The Apocalypse 8
Tang Xi had been worrying about how to explain the absence of any wounds on his body, but just as he opened his mouth, he was pulled into a tight embrace.
In Lu Mang’s arms, he reached out and gently patted his back. “It’s okay. I’m okay.”
Lu Mang’s rapid heartbeat gradually steadied.
Tang Xi could even feel the man holding him trembling slightly.
As if he were suppressing something.
Holding the soft-haired boy in his arms, Lu Mang forcefully quelled the violent, murderous urge rising within him.
He didn’t spare a glance at Chen Jinhao, who lay unconscious on the ground. Instead, he took Tang Xi’s hand and led him away.
Tang Xi glanced back. The hole had been filled again by the carnivorous plants, and from within came the sickening sound of bones cracking.
On the way back, Lu Mang walked ahead, never letting go of Tang Xi’s hand.
Not even when fighting zombies.
It wasn’t until they were close to reuniting with the team that Tang Xi finally heard him speak.
Lu Mang’s voice was low. “You can cure my bipolar disorder.”
Tang Xi blinked. “Oh, so you have bipolar disorder?”
Lu Mang turned to look at him, his gaze unreadable. “Are you afraid?”
“No.”
“Mm.” A trace of unnaturalness flickered across Lu Mang’s face. “From now on, you have to stay with me at all times.”
He paused before adding, “For the sake of my bipolar disorder.”
The moment Tang Xi had disappeared from his sight, that violent urge surged up like the demon Samael rising from the depths of his soul. A murderous intent flooded his mind.
A voice inside him whispered: Kill them. Kill them. Kill them…
He nearly lost control.
The pain in his head felt like it was splitting open. The price of those days of calm was a torment that struck back tenfold.
And yet, all of it ended with that embrace.
He could no longer deceive himself into thinking it was just Tang Xi’s healing ability. He knew—deep down, he craved him, longed for every part of him.
As he waited for Tang Xi’s response, his whole body was tense. His mind uncontrollably recalled the memories of scolding him in the past.
He wished he could go back and punch himself.
He didn’t know how much time had passed before he finally heard that soft “Okay.”
In an instant, pure joy surged through him. He turned and pulled Tang Xi into another embrace.
Tightly—so tightly, as if he wanted to fuse him into his very being, melt him into his bones.
“Ow.” Tang Xi complained, pushing against him.
It wasn’t a strong push—more like a spoiled protest.
Lu Mang quickly loosened his hold and coaxed softly, “Sorry. Don’t be scared.”
Tang Xi gave him a strange look. “I’m not afraid.”
“That’s good, that’s good.” He repeated it twice, almost like a murmur.
If Tang Xi had looked up at that moment, he would have noticed the faintly sickly satisfaction on his face.
Hand in hand, they returned to the group, and anyone observant could see that something was going on.
Chen Yao wasn’t surprised at all. She had already expected this. That expectation turned into certainty when the boss almost went crazy after losing Tang Xi.
However, Huang Yuanmiao looked utterly dumbfounded, as if his soul had left his body. He had never imagined he would see this side of their boss.
Yi Feng walked over to report the casualties. He also took note of the survivors who had followed them—five were dead, two were missing.
Among the only two offensive ability users in the group, one had died, and the other had gone missing, leaving them leaderless.
Xue Shuirong stepped forward voluntarily. When the vines attacked, she had been the quickest among the survivors to react, pulling Xiao Jian to hide behind Chen Yao.
When everyone suddenly realized they were no longer under Chen Jinhao’s control, they were at a loss. Xue Shuirong took advantage of this moment to unite the survivors once more.
She decided to shamelessly follow this mercenary team.
Not to mention that they were heading in the same direction, which reduced the chances of getting lost—if she hadn’t followed them from the start, she wouldn’t have survived until now.
Any large mutant beast they encountered on the way could have easily wiped them out, let alone today’s terrifying man-eating vines.
Unlike Chen Jinhao, Xue Shuirong wasn’t a hoarder who kept all the supplies to herself. She redistributed the resources Chen Jinhao had seized, ensuring that at the very least, the survivors wouldn’t have to go hungry every day.
She even handed over all the artifacts Chen Jinhao had hidden to Lu Mang and the others.
Xue Shuirong said, “We’ve been troubling you all along. Once I reach Dawn Base, I’ll find a way to repay this kindness.”
The more people there were, the easier it was to attract zombies and mutant beasts. She felt a deep sense of guilt, knowing that a debt of survival couldn’t simply be repaid with words.
Chen Yao waved a hand with a smile. “No need.”
Lu Mang didn’t accept the artifacts.
Xue Shuirong lowered her eyes in silence, but Lu Mang’s next words instantly pulled her from hell to heaven.
Lu Mang spoke lazily, “Once we reach Dawn Base, apply to join our team as logistics. Your job will be to manage the water supply for the team—you must ensure Tang Xi’s space always has enough water.”
Xue Shuirong raised her head suddenly, her eyes shimmering with disbelieving tears.
Lu Mang raised a hand to stop her words of gratitude, then strode over and took Tang Xi’s hand, pulling him away from his game with Xiao Jian.
Using his “bipolar disorder” as an excuse, he could now keep Tang Xi by his side at all times.
Even their intimate physical contact had become justified.
At night, things got even more excessive.
Tang Xi obediently slept at the other end of the tent—he was a little cat that held grudges.
He still remembered how he got scolded the first night he slept with him.
He was told not to move around too much in his sleep and accidentally touch him.
