Apocalypse King: Recruiting S-Tier Beauties With My Ruler System
Chapter 136: The Weight That Waits Below

Chapter 136: The Weight That Waits Below

March 19th, 7:45 PM — Jiang Roulan’s Building, 2nd Floor

—

The hallway lights dimmed during the early evening to save power, creating a long golden shadow across the freshly upgraded walls. I looked around the standard room, but most survivors had retired, and some voices echoed through the open doors.

Footsteps echoed down the padded corridor. Mine.

I probably looked a mess, with a half-buttoned shirt and pants hanging loose because Yifei threw my belt somewhere. My skin was still warm from the rooftop sunlight and scratches that marked my chest, arms and back.

A dull ache lingered in my thighs, hips, and neck.

Not to mention Yifei’s scent that lingered on me, even after the rooftop’s air.

A voice leaked out from the stairwell landing below. Male. Nervous.

"...You think the mall’s safe enough to raid tomorrow?"

A second voice followed it, much sharper and feminine.

"No. But it’s not about safe, is it? He said we’re going. So we’re going."

I paused by the railing, just out of sight. Kept my back against the cool wall and listened to them. There was truth in their words, and the sense of fear was worse than I thought.

"I’ve got family across town. If they die there... I’ll never know if they made it."

A pause.

"He brought us back from the brink, didn’t he? Miss Jiang’s building used to be a graveyard. Now it’s the safest place we’ve had in weeks."

"But for how long?"

Silence.

Then a quieter voice, resigned.

"We’re following him now. It doesn’t matter if we’re scared."

A door creaked open on my floor.

I turned, instinct kicking in.

Liang Mei stood at the threshold of her room. A cup of water in hand. Barefoot. Wearing an oversized grey T-shirt that hung just off one shoulder. Her hair was tied up messily, and her eyes were ringed faintly with fatigue.

She looked at me, and her face turned pink.

Her eyes dragged across my chest, focused momentarily, then traced to the red lines around my neck and the muscles on display from my half-opened shirt. The little sheep’s eyes lingered for a long time before she reacted.

Then her lips parted slightly.

"...Rough night?"

Her voice was casual. But something sharp glittered beneath it. She wasn’t teasing.

I didn’t answer.

She didn’t expect one.

"Extremely..." So I gave an answer that made the lovely girl blush more.

Her gaze stayed locked on mine for a second too long, then dropped to her cup. She took a sip without breaking eye contact.

The silence held between us like a thread.

She stepped aside to let me pass.

But I didn’t move.

She looked up again, and she looked uncertain for the first time since I’d met her.

Not nervous. Just thinking.

Her hand shifted on the cup. Her knuckles tightened slightly.

Then she turned without a word and stepped back inside her room. I didn’t know why seeing her felt so strange, but my heart felt uneasy as it thumped faster. Then her door clicked shut.

There wasn’t a smile or a comment... but something had changed. Today wasn’t the time to pursue that, though, either.

I walked on.

Each step was quiet, steady, leading down toward the lower floors.

—

March 19th, 8:15 PM — Second Floor Canteen

The room smelled like old soy, fresh rice, and recycled heat. Steam curled up from a large pot near the far table where Deng Hua sat cross-legged with his back against a pillar, waving a ladle like a baton.

Chen Xun leaned back in a folding chair with his boots on a box of dry noodles. Old Zhou smoked something that wasn’t a cigarette and coughed twice, loudly, before laughing at his wheeze.

"Ahh—speak of the devil," Deng Hua grinned as I entered. "We were just talking about you boss, are you gonna join us?"

"Of course I am."

Chen Xun gave a slow, impressed whistle. "You look like you survived a storm, boss."

I pulled up a chair.

The stool creaked under my weight as I sat down, one elbow on the table. Deng handed me a bowl without asking. Rice. Something spicy. It burned well and reminded me of the first day of the apocalypse.

Could I trust these people?

Will we become comrades and friends?

Yang Ping’s change... well, it wasn’t his fault as I was the one who rushed out and didn’t think logically, but the pain when he closed the shutters and door on me lingered.

I didn’t know that I was so sentimental.

