Apocalypse Survival Guide for a Beta [GB] - Chapter 49

No matter which floor Qiu Tu moved to, the moment he got close to a window, black flames would immediately rush toward him.

Even though he held the high ground in the tall building and Lou Tiannan and his team were still within his field of vision, ever since he had been struck by the black flames once, it was as if he had nowhere to hide. Enraged, Qiu Tu cursed out loud.

He had carefully planned the ambush, setting up his forces inside the checkpoint tower long beforehand. But now, his advantage in the high-rise had completely vanished. He couldn’t counterattack Lou Tiannan before being hit himself. Every room in the building had become a constraint on his movements. When the black flames surged into a room, he had nowhere to dodge and could only use his own ability to consume the flames. But doing so drained his energy significantly.

Although he didn’t understand how Lou Tiannan kept pinpointing his location, Qiu Tu saw no reason to keep playing the game. Since his advantage was gone, he decided to go all in. With a wave of his hand, his subordinates immediately grabbed their weapons.

Hundreds of machine guns and over a dozen sniper rifles were aimed at the people in the open ground. Bullets rained down like a meteor shower toward them.

With no cover in sight, that kind of firepower was undoubtedly lethal. Lou Tiannan stepped forward, raising a wall of fire to block the incoming bullets. The bullets didn’t even have time to explode before they were melted into molten iron, dripping onto the ground.

Gunfire and explosions continued to echo but Lin Bai’s eyes suddenly sharpened. In her thermal vision, she saw a tall and muscular figure approaching them.

“Someone’s coming!” Lin Bai warned.

Just as the attacker closed in, Lou Tiannan reacted in time to defend.

Their fists collided with a deafening impact, forcing both of them to take half a step back due to the sheer force. Neither had gained the upper hand. Lou Tiannan immediately realized that it was no ordinary opponent.

As the dust settled, the figure lifted his head, revealing a face marked by a sinister scar. Even before Elena could say anything, the group had already recognized him as Qiu Tu.

His viciousness was even more intense than before the apocalypse and his build had grown larger. But the distinctive scar on his face and his sinister, narrow eyes made him unmistakable. His triangular eyes gleamed with a chilling coldness as he grinned, though his expression held no warmth. Looking at Elena, who stood beside Lou Tiannan, he sneered, “The Adjudicator is still as beautiful as ever.”

Lu Jia felt as if Qiu Tu’s words carried the filth and slime of a sewer, making him frown in disgust.

Elena didn’t acknowledge Qiu Tu’s so-called greeting. Her expression remained icy. Qiu Tu was a fugitive murderer responsible for nearly a hundred deaths, the number one target on her wanted list.

But Qiu Tu had no intention of wasting time with small talk. The battle erupted instantly.

Elena and Lou Tiannan launched an attack on Qiu Tu.

The level of combat was far beyond what Zhou Yu, Lu Jia, and the others could handle. If they got involved, they would be nothing but cannon fodder.

The speed at which the supernatural flames moved left behind only after images.

They quickly realized that Qiu Tu’s flames had a faint purple hue and were dangerously hot.

Even while fighting against two opponents at once, Qiu Tu showed no signs of being at a disadvantage. He even had the leisure to taunt Elena from time to time. “The Adjudicator doesn’t seem very happy to see me! But we’ve known each other for so long, haven’t we?”

Elena’s only response was a barrage of razor-sharp ice shards.

However, her ice ability was at a disadvantage against Qiu Tu’s higher-level fire ability. The ice shards melted into water droplets before they could even reach him.

Qiu Tu smirked. “Are you trying to cool me down, Adjudicator?”

Lou Tiannan’s burst of black flames finally shut Qiu Tu up.

As they fought, Qiu Tu’s subordinates launched their attack as well. The pressure this time was completely different and they were being completely overwhelmed.

Bang!

Lu Jia was knocked to the ground by a Blood Bone ability user. Just as another attack was about to land on him, he barely managed to roll and push himself back up.

Xi Ya’s C-rank ability was practically useless in the battle but she was small, fast, and had some abilities to aid her. For now, no Blood Bone members had been able to catch her.

Meanwhile, Tang Mary was only fighting when necessary and casually smashing any Blood Bone members foolish enough to approach her. She was trying to repeat the fisherman’s strategy she had used near the gas station a few days ago, waiting for both sides to weaken each other so she could reap the benefits.

As for Bai Chuan, his only concern was keeping an eye on Lin Bai and making sure she was safe. Speaking of which… where was Lin Bai? He scanned the battlefield, searching. Lin Bai!

Just as he spotted her, he saw that she had been bound in thorny vines and was being dragged away by a man with a missing right ear.

“So it was you who killed my brother!” Chang Ping’s eyes were filled with hatred. “A life for a life, you b*tch!”

He and Chang Qi had been sent on separate missions. But when he returned to Blood Bone, he was told his brother had died in Southern District One.

By the time he arrived, there wasn’t even a corpse left. Blood Bone members informed him that his brother had been killed by a woman wielding twin black blades. The moment he heard that, he knew that it had to be Lin Bai. According to the information he had gathered, she was the only one who used twin black blades.

Now, the murderer of his brother was right in front of him. Chang Ping no longer cared about Qiu Tu’s orders. He just wanted Lin Bai dead!

The thorny vines constricted around her but Lin Bai showed no signs of fear or pleading. Chang Ping sneered, pulling out his pistol and aiming at her. He didn’t want her to die too quickly, so he aimed for her shoulder.

The moment he pulled the trigger, Lin Bai suddenly kicked his wrist, knocking the gun off course. The shot missed, hitting the ground instead.

