Everything Was So Fragile

Mu Xiao remained silent along the way. An Rongru followed behind him, unable to strike up even half a sentence. What Mu Xiao had said earlier left her increasingly uneasy, as though she were about to enter a hopeless predicament.

Just as I thought. Part of Mu Xiao's Mental Power probed An Rongru's physical condition. There was nothing lecherous about it; he was simply confirming something.

The two descended to the first-floor lobby one after the other. Everywhere they looked was a mess, even bloodier and more gruesome than upstairs. It was like a slaughterhouse, filled with the pungent stench of dried blood. All it lacked were piles of corpses.

An Rongru tightly covered her nose and mouth. A nauseating heaviness rose in her chest, but after going so long without food, even though her stomach heaved, she could not vomit. Her body only convulsed violently. Her face turned pale with pain, and she nearly fainted. If Mu Xiao had not been her last lifeline, she probably would not have had the strength to keep walking.

The Lawyer Building's front doors stood wide open. They could clearly see the streets outside, where trails of blood ran like little streams. Magnetic levitation cars lay overturned all over the road, and every surrounding shop was deathly silent, as though this had become a dead zone. Only living dead with twisted faces and heavy footsteps wandered aimlessly about.

"All right, you can go out now and experience how the world has changed," Mu Xiao said as he sat on a sofa in the lobby, glancing at the frightened An Rongru.

He had been using Mental Power to conceal his aura and had also slightly covered An Rongru's scent. Moreover, they were some distance from the zombies on the street, so the zombies outside could not smell the scent of fresh flesh.

A human scent only existed within a certain range. As long as one did not exceed that range, ordinary zombies generally could not detect it—unless they were zombies or Mutant Humans with special abilities, such as enhanced smell or heightened perception.

"I don't understand what you mean..." An Rongru's beautiful eyes were full of terror.

"If you can't bring yourself to see this world clearly, you might as well kill yourself." Mu Xiao stood, pulled the military knife from beside his foot, and walked toward An Rongru. "This is for you to kill yourself with. If you want to die, do it quickly. Once you're dead, I'll throw your corpse outside for those zombies to eat. I don't want the place I'll be living in to become a zombie restaurant."

"Stop it!" An Rongru covered her ears and screamed. Having endured fear, cold, darkness, worry, anxiety, and all sorts of tangled emotions for so long, she finally broke down. Tears slid down her haggard, lovely face. She could not accept Mu Xiao's cold and heartless suggestion.

Mu Xiao watched her quietly. He understood the helplessness and fear of the weak, but that was no reason to run away. Especially in this even colder, more merciless world, the weak could not survive. This was a test for An Rongru, to see whether she was qualified to remain by his side.

"If you want me to beg you, I'm willing to beg you now. But I hope you can leave me with my last shred of dignity..." An Rongru looked strong on the outside, but inside, she had only the fragile heart of an ordinary woman.

"You don't want to kill yourself now... but if you encounter a truly hopeless situation worse than death, you may discover that suicide is actually a very happy thing." After saying that meaningfully, Mu Xiao ignored An Rongru's paper-white face and walked straight outside.

To An Rongru, the world outside was a demonic hell. Now that he was walking into that hell, she did not know whether she should follow him. If she did and he did not protect her, it would still be a dead end. If he did protect her, then how capable was he of keeping both of them safe? Would he abandon her halfway through?

An Rongru's heart filled with an incomparably complicated struggle. She had no sense of security at all and could not grasp even a fraction of her own fate. It was as though she were gambling with her life. If she lost, the outcome would be unimaginably miserable—being devoured alive by those demons... suffering worse than death!

At that moment, An Rongru understood what Mu Xiao meant when he said suicide could be a happy thing.

"I'm willing to do anything for you!" Unable to bear the suffocating oppression brought by fear, An Rongru pleaded desperately. But Mu Xiao paid her no heed and walked straight out of the Lawyer Building.

An Rongru did not care whether Mu Xiao responded. She did not dare stay here alone and hurried after him, hoping only that he would accept her unconditional offer and lead her away safely. Mu Xiao's appearance outside drew the attention of several zombies, but he had concealed his entire aura. The zombies could not determine whether he was one of their own, nor could they sense the scent of flesh. When they cautiously approached him, they felt nothing unusual. The few zombies quickly lost interest in this "dead thing."

Some zombies had sharper senses. When they detected something strange about a "dead thing," they would attack to test it. Once the "dead thing" fought back, whether it was dead or alive, the zombies would tear it to pieces.

Just as several zombies were about to pass Mu Xiao and leave, they suddenly caught the fragrance of fresh flesh.

At that moment, An Rongru ran out of the Lawyer Building. She immediately saw several hideous zombies ahead, baring their teeth like beasts. Their sharp teeth were coated in black fluid, their gray claws waved through the air, and their eyes were full of crazed bloodshot veins as they lunged at her.

"Save me!"

An Rongru let out a miserable scream, shattering the stillness of the entire street. A huge mass of zombies turned to look over. Seeing their kind attack, they instinctively knew there was food. In an instant, every zombie erupted into motion and charged wildly toward her.

