The Apocalypse 4
Lu Mang had a pair of beautiful eyes. When he wasn’t angry and simply gazed at someone, it was easy to mistake his look for deep affection.
But the moment he opened his mouth, it was always to bully the “cat.”
“He’s got hands and feet—does he really need to squeeze in and sleep with a woman?”
Chen Yao hesitated. “Boss, you…”
Tang Xi calmly responded, “It’s fine, I can sleep without a tent.”
He’s so sensible to the point of being heartbreaking.
Tang Xi’s cat-like eyes were clear and unwavering. He didn’t look the least bit afraid as he met Lu Mang’s gaze head-on and replied seriously, “Xiao Jian doesn’t have a tent either, and he can sleep just fine. So can I.”
He wasn’t a child anymore.
This was the first time Lu Mang had encountered someone like him—so soft-looking that a squeeze might wring water out of him, yet not even slightly timid.
Even as Lu Mang stood there, anger simmering, the boy faced him directly.
Strangely, the frustration in his chest seemed to ease under Tang Xi’s gaze.
Still, Lu Mang kept his face cold. “Who?”
Tang Xi tilted his head in confusion.
Lu Mang, surprisingly patient for once, clarified, “You called him so affectionately—who is this Xiao Jian?”
He didn’t realize how abrupt and inappropriate his question was.
Tang Xi, used to his poop scooper getting jealous in every world, wasn’t surprised. He simply pointed obediently toward Xue Shuirong and Xiao Jian’s direction.
When Lu Mang saw that “Xiao Jian” was just a scrawny, monkey-like kid, his irritation vanished completely.
In fact, he even felt a little refreshed.
This was a first for him—an unfamiliar feeling flickering in his eyes.
Seeing Lu Mang lost in thought, Tang Xi took the blanket Chen Yao had given him and quietly walked away.
He’s very obedient and just wants to find a corner to sleep for the night, or even stay in the car—that would be fine too.
But after just a few steps, he couldn’t move forward anymore. Looking up, he saw that Lu Mang had grabbed him by the collar.
Just like grabbing the scruff of a kitten’s neck.
Lu Mang’s expression was full of disdain, looking as if he was forcing himself to tolerate something. “Just this once, I’ll make an exception and let you sleep with me tonight.”
Tang Xi nodded obediently, his eyes curving into a smile. “Thank you.”
Lu Mang’s hand trembled as he let go.
That feeling again. That refreshing, oddly exhilarating feeling came back.
He stared at Tang Xi for a few seconds, watching until the boy’s smile faded, then turned and walked away.
He didn’t forget to snap, “Keep up!”
Tang Xi nearly jumped from being stared at so intensely.
The poop scooper in this world had beautiful eyes, but they were too dark—so dark they looked like ink. When he stared at someone, it was as if there was a bottomless abyss pulling them in.
Chen Yao, who had witnessed everything, absentmindedly pinched herself to see if she had fallen into some kind of hallucination induced by a poisonous mushroom.
Lu Mang was not the type to “force himself” into anything. He never liked being alone with others.
In his own words, being alone with someone was more likely to trigger his manic episodes, and when that happened, he couldn’t guarantee the other person would escape unscathed.
Chen Yao shuddered. But despite that, she still had an inexplicable feeling that their boss wouldn’t lose control in front of Tang Xi.
After much hesitation, she chose not to say anything.
Tang Xi followed Lu Mang to his tent.
Hugging his backpack, he stood at the entrance like a clueless little cat, hesitating.
Lu Mang raised an eyebrow. “What? Waiting for me to invite you in?”
Tang Xi shook his head and mumbled awkwardly, “I haven’t eaten yet.”
Lu Mang froze, and his expression instantly darkened. “You haven’t eaten? Who were you with before? Did they mistreat you? No wonder you’re just skin and bones.”
That last remark was completely untrue. The boy’s frame was slender, but his build was well-proportioned—not frail at all.
