Apocalypse Survival Guide for a Beta [GB] - Chapter 45

With Xi Ya taken by Bai Chuan mid-conflict, the already tense situation became even more dire.

“Is this little girl Captain Lou’s child?” Bai Chuan pinched Xi Ya’s face between his thumb and forefinger, turning her head from side to side as if inspecting her. “She doesn’t look much like Captain Lou!”

Xi Ya was already feeling sick and now the stranger was roughly pinching her face. She frowned, feeling more and more distressed. In her weakened state, she couldn’t summon her powers but her instincts kicked in. She reached for the small dagger hidden in her doll’s left leg and stabbed at Bai Chuan.

“Let me go, you bad man!”

Bai Chuan leaned his head back just in time to dodge the blade and then lifted Xi Ya higher by one arm to keep her out of reach. He gave her an amused look. “Feisty little thing, aren’t you?”

Then his gaze fell on the doll tucked on Xi Ya’s waist. His expression changed slightly as he reached out and snatched it away.

“That’s mine!”

Seeing her most treasured doll taken away, Xi Ya panicked. Flames burst from her tiny hands. A small fire nearly reached Bai Chuan’s hair, making him flinch. Startled, he let go, tossing Xi Ya away.

“You little brat actually has powers?!”

Lin Bai rushed forward and caught Xi Ya in mid-air, preventing her from hitting the ground. The little girl buried her face into Lin Bai’s shoulder, her small body trembling. She didn’t cry out but her lips quivered.

Xi Ya was heartbroken. She knew she wouldn’t be able to get her doll back. The green-haired man was obviously a bad person. She couldn’t make things harder for her mommy. But that doll had been with her for so long. It had comforted her when she had no mother. Her red-rimmed eyes filled with tears and silent sobs shook her small frame as tears rolled down her cheeks.

Lin Bai glanced down at Xi Ya, who was crying quietly but endlessly, then lifted her gaze toward Bai Chuan.

Bai Chuan was staring at the doll in his hands.

Tang Mary, who had been arguing with Elena, noticed and snapped impatiently, “What does a grown man like you want with a doll?”

Just as she finished speaking, her peripheral vision caught sight of someone approaching. Tang Mary’s expression shifted to caution.

Before, she wouldn’t have cared about an ordinary woman getting close. But she had just seen the woman’s skills firsthand. She was no ordinary person.

In the blink of an eye, a spiked club appeared in Tang Mary’s hand. She swung it with a whooshing sound, the sharp end stopping just short of Lin Bai’s throat.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Lou Tiannan, breathing heavily, stepped forward and placed his hand on the spiked club, forcibly pushing it back by half an inch. He and Tang Mary locked eyes, neither backing down.

Lin Bai ignored Tang Mary. Holding Xi Ya in one arm, she extended her free hand toward Bai Chuan and said calmly,

“That doesn’t belong to you.”

The atmosphere at that moment was strange.

Lou Tiannan and Tang Mary were locked in a tense standoff, yet Lin Bai was asking the very people who might kill them soon… for a doll?

Bai Chuan twirled the doll in his hand before suddenly breaking into a smile. To everyone’s surprise, he actually handed the doll back to Lin Bai, even doing so with an oddly friendly attitude. “My apologies, I was just curious and wanted to take a look. This doll is quite well-made.”

Everyone was visibly taken aback. Tang Mary, having long been accustomed to Bai Chuan’s unpredictable personality, wasn’t surprised in the least.

After returning the doll, Bai Chuan’s eyes crinkled as he smiled, fixing his gaze on Lin Bai. “Beautiful lady, you still haven’t told me your name.”

“Lin Bai.”

Lin Bai tucked the doll back into Xi Ya’s arms. The little girl immediately clutched it tightly, her tears stopping in an instant. She blinked, staring at the doll she thought was lost, unable to believe it was really back.

“Ah!”

Bai Chuan suddenly let out an exaggerated gasp, startling Xi Ya. She shrank back into Lin Bai’s embrace, holding her doll even tighter.

“Bai…” Bai Chuan sighed dramatically and then, out of nowhere, produced another rose. Handing it to Lin Bai, he lowered his voice to a deep, magnetic tone, full of emotion. “I always wondered why my surname was Bai. Now I understand. It was destiny. I was meant to take my wife’s surname!”

Even Tang Mary couldn’t hide her shock. “What kind of nonsense are you spouting now?”

Lou Tiannan looked at Bai Chuan as if he were already a dead man.

Lin Bai, expressionless, told him, “I already have a partner.”

Bai Chuan didn’t miss a beat. “That’s fine. I don’t mind. We can be lovers.” He even winked at her. The slight upward tilt of his eyes sent shivers down the spines of Song Yan and Wen Xiaxia, making the air feel inexplicably colder.

***

Ten minutes later.

Underground bunker.

Zhou Yu and Lu Jia were still unconscious and the others weren’t in great shape either. To avoid any lingering Blood Bone members or stray zombies finding them, Elena quickly arranged for everyone to relocate to an underground bunker alongside Bai Chuan and Tang Mary of Red Sand.

The bunker was spacious, with scattered supplies littering the floor. The disorderly footprints and trampled provisions hinted that many people had once taken refuge there. Most likely, they had been infected and turned into zombies. The bunker’s previous inhabitants were probably drawn out by the horde an hour ago. The fresh scrape marks on the walls were evidence of their recent departure.

“Elena, hurry up and sketch the person you mentioned. If you dare lie to me, this place will become your grave along with your team’s!” Tang Mary threatened, her eyes fierce.

