Apocalypse Survival Guide for a Beta [GB] - Chapter 36

Bai Chuan studied Zhu Liang for a moment. Something about him felt different from the other four captives. His demeanor and his presence didn’t quite match. And his face was unfamiliar.

“Nothing. Go on,” Bai Chuan said, dropping his hand and stepping back. He leaned lazily against the conference table, his eyes drifting as if lost in thought.

Tang Mary was used to Bai Chuan’s sudden mood swings, so she continued her questioning, “Have any of you seen my son, Peter, or my daughter, Vera, since the apocalypse?”

Peter?

Zhu Liang’s eyes flickered with thought. Should he answer?

Before he could decide, one of the other captives reacted faster. Despite the cloth gag in his mouth, he struggled violently, letting out muffled noises, “Mmm! Mmm-mmm!”

Tang Mary walked over and yanked the cloth from his mouth. “You know something?”

“I do, I do!” The Blood Bone member gasped for air and nodded frantically. “Peter was last seen in Western District Two, traveling with the Federal Security Bureau’s Lou Tiannan!”

“And Vera?” Tang Mary asked immediately.

“Vera, she—” The man hesitated slightly, as if trying to recall.

But just as he looked up again, the thorny vines binding him had mysteriously snapped. In his hand, a blade gleamed as he lunged at Tang Mary with lightning speed.

In an instant, the situation flipped and Tang Mary found herself held at knifepoint.

The man snarled at Bai Chuan and the others, “Let us go, or I’ll kill her!”

A dark glint flickered in Bai Chuan’s emerald-green eyes.

Just as the standoff grew tense, hurried footsteps approached from outside. A person entered but froze upon seeing the scene.

Bai Chuan glanced at them and asked, “What is it?”

The person who came in to report continued, “President Bai, President Tang, Elena Herbert is requesting to meet with you.”

“Elena Herbert? What is she doing here?” The one speaking was Tang Mary, who had a knife pressed against her neck, looking puzzled.

“Shut up!” A Blood Bone member trembled with anger, feeling deeply insulted by being ignored. “I’m talking to you! Can’t you hear me? Let us go, now!”

“Hear what?! Listen to your nonsense? Who has the time for that?” Tang Mary, with little patience, kicked backward. Without using much force, the person holding her hostage was sent flying three meters away, crashing against the wall and sliding to the ground.

Tang Mary brushed aside a few stray hairs and said to Bai Chuan, “Go see what’s going on. I still have some questions to ask here.”

Bai Chuan shrugged indifferently and turned to walk out the door.

Zhu Liang knew why Elena had come. Just then, he was slapped across the face and his shoulder was stomped on again.

Above him, Tang Mary’s voice rang out, “You saw what happened to your companion. Now, answer my questions honestly. If you try anything, you won’t get another chance to speak. Understand?!”

***

Elena had gone alone. Initially, Zhou Yu and Song Yan wanted to follow her, but she refused.

Watching her figure disappear into the Guangming Building, Zhou Yu was puzzled. “Why wouldn’t Elena let us go with her? More people means more strength.”

Lin Bai glanced at him and said flatly, “If she can negotiate successfully, she’ll do it alone. If she can’t, bringing two more people would just mean sending them to their deaths.”

Elena, wearing an earpiece, heard Lin Bai’s words. She paused briefly, her mind drifting back to a long-ago memory.

“Elena, don’t save me. Take out the criminals first. They have bombs. If they really want to kill me, no matter how many people you send in, I won’t survive. Why let your people die for nothing?”

Before she could grasp the emotions stirring within her, they quickly faded. Regaining her composure, she followed the Red Sand members into the building.

No one dared get too close to Elena, so instead of being taken deeper inside, she was left in the building’s first-floor lobby. After a few minutes, a green-haired man in a white suit emerged from the elevator.

It wasn’t the head of the Tang Corporation who appeared, but Bai Chuan, the chairman of M Group.

A knowing look flashed in Elena’s eyes. “I was wondering how the Tang Corporation had so much firepower. So Mr. Bai Chuan is working with them.”

M Group’s business spanned many industries, including black-market arms deals that the Security Bureau had long been investigating but could never find evidence of.

Bai Chuan gave a perfect smile and spread his hands. “It’s the apocalypse. Everyone is just trying to survive. I heard that Captain Elena defected from the Federation. What brings you here this time?”

“One of my subordinates was kidnapped by your people. I hope he’s still alive.”

Bai Chuan raised an eyebrow, his pale face showing a look of complete surprise. “What? Did we kidnap someone? Did that really happen?”

Elena was very familiar with his expression. Before the apocalypse, when she had investigated M Group several times, Bai Chuan had always dealt with her in the same manner.

He now acted as if he had no knowledge of the matter, even tilting his head to ask the people around him. Someone behind him responded at just the right moment, “Haven’t heard of anyone being brought in.”

Bai Chuan put on a troubled expression and said, “Captain Elena, you must have mistaken us for someone else. Maybe your person was taken by Blood Bone instead.”

“How can he lie with a straight face?!” Lu Jia, who was listening to Elena and Bai Chuan’s conversation from beside the Guangming Building, was furious. “I saw them drive in with my own eyes! And now he’s pretending not to know anything!”

Inside the front hall of the Guangming Building, Bai Chuan continued with a suggestion, “Captain Elena, you’d better send your people to ask Blood Bone quickly. If you go too late, there might not even be bones left.” His tone carried obvious schadenfreude.

As soon as he finished speaking, something heavy crashed to the ground near the floor-to-ceiling window.

The person who had fallen had two bright red wavy lines tattooed on his arm. He was likely an ability user. Despite falling from such a great height, he was completely unscathed.

