Apocalypse King: Recruiting S-Tier Beauties With My Ruler System
Chapter 178: Break the Chain, Burn the Shame

Chapter 178: Break the Chain, Burn the Shame

March 23rd, 3:11 PM — Gu Tianhao’s Compound, South Longwan

Jiang Roulan POV

——

The sun cooked the earth beneath our feet.

Dirt clung to our ankles and knees, sticking in gritty layers as we shovelled compost into rows of withered plants. The field was boxed in by rusted fencing, each corner watched by men with guns and empty eyes. Survivors moved in tired lines, hauling crates, turning soil, or dragging water buckets heavier than their strength allowed. No one smiled.

Tang Wei stood next to me, sweat rolling down her neck as she jammed the rusted spade into the ground.

Liang Mei and Zhou Xue were on compost duty. Liang Qiu handled water, face pale but expression firm. None of us spoke unless we had to.

Every breath tasted like dust and rot.

"Faster," a voice barked from behind.

I didn’t turn. I knew the tone. One of the guards, the younger one who’d been eyeing us since we arrived.

"Bend lower, sweetheart," he said, not even trying to lower his voice. "You’ll get a better angle."

Tang Wei froze for half a second.

Then kept digging.

"Aw, come on," another guard laughed. "You’re gonna ignore us all day? That’s no fun."

I straightened, wiping sweat from my temple, and looked at them calmly. "If you’re bored, you can help."

He snorted, clearly unused to women answering back.

"I can help, alright," he said, stepping closer. "You and your friend over there can take a break in the barracks. Beds are cleaner than this dirt."

Tang Wei’s shovel crunched into the soil again, hard.

He smirked and leaned in beside her.

"Bet you’d be fun. All those muscles. Got a lot of fight in you?"

Tang Wei looked up. "Plenty. Want me to show you?"

His grin faltered for a second.

But he didn’t back off.

"Easy there, bitch. Keep acting cute and I’ll—"

The other guard grabbed his arm, whispering something. Probably reminding him not to leave visible marks. Or maybe a warning about my eyes, because I was already walking toward them.

"Let’s work," I said, calm and flat. "You’re wasting time. We finish the quota, or your boss gets angry, right?"

The first guard’s eyes flicked to mine. His mouth curled.

"No need to get snappy, princess. We’re just offering a little incentive."

"You’re not offering," Tang Wei said. "You’re begging."

The two guards stared at her.

For a moment, I thought they’d back down.

Instead, one of them spat on the dirt and gestured toward the corner of the fence, where the patrol didn’t reach. "You. You two. Come here. You think you’re funny? Let’s see if you’re still laughing after."

Tang Wei looked at me. I gave the faintest nod.

Let them lead us away.

We’d been waiting for this.

The guards left and sent us to the fields to help with the farming... it was harsh.

It wasn’t even evening, and the sun was still punishing. The sky had no clouds—just an endless blue glare that baked the earth and sweat-soaked our backs as we worked.

The guards had brought us to the southern fields.

Told us to "earn our food."

It was a joke.

Sacks stuffed to the limit, some with holes, broken tools, and most of the so-called farming was just moving dirt from one side of the fence to the other. A distraction. Something to exhaust us.

I saw what it really was.

Control.

Tang Wei wiped her brow, muscles taut and glistening under the sun. Liang Mei stumbled but didn’t fall, and surprised me. But Zhou Xue wasn’t made for this kind of work. She swayed more than once, with swollen and blistered hands from the rough grip on the hoe.

A pair of guards stood nearby, doing nothing. Just watching. One leaned on his rifle. The other drank from a water bottle he hadn’t offered to anyone.

When I glared at them, they smiled.

Not kindly.

"You’re the one with the mouth, right?" the taller one said to me.

"Guess that explains the attitude," the other added. "Leader Gu should’ve tamed you bitches when you arrived."

I turned my back while grinding my teeth in anger.

But it didn’t stop there.

Later, during the break, they came closer. Words low. Vulgar. Promises of food, clean water. "You girls like soft beds? Leader’s got a few. Play nice and we’ll talk."

Liang Mei flinched. Tang Wei clenched her fists.

I stared them down. "Get lost."

The smiles dropped. One stepped forward. "You’re real proud for a bitch in rags."

That’s when the atmosphere changed, and I realised these bastards didn’t plan to let us go from the start. It seemed Gu Tianhao was a bastard. He wanted to break us, likely to help break John or Qinglan.

Then came the order.

