity.

A’Nu, bewildered, retracted his ability and walked to Shen Jiahang’s side, full of confusion.

“Brother Jiahang, am I dreaming?”

Shen Jiahang shook his head and frowned, “This group of zombies is really strange.”

The street instantly became quiet again, with only the figures of a few people, reflected against the hazy sky, like a painting at the end of a great battle.

Uncle Xiu walked over slowly, looking down the other end of the street.

“What about Duan Fu?” he asked.

A’Nu spat fiercely, saying indignantly, “Let her fend for herself! People who abandon their teammates deserve a bad ending!”

After all, he was still just an eighteen or nineteen-year-old boy.

Thinking of the fear of facing the zombie horde earlier, believing he was surely going to die, A’Nu harbored deep resentment towards Duan Fu.

How could she not even pretend and just sell him out like that!

“It will be very difficult to catch up now,” Shen Jiahang sighed. “We can only hope that A’Fu is lucky enough to get away.”

Uncle Xiu and A’Nu looked at him a little strangely.

They were later additions to the team, and Duan Fu was the one who had followed Shen Jiahang the longest initially.

The two of them had always assumed that Duan Fu and Shen Jiahang would eventually become a couple.

Because Duan Fu had a bad temper and often caused trouble.

Whenever this happened, Shen Jiahang would always call her “A’Fu,” his tone sounding quite helpless yet affectionate.

Just like now, he was calling the intimate “A’Fu,” but his gaze was very calm.

So calm that it was almost… indifferent.

Beneath his long sleeve, the faint light of his smart bracelet flashed rapidly.

This was a precious communication tool in the apocalypse; only he and Duan Fu in the entire team possessed one.

Shen Jiahang lowered his eyes for a glance, put his hand behind his back, and pressed the bracelet to silence it with an expressionless face.

The light dimmed, flashing weakly and intermittently.

It was like someone’s dying breath before death, struggling powerlessly until it completely stopped blinking.

You Ting led Ji Zhou to the others. She slung her backpack over her shoulder, waved at Shen Jiahang, and made a gesture to leave.

The silent count in her heart hadn’t reached three before A’Nu eagerly chased after her.

“Little mute… no, no, no, Sister Ting, why are you leaving already?”

“Where are you going? Are you heading to the Survivors’ Base? Let’s go together!”

You Ting had only walked a few steps, but his mouth had been chattering for a long time.

A’Nu clearly remembered You Ting resolving the Green-level zombie by herself earlier. He clung to her, asking, “Sister Ting, aren’t you a Wind-element ability awakened? Why were you able to use an Electric-element ability before?”

“Sister Ting? Sister Ting? Why aren’t you talking… Oh, I forgot, you can’t speak.”

You Ting: “…”

The desire to knife someone is hard to hide. She really should have let the zombie horde deal with this brat, too.

“That’s enough, A’Nu,” Shen Jiahang stopped him just in time, then turned to You Ting, “What A’Nu says makes sense. Miss Ting, if you are also heading to the Survivors’ Base, why not travel with us?”

The man wore a perfect smile, his eyes sincere and clear, offering You Ting an olive branch of recruitment.

In the apocalypse, strength reigns supreme; the powerful are targets every team wants to win over.

Moreover… Shen Jiahang was very interested in the secret surrounding You Ting.

A dual-attribute awakened?

A ripple appeared in his eyes, but it quickly subsided back into calmness.

You Ting’s gaze swept past him and landed on Ji Zhou behind him.

The young girl blinked her round, apricot-shaped eyes, and her gaze towards You Ting seemed to carry a similar hint of expectation.

She lightly hooked her lips towards Ji Zhou, then casually nodded.

A’Nu cheered and ran back to You Ting, asking endless questions.

The team lost one person and gained one more. Like a pebble dropped into a lake, after briefly causing a small splash, there was no other trace.

This was the rule of the cruel world: survival of the fittest. Only those strong enough could survive.