Lu Mang remained indifferent, but suddenly, his previous suspicions about the boy’s identity resurfaced.
Tang Xi looked too delicate, untouched by the hardships of the apocalypse. There wasn’t a single trace of suffering on him—like a pampered little canary.
A fragile, spoiled little canary.
Tang Xi blinked blankly. “What?”
Lu Mang grew even more irritated. He took out instant noodles and water from his tent, conjuring a flame in his palm to heat them up.
As he cooked, his tone turned sharper. “That guy, Chen Jinhao—have you been following him this whole time? He wouldn’t even give you a proper meal?”
He swallowed down the rest of what he almost said: You would’ve been better off following me.
The poop scooper had already been mean to him so many times today. Even though Tang Xi knew this version of him had no memories, he still couldn’t help but feel aggrieved.
“I wasn’t following him. I was forced to join their team just today. Before that, I didn’t even know Chen Jinhao. I wasn’t following anyone.”
He spoke slowly, his voice full of disappointment.
“The only people I want to follow are you guys.”
By the time he finished, the corners of his mouth had drooped, and his eyes had lowered, filled with barely contained unhappiness.
For the first time, someone dared to lose their temper in front of Lu Mang, though this so-called temper was as soft as a spoiled tantrum.
Lu Mang automatically ignored that last part, his mind filled only with the words: “The only person I want to follow is you.”
His ears slowly turned red. He coughed into his fist and muttered, “Quit acting spoiled.”
After saying that, he handed over the instant noodles he had just perfectly soaked and turned to enter the tent.
Tang Xi, still in a daze, accepted the cup of noodles. When he lifted the lid, he found it packed full of sausage and marinated eggs—
A deluxe version of instant noodles.
Like a cat being stroked the right way, he instantly cheered up, happily cradling the noodles as he ate beside them.
The spicy, numbing scent of sichuan pepper-flavored instant noodles was strong enough to waft over to Chen Jinhao’s side.
With enhanced senses due to his supernatural abilities, the smell of the noodles was even more distinct to him.
Instant noodles, something once easily available before the apocalypse, had become a luxury item in the post-apocalyptic world.
Chen Jinhao swallowed hard and followed the scent, spotting Tang Xi, who had unknowingly wandered off to the other side.
After a brief moment of shock, he suddenly flared up, pointing at Tang Xi and ordering him to come back.
Tang Xi completely ignored him, solely focused on eating his noodles.
Instead, Yi Feng, who was closer, pushed up his glasses and coldly asked on Tang Xi’s behalf, “Do you have business with our teammate?”
In front of outsiders, he was a man of few words—completely exuding a cool and distant aura.
Chen Jinhao hesitated, but years of arrogance kept him from backing down completely. He glared at Tang Xi without saying a word, hoping he would take the hint and come over obediently.
Someone this stunning had almost fallen into his grasp—it made his desire surge uncontrollably.
But before he could act, Wei Xuncheng’s expression darkened as he stepped forward, his tall figure completely blocking Chen Jinhao’s view.
As an earth-ability user, a simple wave of his hand raised a thick dirt wall from the ground.
Chen Jinhao’s face paled. He knew he was no match for any of them.
Under the intense stares of Yi Feng and Wei Xuncheng, he backed away humiliated.
Tang Xi smiled gratefully at them before setting down his noodles and entering the tent.
The tent was a perfect square, spacious enough for two people to sleep without even touching.
Tang Xi sat properly, keeping some distance from Lu Mang.
Lu Mang glanced at him. “So a single bowl of instant noodles is enough to buy you over?”
Tang Xi blinked in confusion. Before he could even get mad, Lu Mang continued, “When we sleep, stay put. Don’t touch me.”
If he got woken up, he’d be in a bad mood for the entire day.
Tang Xi nodded. “I sleep very still.”
The way he fell asleep was always the way he woke up.
Lu Mang responded with a noncommittal “Mm.”
