Bai Yaoyao beckoned everyone to come inside and talk.
Peiqi gave everyone a tour of the specially renovated large conference room. The long rectangular table looked quite impressive.
Everyone found their seats, leaving the head position for Bai Yaoyao.
“Boss? What’s really going on? Nearly 2 billion worth of strategic materials?” Dada Juan was the first to settle in, raising his hand obediently like a primary school student.
“Are we going to fight ghosts? But then we shouldn’t set up our base in H City, right?” Xiaomi voiced her speculation.
The incident with Sato Shinichi and the Yasukuni Shrine was clearly Yaoyao’s doing. No one knew what was happening, but why were they always confronting Japan recently?
“Yeah, boss, why did you suddenly call everyone back? I haven’t even finished my mission yet,” Xiao Shiliu also asked.
“Quiet, listen to Yao speak,” Fatty narrowed his small eyes, still holding a jianbing guozi in his hand. Ever since hearing from Sister Yao that the apocalypse was coming, he’d completely given up on dieting. After all, many delicious foods would become unavailable in the future.
Bai Yaoyao took a deep breath and said, “Starting today, no one can leave this room anymore. Can everyone comply with that?”
“What about our missions?”
Bai Yaoyao replied, “Cancel them.”
Except for Fatty, everyone gasped sharply. When their master was still around, he had instructed that while they could refuse missions, any accepted mission must be completed. For Sister Yao to disregard even this rule meant something truly major must have happened.
“No problem here!”
“Me too.”
“I can do it.”
“Woof woof woof!”
…
Bai Yaoyao looked seriously at each person. This matter was of utmost importance – if even one person needed to go out, she wouldn’t reveal anything today.
The organization had one rule: once anyone wanted to start a family, they had to automatically withdraw from the organization. So among the twelve people and one dog present today, including herself, without exception, all were single. Since none of them had families, they had no attachments.
They were each other’s most important and closest people.
“What I’m about to say next might sound incredible, but it’s all true. In about one or two months, the apocalypse will arrive. While extreme heat weather appears, sixty percent of humanity will turn into zombies. At the same time, many animals and plants will mutate. Among the remaining survivors, some will fall into comas and awaken with superpowers, becoming what are called ability users – the main force in humanity’s resistance against zombies. That’s the situation. Does anyone have questions?”
Bai Yaoyao gave a brief explanation.
The entire conference room fell into complete silence. No one wanted to believe this was real, but Sister Yao’s recent actions and her serious attitude just now clearly indicated she wasn’t joking.
A long silence passed with no one speaking.
“Woof woof woof woof woof woof!”
Finally, Gouzi broke the silence.
Everyone saw Sister Yao casually toss out a large bone from thin air, saying, “Go outside to eat, don’t make noise.”
Gouzi immediately grabbed the bone and warily dashed out, afraid someone might steal it. My unscrupulous owner is finally being nice for once – I knew my owner still loves me!
“As you all saw, what I just used was space ability,” Bai Yaoyao explained.
“But, Sister Yao, how do you know all this so clearly?” Xiaomi asked with an astonished expression.
“I died and was reborn three months before the apocalypse,” Bai Yaoyao confessed.
We’re all family, brothers and sisters who grew up together for 20 years, fighting back-to-back for 10 years. There’s nothing we can’t talk about.
“Sis Yao, I want to ask, that… that…” Peiqi hesitated for a long time without speaking. Bai Yaoyao tapped the table and glanced at her. “Just say it.”
“That… what does dying feel like? Do you recall your entire life? Did you think of me?”
No one expected Peiqi to ask something like this after hesitating for so long.
“Ah, damn it, Peiqi, shut up.”
“What kind of question is that?”
Bai Yaoyao smiled but still answered seriously, “I died too quickly, didn’t have time to think.”
“Old Yao, you said 60% of people turn into zombies. Does that mean about half of us here will become zombies?” Lulu asked.
Everyone fell silent upon hearing this…
Bai Yaoyao looked at Lulu, feeling somewhat sad. In her previous life, Lulu was the first to turn into a zombie. Concealing her emotions, she said, “That’s the official statistic. Generally, people in good health have a lower chance of turning into zombies. Those who are injured, sick, or have poor resistance are most likely to become zombies.”
Seeing that Bai Yaoyao was avoiding the main issue, everyone understood and knew it might not be a good thing to know too much too early.
So they tactfully didn’t press for details.
“There’s still over a month left. The reason I gathered everyone early is that I’ve noticed differences between this life and the previous one. Someone who was supposed to appear at a certain time hasn’t shown up. I don’t know what went wrong, but I’m worried there might be unexpected changes and the apocalypse might arrive early. That’s why I gathered everyone so soon.”
“Understood. In the coming days, we need to train hard, restore our bodies to peak condition, avoid staying up late, and stop living irregular schedules. Those with injuries should focus on recovering quickly.” Fatty summarized briefly.
Xiao Dai looked around, pouted, and said, “Sis Yao, Brother Fatty, does this mean we won’t be able to eat KFC anymore?”
Xiao Dai was the youngest in the organization, only 16 this year. She started at 7 but, aside from Bai Yaoyao, had the highest mission success rate. As their master said, she was born to be an assassin.
But… she absolutely loved junk food.
Bai Yaoyao immediately tossed out a kids’ meal with a toy. “Eat up. There’s more if you want, enough to make you sick of it.”
“Sis Yao, I want fish-flavored shredded pork with rice!”
“I want garlic butter crayfish!”
“I want pork and scallion dumplings!”
“I want pizza!”
“I want ice cream cake!”
“I want king crab, five of them!”
“Woof woof woof woof woof!”
…
Bai Yaoyao was already numb, acting like a waiter, tossing out whatever anyone ordered.
She had thought today would be a serious occasion, expecting everyone to feel lost and downcast after hearing the news. Instead, it turned into a massive organization feast, even livelier than their New Year gatherings.
Looking at the table full of assorted delicacies from all over, Bai Yaoyao found it oddly festive, especially with Gouzi’s face clearly expressing, “It’s your honor to dine with me…”
She simply took out a portion of sour fish soup for herself and started eating.
Bai Yaoyao glanced at Fatty, who gave an imperceptible nod. She then understood—it wasn’t that everyone didn’t want to know whether they had turned into zombies or developed superpowers, but that they were selectively avoiding the topic.
Well, it’s fine. What’s meant to come will come. Spending the last stretch of time in a relaxed and cheerful manner isn’t bad either. Last time, Lulu and Xuan Di turned into zombies, likely because they were severely injured. This time, there’s a chance to recover properly.
Would the outcome be different this time…
The sense of urgency in her heart grew increasingly intense. Unable to sit still any longer, Bai Yaoyao looked up information in advance, bought round-trip plane tickets, and made another trip to Japan.
She went on a massive “shopping spree”—a zero-dollar shopping spree.
The last time she came, she hadn’t known when the apocalypse would arrive. Though she held a grudge against this country, many grievances had nothing to do with ordinary people.
This time, however, it was clear the apocalypse was imminent. Even after acquiring so many supplies, the impact wouldn’t be significant.
After all… you’re about to be wiped out.
After leaving the mess behind, Bai Yaoyao immediately returned to her country and stayed quietly in the villa with her comrades, never venturing out again.
……