Somehow, despite being tightly bound, the thorny vines around Lin Bai had fallen away without him noticing. A flash of steel flickered before his eyes. Chang Ping’s instincts kicked in and he jerked his head back but he was still a step too slow. A cold sensation spread across his cheek.

A thin line of blood trickled down.

As if she had already predicted he would dodge the first strike, Lin Bai’s other blade was already swinging toward the exact direction he had moved.

This woman!

Chang Ping was both furious and alarmed. He instinctively summoned wooden planks with his ability to block her attack and turned to retreat, barely evading the deadly strike.

Clang!

The tip of Lin Bai’s black blade pierced through the wooden plank as if it were tofu, slicing clean through.

In that instant, watching the blade pierce through his defense, a terrifying realization hit Chang Ping.

He couldn’t beat Lin Bai.

But almost immediately, he denied the thought.

Lin Bai was just a powerless human. And he… he was a B-rank ability user, only a step away from reaching A-rank!

There was no way he couldn’t defeat Lin Bai! Killing her should be as easy as crushing an ant!

Slap.

For a brief moment, his mind wandered and pain immediately shot through his neck where Lin Bai’s elbow had struck the back of it.

If he weren’t an ability user, that strike alone could have been fatal.

Chang Ping didn’t dare lose focus again. He took two steps back and quickly downed a bottle of medicine. As soon as he swallowed it, the thorns he wielded turned into an eerie black-purple.

Only he knew that the long thorns on his vines were now laced with poison. As long as even one managed to scratch Lin Bai’s skin, she would be left in unbearable agony, neither able to live nor die.

Dozens of thorny vines lashed toward Lin Bai like writhing tentacles. Lin Bai held her twin blades, her gaze icy and indifferent.

Before the vines could reach her, she stepped forward, closing the distance between them in an instant.

So fast!

Chang Ping twisted his body to dodge the first strike and leaped into the air, kicking toward her. But Lin Bai’s reflexes were frighteningly quick. She turned slightly and easily avoided his attack. The vines instantly followed up, trying to ensnare her. However, Lin Bai was too fast.

At the very moment the vines wrapped around her wrist, she kicked Chang Ping hard in the chest. He staggered back two steps, clutching his chest but a flash of triumph flickered in his eyes.

He had caught Lin Bai!

A smirk curled on Chang Ping’s lips, as if he could already see her writhing in agony.

Sure enough, the moment the thorns pierced the skin on Lin Bai’s left wrist, her movements slowed, becoming sluggish. That’s right. Once the poison spread, she would soon be on her knees, begging him for mercy!

Taking advantage of her momentary weakness, the vines seized the opportunity to bind her right hand as well.

Seeing that both of Lin Bai’s hands were now restrained, Chang Ping finally breathed a sigh of relief, the pressure in his heart easing. He lifted his foot, intending to step forward but when his eyes landed on the black blade still tightly gripped in Lin Bai’s hands, he hesitated.

A strange sense of danger made him freeze in place.

His gaze was filled with hatred. The damned woman had killed his brother. He would make her pay for it in blood!

Suddenly, Lin Bai lifted her head and looked straight at him. “Your brother left a message for you.”

“What did he say?!” Chang Ping demanded urgently.

“He said…” Lin Bai’s voice was slow and deliberate. “You should hurry up… and join him.”

The words had barely fallen when Lin Bai twisted her wrists and the black blade sliced through the vines.

Chang Ping’s eyes widened in shock, his expression filled with disbelief. He shouted, “You— How could you possibly break free?!”

Lin Bai didn’t answer. She never wasted words on the dead.

Her black blade thrust toward Chang Ping.

Even though he had the ability to protect himself, in close combat, he was no match for Lin Bai.

And in his current state of shock, he was even slower than usual.

To Lin Bai, it was nothing more than a free kill.

Chang Ping frantically dodged Lin Bai’s fierce assault but he was no match for Lin Bai’s black blade.

Puchi!

The tip of the blade pierced Chang Ping’s arm. He cried out in pain as the black blade was withdrawn, blood splattering in the air. He wanted to call for reinforcements but when he lifted his head, he saw a green-haired man blocking all the approaching Blood Bone members. Not a single one could get through. His heart sank.

In his widening pupils, Lin Bai’s black blade loomed larger. Gritting his teeth, he reached for something with his free hand. But before he could act, his left hand was severed at the wrist. The miniature bomb in his palm dropped to the ground.

The next second, a cold sensation spread through his chest. It felt as if his blood was flowing in reverse, his mouth and nose struggling for air. A rusty, bloody taste rose in his throat. Lowering his gaze, he saw long, slender fingers gripping the hilt of a knife and the blade was buried deep in his chest.

There were clearly thorn wounds on the wrist holding the knife, yet why was the woman completely unaffected? The venom should have spread rapidly through her bloodstream. How could she be perfectly fine?

Chang Ping’s pupils slightly dilated as he looked at Lin Bai again. Staring into Lin Bai’s cold, indifferent eyes, a memory surfaced of someone else who was also deadly with a blade. That man had cut off his right ear. But, unfortunately, he was dead now.

His brother had led a team to ambush that man’s squad in revenge. Chang Ping had personally watched as that man died at the entrance of the 621 Biopharmaceutical Research Institute in Eastern District One, his body blown to pieces by a bomb.

His vision blurred, his strength drained, and his body collapsed, almost falling to the ground. Just before he lost consciousness, he saw Lin Bai’s lips move.

His eyes flickered, his mouth opened as if to grab hold of Lin Bai and ask one last question.

But it was too late…

Chang Ping’s body fell onto the open ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. Even in death, he couldn’t understand why Lin Bai had survived his poisoned thorns completely unscathed.

And Lin Bai’s final words…

“You should have died three months ago.”