Mu Xiao's Message

Of everyone present, Lü Xiaoman and Xia Qian were the most terrified and panicked. What was supposed to be a promotion interview had turned into a heart-stopping ordeal.

Earlier, Lü Xiaoman and Xia Qian had happily gone up to the top floor. After all, very few lower-level employees got to formally meet Shangguan Yuanxin, the company's president. Being called up naturally made them feel proud and elated. So when Mu Xiao gave Lü Xiaoman the office password, she had not been suspicious. But after entering it and seeing the horrifying scene inside, the two women had nearly fainted from fright.

Female bodyguards lay scattered all over the floor, their condition unknown. Even their lofty female president was slumped limply in her chair, completely motionless. It would have been strange if the scene had not terrified them.

Shangguan Yuanxin's status was simply too significant. If anything happened to her, Lü Xiaoman and Xia Qian would not be able to escape responsibility under these circumstances.

Xia Qian wished she could turn back time and not have joined Lü Xiaoman in this mess. At the same time, she hated Mu Xiao to the core. Filled with regret, anxiety, and panic, she thought, Not only did I fail to get promoted, I've landed myself in a huge mess. This time, I'm definitely doomed...

Lü Xiaoman, on the other hand, had no mind for such thoughts. After her initial fright, she noticed the female bodyguards' abdomens rising and falling slightly. They were clearly still breathing. Gathering her courage, she stepped forward to inspect them and found that they had merely fallen asleep. Soon, Lü Xiaoman and Xia Qian worked together to wake the bodyguards. The first to awaken was Zhou Xuan, who possessed an S-Class Physique.

When Zhou Xuan repaired the communications system, chaos had already erupted downstairs in the company. Someone soon managed to contact them, saying that monsters had appeared in the building, but the communication cut off halfway through.

Zhou Xuan had no choice but to go downstairs herself to see what was happening.

When she went down, she found the pristine corridor covered in blood, an unbearably glaring sight. Not far away, numerous humanoid monsters were crazily tearing into employees nearby. She barely maintained her composure and decisively returned to the top floor, preparing to contact the police and suppress the unknown terror within the company.

But no matter what she did, she could not contact the outside world. An ominous feeling rose in her heart. Just then, the thunderous roar of fighter jets sounded outside. The female bodyguards went to look out from the balcony, and after repeated observation, they discovered that the outside world had already descended into utter chaos as well...

Shangguan Yuanxin walked over to Lü Xiaoman and Xia Qian. The two women immediately stood and respectfully greeted her. "President Shangguan."

"Sit down and talk. We're all in the same boat now," Shangguan Yuanxin said as she sat with them on the sofa.

"President, is the situation outside really that chaotic?" Xia Qian asked uneasily.

"It can no longer be described as chaos." Shangguan Yuanxin spoke gravely. "It may be a global crisis."

Without waiting for Xia Qian's reaction, she suddenly asked, "You and Mu Xiao were a couple for three years. How much do you know about him?"

Shangguan Yuanxin was rather curious about Mu Xiao's background. Why had he known in advance that the world was changing? Then, he had gone so far as to threaten her, all for the sake of acquiring a large amount of supplies to survive better. That undoubtedly proved that this danger would not subside anytime soon.

Having calmed down, Shangguan Yuanxin had regained her usual sharp and wise mindset.

"We used to work at different companies. We only joined this company at the same time two years ago. He was usually very polite and modest, but he was acting strangely today. The Mu Xiao I knew before would never have acted like this." Xia Qian was a shrewd woman. She vaguely understood that Mu Xiao was not as simple as he appeared, and regret inevitably welled up inside her. She had ruthlessly broken up with him yesterday. If she had delayed it by a few days, perhaps he could have protected her better now. But it seemed everything was already too late.

"That's all?" Shangguan Yuanxin frowned slightly, creasing her beautiful brows.

"He usually spoiled me, so I didn't really know..." Xia Qian revealed a shameful expression, her voice growing softer and softer, but Shangguan Yuanxin understood what she meant.

