Apocalypse Escape: Day One of Survival

The man rushed out with startling speed, crashing into an unprepared Mr. Wang.

Startled by the man’s blood-covered face, Mr. Wang leaped up as if electrocuted and roared, "What are you doing? Stay back! Don’t come any closer! You’ve been bitten by a zombie, haven’t you?"

"No, I wasn’t bitten by a zombie! I wasn’t!"

As he spoke, his limbs convulsed, exactly like someone having an epileptic seizure.

"Kill him, quick!" Li Xiang shrieked in terror. "He’s about to turn!"

Without a second thought, Xu Bailiang hurled a Fireball at the man.

SPLASH. A jet of water suddenly shot out from the side, instantly dousing the Fireball.

"What are you doing?" a woman yelled furiously, rushing over to confront Li Xiang and Xu Bailiang. "How can you try to kill someone without even looking properly? He wasn’t bitten by a zombie!"

"How can you justify slaughtering your own people?"

Xie Ning silently pulled Song Youxuan and the others back a few steps.

The moment the woman opened her mouth, Xie Ning recognized her. ’The great Holy Mother Xu Yu has arrived.’

Li Xiang grew agitated. "Who the hell are you? Stop throwing the word ’slaughter’ around. Open your own eyes and take a look! Look at the state he’s in! Look, just look! He has black veins on his face, and you’re still saying he’s not turning?"

"So what if he has black veins? As long as he wasn’t bitten by a zombie, he can be saved," Xu Yu declared, stepping in front of the blood-soaked man with an air of righteous indignation.

"You..." Li Xiang laughed in exasperation. "Are you insane?"

Xu Yu’s eyebrows shot together. "Who are you calling..."

Before she could finish her sentence, the male teammate she was shielding suddenly lunged, grabbing her by the neck and opening his mouth to bite her face.

"Ahhh!" Xu Yu’s eyes flew wide in disbelief. As her head snapped back, she let out a piercing scream. "Brother Lei! Brother Lei!"

"Xu Yu!" Zhuang Lei yelled, raising a large broadaxe as he charged toward them.

THWACK. The male teammate’s head was cleaved from his shoulders by the axe.

As the head flew through the air, blood from the neck stump sprayed all over Xu Yu’s head and face.

Xu Yu opened her mouth to scream, only to feel a spurt of blood spray directly into it.

Her face paled. She slammed her mouth shut and ran to the side, vomiting violently.

"Serves her right," Li Xiang sneered.

’What a lunatic. We even warned her the man was turning, and she still didn’t believe it.’

"Come on, let’s go."

"No, you can’t go." Though her face was pale from vomiting, Xu Yu still stood up to block their path. "We discovered that a lot of the stray cats behind the courtyard have mutated."

"We all have to work together to eliminate these stray cats."

"Otherwise, if anyone gets accidentally hurt by one, they’ll end up just like my teammate—a pointless sacrifice!"

"Are you insane? Who the hell are you to tell me what to do?" Li Dawei sneered at Xu Yu, cursing without restraint. "What rotten luck! We didn’t get any cotton and ran into a stupid bitch instead."

Xie Ning almost laughed. She pulled Song Youxuan and the others along, following Li Dawei’s group toward the exit.

"You people!" Xu Yu exploded with rage. "Have you no sense of camaraderie whatsoever? There’s a basement in the backyard. Several other teams are trapped in there by the cats!"

Li Dawei and his group were already out the door, heading for their vehicle.

Xu Yu chased after them, shouting angrily, "Don’t you want to collect cotton? There are three or four tons of it in the basement!"

The eyes of Li Dawei and his group lit up. They immediately turned back. "You’re not lying to us, are you?"

Li Xiang quickly interjected, "Xie Ning, let’s get this straight. If we work together, we split the supplies fifty-fifty. You can’t hoard it all!"

Ge Yan pursed her lips. "Always thinking the worst of people. See? Ningning and her group didn’t even bring a Space Ability User today."

Zhuang Lei and a few of his people hurried to Xu Yu’s side. He glanced at Li Dawei and Xie Ning’s group and nodded. "I’m Zhuang Lei, captain of the Swift Leopard Team."

Xie Ning stared back at him, her expression blank.

Li Dawei, Zhong Shichong, and the others got the distinct impression that Xie Ning was looking at Captain Zhuang like he was a complete idiot.

The disdain in her eyes was barely concealed.

"Several of my teammates, along with members from a few other squads, went into the nearby basement to collect cotton."

"Unfortunately, they disturbed a nest of incredibly fast mutant cats. Now they’re struggling to handle the situation. We’re hoping you can lend a hand and help rescue them."

"The Swift Leopard Team promises that if you can rescue our teammates, we won’t take any of the cotton in the basement. You can have it all."

"Obviously," Li Xiang snorted. "If we kill the cats and get the cotton, of course it belongs to us!"

"What Captain Zhuang should be thinking about now is the fee for rescuing your teammates!"

Xie Ning remained silent. For once, she felt this idiot Li Xiang was actually making a lot of sense.

"You want an additional fee?"

"What about it?" Li Xiang sneered. "You expect us to rescue people for free? Look, we won’t ask for much. Once your people are safe, just pay us, say... ten or twenty pounds of rice."

"Xie Ning, what do you think?" Li Xiang suddenly turned to ask.

Xie Ning grunted affirmatively.

Li Dawei was secretly pleased. He chuckled and said, "Captain Zhuang, didn’t you say there are a few other teams trapped down there? Do you think they can afford to pay us?"

Zhuang Lei: ...

"It’s you!" Xu Yu suddenly pointed at Xie Ning and cried out. "You’re... aren’t you Song Shijun’s older sister? What are you doing here?"

Zhuang Lei stepped forward and pulled her back. He turned and nodded at Li Dawei and Li Xiang. "From what I know of those other captains, they can afford ten or twenty pounds of rice."

"Then what are we waiting for? Xie Ning, let’s go!" Li Dawei turned, calling out to Xie Ning like they were old pals. "How about you take point? For the rescue fee, you take sixty percent, we’ll take forty!"

’Li Dawei’s plan was perfect.’

’Following Xie Ning was always the right move. If she was eating meat, they could at least get some soup...’

Xie Ning shot him a glance, then instructed her own group. "Zong Xuan, with me. The rest of you, stay back."

The two of them flashed out the back door. Li Dawei hastily led Li Xiang and the others to follow, moving cautiously.

A blurry shadow lunged from around a corner.

Without hesitation, Xie Ning pulled a gun from her bag and swiftly dispatched the pouncing cat.

The cat’s body fell to the ground, and a small pool of dark red blood spread out from under it.

Xie Ning glanced down. "It’s a Zombie Cat."

When animals mutate, their bodies can rapidly grow or shrink, or they might develop other special abilities.

But this kind of First-tier Zombie Cat remains in the state it was in at the moment of death. Getting scratched by one is pretty much the same as being infected by a regular zombie.

Mutated animals were a thousand times more trouble than regular zombies.

"Where’s the basement?"

"In the adjacent courtyard," Zhuang Lei said quickly. "The two yards behind this building are connected. You can get through via a small iron gate to the side."

A Crossbow Arrow from Wang Zongxuan’s weapon pierced another cat’s neck. His movements were incredibly swift.

Ever since awakening his superpower, his physical fitness and constitution were on a completely different level from that of an ordinary person.

Now, Wang Zongxuan’s speed and strength had more than doubled, and he handled the Metal Crossbow with increasing proficiency.