"You three. Come with us."

"No," Tang Wei barked.

They didn’t care. One grabbed her by the arm.

"You’re not being asked."

The men dragged us way past the main path.

Behind the warehouse, out of view. It was dirty, and the scent of sex lingered inside.

A strip of dead ground, shaded only by rotting wood and corrugated metal. No eyes. No workers. Just us. And them.

’Ah...’

’So this is where they raped the other women.’

Many of the females we saw during work looked broken, their eyes dull and lacking light. The moment they saw us, it almost seemed like they made a prayer and asked for forgiveness despite doing nothing.

"This is where the good girls get their perks," one said, already fumbling with his belt.

"You scream," the other warned, "you don’t get to walk back."

These bastards made my heart race, anger and violence growing inside.

The first beast tried to pin Liang Mei’s arms against the wall. Tang Wei’s wrists were still bound as she kept her distance.

Then another pushed me towards the wall, but the moment he reached for my thigh. I lowered my hips. Shifted my weight and smashed him in the face with a swift roundhouse kick that sent him flying.

I wouldn’t let another man touch me there.

Tang Wei grunted behind me—she’d unfastened her wrist rope using the hook from her shovel. One guard reached for her, and she drove her elbow into his throat.

"Ack...!!!" He clawed his neck, unable to breathe.

Then she kneed him in the crotch, crushing his balls.

Liang Mei screamed—not in fear, but rage—and slammed her head into the male trying to grab her chest. The moment he dropped, she bounced on his face, stomping over and over as the sound of bones breaking echoed.

"You filthy pigs!" she shouted, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Touch me again and I’ll kill you!"

The three guards were on the ground now, moaning, twitching. One was vomiting. Another curled into a ball, gasping for breath.

I spat on the one nearest.

"You think we’re weak because we’re women? Try it again."

Tang Wei pulled a discarded blade from the dirt and leaned close to the barely conscious man.

"Where are they."

"W-Who!?"

"The hot male and the woman your boss took!" I added to Tang Wei’s deep voice.

The man wheezed beneath Tang Wei’s boot, spitting blood through cracked lips. His eyes twitched, darting from her blade to my expression. I crouched beside him, fingers tightening into fists.

"Where. Are. They."

He tried to turn his face, but Liang Mei kicked him in the ribs. The wet crunch made him scream.

"Tell us," she growled, chest heaving. "Or I’ll peel off your face and feed it to the dogs out there."

Tang Wei pressed the blade down—just enough to draw a line of blood under his jaw.

"The... the dungeon," he gasped.

"Who?" I demanded.

"The guy... the man you’re looking for. He’s in the lowest floor. Below the storage wing. Only officers can go there. No cameras."

"And Qinglan?" I asked, stepping closer.

The bastard whimpered. "She’s... the top floor. Master Gu keeps her in the Jade Room—locked, chained. Says she’s his bride..."

Liang Mei let out a sharp breath and turned away. I saw her fists shaking.

Bride?

Tang Wei twisted the knife just enough to make him sob.

"What’s the guard rotation?"

"N-No one stays up there. Only Gu. He doesn’t let anyone near."

"And the dungeon?"

"Shifts change every four hours... next one’s in twenty minutes. They bring food and... and medicine sometimes."

I stood and looked at the others, trying to keep my face calm, but only on the surface.

"We move at night," she said.

"Too risky," Tang Wei answered. "They’ll notice these three."

Liang Mei looked down at the twitching bodies. "Then we dump them."

I nodded.

"Strip them, tie them, gag them. If we’re lucky, the camp thinks they got drunk and wandered off. If not—then we fight our way out when it’s time."

Tang Wei gave a tight nod. "I’ll handle the ropes."

Liang Mei bent down and pulled a boot from one of the unconscious pigs. She didn’t speak, but her glare said enough.

"We should get the others; We’ll move tonight." I remained behind last, watching Tang Wei and Liang Mei skipping back to the group... when I gazed at them, my heart raced faster. Anger built up. If we didn’t get stronger, thanks to John...

’What would have happened!?’

I didn’t tell the others...

There was another message... a dark and grim message.

- If you kill someone, the system will allow you to "Dismantle" their corpse, removing all evidence.

So I cut their throats... and dismantled them.

My heart dropped, and I thought everything ended...

Yet even that emotion lasted only a few moments before a sense of euphoria filled me... and it made me wonder if something, somewhere had gone wrong.

And I realised that with each day that passed...

I became more and more like John.

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