Apocalypse King: Recruiting S-Tier Beauties With My Ruler System
Chapter 110: A mututal Agreement... The dangeorus South

Chapter 110: A mututal Agreement... The dangeorus South

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March 18, 20xx — 13:05 PM

Zone 2A-Δ – John Wang’s Aparment area.

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The shift in his body was instant.

He tapped something on the wood.

Below, the guy with the rifle stood up, quick but smooth.

Mu Qinglan took one step forward. Her voice was ice. "They took it."

Even Yifei seemed dazed, her breathing becoming harder. "This was our place..."

"Stay calm," I said.

"No." Yifei snapped her head toward me, eyes lit with fury. "They destroyed it. Look at that tarp! The solar panel! They burned our furniture!"

’Ah...’

I hadn’t told Yifei about my ability yet... so she blamed these men for my dismantling. However, I didn’t want her to be mad at me, so I remained silent about it.

’Sorry, Soldier brothers.’

I grabbed her shoulder and pulled her slightly behind me.

Her eyes locked on mine.

"They ruined it," she hissed.

"I know."

Her eyes trembled with rage, but she didn’t lunge.

That was enough.

The guy with the rifle stepped forward, hands loose at his sides — not raised, not hostile. Just ready.

He spoke first.

"You lot from the south side?"

"No," I said.

He studied me.

Then the group.

Then back to me.

"Wasn’t expecting company. This place was dead last week."

"Not anymore."

Behind him, the smoker shifted and put a hand on their waist — a pistol visible, low calibre, holstered backwards.

The guy on the roof adjusted slightly, still prone. Watching.

I nodded toward the building. "That was our place. You’re living in it."

The rifle guy tilted his head. "Yeah? You got proof?"

"I was just stating a fact, sit down and shut the fuck up."

These words... feelings.

I didn’t know I had them inside me, but I’d gone and done it now.

Honestly, I was just being immature and abrasive if I could have destroyed that entire apartment, because it carried memories of Mu Qinglan.

So seeing others inside scratched me in a place I couldn’t reach.

The guy with the rifle blinked once.

Didn’t step back. Didn’t step forward either.

A flicker of something passed through his eyes — confusion, maybe offence — but it died fast. I could tell what kind of man he was now. Ex-military, or trained close enough to fake it. Disciplined. Measured.

But not dominant.

He didn’t speak right away.

The one with the hood spat to the side, then spoke up. Female voice, rough and sandpapered.

"Tch. Big words for someone walking in with a fan club."

She took a slow drag from the cigarette, like she wanted to provoke a reaction.

Let the smoke trail out of her nose, all casual.

Yifei stepped forward again. Not aggressively, just one step. Close enough to make the motion feel heavier than it was.

"Shut your mouth," she said. "You’re squatting in our memory."

That quieted the woman. Her brows pulled down, but she looked away instead of answering.

Memories were important now, not just to us, but these people obviously understood, the leader wasn’t a bad guy, I could tell with how well he took me snapping at him.

Mu Qinglan’s eyes hadn’t left the guy with the rifle.

The anger had cooled into something scarier. Cold, steel-forged judgment. Her bat still rested in her hand, but I could see her knuckles going white.

She wasn’t going to speak or do anything unless I pushed it. I knew that if her bat hit any of them even lightly, their lives would be over.

None of them had evolved or reached stage two.

I gave them all one look, slow and clean, and then turned to the man again.

"Your name?"

"...Zhang Jie."

"Used to be?"

"Public Security."

"Thought so," I said.

He seemed surprised I pegged him that easily.

The hooded woman leaned off the wall. Her tone changed — less hostile, more amused.

"How about you, handsome?"

"John."

She smirked. "Hmmm..."

Her eyes ran over me a little too slowly. I just shrugged with a smirk — nothing serious — but that one movement sent a jolt down the line.

She eyed me up, and I just shrugged with a smirk, but this action seemed to trigger Mu Qinglan and Shen Yifei, who both grabbed one of my arms and pulled me behind them, stepping in front of me.

Just enough to block her gaze.

Claiming.

The hooded woman chuckled.

