Apocalypse King: Recruiting S-Tier Beauties With My Ruler System Chapter 168: After the Hunt, Before the Storm — Part 2

March 21st, 2:54 PM — Longwan Mall Rooftop

John Wang POV

—

I didn’t hear the alert. I felt it.

A weight settling in the air. Like every breath took longer. Like the rooftop suddenly tilted underfoot, pulling my thoughts in one direction and refusing to let go.

Mu Qinglan turned toward , sensing the shift. Her eyes locked on mine. "What is it?"

I didn’t answer right away. My system window glowed against my retina, text forming quietly, as if afraid of being seen. I scanned it, my jaw tightening with each line.

Not a Ghoul.

A horde.

And not just random shamblers or Crawlers. Stage 2 variants. Clustered. Moving in waves.

And sothing worse was guiding them.

I closed the window.

"Everyone," I said, voice low. "Get over here. Now."

The others stirred slowly—Yifei stood first, followed by Roulan, then Chen Xun and Liang Qiu. Zhou Xue stepped away from the edge. Even Deng Hua sat up straighter, eyebrows furrowing.

When they reached , I tapped the side of my neckpiece.

The mall’s crude rooftop terminal synced up with the group comms—Qinglan’s, Yifei’s, and Tang Wei’s.

I projected the regional map.

It took them a mont to see it.

Then I heard Liang i gasp.

The red zone expanded in a bloom of moving heat signatures, like veins spreading from a core. The outer edge pulsed erratically, but the centre moved with purpose.

Roulan blinked slowly. "That’s..."

I nodded. "Thousands. At least."

Chen Xun swallowed hard, visibly paling.

Deng Hua took a step back. "Is that—coming here?"

"Yes."

Tang Wei didn’t flinch. "Can we defend?"

"No. Not here. Not now." I paused. "And not even with all of us at base."

A long silence followed.

Not disbelief.

Just fear.

It crept up slowly—the kind that dried your mouth and made your arms feel heavy.

Mu Qinglan’s voice was quiet. "Then what?"

"We move," I said. "Southwest. Circle wide. It’s going to take ti, but if we push now, we avoid the worst of it."

Her lips pressed together. She didn’t speak.

But Jiang Roulan did. Her tone was lighter than expected. "That path... it leads through Fengye District."

I glanced at her.

She t my eyes. "My family’s safe house is there."

Yes, this was also part of my plan, because Jiang Roulan asked for this when we started getting along. After the thing in the shower, I believed that taking action would be the only fair way to progress.

I liked her, but also wanted to respect her.

When our eyes t, she lingered for a mont before her cheeks turned red and she turned away with a faint smile on her lips.

It seed Roulan also understood.

"How long until they reach the base?"

Liang i’s voice shook with each word because she wasn’t fully recovered, which made her sound like a scared rabbit.

"Less than an hour, but their speed types are only a few minutes away, over ten are lingering around the area."

"Wait!" Tang Wei shouted, rushing up to , before she grabbed my shirt and pushed against the brick wall with a thud. Her eyes were sharp, wet and teary while her hand trembled with rage. "What about my mother, and her insulin!?"

Ah...

I understood her worried look now.

At first, I was going to hit her for stepping out of line.

Now it made sense.

"You don’t need to worry, I left enough for a year in the dicine station with our new doctor before we left for this mission."

"E-Eh..."

"You did?"

Tang Wei looked confused, before I shrugged and curled my lips into a smile, trying to disarm the situation. "If anything happened, I knew you might worry, so I made sure to have it in stock to avoid any har—"

"Mmmnph!?"

Her lips tasted warm and bitter like coffee milk as she kissed .

It was strange...

Her lips forced mine open as her tongue pushed into my mouth, swishing around several tis, before sliding her head back with a wet slurp. God, she is hot.

Tang Wei used her thumb to brush the drool from her lips.

"T-Thank you, that was... a sign of my appreciation."

