When Xia Niannian woke again, she had no idea what time it was.
Outside, strange creatures shrieked while humans screamed. Even with the windows tightly shut, the sounds seemed to be right beside her ears.
The hum of the helicopters was gone as well.
Xia Niannian was lying in bed, and strangely enough, she was fully dressed. Apart from some weakness around her waist, she felt no significant pain at all, as though the two terrifying encounters she had endured earlier had merely been a nightmare.
But the replaced bedding and the marks left on her body reminded her that everything had really happened.
She sniffled softly. Her eyes were still slightly swollen.
The bedroom door was closed, so she could not see what was happening outside.
Xia Niannian listened carefully.
There was no sound.
She could not tell whether Pei Xun was still in the living room.
She hurriedly took out her phone, hoping to find some way to escape first.
Instead, she saw a message from her Second Brother.
A Super Aberration had appeared nearby and posed an extremely serious threat. Most of the military forces had been forced to provide support there first. However, her building was currently safe, with ten mercenaries guarding it.
A Super Aberration was something like Pei Xun.
They had awakened combat-oriented abilities while they were alive. After dying while possessing those abilities, they became aberrations.
The stronger their abilities had been in life, the more difficult these aberrations were to deal with.
Even mercenaries who had awakened abilities had trouble fighting them.
From what Pei Xun had said, he had already killed a large number of aberrations while he was alive. Unfortunately, there had simply been too many, and he had eventually been killed.
After becoming an aberration, he had wiped out every aberration in the school before coming here in a bloody rampage.
Xia Niannian could hardly imagine how terrifying he was.
She first sent Xia Yibai a message to let him know she was safe.
Xia Niannian: I’m safe in the dormitory. Second Brother, you have to take care of yourself.
Xia Yibai immediately replied.
Xia Yibai: Okay.
It was only one word, but it was enough for Xia Niannian to know how happy her Second Brother was to receive her message.
Her eyes reddened.
She was even less willing to let him know how badly she had been treated.
If Second Brother found out, he would definitely lose his temper.
Xia Niannian wiped away her tears and hugged her fluffy penguin, sobbing quietly.
Unexpectedly, Xia Yibai sent another message.
Xia Yibai: The Little Princess who cries is being naughty. Don’t worry. Brother will be fine. I’ll come back to see you soon.
Second Brother…
Xia Niannian sniffled and replied.
Xia Niannian: Mm. Second Brother, what ability did you awaken?
If Second Brother’s ability was powerful enough, perhaps he could kill Pei Xun.
Xia Yibai replied:
Xia Yibai: Construction Ability. Didn’t the Little Princess always want to build her own castle with her own hands? Once Brother finishes dealing with everything, I’ll build a castle that belongs to us with you. How does that sound?
Construction?
That was not a combat-type ability.
Xia Niannian bit her lip sadly.
It seemed that she absolutely could not let Second Brother come here.
If Pei Xun went berserk and killed him, she would never be able to forgive herself.
Xia Niannian: Mm. Second Brother, please be careful. I want to stay in the dormitory for now.
Xia Yibai: All right. I’ll listen to whatever my Little Princess says.
Xia Yibai was incredibly gentle, as though he were reaching through the phone to pat her head.
Xia Niannian could not help crying again.
After putting down her phone, she carefully climbed out of bed.
She quietly walked over to the window and looked outside.
The moment she pulled back the curtain, an overwhelmingly terrifying red scene appeared before her.
The sky seemed to have been dyed red by the blood covering the ground.
Everywhere she looked across the school field, there were bodies.
More accurately, there were countless remains, with very few still intact.
From the colors and styles of their clothes, Xia Niannian could even recognize several people she knew.
She was horrified.
She opened the window a tiny crack, thinking that perhaps what she was seeing was an illusion.
Instead, the smell of blood rushed straight toward her.
The thick metallic stench in the air was so strong that she could almost taste it.
“Ugh…”
Xia Niannian immediately felt sick.
It smelled awful.
She quickly shut and locked the window before stumbling back onto the bed.
So many people were dead.
The entire school field was filled with dead humans and dead aberrations.
It could only be described as a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.
Was this the Apocalypse?
Xia Niannian covered her mouth and nose, desperately holding back her tears.
She had only ever seen scenes like this in books.
Now that she was experiencing it herself, the shock was overwhelming.
Was this world going to end?
She did not want to believe it.
But she had no choice.
The Apocalypse had truly arrived, and it had come in the most terrifying form possible: the arrival of the aberrations.
Most of the aberrations currently appearing were beast-shaped creatures that had been transported from another dimension.
They came in countless forms, with every imaginable type of beast among them.
Once killed, these creatures would not revive.
Human aberrations were far more terrifying.
They retained their abilities when they died.
In particular, humans who had possessed powerful offensive abilities while alive could become Super Aberrations after death, turning into humanity’s most troublesome enemies.
Although Pei Xun had already killed many aberrations, these creatures had now taken control of the school once again.
At present, only Xia Niannian’s building remained protected by ten mercenaries using overwhelming firepower.
The other dormitory buildings and teaching buildings had all fallen.
Remembering her brother’s love and concern, Xia Niannian sniffled again.
She stood up and gathered her courage to look outside once more.
This time, she saw that several people she recognized had already “stood up.”
They were wandering around, searching for their severed limbs.
Among them was a doctoral supervisor from a neighboring college whom everyone affectionately called “Professor Ou.”
After finding his left arm and reattaching it, the first thing he did was charge madly toward the mercenaries guarding Xia Niannian’s building.
“Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!”
The gunfire was precise and well-trained.
Professor Ou was knocked more than ten meters away by the bullets, but he did not die.
He lay on the ground, twisting his limbs with strange cracking sounds.
In his aberrant state, he simply kept getting back up and charging forward again.
Xia Niannian hurriedly pulled the curtains shut.
She covered her face and crouched beside the bed, quietly crying for a long while.
Compared with the horrifying scene outside, perhaps what had happened to her did not seem so strange anymore.
She had to pull herself together.
She was no longer a child.
This was the Apocalypse.
This was no longer the peaceful world she had once known.
After a while, she quietly crept toward the bedroom door and pressed her ear against it.
There was absolutely no sound.
Was Pei Xun still there?
Xia Niannian wanted to open the door and find out.
But she was afraid that doing so would attract Pei Xun back inside.
After thinking it over, she still did not dare.
She quietly returned to the bed.
She picked up her phone and checked the news and information about the outside world.
That was when she discovered that her class group and private messages had exploded with activity.
Her best friend, Song Youning, had sent her more than a hundred messages.
Song Youning: Niannian, the Apocalypse has broken out. Are you safe right now?
Song Youning: Niannian, I’m almost at your school. Don’t come outside. Wait for me!
Seeing Song Youning’s concerned messages filled Xia Niannian with warmth.
Xia Niannian: Sister Youning, I’m fine. Don’t come over. There are lots of aberrations here.
Song Youning replied immediately.
Song Youning: I’m here! Get ready to welcome me!
So fast?
Xia Niannian quickly stood up and looked outside.
Sure enough, she saw a young woman with long, straight black hair dressed in fitted combat clothing.
Several ability users followed behind her as they fought their way through the blood-soaked path and charged into the campus.