Back to the Apocalypse

translator: xiin

editors: alamerysl & juurensha

“Who are you guys with?” Xiao Sa asked in a cold voice. His icy aura was now a constant presence; he didn’t realize that there were robbers around Jing Sa City. Could it be that he had been too benevolent, resulting in these kinds of people?

“Are you Red Wolf's people?” Xiao Sa’s eyes narrowed slightly. He'd be damned if he got angry while dealing with a group of mobsters like this.

“Stop speaking nonsense. What kind of thing is a red wolf? We're people from Jing Sa City." The self-proclaimed nephew of Xiao Sa's expression changed. He thought internally, not good, and instantly pointed his weapon at them.

“Jing Sa City has always been very generous. I don’t know when it became necessary to rob passers-by.” Bai Jing smiled slightly as he spoke. He had basically figured out the origins of this group. There were a group of fugitives that lived near Jing Sa City, but because the well water did not offend the river, they had a mutual understanding and went their own way. Xiao Sa didn't concern himself over them, but unexpectedly, not only did they not say a word to Jing Sa City, they also started to make a move against the people travelling through. Weren't they treating Jing Sa Citylike they didn't exist?!

Bai Jing's expression turned frosty. It was time to deal with this problem. He had heard that there were many good things in this group of bandits' nest, and he felt that it was very necessary to assimilate them now; Jing Sa City could be expanded. For them to dare to make a move against the owners of the city, they really must not want to live anymore.

The robber’s intuition was very keen. The leader of the group saw that the situation was not good and riled up his fellow robbers, harshly ordering, "Attack!"

“You’re seeking death.” Bai Jing sneered. His figure flashed as he teleported to the leader's side.

The fugitive leader was shocked and a strong sense uneasiness chilled his heart. His gaze flickered to take in the surroundings as a blue shield of light flashed into place around him.

Others raised their guns and fired at Xiao Sa. They pulled the trigger, anxious sweat beading on their foreheads as they discovered that bullets seemed to be stuck and didn't leave the gun.

In the blink of an eye, the leader saw a figure appear beside him, but it was too late for him to react. A cold light flashed from Bai Jing's hand as he first used a space blade to break through the ice shield, then expressionlessly aimed at this false nephew's neck.

“…” The man’s facial expression contained horror, fear, confusion, and disbelief. He wondered why his ice shield had been broken through so easily; he wanted to speak but discovered that he could make no noise in his throat. In the moment when he collapsed, his face showed traces of remorse. If he had known that he would catch an unlucky star, he would never have chosen to target their car simply because it was a good one and they only had two people who could easily be overwhelmed by his numbers.

The leader died too fast and too easily. When faced with such a strong gap in strength, the group of bandits fell into disorder. They originally had over forty people, but when they saw that the situation wasn’t good, some of them immediately decided to bail, looking left and right for an avenue of escape…

Others rushed forward to beg for mercy, “It’s not our fault! We were only obeying orders and accidentally bumped into you two. We won't dare to do so again."

Bai Jing couldn't be bothered to look at them. He felt that looking at them any more would dirty his own eyes. These people had no discipline and no tacit understanding. They really did their own thing and didn't know how to determine life or death.

“Come up and fight.”

Bai Jing’s attitude angered the robbers, and several of them looked at each other before one of the men on the left loudly shouted. He leapt up and rushed forward, his ability allowing him to materialize sharp blades. Several people nearby noticed the situation and rushed to attack from the side. It was obvious that such cooperation had been done more than once or twice before.

Without waiting for Bai Jing to make a move, Xiao Sa's gaze had already turned cold. The impassive killing aura from his body leaked out, his arms rose, and over a dozen metal flying daggers flew out of his sleeves, piercing the enemies' defences. When up against people of a completely different strength level, any defiance was useless; in the mere blink of an eye, the sounds of noisy voices were silenced. The owners of those voices had no way to dodge as spots of red appeared between their eyebrows and nails came up to intercept the flying blades.

