Apocalypse: Resources consumed by women will be returned ten thousandfold.

--Translated by likesnovel--

Jiang Fan stood within the subspace dimension.

The sensation was like standing inside a gigantic drop of water.

He could still see the buildings, roads, and structures of the outside world.

However, everything appeared constantly distorted.

It was like looking at a painting through rippling water.

Buildings, streets, and objects twisted together, swaying back and forth like underwater plants at the bottom of a river.

To locate a specific destination, he had to focus carefully and separate it from the countless distorted images surrounding it.

After spending some time searching, Jiang Fan finally located the nearest National Security Bureau office.

But soon, he encountered a second problem.

From within subspace, all structures in the real world were constantly moving.

They looked like aquatic plants drifting beneath the water's surface.

Accurately pinpointing a destination was extremely difficult.

If Tian Tian made a mistake while opening a dimensional gate and emerged inside a wall or underground, she would be trapped.

Even worse, her ability only allowed her to open dimensional gates 2 times per day.

And she had to reserve 1 use for returning home.

That meant she only had 1 chance to experiment each day.

If she chose the wrong destination—

Whether underground, inside a wall, or somewhere dangerously high—

She would have to wait until the next day to try again.

The corner of Jiang Fan's mouth curled into a faint smile.

"But for me... that's not a problem."

"I can already walk through walls."

He casually tapped a location on the map.

Then he opened a dimensional gate leading to a point approximately 3 meters beneath the National Security Bureau building.

Whoosh!

Jiang Fan's heart stirred slightly.

Then he stepped through the gate calmly.

He didn't immediately emerge onto the surface.

Because within the range of his perception, he sensed dozens of survivors on the building's 3rd floor.

They were gathered in several different rooms.

More importantly—

Among them were 3 ability users.

Jiang Fan carefully observed all 3.

There were 2 men and 1 woman.

Based on their uniforms, 1 of the men and the woman appeared to be National Security Bureau officers.

The remaining man was an elderly man around 70 years old.

The male officer and the elderly man possessed green energy similar to Jiang Fan's own.

However, their energy was only slightly stronger than that of ordinary people.

The woman was different.

The energy inside her body was a dull gray color.

Yet the light it emitted was astonishingly bright.

Although she was still roughly 2 times weaker than Jiang Fan, she was by far the strongest ability user he had encountered so far.

Jiang Fan remained extremely cautious.

Instead of approaching them immediately, he chose to observe from a distance.

Before long, he located the weapons and ammunition storage room.

Without hesitation, he continued moving through the underground layers.

Soon, he arrived at a basement storage chamber.

Inside stood 4 large metal safes.

The locking system required both fingerprint authentication and mechanical keys.

Using his perception ability, Jiang Fan clearly saw what was stored inside.

The first 2 safes were packed with handguns and rifles, neatly organized.

The other 2 were filled with enormous quantities of ammunition.

Everything was stored perfectly.

It appeared that nobody had touched any of it since the disaster began.

The Dragon Kingdom maintained extremely strict firearm regulations.

Every weapons depot had dedicated personnel responsible for managing it.

However, when the Red Mist descended upon the world, the officers in charge of the armory suffered unexpected accidents.

As a result, these weapons had never been distributed or used.

Jiang Fan's eyes lit up.

"All of this belongs to me now."

He chuckled softly.

Then he attempted to store the entire metal safe directly into his Personal Space.

Failed.

Jiang Fan pushed against the cabinet and quickly discovered the reason.

The safe was firmly anchored to the wall with heavy-duty steel bolts.

His Personal Space could only store individual objects.

Anything still connected to another structure could not be stored.

So he pulled out a crowbar from his Personal Space.

Wedging it into the gap between the safe and the wall, he grinned.

"Come on out."

The muscles throughout his body tensed.

The crowbar bent slightly as he forced the safe away from the wall.

After several attempts, the steel anchors finally gave way.

The safe came loose.

...

National Security Bureau Office, Pinghai Road.

3rd Floor.

The 3 ability users sat around a small table.

Zhang Zilin looked toward the rooms housing the survivors, concern written all over her face.

"Everyone's condition is getting worse."

"We need to move out of here soon."

"It's becoming harder and harder to find food in this area."

Liu Gangfeng, the male security officer, took a sip of water.

Then he carefully glanced around.

After confirming that nobody else could hear them, he lowered his voice.

"Zilin, I've been telling you this for a long time."

"We can't keep supporting this many people."

"At this point, just keeping ourselves alive is difficult enough."

He turned toward the elderly man.

"Old Yang, don't you agree?"

Yang Jiawei immediately nodded repeatedly with a flattering smile.

"I'll follow whatever the 2 leaders decide."

Liu Gangfeng curled his lips.

"Tsk."

"You're pretty good at sucking up."

Zhang Zilin quickly waved her hand.

"Uncle Yang, I'm just an ordinary officer."

"I'm not any kind of leader."

Yang Jiawei laughed awkwardly.

"It's all the same to me."

"The 2 of you saved my life."

"If there's anything you need me to do, I'll do it."

Before the Red Mist appeared, Yang Jiawei had been a security guard at a nearby residential community.

After the disaster began, he accidentally ate a black lychee-like fruit.

Unexpectedly, he awakened a supernatural ability.

His power allowed him to hear extremely faint sounds.

Thanks to that ability, he had barely managed to survive.

Later, Zhang Zilin received orders from her superiors.

