Apocalypse: The Primordial Pearl Recognizes Its Master, Starting with Infinite Space

The girls who remained may not all have the stunning beauty of the Jiang sisters, but most of them are pretty and well-mannered, and their eyes quickly become clear and restrained after the initial fear.

They observed silently and followed quietly; no one cried or made any special requests or demands.

When they witnessed Lin Chen make an entire row of shelves disappear with a wave of his hand and calmly kill one ferocious zombie after another, the last bit of hesitation and fear in their hearts about following a stranger was quickly replaced by a strong will to survive and awe of his powerful strength.

The gazes of the newly joined girls as they looked at Lin Chen's retreating figure gradually shifted from initial fear and confusion to a complex mix of dependence, awe, and initial trust.

Li Ya naturally took on the role of "second-in-command": she took the compressed biscuits and water from Lin Chen and distributed them to the newcomers, soothed their emotions in a low voice, explained some basic precautions, and even assisted Lin Chen in dealing with any sporadic threats that might appear on the flanks and rear when he was clearing obstacles in front of him.

Her words were gentle and measured, and her actions were swift and decisive. She subtly calmed the hastily assembled and anxious team, establishing a preliminary order.

Lin Chen remained outwardly calm, continuing to focus on cleaning and collecting, but inwardly he was increasingly satisfied with Li Ya's performance—this girl was so sensible and easy to manage.

He didn't know that Li Ya's maturity and clarity beyond her years stemmed from her painful upbringing.

As the illegitimate daughter of a real estate tycoon, she grew up amidst her mother's constant tears and her father's family's cold indifference and exclusion.

She had witnessed how her father used money and power to manipulate emotions, and she had also seen how her half-siblings fought for inheritance rights and their father's favor, framed each other, and even turned against each other.

She saw the naked greed, hypocrisy, and malice of human nature a decade earlier than most of her peers.

Therefore, in this apocalyptic crucible where all human desires are amplified to an infinite degree and the law of the jungle is laid bare, she is unusually clear-headed and calm: beauty and fragility are no longer privileges, but rather the source of disaster.

Only by attaching oneself to a true strong person and striving to prove one's worth, becoming an indispensable and reliable arm for them, can one possibly survive, or even... live a life that is at least somewhat human.

……

On the fifth floor of the mall, inside a high-end Western restaurant known for its romantic ambiance.

The atmosphere, however, was far from "romantic," instead filled with a tense and bloody atmosphere.

The restaurant's head chef, Hao Yong—a bald, fat man with a thick neck and a menacing face—was confronting a dozen or so terrified and helpless female waitresses across from him, accompanied by seven or eight equally burly male waiters.

The restaurant's heavy doors were tightly shut, but outside, a dozen zombies, attracted by the smell of blood and the presence of living people, were frantically pounding on the glass doors, making a teeth-grinding scraping sound and continuous roars.

On the ground lay the bodies of two young women, waitresses who had fiercely resisted and insulted Hao Yong, calling him a "toad trying to eat swan meat." Hao Yong, in a fit of rage, had personally hacked them to death with a heavy meat cleaver, and their blood had soaked through the expensive carpet.

"President Su, Manager Su, why bother?" Hao Yong licked his thick lips, his small, beady eyes gleaming with lewd and greedy light as he stared intently at the beautiful woman opposite him, who maintained her OL attire and cool, capable demeanor even in this desperate situation.

"Look outside, it's full of man-eating monsters! Who knows when this blood rain will stop! The internet is in an uproar, full of SOS cries and videos of riots! The authorities haven't said a word—this is the apocalypse! Stop dreaming about rescue!"

He took a step closer, his voice both seductive and threatening: "If you submit to me and behave obediently, I guarantee you'll live a life of luxury in this restaurant, a hundred times better than those worthless wretches outside who barely make ends meet!"

"Hao Yong, you're dreaming!" The woman addressed as President Su was none other than Su Yun, the manager of this restaurant.

