"You'd really rather follow those feds than stick to our plan? Are you that naive to believe their 'protection' lies?"
Jaxon hesitated, his suggestion dying on his lips under Elara's sharp gaze.
Elara shook her head firmly, her voice cold as ice.
"The government army claims to escort civilians."
"But people like us—powerless, ordinary folks—are nothing but cannon fodder."
"What they're really protecting are the officials' brats and the city's elites. Stick with them? We'll end up dead for sure."
Jaxon jolted, a faint realization dawning. But doubt still lingered in his eyes.
Elara sneered, memories of the so-called "protective" government army from her past life flooding back.
They'd waved the flag of saving civilians, yet when mutated beasts attacked, they'd thrown the unarmed into the fray—and abandoned them cold-heartedly in the end.
"Don't believe me? Fine. We'll follow quietly. Watch and see for yourself."
The government army was set to depart two days later than Elara's planned trip to X City.
So Elara and Jaxon hit the streets early and returned late, secretly clearing mutated beasts around the area.
Their haul was impressive—dozens of Beast Cores.
Their strength grew by leaps and bounds, and even their combat skills got sharper.
Jaxon, in particular, had shed his former timidity. He'd grown sharper, his movements crisp and decisive.
Seeing more mutated beasts, he'd naturally figured out his own fighting rhythm.
They hunted mutated beasts by day.
By night, Elara absorbed the energy from the Beast Cores.
Inside the transparent air bubble, the last wisp of golden energy faded away.
Elara opened her eyes, a faint frown creasing her brow.
After four consecutive nights of absorption, her gold-type experience bar had jumped from 2/10 to 9/10—just one step away from Level 1.
But worry gnawed at her.
She still hadn't encountered any special Superpower or mutated Superpower beasts—thunder, ice, anything other than the basic types.
She had over two dozen other Beast Cores left, but her air-type Superpower's experience bar remained empty.
Sure, she'd grown more proficient at controlling her air bubbles.
She'd even developed a few tricks for using her air Superpower.
But the inability to level up her core Superpower still frustrated her deeply.
Before she knew it, the government army's departure day arrived.
Elara and Jaxon hid in their car.
They watched from the shadows as the army gathered in the square with the surviving civilians.
A military-uniformed man—clearly a leader—stood at the front.
He shouted into a megaphone, his voice booming across the square.
"That guy… I think I know him," Jaxon muttered, frowning.
"Oh? Who is he?" Elara asked casually, her gaze never leaving the square.
"He's… Chen Na's distant uncle," Jaxon said, his expression awkward and uneasy.
Elara raised an eyebrow, a cold smile tugging at her lips.
Typical. The good die young, while the scumbags live forever.
She silently thanked her past self for not joining the government's group.
Running into Chen Na there would've been a total disaster.
"They're leaving," Jaxon whispered, his voice tense.
Elara watched the hundreds-strong convoy set off.
Her face remained impassive, no hint of emotion.
The team was clearly divided into three layers.
The innermost layer held the officials and their families.
The middle layer was armed personnel.
The outermost layer—by far the largest—was ordinary civilians.
Seeing this arrangement, Jaxon's frown deepened, disbelief written all over his face.
Elara just smirked mockingly.
"We'll follow from a distance. Stay out of their sight—otherwise, they'll toss us out as bait without a second thought."
She leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes, her tone calm.
Jaxon sat in silence, his expression conflicted.
After more than ten minutes, he finally pressed the gas pedal and followed slowly.
Deep down, he still clung to a glimmer of hope for the government army.
The national highway was relatively smooth that morning.
Occasional lone mutated cats and dogs were quickly shot down by the soldiers.
Elara followed far behind.
Whenever they passed a mutated beast's corpse, she'd get out of the car to extract its Beast Core.
"These are Beast Cores—concentrated energy from mutated beasts," she explained to Jaxon.
"Useless to ordinary people now, but once you awaken a Superpower, you'll rely on these to level up."
"From now on, whoever kills a mutated beast gets its core. We split the extra ones evenly."
She didn't see the point in hiding it anymore.
They were traveling to X City together; he'd find out sooner or later.
Jaxon's eyes widened in surprise. He processed her words slowly, joy flickering across his face.
"Got it! Like the crystal cores in apocalypse novels—total must-haves for leveling up!"
Elara nodded.
"Exactly. But for Superpower upgrades, you must use Beast Cores of the same type."
"A water-type user, for example, can only use water-type Beast Cores. Others are useless to you."
"Of course, you can trade them for the right ones."
She paused, then added.
"Someday soon, these things will probably replace gold and silver as the main currency."
Jaxon nodded solemnly. He didn't know how Elara knew so much, but he trusted her implicitly.
Suddenly, Elara's expression darkened.
The scout bubbles she'd released sent back alarming images.
Over a hundred mutated beasts were hiding in the woods on both sides of the highway ahead.
There were the usual mutated cats and dogs.
But also over a dozen mutated wolves, rabbits, pheasants, a few yellow snakes, and crows circling overhead.