Back on the street, Elena had already noticed how desperate Tang Mary was to find the thief who had stolen her crystals. Using her naturally sincere, trustworthy, and gentle demeanor, she convinced Tang Mary to agree to a temporary truce. She promised to sketch the thief’s silhouette for her.

From the corner of the bunker, Bai Chuan let out a mocking laugh. “President Tang, save your energy. If our dear Adjudicator is just buying time, forget waiting for those people to wake up. Just Lou Tiannan regaining some of his energy would already be enough to make your life difficult.”

Then he turned his gaze toward Lin Bai, flashing a self-satisfied smile as if seeking praise. “Miss Lin, don’t you think I’m right?”

Tang Mary glared at him in frustration. “Don’t forget which side you’re on!”

Of course, she had considered the risk but finding the person who stole her crystals was far more important to her.

Elena glanced at Tang Mary without any change in expression. Bai Chuan’s words had a clear implication, yet Tang Mary remained fixated on the sketch. What did that mean? Either those crystals were extremely valuable to her or she had another plan up her sleeve and wasn’t worried about Lou Tiannan posing a threat.

Bai Chuan completely ignored Tang Mary’s words. Instead, he curved his lips into a smile and gazed at Lin Bai with a look of deep affection.

Lin Bai paid him no attention. Her hand was pressed against the back of Lou Tiannan’s neck, the warmest area where his gland was located. Having such a sensitive spot touched by someone else made him instinctively uncomfortable, even slightly tense. But the coolness of her touch was impossible to reject, especially since it was Lin Bai…

“Miss Lin, are you a Beta?” Bai Chuan asked as he shamelessly let his gaze drift to the back of her neck. It was smooth and unmarked, lacking the raised gland that Omegas and Alphas had. With a tone that almost sounded instructional, he added, “Miss Lin, even if you are a Beta, I wouldn’t recommend getting this close to an Alpha. When they lose control, they’re no different from wild beasts. Why bother taking care of him?”

Lin Bai still ignored him, focused solely on replenishing energy for Lou Tiannan.

Yet Bai Chuan kept chattering. “Miss Lin, is this your child? She’s adorable. What’s her name?”

He reached out, attempting to touch Xi Ya’s head. But in a flash, the little girl darted behind Lin Bai, still holding onto the grudge of him snatching her doll earlier.

Bai Chuan didn’t mind and continued his one-sided conversation. “Miss Lin, which region are you from?

“Miss Lin, what do you like to eat?

“Miss Lin, your makeup—”

“Can you shut up already?!”

Tang Mary snapped. She had been closely watching Elena’s sketch and she could see a rough outline forming. However, it was obvious that Bai Chuan’s incessant talking was distracting her, making her frown in concentration as she tried to recall details.

“Sigh…” Bai Chuan let out a dramatic sigh. “President Tang, you middle-aged women just don’t understand how excited an Omega in their prime gets when they meet someone they like!”

Omega?

Song Yan and Wen Xiaxia exchanged looks, both seeing the surprise in each other’s eyes. They hadn’t expected the man to be an Omega. But after hearing it, they reevaluated his appearance. His smaller frame and delicate facial features actually did align with Omega’s traits.

Wen Xiaxia said nothing, quietly tending to Zhou Yu and Lu Jia’s wounds with the medical kit.

Tang Mary had no interest in talking to a love-struck Bai Chuan. In her eyes, that woman, Lin Bai, had nothing worth her attention aside from being a skilled fighter. Her focus remained on the paper under Elena’s hand, eyes narrowing as she tried to decipher any clues from the emerging sketch.

Elena wasn’t lying to Tang Mary. Although she had only caught a brief glimpse of the black-clad thief who stole the crystals, she had a natural ability to remember the faces of suspects with perfect accuracy. A slender figure in black gradually took shape on the sketch paper.

Zhu Liang glanced at Elena’s drawing, his gaze briefly sweeping over Lin Bai before he tapped the image with his fingertip and said, “That person seems to be taller and very agile.”

“Really?” Elena had no reason to doubt him and adjusted the figure accordingly.

“The upper arms should also be more muscular,” Zhu Liang added. Elena made the changes exactly as suggested.

In the end, the sketch depicted a black-clad figure of about 1.78 meters with an average build. Tang Mary studied the drawing for a long time but no one familiar came to mind.

She was already frustrated when she heard Bai Chuan’s voice again, persistently pestering Lin Bai. “Miss Lin, where are you going? Do you need me to accompany you?”

Tang Mary turned to look at Bai Chuan while holding the drawing. She hesitated, glancing back and forth between the sketch and Bai Chuan. The more she compared them, the more alike they seemed. After several checks, she slammed the drawing in front of Elena with fury. “Are you messing with me?!”

Her words came down like a hammer, accompanied by the wolf-tooth club crashing onto the ground in front of Elena.

“I’m not. That’s the person I saw. I only drew what I remembered.” Elena’s brown eyes locked onto Tang Mary’s, filled with sincerity.

For a brief moment, Tang Mary even doubted herself under Elena’s unwavering gaze.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Lin Bai stood up and headed toward the bunker’s restroom.

Bai Chuan immediately followed.

Song Yan stepped in to block him. “President Bai Chuan, that’s not appropriate.”

Bai Chuan clearly disagreed. “What’s inappropriate? She’s a Beta and I’m an Omega. If I’m not worried about her taking advantage of me, why are you?”

“But you two—”

“It’s fine. Let him come.” Lin Bai’s voice was calm.

Upon hearing this, Lou Tiannan’s half-lidded eyes suddenly lifted and his gray pupils turned sharp and icy.