Seeing that simple word, Xu Que couldn't help but want to slap himself hard.
How foolish he had been in his past life! To throw away a campus beauty and instead pursue that venomous woman, Liu Ruyan!
As Xu Que lamented his past, a message from Shen Mengchu suddenly popped up.
"I don't know if you remember, but fifteen years ago, in the spring, at the orphanage gate, you saved a little girl. That girl was me!"
Upon reading this message, Xu Que finally recalled the little girl he had saved from the hands of human traffickers...
At the time, he had assumed she was a new arrival at the orphanage, so he rushed forward to help.
Though he had been badly beaten for his trouble, at least he had managed to save her.
As Xu Que was lost in these memories, Shen Mengchu sent another message.
"I know you like Liu Ruyan, but with the coming of the apocalypse, I can no longer suppress my secret feelings. If you don't ask today, perhaps I will tell you this secret just before I die. Though I don't know whether I will survive tomorrow, I want you to know that I like you! I always have, and that has never changed!"
Slap!
Xu Que slapped himself hard. He really couldn't take it anymore.
If it weren't for his reincarnation, he might never have figured out who was the real treasure in his life!
Regaining his composure, Xu Que immediately replied to Shen Mengchu with a simple message.
"The road ahead is filled with danger, but I will protect you."
On the other end of the line, Shen Mengchu's face flushed with warmth. At that moment, she felt that the Xu Que before her seemed different somehow!
Just as Shen Mengchu typed a simple "Okay," a knock sounded at her door.
A voice from outside called out, "Mengchu, the training camp people are here. Get ready to leave."
Upon hearing that the special training camp had arrived to pick her up, Shen Mengchu quickly changed her clothes.
As she opened the door, she saw her father, dressed in military uniform.
"Make sure you perform well, and don't disgrace the Shen family!" Shen Tianhe said solemnly.
"Yes!" Shen Mengchu saluted like a soldier.
Shen Tianhe nodded in satisfaction and escorted his daughter downstairs.
As they watched the military vehicle leave the neighborhood, Shen Tianhe took out his phone, spoke a few words into it, then drove off.
As Xu Que entered the city, the distant sounds of gunfire reached his ears.
Though the situation seemed temporarily under control, Xu Que knew it was merely the calm before the storm. After all, in just over twenty days, the first great calamity would arrive.
By then, the population would be decimated, and the world order would be rewritten.
"This neighborhood should be destroyed by now... Looks like my first priority is to find a place to rest."
Just as Xu Que was pondering where to find a temporary refuge, an unfamiliar phone number appeared on his screen.
As soon as he picked up, Liu Ruyan's angry voice rang out.
"You worthless fool, how dare you block my number? Are you trying to force me to break up with you?"
"Fine, if you want to break up, then let's break up," Xu Que replied nonchalantly.
Liu Ruyan froze at his words. She felt something was off with Xu Que but still responded, "Xu Que, I'll give you one last chance. Bring the meat you got and deliver it to my house."
"Are you out of your mind, Liu Ruyan?" Xu Que mocked. "You want to break up with me and yet ask me to deliver meat to your family?"
"Xu Que, listen up. I have the country behind me now. I'm part of the special training camp. You should know what that means!"
Xu Que glanced at the phone number on the screen and grew more disgusted with Liu Ruyan by the second.
"Xu Que, you should understand, as an ordinary citizen, you can't face the power of the state. Take my advice—bring the meat to my family. Maybe I'll spare you, just because you used to kiss my ass. But if you don't, I won't stop my people from dealing with you. Got it?"
A cold smile crept across Xu Que's face as he prepared to make her suffer for her arrogance, but instead, she kept pushing for more.
"Liu Ruyan, I'm very much looking forward to seeing you try and have someone kill me. But I'll tell you this, the meat will be delivered to your family!"
Xu Que hung up the phone, his expression dark, as he gazed toward the West District.
On the other side, Liu Ruyan was furious. She hadn't expected Xu Que to hang up on her, but when she heard that he would deliver the meat to her family, her pride swelled. She didn't give it much thought.
What she didn't know was that by the time she saw her mother and brother again, they would be half-dead from Xu Que's torment, and her father would already be a corpse!
As Xu Que drove through the city, the streets were eerily quiet. The once-bustling metropolis had turned into a ghost town.
While contemplating whether to stay in the West or South District, Xu Que happened upon a gang of thugs raiding a jewelry store.
"Move faster, take everything we can while we have the chance!" shouted a thug wearing a stocking over his head.
"Boss, are we gonna get caught?" one of the lackeys asked as he stuffed items into a bag.
"Don't worry, I've checked. The patrols are all at the front lines fighting those monsters."
The gang relaxed and sped up their looting. But before they could celebrate their success, Xu Que's voice rang out from the doorway.
"Yu Xiong, from Yujian County in Silver River City, wanted for manslaughter a year ago, fled to Modu. Three months ago, he extorted 50,000 from Ji Bodan and tried to intimidate a girl. But when he saw her face, his lustful intentions led him to..."
"Who?!"
Yu Xiong froze, his face turning pale as he turned toward the door.
"I knew it was you," Xu Que smiled coldly, his eyes glinting with malice.
"Who are you?" Yu Xiong asked warily.
"It doesn't matter who I am. What matters is, today is your day to die."
"Ha! Kid, you must be out of your mind. How dare you speak to me like that!" Yu Xiong sneered, brandishing a fire axe as he charged toward Xu Que.
Xu Que shrugged nonchalantly, then took a step forward.
Bang!
In an instant, Yu Xiong was sent flying as though kicked by a giant.
The rest of the thugs stood frozen, their minds unable to process what had just happened.
"Cough...cough...ugh!"
Yu Xiong tried to stand, but instead, blood poured from his mouth as he collapsed.
"I'm curious," Xu Que walked toward him, his voice dripping with disdain. "How come a scum like you hasn't been eaten by those dimension creatures yet? You should be dead by now... but if you rise again, many more will die at your hands."
In his past life, Yu Xiong had been a mercenary hired by Ji Bodan's company. He looked like an ordinary mutant, but in reality, he was involved in all sorts of illegal activities, including murder.
Each time he entered a dimensional space with a team, he would be given a mission to kill.
His most infamous act was when he killed two Class-A mutants from a risk company within the dimensional space.
"Who... who are you really?" Yu Xiong's voice trembled as he looked up at Xu Que.
"Who I am doesn't matter. What matters is... you're about to die!"
Yu Xiong's twisted grin widened as he thought Xu Que was just bluffing. But before he could say anything, the air was filled with the sound of a whistling punch.
Whoosh!
With a single blow, Xu Que's fist exploded Yu Xiong's skull.
The remaining thugs panicked, dropping their bags and scrambling to flee.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...
Five chunks of cement flew through the air, striking the fleeing thugs directly in the head.
Thud, thud...
The five thugs dropped dead, their heads shattered by the concrete.
As Xu Que walked away, the only thing left behind was six lifeless bodies, heads completely destroyed.
Checking his phone, Xu Que made a decision.
He was heading to Liu Ruyan's house in the West District.