Apocalypse: My Companions Are From The 3D District

For the first time in his life, a living person had died before his eyes—and died for him.

He wasn't some righteous avenger. What the old woman had done only rattled his worldview for a moment.

He stood abruptly, snapping the riot shotgun in half over his knee.

"Master, you go first!" He suddenly rose, kicking away a lunging zombie without looking back at Chun Li.

Chun Li stared at the back standing before her, momentarily lost in thought.

"You're turning the heavens upside down! I'll hold them off! You little brat, run!" Chun Li's heart stirred with something subtle.

She remembered a line her best friend Cammy once said: A husband is a feeling.

And her disobedient disciple, Li Pu, was the first man to give her that feeling.

Then she recalled what the mysterious voice had told her before entering this world, and she didn't hesitate for a single moment.

She could die for her beloved disciple without regret.

Though from the bond of master and disciple all along, she would have died to protect him at any time.

But this was subtly different from before. Earlier, it came from character and a sense of justice.

Now... she figured she was probably thinking with her lower half...

Chun Li suddenly charged from behind Li Pu into the zombie horde.

"Spinning Crane Kick!" She unleashed her signature technique, spinning gracefully upside down as she kicked.

"Energy Blast!"

"Energy Palm!" Chun Li burned through massive amounts of true qi and inner strength without counting the cost, just to create a sliver of hope for Li Pu.

Cockroach Patients, the Flesh-winged Angel Nading, and hordes of zombies were knocked to the ground by her again and again.

"Disobedient disciple! What are you standing there for? Run! Do you want your master to die for nothing!" she shouted at Li Pu, who stood with his head bowed in silence.

Li Pu suddenly charged toward Chun Li's direction.

He might enjoy eating soft rice, but he would never allow himself to be a coward.

Death was death—he absolutely wouldn't leave himself with regrets!

Behind him, the Guāh-h-niáu attached to Liang Mei's body struggled, flapping its wings as it tore itself away from Liang Mei's remains.

Drawn and resonated by Liang Mei's powerful longing, it forcibly ripped out Liang Mei's entire soul and flew into Li Pu's body, hoping to use this flesh to escape.

Once inside Li Pu's origin, the Guāh-h-niáu suddenly jolted: "No! This is—Ah!!!"

[Obtained item: Nine Phoenix (Broken Fragment 1/9)]

[Unlocked ability: Bathed in Fire (Fragment 1/9)]

[Unlocked ability: Nine Phoenix Cleanses Filth (Fragment 1/9)]

[Note: <Classic of Mountains and Seas: Great Wilderness North>: "In the Great Wilderness, there is a mountain called North Pole Cabinet. Seawater flows northward into it. There is a god with nine heads, a human face and a bird's body, named Nine Phoenix."]

The Guāh-h-niáu, after entering Li Pu's sea of consciousness, fell silent.

Li Pu, charging into the zombie horde toward Chun Li, ignored all these messy system notifications.

As he punched and kicked, the qi he normally needed to sense through airflow had all turned into flames, making him like a human bomb.

It wasn't just the airflow from his dantian that produced flames.

Even the wind from ordinary punches and kicks burst into flames—much smaller, but completely cost-free. This meant Li Pu didn't have to carefully ration his true qi.

Qi Flame ignited ordinary zombies on contact, turning them into firemen within three seconds, as if zombies were the perfect fuel.

The flames from ordinary punches and kicks were just regular fire.

The airflow sensing Chun Li had taught him all afternoon now came into play. Li Pu imitated Chun Li's style: "Energy Blast!"

A fireball half the size of Li Pu's own body blasted out, setting several zombies ablaze.

Though noticeably paler than Chun Li's thick energy waves, combined with Qi Flame, it created a qualitative change.

"Fuck yeah, I'm on fire!"

Chun Li was moved. She was about to curse her beloved disciple away when she saw he'd turned into a little fireman but was completely unharmed.

"This kid, what's going on? Can he spontaneously combust when he's extremely angry?"

Li Pu felt like a humanoid flamethrower now—auto-regenerating fuel, and even normal attacks didn't consume it.

Surrounded by zombies, he had turned the rooftop into a massive BBQ scene.