Her eyes were wide with rage, and although her face was pale, her back was ramrod straight, showing no sign of backing down. "Even if I die, I will never submit to scum like you! You killed Xiaomei and Xiaolian; this blood debt will be repaid sooner or later!"

"Retribution? Hahaha!" Hao Yong laughed as if he'd heard the funniest joke in the world. He cracked his thick neck, making a snapping sound. "Manager Su, it seems you still don't understand the situation. I'm someone who's awakened 'superpowers'!"

He raised his right hand with a showy air, and on his short, thick fingers, there was a faint, yellowish-brown glow that seemed rather eerie.

A male waiter standing behind Hao Yong immediately chimed in obsequiously, "Yes, yes, yes! Manager Su, Brother Hao isn't an ordinary person anymore! He's a superhuman! Only by following Brother Hao can we survive!"

As he spoke, his eyes involuntarily darted towards the two other supervisors behind Su Yun—Zhou Xiaomin and Zhang Jing—whose looks were second only to Su Yun's. His eyes practically drooled. "Brother Hao's got President Su, so… can those two girls be given to the brothers to have some fun with?"

"Slap!" Hao Yong slapped the waiter hard across the face, making him see stars. "You fucking dream! That's mine! Get out of my way!"

The beaten waiter shrank back in fear, apologizing repeatedly while cursing under his breath.

"However..." Hao Yong touched his bald head, softened his tone, and glanced at the female waitresses across from him who were trembling with fear. "Besides General Manager Su, Supervisor Zhou, and Supervisor Zhang, the other women... I can give them to you when I'm done with them."

Upon hearing this, the men behind Hao Yong immediately became excited, rubbing their hands together and looking at the women opposite them with even more unrestrained arrogance:

"Thank you, Brother Hao!"

"Brother Hao is awesome!"

"These women are always so arrogant, we'll teach them a lesson today!"

The women opposite were furious and hurled insults, but there were also about seven or eight people whose faces showed obvious hesitation and fear. They took a slight step back and did not join in the denunciation of Hao Yong, their eyes flickering uncertainly.

At this tense moment of confrontation—

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Several muffled yet highly penetrating gunshots suddenly rang out from the corridor outside the restaurant, clearly audible.

"President Su! It's gunfire! Is it...is it rescue? Is the army here?" A young waitress asked in a trembling voice, as if grasping at the last straw, her eyes regaining hope.

Hao Yong and his men's expressions changed drastically.

The men gripped their kitchen knives, rolling pins, and other "weapons" even tighter with tension—they could tell that the noise wasn't from zombies, but from gunfire with silencers!

Their intuition, based on frequently watching military videos online, told them: the newcomers were no pushovers, and were well-equipped!

"Damn it!" Hao Yong's eyes flashed with ferocity, his fleshy face twitching. "If we're going to do it, we might as well go all the way! Who cares who they are, we'll just rush in and kill them all! Then we can just say... it was zombies! There'll be no proof if they're dead!"

"Brother Hao! Brother Hao, spare us! We're willing to submit to you! We'll listen to you!" Among the seven or eight women who had hesitated before, one of them suddenly knelt down with a thud and kowtowed repeatedly to Hao Yong, begging for mercy.

As if in a chain reaction, six or seven more women immediately knelt down, their faces filled with fear of death and submission to the "stronger" one.

"Fine! You know what's good for you!" Hao Yong sneered, but there was no trust in his eyes, only cold-blooded exploitation. "Want to live? Fine! Each of you go over there and kill one who's still standing and resisting! Prove your 'loyalty' with your actions! Otherwise..." He brandished the still-bloodied meat cleaver in his hand, "I'll slaughter you all too!"

Upon hearing this, the kneeling women were struck dumb, finally understanding that Hao Yong had no intention of letting anyone go; he simply wanted to force them to kill each other and cut off all their escape routes!