Apocalypse King: Recruiting S-Tier Beauties With My Ruler System
Chapter 89: Sound of the Living

Chapter 89: Sound of the Living

The walls closed in tighter the farther we went.

Paint peeled back in long, curling strips. The floor dipped slightly under our weight, groaning beneath cracked tiles and long streaks of dried brown. Someone had dragged something heavy through here.

Blood, probably. Maybe a body. Maybe more than one. The ceiling above us sagged in sections, metal supports poking out like broken ribs.

A scream echoed ahead.

Sharp.

Human.

I raised my left hand, flat palm.

Yifei stopped immediately, almost slamming into me.

She caught herself with a sharp inhale and moved beside me instead. She didn’t speak, but I could feel it — her body tense, shoulder brushing mine again like she couldn’t help it.

Gunshots rang out next — two, maybe three — short bursts that bounced off the concrete walls like distant firecrackers. Muffled yelling followed. A woman’s voice shouting something about pushing. Another voice, higher, more panicked, breaking into raw sound.

Still alive.

Still struggling.

Yifei leaned toward me, whispering under her breath.

"Should we—?"

"If they’re still fighting," I said, eyes forward, "they’re still useful."

I didn’t raise my voice. No need.

She flinched. I didn’t look at her. Just listened.

Another impact — something heavy crashing into metal, hard enough to rattle the ductwork above us. Wood splintering. A man’s voice shouting curses.

"If not," I muttered, "they’re dead weight."

Yifei didn’t argue.

Didn’t agree, either.

She just stood beside me, lips parted slightly, face pale.

The hallway widened into a partial open lab — long benches on either side, half-toppled. Cabinets broken. Light flickering red overhead, the emergency bulbs buzzing like dying flies.

We moved forward together, slow.

I pointed two fingers toward the ground.

Low and ready.

She mirrored the motion, crouched down, spear forward. Her hands were shaking again, but she wasn’t pulling back.

Good.

A fresh scream ripped through the open space beyond the benches.

Closer now.

Two voices overlapping — one barking orders, the other useless, drowning.

I adjusted my grip, let the Type-9K settle against my shoulder. The barrel followed my eyes as I moved. Yifei’s boots ghosted behind me — not silent, but quieter than before. No complaints. No wasted noise. Just survival instincts finally settling in.

The end of the hall opened up just ahead.

They didn’t know we were here yet.

Better that way.

—

"Left side’s open," I said. "We cut through fast."

Yifei nodded, jaw tight.

A scream tore through the space ahead — high, panicked. Someone begging.

"We’re outnumbered!"

"They’re coming through both—!"

"Help! Please!"

I moved.

Gun up. Steps light.

The moment I cleared the barricade, I saw everything at once — chaos locked in slow motion.

Five students huddled behind flipped tables, weapons shaking in untrained hands.

Three more near the back, shouting at each other, one of them trying to crawl away — blood soaking through their jeans.

Two scavengers halfway through looting a duffel bag.

One had a crowbar raised, aiming it at a kid trying to stop him.

My first shot cracked his skull open.

The Type-9K bucked once.

The scavenger dropped before he screamed.

"Get down!" I shouted.

None of them moved fast enough.

Yifei slid in behind me, swinging her spear in a wide arc — she caught an infected straight across the jaw as it lunged from a side hall.

Its neck snapped sideways with a wet pop.

I stepped forward and kicked over a desk.

Took cover behind it just as another infected barrelled into the wreckage.

It clawed over the top.

I put two bullets through its throat, then one clean through its eye.

[You Killed a Stage-1 Infected: ZKP +5]

[Yifei Killed a Stage-1 Infected: ZKP +5 | EXP +10]

Another tried to climb the same path — I reached up, grabbed its jaw, and slammed its skull into the corner of the table until the bone gave.

The screams kept going.

Yifei stabbed again — missed — then recovered, slammed her boot into the thing’s knee, and drove the spear through its chest.

She was panting now, fast and rough.

"Stay with me," I snapped.

She didn’t speak.

But she moved closer. Her back pressed into mine. Shoulder trembling.

Someone ducked beside us — a short kid with a bat.

"Who—who the hell are you?!"

I didn’t answer.

Dropped a magazine. Reloaded. Racked the slide.

Eyes forward.

