Apocalypse King: Recruiting S-Tier Beauties With My Ruler System
Chapter 94: The Weight We Carry

Chapter 94: The Weight We Carry

The Brute collapsed with a heavy grunt, its body folding sideways, dragging mucus across the floor in wide streaks as it twitched one final time. Its stomach-mouth spasmed once — lips drawn back, teeth still twitching — then slowly sank open, slack and empty.

I stood over it, my breath slow, chest rising in measured intervals. My knuckles were numb, fists still clenched. Blood trickled across my palm — some mine, some not — I wasn’t sure anymore. Didn’t care either.

[Stage-2 Brute Infected Killed — ZKP +50]

The system pinged against the back of my vision, sharp and cold, but I barely registered it. I needed to keep checking things.

Across the shattered tiles, the speed-type — the Freak — still twitched where it lay. Its limbs spasmed, claws dragging faint trails across the stone, body jerking like it hadn’t got the message.

Shen Yifei impressed me greatly so far, and moved forward without hesitation. She raised the weapon and drove it into its throat, twisting slightly on impact.

No drama.

No flair.

Just certainty.

[Stage-2 Speed Infected Killed — ZKP +50 | EXP +100]

The one with the bat stayed behind her, still watching. Calm. Poised. That unnerving stillness she always had — like she didn’t just fight to the edge of death and back.

She didn’t say anything, and neither did the other girl. They didn’t even glance at each other. They just turned in opposite directions, backs to the kill.

Discipline. Or distance. Maybe both.

The barricade near the rear groaned. Wood straining, metal creaking as weight pressed against it. The soldier, tall, quiet, pipe-wielding, drove her weapon into the frame again, adjusting the angle with slow precision.

Another body slammed into the outside.

The table legs scraped, but didn’t give.

To her left, the short-haired girl limped forward and buried her blade in the head of a crawler still reaching toward her ankles. No wasted energy. No scream. Just one short exhale and movement like muscle memory.

The limping one — Chen — was still trying to move. He leaned against the wall, blade half-raised, but he looked more unconscious than focused.

The kid with the gun — the nervous one, Deng — fired again. The first shot missed. The second clipped a shoulder. He adjusted the angle, took a breath, and held his stance like he wasn’t sure if the recoil would break his arm.

It didn’t.

"West hall," I said, voice low.

Zhou Xue, calm under fire, turned her head slightly. Her posture was tight, blade up, left arm cradling her ribs. The wound had healed, but not enough. She moved like someone stitched together by force, like her whole body didn’t trust itself yet. Still, she gave a nod. No questions. Just action.

She pivoted out of formation and limped toward the corridor.

I caught it then — a stagger, a hitch in her step just past the second overturned chair. Her breath came sharp through clenched teeth. Her fingers flexed around the grip of her blade. Not fear. Just pain, she wasn’t ready to admit out loud.

[Zhou Xue — Stage-1 Infected Killed — EXP +10 | ZKP +5]

I scanned the room. No clean exits yet.

To the right, Chen Xun tried his best. He pushed himself upright with one hand and gripped his weapon like it was an insult to hold it wrong. He wasn’t bleeding out, not visibly, but his face was pale and his lips drawn thin. It wouldn’t take much more to drop him.

Behind me, Deng Hua reloaded.

I turned.

He crouched behind the desk he’d taken cover behind. The pistol was steady in his hand now. Not confident — but no longer shaking. He’d hit his mark. The system confirmed it a second ago, flickering quietly in the side of my vision.

[Deng Hua — Stage-1 Infected Killed — EXP +10 | ZKP +5]

Small gains. But that’s how survivors were made.

I didn’t say anything and just observed the wounded kid.

He met my eyes.

Then quickly turned away with a strange look.

To my left, Shen Yifei was still scanning the downed Freak’s body, boots shifting in a slow semicircle and dragging her spear. Her shoulders lifted tight, breaths fast but even. Not fear, not anymore. She wasn’t waiting for orders. She was standing ready.

Mu Qinglan stood across from her.

Still silent. Still motionless.

The bat rested against her shoulder like it belonged there. She didn’t twitch. Didn’t wipe sweat. Her stance didn’t even break. Her eyes drifted across the field of corpses, across the barricade, then settled on the twisted corpse of the Brute I’d just finished.

She didn’t look impressed.

Didn’t look disturbed either.

