Apocalypse King: Recruiting S-Tier Beauties With My Ruler System
Chapter 177: The Locked Room of Regret

Chapter 177: The Locked Room of Regret

Gu Tianhao’s Estate, Inner Compound

Mu Qinglan POV

——

The room stank of old lavender and rust. It was decorated like a memory, like someone tried to preserve an idea of elegance and failed.

I lay on the bed, not by choice.

Chains, cold and tight, wrapped around my wrists and ankles, biting into skin already red from struggling. One length ran up from my right ankle to the iron bar bolted to the floor beneath the frame. The other looped from my wrist to the top of the headboard.

They didn’t gag me.

Maybe the bastard wanted to hear me scream.

I didn’t give him that.

The door creaked open half an hour ago and hasn’t shut since. It’s like Tianhao wanted to remind me that I wasn’t just restrained—I was being watched.

Only that damn woman who knocked me out stood quietly.

Gu Tianhao never had the guts to touch me in the past, and he still didn’t. But I couldn’t trust the food or anything that he tried to give me.

I closed my eyes, pretending it was all a nightmare. That I’d wake up, and the mattress wouldn’t feel like it was suffocating me. That the faint ticking of the grandfather clock on the wall didn’t sound like it was counting down my dignity.

Then the footsteps came.

Heavy.

Slow.

Measured.

Gu Tianhao stepped into the room with a smarmy face, but didn’t speak. He looked like a cheap villain, tacky black suit, leather gloves and boots along with his unbuttoned shirt showing his disgusting chest and gold chain.

Hair slicked back like some kind of CEO from a cheap drama.

He stared.

Like he was waiting for me to cry.

I didn’t.

There was nothing he could do to affect me, thanks to everything John did for me. In fact I could escape now. But, first I wanted to understand where they locked him. Once I found that there was no chance I would stay here.

"You still think about him?"

His voice had the same arrogance it always did. Like, he couldn’t comprehend the idea of being second to anyone.

I turned my face away.

He stepped closer, the chain on my ankle pulling tight with the bed’s tension as I shifted.

"I asked you something," he said, voice low now.

"Get out."

He knelt beside me. Close. Too close. I smelled his cologne—something artificial, bitter, like disinfectant sprayed over cat piss.

"Is he better than me?" he asked, his voice rough.

No answer.

He reached for my cheek.

I flicked my body away, causing the chain to rattle, but he got the message.

"Don’t worry. I don’t need to touch garbage that licks the boots of mongrels."

I met his eyes then. "He’s ten times the man you’ll ever be."

Crack.

The slap came out of nowhere.

My head snapped sideways, stars bursting across my vision.

"Still so proud?" he hissed. "Still dreaming of your little dog?"

"He’s bigger than you could ever imagine."

The words were a sore point for this loser.

Gu Tianhao turned bright red before slapping me once again, eyes still wild, before he turned on his heel and left.

The door slammed.

And I was alone again.

I didn’t cry.

Not then.

But my throat burned.

And for the first time in years, I started thinking—what would it take?

A single slice.

I could end it on my terms.

No one would touch me again.

But just as my eyes moved toward the edge of the headboard...

There was a strange icon flashing in the corner of my eyes, it was a mail icon... at first, I didn’t understand what it was.

However, then I remembered John’s bizarre system.

[Message: John Wang]

[Unread]

My breath caught.

He... sent me a message!?

My pulse thudded louder than the old clock on the wall.

The message hovered at the edge of my vision, soft and bright like something sacred. My fingers trembled as I blinked twice, activating it.

A panel unfolded.

Just text.

No voice. No visuals.

Just his words.

But that was enough for me for now... I couldn’t wait to read it.

——

Qinglan,

I don’t know where they’ve taken you. I don’t know what they’re doing to you. But I swear I’ll find out. I’m not dead. Not yet. Not ever, if I can help it.

You once called me a reckless fool. You were right.

You always are.

But I’m still breathing. Still thinking about you. Still remembering the way you stood in front of the others when we first fought together, like your spine is made of steel.

That’s what you are to me. A pillar. Something I lean on when I forget how to stand.

Don’t break now. Please. Not now.

—John

P.S. I still think you look best when you’re mad, covered in blood and staring at me with those obsessive red eyes.

——

The breath I didn’t know I’d been holding finally escaped. Sharp and shaky.

And then, finally, I cried.

Not loud. Not desperate.

Just quietly, as the tears trailed down both sides of my face.

Because I remembered now.

That day on the rooftop. How he stood between me and that mutated freak. Blood streaming down his arm, grin crooked, like death didn’t scare him as long as we were alive.

The idiot.

The damned, stupid, beautiful idiot.

I whispered to the empty room, voice cracking, "You’re alive... you bastard..."

