Apocalypse King: Recruiting S-Tier Beauties With My Ruler System
Chapter 176: Jiang Roulan Blooms!

Chapter 176: Jiang Roulan Blooms!

March 22nd, 1:47 PM — Gu Tianhao’s Compound, South Longwan

Jiang Roulan POV

——

The sun had shifted. The long shadows now curved toward the west, painting the walls of the broken shelter in soft orange light. But nothing inside the room softened. Nothing warmed.

An hour or two had passed... But I found myself lost in my thoughts.

Just sweat, hunger, and the weight of silence.

I sat on that creaking mattress like a general pretending to be calm. My back was straight, but every second, the pull in my chest grew worse. John’s bloodied face flickered in my mind. That idiot.

I could’ve protected him.

I should’ve dragged him to bed. Held him. Made him understand.

And now...

My fingers brushed over my bare thigh, where the edge of the short rags they gave us barely covered anything. I hated how exposed I felt—but more than that, I hated how normal it already seemed.

"Roulan," Tang Wei whispered beside me. Her voice was quiet, but alert. "That one in the corner’s watching again."

I followed her gaze.

One of the female guards.

She was chewing on something, leaning by the door, her eyes flicking between the girls like she was choosing which cut of meat she wanted tonight.

My lips thinned. "Let her watch."

I rose to my feet, sauntering across the room. The girls shifted their attention toward me again. I wasn’t the strongest or the bravest, but the oldest. But when Mu Qinglan wasn’t there, it was like their eyes just expected me to move.

So I did.

Liang Mei opened her eyes the moment I neared her. She nodded once, silent. No questions. Tang Wei joined me after a beat, brushing her dark hair out of her face and rising with that same quiet dignity she always carried.

Liang Qiu hesitated. She wasn’t the most confident. But when she saw the three of us standing, she bit her lip and stood too.

"Zhou Xue," I said, turning to the small girl still curled near the wall.

She looked up at me—despite her usual style, she seemed fragile, even her arms were shaking.

"Come."

She swallowed for a moment as her throat moved slowly, but she got up.

Five of us.

Just five. But enough to start something.

We gathered by the back window, half-broken and smeared with dirt. The air coming through it stank of sweat and ash.

But I breathed deep and accepted it.

"Alright," I said, my voice low but firm. "We don’t panic. We don’t scream. We hold together. Every day. Every task. No matter what they throw at us, we’ll respond like one body."

I felt my words carried some sort of power, maybe because of his message. My mind was in a better state than theirs, or it could be my new cultivation... because of the constant pulse of earthen qi between me and John, it felt like he was beside me.

Tang Wei cracked her knuckles. "Don’t worry, sister, we won’t break."

Liang Mei gave a rare smirk. "I... I will do my best, Big sister!"

The others nodded as if a fire kindled in their eyes.

And me?

I turned away from them for a moment—just one—and opened my system again.

There, glowing softly in the corner of my vision.

[ZKP: 6,000]

My fingers hovered.

’It’s time I used this.’

——

John left a note for me about how this works...

Roulan,

Cultivation exists, and it’s not as complex as I thought... well, the most difficult is learning a person’s elemental path.

There seem to be four basic elements.

Earth, Water, Wind, Fire

I didn’t know how to tell the difference before I started touching you girls... Your element is Earth, Shen Yifei is Fire and Mu Qinglan is Ice/Water.

Should you need to buy manuals for Tang Wei, Zhou Xue and Liang Mei, I can give you their elements, which should help you get stronger.

Zhou Xue = Wind

Tang Wei = Fire

Liang Mei = Water

Liang Qiu = Wind

I believe in you...

Do your best and please, take care of Shen Yifei. Right now, I think she’s suffering... Ignore me and look after your fellow sisters.

Take care.

——

"This...?"

He seemed to have sent the message only a few minutes ago, which meant that John was alive and had removed a heavy weight from my shoulders.

But... the intense qi flowing into me... does that mean they are beating him right now?

’Forget it... let’s check... What’s the best thing to buy—’

[Would you accept my recommendations, Queen?]

There she goes again... calling me queen!

[System Help]

[Suggested Items to help]

Iron thread Lung Practice

Rank: Common (Grey)

Description: A breath-expansion method to increase oxygen intake and lung efficiency.

Effect: Enhances sprinting, physical labour output, and loud vocal projection.