After relieving Chun Li's pressure, he aimed at the murderer and leaped into the air! A point-blank Energy Blast slammed into the Flea Security Guard.

But the guard's flea legs suddenly sprang, dodging Li Pu's strike.

"Little Pu, use the Dantian Breathing Method!" Chun Li instructed while dealing with zombies.

The so-called Dantian Breathing Method was reverse breathing: inhale through the nose, exhale through the mouth, feeling the chest expand, sensing the breath flow evenly through the connection between nasal and oral cavities.

Li Pu pressed the attack, leaping again to the Flea Security Guard's front. Using the breathing method Chun Li had mentioned, he inhaled through his nose, the breath traveling through his chest and dantian, then spat out a mouthful of true qi!

Blazing fire instantly poured onto the guard's face, and in no time, engulfed his entire body.

The feared scenario of his trachea burning did not occur; the true qi only transformed into explosive flames the moment it left his mouth and contacted the air.

Li Pu created distance, ready to watch him perish in the sea of fire.

An unexpected turn of events unfolded—the qi flame burned for a while before being extinguished, failing to deliver a devastating blow to the Flea Security Guard.

"Does it require qi as thick as Chun Li's? Or is there some mystical element to it?"

Li Pu didn't dwell on it and pressed the attack: "Energy Blast!!!" He once again gathered qi in his hand and fired it with practiced form! The Energy Blast, accompanied by sustained qi flames, instantly ignited the Flea Security Guard's entire body. While he was still burning, Li Pu followed up with a powerful spinning leg sweep that sent the Flea Security Guard's head flying.

Another spray of qi flame coated the Flea Security Guard's body. The headless, obese form burned fiercely, and this time there was no extinguishing.

Turning to look at Chun Li, she was already surrounded by a horde of zombies. He leaped toward her side.

Although Chun Li was agile, she couldn't match the large-scale damage Li Pu's flames inflicted on ordinary zombies.

Li Pu gathered a full breath of true qi: "Spinning Crane Kick!" As his legs spun, the surroundings turned into a sea of fire.

Chun Li hastily crouched down. The qi flame didn't raise the ambient temperature, but she found the black smoke from the burning zombies a bit choking.

"This kid, when did he learn Energy Blast and Spinning Crane Kick?"

After clearing them out, Li Pu noticed that Cockroach Patient Zero had already had its head blown off by Gardenia, yet it was still attacking indiscriminately, friend and foe alike.

"Each mutant has different weak points? Cockroaches really are cockroaches..."

Nading—or the Mutated Zombie that was once Nading—let out another piercing shriek at the sight, then turned and leaped from the rooftop.

The distant zombie horde advancing toward the hospital also halted. This wave of deadly corpses had been driven back by Li Pu and Chun Li's fists and feet.

"So mutants have intelligence or command abilities. That makes things trickier." Li Pu checked if his master Chun Li was injured, his hands wandering quite a bit.

Elsewhere, the battle between Gardenia and the Old Woman continued. The Old Woman, relying on her special Killing Stone, was evenly matched against the ferocious Ashura Gardenia.

Li Pu helped the qi-depleted Chun Li, letting his capable master sit on the ground to rest.

Then he turned and charged toward the Old Woman.

This little colt of mine knows no way home, but you, Old Man, I must eliminate!!!

Ashura Gardenia and the Demon Old Woman clashed fists, both sent flying several meters back.

Li Pu swiftly passed Gardenia and went to settle accounts with the Old Woman.

A spray of qi flame shot toward the Red-faced Hannya's hand holding the Killing Stone.

"Ah!!!" The Old Woman, bathed in fire, twisted her face in extreme agony. The Killing Stone slipped from her demonic hand and fell to the ground.

Fists whistled through the air as Li Pu struck her with punch and kick. The thick demonic arm fractured from blocking a waist-level kick, and a shrill scream rang out. Then a brutal low sweep shattered her ankle, and the demon Old Woman Hannya collapsed in pain.

"How?! How?!" Her eyes were full of terror, utterly unable to comprehend why this brat was so powerful.

Without a word, Li Pu struck true—he thrust his hand into the Old Woman's chest cavity and tore out her heart!

