Apocalypse King: Recruiting S-Tier Beauties With My Ruler System
Chapter 154: A moment to catch breath.

Chapter 154: A moment to catch breath.

March 20th, 5:00 PM — Longwan Mall, Ground Level (Storage Wing)

John Wang POV

—

Time passed slowly, before an alarm sounded... my phone’s alarm for five o’clock.

The moment I stood up, dazed, tapping my phone several times before it turned off, the others all looked exhausted, but we couldn’t rest here.

"We should find a room to rest... returning home is probably impossible, right now."

Without killing those intelligent Ghouls, there was a chance they could follow us back to the base and set up in the buildings around us, killing anyone who stepped out.

So, killing everything was the only option right now, and to get some rest, they needed a place with no vents and only a single entrance.

A place they couldn’t crawl into, nor attack them while resting.

I scanned the interior again.

This warehouse had too many weaknesses—multiple shutters, broken vents, raised platforms, and stacked shelves with blind spots. It wasn’t secure enough. And worse, the air was starting to smell like blood and rot.

Liang Qiu, ever quiet, was the first to speak. "There’s a maintenance wing two halls west. Behind the emergency boiler room. Some kind of service office."

"Single entry?"

"I think so."

"Vents?"

"Maybe one above the door. Could be sealed. It’s small."

I nodded. "Let’s check it."

Thanks to the system, I could see most of the mall’s layout and found three rooms that could suit our needs. Time was ticking, and soon it would be nightfall and even though this place remained dark, with the faint lights...

After dark, it would be even worse.

"John, I’ll trust you."

"Me too."

Mu Qinglan, Jiang Roulan and Liang Mei all nodded at me, while the others smiled at best. It wasn’t the time to be high energy, and we didn’t have the leeway to do so.

The group moved slowly. No one said much. Mu Qinglan stayed near me, but didn’t speak. Yifei walked just behind her, quiet as always, spear sheathed. Deng Hua leaned on Chen Xun with a tired grunt. Liang Mei, still pale, walked under Roulan’s arm. Tang Wei swept the back, watchful but loose.

We looked like survivors now.

Not fighters.

With broken gear and damaged clothes, it changed the atmosphere completely.

I led us through a narrow side passage, dimly lit by yellow security lights. The sounds of distant groans and dripping pipes echoed faintly, but no movement. No signs of the Ghouls.

Eventually, the hallway ended at a rusted metal door with an old keypad that had long since shorted out. I gave it a light push.

It didn’t budge.

"Move," Roulan said. She passed Liang Mei off to a waiting crate, then stepped up, slammed her shoulder into the lock mechanism twice, and the frame gave.

The door creaked open.

A stale smell greeted us. Dust. Oil. A faint chemical sting. But no rot. No blood. No sound.

The room inside was large—maybe eight meters across. It had a square layout, old lockers along one wall, an overturned desk, and a broken vending machine filled with what looked like ancient electrolyte drinks. The far wall had an emergency light flickering near a narrow ventilation shaft, sealed with a heavy grate.

There was even a small shower room... and a changing area.

More importantly, only one door in.

No other paths. No upper levels. No windows.

"This’ll do," I said.

Everyone moved inside without hesitation.

They didn’t collapse, not right away, but the relief was obvious. Tang Wei slid down the wall with a sigh. Deng Hua dropped beside Liang Qiu, arms limp. Roulan returned to Liang Mei’s side and helped her sit properly near the lockers. Even Chen Xun finally relaxed, sitting cross-legged, bow across his lap.

I locked the door behind us and jammed the internal bolt. Then dragged the desk in front of it. Added a few crates for weight.

Tang Wei nodded at my handiwork.

"Good enough for now..."

I turned back toward the others and took a breath. The silence that followed wasn’t empty. It was something we earned. After everything, the air finally felt still. Qinglan stood near the far wall, head lowered slightly.

"We should create partitions and beds..."

"I will help you!" Liang Mei replied to Jiang Roulan as the pair began to pull tables and shelves to create two small rooms and a place to cook with the hotplate that Tang Wei brought in her backpack.