Night watch was done in shifts, and Lu Mang was assigned the 4 AM to 6 AM slot. As soon as the time arrived, his eyes automatically opened.
Just like every other morning during missions, the first thing he saw was the yellow tent.
But this time, something was different.
There was a warm, soft presence in his arms.
Lu Mang’s eyes widened as he looked down—
At the boy sleeping soundly in his embrace.
He was startled at first but quickly calmed down. The irritation he had imagined never came.
Holding the boy in his arms even made him feel at peace.
Expressionless, he thought to himself—just yesterday, this kid said he had a good sleeping posture, yet here he was, rolling into someone else’s arms.
As he thought about this, he reached out and pinched the boy’s face mischievously.
Tang Xi mumbled in his sleep and snuggled in even closer.
Lu Mang glanced down at the very awake “little Lu Mang,” his expression natural. Instinctively, he rubbed against the boy’s thigh twice.
He justified it to himself—after all, men are like this in the morning.
He was still marveling at the rare feeling of waking up without morning irritability, completely ignoring the very obvious situation with “little Lu Mang.”
After a while, Huang Yuanmiao realized their boss hadn’t come to switch shifts yet. Suppressing a yawn, he walked over and asked, “Boss, are you awake?”
Normally, he wouldn’t dare wake up this notoriously grumpy riser, but it was already time for Lu Mang to get up, and he was starting to worry.
Lu Mang carefully loosened his hold on Tang Xi, expertly tucking him in and patting him lightly, as if coaxing him back to sleep. He only left once he was sure the boy had drifted back into deep slumber.
He didn’t even notice how unnatural this habit was—just that the moment he stood up, that familiar irritability returned.
Taking a deep breath, as he always did, Lu Mang walked out with a blank expression to take over the night watch.
. . . . .
“Can you at least take us to Dawn Base first?” Chen Jinhao asked with a forced smile.
After spending the entire morning negotiating, he finally figured out that while they weren’t heading in the same direction, they did share the same final destination.
Lu Mang’s team needed to go to H City first for a mission before looping around to Dawn Base.
But Chen Jinhao just wanted to go straight to Dawn Base. Anxious, he said, “H City just got hit by a zombie horde. I even heard a small base got wiped out. Why would you guys go there?”
Huang Yuanmiao, annoyed, replied, “Didn’t we already tell you? We have a mission.”
After so much back-and-forth, even someone as patient as him was starting to lose his temper.
Originally, Chen Jinhao didn’t want to travel with them, but after witnessing their zombie-clearing skills that morning, he changed his mind.
Not to mention, Tang Xi had somehow ended up joining them, which made Chen Jinhao feel even more unwilling to let go. That unwillingness turned into a leech-like determination—he was going to cling to them and hitch a ride to Dawn Base no matter what.
Meanwhile, Tang Xi remained unfazed by their argument. He was busy sipping the warm milk that Lu Mang had handed him—though Lu Mang’s face was anything but friendly.
Chen Yao gave the boy a thumbs-up. It was the first time she had ever seen their boss treat someone this well.
Even though his face was cold and his expression fierce.
This kid was bold, too—facing that intimidating look and still sweetly saying “thank you.”
For a moment there, she could have sworn their boss was stunned for a few seconds.
Tang Xi had no idea that Chen Yao, standing beside him, was currently reevaluating everything she knew. Tilting his head as he cradled his milk, he asked, “Sister Yao, what mission are we doing?”
Since he was now part of the team, it was only natural that he’d take part in their tasks.
Chen Yao didn’t hold back at all. “It’s about that small base in H City. Before it was wiped out, they sent a classified message to our base saying they had found a research subject immune to the zombie virus. Shortly after, the whole base was annihilated. Our mission is to confirm whether that research subject is real. If we can bring them back, great—if not, even a single strand of their hair will do.”
Research Subject Tang Xi: …Excuse me?
Meanwhile, the chaos-loving gossip forum , 1551, instantly went online: [Oh no.]