Apocalypse King: Recruiting S-Tier Beauties With My Ruler System
Chapter 175: Shackles of the Living

Chapter 175: Shackles of the Living

March 22nd, 12:04 PM — Gu Tianhao’s Compound, South Longwan

Jiang Roulan POV

——

The sun was high, but it felt like night.

They headed us in like cattle, hands tied behind our backs, boots scraping dirt as the men in military gear barked orders. Their uniforms didn’t match. Some were from the army. Others wore patched jackets or scavenged riot vests. Fake soldiers. Real thugs.

Beyond the gates of the Gu estate, a sea of suffering greeted us.

A field, divided by wire fences and guarded by gunmen, stretched out before the main mansion. Rows of tents filled with the broken. Pale faces, hollowed eyes. Men with untreated wounds. Women carrying buckets, dragging sacks of grain too heavy for their frames. Kids with dirt-streaked skin and too-silent mouths.

Not zombies.

Just survivors. Enslaved.

My hands clenched.

They dragged the group to a halt in the courtyard, with guns trained on us. Qinglan stumbled beside me, her hair a mess, her lip split from shouting earlier. I wanted to reach for her. Touch her. Something. But the guards were already barking again.

"Women to the left! Men to the right!"

"No!" I snapped before I could stop myself. "You can’t—"

A rifle butt struck my gut. I dropped to my knees, wheezing.

"Roulan!" Tang Wei hissed, trying to lunge forward, but two guards pinned her.

"Don’t give us trouble," one growled at me.

I looked up, glaring. "I’m not afraid of you bastards."

He kicked me in the side, but I didn’t scream.

They didn’t care. They pushed us apart anyway. The men were lined up on the far side, forced to kneel with sacks still over their heads. I couldn’t see John.

I searched for him anyway.

My chest felt hollow, cold, like they ripped something vital away when we separated.

He was an idiot. A womaniser. A selfish, reckless bastard.

But he was ours.

And whatever this place was, we weren’t safe without him.

"Move!" a woman’s voice shouted, and then Mu Qinglan cried out as they dragged her away with eyes red and a voice shaking with rage.

"If you hurt him," she screamed, "I will kill all of you!"

I wanted to scream with her.

Instead, I watched the guard knock her out.

Watched her body hit the dirt like trash.

Watched the man standing near the mansion steps—Gu Tianhao—laugh to himself, arms folded.

His eyes were empty.

Not amused. Not cruel.

Just cold.

And I knew.

This wasn’t just a camp.

This place was just an unfilled graveyard.

And if John didn’t come back soon...

We would rest here.

——

Rows of tents, ragged, brown and sun-faded, stretched across a dirt field. People bent over troughs, digging, dragging, hauling. Some barely looked older than teenagers. Their eyes were hollow, and their clothes were filthy. One man collapsed—too slow—and was whipped by a guard before being dragged away.

Tang Wei moved closer to me, her shoulder brushing mine. "What the hell is this place?"

"A prison," I muttered. "Dressed up like a rescue."

Mu Qinglan was gone—dragged somewhere else almost immediately after the trucks stopped. Probably to face Gu Tianhao. And without her... the girls started looking at me. Not with fear, not yet. Just confusion. Questions. Unspoken panic.

I couldn’t let them fall apart.

When the guards ordered us into the showers, I was the first to step forward. If someone had to get sprayed down with freezing water and stripped of her clothes first, it’d be me. I wouldn’t flinch.

The female militia gave no warning. No pause.

One pulled my shirt up with the barrel of a gun. The other grabbed it from behind and yanked. I didn’t fight and remained calm.

The cold water followed.

It hit like ice, knocking the breath out of my chest. Mud, blood, and grime ran down my body. My boots were gone. Then my pants. Then my underwear. They didn’t even look away. Just hosed us down and tossed us the new clothes.

If you could call them that.

Thin, stretched fabric. A torn tank top that barely covered my chest, and ragged shorts that hugged too tight. My hips strained against the waistband. Almost fully exposing my ass and crack.

But I wore them. I stood tall. I turned back to the others and nodded. "Put them on. It’s just fabric. Don’t let them break you."

Zhou Xue seemed terrified, but strangely Liang Mei looked calm; she pulled off her clothes first, revealing huge, swaying breasts with puffy inverted nipples... then Liang Qiu and Tang Wei followed.

Tang Wei’s body looked beautiful, bronze like caramel and covered in muscle, though she had many scars.

They moved us into one of the side buildings.

