Apocalypse Escape: Day One of Survival

Mrs. He lifted one foot, wobbling as she stood on the other.

She gave Ningning’s mother a look of utter terror.

The quiet lasted less than three seconds before the old woman flopped down in front of the large iron gate. She sprawled out on the ground, slapping her thighs and howling, ”Oh, I just can’t go on like this!”

”My daughter’s in-laws are kicking our family of widows and orphans out! They’re going to hound us to our deaths!”

Under normal circumstances, all the busybody relatives and gossipmongers of the Song Family Pavilion would have gathered at the gate of Number 85, pointing fingers and spreading rumors.

But in the current situation, every household kept its doors shut. Even if the neighbors heard the old woman’s caterwauling, the most they would do was peek out from their balcony windows.

Xie Ning kicked the last of the luggage out of the gate of Number 85. With one hand, she grabbed the old woman sprawled in the doorway, dragged her out, and tossed her onto the concrete ground.

The whole operation was executed with fluid grace, without so much as a single wasted word.

The old woman clutched her back, howling, ”Oww, oww! Murder! It’s murder and arson! Isn’t anyone going to do something?!”

”He Shuping! Song Youyi! You two heartless creatures! Are you just going to stand there and watch someone treat your mother like this? There’s no justice! There’s no justice in this world!”

The timid He Shuping was already scared witless by the scene. She wrung her hands and stomped her feet. ”Mom, Mom, please stop making a scene!”

”Making a scene? Who’s making a scene?!” Mrs. He scrambled up and threw herself over her luggage, pounding on it as she cried and screamed, ”What did I ever do to deserve this! To give birth to such a heartless, ungrateful daughter.”

”You just watch your own mother, sister, and brother get bullied like this, and you can’t even muster a peep!”

”Mom!” The rims of He Shuping’s eyes reddened as she fought back tears.

”Mom.” Song Shijun ran over to He Shuping and grabbed her hand, then turned to yell at his maternal grandmother, ”Grandma, don’t yell at my mom! My mom didn’t do anything wrong.”

Mrs. He gasped for breath, livid. She pointed a trembling finger at Song Shijun. ”I knew it! You’re all the Old Song Family’s spawn! Every last one of you is heartless, with no regard for your own relatives!”

Song Yaoguo and Old Mrs. Song were getting a massive headache from this family’s drama. They hadn’t even had a chance to rejoice over their grandson Junjun’s safe return.

Hearing Mrs. He bad-mouth her own grandson like that, Old Mrs. Song immediately grew angry. ”That’s right. We of the Old Song Family are completely heartless. So why don’t you leave? What are you still doing hanging around here?”

”Go find another place to live. Stop squatting on the third floor and taking over my third son and his wife’s home.”

”Junjun’s grandma, how can you say that?” He Dayong ran out to help his mother up from the ground, then turned to Song Yaoguo and his wife. ”Junjun’s grandpa and grandma, we’re all family. Why must you be so cruel? We can talk this out.”

”And whose fault is that? It’s your old hag who’s always stirring up trouble,” Old Mrs. Song said, looking displeased. ”First she curses Ningning, then she curses Junjun. In your eyes, no one in the Old Song Family is any good. What’s there left to talk about?”

”That’s not what we meant,” He Shufen said, helping her brother He Dayong support their mother. She pouted defiantly. ”Big Sis, why don’t you say something for Mom? Cat got your tongue?”

”There’s nothing wrong with your sister’s tongue. Yours, on the other hand, is quite long. It should be cut in two,” a refined, spectacled man beside He Shuping said with a cold smile.

”Brother-in-law, how can you talk like that?” He Shufen was furious.

’None of the Songs are good people. They’re all stingy money-grubbers.’

”Oh my, Junjun’s grandpa and grandma, Junjun’s uncle and aunt, what are you all doing? Let’s just talk nicely. Why throw luggage and get physical?” A woman with curly, bleached-blonde hair came running over, smiling as she held the hands of two children.

The two children were both around ten years old, each holding a bag of pork jerky and chewing on it.

The moment Song Kexin saw them, her eyes went wide, and she let out a howl, ”Ren Dabao! He Xiaobao! You stole the snacks I put in the cupboard again!”

The little girl pounced like a hungry tiger to snatch it back, but the woman with the blonde curly hair blocked her with an outstretched arm, persuading her with a fake smile, ”Aiya, Kexin, you’re such a big girl now. Why are you fighting with two little kids over snacks?”

Song Kexin was so angry she reached out to slap the two little brats.

Ren Dabao and He Xiaobao hid behind the woman, sticking their tongues out and making faces at her. Right in front of Song Kexin, they stuffed a large piece of jerky into their mouths and gave her a provocative side-eye.

”Kexin, Kexin, what are you doing!” The woman half-pushed, half-held her back, then turned to a stone-faced Song Youzhi. ”Junjun’s uncle, Junjun’s grandpa and grandma, please don’t mind them. Kids don’t know any better, and they get hungry so easily. They see food and just open it themselves. We’ll pay for it, we’ll pay for it, okay? Later, just tell me how much it costs, and I’ll send you the money on WeChat.”

Song Kexin was so angry she rolled her eyes. ’WeChat, my ass! The internet is so spotty it’s barely even connected right now!’

”Mom, can’t we just sit down and talk things out? Why are you back on the ground again?” He Dayong’s wife shot Mrs. He a meaningful look.

Mrs. He scrambled up from the ground, dusted off her rear, and started walking toward the iron gate. ”Right. Let’s go back inside and talk it out properly. Let’s move our things back in.”

’That little bitch. It’s not her place to make decisions for the Old Song Family.’

’How dare she throw out all our suitcases and bags. I’ll make her pay for this later.’

Xie Ning grabbed a handful of the old woman’s hair—and she really did grab it—without any regard for the respect due to an elder.

Completely blindsided, the old woman opened her mouth and started howling, ”AWOOO! AWOOO!”

Xie Ning shoved her back outside the iron gate, then turned toward He Dayong’s wife, who was standing there stunned, her mouth agape.

Without giving the woman a chance to react, Xie Ning grabbed a handful of her curly blonde hair and, with the woman screaming like a banshee, casually tossed her out the gate.

He Dayong, trembling with rage, swung his arm back to hit her.

But before he could even touch a single hair on Xie Ning’s head, Song Youzhi knocked him to the ground with a single punch.

Seeing this, He Shufen shrieked, slapping her thighs and yelling, ”Hey! They’re hitting people! Murder! Murder!”

She was the spitting image of her mother, Old Mrs. He.

”Bully! Why did you hit my mom?” He Xiaobao, built like a little bull, charged over and tried to punch and kick Xie Ning.

Xie Ning grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, then seized the howling Ren Dabao, He Shufen’s son. She tossed the two little brats out the gate, throwing them on top of Mrs. He and the He family’s daughter-in-law.

The family of six, young and old, along with all their baggage, were swept out the door by Xie Ning.

SLAM! The iron gate slammed shut right in their faces.

Old Mrs. He sat slumped outside the gate, wailing like a banshee, ”You heartless thing raised by a bitch! A little beast whose parents never taught you anything! You won’t even spare the children!”

”There’s no justice! No justice at all!”

The old woman crawled to the gate, about to pound on it again, but sharp spikes suddenly jutted out from its surface.

Rows of metallic spikes, like the quills of a porcupine, emerged from the iron gate, glinting with a cold metallic sheen in the sunlight.