She was tasked with organizing rescue teams to search for survivors in the surrounding districts.

Yang Jiawei happened to be one of the people rescued.

Taking a deep breath, Zhang Zilin spoke firmly.

"These are orders from headquarters."

"No matter what happens..."

"We must escort all survivors to the nearest television station assembly point."

Liu Gangfeng immediately exploded in frustration.

"We've lost contact with headquarters for a long time now!"

"Who knows what's even left at the television station?"

"Are you crazy?!"

"The world has already become like this, and you're still clinging to old orders?"

"What's wrong with you?!"

Zhang Zilin stubbornly shook her head.

"No."

"I'll follow the last order I received."

"If you want to leave, then leave."

"I won't stop you."

Liu Gangfeng felt so frustrated he nearly coughed up blood.

If he weren't weaker than Zhang Zilin, he would have dragged her away by force long ago and abandoned all these burdens behind.

Of course...

That was just wishful thinking.

Zhang Zilin came from a family that had practiced martial arts for generations.

She had once won 3rd place in the National Women's Youth Sanda Championship.

And now she was an ability user as well.

If he actually tried anything, she would probably beat him so badly he wouldn't recognize his own face afterward.

One of the reasons Liu Gangfeng had stayed this long was because Zhang Zilin was simply too beautiful.

He had secretly liked her for years.

Otherwise, he would have left long ago.

He tried persuading her once more.

"Zilin, we—"

But Zhang Zilin immediately interrupted him.

"Liu Gangfeng."

"I've told you before."

"Don't call me Zilin."

"We're not a couple."

"It's inappropriate."

Liu Gangfeng looked even more depressed.

Zhang Zilin continued seriously.

"We don't have enough weapons right now."

"And the mutated creatures are becoming stronger every day."

"If we want to protect the survivors properly,"

"our top priority is getting access to the weapons storage."

Liu Gangfeng sighed.

"The armory is in the basement."

"There are 2 security doors protecting it."

"Without the keys, nobody can get inside."

"We haven't been able to contact Old Wang for days."

"He's probably dead."

"Honestly, there's no good way to get in."

Zhang Zilin remained calm.

"Then we'll find a way."

"And if there isn't one, we'll make one."

"Liu Gangfeng, I haven't been stationed here for very long."

"But you've been here for years."

"Think carefully. Is there another way inside?"

"Maybe ventilation shafts or something?"

Liu Gangfeng gave a bitter smile.

"Captain Zhang."

"That's an armory."

"The security is tighter than the director's office."

"How could there be a loophole that big?"

At that moment—

Yang Jiawei, who had been silent the entire time, suddenly spoke.

"Leaders..."

"I hear something underground."

"It sounds like something is being smashed down there!"

Liu Gangfeng's expression changed instantly.

He instinctively pulled out his handgun.

His entire body tensed.

"What?!"

Zhang Zilin also stood up immediately.

"A burrowing mutant creature?"

Yang Jiawei closed his eyes and listened carefully for several seconds.

Then he shook his head in confusion.

"I don't think it's an animal."

"It sounds like metal hitting metal."

"Like someone is breaking something..."

Silence filled the room.

Someone was breaking things underground?

Could it be...

A corpse coming back to life?

A chill ran down Liu Gangfeng's spine.

"Old Yang!"

"Don't say creepy things like that!"

In the past, he had never believed in ghosts.

But after the world changed, so many bizarre things had happened that he wasn't so sure anymore.

Zhang Zilin asked sternly,

"Where is it?"

Yang Jiawei pointed toward a section of the floor.

"Over there."

"About 3 to 4 meters underground."

Zhang Zilin looked in that direction.

Then her brows furrowed.

"Liu Gangfeng."

"Isn't the armory over there?"

Liu Gangfeng froze briefly.

Then his eyes widened.

"That's right!"

"It's exactly over there!"

"And the depth matches too!"

The expressions of all 3 people changed simultaneously.

Someone was stealing weapons!

Zhang Zilin's face became extremely serious.

In a world without law and order, if firearms fell into the wrong hands, the consequences would be unimaginable.

No.

She had to stop this.

Immediately.

Whoosh!

Zhang Zilin shot forward like a gust of wind.

She leaped directly through the 3rd-floor window and landed on the ground below.

Without slowing down, she rushed toward the armory.

At the same time, her mind was filled with confusion.

How had the intruder gotten inside?

...

Meanwhile, in the basement—

Jiang Fan looked at the 4 steel cabinets he had finally pried away from the wall.

His face was full of satisfaction.

Then he violently tore open one of the cabinet doors.

Inside, he grabbed a handgun.

The weapon was jet black.

Cold and solid in his hand.

Jiang Fan turned it over several times with curiosity.

This was the first real firearm he had ever touched in his life.

The experience felt strangely novel.

But at that moment—

He suddenly looked up toward the ceiling.

Within his perception range, the female ability user's energy signature was rapidly growing stronger.

Originally, she had been far weaker than him.

Now, her power was almost catching up.

And she was heading straight toward him at incredible speed.

Jiang Fan frowned.

"How did they find me?"

He had no idea what her ability was.

And he had no intention of taking unnecessary risks.

So he made his decision immediately.

Whoosh!

A blue dimensional gate opened in front of him.

Without the slightest hesitation, Jiang Fan stepped inside.

In the blink of an eye, he vanished back into the subspace dimension.