【Xu Shishi (Bldg B, 411)】: What is this mess? What is a “supernatural item”? How do I get one? What happens if I don’t have one?
【Xu Shishi (Bldg B, 411)】: I can’t even order food delivery now! When will this foul-smelling rain stop? I’m going to starve to death!
【Zhang Xushan (Bldg A, 504)】: What are you shouting about? Do you have no manners? If you don’t have a supernatural item, why don’t you reflect on your own problems? Ask yourself if you’ve been working hard enough!
【Xu Shishi (Bldg B, 411)】: Are you insane? Do you have a supernatural item? What is it? I’ll give you 20,000 yuan, sell it to me!
【Zhang Xushan (Bldg A, 504)】: Why would I sell it to you? Who do you think you are? What gives you the nerve, you son of a dog? Go die!
“Xu Shishi…”
Wen Xi bit down on her milk tea straw, muttering subconsciously: “Why do I remember that he activated a supernatural item? He actually did quite well; he was protected by the authorities before the black rain ended.”
As for Zhang Xushan in 504 upstairs from her, she had never heard of him.
There was only one possible explanation for this—
That dear neighbor of hers upstairs had been killed before the black rain ended!
After all, there was an underground garage connecting Buildings A and B, so one didn’t need to worry about getting soaked by the black rain to get across.
Although she didn’t know what his specific supernatural item was, if he could be protected by the authorities, it must have been quite valuable.
Wen Xi scrolled past the mountain of arguing and looked down.
【Lu Jingjing (Bldg C, 320)】: Stop arguing! My power is out! Brown, foul-smelling stuff is spewing out of the water pipes, like shit! Is anyone else having this situation?
【Lu Jingjing (Bldg C, 320)】: We pay so much in property fees every year, is this how they maintain things? What “ice river, ice river”? It’s still burning hot right now; how are we supposed to sleep like this? I have to work tomorrow morning! My kid has school!
Wen Xi rubbed her temples, unsure whether to laugh or cry: “It’s the end of the world, and they’re still talking about work and school.”
People online were panicking and venting, but in reality, many people were still heading out into the black rain to earn a living.
So what if it’s the apocalypse?
Unless it was Thanos snapping his fingers and halving the population, the “beasts of burden” still had to go to work. If the apocalypse hadn’t arrived, losing one’s job would be the true “end of the world.”
The rest of the messages were nothing but panic ready to burst off the screen, or anger—nothing of any nutritional value.
Wen Xi hugged her machete and curled up in her cotton quilt to sleep peacefully.
…
“Bang!”
A sudden, loud crash came from the ceiling, and Wen Xi opened her eyes.
Above her, the sound of two men arguing rang out, along with various objects smashing against the floor.
“Who are you? What are you doing? I’m calling the police!”
“Aren’t you bragging about having a supernatural item? Hand it over immediately, or I’ll kill you!”
Wen Xi picked up the bandage from her bedside, bound her hand and the machete tightly together, and got up to head out.
In her past life, she had been trapped in a hotel due to the rain during an interview. After returning to her rental once the black rain ended, she had missed some events and hadn’t known about this.
“Help! Someone’s trying to kill me! Call the police!”
“Even if someone hears you, they won’t get involved in this mess. It’s the apocalypse—calling the police is useless! Hand the item over!”
The neighbors’ doors were shut tight, clearly afraid of being involved or getting killed themselves.
“You brought this on yourself!”
Xu Shishi, who had broken in, raised a kitchen knife and hacked down at Zhang Xushan—
Zhang Xushan: “Ahhh!”
Squelch! The machete cleaved downward, followed by the tip of the blade being driven into his upper back.
Xu Shishi’s pupils constricted. He turned, saw Wen Xi who had taken advantage of his quiet footsteps to sneak in, and opened his mouth. His body went limp and collapsed, lying in a pool of blood.
The turn of events was so sudden that the rescued Zhang Xushan looked at Wen Xi and asked nervously: “Who, who are you?”
“I’m your neighbor from downstairs. I was woken up by the noise and came up to check.”
Wen Xi shook the blood off the blade.
Zhang Xushan stood up, scanned Wen Xi from head to toe, carefully sizing up her physique and strength. He let his guard down slightly and looked at the corpse in the room.
“I didn’t ask you to save me! You’ve killed someone; I’m calling the police.”
Zhang Xushan gulped, straightened his spine:
“Even though I won’t help you deal with the crime scene, I can hold off on calling the police for a bit to give you time to run! Just run; no need to thank me.”
“…” Wen Xi tilted her head and stared at him, smiling slightly.
Zhang Xushan: “Why, why are you smiling?”
“Nothing. Go ahead and close your door.” Wen Xi turned to leave.
Only when the sound of footsteps going downstairs faded did Zhang Xushan let out a sigh of relief. He hurriedly ran to the door, but the moment he pushed it to close it, a machete wedged into the gap!
He looked up and met Wen Xi’s smiling eyes.
“You—”
Bang!
Wen Xi kicked the door open. Before the panicked Zhang Xushan could make a sound, she swung the blade and slit his throat!
People weren’t as hard to kill as one might imagine.
As long as one had a weapon and no fear, even a twelve or thirteen-year-old girl could use a knife to critically wound two sleazy adult men.
Not to mention someone who had already died in the apocalypse!
Hiss! Fresh blood sprayed onto the door panel.
“Save you?” Wen Xi’s voice was icy. “I never said you’d be walking away alive.”
“You… gurgle…” Zhang Xushan clutched his spraying throat, fell backward, and his pupils dilated.
“Me? I’m so immoral, aren’t I?” Wen Xi looked down at the corpse and chuckled lightly. “But so what? Leave morals for the good people.”
【Ding! Congratulations on successfully killing “Zhang Xushan” and obtaining the supernatural item: “A Tough Guy’s Beloved Little Raincoat”】
A sharp, crisp mechanical sound, exclusive to the apocalypse system, rang out:
【Congratulations to Wen Xi for achieving “Plunderer No. 1”! You are the first plunderer after the apocalypse descended. Reward: “Spatial Storage Slot x1″】
【Would you like to unlock the global announcement reward?】
“Global announcement reward?” Wen Xi was slightly surprised.
She had only heard of this reward in her past life but never received one. She knew of a few people who had, but she never imagined she would get one!
And so early, too!
Wen Xi: “I want to postpone it.”
She had heard that postponed global announcements would still be marked with the time, and besides, the timing was completely wrong right now. It was better to have multiple announcements all at once later.
【Ding! Processing deferred as requested.】
The voice vanished.
Wen Xi closed her eyes, sensed the location of the plundered supernatural item, found that raincoat in the bedside drawer, and took it.
She quickly headed downstairs, closed the door, and went inside.
By the time she had purchased a large barrel of mineral water to clean up the traces, it was already dawn, though the sky looked dim due to the black rain.
Buzz! Buzz!
Just as Wen Xi was about to look at the little raincoat, the phone’s floating screen suddenly popped up and vibrated a few times.
WeChat lit up with a red dot.
Wen Xi clicked it and frowned.
She had been forcibly added to a very familiar, unnamed group chat.
Messages of people being added increased rapidly, filling the screen in the blink of an eye. The number of people at the top had actually soared to 3,000!
All members muted.
There was no option to leave the group, and adding new members required approval.
Buzz-buzz!
The phone vibrated again.
Wen Xi looked at the first message that popped up and narrowed her eyes slightly.
【007 Group Official Person-in-Charge – Bai Shi】: @All members, this is Group 007 of the C1 Partition, Area 04, Xia Country. I am the person in charge, Bai Shi. Welcome, everyone.