They had occupied two apartments and were living separately.
Jin gestured toward the sofa.
“Have a seat. Besides gathering heating supplies, there’s something else I want to discuss with you.”
Xiong Ji accepted the cigarette Shan Cheng handed him, lit it, took a drag, and sat down on the sofa with an imposing posture.
Jin got straight to the point.
“You four are smart enough to have guessed that we’ve been in contact with the old man.”
Shan Cheng continued, “Now that the surface has frozen over, he’ll definitely send people to find us.”
Xiong Ji expressionlessly nodded, signalling for them to continue.
Jin looked at him.
“Do you want to continue working under the Ghost Guild?”
“No.”
Xiong Ji answered without hesitation.
“I’m not interested.”
Lu Ke frowned. “But aside from you, everyone else in the Guild has already chosen to stay with Old Man Xie.”
Shan Cheng added, “This place isn’t safe anymore. Let’s leave together.”
Strictly speaking, their contracts with the Guild hadn’t expired before the Apocalypse.
Even if they had, that old fox Xie Lin would have found a way to force elite mercenaries like them into signing another life and death contract.
Xiong Ji remained silent.
Jin sighed. “We need to stick together, Xiong Ji. Even if you four are unbelievably strong, you can’t possibly take on more than two hundred people by yourselves.”
“I’ll discuss it with the others first.”
No one spoke again.
The atmosphere became heavy.
Xiong Ji stubbed out the cigarette that had burned down to the filter, stood up, and left.
…
After returning home, he called the other three over and told them there was something important they needed to discuss.
…
Qin Shuo rubbed the back of his neck irritably after hearing everything.
“Fuck.”
They didn’t want to form a team.
More importantly, they couldn’t.
Neither Little Sister nor the secrets surrounding her could ever be exposed.
Jin and the others had clearly made up their minds that they would be joining forces with the four of them.
Jiang Xun’s eyes darkened.
“How about tonight I throw a bomb into their place and blow every last one of them to hell?”
Li Tong, supporting herself against the wall, slowly walked over.
The moment Xiong Ji saw her, he immediately picked her up.
“Big Brother, I have something I want to say.”
Jiang Xun smiled gently as he hooked one of her fingers with his own and kissed it.
“Go ahead, Little Treasure. Big Brother’s listening.”
Li Tong spoke seriously.
“The extreme cold will only last three months, but it’ll become colder and colder until no one can leave their homes. The temperature will even reach minus ninety degrees.
“After that, hailstorms and acid rain will arrive. Both of them will be just as devastating as the rainstorm we just survived.
“When the extreme heat begins, even being exposed to the outside air during the first half month will burn your skin.”
She looked at each of them in turn.
“Big Brothers, I really don’t recommend leaving here. It’s far too dangerous. The difficulty of surviving out there is practically hell mode.”
The four men fell silent.
“I know you’re all troubled because of me, but you can’t keep hiding me forever. Sooner or later, this day will come…”
They all lowered their heads, letting out barely audible sighs.
“And besides… the insect race invasion later on…”
“That’s enough.”
Xiong Ji gently interrupted her.
“Big Brother understands. Don’t say any more, Little Treasure.”
They didn’t want to face that infuriating reality.
Their little sister was simply too beautiful.
Far too beautiful.
The moment those bastards saw her, they would undoubtedly start coveting her.
Xiong Ji carried Li Tong back into the bedroom.
She looked up at him.
“Big Brother, if we leave, everything after that will become unknown.”
Xiong Ji lowered his head and kissed her soft lips.
“I know. Give Big Brother some time to think about it, okay?”
Looking into his eyes, filled with fear and anguish, Li Tong could only nod helplessly.
After gently placing her on the bed, he quietly left the bedroom.
…
Inside the gym, the four men either stood or sat in silence.
Since Little Sister’s predictions had proven completely trustworthy, leaving was no longer an option.
They weren’t gods.
There was nothing they could do against natural disasters.
Finding another place as safe as this in an uncertain future would be incredibly difficult.
However, if everything happened exactly as Little Sister had predicted, then the Ghost Guild wouldn’t be able to make any reckless moves either.
If they came looking for them, the brothers would simply drag things out until the weather became too harsh for anyone to go outside.
Jiang Xun broke the silence.
“Then we’ll keep Little Treasure hidden for as long as we can.”
Qin Shuo suddenly asked, “Can’t the Small World be upgraded? Or maybe… can it choose where you come out?”
The other three froze before simultaneously turning to look at him.
Only after speaking did Qin Shuo realise his mouth had moved faster than his brain.
The four of them immediately hurried back into the bedroom.
Li Tong tilted her head in confusion as they rushed in with anxious expressions.
Qin Shuo repeated the question he had asked moments earlier.
“09, is something like that possible?”
System 09 answered, “If any of the Master’s bonded partners reach an affection level above 100, the Master will be able to freely choose to emerge from the Small World beside any bonded partner in the outside world.”
“However, this function is available only to the Master. The four of them will still return to the exact location where they entered after leaving the Small World.”
Li Tong repeated System 09’s explanation to the four men.
“Affection level?”
Xiong Ji frowned. None of them had known such a thing existed.
Li Tong nodded.
“Mm… When I first held hands with you, your affection for me had to be at least sixty before you could successfully form the bond.”
She honestly explained everything she knew about the affection system.
The four men found it impossible to believe that their affection for Little Treasure had only reached the insignificant number of one hundred.
To them, it should have had several more zeros behind it, or perhaps simply been infinite.
Li Tong smiled brightly.
“But one hundred is already the maximum score, Big Brothers.”
None of them were satisfied with that answer.
Jiang Xun pouted.
“But it has to go above one hundred…”
Li Tong laughed helplessly.
“Oh, come on. That’s just an extra feature. It doesn’t really matter.”
How could it not matter?
They loved her so deeply it consumed them.
Why, then, was their affection capped at only one hundred?
All four of them looked thoroughly dejected, their expressions darker than ever.
Seeing that they were only tormenting themselves, Li Tong quickly tried to encourage them.
“But it’s already a perfect score! We can unlock the extra part little by little in the future!”
Knock! Knock! Knock!
Just as they were about to say something else, a series of knocks reluctantly pulled them away.
Xiong Ji leaned down, kissed Little Treasure, and went to answer the door.
Ten mercenaries, fully equipped and wearing military night vision goggles, crowded the corridor outside.
Shan Cheng spoke first.
“Forget everything else. We’re freezing to death. Let’s hurry up and find something we can burn for heat.”
The night vision goggles allowed them to ignore the weather completely. Even in the thick fog, they could see clearly and travel without obstruction.
This time, they also left three people behind to guard the apartments.
Jiang Xun was the one staying home.
He had been looking forward to having Little Treasure all to himself.
As soon as the other three left, he happily began doting on her again.
“There’s no way our affection is only one hundred!”
Li Tong slipped her fingers into his short hair and laughed helplessly.
“Are we really still talking about this? One hundred is already a perfect score, Big Brother~”
“But…”
“No buts! Absolutely no buts!”
He was angry with himself, yet ended up taking that frustration out on his little sister…