Tang Wei stepped back, coughing once into her fist, eyes deliberately avoiding mine.

"I didn’t an—just shut up."

I grinned. "I didn’t say anything."

Liang i looked like her soul had just fled her body. Zhou Xue stood dead still, lips parted like she was deciding whether to pretend nothing happened or write it down. Roulan? She just smirked. That scary, knowing smirk.

Even Yifei had raised an eyebrow.

Mu Qinglan didn’t say anything because she looked at Tang Wei and then nodded, seeming to understand it wasn’t anything but a thank you.

Though I didn’t know why Zhou Xue acted so strangely, I could only shake my head and enjoy the lingering taste of Tang Wei’s tongue.

She stared off toward the west, where the skyline dipped and rooftops blurred into smoke and haze. I followed her gaze. That was the direction we’d take. Away from the mall. Away from our ho.

But not away from purpose.

I tapped the comm again, this ti accessing the secure frequency to base.

"Old Zhou," I said, "You there?"

A faint click, then his voice crackled through, rough and tired. "You’re alive?"

"Barely. And we’re not coming back right now."

Pause.

"...what happened?"

"There’s a horde coming. Stage 2s. Thousands and there’s a damn powerful guy leading them."

"You can’t fight that."

"I know. That’s why you’re in charge of the base while we’re gone."

Another pause. Then: "Understood. Everything’s sealed. We’ve reinforced the gates with tungsten bars, and the outer wall is stable. We can hold."

I nodded to myself. "Good."

"You want to prep evacuation protocols?"

"No. You’re safer there than anywhere else."

He exhaled. "Take care of the kids."

"I will."

"How about you drink so of that good luck whiskey for , Old Zhou. When I get back, let bring you sothing good. Also, there’s a storage box on the ninth floor, it should have ergency rations and food if the stuff downstairs runs out."

"Is Xue’er okay?"

"She’s amazing, you can talk to her, you know?"

"Ah... you know how it is... what should I say?"

"Haha... just tell her you miss her, and will wait for her to co back."

"..."

"Anyway, make sure to visit the rooftop and feed Yin and his wife from ti to ti."

I wanted to give more orders, but the horde of undead didn’t need to sleep and would arrive in minutes if we lingered here too long.

There was also a chance Zao was looking for .

The line was silent for a mont, before his hoarse and old voice sounded one last ti.

"Kid... be careful."

"I’ll be waiting for you to co back in one piece."

The comms shut down with a faint beep.

When I looked back at the others, most of them had sat down again—so staring at the rooftop gravel, so at the sky. Chen Xun was whispering to Deng Hua. Liang Qiu had her head down, arms wrapped around her knees.

"They’re scared," Roulan said.

"They should be," I replied.

"But you’re not."

I gave her a look.

"You’re calm," she said. "Even with all that."

"I have to be."

"But it’s easier for because I have you, Lan’er."

"Eh?"

The mont I complinted her, Mu Qinglan’s face turned bright red, and she turned away and hurried towards the ergency stairs. "Co on... let’s go!"

We weren’t strong enough to fight Zao.

But we didn’t have to be—not yet.

We just had to survive.

And make it sowhere safe.

Mu Qinglan finally turned around. She wasn’t angry anymore. Just quiet.

"You really can’t kill him?" she asked.

"Not today."

She looked at the group. At the bags. At the exhausted faces.

Then she nodded.

But my goal was not secured. I would focus on my strength first—once I could defeat Zao, then we would return.

After I calculated how much I would gain from drinking the elixirs, and prepared to drink them when we found sowhere to rest for the night.

"We are about to leave, so stretch finish eating and take a piss, because from this point on until we find a place to stay... we’re holess."

Zhou Xue rose to her feet. "Understood."

Liang i wiped her face and gave a nod.

Even Chen and Deng, shaken as they were, stood with that sa resolve.

No one ran.

No one complained.

They all waited for my signal.

And I wouldn’t fail them.