TDRA Chapter 44

After filling all their utensils with water, they began to build a fire in the middle of the room.

They shifted the gas tank and stove to the middle of the room, then set up a large pot with the freshly collected rainwater poured into it. Then the group of them stood up and gathered around the pot, surrounding it tightly, and after a while, a very strong aroma of the meat filled the whole room.

Those who hadn’t eaten meat in a long time couldn’t help but breathe in a few intoxicating smells of it and then their craving was completely aroused.

Jia DaoZhang gulped, then lowered his voice and said: “Do you think they will give us a bite of the meat? Even if there is no meat, the broth will do too.”

A few soldiers gulped in unison and couldn’t help but chime in: “It smells so good!”

The gazes of the others couldn’t help but drift to that direction as well.

Xiang Xu couldn’t help but glance over a few times and say: “It really smells so good.” She finally looked like a little child when she craved food.

When Gu Ning smelled the rich aromatic smell of the meat, she didn’t know why, instead of having the desire to eat, she felt a little sick in her stomach.

The group of people was all given a bowl of broth with a few pieces of meat floating in them. All of them sat on the ground with their bowls, enjoying themselves so much that they didn’t even glance over.

It didn’t seem like they were going to invite Gu Ning and the others over to share with them.

It had been several hours since Gu Ning and Bai Lang’s group had taken their meal. With the serious physical exertion they did, it was about time they needed to have to intake food. Upon hearing the sounds of soup and meat being chewed at this moment, this was undoubtedly a huge temptation and torture for them. Moreover, coupled with the expressions of great enjoyment of those savouring the steaming broth, it caused their stomachs to growl in great hunger.

Although Jia DaoZhang and the rest were already salivating, they could only hold back their hunger as Gu Ning remained indifferent and rested with her eyes shut.

On the other hand, some people in Bai Lang’s group were unable to resist the temptation.

Gu Ning and Bai Lang simultaneously opened their eyes in a slight crack and watched as Yan Yu stood up and walked over to the other group.

Everyone watched her as she strolled over.

Yan Yu walked over gracefully and said something to the man-in-charge of the soup, then came back with a bowl of hot broth with a smile, her eyes glanced over at Gu Ning’s group with undisguised smugness.

Seeing that Yan Yu managed to get a bowl of broth so smoothly.

The others couldn’t hold back any longer.

Watching Bai Lang and Pei jing’s group of people stood up one by one and went over to ask for the soup, Jia DaoZhang, Cheng Ming, Huang MengYao, Xie YuHong, Xiang Yi and the soldiers all looked blearily at Gu Ning. Even Xiang Xu’s eyes were tinged with longing, clearly seeking Gu Ning’s opinion, yet Gu Ning kept quiet and shook her head imperceptibly, directly severing their thoughts of having some soup.

Bai Lang silently watched Gu Ning shaking her head, a flash of understanding flicked in his long slanted eyes, then he inclined his head and muttered to the man wearing a white shirt. The man in the white shirt glanced over thoughtfully and then whispered to the person beside him, after which none of their group stood up to ask for a taste of the broth. For some reason, Pei Jing didn’t ask for it either, and politely declined Yan Yu’s invitation to have a sip.

“It tastes so delicious.” A man who couldn’t resist took a sip of the broth before he could walk back to his seat and exclaimed with wide eyes.

“It’s really so tasty, I’ve never had such a good broth before and it smells so good.” Another man chimed in.

“It’s been so long since I’ve eaten anything hot.” Another person exclaimed.

Another person chewed the meat in their mouth and said vaguely: “But this meat would taste even better if it had been stewed for a longer time, it was too hard to chew.”

The rest who didn’t get the soup because of the decision both Gu Ning and Bai Lang made were all depressed. These people should just drink the soup, why did they have to describe it so much?

The dimpled girl walked over with a bowl of broth and asked Gu Ning with a smile: “They’ve all gone for the broth, why don’t you try it? There’s still a lot left in the pot, enough for all of you to have it. Here, I’ve brought over a bowl especially for you.” With that, she handed the bowl in her hand to Gu Ning, and in the bowl, there were quite a few pieces of meat settled under the wobbling broth.

Gu Ning, however, didn’t take it and just smiled: “Thank you for your kindness. But we had lost too many of our companions on the way here, so none of us have the appetite to eat now.” Her smile was slightly tired and apologetic which seemed to be very genuine.