Most weren't a threat. But those wolves? They'd be trouble.
Wolves were already ferocious predators.
And they hunted in packs—deadly even before mutation.
After mutation? Even bullets might not be able to stop them!
"Stop the car!" Elara snapped suddenly.
Jaxon slammed on the brakes, his heart racing.
"What's wrong?" he asked, confused.
Elara didn't answer.
She stared at the distant convoy, a cold realization hitting her.
With so much food and people, it was no wonder they'd attracted a horde of mutated beasts.
Without using Superpowers, the convoy wouldn't stand a chance.
"Don't get any closer. Something's off—"
Before she could finish, a deafening wolf howl echoed through the air.
It was a signal.
Gunshots and screams erupted immediately after.
Elara and Jaxon were over 200 meters from the government army, but they could still make out the chaos.
The mutated beasts targeted the defenseless civilians on the outermost layer first.
And as if by unspoken agreement, they didn't stop to feed after killing—they just pounced on the next victim.
"Stay calm! Stay calm!" a voice boomed.
Chen Jinge stood on a military truck, pistol in hand.
He yelled orders, firing randomly into the chaos.
Watching bullets fly everywhere, Chen Jinge's face twitched in pain.
Ammo wasn't cheap—even in the apocalypse.
"Aim properly! Don't waste ammo, damn it!" he roared at a soldier named Zhang Daqiang nearby. "Zhang Daqiang, are you blind? Four or five shots and you still haven't taken one down!"
"Help! Someone help!"
"Let us in the truck! Please!"
Injured civilians stumbled toward the military vehicles.
They clung to the sides, desperate to climb up and escape the beasts.
"Get the hell off!" Chen Jinge shouted, kicking at their hands. "There's no room for you here!"
He turned to another soldier. "Qi Lin! Kick these bastards off for me!"
Qi Lin glanced at Chen Jinge, his lips moving.
"We're soldiers. Protecting civilians is our duty."
"Bullshit!" Chen Jinge snarled, rolling his eyes angrily.
"Fine, then go down and protect them!"
With that, he kicked Qi Lin off the truck and into the crowd.
Civilians kept climbing.
Seeing the situation spiral out of control, Chen Jinge raised his pistol and shot a young man who'd almost made it onto the truck.
Bang!
The crowd fell silent for half a second.
The young man stared in disbelief, then fell backward into the throng.
Screams erupted, and the people around the truck scattered.
"That's better," Chen Jinge said, a sinister smile spreading across his face.
"Don't panic. We have so many people and guns—can't we take down these beasts?"
"But anyone who dares to mess around and disrupt us again? Don't blame me for being ruthless!"
Screams and gunfire continued.
Jaxon's eyes turned red with anger, but Elara remained stone-faced.
Her bubbles relayed the horror like a movie.
People shoved each other, even pushing friends and relatives into the beasts' jaws to save themselves—yet none dared to fight back.
The tragic sight of them dying horribly made Elara's heart go cold.
"Elara, maybe we should—"
"You can save them for a minute," Elara cut him off sharply.
"But can you save them for a lifetime? After rescuing them, how long do you think you can protect them with your own strength?"
She fixed him with a glare. "Did you forget our agreement? Want to save people? Go ahead. But we'll part ways. I, Elara Voss, won't let you drag me down with your hero complex!"
"I—" Jaxon's face turned ashen. He clenched his teeth, staring at the defenseless civilians dying under the beasts' claws.
"They dare to lay black hands on the people around them to save themselves, but don't dare to fight back."
"If you save them this time, they'll die the next time."
"Remember this, Jaxon—this is the apocalypse. No one can protect anyone forever. To survive, you can only rely on yourself!"
Her gaze shifted to a figure on the outermost edge of the chaos.
That person had stopped panicking long ago.
They were fighting the mutated beasts head-on, no fear in their movements.
Elara couldn't make out their weapon, but a mutated rabbit already lay dead at their feet.
Now, they were battling a khaki-colored mutated snake.
Her scout bubbles swept the crowd again.
The weaker mutated beasts—rabbits, pheasants—were almost wiped out.
Only the dozen or so wolves remained unscathed.
"First team, take care of the remaining mutated beasts!" Chen Jinge shouted, wiping sweat from his head and unbuttoning his collar.
"Second and third teams, deal with the wolves!"
"Fourth and fifth teams, protect the three SUVs—don't let anything get close!"
Less than half of the outer-layer civilians were left.
Most of the survivors were injured.
They scrambled blindly to avoid the beasts, their cries echoing in the air.
Only three people fought on relentlessly.
Slowly, the remaining civilians divided into three groups.
They hid behind these three fighters—wordlessly, instinctively, clinging to the last shred of hope.
Next Chapter Teaser
Elara's air Superpower erupts to fend off the wolf horde! But the mysterious beast-fighting figure turns out to be an old acquaintance—one who holds a grudge against her. Will Jaxon's sudden heroics get them trapped, or will Elara abandon him to escape the double threat of beasts and enemies?