"Don't joke around; my fat body won't catch your fancy," Hu Ye, covering his behind and continuously backing away, his face turned deathly pale in fear. He never expected Noah to have such preferences, similar to his peculiar-taste underlings.
"If you're into that, I have two subordinates who share your taste. Maybe you'd like to meet them instead?" Noah teleported in front of Hu Ye, grabbed him by the throat, lifting him up, and shouted, "Hand it over!"
[Target for plunder detected]
[Please select the direction of plunder]
"I want it all!"
[Replication successful, ability acquired: Wide-Scale Space S]
[Wealth plunder successful: 50 million points of resources obtained]
[Please select the location for resource transfer]
"Transfer everything into the Wide-Scale Space."
[Resource transfer successful. Please check your space promptly.]
Noah burst into laughter, shoulders shaking uncontrollably. At last, he had acquired a spatial ability, and not just any, but the top-tier Wide-Scale Space, with an area equivalent to a hundred thousand football fields. No more worries about where to store resources.
What thrilled him was the massive stash Hu Ye had accumulated: 50 million points in wealth, translating to billions in RMB. A million tons of meat, eggs, and dairy; two million tons of vegetables and fruits; hundreds of thousands of tons of fresh produce; a hundred thousand tons of spices; and half a million tons of beverages.
Compared to the wealth plundered from the lizardman, which was already considerable, Hu Ye's stash was five thousand times greater, equivalent to several basketball courts piled high, an amount he couldn't use up in several lifetimes. There were even over a dozen oil tankers filled with fuel.
Hu Ye's foresight was indeed unique, probably gathering resources from day one of the apocalypse with two awakeners as bodyguards. His early days of resource gathering were smooth sailing, acquiring everything for free.
No wonder the Iron Man didn't care about his subordinates' deaths; the real backbone of the Long Hu Gang was all with Hu Ye. The others were expendable and not worth mourning. Without Noah's intervention, who knows if these guys could have survived until the end of the apocalypse.
This exemplifies the uniqueness of the Wide-Scale Space ability, its capability to hoard resources surpassing even S-grade combat abilities in rarity and usefulness. Globally, there surely wouldn't be more than a hundred individuals possessing it—a true one in a billion.
Hu Ye had an incredibly lucky start, awakening a Wide-Scale Space ability at the beginning of the apocalypse, with capable lieutenants to support him. Unfortunately, he encountered Noah. At that moment, Hu Ye began screaming in terror, "My stuff is gone, everything in my space is gone, all gone!" "You did this, didn't you? Return my things, give them back to me!"
Hu Ye, eyes bulging with rage, frantically clawed at Noah. That was everything he had, resources painfully accumulated at the cost of over a hundred subordinates' lives. Without these, how was he supposed to survive?
"Shut up," Noah nonchalantly threw Hu Ye against the wall. "Considering you've hoarded so much for me, I'll grant you a painless death." Hu Ye glared at Noah with venom, "I curse you to a dreadful death, I won't let you off even as a ghost."
"Your wish is likely to remain unfulfilled. There aren't many who can kill me. Better pray for a good reincarnation. And a piece of advice for your next life: try not to cut in line, wait a bit longer, at least until after the apocalypse to be reborn," Noah suggested before unleashing a surge of electricity from his palm, turning Hu Ye into a pile of ash.
"Ah!!!" Xiao Bingbing, witnessing this, screamed and tried to run towards the door.
"Almost forgot, there was a witness," he remembered. The fact that he had acquired Hu Ye's vast resources couldn't be allowed to leak. An innocent man is guilty of the possession of treasure; such an immense amount of resources would surely attract the covetous eyes of many forces.
A bolt of lightning was thrown, pleasantly dispatching the once top-tier actress. Hopefully, she could continue to create classic films in heaven, assuming she went there instead of hell. With that, the Long Hu Gang was entirely wiped out.
Noah was thoroughly pleased with his fruitful venture outside. He then checked Hu Ye's computer and found dozens of USB drives filled with "educational" materials, featuring action movies from all over the world. Valuable indeed, he decided to take them along, storing the computer and its contents into his Wide-Scale Space.
Humming a tune, he descended the stairs. The women in the dance hall on the third floor hadn't left, still huddled in corners. They screamed and hid upon seeing Noah. Liu Xiaoyu, leaning against the door with a baseball bat and two bodies at her feet, likely Long Hu Gang stragglers attempting to flee in Noah's absence, had their heads bashed in by the vigilant Liu Xiaoyu.
Seeing Noah come downstairs, Liu Xiaoyu jumped into his arms, boasting, "Two tried to run, but I knocked them out. Pretty good, huh?" Noah ruffled her hair, "Look at you, all capable. Why didn't you stay outside, didn't want to get disgusted again?" Liu Xiaoyu shook her head, glancing at the women not far away, hesitating.
"Do you feel sorry for them?"
"Yeah." Liu Xiaoyu felt sympathy for these women, recognizing their plight as fellow women. She was also grateful to have met Noah; otherwise, she might have been starving somewhere or, like these women, kept as a plaything for others' amusement.
"There are many more like them, too many for your sympathy."
"I know," Liu Xiaoyu nodded somberly.
She naturally understood the reasoning and didn't expect Noah to help these people, but it still left a bad taste in her mouth, especially since half of these girls were quite young, around eleven or twelve years old.
Seeing this, Noah sighed and said to the group of women, "I've left some food for you in a room on the fifth floor. Make it last." The food was a deliberate gesture from Noah, merely a drop in the ocean of Hu Ye's resources, left for the women as an act of kindness. "When poor, one looks out for oneself; when able, one should help the world." He wasn't aiming to help the world, but doing a bit of good here and there was decent enough.
After saying this, Noah, with Liu Xiaoyu in tow, turned to leave. Liu Xiaoyu, happy, jumped onto Noah's back and planted a kiss on his cheek. "Dear!!" Noah responded with a smile. The women, upon hearing this, started sobbing, with a few even kneeling in the direction Noah was leaving, continuously expressing their gratitude.
In a world as cold as hell, even the slightest bit of compassion can feel incredibly warm and comforting.