The southeastern corner of the base was the trading market the same place where the mission posting hall stood. The streets there were narrow, cramped with makeshift stalls. On either side, disaster survivors their faces hollow with hunger laid out what little they had, hoping to trade for the barest necessities. But without law enforcement oversight, order had long since collapsed. The crowd was a restless tide: with arguments flared into fights, theft happened in plain sight, and sometimes people simply vanished into the chaos.
Lu Xi and the others stood out too much here . With their clothes that were clean, carefully kept—almost out of place in this world of dust and desperation. And the three girls… they were far too eye-catching, their beauty drawing lingering looks from every direction. But no one dared approach them .
As Grandpa Gu ( a comical way to address Gu Wang because of his bad temper ) walked beside them, his presence heavy and oppressive, like a storm about to break. His expression had grown increasingly impatient, his gaze sharp enough to cut. Under that silent pressure, those who looked quickly lowered their eyes, stealing only cautious glances before moving on. Today they had come here for a reason.
To get weapons. Xu Yiyi was still an ordinary person with no awakened ability, no means to protect herself. And although Xu Qiaoyun had awakened, her power was purely supportive a healing-type ability, gentle and life-saving, yet completely lacking in offense. In a real fight, she would be just as defenseless. But the market… was not the place for such things. Most stalls were filled with items that had long since lost their meanings like clothes, trinkets, bits of jewelry. In this broken world, beauty held no value. Survival did. Weapons, if anyone even had them, were rarely put up for trade. No one could guarantee they would live long enough to regret the decision.
The group circled the market for nearly half an hour. But found nothing. There was not a single suitable weapon. As disappointment settled over them, quiet but heavy, and they were just about to leave when Lu Xi’s gaze paused. She saw a man. He stood by a small stall, thin to the point of frailty, with a child cradled in his arms. Dark circles weighed down his eyes, and his clothes though wrinkled and worn from long use were unmistakably high-end. The kind of brand Lu Xi recognized at a glance, even now.
Maybe once, he had lived well. Very well. Because spread out before him were a watch and several pieces of jewelry, each finely crafted, their details still exquisite despite the dust. In the past, they would have been symbols of status—objects people coveted. Now, they weren’t worth as much as a single piece of bread.
Almost no one stopped infront of him. People passed by without a glance, or at most, spared him a fleeting look before moving on. Still, the man tried—his voice hoarse yet eager as he called out, promoting his goods with forced enthusiasm. Every so often, he would pause, looking down at the child in his arms. The child’s face was pale. Too pale. Lu Xi’s eyes shifted slightly. Behind the man, slung carelessly in a bag, something long pressed against the fabric—rigid, narrow, unmistakable in shape.
They were two blades. Tang swords (straight, double-edged Chinese swords known for their elegant, balanced design). She stepped forward.
Without hesitation and crouched in front of him, her movements calm and unhurried. Reaching out, she gently touched the child’s forehead.
Warm but not feverish. He had no illness. Just hunger.
“Miss… look at this watch.” The man’s voice trembled, hope and desperation tangled together. “It’s a limited edition—there’s only one in the country. I’ll sell it for twenty points.” (Points: a form of survival currency used within the base, exchanged for food, supplies, and services.)
Lu Xi didn’t respond. Her silence stretched just long enough to unravel him. “Ten,” he said quickly, almost stumbling over the words. “Ten is fine.”
His eyes searched her face, pleading now, stripped of all dignity. “The child… the child is really starving. Please… have pity on us, Miss.”
Lu Xi looked at him quietly. Her gaze was steady, her voice soft when she finally spoke. “We don’t need the watch.”Hearing this the man felt as if something inside him snapped.
The faint light in his eyes died instantly, replaced by hollow despair. He lowered his head, looking at the child in his arms, and then—without restraint—tears spilled down his face, large and heavy. Before all of this… he had only been an ordinary wealthy man. A business owner. A husband. A father. His life had been simple, comfortable—happy.
Until the world ended. When the apocalypse came, his wife had been bitten by a zombie while protecting their child. In the chaos that followed, he had grabbed two Tang swords taken hastily from a hardware store and fought his way here, step by step, carrying their child through hell itself. And yet… Even after surviving all that, he couldn’t feed the child his wife had died to protect.
“We need weapons,” Lu Xi said at the same time. Her tone remained gentle, but there was no room for negotiation. “Like… your knife.”
The man froze. His lips were dry, cracked, trembling as they parted. For a moment, he could only stare at her, as if she had seen straight through him. “…How did you know I had a knife?” Lu Xi didn’t answer that. Instead, she met his gaze, calm and unwavering. “That’s not the point,” she said quietly. “The point is—we want your knife.” A brief pause. Then, clearly she said : “Fifty points each.”
