Apocalypse Survival Guide for a Beta [GB] - Chapter 7

Lin Bai recognized the voice. It was Peter, the jeweler’s son.

The vehicle slowly started moving.

Inside the truck, Song Yan silently observed the two people talking in the corner. Last night, Lou Tiannan had given her a specific instruction to keep an eye on the Beta named Lin Bai.

Quite a few people were whispering inside the truck, making Lin Bai and Peter’s conversation go unnoticed.

“I’m Peter. My mother is Tang Mary, a well-known jeweler from Southern District Three. You must have heard of her,” Peter said proudly, introducing himself to Lin Bai.

“No,” Lin Bai replied.

Peter was momentarily speechless but refused to give up. “Then you must have heard of ‘Heart of Light’?”

Heart of Light was one of the most famous and precious gemstones in the Federation before the apocalypse.

Lin Bai slightly tilted her head and looked at Peter.

Seeing that he finally had Lin Bai’s attention, Peter lifted his chin smugly. Such an ignorant Beta.

Peter had noticed Lin Bai the day before. She was a female Beta, traveling alone with a child. Even though she had some skills, she still had to rely on the Federal Army.

She wore makeup today just like yesterday, looking just as plain as before. Before the apocalypse, Peter wouldn’t have given someone like her a second glance.

But things had changed. In a world where Omegas were nearly extinct, Peter had been hiding and running for days. The playboy in him had been pent up for too long.

He wasn’t stupid. He wouldn’t dare go after Wen Xiaxia. He also wouldn’t dare touch anyone under Lou Tiannan’s command. So, he had to settle for the next best option, Lin Bai.

Even though Lin Bai looked ordinary and lacked awareness, there was a certain appeal in the unknown. The thought of it made Peter itch with excitement.

By noon, the convoy stopped at an empty parking lot for a meal break. Each person received a potato cake and a small bag of water. Peter deliberately sat next to Lin Bai while eating.

Lou Tiannan bit into his potato cake, glancing at Peter and Lin Bai, who seemed to be getting familiar with each other. He paid little attention to it.

His focus quickly returned to planning their route. A group of seventy people was a big target, but fortunately, the bright sun had kept most of the zombies away all morning.

Despite the calm, he remained on high alert. The Blood Bone gang wouldn’t give up so easily.

Surprisingly, they were more patient than he had expected. The convoy encountered no obstacles the entire day and even managed to find a gas station before nightfall.

After refueling the vehicles, Lou Tiannan chose an abandoned garage as their resting spot for the night.

Zombies thrived in darkness, drawn to light, sound, and the scent of humans, so traveling at night was far too risky.

Leaving guards on watch, Lou Tiannan gathered with his team behind the trucks to discuss the next steps.

The moment Lou Tiannan and his core members left, Peter couldn’t resist going to find Lin Bai again.

Unexpectedly, Lin Bai was even more receptive than he had imagined. As soon as he approached, she gestured for him to follow and then walked toward a more secluded area.

Peter’s small eyes gleamed with excitement. He casually brushed his short bangs back, flashing a hopeful smile, then eagerly followed Lin Bai’s disappearing figure.

The area beside the garage was overgrown with dry grass. As soon as Peter entered the thicket, he saw Lin Bai. He reached out to touch her, but to his surprise, she was even more proactive, wrapping her arms around his neck.

And then—

“Cough, cough, cough!” Peter clutched his throat, coughing violently. He could feel something small sliding down his esophagus.

His coughing was too loud and Lin Bai quickly hushed him with a sharp “Shhh,” like a soft whistle.

“What did you make me swallow?!” Peter demanded, panicked.

“X112 alkaline compound.” Lin Bai raised an eyebrow and asked with interest, “Ever heard of it?”

Cold sweat instantly soaked Peter’s back.

X112 alkaline compound was one of the Federation’s strictly regulated drugs, typically used in military interrogations on the most dangerous criminals. Once the drug took effect, it would induce excruciating pain throughout the body, cause organ failure, and make the victim wish for death.

Seeing his reaction, Lin Bai smirked. “Looks like you have.”

Peter licked his dry, pale lips and shook his head frantically. “No, that’s impossible!” A mere Beta shouldn’t have access to such a drug.

But the moment he saw the small blue-and-white-striped bottle in Lin Bai’s hand, his legs went weak. It was identical to the ones he had seen locked away in government-controlled medical storage on the news.

“No, no, no! You have an antidote, right? Give me the antidote!” Peter lunged at Lin Bai, trying to subdue her and find it himself.

In an instant, the world spun. He found himself lying flat on his back, his shoulder pinned down, and a short blade hovering just above his brow.

Cold sweat dripped down his forehead, soaking into his hair.

Peter had managed to survive the apocalypse this long because he wasn’t completely useless. He forced himself to stay calm, attempting to negotiate. “You can’t kill me. If you do, Lou Tiannan and his men won’t let you off! What about your daughter? Don’t you care about her?”

Lin Bai stepped harder on his shoulder, looking down at him with icy indifference.

Peter barely had time to think before a wave of unbearable pain erupted inside him. He instinctively curled up, trying to roll over, but Lin Bai’s foot kept him in place.

The agony was unbearable. He wanted to beg, but when he looked up, all he saw was the cold, merciless face of the woman above him.

Tears and snot streamed down Peter’s face.

