Apocalypse Escape: Day One of Survival

"Arrangements? What arrangements?" Meng Lanfang started to step forward, but when she put her foot on the next stair, she saw that the sharp Metal Spikes were nearly at her chest. She scrambled back in a panic.

"You people are so barbaric, so uncivilized. You’re hogging all these rooms on the fourth floor for yourselves, and you don’t even care if anyone else gets a good night’s sleep?"

"The floors below are all KTV rooms. How is anyone supposed to sleep in those?"

"Even if we can rough it for one night, how can our Yaoyao? Don’t forget, she’s the daughter of the base committee chairman, Huang Zhaosheng. You have a duty and an obligation to protect her."

A small square stool suddenly flew past Meng Lanfang.

Zhong’s eyes went cold. He stepped forward and shattered it with a single punch.

"Song Kexin, you wretched girl, how dare you throw a stool at your own mother?" Meng Lanfang shrieked. "You wretched girl, get out here right now!"

Song Kexin clapped her hands together, her face a mask of scorn. "What’s this? Done playing the doting mother? Hey, let me remind you of something. Your little act didn’t even last three days this time!"

"What did you just say, you wretched girl!" Meng Lanfang glared, about to rush forward, but Zhong quickly reached out and held her back.

The previously motionless Metal Spikes suddenly extended, growing longer inch by inch.

They couldn’t even stand on the fifth step anymore. The two had to retreat another flight, from where they could just barely see the tops of Song Kexin’s and her friends’ heads.

"You wretched girl! I raised you for nothing! You side with outsiders instead of helping your own mother."

"Who am I doing this for? I’m doing it for you and your cousin! Do you really think you gain anything by offending the base committee chairman? You might be capable, but you can’t just look down on the entire base!"

Zhong pulled Meng Lanfang down another step, his eyes filled with utter shock.

’A Fourth-stage Gold Element master’s superpower... can be controlled with this much precision?’

This was a level of control that probably no one could have imagined.

The length and hardness of these Metal Spikes were truly terrifying.

What was most terrifying was that even after consuming a massive amount of superpower energy, she still seemed to have enough left to keep extending them outward and upward.

’This person is definitely not someone we should cross.’ With that thought, Zhong quickly raised his voice. "Our apologies for the disturbance! Captain Xie, we just wanted to discuss the accommodations. Since you’re not willing, we’ll drop it! We’ll go rest downstairs right now."

Xie Ning’s silhouette slowly approached the barrier of metal spikes, her icy gaze fixed on Zhong below.

"Tell your Miss Huang to behave herself and stay out of my way," Xie Ning said, her voice frigid. "If I wanted to take her miserable life, it would be as easy as snapping my fingers."

"She can stay up on her high horse, continuing to play the part of the elegant and beautiful princess."

"But that’s only if she stops provoking me time and time again!"

The moment she finished speaking, a Metal Spike instantly shot out and pierced the stair landing right at Zhong’s feet.

The landing shattered, sending wood splinters flying everywhere with a loud CRACK.

Zhong’s pupils shrank. He grabbed Meng Lanfang and scrambled down the stairs with a frantic THUMP-THUMP-THUMP. "Yes, yes, we understand!"

Xie Ning leaned against the metal barrier, coldly watching the two panicked figures flee. She spoke faintly, "Pathetic. That’s the only word for it."

She reached out, put an arm around Song Kexin, and patted her on the shoulder.

Song Kexin’s lips curved into a brilliant smile. "Don’t worry, sis. That woman can’t get to me anymore. I’m not the same person I used to be. I’m not going to be so foolish as to cry my heart out just because I don’t have a mother’s love."

’A heart that has been broken so completely has long since gone numb. It can’t feel pain anymore.’

"She and I are strangers now," Song Kexin said faintly.

"Xinxin!" Ji Taixian suddenly bounded over to the pair, a fluffy stuffed rabbit in his hand. "Come on, come on! Let’s play *Dou Dizhu*! We’re one player short, and it’s you!"

"Hey, what *Dou Dizhu*? I’m trying to train my superpower..." Song Kexin protested as the big guy wrapped an arm around her neck and started dragging her toward a room.

"You can play *Dou Dizhu* and train your superpower at the same time! And while you’re at it, you can help us boil some water for our baths!"

Xie Ning watched them, torn between amusement and exasperation. She turned to her other teammates. "Xiao Huang Mao, Zuo Li, you two take the first watch. Have Zong Xuan and Zhou Tong take over for the second half of the night."

"Got it."

「Meanwhile.」

In a large KTV room on the third floor, a vicious-looking Huang Shi Yao smashed a wine glass. "She actually said that about me?"

"Yes, Yaoyao! If you had been there, you would have died of anger. That bitch is so arrogant and immoral, she’s a monster who’d turn on her own family."

"Before we got here, she even drove away her uncle, Su Tang."

"Miss," Zhong said, his expression completely calm. "A Fourth-stage Superpower User is too powerful. Even if our entire team fought her at once, we probably wouldn’t stand a chance."

"What are you trying to say?" Anger flared in Huang Shi Yao’s eyes. "That I should just swallow my anger and let this go?"

"No, Miss. I just mean that we shouldn’t antagonize her for now. We can wait for the right opportunity and then..."

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.

Huang Shi Yao took a deep breath. "That must be the one from the Healing System. Let him in."

A tall, thin figure walked in. The moment he stepped into the room, a cool sensation seemed to wash over everyone.

Huang Shi Yao raised an eyebrow. She hadn’t expected the boy from the Healing System to be so handsome, in a gloomy sort of way, with his hair styled in long, side-swept bangs.

His complexion was pale, making him look frail and lacking in vitality, but it also lent him a certain melancholic, cold charm.

Huang Shi Yao didn’t consider herself one to obsess over looks, but there was something about this fragile-looking boy that made her want to defile him just a little.

Her hand reached out instinctively.

Before she could even feel his cool skin, her hand was slapped away by a rough palm. WHAP!

Huang Shi Yao snatched her hand back. Seeing the red mark on it, she shot a vicious glare at the person standing behind the boy.

The woman with the bob cut had actually entered the room with the boy, but everyone had been so focused on the radiant youth from the Healing System that they had failed to notice her trailing him.

...

Xie Ning didn’t want to get involved with what was happening downstairs, but the noise was getting too loud. It was starting to bother her.

When Zuo Li saw her stand up, she quickly rose as well, murmuring, "I’ll go with you."

Xie Ning gave a slight nod, then glanced at her sister, who was sleeping like a log, sprawled out on her back. She was at a loss for words.

’It must be nice being a Fire Ability User,’ she thought. ’They have high heat resistance. To be able to sleep so soundly in this blistering heat...’

The two of them moved aside the metal barrier and headed down. The moment they reached the third floor, they stepped in a pool of blood.

Looking down, they saw a woman collapsed in front of the elevator. Her face was pale from blood loss, a wad of old newspaper was stuffed in her mouth, and she stared at them with a blank expression.

Zuo Li saw that the woman’s arms were covered in cuts that were still gushing blood.

The raw, exposed flesh was a shocking sight.

"What are you doing?!" Zuo Li couldn’t contain her fury, whirling to glare at the two Night Watchers standing nearby.

"Sorry, did we disturb you two captains?" one of the Night Watchers said with a casual laugh.

"We’ve stuffed the bitch’s mouth. She won’t be bothering anyone anymore, so please, go back to your rest."