Cost: 500 ZKP

Steady Pulse Method

Rank: Common (Grey)

Description: A basic breathing rhythm for controlling adrenaline and fear responses.

Effect: Improves calm under pressure, minor mental clarity boost. Essential for novices.

Cost: 500 ZKP

The two techniques appeared, and the names beside them were Liang Qiu and Liang Mei, then an explanation for why.

[Liang Mei cannot handle a stronger technique, and the Iron Thread Lung would help improve her heart condition and stop her from falling behind.]

[Liang Qiu has low talent because of her current Tier; thus, taking this basic technique, the Steady Pulse Method, will prepare her for upgrading in a Tier once John unlocks it and also improve her archery to Zhou Xue’s level.]

[The other women only need to be given a suitable weapon and kept fed. Save your ZKP for that moment and for now, please do your best.]

[Queen Roulan]

——

I kicked dirt towards the guard.

"HEY!?"

Then handed the two manuals to the girls... "Read this and you’ll understand. Please don’t ask questions."

The two Liangs looked at me with a confused look, before they opened the books and light shone before flowing into their mind.

Liang Mei looked at me with her lips parted and stunned.

"Let’s discuss our plans once we’ve learned more of what they want us to do."

"...Understood." Tang Wei looked mystified by the books that vanished, and then the two Liangs sat down and started meditating with their hair fluttering as if a breeze blew around their bodies.

With that, I closed the system screen and exhaled, letting the quiet hum of Qi settle in my bones. It was hard to tell if the heat in my chest was from cultivation or emotion anymore. Probably both.

Then I looked up—just slightly—to the far corner of the room.

Yifei sat with her back pressed against the wall, knees to her chest, arms wrapped tightly around them like a girl trying to shrink out of the world. Her red eyes were glassy, rimmed with fresh tears. She hadn’t moved in a while.

She didn’t cry out loud. Not the way Mu Qinglan would’ve. No rage or fire.

Just silence.

Like she’d folded in on herself.

I walked over slowly. The others were resting, or pretending to. Liang Qiu was whispering something to Zhou Xue about her old bow. Tang Wei paced by the window. Nobody looked at us. Good.

I crouched down next to her and said nothing.

Yifei didn’t lift her head.

But I saw her body tremble when she finally spoke.

"I should’ve stopped him..."

Her voice cracked. "We could have fought..."

I didn’t answer and just let her spill whatever had built up.

"I thought he’d always have a plan, an answer.. that no matter how arrogant or stupid he acted... he was untouchable. You know? That kind of idiot hero invincibility."

She sniffled and finally turned her head just enough for me to see her swollen cheeks.

"But when I saw them drag him away, Roulan... I’ve never felt that kind of fear before. I thought, ’This is it. That’s the last time I’ll ever see him.’"

I reached over and took her hand.

Yifei flinched at first, but didn’t pull away.

"I couldn’t yell," she said. "I couldn’t even threaten to kill them. I’m not strong enough to do anything... I’m not Qinglan. I’m not you. I just complain and cry like a fucking kid while he gets beat bloody and tries to make us all happy."

"You’re not weak," I breathed.

She scoffed. "I’m fire, Roulan. That’s what he said. But fire without control just burns everything. I hate that I couldn’t protect him. I hate that I said all that stuff about not caring before, and now it’s all I think about."

Her voice got smaller.

"I love him. I think I do... I’ve never felt like this before... It’s confusing, infuriating and makes me feel helpless!"

I didn’t tease her, because I understood... and the jealousy and anger I felt shrank.

We were all the same.

"You’re not alone."

She blinked.

I pointed toward the others. "Look around. None of us are. And you think he doesn’t know that? That idiot gave me 6,000 ZKP, a cultivation manual, and a handwritten letter. All without saying anything."

Her eyes widened. "He gave you what?"

"Check your inventory. He’s alive. I can feel it in the Qi. And he’s betting everything on us not falling apart."

Yifei wiped her eyes with the back of her arm, then her eyes traced the air for a moment, before they widened, tears built up, and she gripped me tighter... but then a subtle flash of red appeared in her eyes, then a heat...

’Ah... he sent her a cultivation manual too, then did he also send one to Qinglan?’

The area around Yifei became hot... but comfortable like a passionate love.

When I looked at her, the "Cultivatior" changed from no... to something else.

[Fire-Type Cultivator]

"I’m going to get him back," I whispered.

And Yifei’s hand squeezed mine in reply.

"Then let’s do it together."