CH 41

The next morning, Hao Jian and Lian Ru Ning got up, washed up, changed their clothes, tied their hair, and went to the bridge to gather.

Both An Minghui and Yi Gao were there, along with a few volunteers who had been recruited earlier.

Hao Jian asked, “Not going to start search and rescue work today?”

“Today’s search and rescue work is suspended. At noon, people from other shelters will come to discuss important matters.” Yi Gao replied.

The guards of each refuge base must be very busy and are facing many challenges, but Hao Jian will leave here tomorrow. What happens next has nothing to do with her.

An Minghui first taught them the structure of the gun and then theoretical knowledge of gun precautions and posture before giving them each of a practice gun – “First, practice with this gun. The real gun shot is a little loud but there is no earplugs here, so you have to adapt in shooting guns without earplugs.”

The target that An Minghui arranged for them to practice on was the zombies that had to be cleaned up every day, the ones that had gathered in the dam.

But the bridge has been blocked by the truck and the zombies can only go over the truck or crawl underneath it. However, whether it is the height of the truck or the climbing action, it is somewhat difficult for these zombies. Occasionally, some zombies happen to crawl under the truck, but before they could get close to the protective guardrail, they were killed.

An Minghui also doesn’t want the to go to the dam to shoot, so they can only find a safe position on the bridge.

The entire bridge is more than 80 meters long, and the outermost guardrail is 15 to 16 meters away from the dam, so they have to shoot at a moving target with a distance of more than 15 meters there.

“There are very few bullets, so if more than three out of ten shots fall short, then you don’t have to learn. Those who pass will be replaced with real bullets and be officially trained.” An Minghui said seriously.

Someone whispered, “This is too harsh, we are not professionals!”

“If you were professionals, would you still be here?!” An Minghui’s eyes became very scary all of a sudden. “You remember, learning marksmanship will give you one more self-defense skill. If you don’t learn it well, when the time comes, the one who dies will be you!”

The crowd went silent. Lian Ru Ning whispered to Hao Jian, “Adjutant An may have been an instructor.”

Hao Jian laughed and pointed her gun to the zombies on the shore. With a ‘bang’, the zombie’s stomach immediately oozed out.

The crowd saw her shoot, worrying about lagging behind as they looked for targets to shoot. Hao Jian successfully shot eight times while Lian Ru Ning shot a lot because she took a lot of targets and finally got seven shots.

Three people who only got four or five shots were expelled by An Minghui without mercy and then pointed at Lian Ru Ning indignantly, “If we had shot that slowly, it wouldn’t be like this!”

An Minghui glared at them, “There are only so many bullets, and if you don’t have enough bullets because you start shooting indiscriminately before aiming at the target, the zombies will not provide you with more bullets when you face them!”

Those three people went back dissatisfied and the remaining people continued training, but An Minghui also said, “Before, the requirement is effective damage, but now I require speed. If your movements are slow, you may be bitten to the bone!”

Lian Ru Ning blushed slightly. She felt that An Minghui was biased towards her just now, but he wouldn’t be partial the second time. She had to work hard so that she can have a better chance of survival in such a society.

It wasn’t until noon that the members of the guards from other shelters arrived one after another, and the class called ‘devil training’ stopped.

Lian Ru Ning felt that both her arms were going to be ruined because of raising the gun for a long time that her arms began to sore. She was even more exhausted because of muscle pain.

In addition to her, several other people were also slow, so An Minghui simply let them hold their guns for an hour, rest for ten minutes before start training again.

In those ten minutes, except for drinking water, they never even went to the toilet because the water they drank turned into sweat.

Although Hao Jian’s marksmanship improved very quickly, she didn’t escape the pain. Taking advantage of the suspension of training, she went to the mall and bought some medicated oil to soothe her muscles.

When Lian Ru Ning sat beside her, Hao Jian passed the ointment to her, but Lian Ru Ning said, “I don’t have the strength.”

“Shall I help you?”

Lian Ru Ning nodded, and when Hao Jian pulled her sleeve up, she suddenly got goosebumps and her ears quietly flushed.

Upon seeing this, Hao Jian glanced at her and showed a slight smile as she poured the medicinal oil on her palm and rubbed it on Lian Ru Ning’s arm.

Her mind was communicating with the system, “Does this count as communicating with our souls?”

“Why didn’t I know that I had a problem with understanding the host before this?”

“. . . Then you don’t understand. This massage and tunic are one of the traditional Chinese medicine treatment methods that have been passed down for thousand of years. The essence of it is that the massager will infuse their spirit and soul into tit so that the receiver can enjoy the pleasure that reaches the depths of the soul. This pushing and pulling can be much more delicate, the force should be moderate. To ensure that it works, each acupuncture point must be accurate. It’s quite laborious bit it’s also working to the depths of my soul. Can you deny that this is not deep soul communication?”

“. . . I have never seen such a brazen host.”

“Why, did you meet many hosts before me? Or is it that there are actually just a lot of systems and hosts in this time and space?”

“So that’s what my words mean?” The system continued to play dumb.

Hao Jian sneered with a ‘heh’. She always felt that the system was very ridiculous. At first, when she didn’t have any desire to use the system, it was very anxious. Later, when she had recognized it, it started to quarrel with her.