The survivors that still wanted to run away seemed to be frozen in place as the abacus in their hearts calculated; they barely dared to breathe. At this moment, there wasn’t anyone who didn't understand that they had definitely kicked an iron plate today. They could only watch as the flying knives cut through the air, bringing with them the faint sound of the wind, flashes of silver light flying nimbly between them, along their shoulders and necks, and bringing away a few strands of hair or eyelashes with them.

When faced with such a situation, nobody would dare move unless they no longer wanted their neck.

Seeing that his threat was effective, Xiao Sa raised his arm, and the flying knives returned neatly back into his sleeves, leaving no trace.

Bai Jing smiled; he was very satisfied with his masterpiece. Although nails were easy to use, they did not look very beautiful, and he had disdained them more than once. Just now, Xiao Sa had been so cool and handsome! Although the metal ability was strong, Xiao Sa would be ineffective without metal. The inspiration for the flying daggers came from the TV dramas he'd seen before, and Bai Jing felt that he liked them very much.

Xiao Sa’s lips twitched slightly, but it wasn't obvious to anyone. It was the first time he'd used the flying knives, and he was not used to it at all. It was definitely beautiful to look at, but it wasn't as cool as filling the sky with nails. Perhaps only Little Jing would pay attention to the beauty or ugliness of his form during such situations. However, using the knives was a great way to exercise his ability to control metal. Xiao Sa felt that it was better to listen to his wife's words regarding these trivial matters. As for the big ones…

In his eyes, apart from the fact that his wife’s quilt was not easy to get under, everything else could be determined by Bai Jing. He believed that Little Jing knew what he was doing.

“Good people, spare me…” One of the fugitives was so frightened that his legs were weak. He fell to the ground on his knees with a thud and knelt there begging for mercy.

Bai Jing was amused. "Pft!" A laugh came out as he glanced at the man who looked like a rogue and spoke like a traitor. If the bandit called them heroes and pleaded for mercy, Bai Jing would feel like the world had returned to ancient times. But now that they were talking about it… Xiao Sa's current appearance really did look like a hero who punished and eliminated evil.

“Cut the crap and lead the way to your base.” Bai Jing raised his eyebrows and neatly collected all the guns and ammunition on their bodies into his space. No matter how small mosquitos were, they were still meat, and not taking them would be a waste.

The group was scared out of their wits. Seeing that Bai Jing looked more amiable than Xiao Sa, they chose to selectively forget how fierce he had been just recently. Their brains churned, and they cried and howled loudly, "Spare us! The boss won't let us off, we still have wives and children to support…"

“Believe it or not, I can kill you now.” That cold voice was completely even. As soon as the words came out, the scene immediately became quiet.

Xiao Sa was not ambiguous at all. He directly pulled out a coil of wire from the car and used his power to wrap it around the group. They were bound firmly in a line, and the other end of the wire was attached to the back of the car. Xiao Sa glanced at them indifferently and then mercilessly released the pressure of a second level ability user. If anyone dared to do anything behind their backs, he wouldn't mind killing chickens to scare the monkeys.

“Let's go.” Xiao Sa reached out to embrace Bai Jing then turned and got into the car. Bai Jing smiled blandly and sat in the co-pilot seat. Then, the car and the group of people following behind created a grand procession as they made their way forward. Unfortunately, no one was there to appreciate it. The car drove along slowly in front, while a group of people were running and panting behind them. Bai Jing felt that in fact, compared to the princes from ancient times who used horses to pull people along on a rampage, he and Xiao Sa were really benevolent.

They had no scruples and no intention of hiding their whereabouts. But on the other side, the gang of fugitives were arguing endlessly.

“Boss, bad news! Li Shan and his group failed, and now they've been caught and are making their way back to us."

“Who would be so bold as to make trouble near Jing Sa City?” The boss was not bad-looking; his voice was quite low, which gave off a feeling of grim darkness. At first glance, people could tell that he was not a good man, and even his gaze was vicious and fierce. A person like this was cruel to others, but even more cruel to themselves. For him to have entered a prison for high security criminals, escape from it during the apocalypse, and then remain undiscovered while running his own operation around Jing Sa City, needless to say, this man's mind was definitely not simple.

