Apocalypse Escape: Day One of Survival

”I don’t know what happened between you and your father. But for the past year or so, Dr. Xie has indeed been sending people to look for you and your mother.”

Gu Chen stated the facts objectively, his eyes carefully observing her all the while.

He wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination, but he sensed something was off about his girlfriend’s mood.

If there were some misunderstanding, she would have surely pressed for more details, but she just calmly said, ”Oh.”

”Just posting a notice to look for us, that’s all,” she said suddenly. Her expression was perfectly composed, but Gu Chen could detect a hidden danger in her placid tone.

”Perhaps if he heard that my mother and I had died on the road, he’d shed a tear or two out of ’sympathy.’ Then he’d turn right around, get married, and have children without missing a beat. He could even have a son.”

”Men... aren’t they all the same?” Xie Ning’s tone was unnervingly calm, but her eyes swirled with deep mockery.

Gu Chen’s heart hammered in his chest. He suddenly reached out, pulled her into his arms, and stared down into her eyes. ”I’m not like that! I never would be!”

”Hey.” Gu Chen gave her a little shake, his expression serious as he gazed at her. ”I don’t know about other guys, but I’m completely different!”

Xie Ning couldn’t help but crack a smile. ”I wasn’t talking about you.”

Seeing that the line of fire hadn’t been drawn to him, Gu Chen secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Inside, he quietly grumbled about whatever it was Dr. Xie had done.

”And what about your mother?”

Xie Ning shook her head. ”Whatever my mom chooses, I’ll understand.”

’I think I’m being rational enough,’ she thought. ’My own resentment for Xie Xuezheng definitely won’t spill over onto my mother.’

”That Kang Yunru...” Gu Chen noticed the subtle shift in Xie Ning’s eyes and quickly cut himself off with a light cough.

”It’s not that I want to defend your father. But... I have some information on Kang Yunru. I’d like you to take a look at it yourself.”

Xie Ning took the file Gu Chen handed her and flipped through it.

Kang Yunru came from an intellectual family and was a gifted student. She sailed through her master’s and doctoral programs, eventually joining the Su City Biological Research Institute as one of Dr. Xie’s assistants.

Thanks to her exceptional abilities, she was considered the top performer among the four assistants.

Xie Ning closed the file, then suddenly looked up at Gu Chen. ”She’s not pregnant?”

”Pregnant?” Gu Chen was clearly taken aback for a second before quickly shaking his head. ”Of course not.”

Xie Ning raised an eyebrow.

’So the timeline in this life is completely off?’

’Based on how things went in my past life, Kang Yunru should have a newborn in her arms right now.’

She clearly remembered the boy Kang Yunru had been holding—he was four or five years old at the time, and an absolute terror.

’Xie Xuezheng had a son.’ Xie Ning’s lips curled into a deeply mocking smile.

”Then go investigate again. They have a nanny with the surname Zhang. She might be looking after a child right now.”

”It’s a boy. He should be a little over a year old.”

”They got together after the apocalypse. The happy little family of three, sitting cozily by the fireplace, eating bread with jam, having steak and milk. Just so blissful.”

Xie Ning stood up and pulled the door open. Her gaze froze on the man outside, his hand raised mid-knock.

Xie Xuezheng froze, stammering, ”Ning... Ningning.”

Xie Ning’s cold gaze fell upon him, sweeping him up and down. ”Dr. Xie, you honor our humble home with your presence. But this temple is too small to house such a great Buddha. If you have no other business here, please leave.”

Song You’ai and Wei Zhengtong stood a short distance away. Seeing Xie Ning’s icy dismissal, they were momentarily at a loss for words.

Xie Xuezheng was deeply hurt. ”Ningning, I know you’re still blaming me for not finding you and your mother right away. But... but I’ve been doing everything I can to find you. This past year, it’s true I’ve been too neglectful of you both. Can you give me a chance? Let me make it up to you...”

”You think it’s only been a little over a year?” Xie Ning suddenly exploded, her voice rising to a roar. ”Make it up? What could you possibly use to make it up? *Can* you make it up?”

”Do you think you can make up for everything that’s been lost? Some things, once they’re gone, are gone forever! No matter how much you want to fix it, you can never get them back!”

The door slammed shut in front of everyone.

It was like a heavy hammer slamming into their hearts.

Seeing Xie Xuezheng with his head hung in dejection, Wei Zhengtong couldn’t bear his sorrow and offered a few quiet words of comfort.

Perhaps she was tired from the journey, but Xie Ning only ate a few bites of dinner before returning to her room to rest.

Seeing she wasn’t in good spirits, no one dared to say much or disturb her.

Around midnight, the electronic Little Spider began to CLICK and WHIR. A STATICKY electronic voice suddenly rang out.

”Warning. Unidentified electronic object approaching subject. Warning. Warning!”

In her groggy state, Xie Ning vaguely heard the darn spider’s incessant beeping, but she was so utterly exhausted she couldn’t even be bothered to open her eyes.

It wasn’t a physical exhaustion, but rather... a psychological one.

It was as if she had sunk back into that cold, bleak world, finding it nearly impossible to wake.

”Unidentified electronic object now thirty meters from subject.” The Little Spider muttered, crawling over Xie Ning’s fingers and CLANKING its way forward.

”Electronic object detected as a high-level threat to subject. Preparing to engage.”

”Engagement countdown: ten seconds.”

”Ten... nine... eight... seven...”

The tiny Little Spider’s form suddenly swelled inside the room. A pair of sharp pincers CRASHED through the bedroom window, colliding with an oncoming electronic dog.

The shattering sound instantly shook the entire villa.

Even Yu Tianfeng and the others in the neighboring villa were jolted awake by the tremendous noise.

Everyone scrambled toward Xie Ning’s room.

Song Shijun was in the lead, K30 in hand, and kicked Xie Ning’s door wide open.

The scene that met their eyes left the family members crowded in the doorway utterly and completely stunned.

Just as Song Shijun and Song Kexin were about to attack the two-meter-tall creature in the room, Song You’ai suddenly cried out, ”Wait! I think that’s Ningning’s Little Spider!”

”What Little Spider?” everyone asked, completely bewildered.

’This? *Little* Spider??’ Everyone looked up at the electronic spider that filled the entire room, its pincers scraping against the ceiling.

’How could anyone call *that* little?’

In the span of a few words, the two electronic dogs that had crashed through the window were impaled on the Little Spider’s pincers and violently flung back outside.

Seeing that the spider made no further hostile moves, Song Shijun slowly lowered the K30.

The Little Spider shrank, and shrank, and shrank, until it was back to its original size. It SKITTERED into Xie Ning’s blankets and, in a very human-like gesture, used one of its legs to pull the covers back over her.

...If one could ignore the debris scattered all over the blanket, that is.

Song You’ai rushed forward and touched her daughter’s forehead. She jumped in alarm. ”Ningning’s burning up!”

Startled, He Shuping hurried out to get the hot water kettle, muttering, ”Xiao Xian, bring out a box of fever medicine!”