Apocalypse: Master of Soul Beasts

”Cheers, my friends, here’s to us coming to Africa, this godforsaken shithole where not even birds bother to crap!”

”Clink.”

Three solid porcelain bowls knocked together, the clear liquid sloshing inside them gave off an alluring fragrance.

Moutai Feitian—1499 Renminbi, Cathay’s signature liquor before the apocalypse, and the price was just as terrifying.

Of course, things are different now from before the end of the world. After doomsday hit, nobody had the time or mood to produce booze and that kind of crap anymore—even at the Yanjing Assembly Site. Stuff like Moutai, one bottle drunk means one bottle less, so naturally it’s even more expensive.

Luckily, none of the people present were the kind of weaklings hanging on by a thread, never knowing where their next meal would come from. Luxuries like Moutai? They could have as much as they wanted!

”Gulp gulp.”

The carefree life of swigging booze from big bowls and gnawing on hunks of meat always has its charm. Once the three of them drained their baijiu in one go, the burly guy sitting on the left opened a fresh bottle of Moutai, filled their bowls, then spoke loudly in an authentic Yanjing accent.

”Come on, come on, second round—here’s to Boss Bai’s trip to Africa going smoothly, and while we’re at it, here’s hoping we make it out of Africa alive.”

The burly man’s voice was anything but quiet—or rather, he was clearly saying it for a certain guy standing by the window, pretending to brood.

”Gulp gulp.”

Another round, bottoms up. After that came the third bowl of baijiu.

This time, the burly man kept his mouth shut. Instead, the man in his early thirties sitting in the middle, whose face looked a bit prematurely aged, opened his mouth.

”Boss Bai, what’s wrong? Not gonna drink a little?”

Standing by the window, Bai gave a lazy wave of his hand without answering. He just stared wide-eyed at the tattered little town outside, his perfunctory attitude written all over his face.

That attitude instead sparked the middle-aged man’s anger.

”Bang!”

The porcelain bowl full of liquor hit the floor; shards flew everywhere. The middle-aged man sprawled right down on the floorboards, cursing as he spoke.

”Listen up, Bai, this attitude of yours is a bit too much, isn’t it? You really don’t take me, Ye Nan, seriously at all, huh? I’m not kidding, do the math yourself—these past days, how much crap have the three of us handled for you, huh? And your damn attitude toward us hasn’t changed one bit, you still treat us like dogs you can order around. Last time in the Middle East, you refused to tell us your goal and just had the brothers risk our necks for you. Fine, I swallowed it. But you’re getting more and more outrageous. You think we don’t know what kind of shithole Africa is? The Earth creatures on this continent were beaten to hell by the Demon Tribe, even Wen Yu ran away, and you still drag us here to die.”

”This time, if you don’t give me an explanation, I’m done!”

His words were full of rage, yet they carried a certain tsundere flavor—Ye Nan’s tone wasn’t exactly firm, and he didn’t sound that determined to flip the table.

In truth, Ye Nan was just trying to push up his own ”price tag.”

Ever since leaving the Heavenly Palace Treasure Land and being press-ganged by Bai at the entrance, the three of them had followed Bai and led a wandering, rough-and-tumble life…

At first Ye Nan thought he was simply at someone else’s mercy, but soon enough he realized Bai was actually quite an interesting guy—ridiculously strong, way stronger than the three of them put together! Yet he didn’t have the usual bad habit of bullying the weak, and quickly blended in with the three of them like old buddies.

Gradually, Ye Nan also noticed that this guy named Bai seemed to be hiding certain secrets no one else knew.

This seemingly random tour around Earth always ended up with them getting involved in all kinds of bizarre incidents, picking up things that looked useless on the surface or staggering windfalls! It only made Ye Nan more certain that everything Bai did had a purpose.

Take this time, for example—two months after Sequence Number 2’s defeat on the African Continent, Bai brought them to Africa.

Listening to Ye Nan grumbling in his ear, Bai’s eyes never left the view outside the window. He spoke without turning his head.

”Are you dead yet?”

”Once it’s time to die, it’s too late for everything. Nobody wants to be a clueless idiot when they kick the bucket.”

”Following me, have I shortchanged you on benefits?”

”That’s all crap you didn’t want. Besides, for the appearance fee of the three of us, that’s about right, isn’t it?”

”Mm, then let me put it another way: are your hides itching again? You want another beating?”

At those words, Akad, who was sitting on the right, shuddered on the spot, as if he’d suddenly recalled some unpleasant images.

Ye Nan’s face also darkened, and he stopped talking—once a powerful expert stops reasoning and starts talking with his fists, things immediately hit a stalemate for the weaker side.

Fortunately, Bai wasn’t one of those landlords who wanted the horse to Run Fast while never feeding it. In the art of handling people, Bai, the former Demon Path leader of the Universe of Immortals and Heroes, was undeniably an expert.

Bai’s gaze still rested outside the window. After a long moment, he finally drew it back and looked at the three.

”I did have certain reasons for coming to Africa this time. I was planning to tell you more details once we reached the target location, but it seems plans can’t keep up with changes…”

Bai’s expression looked a bit sour. Akad was the one who asked, ”Changes? What changed?”

”Yeah.”

Bai pondered for a moment before speaking. ”We’ve been discovered.”

The empty room fell silent.

”Still, it’s probably not a bad thing. Just now, when I was standing by the window, I was observing some stuff you guys can’t sense. Right when you smashed that bowl, a whole bunch of unknown life forms passed by from above and below. The closest one even got a faceful of your baijiu. Tsk tsk…”

Bai gave Ye Nan a teasing look, making Ye Nan break out in goosebumps. Facing Bai’s half-smiling expression, Ye Nan’s bravado clearly deflated. ”Why the hell didn’t you say so earlier…”

”Say it earlier for what, shit? I only just noticed those things too. They’re not Demon Fiends, and they’re not Earth creatures either—they’re a life form I’ve never seen before. If they didn’t have those faint Souln Fluctuations and weren’t close enough, even if I had a thousand pairs of eyes, I still wouldn’t have spotted them!”

”Are they gone now?”

”Long gone, but it’s already too late.”

As Bai spoke, he took two more sets of bowls and chopsticks out of his space ring, along with a pile of food and booze.

The way he laid everything out, as if entertaining old friends, left the three of them stunned. Then Bai looked up with that same half-smile, and explained to his confused three little brothers.

”Those things just now should be a trick of an old friend of mine. Gotta say, that old friend has gotten stronger again!”

After that sigh, Bai stood up at once and walked toward the door. Under the curious gazes of the three, he gently pulled the door open and said with a smile to the black-clothed man standing outside, ”Long time no see, Wen Yu.”

Wen Yu, standing at the door, slowly lowered his right hand that had been about to knock. The look he gave Bai held curiosity, scrutiny, and wariness, which finally all settled into calm.

He nodded slightly and answered politely.

”Long time no see.”