She looked like she already knew I’d win.

I didn’t speak to her.

She didn’t speak to me.

It wasn’t the right moment.

Instead, I turned back to the cute girl in a thick sweater... Liang Mei looked pale, her face sweaty as she struggled to breathe.

Her body slumped against the wall. One knee bent, both hands resting gently across her chest, where her heartbeat lived like a fragile, quiet thing. Her eyes weren’t closed.

But they weren’t alert, either. Distant. Measuring Liang Mei’s decline like she’d done it a hundred times before.

I walked over, crouched beside her, and lowered my voice.

"You still with us?"

She nodded once. Weakly.

"Pulse?"

"Fast. Better than before."

"Will the pills help?"

"A little. Just give me a few minutes. The gun... it was amazing!"

She didn’t whine, and I noticed her killing a few zombies. Though I didn’t get any points, the affection between us rose the more I treated her like the others.

So I didn’t ask for anything more, with a few more seconds watching her breath. I stood and turned to face the others.

Barricades held.

For now.

But I already knew what came next.

——

March 17th, 20xx— 11:10 PM

Longwan University — North Lab Block, Ruined Lecture Theatre

—

Liang Qiu braced her boot against the side of the barricade and drove the metal pipe down into the seam between two beams. Her hair was wet with sweat, her jaw opened wide, and one leg was still shaking. The structure groaned again but didn’t give.

Behind her, Chen Xun shifted, trying to stand. He managed to drag himself up along the wall halfway before collapsing onto one knee again. His breathing was loud now, uneven, like the blood loss had finally reached the edge of what his body could handle.

Shen Yifei glanced back once.

"Chen Xun’s still moving."

Mu Qinglan didn’t turn.

"Let him," she glanced at me while I focused on Zhou Xue.

Zhou Xue was returning from the west hall, her cheap dagger red, her steps slow but steady. She moved around the broken furniture like she’d done this a hundred times before, favouring her left side, but not slowing.

Then stopped near the closest chair and sat, letting her head hang forward for a breath.

"Clear for now," Zhou Xue said quietly.

"No infected?"

"None breathing."

I gave a sharp nod and opened my system again.

I watched the far barricade that the others built during the battle... dozens, almost hundreds of corpses around us.

She was holding the spear vertically now, resting it against one shoulder, her other hand bracing against her ribs. She hadn’t spoken much since the kill. The blood on her boots was still fresh. Her eyes followed Mu Qinglan — not openly, but often.

Mu Qinglan herself stood by the edge of the barricade, her bat resting against one thigh. She hadn’t moved to help Chen Xun. Hadn’t checked on anyone. She just stood still, gaze flicking toward every sound. Guarded. Remote.

When Shen Yifei stepped past her to adjust a broken desk bracing the frame, their arms brushed for a second.

Neither said anything.

Not even a glance.

But something shifted in the air between them.

I walked up to them and leaned in close, whispering about the important cores that were stored in the Stage 2 zombies. Because I grabbed the brute’s core after crushing its skull, only the green one remained.

The brute core differed from the green core and red cores...

This would improve someone’s endurance, and I wondered if it would help Shen Yifei grow stronger.

"Yifei, Qinglan... come here."

After whispering about what they needed to do, I turned back to Liang Mei.

She was breathing slower now, hands still folded at her chest. The glass vial I’d handed her earlier sat empty beside her leg.

"Better?" I asked.

She didn’t speak for a moment — just nodded. Her voice, when it came, was smaller than before, but firmer.

"I’m steady now."

"Can you walk?"

"With support."

"Good," I said. "Because we’re not staying."

She closed her eyes for a second. No complaint. No protest.

When she opened them again, she was already moving.

Zhou Xue wiped her blade clean and straightened.

Deng Hua stood. Checked his pistol. Clicked the safety off. Said nothing.

Chen Xun didn’t move much, but he was conscious. He looked at me when I passed him. I didn’t stop.

Behind me, I heard Shen Yifei mutter low.

"Should we head now?"

"No," Mu Qinglan said. "He’ll tell us when."

Shen Yifei flinched — just barely. Her jaw tightened, but she didn’t answer.

I stepped through the field of corpses and paused beside the main door.

The walls were quiet for now.

But we’d bought seconds. Not safety... and during that silence, the system’s voice echoed in my mind and made me feel energetic again.

[Rank Increased]

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