Omens of the Apocalypse

Director Liu walked out of his office and saw no cockroach. Instead, he found a crowd of subordinates hiding off to one side.

Seeing so many male employees cowering there made the veins in Director Liu's temples throb.

"A bunch of useless fools! One cockroach, and you're scared out of your wits!"

Director Liu was about to keep berating them when one employee raised a trembling hand and pointed at the ceiling behind him to his right.

"C-cockroach..."

"Mmph-!"

Some of the female colleagues even clapped their hands over their mouths in terror, afraid that screaming would draw the cockroach toward them.

Director Liu followed the employee's finger and turned toward the ceiling. His anger vanished in an instant, replaced by sheer terror that burrowed deep into his heart.

"Aah-!"

Director Liu fell to the floor in fright and scrambled backward, his feet stumbling beneath him. Even the crotch of his suit trousers grew wet.

Terrified as his colleagues were, the sight of Director Liu wetting himself still filled them with disgust.

The cockroach on the ceiling was at least half a meter long without its antennae. Including them, it measured over a meter.

Compared with the eight- or nine-meter-long Horror Spiny Shrimp Xiao Hao had encountered, this cockroach did not even qualify as a Level 0 Monster in his eyes.

But to ordinary people who had never experienced the Survival Game, this cockroach was especially terrifying!

Worse still, cockroaches could eat almost any organic matter. They ate not only living things, but also soap, leather, hair, wood, and more.

Now that this cockroach had mutated, humans were naturally on its menu too.

Perhaps attracted by the stench of Director Liu's urine, the cockroach lazily twitched its two antennae and slowly turned its head toward him.

"D-don't come any closer..."

Director Liu's suit trousers grew even wetter. Xiao Hao found him more repulsive than the cockroach's disgusting appearance.

Its six spiny legs edged forward. The cockroach was crawling straight toward Director Liu!

At that critical moment, Director Liu finally reacted. He scrambled up, ran into his office, and shut the door. But the cockroach seemed fixated on him. It lunged, smashing the wooden door's lock.

With the cockroach's attention focused entirely on Director Liu, many people in the company had already fled the building. Some called the police; others simply ran.

Only Director Liu and Xiao Hao remained in the office.

The door creaked. As the cockroach crawled inside on its long, slender brown legs, Director Liu steeled himself, ran behind Xiao Hao, and shoved him hard in the back!

But thanks to his Undying Body skill, Xiao Hao's physical abilities had long since surpassed human limits. Pushing him was like pushing a thick steel plate. Director Liu could not budge him!

Partway into the room, the cockroach turned its head toward Director Liu. But because Director Liu was hiding behind Xiao Hao, its gaze landed squarely on Xiao Hao instead.

Xiao Hao's pupils contracted slightly. His left hand closed around the fingers of his right, which faintly began to transform into miniature scythes. The advancing cockroach seemed to sense something and stopped dead.

Cockroaches were not only tough to kill; the antennae on their heads could also readily detect danger.

Unlike those pigs ripe for slaughter, this human gave the cockroach a sense of mortal danger!

Their positions seemed to reverse in an instant. A wave of intense fear gripped the cockroach!

This human was so terrifying that killing it would be no harder for him than crushing an ant!

It was as though it had returned to the past, when it hid in dark, damp corners and never dared show itself before humans.

As if afraid Xiao Hao might suddenly strike, the cockroach retreated rapidly, its wings beating furiously. It feared that even a moment's delay would leave it crushed to a pulp!

As the cockroach fled, human screams rang out incessantly in the distance.

Watching it retreat, Director Liu gradually recovered from his terror. Only then did he realize what he had just done.

"X-Xiao Hao... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that..."

Xiao Hao stood where he was, his fingers already back to normal, and said nothing.

Knowing he was in the wrong, Director Liu said weakly, "Well, Xiao Hao, take your time with the proposal. There's no rush..."

Xiao Hao glanced around the wrecked workplace, then turned a cold, disdainful gaze on Director Liu, as though saying, After something like this, you still expect me to work?

Director Liu immediately felt annoyed with himself. He was so used to exploiting others that he had said something like that to Xiao Hao before the danger had even passed.

If I want to keep squeezing him, I can wait until the danger is over!

He just scared off the cockroach, and I still need to rely on him. How could I say the wrong thing at a time like this?

Director Liu forced an ingratiating smile. "W-well... it's fine if you don't do it, too. If you're tired, get some more rest..."

Even Director Liu could barely stand listening to himself. He hurriedly changed the subject. "Xiao Hao, why did the cockroach run away when it saw you?"

Director Liu was despicable, but Xiao Hao did not want to kill someone over that.

Xiao Hao was in the real world now. Killing would bring only a moment of satisfaction, followed by a mountain of trouble.

So Xiao Hao had no intention of killing Director Liu. And if he was going to leave him alive, he needed a plausible explanation to avoid arousing suspicion.

"Because of fear."

Director Liu looked bewildered. "Fear?"

Xiao Hao explained calmly, "I don't know why that cockroach grew so large, but before it did, it had always hidden from humans."

"So it still fears humans. But because you were afraid of it, it came to believe it was stronger than you. That was why it dared to swagger around and treat humans as prey."

"At a time like this, you have to overcome your fear if you want to live. Treat it as the same weak little cockroach it used to be, and awaken the fear buried deep inside it. Then it will instinctively avoid humans."

His explanation sounded so reasonable that not only Director Liu, but even the viewers in the live chat were convinced.

[The streamer is incredible. Even while blending into the crowd, he can scare monsters away without using supernatural force.]

[He's absolutely right. In the early stages, this really is a survival method ordinary people can use against newly mutated creatures. After all, players make up only a tiny fraction of the entire population.]

[Our race only figured this out some time after the apocalypse began, yet the streamer explained it perfectly on the very first day. No wonder he's a Game Expert. I'm impressed.]

[Unfortunately, this survival method won't work for long. Once the monsters realize they really have grown stronger, ordinary people's lives will be left to fate.]

Xiao Hao glanced at the live chat but found no useful information.

"So that's how it works..."

Director Liu was still desperately searching for something to talk about, but Xiao Hao walked straight out of the office.

He had no desire to keep smelling urine.

Director Liu was afraid, but too embarrassed to ask Xiao Hao to stay. He could only remain where he was and hurriedly call for help once Xiao Hao had left.

Glancing around the chaotic workspace, Xiao Hao sensed that some people were hiding there, but he had no intention of getting involved.

He returned to his desk and waited a while. As expected, gunshots soon rang out.

He was no professional actor, after all. Xiao Hao took a moment to compose himself before he could barely muster a frightened expression.

A group of police officers rushed in. Only then did some of the people hiding in secluded spots dare to come out.

Everyone was trembling with fear. They only gradually regained their composure after the police announced that the mutant cockroach had been eliminated.

Xiao Hao had thought they would all be taken in to give statements, but the police merely asked a few questions on the spot without bringing anyone in.

The others did not think much of it, but Xiao Hao immediately realized how serious the situation was.

They did not even need to take formal statements. That showed just how shorthanded they were!

After something like this, there was no point in continuing work. Everyone went home. As Xiao Hao left, he failed to notice a detective behind him watching him closely through narrowed eyes.