Her eyes flicked once toward the bag behind him.
“Two for a hundred points.”The man stared at Lu Xi in a daze. For a moment, it was as if her words hadn’t fully reached him—like his mind refused to believe what he had just heard. Then, suddenly, realization struck. His expression changed in an instant.
As ecstasy burst through the emptiness in his eyes, bright and almost overwhelming. “Here—here you go! Thank you… thank you!”
His hands trembled as he hurriedly pulled the backpack from behind him and pushed it toward Lu Xi, as though afraid she might change her mind. Gratitude spilled from his lips again and again and each word he said was more hurried than the last, his voice thick with emotion. His tears welled up, blurring his vision. He lowered his head and looked at the child in his arms. And for the first time since the apocalypse began… he smiled.
A real smile. He truly hadn’t expected it. Those two broken blades he had picked up in passing—things he barely thought about at the time—had actually been exchanged for a hundred points. Enough for them to survive for three whole months. Three months. That was life. That was hope.
He had once seen a man selling knives in the market seen him get robbed, beaten nearly to death by an awakened superhuman (a person with special abilities gained after the apocalypse). Fear had settled deep into his bones after that. Afraid the same fate would befall him and his child, he had hidden the Tang swords away, never daring to display them. For two days now, he hadn’t sold a single thing. For two days, neither of them had eaten. The child had grown weaker with every passing hour. So he had already made up his mind if nothing sold today, he would take out the two blades, no matter the risk. But he never imagined… That someone would willingly offer such a price.
His son was finally saved. Xu Qiaoyun and Xu Yiyi held the Tang swords they had just bought, their faces lit with unmistakable joy. The blades were about the length of a forearm, the hilts short and easy to grip. Their edges were sharp, their weight light—perfectly balanced for swift movements. As faint stains of dried zombie blood clung to the metal, dark and telling. These were weapons suited for both mid-range strikes and close combat—ideal for surviving in this broken world.
“Lu Xi, thank you.”
Xu Yiyi held the sword carefully, almost reverently. Her usual cold expression softened the moment she looked at Lu Xi, the indifference she wore like armor crumbling away without resistance.
“Mm, Lu Xi, it’s a good thing you noticed,” Xu Qiaoyun added with a gentle smile. “Otherwise, we would have missed these two swords.”
She stepped closer with practiced ease, naturally slipping her arm around Lu Xi’s. Her gaze lingered on Lu Xi’s slightly flushed face, her eyes warm—too warm—filled with quiet happiness.
Lu Xi: No… please don’t look at me like that. It’s honestly a bit overwhelming…
003 : “…You’re clearly enjoying this.”
Despite being the center of such “affectionate” attention from two stunning girls—just like in the original story Lu Xi’s heart was already pounding wildly inside her chest. But on the surface? Perfect composure. “What are you talking about?” she said, her tone steady, almost dismissive. “I just used our shared points.” The three girls exchanged a glance. Their eyes curved with quiet laughter, unspoken understanding passing between them.
“Senior Gu?!” A sharp voice suddenly cut through the moment from behind. They paused. And Lu Xi turned around.
A woman stood not far away from them. She wore a rose-colored coat that clung elegantly to her figure, paired with high heels that clicked lightly against the ground. Her makeup was exquisite, her long curly hair flowing over her shoulders. She carried herself with confidence—graceful, eye-catching.But her gaze was fixed on Gu Wang, filled with unmistakable surprise.
Beside her stood two men. The one in front was tall and broad, his face fierce, almost intimidating. The other lingered slightly behind—shorter, a bit overweight, his presence less striking. Lu Xi’s eyes lit up. Oh ho… is this… some messy romance? Her curiosity flared instantly, burning bright. Judging by the complicated expression on the woman’s face with shock, hesitation, something deeper tangled beneath it was obvious.
There was history here. No way… no way… am I actually about to witness gossip about Master Gu? (Master: a respectful or teasing way to refer to someone powerful or skilled.) 003: “…Host, control your expression. You’ve already given yourself away.” Only then did Lu Xi realize—
She had actually let out a laugh. Out loud. The moment she felt Gu Wang’s cold, murderous gaze sweep over her, she instantly snapped her mouth shut and shrank back, slipping behind Xu Yiyi and Xu Qiaoyun. Head lowered, shoulders tucked in, she looked like a small quail trying to hide from danger.
Gu Wang: “…”
He glanced at her briefly before shifting his attention to the woman in front of him, annoyance flickering in his eyes. Faint arcs of purple lightning danced across his sharply defined knuckles, crackling softly—an ominous reflection of his mood.