After an hour, a large pot of broth bubbled with various vegetables and meats in the pot, while we prepared to eat a meal.

Mu Qinglan leaned against me as I sat against the wall, hidden from others. Her hair had come loose again, strands falling over her cheek, damp with sweat.

She was trying not to shiver.

This time, when I sat close, she didn’t shift away. She leaned into me, just a little.

"Thanks," she said.

I didn’t answer right away.

We had time now, with no system alerts. No screaming. It was just a room, with the vent blocked and sealed... I found myself wanting to rest one breath at a time.

———

Jiang Roulan, Shen Yifei, Liang Mei, and Mu Qinglan sat in a circle around me, all holding their bowls of hot, spicy stew, each of them slurping their noodles.

The steam filled the room and warmed our faces, the scent of thick seasoning, boiled meat and just enough chilli to burn the top of the nose. It wasn’t the best in the world, but who could complain about that? The food was delicious, and for the first time all day, everyone started to unwind.

"This is better than I expected!" Roulan said, tapping her spoon against the edge of the bowl.

"It’s because I added my own secret blend," Liang Mei said proudly, gesturing with her chopsticks. "Good for circulation. Especially after blood loss."

Yifei arched a brow. "You mean Tang Wei’s spice packet?"

"Seasoned with care," Liang Mei shot back, grinning.

Yifei scoffed softly and slurped another mouthful. "Doesn’t change the fact I caught more meat pieces than you."

"You stole my bowl when I wasn’t looking!"

"You hesitated."

I watched them, amused, but didn’t say anything.

Mu Qinglan didn’t join the squabble. She simply sat close, eating slowly, deliberately. Her shoulder still leaned against mine. When I reached for a new napkin, her hand brushed mine. She didn’t pull away.

"John," Liang Mei said suddenly, tilting her head with a sly look. "You stink."

I blinked. "We all do."

"Exactly," she said, setting her bowl aside. "We’ll shower in shifts. That little room over there still has working pipes. I already checked."

Yifei stood immediately, straightening her uniform and tossing her braid over her shoulder. "Then I’ll go first."

"I already set my towel there," Liang Mei said, standing up at the same time.

"So?"

"So I called it."

They stared at each other for a moment, not angry, but sparks danced in the silence.

I leaned back against the wall and sighed, rubbing my forehead as if I could erase the mess this day had become.

"Don’t fight over the damn shower."

Yifei’s eyes flicked to mine. "Then you should go with one of us to keep the peace."

Liang Mei grinned. "Or supervise both."

Mu Qinglan finally spoke—voice dry, deadpan. "He’ll pass out from blood loss halfway through."

Yifei didn’t even blink. "Then we’ll bathe him."

I coughed into my bowl. The stew didn’t help.

Across the room, Tang Wei gave me a look like Don’t drag me into this and focused on her food.

Roulan just smirked and kept eating.

The stew was long gone, the pot scraped clean. Deng Hua and Zhou Xue had already curled up on makeshift mats near the lockers, their heads barely visible beneath bundled coats. Liang Qiu had taken first watch with Tang Wei and was sitting near the sealed door, sharpening a knife in slow, quiet strokes.

Mu Qinglan had dozed off beside me, head resting on my shoulder, her breathing light. Shen Yifei was lying on her side nearby, eyes closed but not fully asleep. She was listening—waiting for something.

I was about to take a shower or get some rest myself when someone tapped my boot with theirs.

Roulan.

She stood near the shower room door, a small curtain blocking vision, while hanging a towel from her shoulder. Long, brown hair, wavy and low and an unbuttoned shirt revealing her deep cleavage and a few cuts from the earlier fight.

"Are you going to sleep like that?"

Her eyes scanned over me. "Come rinse off."

I didn’t answer right away.

She didn’t wait.

Roulan stepped back into the darkness of the shower room and looked over her shoulder once.

"...Or are you scared you’ll enjoy it?"

Then she disappeared behind the curtain with a soft sound of running water.

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