Maybe it was sheer survival instinct, or maybe it was the years of dealing with all kinds of people and situations, but at that moment, something clicked in his mind. Weak and trembling, he rasped, “Please… please… I’ll do whatever you want. Just, please…”

He had no idea how much time passed. All he knew was that he had never felt this much pain in his entire life.

“Where did you hide the Tang family’s diamond crystal?”

After Tang Mary rose to power in Southern District Three, every member of the Tang family was given a diamond crystal as a symbol of their status. However, the quality of the crystal varied depending on their rank and position.

Peter instinctively shuddered. He didn’t have time to wonder how Lin Bai knew about this, because his body moved faster than his mind. With trembling hands, he fumbled with his belt, struggling for a long time before finally unfastening it. From the metal buckle, he carefully extracted a thin case, only slightly thicker than an ID card. He held it out respectfully. “It… it’s in here, but it requires a password. I wasn’t an adult yet at the time, so I don’t—”

Yes, according to Tang Mary’s rule, diamond crystals were locked in a specially designed password case until the owner came of age. At their coming-of-age ceremony, Tang Mary herself would reveal the code.

Before the apocalypse, Peter had been in Western District Seven, preparing for his own ceremony. But no one had foreseen the apocalypse. When it struck, he lost all contact with his mother.

Before he could finish his sentence, he heard a soft click and the case holding his family’s diamond crystal opened.

Peter’s eyes widened in shock. “You— How you—”

Lin Bai shot him a sharp look and despite his shock, he immediately fell silent.

She took the diamond crystal from the case. Even in the dim night, its thousands of facets shimmered brilliantly, a truly exquisite gemstone. She closed her fingers around it, then casually tossed the password case back to Peter. “You’ve survived, for now.”

Hearing those words, which sounded almost like mercy, Peter barely had time to breathe a sigh of relief before Lin Bai continued, “But…”

His heart clenched. Yet Lin Bai said nothing more. She only looked at him, her gaze devoid of emotion.

Peter’s throat felt dry. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed, and then he hurriedly nodded. “I understand. I understand everything. Nothing happened here.”

Lin Bai smirked slightly. “Tang Mary’s son is indeed smart.”

At that, Peter didn’t even dare to ask for the antidote.

***

After briefly discussing the next day’s travel plans with Zhu Liang and the others, Lou Tiannan jumped down from the truck.

When he arrived at the resting area, he immediately noticed Lin Bai and Peter were missing. Only Xi Ya was sitting alone, eating a potato cake while holding a doll.

He asked the guards on duty, “Where did Lin Bai and Peter go?”

One of them scratched his head, hesitating before answering, “They went behind the garage.”

“What for? No one followed them?” Lou Tiannan frowned.

A survivor nearby, watching Lou Tiannan closely, smirked and interjected, “Captain Lou, if it’s mutual consent, who’s gonna follow them?”

Lou Tiannan wasn’t stupid. He quickly understood what the man was implying and his face darkened.

He was about to head toward the back of the garage when Lin Bai calmly walked out from behind the wall, looking completely unbothered as she sat down next to Xi Ya.

Right after, Peter emerged as well but he looked much worse than Lin Bai. His clothes were disheveled, his face was drenched in sweat, and even his belt buckle was fastened the wrong way. His damp hair stuck to his forehead and his scent hadn’t fully faded.

An Alpha and a Beta—nothing unusual. No one found it strange.

Seeing them return in such a state, some of the Alphas in the group whistled, egging them on.

One of them, an Alpha named Li Meng, took it a step further. He sauntered over to Lin Bai and made a lewd remark.

“Lin Bai, did he finish so fast? Did you even enjoy it? Why not try me instead?”

Before he could finish speaking—slap!

Lin Bai’s palm landed hard on his face. Before he could react with anger, a short blade was already pressed against his throat.

Her lined eyes were cold and piercing. At that moment, he truly thought he was about to die.

But the blade didn’t move. Not because Lin Bai was giving him a chance but because her wrist had been caught.

Lou Tiannan’s warm and calloused hand, marked by years of training, firmly gripped her cool wrist.

Li Meng only then realized the icy sensation on his neck. He even felt a faint trickle of liquid slide down his skin. He shuddered but didn’t dare make a sound.

The garage fell completely silent.

No one had expected things to escalate like this.

Peter glanced at Li Meng, then thought about what had just happened to him. See? That’s the price of not knowing your place.

Lin Bai met Lou Tiannan’s gaze. “Captain Lou, are you meddling in my business?”

Lou Tiannan’s voice was cold. “Come with me for a moment.”

Lin Bai shrugged. “Sure, but let me put my knife away first.”

Lou Tiannan paused for a second, then let go of her wrist.

Lin Bai slid the blade back into its sheath, and then immediately kicked Li Meng between the legs.

Li Meng tumbled over, clutching himself in pain, groaning in agony. Only then did Lin Bai nonchalantly turn to Lou Tiannan and say, “Let’s go.”

The force of her kick made every man watching wince in sympathy.

As Lou Tiannan led Lin Bai toward an empty area near an abandoned vehicle, hushed whispers spread through the garage.

Zhou Yu, who had witnessed the entire scene, finally closed his gaping mouth after a long moment. “Isn’t Lin Bai a little too fierce?”

Someone beside him scoffed. “Mouthy fools deserve what they get!”

Song Yan glanced sideways and saw Wen Xiaxia nearby. “Did he mess with you too?”

Against the wall, Peter flexed his fingers and stretched his knuckles. He had caught the subtle glance Lin Bai had given him before leaving.