As soon as he landed, he flipped over agilely and summoned his ability from his palms, shattering the window. He covered his head and leaped into the lobby, seemingly trying to escape through that route.

However, he hadn’t expected that the moment he entered the lobby, he would run straight into Bai Chuan, Elena, and the others. Both sides froze for a brief moment.

The bodyguards behind Bai Chuan immediately stepped forward to subdue the Blood Bone member.

But that Blood Bone member seemed to have lost his mind, clearly intent on a desperate fight to the death. His entire body erupted with ability energy, his body radiating heat like molten metal as he charged straight at Bai Chuan.

Both Bai Chuan and Elena’s expressions changed at the same time. It was obvious to both of them that the person intended to self-destruct.

Elena took two steps back, finding a safe corner, and said, “Mr. Bai Chuan, didn’t you say you hadn’t brought anyone in? Then who is this?”

Bai Chuan, who had been preparing to vault over a table, suddenly paused mid-motion. Beneath the table was now a row of ice spikes. Instead, he simply sat on the table and said, “Captain Elena, are you threatening me?”

Elena, gathering energy in her hands, replied, “Yes. Where is the person you kidnapped?”

Bai Chuan glanced at the crazed Blood Bone member charging toward him, then chuckled. “I don’t know.”

He pulled a handgun from his suit jacket and aimed at the attacker without hesitation. With a bang, the bullet missed. Bai Chuan looked toward Elena, who had just intervened, and said in a deep tone, “Captain Elena, have you betrayed the Federation and joined forces with Blood Bone?”

It wasn’t surprising that Bai Chuan would ask since Elena had just helped a Blood Bone member at a critical moment.

As soon as he finished speaking, the Blood Bone attacker lunged at him. Just as he was about to reach Bai Chuan, his body seemed unable to withstand the immense energy consumption any longer and with a loud explosion, he detonated.

A massive explosion shook the lobby.

As if triggered by a signal, the explosion was immediately followed by the sight of a convoy surrounding the entrance of the Guangming Building. Countless armed individuals wearing helmets and protective gear poured out of the vehicles, guns raised, as they stormed the building.

Lou Tiannan immediately understood that it was a plan Blood Bone had prepared in advance. He spoke on the radio, “Elena, get out! Blood Bone’s people have gone in.”

“I can’t get out,” Elena’s voice came through the channel. “One of Blood Bone’s men self-destructed, collapsing the lobby. Bai Chuan is missing. The building is in chaos right now. I’ll look for a chance to head upstairs and find Zhu Liang. You need to send a few people in, preferably you.”

Lou Tiannan responded without hesitation, “I’m going in with my team to back you up.”

Explosions continued to echo from Elena’s side of the channel.

Blood Bone had indeed planned the attack on the Guangming Building well in advance. They were fully prepared, armed to the teeth, and soon explosions spread from the second floor to the third, and then further up.

“Xiaxia, Lin Bai, Xi Ya, you three stay here and monitor the situation outside. Zhou Yu, Song Yan, Lu Jia, we’re going in.”

After a quick briefing, Lou Tiannan led his team with masks on and charged into the Guangming Building along with Blood Bone’s forces.

***

When the Blood Bone member jumped down, Tang Mary didn’t pay much attention because her people were downstairs. Even if he managed to escape the fall, he wouldn’t get far.

But just as she was about to continue interrogating Zhu Liang, the unexpected explosion down below made her frown. She grabbed her radio and asked, “What’s going on?”

“President Tang, Blood Bone has breached the building.”

“Those bastards! They actually dared to come!” Tang Mary took the radio and headed downstairs. Just before leaving, she seemed to remember something and casually flicked several rows of steel shards toward the Blood Bone members in the room before hurrying out.

Zhu Liang rolled on the ground, using the three Blood Bone members as cover and letting them take most of the steel shards for him. Even so, one still embedded itself in his leg.

The other three Blood Bone members weren’t as quick to react. The steel spikes pierced their bodies, killing them instantly.

Enduring the pain in his calf, Zhu Liang used the shards on the ground to cut the thorns binding him. After a quick bandage job on his leg, he carefully flipped himself into the ventilation duct inside the room.

Gunfire quickly spread to every floor.

Blood Bone had come fully prepared, relying on sheer numbers to push through the Guangming Building floor by floor.

As soon as Lou Tiannan’s team entered, they split into two groups; one to rendezvous with Elena while the other searched for Zhu Liang.

Blood Bone had ample firepower, but Bai Chuan and Tang Mary were no less formidable.

They immediately started throwing grenades into Blood Bone’s ranks, blasting them apart in waves.

“These useless scumbags! If I don’t wipe out Blood Bone today, I’ll write my name backward!” Tang Mary gripped her submachine gun and sprayed bullets in a wide arc. The Guangming Building was filled with Red Sand’s men, all armed and following behind her, suppressing Blood Bone’s forces.

With overwhelming firepower, they pushed Blood Bone’s forces downward, floor by floor, from over a dozen stories up.

On the fourth floor, Bai Chuan spotted Tang Mary and walked over. “What about the people upstairs?”

“Nothing useful came out of them. I killed them before coming down,” she replied indifferently. “What’s going on? Where’s Elena? Why did Blood Bone show up as soon as she did?”

“She’s allied with Blood Bone,” Bai Chuan said. “Among the Blood Bone captives we caught earlier, one of them was her subordinate.”

Tang Mary frowned. “Elena is working with Blood Bone?” Just as she processed the information, she caught sight of a figure moving through the stairwell at an inhuman speed. She instantly recognized her. It was Elena!

“Stop her!”

Bai Chuan and Tang Mary, thinking alike, immediately sprinted toward Elena.

Outside the building, Wen Xiaxia, who had been concentrating on listening for updates from inside, suddenly turned her head and realized Lin Bai was missing.