Chapter 12
by LhaoziChapter 12: He Got It in Advance
“Mom, something came up at the company, so I’m heading over there first!”
Sending the message off, a reply from Chen’s mother came back shortly after:
“What could be so urgent? Remember to buy yourself some food then; you absolutely must eat breakfast!”
A moment later, another message arrived:
“Also, don’t forget what I told you last night. Take the initiative to talk more with Qin Xi. If you hook this golden brick [1], your days ahead will really pick up!”
Seeing this second message, Qin Xi couldn’t help but sneer.
She certainly thinks high and wide!
Closing her phone, she temporarily cast Chen Liang to the back of her mind.
There were still things to attend to today.
Qin Xi drove away from the warehouse, heading first to the largest library in the city, where she acquired a batch of books for reading.
Aside from novels, prose collections, and manga used for killing time [2], she focused heavily on purchasing several agriculture-related titles covering topics like agricultural knowledge, fishery aquaculture, and postpartum care for sows [3].
Qin Xi felt that based on the task types issued by the system space over these two upgrades, the knowledge contained within these books might actually come in handy down the line!
Afterward, she headed to a shopping mall to purchase several sets of skincare products.
Following the apocalypse, extreme heat would arrive first, followed by extreme cold; sunburn and frostbite would be everyday occurrences, making skincare products a mandatory preparation.
Though for most of these things, she could wait for tomorrow’s zero-yuan shopping spree.
Having purchased the final few items, Qin Xi drove back to the warehouse.
The time was already 12:00 PM.
Because a large crew of assembly technicians had arrived today, eight sets of storage shelves had been installed in a single morning.
Four sets remained unfinished, but Qin Song called a halt to the work anyway.
After seeing off the technicians, Qin Xi absorbed into her spatial dimension all the storage shelves, along with the final batch of goods delivered that morning and the rented vehicles.
She and Qin Song then drove away from the warehouse to return to Red Maple Community.
En route, Qin Xi used the surveillance feed to check on Chen Liang’s condition.
The person on the bed remained completely motionless—it was unclear whether he was still unconscious or had already abandoned all resistance.
She retrieved Zhao Yuhao’s phone number from Qin Song and used Chen Liang’s phone to send a text message:
“Brother Zhao, it’s Chen Liang! The Chen Liang from after the apocalypse! Do you still remember me? If you do, come find me at my house: Red Maple Community, Unit 3, Room 401! I’m on my way home right now and will be there shortly!”
After sending the message, Qin Song parked the car.
Stepping out, Qin Xi made sure no one was around before absorbing the vehicle into her space.
The two went upstairs together.
They encountered almost no one along the way.
Entering the unit, they found Chen Liang still dead asleep.
Qin Xi pulled out a container of crab casserole along with two boxes of steamed rice, sitting down in the living room with Qin Song to eat.
Right at that moment, Chen Liang’s phone sitting on the table suddenly began to vibrate.
A familiar string of digits appeared across the screen.
Qin Song cross-referenced it with the phone number for Zhao Yuhao saved in his own phone, then nodded at Qin Xi:
“It’s Zhao Yuhao calling!”
Qin Xi raised an eyebrow. The two stared at the vibrating phone for a few seconds, but neither made a move to answer.
They simply continued eating.
On the other side of town, Zhao Yuhao sat inside a standalone villa he had rented just yesterday. The villa’s basement had already accumulated over 300,000 yuan worth of supplies.
He had always believed that his rebirth was Heaven granting him a chance to turn the tables and secure the upper hand!
Even if Qin Song might also have been reborn, he had managed to drag those two siblings down in their past life—there was no guarantee he couldn’t accomplish it again in this life.
Unfortunately, the preparation time granted by Heaven was far too short.
Lacking a spatial dimension, the commotion of hauling supplies into the villa for two consecutive days had already drawn the attention of onlookers.
Zhao Yuhao was growing anxious.
Relying solely on himself, there was no way he could defend all these supplies once the apocalypse hit.
He thought of several of his former teammates from his past life.
Though every single one of them was foolish, they were undeniably useful tools.
The trouble was that he didn’t know the exact residences of those individuals!
The only one whose location he vaguely knew—and who happened to be nearby—was Chen Liang; he only remembered that Chen Liang lived in Red Maple Community.
