Apocalypse: I'm the Landlady of the Refuge

"Ah!"

Accompanied by Ji Wanwan’s harsh roar, a violent and chaotic energy wave exploded outward from her as the center.

Baize’s body halted, and he hastily retreated several steps. Xu Siming, Ji Xing, Xia Li, and Zhou Kai regained their freedom, but at the cost of Ji Wanwan bleeding from her seven orifices and her complexion turning ghastly pale.

The Master was injured, and Tian Yu burst forth, leaping forward with an angry roar.

Xia Li, with eyes as beautiful as shattered glass, slightly narrowed them and lunged forward with several leaps, colliding with Tian Yu.

The two exchanged several moves in just one second, stirring up a great cloud of dust.

Xia Li raised his sword for another slash.

"Roar!!"

Accompanied by Tian Yu’s shriek, the two quickly separated, their movement stirring up a thick cloud of dust that instantly obscured everyone’s vision.

Once the dust had settled, Ji Wanwan and the others had already disappeared, and in Tian Yu’s hand was a blood-stained arm.

Baize stepped forward, eyeing the severed arm in Tian Yu’s hand with interest in his beautiful peach blossom eyes.

Ji Wanwan, you can’t escape...

...

On this side, Ji Wanwan had used burning her life’s potential as the price to teleport three times consecutively, escaping the zombie encirclement outside Bath City.

Arriving at a safe place and before she could steady herself, she released her teammates’ hands. Her vision blackened, and she fell backward rigidly.

"Xiao Wan!"

"Sister!"

"Boss Ji!"

Zhou Kai, who was closest, immediately reached out and caught the extremely weak and exhausted girl, preventing her from falling to the ground.

Looking at the unconscious Ji Wanwan, Xia Li with an arm severed and his fate unknown, and thinking of the now missing Qi Hao, the remaining three fell into deadly silence.

The joy of dealing with the Four Elders to now the pain of uncertain fates of teammates hadn’t even spanned five minutes. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Ji Xing was the first to break down, dropping to his knees beside Ji Wanwan: "Sister? Don’t scare me, Sister! Please, wake up, wake up, will you? I’ll never be naughty again!"

The usually calm Zhou Kai’s eyes reddened slightly.

His voice was hoarse, "Xingxing, your sister is alright, she’s just too exhausted."

"How can she be alright..." Ji Xing shook his head, tears falling heavily, "Qi Hao and my sister have been childhood sweethearts, almost closer than relatives to her. Sister Li is her best friend. Now that both of them are in trouble, how can she be alright..."

Zhou Kai moved his lips, wanting to offer comfort, but when words reached his lips, he found himself unable to speak.

In such times, any damn comfort sounded hollow, nothing more than salt in the wound.

In the end, Zhou Kai gently patted Ji Xing’s shoulder: "Let’s head back to the base first. Baize is not dead, and your sister is now unconscious. If you also collapse now, the base she worked so hard to establish will be gone."

Although a bit of moral coercion, that was the only thing Zhou Kai could think of at the moment to keep Ji Xing from slipping into despair.

Ji Xing, with red eyes, lifted his head and took his sister into his arms from Zhou Kai’s hands.

Looking at his sister’s pale face, he stood up, his gaze resolute: "You’re right, let’s head back to the base first."

Following behind Ji Xing, Xu Siming picked up Xia Li, whose arm was severed, and the three men hastened back to the base.

By the time they returned to the base, the sky had already darkened.

Seeing the group return in such disarray, the people at the base started to panic, and rumors and speculations quickly spread to every corner of the base.

In the Inner City, Father Ji and Mrs. Ji saw their daughter covered in blood and were immediately heartbroken, especially Mrs. Ji, who burst into tears on the spot.

The three men took Ji Wanwan and Xia Li to the operating room, where they confirmed through instruments that the vital signs of both were temporarily stable, with no life-threatening conditions. Ji Xing left their care to Father Ji, Mrs. Ji, and Ming Jing, while he and Zhou Kai worked to stabilize the turbulent emotions of the people at the base.

Zhou Kai was right; although sister was unconscious, he had to protect the base she had worked so hard to establish.

If sister woke up and found the base destroyed, he couldn’t bear to think how heartbroken she would be.

Wen Yuheng and Wu Xun, who had been vigilantly standing at the door of the operating room, saw Ji Xing and Zhou Kai emerge and hesitated to follow them.

Zhou Kai shook his head at them, indicating that they should not disturb Ji Xing.

Only when Ji Xing began to listen to reports from a few team vice-captains did Zhou Kai gesture to Wen Yuheng and Wu Xun to come aside for a talk.

Coming out of Ji Xing’s villa, Wen Yuheng stepped forward anxiously, "What happened? You went out on a mission during the day?"

In fact, Wen Yuheng and Wu Xun could be considered insiders. The entire confrontation with the Baize Union had not been hidden from them, so there was nothing about today’s operation that couldn’t be shared.

Having decided this, Zhou Kai pursed his lips and kept it brief, "Boss Ji decided last night to launch a surprise attack on the Baize Union’s Bath City branch. She feared there might be traitors in the three teams, so the matter wasn’t publicized, only the small team members were called."

Wen Yuheng, who had been spending private time with Xiao Lu, carefully recalled that Ji Wanwan had indeed gone out last night.

He had thought Ji Wanwan was concerned about the safety of the base and had gone out to patrol, only to find out now that she was embarking on this mission.

"So, your attack failed?" Wen Yuheng asked cautiously, recalling the dreadful state of the group when they returned today.

Zhou Kai sighed heavily, his eyes full of reluctance, "All four elders are gone, but at the cost of Haozi being on the verge of death, Xia Li’s arm being severed, and Boss Ji being seriously injured..."

Speaking of Qi Hao, Wu Xun scratched his head in confusion, "Why does it seem like I didn’t see Qi Hao come back with you?"

"Haozi is in Boss Ji’s space," Zhou Kai couldn’t help but glance towards the direction of the Inner City. "Tian Yu smashed Haozi’s head with a punch; logically, he shouldn’t have survived, but Boss Ji forcefully repaired Haozi’s body using Equivalence Healing, though it’s uncertain whether Haozi can wake up later."

"Ah... this..."

Learning that the main culprit behind Qi Hao’s injury was his own brother turned Corpse Man, Wu Xun suddenly fell silent.

Wen Yuheng’s face turned somewhat pale, "All four elders died?"

Zhou Kai looked at Wen Yuheng with a deep and somewhat mocking smile, "Are you worried about Hu Die?"

That look made Wen Yuheng feel uncomfortable.

He frowned, "I just think Hu Die isn’t all bad, and I thought if she could become part of the base, it would be a great help. Well, perhaps this is her fate."

Zhou Kai said nothing and did not inform Wen Yuheng that Hu Die was still alive.

It was a good opportunity to test the young man again to see if his heart was truly with the base.

As the three were talking, the vice-captains inside the villa had finished their reports, and Ji Xing made some simple arrangements based on the information.

The vice-captains left one by one, busy with their tasks, and the villa quieted down, but Ji Xing’s heart couldn’t find peace.

Unwilling to think about the grim consequences, he walked out of the villa, pulling Zhou Kai to patrol the base with him.

Seeing the refugees within the base in a state of panic, Ji Xing felt especially troubled...