As the terrifying zombies drew nearer and nearer, that man still did not turn around. A dark, hopeless emotion surged over An Rongru like a raging tide, instantly drowning her body and mind in icy deathly silence.

But at that moment, she clearly sensed that time seemed to slow. A boiling sense of strength surged from her body, while her mind sharply slowed down everything around her. She sensed that the Lawyer Building behind her was within reach, that there was no danger inside—it was a path to survival.

A look of resolve flashed across An Rongru's face. Her body accelerated, and she nimbly spun around and ran back into the Lawyer Building. Her sudden burst of speed was no weaker than that of an A-Class Physique soldier. She was only slightly slower than the charging zombies, perhaps even a little faster, narrowly dodging the foul-smelling claws that swung at her.

"Not bad." Mu Xiao monitored An Rongru's movements with Mental Power and indeed found that her potential as a New Human was being triggered. So, by forcing her to face a genuine life-or-death crisis, he had fully awakened the New Human bloodline genes from her half-triggered potential, causing her physique to rise instantly and giving her the ability to escape.

In truth, Mu Xiao had also secretly used Telekinesis around those zombies, invisibly slowing their movements. That was why An Rongru could escape their attack first.

Although An Rongru had been forced by the pressure Mu Xiao created to awaken the bloodline genes that would make her a New Human, Mu Xiao still had not stepped in to save her. He wanted An Rongru to thoroughly experience what despair was, to completely shatter her inner defenses and the hope she still harbored. Only then would she understand that her own strength was the only true thing she could rely on.

Most of the zombies on the street charged toward the Lawyer Building like starving beasts, madly fighting over An Rongru, that piece of fresh meat.

Mu Xiao drew his Laser Pistol and fired streaks of pale blue light. The dazzling beams streaked through the air, accurately piercing the heads of the zombies rushing into the Lawyer Building. A large group of zombies fell like dominoes, piling up one atop another.

These zombies were not high-level, so the Evolutionary Power Source and Primordial Source gained from them were not much. Still, Mu Xiao put some of the Evolutionary Power Source into Mechanical Mastery first. After all, he would inevitably need to use that ability often in daily life.

As he fired, his Mental Power became unstable, and his aura soon began to leak out faintly. The nearby zombies also sensed the light scent of flesh emanating from him. With so many of their kind dying, their instinctive hatred and hostility were aroused. They swiftly shifted targets and charged at him with savage malice.

"If I keep killing like this, that busty beauty might really die." Mu Xiao did not want An Rongru, a newly evolved New Human, to die. He drew another Laser Pistol with his other hand, moved swiftly, and fired beautiful beams of death. The light before him bloomed like fireworks, sweeping through the zombies lunging at him. Then his pace suddenly accelerated, and he flashed into the Lawyer Building, instantly using Telekinesis to shut its doors, leaving the zombies to crash against them.

His Mental Power had been following An Rongru the entire time, and Mu Xiao caught up to her without error. By then, those few zombies had nearly caught up with her.

An Rongru was frantic, her heart filled with boundless fear. But after her body's potential had erupted, she could no longer sustain herself. Potential was not endless; it only provided a brief limit. Especially since she had gone without food for so long and was already weakened, awakening into a New Human had consumed even more energy. A wave of weakness quickly spread through her body. Her arms and legs felt as though huge stones had been tied to them—unbearably heavy, sore, and painful.

The high heels she wore were also deadly for running. Her foot stumbled, her body lost its balance, and all strength drained from her. Unable to correct her falling body, she ultimately crashed hard to the ground.

The instant she hit the ground, it was not only her body that fell, but also her heart, which had completely despaired. Scenes flashed rapidly through her mind...

"I suggest you go out to the balcony and take a look first, then consider what price you can offer, or what bargaining chips you have that are worth anything..."

"I can take you away, but what can you give me?"

"...if you encounter a truly hopeless situation worse than death, you may discover that suicide is actually a very happy thing."

Mu Xiao's words echoed clearly in An Rongru's mind, sentence after sentence. Because she had kept wavering, her final hope had now been utterly shattered. Only then did she realize that she had so easily missed a path to survival. Under the shadow of real death, she finally understood that all dignity and hope were so fragile...

"Han Yao... Mommy may not be able to see you again."

An Rongru's tears vanished into the air like pearls falling from a broken string. At the same time, her entire body slammed hard against the ground. She clearly felt a foul wind strike from behind. Fear crawled over her body and mind. Death was not terrifying; what was terrifying was being torn apart and eaten alive by zombies...

"If I could, I would definitely choose suicide..."

This thought echoed involuntarily through An Rongru's grief-stricken mind. She prepared to close her eyes and endure the agony of being torn apart, yet the miserable pain she had imagined never came. She only heard the zombies' hoarse roars and low growls. When she looked back, she discovered with shock and joy that the several zombies were struggling in place, as though an invisible giant hand had seized them, leaving them unable to come any closer.

Just as she was about to seize the chance to escape, An Rongru saw a figure slowly approaching from behind. She instantly understood that he had saved her.