Who is this woman? Lu Xi thought. Her voice alone was enough to irritate him, making him want to silence her forever.
Permanently. On the other side, Cheng Hui hadn’t expected this encounter either. The moment she recognized him, surprise surged through her followed closely by a trace of embarrassment.
With memories she had long tried to bury resurfaced, vivid and unavoidable. She had once been his direct junior at Shandong University and the campus belle (a term for the most beautiful and popular girl in a school) and one of the top students in the Computer Science Department.
Back then, when Gu Wang had come to assist their class as a teaching assistant, guiding them through lab experiments… She had almost fallen for him at first sight.
He had been tall, straight-backed, his features sharp and striking. There was something distant about him—an air of restraint, almost ascetic, like a white lotus blooming alone atop a snow-covered mountain (a metaphor in Chinese culture for someone pure, untouchable, and aloof). He was Perfect. Unreachable. She later learned from her advisor that Gu Wang had always ranked first in the department, year after year. He had won multiple prestigious awards, secured direct admission to postgraduate studies with the highest score, and even joined a top-tier domestic research team in his very first year.
With her own beauty and academic excellence, Cheng Hui had always believed only the best man in the world could possibly be worthy of her.
So she pursued him. Relentlessly. Time and time again, Gu Wang rejected her—coldly, impatiently. But she refused to give up. Rain or shine, she followed him, closing the distance again and again, until finally… One night he asked her to meet him on the rooftop. Overjoyed, she had spent hours preparing. Carefully choosing her outfit, perfecting her makeup, rehearsing what she might say—her heart brimming with anticipation as she ran to meet him.
But when she arrived, he turned. And smiled. It was cold. Faint. At that moment she thougt she had finally reached him. That she had conquered this distant, untouchable man. Her vanity swelled in her chest, almost suffocating in its intensity. But in the very next second— Everything shattered. Gu Wang’s hand shot out, gripping her throat. He slammed her hard against the edge of the rooftop. “You’re making me very uncomfortable.” His voice was low. Icy. In the stillness of the night, it sounded like something dragged up from the depths of hell.
Her upper body tipped backward, nearly suspended in midair. The wind howled past her ears, tearing at her long curls, whipping them into disarray. Tears and mucus smeared across her face, stripping away every trace of elegance. The “campus belle” was gone. All that remained at that time was terror.
“H-help… help me…” She tried to scream, to call for help but her voice trembled so violently that no sound could properly escape. Only broken sobs slipped past her lips, fragile and desperate. She was begging. Pleading. For someone—anyone—to save her. As Gu Wang looked down at her . A slow smile curved his lips. Wicked. Arrogant. All the cold restraint he usually wore was gone. In its place was something far darker. Like a demon that had clawed its way out of hell.”This is the last time. If you bother me again, I have a hundred ways to make you disappear.”
He smiled at her, his tone gentle, yet it terrified her, causing her to tremble all over, only able to nod with difficulty. After Gu Wang left, she slumped to the ground, drenched in sweat. She had no doubt about Gu Wang’s threat; she could feel that he had truly intended to kill her!
From that moment on, she never appeared before Gu Wang again. After the apocalypse, she relied on the protection of her admirers at school to reach the B City base. To survive, she climbed into the ranks of the base’s superhuman squad, offering herself to them in exchange for protection.
She was adept at using her beauty to gain advantages. She also thought Gu Wang was dead. But now, Gu Wang wasn’t dead, and he also seemed to not remember her. Cheng Hui’s inner hatred and resentment threatened to overwhelm her, her beautiful features contorting into a grimace.
Why?!
She was the campus belle of Shandong University, a top student in the computer science department, surrounded by admirers since childhood. She lowered herself to confess her love to Gu Wang, but not only did he reject her, he didn’t even remember her! And that little girl—Gu Wang’s gaze was almost constantly fixed on her, only glancing at her briefly before returning to the other girl.
Just a little girl who hadn’t even grown her first hair, why did she have to do this?! Meanwhile, Gu Wang was already very impatient. Lu Xi hid behind Xu Yiyi and Xu Qiaoyun like a little quail, but her little head secretly peeked out from between them, looking at the woman dressed like a socialite opposite them, occasionally giving him a mocking look.
He could guess with his toes what Lu Xi’s pig-headed imagination was going through. His gaze turned fiercely towards the opposite side. The woman who had called out to him had beautiful features that now appeared somewhat ferocious, as if she harbored a grudge against him.
Behind her were two men. His gaze shifted to the two men, and Gu Wang’s expression instantly turned cold. He knew all too well the look in those men’s eyes.
It was the greedy, possessive look a man gives a woman. At this moment lightning crackled in Gu Wang’s hands.