Apocalypse Escape: Day One of Survival

”Zhao Jian! Zhao Jian!” Lin Yiyi shrieked hysterically.

Several bare-chested men’s expressions turned ugly as they glared fiercely at the screaming little girl.

Xie Ning glanced at one of the tattooed men. ”Are you the Space Ability User, Zhao Jian?”

”No, he’s Yan Zhong, a Power-type Superpower User. The one next to him with the glasses is Zhao Jian,” the little girl cried out anxiously. ”Uncle Zhao, I told you not to do this, but you just wouldn’t listen to me.”

”See? Now you’ve been exposed,” Lin Yiyi sobbed. ”What are we going to do?”

”Shut up.” Xie Ning squeezed Lin Yiyi’s neck, her gaze fixed on the Space Ability User, Zhao Jian. She said flatly, ”This child has a very rare Beast Taming Power. She’s important to you, isn’t she?”

”Now, hand over everything in your Space in exchange for her life.”

Yan Zhong was absolutely livid. ”What makes you think we’ll trade with you?”

”What makes me think so?” Xie Ning’s smile was full of warmth.

But her hands tightened their grip, making the little girl’s face turn blue as her mouth fell open in terror.

”Because with one little snap, I can easily break her soft, pitiful neck.”

”How’s that for a reason?”

Yan Zhong’s pupils constricted.

Zhao Jian, however, looked composed. He reached up to adjust his glasses and said coolly, ”And if I refuse?”

Xie Ning tilted her head, and the force in her hands suddenly increased.

She grabbed Lin Yiyi’s body with one hand and twisted her head with the other.

She looked as if she was about to rip the girl’s head right off her body.

Lin Yiyi was truly scared to death. She let out a high-pitched, piercing scream and began spewing ugly curses. ”AHHH, I don’t want to die! I don’t want to die! Yan Zhong, don’t you want to know how much stuff Zhao Jian has been hiding? I can tell you everything! Save me, save me!”

Yan Zhong whipped his head around and grabbed a pale-faced Zhao Jian. ”You really have been hiding things from me!”

Xie Ning frowned slightly, then suddenly flung the child away like a piece of trash, sending her crashing into Yan Zhong.

”AHH!!”

The moment Yan Zhong caught the child, he knew something was wrong.

He looked down and saw that Lin Yiyi had wet herself in fear. A foul odor wafted up from her.

At the same time, Xie Ning’s phantom-like figure closed in, and a Metal Wire instantly appeared at the throat of the Space Ability User, Zhao Jian. ”Do you still want to refuse?”

Zhao Jian swallowed nervously, feeling the thin Metal Wire around his neck seemingly embed itself into his skin.

If she applied any more pressure, his head would likely roll right off his neck.

”How... how... how much do you want?”

”Everything,” Xie Ning said, watching him with a smile. The corners of her lips curled up in a mocking sneer.

”This is just thieves robbing thieves, so of course I’m taking everything. Did you expect me to be polite?”

Zhao Jian gulped hard.

”My hand is getting a little tired.”

Zhao Jian licked his thick lips and, with a sharp raise of his hand, several shelves of various sizes appeared beside him.

They were piled with instant noodles, crackers, and some self-heating hot pots.

”You actually stole this much!” Yan Zhong casually tossed aside the piss-soaked Lin Yiyi and glared at Zhao Jian, his eyes practically bursting with rage.

The kid had always told him his Space was small and couldn’t hold much cargo.

But now he was pulling out several shelves?

Xie Ning smiled and nodded, then glanced sideways at Cres, who was standing nearby. ”Well?”

”That’s not nearly all of it,” Cres snorted.

Xie Ning tightened the Metal Wire, her smile growing even more kind and benevolent. ”It seems you think your supplies are more important than your life.”

”No, that’s not it, not at all,” Zhao Jian stammered, scared out of his wits and not daring to move.

With a wave of his hand, several more piles of supplies appeared next to them.

”Hmm, you’ve collected quite a variety of things,” Xie Ning said, kicking a few cases of foreign liquor and cigarettes at her feet.

”Is there more?”

”N-No more, boss. R-Really, there’s nothing left,” Zhao Jian said, craning his neck. He could feel a thin trickle of blood slowly dripping from where the Metal Wire was embedded.

”Cres?”

Cres rolled his eyes. ”There are still twenty cases of mineral water and two camphorwood chests he hasn’t taken out.”

”No, that’s impossible.” Zhao Jian’s eyes widened, and he turned his head to look at the little blond boy who had spoken.

The movement was a bit too large, and beads of blood trickled down along the Metal Wire.

Cres raised an eyebrow, looking smugly at Xie Ning. His meaning was clear.

’See? I scared the little four-eyes!’

After Cres advanced to a Third Rank Spiritual System Superpower User, one of his new abilities was being able to see the contents of a low-level Space Ability User’s Space at a glance.

Cres’s Spiritual Ability was so useful that even Xie Ning couldn’t help but feel a bit jealous.

Looking at the supplies now surrounding her, Xie Ning raised her eyebrows and glanced at Ge Yan. ”Ms. Yanzi, can your Space hold all this stuff? Help me pack it up for now. I’ll give you two cases of mineral water as payment.”

”You got it.” Ge Yan’s eyes lit up, and she scampered over to Xie Ning’s side.

Working for Ningning was always rewarding; two cases of mineral water for free just like that was a job no one would refuse.

Thankfully, her Space Ability had recently advanced to the Second Order by a stroke of luck.

Now with a forty-five-square-meter Space, Ge Yan could just barely fit all of these supplies.

Li Xiang opened her mouth to curse but was pulled back by her group leader and silently closed it again.

She shot Ge Yan a vicious glare.

At that moment, Xu Bailiang, Zhong Shichong, and the others had reached the hatch to the basement. They looked down and were startled by the river of blood inside.

Only a few living people were left, struggling desperately against a dozen or so zombies.

Xu Bailiang tossed a Fireball down, incinerating two of them.

”Captain Zhuang, you lied to us?” The basement was only about a dozen square meters, its entire layout visible at a glance.

What cotton storage is there in here?

There’s nothing at all!

Zhuang Lei hurried forward, and his face turned pale as he got a clear look at the scene inside. ”Ah Liang, Da Xiong! Save them!”

He didn’t even need to shout his useless orders; Ge Yan had already pulled a rope from her Space and thrown it down.

There were only four survivors, three men and one woman. When they were pulled up, they collapsed, sprawling on the ground and gasping for breath.

”How could this happen?” Xu Yu looked astonished. ”Zhuang Jia, what on earth happened? Say something!”

Zhuang Lei also rushed forward to look at his sister. ”Zhuang Jia, what’s going on? How did you all...”

The man next to Zhuang Jia shot them an annoyed glare. ”Are you stupid? You still can’t see it? We were played!”

”There was no cotton inventory. Yan Zhong and the rest of the Avalanche Team just tricked us into going down there so they could rob everyone.”

”It’s just a tiny workshop. With so many people on a scavenging mission, how could there possibly be any stock left?” Zhuang Jia said, furious.

It was as if Xu Yu was only just now putting it all together. With a look of shocked disbelief, she turned to Yan Zhong and his men. ”You? Why would you...?”