It was nothing more than Mu Xiao loving her more than he loved himself, while his woman had never taken him seriously, believing all of his affection was only natural.

If this had been before, Shangguan Yuanxin would not have thought there was anything wrong with that.

After all, Xia Qian was a woman with considerable assets: mature, beautiful, and alluring. In the eyes of many men, she was undoubtedly a seductive beauty in bed. But now that the world was heading into the unknown, and Mu Xiao was a man full of mystery, Shangguan Yuanxin felt Xia Qian had been truly foolish to miss such a major opportunity. Suddenly, Zhou Xuan blurted out, "If he spoiled you that much, why did you break up with him?"

At that moment, the other female bodyguards and Shangguan Yuanxin looked at Zhou Xuan strangely. Under normal circumstances, Zhou Xuan would never have interrupted, much less asked such a pointless question.

Seeing everyone looking at her, Zhou Xuan quickly said, "I was just curious. You don't have to answer."

In truth, she had remembered the conversation she had with Mu Xiao before she lost consciousness.

Mu Xiao had subdued all of them earlier. At the time, he said it was to save their lives, but Zhou Xuan had not believed him. She had even said that if it were true, she would become Mu Xiao's woman. So when she heard that Xia Qian had not regarded Mu Xiao as important, she involuntarily put herself in that position and asked the question.

Faced with a difficult question, Xia Qian naturally would not say that it was because there had been no future in following Mu Xiao... Just as she was considering how to brush it off, Zhou Xuan said she did not have to answer. Xia Qian took the out she had been given and closed her mouth.

Shangguan Yuanxin did not think this was the time to delve into other matters. She turned to the silent Lü Xiaoman beside Xia Qian and asked, "What message did Mu Xiao leave you? What else did he say?"

"He left me a message telling me to come up here now..." Lü Xiaoman quickly handed over her communications Optical Brain.

Shangguan Yuanxin took the Optical Brain and pressed the sensor on its metal plate. A message appeared on the light screen. It contained the room's password, along with a reminder to work properly under Shangguan Yuanxin.

"You told her to follow me. Did you want me to protect her? But I can barely protect myself right now..." Shangguan Yuanxin bitterly thought. Then she noticed a section of encrypted text at the end of the message, marked with the words, "Hand directly to Shangguan Yuanxin."

"What's the password for the encrypted message?" Shangguan Yuanxin asked.

"I don't know that." Lü Xiaoman answered awkwardly.

Shangguan Yuanxin thought for a moment and entered her former bank account password.

It worked.

But upon seeing the first line of the message, she nearly went mad.

"Were you a little disappointed to wake up and find that I hadn't violated you..."

Shangguan Yuanxin skipped that line outright. After reading the rest of the message, she panicked as though cold water had been poured over her. Her heart seemed to fall into an endless abyss, and despair surged within her.

"...The New Human Plan is a massive conspiracy targeting humanity on Earth. Put simply, we were abandoned by those lofty figures on the moon. Or rather, we have been treated as lab rats struggling to survive on Earth, becoming their research subjects."

"I hope no one around you has undergone a genetic mutation. If you find anyone acting strangely, I suggest you smash their head immediately."

"One more thing. Soon after the disaster breaks out, all machinery will shut down. Unless you evolve into New Humans and master certain specialized knowledge and abilities, you will be unable to repair machines. So I suggest that while the two S-Rank Robots in the room still work, hurry to No. 9 Warehouse. The supplies I ordered for you are there. If you know how to use those supplies, you have a certain chance of becoming an Evolver, which is to say, one of the New Humans. Then you will have the right to survive."

"If, unfortunately, you cannot evolve into one of the New Humans, I suggest you cut your throat and die. Humans who fail to evolve into New Humans will live worse than dogs in this dark world, because by then, even dogs will be Mutant Beasts... And with a face as beautiful as yours, surviving would only make you a tool for men to vent their lust, or merchandise traded for food. In this dark age, your former status and background will be useless. Remember to adjust your mindset, so you can think calmly."