A group of infected flooded out from a side hallway. Six, maybe seven — sprinting, fast, teeth bared, gore dripping from their chins.

I stood and opened fire.

Three bursts snapped through the air. Casings bounced off my boots.

One dropped.

Another lunged over the corpse and caught a bullet to the throat.

Fourth went low — I kicked its knee out, and Yifei was there, driving her spear down through its skull.

She slipped from the force, caught herself on one hand, breathing hard.

"You good?"

"Yeah," she gasped. "Yeah—I’m okay."

Another scavenger made a break for it — trying to grab a pack from a dying kid.

I stepped in front of him.

"You wanna be next?" I said, raising the Type-9k.

He froze.

Hands up.

Then bolted the other way.

I didn’t shoot.

Didn’t need to.

The smart ones ran.

The stupid ones bled.

I turned to the nearest huddled group — three girls, all scraped up and crying.

"Where’s Liang Mei?" I said. "Who’s in charge?"

They stared back — pale, shaking.

Then one of them pointed toward a half-barricaded lab at the rear, where the infected were already pounding against the door.

"Th-there—she’s there—"

I vaulted over a flipped bench, landing low behind cover.

The barricade wouldn’t hold.

We had seconds — maybe less.

"Yifei," I said, "help them hold that hallway."

She didn’t answer.

She was already moving.

She grabbed a nearby table by one leg and dragged it sideways with both arms, teeth gritted. Her foot hit a fallen backpack — she kicked it aside, rammed the table into place against the frame.

Then she turned, spear raised, and drove it straight through the chest of the first infected that rounded the corner.

Spun it.

Wrenched it free.

Braced again.

I watched her for half a second.

Yifei was moving before I even asked, now her sweaty face no longer looking to me for instructions as her spear lanced through a zombie’s eye with a pop.

She slammed more wood against the barricade.

"Help me!"

With that, I focused on my task.

The last body dropped.

Wood cracked under Yifei’s final shove — another piece of shelving slammed into place, pinning the last gap shut. Her arms shook from the effort, chest heaving.

"In position!" someone shouted.

I didn’t answer.

My eyes were on the door the others had pointed to — splintered wood, hinges groaning under pressure. Something hammered it from the other side. The metal latch bent a little more with every hit.

I vaulted the bench.

Boots landed hard, but I rolled with the motion, dropped low, and sprinted the last stretch. The barricade wouldn’t hold. Seconds left, maybe.

"Clear the side," I said.

Two students jumped back — one tripped over a chair, the other dragged him behind a table.

I braced myself and kicked.

The door cracked inward with a heavy crunch, just as another impact struck from the opposite side. The two forces hit at once — my boot and the infected — and the frame split down the centre.

I shoved it wide and raised the Type-9K, barrel sweeping the room.

Empty.Mostly.

Three bodies on the ground. Blood smeared on the walls.

One infected twitching in the far corner — limbs bent wrong, not dead yet.

I ended it with a single burst.

[Stage-1 Infected — ZKP +5]

Then I saw her.

Liang Mei.

The girl was wedged behind a desk in the corner with her knees pulled close, one hand pressed lightly against her chest, while she trembled. Not tightly. Just... resting there, like she was keeping her heartbeat calm.

She looked up at me.

Eyes... golden-brown, soft and dim.

Face... flushed with pink cheeks, but pale around the edges.

Hair... auburn, like a forest. Tied in a low ribbon that was already half undone.

Her cardigan was torn with blood soaking one side of her sleeve, but she didn’t seem to notice. Or didn’t care.

"You’re not one of them," she said.

A quiet and serene voice, without shaking and full of determination.

I lowered the gun slightly.

"Zhou Xue sent me."

A pause. Her expression didn’t change, but her eyes widened, just slightly. Not shock. Recognition.

"She’s alive?"

"For now."

Liang Mei nodded once.

Then, carefully, she stood. One arm braced against the desk while she straightened herself. Her movements were like someone used to standing slowly. Used to waiting for her pulse to catch up.

Behind me, I heard another thump at the barricade. Then Yifei’s voice.

"They’re about to break through the side entrance. Our barricade won’t hold!"

"I’ve got it," she added quickly. "Hold position."

I turned back to Liang Mei.

"Are you alright?"

She looked at me for a moment longer, then said, "No. But I will be."

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