Apocalypse Escape: Day One of Survival

”You think I’m still the same old Zhang Biyun?” Zhang Biyun stared at Xie Ning with a malicious glint in her eyes. ”If you’re not afraid to die, then come and face me.”

Xie Ning looked her up and down, a faint trace of interest in her eyes. ”Is this the look of someone with an ace up her sleeve? Have you had a secondary awakening?”

Zhang Biyun smiled and looked up at Xie Ning. ”Come over and try me. Wouldn’t that tell you everything?”

”You want me to go over there that badly? It must be a trap.” Xie Ning pulled a K30 from her backpack and, without hesitation, fired several shots in Zhang Biyun’s direction.

Teng Hongming was so exasperated by Zhang Biyun’s stupidity he could have cried. He lunged forward, grabbed her, and sent them both tumbling across the ground.

Zhang Biyun hadn’t expected Xie Ning to suddenly pull a gun and shoot at her either.

The moment the bullets flew over her head, Zhang Biyun shrieked uncontrollably, cursing nonstop.

”Xie Ning, you lunatic! You don’t dare to face me head-on? All you can do is resort to these dirty tricks?”

”Stop this nonsense!” Teng Hongming slapped the hysterical Zhang Biyun across the face and roared, ”Let’s go, now!”

If she went crazy and got herself killed here, he would have a hard time explaining it to Base Chief Zhou Jiangye.

Teng Hongming dragged Zhang Biyun behind the tents, using the dozen or so shelters as cover while continuously dodging Xie Ning’s gunfire.

Many bullets slammed into the earthen wall in front of them, which immediately disintegrated.

Teng Hongming could only continuously conjure one earthen wall after another, only for them to collapse. After several rounds of this, he was utterly exhausted, and his superpower energy was almost gone.

”Stop messing around! My superpower energy is almost gone.” Teng Hongming grabbed Zhang Biyun and gave her a sharp slap across the face.

”Where there’s life, there’s hope. Are you afraid you won’t get another chance? Let’s go now. We can discuss this at length once we’re back at Chaoyang Base.”

”Teng Hongming, you hit me again!” Zhang Biyun clutched her reddened, pretty face, glaring at him furiously. ”If I can’t absorb Xie Ning today, then I, Zhang Biyun, will have no reason to go on living!”

”Absorb who?!” Teng Hongming thought he had misheard.

”Xie Ning! I have to absorb her today! I want her dead, bleeding from every orifice, completely and utterly dead!”

”Are you insane!” Teng Hongming yanked her so hard she stumbled. ”Take a good look at yourself! You just absorbed one person, and now you want another? Are you tired of living? Do you think you have too many lives to spare?”

”If you won’t think about anyone else, at least think about your own body. You need to rest and replenish your nutrients. If you just keep absorbing without a second thought, you’ll die even faster than anyone else.”

”It’s not enough! Far from enough! If I can’t absorb Xie Ning today, I’d rather die!” Zhang Biyun violently threw off Teng Hongming’s hand, lunged forward, and broke into a desperate sprint.

In an instant, her speed became too fast for the naked eye to follow.

A look of astonishment crossed Teng Hongming’s face. He turned and asked the man beside him in exasperation, ”The woman who was on the ground just now?”

”Deputy Base Chief, that was a Speed Ability User Martin brought.”

”Speed System,” Teng Hongming muttered to himself, unable to stop himself from closing his eyes.

”Deputy Base Chief, what do we do now? Should we keep waiting? The Base Chief and the others have already pulled out.”

”Wait.” Teng Hongming was still unwilling to lose a capable subordinate like Zhang Biyun. ”We’ll wait another half hour.”

Zhang Biyun dashed past tent after tent, braving a hail of bullets as she sprinted desperately toward Xie Ning.

Xie Ning cast a wide net with her spiritual power. Only she knew just how fast, ruthless, and accurate her shots were.

Even so, Zhang Biyun managed to push her speed to the absolute limit, dodging dozens of her bullets in a row.

And just as the last few bullets reached her, she pulled up a small Earth Shield to block them.

The Earth Shield disintegrated into fragments, and Zhang Biyun herself slid to a stop right in front of Xie Ning.

Her bloodshot eyes blazed with intense hatred. She slammed a hand onto Xie Ning’s shoulder and laughed maniacally, ”Xie Ning, go to hell!”

”Ningning!” Gu Chen, Lu Wei, and their group had just sent off a cargo plane and rushed over just in time to see the heart-stopping scene.

From a distance, all they could see was a woman recklessly throwing herself at Xie Ning, pressing one hand onto her left shoulder.

Xie Ning tilted her head slightly, a faint, cold glint passing through her eyes.

In that instant, she felt a strange fluctuation of superpower energy unfurl around her.

The superpower energy, in a violent surge, tried to forcibly invade her energy source.

It was as if it wanted to break open her energy source and extract the Energy Crystal within.

’So, this was the source of her confidence, the reason she dared to challenge me directly?’

A slight smirk curved Xie Ning’s lips. She suddenly reached up and gripped the hand Zhang Biyun had placed on her shoulder. ”Zhang Biyun, Heaven has a path, but you refuse to take it. Hell has no gate, yet you insist on breaking in.”

Xie Ning paused mid-sentence and blinked. ’Why do I sound a little like... the villainess right now?’

’Oh well. If I’m the villainess, then so be it.’

Zhang Biyun trying to use a special superpower to absorb the Energy Crystal from her body was utterly disgusting.

As Zhang Biyun’s eyes widened in shock, Xie Ning pried her hand off her shoulder, inch by inch.

CRACK!

”Since you’re so determined to throw your life away, I’ll be kind enough to send you... down to reunite with your father and brother.”

Gripping Zhang Biyun’s broken hand, she kicked her squarely in the stomach.

The kick was enough to leave Zhang Biyun reeling. The pain from her stomach, coupled with the terror detected by her Spirit Capture, left her dizzy and unable to speak.

’Why is this happening?’

’How can Xie Ning be immune to my special energy?’

’Why can’t I dig out her Energy Crystal? Why?!’

No one should be able to sense the special absorptive energy that she, Zhang Biyun, released.

’Unless...’

”Are you a Spiritual Ability User?!” In that moment, on the verge of death, Zhang Biyun’s mind seemed to clear slightly.

Only a Spiritual Ability User would be able to detect her absorptive superpower attack and possibly block it.

No, that wasn’t enough. Xie Ning would also have to be a Spiritual System user of a higher Rank than her.

”Are you a Third Rank Spiritual Ability User?”

”Why yes, congratulations, you guessed it.” Xie Ning kicked her viciously to the ground again. The Metal Wire in her hand had already transformed into a Metal Knife, and she stared expressionlessly at Zhang Biyun, who was sprawled on the ground.

”Unfortunately, you found out too late.”

The feeling of the Metal Knife chopping down on the back of her neck—it hurt so damn much!

Zhang Biyun struggled with all her might under Xie Ning’s foot. In her upturned eyes, she could see the reflection of Gu Chen’s special-issue military boots as he rushed over.

She raised a hand, calling out with great difficulty, ”Gu... Gu Chen... save me, Gu Chen... Gu... Gu Chen.”

”I received intel that Zhang Biyun had an unexpected secondary awakening. She gained a very peculiar absorption superpower that can draw out the energy source from other people’s bodies.”

”Others should only be able to absorb energy sources of the same type, but she’s different. She can absorb energy sources from any system and even convert them for her own use.”

”According to the data, she has previously absorbed two Space Ability Users and one Earth Element user...”