A place with broken windows and an old concrete floor.

Mattresses lined the walls—thin, stained, probably reused a hundred times.

This wasn’t about humiliation anymore.

They were trying to tame us.

Not now.

Not after what they did to him.

Because only one man could tame me.

—

The room smelled of old piss and bleach. A fan creaked above, too slow to move the heat, and the walls dripped with the kind of damp that never dried. Tang Wei sat beside me on one of the old mattresses, arms around her knees, eyes still scanning every inch of the room like it might change if she stared long enough.

Some girls whispered about Mu Qinglan. About John.

About what they’d seen.

One mentioned he was dragged away by force. Another said he was bleeding. And one, about how Mu Qinglan screamed his name before they knocked her out.

Liang Mei closed her eyes and meditated, but I worried for her.

I stayed silent.

Not because I wasn’t listening.

But if I opened my mouth, I’d break something.

I had to stay steady, even if it felt like someone dragged the ground from under me.

I shifted, sitting straighter.

That’s when I remembered my inventory... they might have stolen our bags, but I still had the system that John told us about.

Half the girls had lost theirs already. Either taken or stolen. But mine—mine was still secured to my belt. My fingers moved automatically, clicking through the contents.

And that’s when I saw it.

Inventory Slots: [10/10]

"...What?"

My eyes narrowed.

That wasn’t right.

I’d only ever had my weapons in here.

I tapped the log access that John had shown me how to use. Scroll—scroll—pause.

[+ Cultivation Manual: Verdant Stone Sutra]

[+ Emergency Rations x3]

[+ ZKP Transfer: 6,000]

[+ System Access: Permission Granted]

[+ Personal Note — Read Me, Idiot]

My throat caught.

That bastard.

I looked around, even though nobody could see this screen, to make sure no one was watching.

Then I slid my back closer to the wall, curled one leg up, and tapped the final item.

The screen expanded.

——

Roulan,

I don’t know how this ends. I really don’t. Maybe I’m overthinking it.

Perhaps you’ll never see this until I show you when we reunite.

But I’m giving you what I can.

Because you’re not just someone I rely on.

You are someone I care about and trust.

I’m not good with words. Or feelings. But if I’m gone, I wanted to say it at least once.

You’re the one I think about when I’m quiet.

The one I feel most ashamed to disappoint.

If I die... then at least know you mattered.

Lead the group, and wait for me

— Love John

P.S. Don’t die, dumbass. And if you get stronger than me, I’m going to be so pissed.

——

Although I wanted to cry, I couldn’t... this bastard just knew how to piss me off!

No, maybe this was him trying to stir me up to ignite my boiler to stop me from losing hope and becoming a wreck like Qinglan.

I sat still with trembling lips, reading his message over and over, like a fool.

"...You idiot..."

He thought he was dying. Even so, he thought about me at the end.

The Cultivation Manual was shocking.

When I read the first few lines and the implications, it made me want to beat the perverted bastard. That was until I saw the effects and found myself humming in delight and warmth.

My heart thumped hard in my chest.

So I learned it... because he gave me this, like many things.

Tap!

Pressing the manual caused it to flash green before fading.

A woman’s delicate voice whispered in my mind, causing my spine to shudder.

[Welcome to the Queen Consort Sub-System]

’Another woman?’

’Queen!?’

’Consort!?’

The words made my cheeks hot—was I blushing right now? Maybe the others will think I am some kind of pervert!?

——

[Cultivation Pair Selected!]

[Foundation Technique Learned]

Name: Verdant Stone Sutra

Type: Earth – Paired Body Cultivation

Rank: Elite

Stage: 1/5

Effect:

- Enhances physical strength and durability while refining skin, muscle tone, and body structure to ideal symmetry.

- Strength growth is bond-linked—progress is amplified when trained or... shared... with a user of Titan’s Marrow Sutra.

- Youth retention and beautification are side effects.

- Sexual pleasure with a pair increased by 150%

Pair: John Wang (permanent, eternal)

——

I’d wanted to hate him for ignoring me for choosing others first.

But now...

Now I wanted nothing more than to slap him, hold him, and then kiss him until my lips became swollen!

’John... Oh John, why don’t you show this side of you!? I would never have complained if you didn’t hide this side of you...’

Tang Wei glanced over. "Roulan?"

I closed the screen. Looked up.

"I’m going to get him back, save him!" I hissed. "No matter what it takes."

She didn’t argue.

She just nodded. "Then I’m with you."