Ji Zhou occasionally looked back in the direction where Duan Fu had disappeared, wondering what she was thinking.

Duan Fu had always disliked her, bullied her, and even tried to push her to die in her place.

Ji Zhou felt anger in her heart as well, but seeing how quickly Shen Jiahang and the others acted as if nothing had happened, she suddenly felt a touch of pathetic empathy for Duan Fu.

Duan Fu had known Shen Jiahang the longest. She usually chatted and laughed with A’Nu and could even exchange a few words with Uncle Xiu.

Yet, her disappearance was still like a calm lake surface; no one cared about her unknown fate.

Ji Zhou thought that perhaps after she died, everyone would forget her just as quickly as they were doing now.

No one would remember her existence anymore.

Then what was the meaning of her coming into this world?

A sharp pain suddenly struck her forehead. Ji Zhou covered her head, her face pale.

You Ting, who had been watching the female protagonist, noticed something was wrong. She quickly changed direction and walked to Ji Zhou’s side.

She raised her hand and placed it on Ji Zhou’s shoulder. A thread of subtle white smoke, undetectable, descended with her fingertip and merged into Ji Zhou’s body.

The intense headache eased, and Ji Zhou slowly relaxed her brow.

Meeting You Ting’s questioning gaze, she shook her head, “I’m fine.”

A’Nu in front raised his voice to ask, “Sister Ting, what’s wrong?”

You Ting also shook her head.

Ji Zhou glanced sideways, her gaze falling upon the woman’s beautiful profile.

A tremendously absurd thought suddenly arose in her mind—

If one day she truly vanished from this world.

Would this person beside her remember her?

…

…

The direction Shen Jiahang was leading the team to was the Survivors’ Base.

That was a safe haven built by humans through constant struggle against the zombies, explored little by little, and purchased at enormous cost.

It had powerful military strength, sufficient food, and water.

It was the sacred place that all humans who were fortunate enough to live day after day yearned to pilgrimage to.

Most importantly, awakened individuals who reached there could be integrated into special teams and enjoy generous treatment.

However, correspondingly, opportunity and danger coexisted.

The special teams had to confront and battle higher-level zombies.

Shen Jiahang’s goal from the start was that place.

It was just that along the way, they constantly encountered endless zombies, requiring continuous fighting, resting, and searching for supplies.

Coupled with the fact that the golden eye’s waking time was getting longer and longer, quite a few days had been delayed.

They were still struggling on the road of hope even now.

Many people did not die at the hands of zombies but collapsed from exhaustion on this road of hope.

The golden eye in the sky finally closed its lid, and the air seemed a little sweeter.

As they reached a certain spot, everyone’s footsteps suddenly halted in unison.

A fiery red motorbike was parked in front of them.

A person leaned against the motorcycle.

He was very tall, with a slender waist and long legs. He wore a helmet, making his appearance unclear.

Several people walked out from behind him, forming a human wall blocking the road, their eyes staring at You Ting and the others with ill intent.

The motorbike man patted his precious vehicle, and a young voice muffledly came from inside the helmet:

“As you can see.”

“I am robbing you.”

You Ting slightly narrowed her eyes. Ah… it was the rumored second male lead making his appearance.

The plot always needed a tool person to catalyze the relationship between the male and female leads.

Since Duan Fu was gone, here came Ji Man.

A’Nu twisted his wrist, “Why do people always like to seek death.”

Such highway robbery was common; they had encountered it no less than three times on their journey.

A’Nu wanted to make a move, but Shen Jiahang raised his hand to stop him.

Shen Jiahang scrutinized the opponent with a serious look—this person’s strength should be comparable to his own.

They had traveled for a long time and fought several battles, consuming a lot of their abilities.

Directly confronting the other party was not a wise choice.

“What do you want to rob?” Shen Jiahang asked.

“I only planned to rob some supplies, but I suddenly changed my mind. I want—”

“Her.”

Ji Man raised a finger, sweeping it over each person.

Finally, it landed on You Ting.