I rolled onto my side, unable to stop my smile—a powerful thump echoed in my chest, but it felt great. I read the message over and over, like it was some kind of magical text. Even though it wasn’t physical and just pixels in my vision...

It felt like he was here with me.

His words had weight.

They knocked the knife from my thoughts. Shattered the despair like brittle glass.

The idea of dying by my hand, of choosing silence instead of enduring him—it felt cowardly now. It felt like betrayal, not of myself, but of John.

Because he didn’t need a victim.

He needed Mu Qinglan.

Because we became lovers, I started to worry if my violent nature might turn him off... so I held back, resisted and kept it contained.

However, he said he liked it and I’m best like that...

The rings around my eyes flashed red while looking into the small broken mirror on the wall... the feelings I kept tightly wound in my chest. Those violent and obsession emotions that only came out thanks to my zombie persona... so I let them out.

Time passed, while looking at the things John left for me... food, and other items... even a tight black and ice blue bodysuit... it was tight and sexy, but I really wanted to wear it for him... to seduce John with a bat in my hand.

And sit on his face... yes... he made me feel this way.

So I will do that!

——

More time passed...

I stared at the ceiling, chained, filthy, aching, and smiled.

"You’re not allowed to die either," I muttered. "So don’t make me regret this."

The door hadn’t opened again. But I knew Gu Tianhao would be back. And when he came, he wouldn’t find the broken girl he thought he left behind.

This fight wasn’t over, not even close.

The lock turned again.

That slow, deliberate metal clack.

Not hurried. Not careless.

He wanted me to hear it.

I didn’t move. Not even when the door creaked open and the soft thud of polished boots tapped against the floor.

I lay there, one arm chained to the bedframe, the other resting across my stomach. My legs curled slightly inward. The air still reeked of metal and mildew. My sweat had dried on my skin, sticky in the heat.

But I didn’t look away.

And I didn’t close my eyes.

"Still alive?" Gu Tianhao’s voice echoed lazily. "That surprises me. I thought your fragile pride might’ve snapped by now."

I slowly turned my head, meeting his gaze.

There was something so... off about him now. Something hollow behind those handsome features. His tailored uniform was spotless. His hair, carefully brushed. But his smile looked like a cracked mask barely holding shape.

He walked closer. Stopped just at the foot of the bed. His arms crossed, lips curling in mock sympathy.

"I was expecting screaming," he said. "Or begging. Maybe some righteous fury."

However, he didn’t realise... he wasn’t the only one who was different right now, the metal bat shimmering in the corner of my vision.

A new, upgraded bat that John bought for me.

I was going to bash this man’s head in.

To return to John.

I kept silent.

"Oh?" He stepped closer, leaning forward slightly. "Playing stoic now? Is that what gets you attention from him? That weak little cockroach?"

My jaw tensed, but I didn’t reply.

He smirked. "You don’t deny it."

"I don’t respond to jealousy," I said flatly. "It’s beneath me."

That cracked something.

His nostrils flared, but he forced the smile to stay. "Jealousy? I’m not jealous, Qinglan. I’m disappointed. You lowered yourself to fuck some mutt who hides behind women and tricks."

He crouched, his voice lowering. "You could’ve had me. You still can. I’ll forgive this. You were confused. Scared. The world fell apart. You needed protection, and you grabbed the first man you could find. I understand."

I didn’t blink.

"I don’t need protection," I said. "And I’m not confused."

His face twisted for half a second, just enough to catch.

Then he laughed, rising again. "You know what the funny part is, Qinglan?"

He gestured at me.

"I haven’t even touched you. Not once. I could’ve. I should’ve. But I didn’t. Because I wanted to see if you’d come to your senses."

He leaned closer, whispering.

"But I won’t wait forever."

I met his eyes and noticed the insecurity in him.

"Wanna know what I see, looking at you?"

Gu Tianhao’s face shook, his eyebrow lifting.

"A child," I said. "A spoiled little boy throwing a tantrum because someone else took the toy he thought was his."

Pah!

He slapped me.

I turned my face back slowly, eyes still locked on him.

That’s four times now.

"Does that make you feel strong?" I asked.

He said nothing.

"You’re not the man I once knew," I said. "And I don’t think you ever were."

For a long second, he just stood there. Breathing.

Then he stepped back, composed himself, and walked toward the door.

"Stay here and rot then. Maybe I’ll bring him in next time. Let you watch what I do to him."

He opened the door.

Paused.

Then, without turning back, said:

"I really did love you once."

The door shut with a soft click.

I closed my eyes.

And whispered, "Sorry, I’ve only ever loved John."

Then climbed off the bed and grabbed my metal bat and the tight black bodysuit.

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