So now, no matter how much Lu Mang tried to coax him, Tang Xi remained firm, moving his pillow slightly away.
He kept a safe distance from Lu Mang.
A flash of regret crossed Lu Mang’s face.
Zzzzz.
In deep sleep, Tang Xi vaguely heard a faint buzzing sound, like an electric current passing through. He turned over, and the annoying sound disappeared again.
1551 sighed.
In front of it was a hazy, pixelated block—completely shielded from view.
It had originally wanted to warn its host, but the host was sleeping soundly.
Looking at the villain, whose eyes swirled with dark desire, 1551 couldn’t help but shiver.
Ever since the last world, the villain’s oppressive aura had been growing stronger. In the original plot of this world, the villain wasn’t supposed to have bipolar disorder, but when 1551 submitted an anomaly report, the response it received was that everything was “normal.”
It felt like someone up above was hiding something from them.
Who was the host really trying to save…?
Lu Mang’s gaze on Tang Xi now looked as if he wanted to devour him whole.
He stared intently at him, then pulled the sleeping Tang Xi back into his embrace.
His expression was nothing like what it had been during the day. It was now filled with an unmistakable sense of aggression.
Afraid that the boy would wake up and be scared of him, Lu Mang softened his movements.
Thin wisps of black mist seeped from his body, lingering around Tang Xi.
Tang Xi smacked his lips in his sleep and snuggled in deeper.
In his dream, he had turned into a fragrant, mouthwatering rib, held in someone’s hands, licked and sucked, and occasionally… even bitten.
The nightmare lasted until dawn.
The first thing he did upon waking was lift his shirt to check his soft, fair stomach.
It was clean—nothing there.
Lu Mang, who had just opened his eyes beside him, looked perfectly calm. He reached out without hesitation and rubbed Tang Xi’s belly.
“Are you hungry?”
His tone was completely natural.
His hands were rough. Tang Xi let out a small whimper from the sensation, and a red mark quickly appeared on his belly.
Before he could even get annoyed about being woken up, he was dumbfounded to see the red mark vanish almost instantly.
His skin was extremely delicate and always bruised or marked easily.
Just a second ago, the mark had clearly been there.
Lu Mang chuckled at his stunned expression. “Did you forget? You have a healing ability.”
Tang Xi recalled from the original host’s memories that healers unconsciously healed their own injuries and ailments as a self-protective instinct. That was why healers rarely had visible wounds.
Meanwhile, Lu Mang hadn’t stopped rubbing his belly as he spoke. In fact, he had become even more daring, letting his hand wander upward.
It was only when his fingers brushed against a hint of soft pink that Tang Xi snapped out of his daze.
Fuming, he yanked the man’s hand out of his shirt.
. . . . .
They spent another full day on the road before finally arriving at the base entrance.
Tang Xi gazed at the long queue in front of the base and let out a surprised “Wow!”
Having seen countless zombies and corpses in the apocalypse, the original host’s memories were nothing but a dull gray.
Now, seeing so many living people at once was unexpectedly moving.
Tang Xi instinctively went to line up at the back of the queue, but Lu Mang grabbed him and pulled him away.
Chen Yao winked at him. “Our mercenary team has a special passage.”
In the apocalypse, strength was the ultimate law. When the people in line saw their vehicles drive straight to an empty lane with no queue, they were filled with envy and jealousy, but no one dared to question it.
The other ability users who had traveled with them parted ways here.
In a base like this, having a secure livelihood either meant you were powerful or had strong backing.
Dani, who was in charge of registering mercenaries, had been filling out forms all day and was getting bored.
But the moment she saw the two highly recognizable SUVs, she immediately perked up.
Sitting up straight, she adjusted her clothes and put on a dazzling smile she had practiced countless times.
“Hello, please fill out this form to register for entry,” she said warmly.
Her gaze openly swept over Lu Mang, but when she caught sight of the young man in the back seat, she suddenly froze.
Disbelief flashed across her eyes—this was Lu Mang, a man who had never been involved in any romantic rumors.
Yet now, he was sitting intimately close to a young man from who-knows-where?
Lu Mang grabbed a registration form for new arrivals and handed it to Tang Xi without sparing Dani a glance.
Tang Xi obediently took the pen and started filling it out. When he reached the section for abilities, he hesitated briefly before only writing “space.”
Lu Mang didn’t say a word, simply holding Tang Xi’s left hand and absentmindedly playing with it.
To enter the base, one had to pay an entry fee in supplies.
Dawn Base was different from other bases in that it allowed people to take credit—those who couldn’t afford the fee upfront could work it off after becoming a base resident.
Because of this policy, there were no settlements of stranded refugees outside the base.
Looking through the original host’s memories, Tang Xi realized that many bases charged exorbitant entry fees. As a result, even those who barely survived the journey would often be stopped at the gates. This led to the formation of slums outside most bases, where the poor, elderly, sick, and disabled gathered.
And when a zombie horde arrived, the base might survive, but those in the slums would inevitably become zombie fodder.
For his entry fee, Tang Xi pulled out a wild boar tusk from his spatial storage. After Lu Mang had killed that massive mutated wild boar, he had gifted the tusk to him.
Dani took the enormous tusk in disbelief.
She watched as the two SUVs sped off, then hurriedly grabbed her radio to spread the news—Dawn Base’s strongest ability user, Lu Mang, had a little lover.
She could already predict that certain people in the upper ranks were about to stir.
Author’s Note: A vengeful little cat and his late-night obsessed caretaker ✅