"I'll leave that little girl Lü Xiaoman in your care. Lastly, I wish you a pleasant survival in this new world."

After everyone finished reading Mu Xiao's message, the entire room fell deathly silent. A pin dropping would have been audible.

"Isn't he exaggerating too much?" one female bodyguard forced out a smile.

Zhou Xuan looked at Shangguan Yuanxin, who had yet to recover, and understood that she might have suffered a greater blow than anyone else. She suggested, "I think we should leave here first. There isn't much food here, and there are more than ten of us. If we drag this out, our supplies will not last. If No. 9 Warehouse has supplies, we can hold out long enough to contact our families and reunite with them."

Because if the world truly descended into disorder, then human nature would become the most terrifying thing of all, especially for women like them.

"We're not going to No. 9 Warehouse. We're going to Mu Xiao's residence instead." A fierce, desperate light flared in Shangguan Yuanxin's eyes. She knew that if Mu Xiao's words came true and she could not evolve, then life would be worse than death. She might as well take a gamble and bet that Mu Xiao could help solve her problem.

Everyone had thought they would go to No. 9 Warehouse, but after hearing Shangguan Yuanxin's explanation, they all silently accepted her decision.

"Xia Qian, you should know where Mu Xiao lives. You'll lead the way later. Mu Xiao did not ask me to take care of you, only Lü Xiaoman. Mu Xiao clearly distinguishes between gratitude and grievances, and so do I. I'll look after Lü Xiaoman, but I hope you can prove your own usefulness." Shangguan Yuanxin had returned to her usual cold, decisive style as a powerful businesswoman.

When Xia Qian saw the first line of the message, she felt a little bitter and jealous. By the time she finished it, she was utterly terrified by the drastic changes in the world, and deeply saddened that Mu Xiao had not mentioned her even once. Now that Shangguan Yuanxin had directly pointed out her value, she suddenly felt so regretful that she wanted to cry.

She suddenly realized that the world had become unimaginably terrifying!

"Xixi, I'll protect you." Lü Xiaoman's little face was pale, but she still smiled and encouraged Xia Qian.

Only then did Xia Qian realize that Lü Xiaoman truly regarded her as a friend, and her heart warmed slightly.

"Take anything edible or useful, along with every weapon. We leave in five minutes." Zhou Xuan gave the order. "Remember, there may be monsters outside. We cannot take in anyone else. If anyone rushes toward us, treat them as monsters threatening our lives and kill them all!"

Zhou Xuan knew this was not the time for mercy.

The other female bodyguards also understood that extraordinary times called for extraordinary measures. Besides, they did not have the ability to protect more people. Fortunately, none of them had undergone genetic mutation. That was also why Shangguan Yuanxin dared to gamble and bring everyone to Mu Xiao's residence.

After all, luck could sometimes be a crucial deciding factor.

"Why are you so sure Mu Xiao is at his residence? Since he foresaw that something major would happen, perhaps he already found a safe place and left his old home." Zhou Xuan came to Shangguan Yuanxin's side and asked quietly.

"When he purchased such a large quantity of supplies, I saw the address on the order. That was his home address." Shangguan Yuanxin said, "When I asked Xia Qian earlier, she confirmed that it was indeed Mu Xiao's address. Mu Xiao used my money to buy so many supplies, so he definitely would not abandon them. Going to find him is our best option. Besides, the place where he lives is an old development district with few residents. It can be considered relatively safe, so there is no need for him to relocate elsewhere."

Just as she said, Mu Xiao had considered relocating somewhere else, such as renting a warehouse. But he had spent his entire fortune on the S-Rank Physique Enhancement Drug. He could not afford a deposit, did not have the time to search for a remote warehouse, and had no time to handle the procedures.

Moreover, he had felt the living environment there was not bad at the time, so he had directly chosen it as a temporary hiding place.

It was only that Mu Xiao had never expected Shangguan Yuanxin to come looking for him.

Shangguan Yuanxin's squad of women set off, heading toward their first battle of the apocalypse.