Jia DaoZhang shouted and growled in his mind, Gu Ning, you don’t have an appetite but I do!!!

In fact, when Gu Ning referred to “us”, it included all of them. Even though the broth was valuable, Gu Ning was even more precious, so Jia DaoZhang would not do something as stupid as tearing down Gu Ning over a bowl of broth.

The look of grief on his face for not getting the chance to eat the broth really seemed like he was grieving over the death of his companion.

“That’s a shame.” The dimpled girl looked at the bowl of soup she was holding and said regretfully: “A soup that tasted so good may never be available again.”

When Xiang Xu watched the dimpled girl’s back as she left with the broth, thinking about the look on her face as she spoke just now. An unexplainable feeling of creepiness scared her. Although she didn’t know why Gu Ning wouldn’t let them have the broth, Gu Ning always had a reason for her decision.

The little dimpled girl didn’t come over to Gu Ning’s side again after she had refused her broth. She just sat in the corner talking and laughing with the young men and women in her group.

After an hour or so.

The pounding rain didn’t even show the signs of stopping.

The sky was as dark as ink from the inkstone. As far as the eye could see, the whole city was enveloped in complete darkness.

The room was pitch black because there was no light source.

However, Gu Ning’s vision was not affected in the slightest.

Most people were lying on the floor with their eyes open and whispering during this hour.

Afterward, Gu Ning saw the dimpled girl and several other young men and women walking out of the room together in the dark. Their footsteps were so light that if it wasn’t for people like Gu Ning who had a keen sense of hearing plus the darkness of the room, no one would have noticed them walking out.

“Keep up with them.” Gu Ning lowered her voice and whispered to Xiang Xu.

Xiang Xu naturally saw those people walking out and knew what Gu Ning meant by following them. She nodded solemnly and then closed her eyes, the water in her white lake rippled slightly before her spiritual power surged out silently and went after those people.

The speed of her spiritual power was unimaginably fast and soon it enveloped those people, and Xiang Xu manipulated it to analyse their behaviour.

“They went upstairs……” Xiang Xu lowered her voice, which wasn’t too obvious in the environment where many others were whispering, so she whispered to Gu Ning describing the scene her spiritual power had perceived: “There was a flat roof above and they went into a small room….. They seem to be discussing something……” Xiang Xu paused for about ten minutes and then continued: “They’re coming down.”

“Hold on to your knife, something bad might happen tonight.” Gu Ning said coldly.

Xiang Xu shifted her gaze to Gu Ning immediately. Looking at her cold side profile, Xiang Xu felt a chill run through her heart while the thought of the corpse under the tarp made her feel slightly afraid of the possibility of something bad might happen which Gu Ning mentioned to her. Gu Ning turned over to Zhang XiaoBai and then whispered: “Zhang XiaoBai, inform the others to stay alert and awake for tonight and keep their guns in their hand.”

Zhang XiaoBai froze for a moment and immediately thought about Gu Ning’s unusual behaviour this afternoon. She might have discovered something but he didn’t question her and just obeyed her order to inform everyone in a whisper.

Jia DaoZhang, Cheng Ming, and the rest, who had been drowsy, immediately lost all tiredness when they heard Zhang XiaoBai relaying Gu Ning’s order.

The atmosphere inevitably became tense.

Soon the dimpled girl’s group re-entered the room silently, they even glanced over but there wasn’t even the slightest light source in the night so they couldn’t see a thing.

Gu Ning’s vision clearly saw the expression on each of those people’s faces in the darkness before she settled her gaze on the dimpled girl’s face. As if they were reassured by the absolute darkness, the little girl recklessly removed the usual harmless mask that she showed during the day and revealed her true hidden agenda. That expression was absolutely cold and numb, while her eyes were filled with what Gu Ning had seen countless times before in the eyes of those zombies who had lost their sense of self and left with only their instincts of greed, excitement, and hunger. The combination of indifference, numbness, excitement, and hunger made her expression look particularly ghastly in the darkness.

Xiang Xu couldn’t help but cover her mouth to prevent herself from screaming out.

Even Gu Ning felt a bone-chilling cold rise up her spine.

They were just like zombies and treated humans as if it was food.

Then those…… The meat they just ate tonight was human flesh!

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(T/N: Escape from a danger and now into another… Thank you all for reading =))

(Editor: De Vile)