Apocalypse Escape: Day One of Survival

”Like you needed to tell me?”

”Do you think I’m an idiot?”

”You just want to take advantage of the chaos to prey on a bunch of clueless fools.”

The Mutated Parrot flapped its wings, its little beak opening to yap on and on.

The parrot’s endless chatter gave Xie Ning a headache. She swatted it. ”Shut up.”

The parrot, a little miffed, shut its beak but continued to bob its head up and down defiantly.

Xie Ning watched as the Mutated Birds, under the parrot’s command, each took several Gold Pearls and flew toward the distant battlefield. Her gaze followed their movements.

If this tactic worked, it could solve Jingji Base’s current, urgent crisis.

”You all stay here.” After tossing out the sentence, Xie Ning turned with Gu Chen and ran toward the top of the city wall.

As they ran, they covered their faces with scarves and masks.

The moment they were outside, they were immediately hit by a furious, sweeping sandstorm that assaulted their faces.

Even with the scarves and masks, it was an extremely uncomfortable sensation.

Xie Ning quickly pulled out two pairs of sunglasses and stuffed one into Gu Chen’s hand.

She put on her own pair, pressed a hand firmly against her scarf, and said in a muffled voice, ”What did that meteorologist you guys hired have to say? This expert seems a little unreliable. *Cough, cough*.”

They were close enough to hold hands but still had to shout to be heard.

Gu Chen yelled at the top of his lungs, ”The sandstorm is this bad. It looks like we’ll have to move everyone to the underground shelters.”

”Yeah, the sand is already getting inside the base. If it blows like this all night, will it blow the houses away?”

Her words were...

Young Gu Chen had no idea how to respond.

The two struggled against the wind, climbing to the top of the city wall with great difficulty.

Xie Ning immediately spotted a half-dead Li Xiang huddled against a wall, bundled up like a bear.

”How is it?” Xie Ning shouted at Li Xiang, her voice muffled by her scarf.

”Are you blind? Can’t you see for yourself?” Li Xiang snapped back irritably. ”The zombies are quiet, but I’m about to be blown away.”

”Seeing as you still have the energy to snap at me, you must be doing fine!” Xie Ning yelled through her scarf. ”Come on, what’s the use of huddling here? Let’s go look over the railing.”

Li Xiang wearily pushed herself up and followed her a dozen or so steps forward.

In just those dozen steps, the three of them staggered unsteadily...

”This wind is so damn strong!” Li Xiang yelled in her raspy voice. ”Once the sandstorm gets into the base, regular doors and windows probably won’t be able to keep this wind out.”

”This has to be a level eighty-eight typhoon, right?”

Xie Ning almost choked with laughter. ”I’ve never heard of a level eighty-eight typhoon. I have heard of a level seventeen super typhoon, though.”

”Are you the one defining typhoons now? Level eighty-eight, why not just say level one hundred?”

”You guys better give me more Contribution Points for this later. I deserve a reward of at least eight or ten thousand. How long have I been out here in this wind? Let me tell you, Xie Ning, and I’m not just bragging—the only reason this gale-force wind hasn’t given me facial paralysis is because I’m just that mentally tough.”

”What the hell does that have to do with being mentally tough? Isn’t it because you’re so thick-skinned that you haven’t gotten facial paralysis?”

Li Xiang: ???

’It felt like Xie Ning was taking a jab at her, but Li Xiang couldn’t quite tell...’

She obediently changed the subject. ”What did you guys come up here for?”

By now, the three of them had painstakingly moved to the edge of the city wall.

Xie Ning glanced down and was instantly exasperated.

She couldn’t see a thing, only a hazy expanse of swirling sand...

The flock of underlings the parrot had summoned were nowhere to be seen. There was no telling where they’d gone off to.

”Li Xiang, come take a look. Can you see any Mutated Birds in the sky?”

”Yeah, there are several hundred of them, quite a few. They’ve all scattered. Yo, where did these birds come from?” They were diving right into the heart of the storm.

Seeing them struggle against the wind, their feathers flying everywhere, they looked a hundred times more miserable than she felt. Li Xiang found this thought quite comforting.

Xie Ning pulled the parrot out of her Farmhouse Space.

It let out a screech, then got a mouthful of dust and coughed like a person...

”Holy crap, where did this bald bird come from?” Li Xiang asked, her hand covering her mouth and nose.

”You’re the bald one! Your whole family is bald!” the parrot shrieked, only to choke on the sand and wind again.

”It’s not bald,” Xie Ning nodded, smoothing down the disheveled feathers on the parrot’s head. ”See, it has plenty of head feathers.”

Gu Chen: ...

Since they’d come up, he hadn’t been able to get a single word in edgewise between the two young women.

The two of them bickered as if no one else was around, and everything they said was ridiculous...

”Little Master, what is this cursed weather! Hurry up and send me back, send me back.” ’I had just found a nice tree to rest on. Why did this woman have to drag me out here?’

’This rotten environment, you get a mouthful of sand every time you talk. It’s so annoying.’

Li Xiang, still covering her mouth and nose, burst into laughter. ”Little Master? It called you ’Little Master’? Where did this weird bird come from? Where’d you pick it up?”

”So ignorant. This is a Spiritual System Mutated Bird. Never seen one before, have you?” Xie Ning retorted, patting the bird’s head. ”Go on, ask your minions how it’s going.”

”They’ve pretty much dropped them all. Just wait and watch the show. Now hurry and put me back, Little Master! I don’t want to stay in this place for one more second. It’s filthy and absurd!”

Li Xiang’s wild laughter stopped abruptly. Covering her mouth and nose, she asked in astonishment, ”It can talk that much? It’s really a Spiritual System Mutated Bird? Then why is it following you?”

”What’s your relationship with it?”

”What relationship? Are you deaf? Didn’t you hear it call me ’Little Master’?” Xie Ning shot her a sideways glance and said bluntly, ”Think about what kind of person calls someone ’Little Master’.”

”A eunuch? A palace maid? A groveling servant?”

”There you have it!”

Xie Ning stuffed the parrot back into her Space with one hand, catching a glimpse of its dumbfounded little expression.

”Who? Who’s a eunuch? Who’s the eunuch, Little Master? You’d better explain yourself.”

Xie Ning couldn’t be bothered to explain. She just shoved it into the Farmhouse Space and looked down from the city wall.

”I can’t see anything.”

Gu Chen: ”Me neither...”

Li Xiang glanced at them, then suddenly burst into laughter while still covering her mouth and nose.

”Xie Ning, so there are times even you can’t see something.”

A wonderful sense of superiority washed over her.

What Xie Ning couldn’t see clearly, she, Li Xiang, could see as clear as day! HAHAHAHA.

”Are you crazy?” Xie Ning was speechless. ”Tell me what you see.”

”Those Mutated Birds in the sky are struggling to fly, staggering all over the place. They’ve dropped a few Little Golden Pearls.”

”How come I didn’t hear anything?”

”What could you possibly hear in a sandstorm this big?” Li Xiang shot Xie Ning a disdainful look.

”So, did they explode?”

”Haha,” Li Xiang said smugly. ”Beg me. Beg me and I’ll tell you.”

Xie Ning reached out and started smacking her on the head.

Gu Chen: ...

His girlfriend’s fists flew without warning, raining down on their target.

Li Xiang, who had been gloating just a moment ago, immediately covered her head and scurried away.

But she didn’t get two steps before Xie Ning grabbed her and hauled her back. ”Talk!”

”You’re so violent! I’ll talk, I’ll talk! Why are you hitting me? Oww.”