Zhang Jie didn’t comment. He just smiled faintly and lowered his rifle — not dropped, just at ease.

"No. I think we walked into something we didn’t know about. But in these times, it’s hard to find a place to survive, right?"

"Yeah," I said, letting out a short breath. "I was a bit too aggressive."

The honesty was small, but it shifted something. Took the heat off everyone’s shoulders. Even Yifei stopped grinding her teeth.

Behind me, the others held their formation. Tense but ready. Chen Xun and Deng Hua looked unsure, but they didn’t lower their bows. Liang Mei and Qiu tried not to look terrified. Zhou Xue stood in quiet balance, one hand resting on her thigh, never once taking her eyes off the man on the roof.

Good.

I lifted my chin just enough to address all three of the strangers.

"So what do you wanna do?"

Zhang Jie gave the rooftop man a subtle signal, two fingers down.

The binoculars lowered.

The smoker stepped off the wall, finally stopping her idle circling. Still didn’t speak again.

He looked at me again. "We’ll hold the place a few more days, then move on. We’ve got people scattered. We’re just regrouping."

"Fine," I said. "Don’t trash the place."

"We didn’t. Cleaned it, actually. There was mold upstairs. Cracked pipe."

I didn’t respond, but I let the silence stand as permission.

He nodded again.

"Thanks for not shooting."

"You didn’t shoot first," I said. "That’s rare."

He gave a small grin. "You’re not what I expected from someone walking around with five dangerous women and a damn teenage archer crew."

"Neither are you," I said. "Guess we’re both lucky."

He extended a hand — not a challenge, not a power play.

Just a hand.

I shook it.

It was rough, calloused, scarred at the knuckles.

Survivor hands.

"Once again, Zhang Jie," he said again.

"John Wang."

We let go.

No threats.

No fake smiles.

Just enough trust to move forward.

Zhang didn’t lower his voice, but his tone shifted — less edge, more curiosity.

"You coming from the university side?"

"Yeah."

"Still crawling up there?"

"Less than before. The Control-Type’s gone—"

"Control type?"

"The blue fuckers with big eyes, walking on all fours. They can control weaker zombies, be careful... they can control the Brute-Types. Brutes are the huge fat zombies that can transform into muscular beasts."

"Damn... thanks for the intel. We’re in your debt."

I didn’t mind, and these people might become allies in the future. It was the first male who wasn’t a low rank, so I tried to make up for my error.

Rather, his loyalty increased to me when I swore at him about this place being important.

A strange man.

"But it’s not safe, be careful. There are less than four hundred survivors holding in different groups and pockets. No coordination. Maybe some old evac sites might be in use. But the place is on the edge of collapse."

He nodded slowly. "Figured. Heard distant blasts a few days back — figured someone was cleaning or dying."

"They were dying."

He scratched his jaw, then gestured vaguely behind him, toward the southern roads.

"You heading past the mall?"

"Eventually."

"Careful," he said. "South end’s worse. Big-ass horde moved in two days ago. Someone triggered alarms inside the mall’s parking zone — might’ve been looters or a failed evac team. But now it’s a nest. Ground level’s rotted and swarmed. Don’t take the main roads. And don’t expect shelter from the big buildings — most are hollowed or half-collapsed."

My heart raced... alarms... mall parking zone... wasn’t that ME!?

I tried to avoid being obvious, but Mu Qinglan’s eyes widened while gazing at me with her lips curled into a smirk.

’Don’t blame me!’

The night we became a couple... did I cause another base to collapse...

’Aren’t I worse than the zombies?’

Yifei’s eyes narrowed. "Anyone still alive there?"

"Maybe a few. We didn’t got close. Saw a smoke signal once. Not sure if it was help or bait. But I didn’t get a good feeling from the area, not just the zombies... the people seemed jaded and strange."

I filed it away. Useful. But still vague.

"Thanks," I said.

Zhang shrugged. "Gotta trade something. You gave us a pass. I can give you a heads-up."

"Safe roads," he said again.

"For both of us," I replied.

We moved on, leaving the apartment behind.

Yifei and Qinglan didn’t look back.

And neither did I.