Apocalypse Escape: Day One of Survival

In a corner of the tent, the girl’s parents frantically pulled their precious daughter Annelina back, trying to make themselves as inconspicuous as possible.

Annelina, too, seemed terrified by the group of hulking brutes, burrowing ceaselessly into her mother’s arms.

Sang Biao spread his hands wide and clapped them together in Xie Ning’s direction, a brazenly lecherous grin on his face. ”Hey, beautiful, why the mask? Let your big brother here see what you look like.”

”HAHAHA.” A chorus of jeers erupted from behind him, mixed with the excited chatter of his men.

”Brother Biao, a beauty like this is worthy only of you. After all, beauties are meant for heroes.”

”Yeah, yeah!”

Xie Ning glanced at them as if they were fools, then raised a single finger, crooking it at Brother Biao and the others.

”Ooh, the little beauty’s a feisty one. I like that!” Sang Biao roared with laughter, a wide grin splitting his face as he charged toward her.

BANG! BANG! Two bloody holes erupted on Brother Biao’s knees.

Brother Biao, who had been laughing arrogantly just a moment before, felt his knees buckle and collapsed violently to the ground.

The unexpected gunshots stunned everyone present.

A lecherous, balding man shrieked, ”The little bitch has a gun!”

BANG. A bullet pierced his shoulder blade, the immense force sending him flying out of the tent.

Outside, the crowd of onlookers who had been waiting for a show screamed in terror. ”Quick, get the City Defense Team!”

The four or five brutes behind Brother Biao, realizing something was wrong, immediately scattered and fled from Tent 1126. ”Get Leader Li! Quick, get Leader Li!”

”Get Brother Liang!”

Hooo. Xie Ning blew on the muzzle of her M1911, gave it a twirl, and began methodically reloading it with fresh bullets.

”Ningning.” Song Youxuan’s voice was trembling slightly.

”It’s alright, Auntie. Just stand to the side and watch.” Xie Ning glanced back with a faint, disarmingly gentle smile.

But her actions at that moment couldn’t be further from gentle.

Xie Ning walked forward and stomped her foot heavily on Sang Biao’s ruined knee. She laughed softly. ”Calmed down now?”

”Or should I give you another one... right here?” The gun in her hand drifted downward, aiming at the man’s crotch. ”How would you like that?”

”You’re... you’re a psycho! A psycho!” Sang Biao had run with gangs since before the apocalypse, but he’d never met a woman this ferocious.

Back in the day, a woman who’d smash a beer bottle over a man’s head was considered a tough broad.

But this one... she’d actually shot him twice!

”Stop right there.” The tent flap was thrown open again. A burly man in a black tank top, his upper body a mass of lean, hard muscle, barged in with more than a dozen people behind him.

With so many people crowding the entrance, the army-green, seven-person tent suddenly felt incredibly cramped.

”Miss, don’t you think you’re going a little too far?” The man had a composed demeanor, but his tone was laced with ice.

”Medical care is crude in this post-apocalyptic world, and medicine is scarce. By putting two holes in Sang Biao, are you trying to kill him?”

”The man just has a dirty mouth. Miss, why must you take him so seriously?”

Xie Ning raised an eyebrow, a ghost of a smile playing on her lips as she looked at the man. ”And you are? Here to stick up for him?”

”Don’t push it,” a man with a buzz cut snarled, stepping out from behind the leader.

He had barely taken a step forward before the woman opposite him raised the dark, menacing muzzle of her gun and aimed it right at him.

”Fifth Brother.” Zhu Liang frowned, blocking his impulsive subordinate. He looked at Xie Ning with cold eyes. ”This tent area has its own rules. Miss, you can’t just come in here, pull a gun, and expect to walk away without leaving something behind.”

”Alright,” Xie Ning said, her smile gentle. ”Then I’ll leave something behind.”

A dark premonition flashed through Zhu Liang’s mind, and he roared, ”Back up!”

He and his men scrambled frantically to get out of the tent.

But it was too late. The instant Xie Ning lunged forward, several sharp Golden Needles shot from her fingertips, each one aimed at the men’s necks.

Zhu Liang, at the head of the group, felt his pupils constrict.

Someone beside him immediately screamed, ”A Superpower User! A Gold Ability User!”

The group scrambled and tumbled over one another in their haste to get out.

The Golden Needles only ended up grazing the necks of a few men, leaving a cold trail before falling to the ground with a soft *thwip*.

A faint smile played on Xie Ning’s lips. She drew a coiled Metal Wire from her hand, her eyes cold as she stared at the men flailing and kicking as they scrambled backward.

”Let me teach you a lesson. In this post-apocalyptic world, don’t just stick your neck out for anyone. And more importantly, don’t mess with people who, from head to toe, look clean.”

”Otherwise... you might just meet a violent end!” The instant the word ”end” left her lips, she was already in front of Zhu Liang, the Metal Wire in her hand taut and hovering half an inch from his neck.

”Spare me! Spare my life!” Zhu Liang’s voice rang out at the same time as the frantic cry of a woman nearby.

Xie Ning smiled, took a step back, and retracted the coiled Metal Wire.

A woman, clutching a seven- or eight-year-old child, threw herself into Zhu Liang’s arms, weeping as she pounded on his chest.

”You have a family to protect, yet you dare to stick your neck out for trash like that,” Xie Ning said coldly. ”Do you think your wife and child have lived too long?”

A chill ran down Zhu Liang’s spine. All he could do was hold his wife and child, his hands trembling uncontrollably.

He had thought that as a Power-type Superpower User, he could at least withstand a few bullets.

He never imagined that the pristine-looking young woman before him was actually a Strong Attack Ability User.

”Sang Biao crossed me today,” Xie Ning stated coldly. ”The infirmary won’t be accepting him.”

”Who the hell are you?” Just then, a man with a pockmarked face came rushing over, led by a few others.

Xie Ning swept her gaze over them. The men with Li Mazi were the same ones who had been trailing Sang Biao and had run off to find reinforcements.

”Leader Li, it’s her! She’s the one! She opened fire in the base and shot our Brother Biao!” Having run off to find Li Mazi, the men were still unaware that Xie Ning was a Superpower User.

Now that Li Mazi had arrived, they shot Xie Ning a smug look and jutted out their chins, as if to say, ’You’re in for it now.’

Xie Ning didn’t even bother to spare the pathetic clowns a glance.

When Li Mazi looked up and saw Song Youxuan, his expression instantly changed. He put on a genial facade. ”Ah, Youxuan! Who is this young lady to you?”

”Look at this huge mess she’s made. Tsk, tsk. So reckless. Pulling a gun in the base... that’s grounds for expulsion, you know.”

”Youxuan, you wouldn’t want little Yueyue to have to suffer with you outside the base, would you?” Li Mazi said with a greasy smile, walking toward Song Youxuan and reaching out to grab her.

A flash of gold.

Li Mazi jerked his hand back in terror, but a Metal Knife still managed to slice off the tip of his middle finger. He immediately clutched his gushing hand and began to howl.

”You’re so loud, Leader Li,” Xie Ning said with a smile, taking a few steps closer.

”A Superpower User? A Gold Ability User? You... you’re that Xie Ning?”

Xie Ning arched an eyebrow.