It being ridiculous is only a superficial statement. She would rather say that as long as it is conducive in making her use the system, it answers her questions quickly with with the right attitude. And any questions that would involve it’s origin, it would remain silent.

“The child has hardened its wings.” The system replied to Hao Jian.

“You’re not afraid that my wings will fold for you?”

The system suddenly replied without thinking, “Host, you can do it!” Then it fell silent.

Hao Jian felt that the system was a little puzzling, but after returning to her senses, she realized that Lian Ru Ning was looking at her with a strange look. She withdrew her hand without changing her face and couldn’t help but be a little confused as to why her skill of mental multitasking had disappeared.

When she was talking to the system, she was helping Lian Ru Ning soothe her muscles in her upper arm.

The system jumped out an retorted, “It’s clear that you, the host, want to take advantage of the opportunity to flirt.”

“Shut up, I’m not a pervert!”

Hao Jian looked at Lian Ru Ning, “Little sister’s arm is too slippery.”

“Thank you, I thought you would say that the medicine oil is too slippery.”

Hao Jian ‘brightened up’ and said, “So that’s how it is!”

“. . .” Lian Ru Ning didn’t think badly about her but said, “You have something on your mind? Why else would you be so distracted?”

This is very rare!

Hao Jian pretended to be deep, “I was thinking what I should do if my child has hardened its wings?”

“. . .??” Lian Ru Ning found that she actually didn’t understand Hao Jian at all. This person became more and more confusing.

Still, she pondered for a moment and said seriously, “Pluck all the feathers of the wings. Even if they’re hard, they can’t fly.”

“Good idea!” Hao Jian said and at the same time to the system, “Look, the love partner you chose for me is trying to teach me how to prevent you from flying!”

“. . .”

Just when the system was about to ask ‘what about the host being too skinny’ someone found Hao Jian and Lian Ru Ning who were about to have lunch.

Hao Jian looked at Chen Zhen in a guard uniform and said in surprise, “I thought you had died there!”

Chen Zhen’s corner of her mouth twitched, “Why so damaging. Are you avenging me for taking your gun?”

“It’s goof that you have self-awareness.”

Lian Ru Ning looked at Chen Zhen and quickly remembered that she was the one who asked Hao Jian to take her to the bathroom. Hao Jian had already told her about Chen Zhen, so she extended her hand, “Miss Chen, I’ve heard a lot about you!”

Chen Zhen had a lot of respect towards Lian Ru Ning who had helped the escort team and shook hands with her. As for Hao Jian, she took out a hand gun and threw it over, “Although I don’t owe you, I’ll return it to you. I heard that you trained today so it’s not a waste to give it to you.”

Hao Jian raised her eyebrows, removed the magazine and took a look. It was full of 15 bullets.

“This is a generous gift.”

Chen Zhen knew that Hao Jian was just being polite with her and didn’t say anything, but said, “I heard you’re going to Southern City?”

“How come you all know about it?”

“After we got out of the conference center, our various refuge camps strengthened contact and communication and kept abreast of the movements of the remaining ‘Wugui’ organization. I originally wanted to recruit you guys to join. . . but Chief Yi told me that you have other plans.”

“You care about use going back to Southern City and not just wanting to recruit us, right?” Hao Jian said.

“I want to ask you to find someone for me, but you don’t need to spend time and effort on purpose. But if you meet an escort team, just ask around about it.”

“Who?”

“His name is Huang Sheng. He was on duty with the raiding party in the Southern City before the crisis broke out.”

“Don’t you have an official communication method?”

Chen Zhen replied, “That is for official business, not for finding someone for us. There are so many escort team members and everyone is thousands of miles away from home and cannot go back. If the official communication can be used to find relatives, the line would have been crowded.

Hao Jian thought about it and nodded.

Chen Zhen took out a ring, “If you can find him, help me return this ring to him.”

“Why?” Lian Ru Ning was puzzled instead.

“He’s a dedicated man. . .” Chen Zhen’s expression was a little bit reluctant but soon became determined, “He’ll understand what I mean.”

“Aren’t you worried about us losing it?”

“If you lose it, that’s also an answer.”

After Chen Zhen left, Lian Ru Ning was still a little confused, “Since she knows that the other party is a devoted person, and I don’t think she’s moving on, there is no question of a broken relationship, so why would she do this?”

Hao Jian looked at the ring for a long time before saying, “They haven’t been in touch for a long time and no one knows if the other person is still alive or dead. Instead of worrying about each other’s well-being, it’s better to make a decision in your heart as early as possible. Even if both sides are still alive, but as long as they have not been able to remove this heavy burden, they have no chance of meeting again. Maybe she did this to avoid something, or perhaps it’s to let the other person give up on her so that she could find another loved one.”

“I think she’s a person who valued love and righteousness, not someone who would run away.”

“Who can say anything about emotions exactly? Especially in this chaotic world, when feelings conflict with the burden of heavy responsibility, how many feelings have to be tested and tortured.”

“You can see so thoroughly, is there any emotional experience?” Lian Ru Ning asked seeming inadvertently.

Hao Jian grinned, “My experience doesn’t come from me. It’s my parents.”

This was the first time Hao Jian mentioned her father and Lian Ru Ning couldn’t help but perk up her ears.