"The heart really is black." He casually crushed the still-beating heart.

The demon Old Woman, with a gaping hole in her chest, slowly knelt to the ground, leaving behind one heartfelt final line: "Darling, I'm coming to find you."

Standing coldly before her, Li Pu sneered dismissively: "You won't meet him. He's in heaven."

"And you—you're going to hell."

In the Old Woman's unwilling gaze, the mask on her face shattered, the black qi dissipated, and in an instant, she became a cold corpse.

The rooftop turned into a sea of fire, as if burning away all the sins of the world.

He turned and saw Liang Mei's burning body.

Li Pu silently reached into his pocket, took out the fruit candy, gently peeled off the wrapper, placed it in his mouth, and set it on his tongue. The refreshing fruit fragrance filled his lips and teeth, and his dry mouth barely managed to secrete a trace of saliva.

"Thanks for the candy. It's really sweet..."

An image of Liang Mei flashed unbidden through his mind. She smiled faintly, then vanished.

Just as Li Pu was dazed from seeing Liang Mei, someone tapped his shoulder.

The white-haired fierce woman Gardenia stood behind him, her expression dark, and said: "You said earlier you know where my sister is?"

Author's note:

Author's note: Will Liang Mei and Nading return later? Mwah mwah mwah

Chapter 31: At the Fiercest Age, Met Someone Even Fiercer

"You said earlier you know where my sister is?"

Li Pu's whole body stiffened, and a chill ran down his back.

Crap! I forgot about this.

While he was still thinking, Chun Li's voice rang out.

"About your sister, all you have to do is stay in this hospital and wait for that woman's accomplices from the storage room to show up."

The qi-depleted Chun Li dragged her tired body toward Li Pu: "That director—she cooperates with that organization and will definitely check in regularly, especially since this place is their 'food depot.'"

"Didn't anyone ever tell you that you talk like a cop?" Gardenia's face showed displeasure.

By then, Chun Li had reached her side, extended her arm, and pulled Li Pu into an embrace.

She smiled warmly and said to Gardenia, "Sorry, I guess it's an occupational hazard."

Li Pu felt the full weight of Chun Li pressing down on him—she was truly exhausted.

Subconsciously, he compared Chun Li's figure to that of the two sisters who had already met their end.

With the plump, fleshy gourd leaning against him, Li Pu reached out and wrapped his arm around Chun Li's waist. The curve of her hip and the soft flesh felt exceptionally good. "Gotta say, nothing beats a proper big one..."

Gardenia ignored the pair of dogs and bitches before her—out of sight, out of mind.

She walked over to the secondhand water heater, jumped onto the water tower frame, and hoisted a large water storage tank weighing about five tons, blocking it at the rooftop entrance to prevent any more zombies from entering.

"Are you two leaving now or resting for the night?" Gardenia called out to the pair behind her.

Receiving no reply, she carried another water tank over to the vertical ladder, completely cutting off any possibility of zombies climbing up.

Exhausted, Chun Li trusted herself to her Disobedient Disciple, resting her head on Li Pu's shoulder as her breath came soft and fragrant.

She pointed toward the machine room where the mother and her two daughters had been staying. "Let's go in and rest. If you want it tonight, you'll have to do it yourself. Your master can't serve you anymore."

"Master, I wouldn't dare waste you like that," Li Pu comforted her, hoisting Chun Li up and carrying her into the machine room.

Chun Li thought of her swollen rear and the effort it still took to keep her back passage closed, rolling her eyes as she silently complained, "Last night you practically wanted to shove even the balls in."

Too lazy to argue with her Disobedient Disciple, she let herself be led by the hand, a hint of gratitude stirring within her.

Inside the cramped machine room, most of the space was taken up by unknown equipment, leaving only the bedding of the mother and daughters, along with the small bags of rice and flour from the hospital cafeteria that Liang Mei had mentioned collecting earlier.

What made Li Pu and Chun Li's eyes light up was an old, small semiconductor radio.

After laying Chun Li down on the bedding, he slipped the radio into his backpack before Gardenia entered.

When Gardenia came in, he took it back out of the bag.

That woman had no interest in the backpack or its supplies.