Old Zhou leaned over with narrowed eyes.

"Women’ll ruin your back, boy. Make sure you stretch and wrap it up first!"

I snorted.

The old bastard made me blush; he seemed to have seen the love bites and scratches the blonde cat left on me.

The laugh was quiet, but it came out.

Somehow... with Old Zhou and the males from the university, I felt alive... normal... and didn’t want to see them die.

"This is nice..." I whispered, but the others didn’t even react.

We ate while chatting about dumb things, like boys do... and for a while.

It wasn’t awkward. Just nice.

The walls hummed faintly with the generator. Outside, someone shouted about water rotation, but it faded quickly. Everyone was starting to settle in again.

After the second bowl, I stood.

"I’ll see you tomorrow," I said.

None of them asked where I was going because I mentioned Mu Qinglan earlier. However, when asked about the marks, I folded and told them about Yifei.

The younger guys looked at me with shining eyes... but Old Zhou offered me a cup of strong, sharp whiskey and sighed.

They knew.

——

March 19th, 10:57 PM — Jiang Roulan’s Building, 10th Floor -> Qinglan’s Bedroom

The hallway was quiet by then.

Lights dimmed—no more chatter. The hum of building systems and the faint metallic creak of air ducts shifted as the temperature dropped.

Mu Qinglan waited by the door to the private room I’d set aside for the night.

Black nightdress.

Thin straps, with a mid-thigh hem.

Mu Qinglan folded her arms just beneath her breasts, pressing the fabric and lifting her melons higher. I could see her nipples through the thin material... she wasn’t wearing a bra.

Her eyes met mine before I even spoke.

"You reek of sex."

I stopped two steps from her.

No point denying it.

"Ah."

She stepped forward and hugged me, her hands brushing along my stomach, chest and slipping around my back, as she examined the marks on my body.

The faint tremble of her hand made my heart tighten.

"You fucked her."

I said nothing.

She tilted her head, then reached up and pressed two fingers to a red line on my neck. Her nails lightly scratched the healing edge.

"She made you cum hard enough to leave marks."

Still, I said nothing.

Qinglan stepped closer, now inches from me.

Her voice was quieter now, but not softer.

"Was it good?"

"I didn’t plan any of it."

A faint smile touched her lips.

The same kind she used when watching someone bleed out.

"Is that what you’re telling yourself?"

The tension held a moment longer.

Then she sighed, turned around, and pushed the door open.

"It wasn’t Roulan."

That made her pause.

"...Who?"

"Shen Yifei."

The reaction wasn’t dramatic. Not from Qinglan. But it was there — a blink, slower than usual. The slightest shift in posture. She sucked in the air and drew a breath more sharply through her nose.

"...That girl?"

"She’s not just a girl."

"No," Qinglan said, almost absentmindedly. "Apparently not."

She didn’t ask anything else. Just turned, pushed the door open, and walked inside.

I followed.

Then she reached back, pulled at the tie behind her neck, and let the nightdress fall to the floor. The thin fabric slid down her back, catching at her hips for half a second before pooling at her feet. She stepped out of it and kicked the door shut with her heel.

Then she turned.

And flung me onto the bed with one firm shove.

The mattress caught my weight as I landed, half-laughing, wind knocked from my chest.

Mu Qinglan climbed onto me, graceful, deliberate, eyes glowing faintly in the dim light. Her bare thighs straddled mine. Her hair spilt forward, brushing against my chest as her fingers pressed down my shoulders.

"Well... don’t forget your promise," she said, voice low and velvet.

I looked up at her — at the gleam in her eye, at the faint smirk on her lips that didn’t quite hide the hunger underneath.

"How many times?"

"...Four."

She grinned. Not cruel. Not jealous anymore.

Just competitive.

"Then I’ll make you forget her name by the third."

I reached up, fingers grazing her waist.

"Is that so?"

Mu Qinglan leaned down until her lips brushed my ear.

"We’ll see who’s holding who by morning."

She kissed me — slow and deep — as the sheet fell over us both. And in that heat and friction, her scent started to replace the one she hated.

And she didn’t let me sleep for hours.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.