Just as he was pondering whether to stake out the entrance of Red Maple Community to catch Chen Liang, he never expected that Chen Liang would remember the phone number he had casually mentioned in their past life.
And even took the initiative to reach out to him!
Zhao Yuhao stared at the unanswered call, sinking into deep thought on the sofa.
By right, he ought to charge straight toward the address sent in that text message to locate Chen Liang.
Yet an implicit gut feeling told him something was off.
After all, the boss of his current company, Qin Song, hadn’t shown up to work at the office over these past few days like he had in their past life.
This very likely signaled that Qin Song had also been reborn!
Could Qin Song have gone to find Chen Liang to settle scores?
Was the person who sent this message really Chen Liang?
However, that address genuinely matched the residential community Chen Liang had mentioned living in.
On the other hand, Zhao Yuhao reflected on the details within the message.
Chen Liang had said he was currently on his way.
It was entirely normal not to hear a phone ringing while traveling on the road.
After deliberating for a long while, Zhao Yuhao ultimately stood up.
He glanced at the small fireball coalescing inside his palm, and his apprehension vanished completely.
Even if Qin Song had also awakened a supernatural ability, he refused to believe Qin Song could return directly with a Level 6 ability.
As long as it was below Level 2, he wasn’t necessarily without a winning chance.
As for Qin Xi—at this exact timeframe in their past life, she was so weak he could drag her away with a single hand!
What’s more… Zhao Yuhao suddenly pulled a gun out from the drawer beneath the coffee table.
Looking at the jet-black, shiny handgun in his grip, a streak of smug satisfaction flashed across the bottom of his eyes.
Even if Qin Song and Qin Xi had genuinely been reborn, facing a firearm—a piece of thermal weaponry—they would still have to yield!
This gun had been discovered inside a villa during their escape alongside Qin Song in their past life.
However, that gun had ultimately ended up in Qin Song’s hands!
Devils knew how suffocatingly angry he had felt back then—everyone had discovered the gun together, so by what right did it go to Qin Song?
In this life, however, he got it in advance [4].
As for the original owners of this gun—after he snuck into that villa last night, he had already eliminated them using his supernatural ability!
He wondered whether the corpses of that couple and their housekeeper had been discovered by anyone yet.
Even if they were, it would likely be too late anyway!
The address sent in Chen Liang’s text was not far from the villa.
Zhao Yuhao deliberately changed into a set of motorcycle gear with built-in protective padding, sliding the handgun into his jacket pocket.
He then drove his newly rented off-road SUV toward Red Maple Community.
By the time he arrived, it was already evening.
The sky overhead was a solid, piercing shade of crimson.
Numerous pedestrians were stopping to snap photos, treating it merely as a rare, marvelous display of fire-burnt clouds [5].
Zhao Yuhao cast a hasty glance upward before sprinting quickly up the stairs.
Shortly after, he stood outside Room 401, knocking on the unit door.
Concealing himself within the peephole’s blind spot, he slowly withdrew the handgun from his pocket with one hand, while channeling heat to condense in the palm of his other hand.
Before long, a set of somewhat heavy footsteps sounded inside the apartment.
It was obvious the person approaching was advanced in years.
An elderly woman’s voice called out from within:
“Who is it?”
Zhao Yuhao relaxed his guard slightly, letting the muzzle of his handgun drop a fraction lower.
In the next instant, the apartment door was pushed open from the inside. Adjusting the expression on his face while using his body to obscure the handgun hanging at his side, he looked over with a smile:
“Hello…”
-
Postpartum care for sows (母豬的產後護理 – mǔ zhū de chǎn hòu hù lǐ): A iconic Chinese pop-culture running gag (originating from a famous 1999 Spring Festival Gala comedy sketch starring Zhao Benshan) often used as a placeholder for absurdly niche or ultra-practical rural manual guides.
-
Fire-burnt clouds (火燒雲 – huǒ shāo yún): A traditional Chinese atmospheric term for intensely red or orange sunset glow/afterglow clouds, which in post-apocalyptic fiction serves as the ominous environmental harbinger of the impending apocalyptic anomaly.
-
Golden brick (金磚 – jīn zhuān): Chinese slang used metaphorically here to describe an exceptionally wealthy target or financially lucrative catch (referring to the Qin family’s large payout and business assets).
0 Comments