Apocalypse Escape: Day One of Survival

”Don’t you worry, Captain Gu. As long as you handle this matter, credit will go to whoever earns it. No one will try to take it.”

”What Yang Yiling did today was absolutely wrong! We will determine his punishment in a meeting shortly.”

”That might not be the best idea.” Gu Chen’s dazzling almond eyes widened, and he muttered under his breath, ’Won’t some people think that our Team A is the one badmouthing people to the leadership, stirring up trouble, and making baseless accusations?’

”They won’t!” Assistant Hu said, his voice firm and decisive. ”Absolutely not!”

He shot Gu Chen an urgent look, practically begging him to stop dawdling and get on with it.

Gu Chen’s gaze swept across the faces of everyone in the room. He smiled. ”You all heard what the director just said. I don’t need to repeat it, do I?”

”The higher-ups will certainly reprimand and punish the individual who overreacted today. That’s without question.”

”But what I want to talk about now is this: Do all of you really think you’re completely blameless?”

Gu Chen beckoned.

Just then, Zhai Ruobai and two teammates came over, carrying a television.

Confused, the crowd exchanged bewildered glances.

Gu Chen waved his hand, and someone started playing a short video.

The editor was clearly a pro; the video was exceptionally well-cut.

It opened with a scene worthy of a blockbuster movie.

A roiling horde of zombies filled the screen, a tidal wave of undead roaring as they clawed at the camera, their faces contorted in hideous snarls.

Everyone flinched back in terror.

The more timid among them quickly threw their hands over their eyes.

Gu Chen gestured toward the screen with a slender Metal Knife, his smile still light and casual. ”Everyone, what you’re seeing right now... this isn’t a scene from a movie.”

”This is the real front line.”

”This battle against the zombie horde has been raging for three days and two nights.”

”The reason the zombie horde hasn’t broken through the base gates, swarmed in, and torn apart everyone they see... what do you think that reason is?”

The entire room fell silent. You could have heard a pin drop.

”Did you really think you were saved by a bodhisattva’s blessing or a miracle from Buddha? Or perhaps an act of God?”

”No.” Gu Chen stood up straight, his cold gaze sweeping across the crowd. ”If you feel your living conditions aren’t to your liking, you’re free to protest.”

”But at the same time, there’s something you need to understand.”

”We’re not shooting a TV show or a movie. That apocalyptic horde of zombies outside is real!”

”Once the base gates are breached, the horde will pour in at a rate of millions per minute. When that happens, every single one of you will become zombie food. I’m sure you understand that better than anyone.”

”So, at a time like this, you still want to raise a fuss?”

Gu Chen casually pressed a button on the remote. His girlfriend instantly appeared on the screen, along with numerous Fire and Wood Element Superpower Users.

The crowd stared, their eyes wide with astonishment.

The Superpower Users were hovering high above the battlefield, suspended in mid-air like descending gods!

The camera couldn’t capture the Space Blades beneath their feet, so to the onlookers, the Superpower Users seemed to possess truly divine abilities.

And the sea of zombies roaring below—a veritable mountain of corpses—left the crowd utterly stunned.

This wasn’t a movie, a TV show, a poster, or a comic book. This was real.

While the Superpower Users were fighting for their lives amidst a sea of blood and corpses, they—the people in the shelter—were down here clamoring for better treatment.

At that moment, a deep sense of shame began to creep into the hearts of the more decent members of the crowd.

The footage then showed a Wood Element Superpower User pinning down a massive mutated creature with vines, as Thunder Strikes and blasts of fire erupted all at once.

Everyone fell silent, at a complete loss for words.

”You think Superpower Users get better housing and better food, but that all comes with a price.”

”You’re watching this on a screen, like it’s some action movie. You can’t possibly grasp the devastating, soul-crushing reality of the front lines.”

”In fact, the base just tallied the casualty numbers. We’ve lost nearly one hundred and fifty Superpower Users.”

”These one hundred and fifty people, to you, are just a number. But to their families, they were living, breathing flesh and blood.”

”Whose parents and siblings were these fallen Superpower Users? Whose spouses and children?”

”So, do you still think they’re ’enjoying’ their good housing, good food, and good benefits?”

Gu Chen’s eyes fell on a square-faced man in the crowd. ”Are you the one in charge of this?”

”No, no, no, not me.” Fang Gang’s face flushed beet red as he frantically waved his hands.

He had only been swept up by a group of rowdy middle-aged women and, in a hot-headed moment, had agreed to take the lead in ”negotiating” with the authorities.

In his normal life, he was just an ordinary factory worker.

Now that things had escalated to this point, he was panicking. He was starting to feel like this was a difficult and thankless job.

Being confronted directly by this young man with such a powerful presence, he didn’t dare say a word. He fidgeted, not knowing what to do with his hands.

”Both sides are responsible for what happened today.”

”Everyone, put yourselves in their shoes. Would you be willing to send your loved ones—your family—to the front lines, even if it meant they got good benefits in return?”

The crowd fell silent for a long moment, exchanging uncertain glances.

Seeing that the young men who had been leading the charge had given up, the rest of the crowd lost the will to continue.

”We understand everyone’s hardships and difficulties. But this is the reality of the situation at the base right now.”

”Being able to arrange for everyone to take shelter from the dust storms down here in the underground shelter was the best solution we could devise.”

”We can only go outside once the zombie horde has retreated and the storms have passed. But we can’t say for sure when that will be.”

”We have been completely honest about the situation outside and the level of danger. The only way we can overcome this crisis is by cooperating and weathering these difficult times together.”

”What do all of you think?”

”Don’t worry, Director Gu, we won’t cause any more trouble. We... we just got a little emotional, that’s all.”

”That’s right, that’s right. We didn’t want to make a scene, it’s just that some of your people were too aggressive. They started hitting us, and then tempers flared on both sides.”

”Yes, yes, that’s right.”

A smile bloomed on Gu Chen’s face, as pleasant and refreshing as a spring breeze.

Everyone was suddenly struck by how incredibly handsome the young man before them was.

Some of those who were suckers for a pretty face were won over instantly. They raised their hands, promising to follow the rules, and even proactively apologized to the people Yang Yiling had brought.

By this point, the expression on Yang Yiling’s face was absolutely foul.

Assistant Hu wiped the cold sweat from his brow and kept glancing back at Gu Chen with a nervous smile. ”Xiao Gu, I’ll leave things here in your hands. I need to go report back to the Secretary-General.”

Gu Chen glanced at him.

”Don’t worry! We will absolutely do what we promised you!”

”The official decision on Yang Yiling’s punishment will definitely be announced within three days.”