“Could it be people from Jing Sa City?" Someone hesitatingly guessed.

“No, I’ve checked their routes. It must be that Li Shan and his group were careless and offended someone they shouldn't have."

“There's no need to be afraid of ten thousand things or people, but we need to be wary about the one in ten thousand that might not go as expected; we should proceed with caution."

“Kicking up a ruckus and babbling nonsense. You should all shut up!" The boss shouted angrily, and everyone around him quieted down. He turned to the person who had reported the news and said, “Tell me about the specific situation.”

“They only have two people, who appear to be level one ability users…"

“Bang!” The table broke apart under the boss's hand. Everyone's hearts clenched. The reason why they were arrogant was because they had brains, weapons, supplies, and people. Their boss was a level one ability user, but now, with two people coming their way who were also level one ability users, the situation became more delicate. How could they not be nervous? These fugitives without discipline had all been gathered together and suppressed through force. They had long coveted Jing Sa City and had originally thought that losing the prison base was just a minor loss. They wanted a slice of the pie, so they hadn't pledged their allegiance, but who could've known that the city would manage to transfer the army over not long after? They hadn't even finished their preparations when someone came knocking at the door. The people inside the room all had their own opinions, and the place turned noisy in an instant.

“Space ability users, go and clean up the warehouse. Everyone else should reinforce the base and stay on alert. Remember to act as circumstances dictate. We'll first inquire about where they're from. Li Shan acting like a bandit along the road has nothing to do with us."

Following their boss' commands, everyone all came to a secret understanding. Nobody stood up to plead for Li Shan and the others as they all began to make their preparations. Others began to make their own calculations and guess at what their boss was thinking; there would inevitably be some pests in each base, and as long as there were others to take the fall for them, these bad deeds would have nothing to do with them. Maybe this could even become an opportunity. They had long gotten sick of this place, and heard that Jing Sa City had water and electricity, and even bars to play in. Even if they had no hope of taking over Jing Sa City, they could still set down roots there. They had so many people; there was no way they wouldn't be able to become famous. Nobody would be able to say anything about them anymore once they won the title of being the strongest mercenary corps.

When Bai Jing and the rest of them arrived, they were confronted with a very strange situation. At first glance, the base was heavily guarded, but looking carefully, it became clear that there were no practical items left outside. Only after they brazenly drove the car all the way up to the entrance did anyone come forward with guns and speak nonsense with their eyes wide open, acting as though they hadn't noticed the group of people tied up behind them. Their attitudes were upright, and they were very polite, their tone of voice, posture, and temperament were all exactly like that of a pre-apocalypse security guard. "Stop there. Where are you from? You will need to register first before entering the base."

Bai Jing tsked. He was very amused internally; this group of people was highly intelligent, welcoming enemies with such a special set-up. He really didn't believe that these people were unclear about why they had come.

Xiao Sa’s ice-cold eyes flashed, and the wire that was wrapped around the fugitives behind the car loosened before rolling up on its own to return into the trunk of the car.

But this time, his calculations had been incorrect. He thought that their captives would shout for help as soon as they were free, but who could have guessed that they wouldn't make a sound? It was unknown if they were too tired from the run, or if they had some sort of evil plan, but the only thing they hadn't done yet was shrink their heads into their necks as they all laid there silently with their heads buried against the ground.

Bai Jing was surprised; this group of people was greedy for life and scared of death. Now that they had removed the wire, shouldn't they be clamouring for help?

Xiao Sa was also choked for a while. As the saying goes, it was hard to hit a smiling face; seeing that the people behind them didn't make a move, and the people in front of them, despite carrying guns, had good attitudes that no one could complain about and were treating them like guests, if he were to stir up trouble now, they would appear to be the petty ones.

sponsored post – thank you Xiue, Nyurr, enryia *somebody* for the coffees!