Chapter 169

Chapter 169: The Door to Rebirth in the Apocalypse – Full Novel Website

Chapter 169

“What do we do next?” Yi Shaoqing glanced at the terrified Liu Mei sisters huddled together in the darkness and whispered, “Even if we save them now, we can’t save them forever. Once we’re gone, they’ll still be tortured.” He clearly didn’t agree with Zhuang Chen’s decision to risk saving the sisters.

Zhuang Chen angrily replied, “Then I’ll take them with me!”

“How are you going to do that?” Yi Shaoqing shot back. “Do you think those people will let you take them away?”

Zhuang Chen growled, “They not only eat people but also imprison and torture these women on the ship! They deserve to die!”

“So what? Are you going to kill them all? Do you realize we’re on a ship? Surrounded by the sea! If the ship sinks, we’ll all die!” Yi Shaoqing was also getting angry.

Zhuang Chen sneered, “Then what? Are you suggesting we hand them over?”

Their argument unfolded right in front of Liu Mei and Liu Xin, whose already pale faces turned even whiter. Liu Mei’s expression changed several times before she suddenly grabbed Liu Xin and knelt down, kowtowing repeatedly. After four or five kowtows, she pleaded in a deathly pale voice, “I killed that person, and I don’t want to live anymore. Hand me over, but I beg you, save my sister! Take her away from here!”

Gu Ning, who had been silent until now, suddenly spoke up. She looked at the woman and asked, “What’s your name?”

“Liu Mei?!” A voice filled with shock rang out.

The crew members, who had been scurrying around like headless flies, paused their flashlight beams and all ran toward the source of the voice.

“Liu Mei? How did you end up like this? Who did this to you?” Xia Yu grabbed Liu Mei’s shoulders, her face filled with shock. Liu Xin hid behind Liu Mei, her face full of fear as she watched the crew members running toward them.

“What’s going on?” one of the trailing crew members muttered, confused by the scene.

Their steps slowed, hesitation creeping in as they tried to make sense of the situation.

“It’s you?!” Xia Yu suddenly glared at them, her eyes fierce as if she wanted to devour them. “You’re the ones who did this to her?!”

Liu Mei trembled in her arms, her pale face barely visible.

“I’ll kill you all!” Xia Yu suddenly pulled out a gun and aimed it at the crew members. Before they could react, Yi Shaoqing snatched the gun from her hands. “Calm down! Let’s figure out what’s going on first! There might be a misunderstanding!”

Xia Yu was hysterical. “What misunderstanding?! Can’t you see the injuries on Liu Mei? It’s them!”

“Xia Yu! Calm down!” Zhuang Chen shouted. Then, turning to the crew members, she said, “Liu Mei is his girlfriend. They got separated during the apocalypse when they went back to their respective homes. We want to know if Liu Mei went through something on this ship…”

The crew members’ expressions immediately turned uneasy.

“What’s there to ask?! It’s definitely them! Yi Shaoqing! Give me back my gun! I’ll kill them!” Xia Yu screamed, completely losing her mind from the shock. “Kill them all! Give me the gun—” Her voice cut off as Yi Shaoqing knocked her out cold with the butt of the gun. Liu Mei immediately cradled Xia Yu in her arms, too afraid to look up.

Yi Shaoqing addressed the stunned crew members, “She’s too agitated right now. We need to let her calm down. Now, let’s discuss how to handle this situation.”

The crew members were completely caught off guard by the revelation that Liu Mei was Xia Yu’s girlfriend. Xia Yu’s outburst had shaken them, and their earlier bravado faded as guilt crept in. They knew exactly how Liu Mei had ended up in this state.

“We heard someone died. When Xia Yu wakes up, we’ll tell her that the person who hurt Liu Mei has already been killed by Liu Mei herself,” Zhuang Chen said, glancing at Liu Mei on the ground. “Liu Mei, if you don’t say this, Xia Yu might go on a rampage, and people will die. So, I hope you can follow my lead. The person who hurt you is already dead, and the rest of the crew is innocent. Can you do that?”

Liu Mei didn’t speak, just nodded repeatedly.

“Good,” Zhuang Chen said, then turned to the crew members. “Since Liu Mei and her sister have found Xia Yu, we won’t trouble you to take care of them anymore. If there are any issues, you can have Anderson come talk to us. We’re going to rest now. If there’s nothing else, we won’t see you out.”

The crew members, unsure of how to proceed, were relieved by Zhuang Chen’s quick resolution. Though something felt off, the fact that the “crazy” guy had a gun made them think it was safer to leave. They could always deal with any problems later. With that, they left.

Once they were sure the crew was gone, Yi Shaoqing nudged the “unconscious” Xia Yu with his foot. “Get up!”

Xia Yu opened one eye, then both, and sat up. “Are they gone?”

“They’re gone,” Zhuang Chen said, holding back a laugh. “You acted pretty well just now!”

“Really? I was worried I overdid it and they’d see through it!” Xia Yu chuckled, feeling proud. She then looked up at Gu Ning, who had been standing on a container with a gun, ready to intervene if things went south. “It was all Gu Ning’s great idea!”

Gu Ning had come up with the plan on the spot. If someone in their group had a close relationship with the sisters, they could preemptively accuse the crew, make them feel guilty, and have Xia Yu play the role of Liu Mei’s traumatized boyfriend. Zhuang Chen and the others would act as peacekeepers who wanted to avoid trouble. The plan had worked perfectly.

Gu Ning jumped down from the container. She had been up there the whole time, her gun trained on the crew, ready to shoot if necessary. Thankfully, the worst-case scenario hadn’t happened. “We’re safe for now. Even if Anderson realizes we were pretending, he’ll turn a blind eye. At most, he’ll extort some supplies from us.” She then turned to Liu Mei on the ground. “You can relax now.”

Liu Mei shifted slightly and kowtowed to Gu Ning several times, her voice choked with emotion. “Thank you, thank you so much!”

“You should thank yourself for making a bold but right decision. If you want to survive and not endure this torment anymore, you need to become strong yourself, not wait for others to save you,” Gu Ning said coldly, neither accepting her gratitude nor helping her up.

Liu Mei looked up at Gu Ning, and something seemed to flicker in her previously lifeless eyes.

Gu Ning paused, then said, “Zhuang Chen, help her treat her injuries. I’m going ahead.” With that, she walked off to her guard post, gun in hand.

After treating her wounds, Liu Mei lay on the blanket, still shaken by the night’s events. She was immensely grateful for the moment she had mustered the courage to swing that iron rod. If she hadn’t taken that desperate risk and brought Liu Xin here, they would have been captured. That girl was right—if you don’t have the courage to save yourself, no one will save you. After a while, Liu Xin leaned close to her ear and whispered, “Sis, what about Tingting and the others?”

Liu Mei froze, thinking of the girls in the room who were around Liu Xin’s age. But then, something occurred to her, and her expression calmed. “Right now, each of us can only save ourselves. Go to sleep,” she said softly, closing her eyes.

Liu Xin stared at Liu Mei’s back in the darkness, somewhat understanding but not entirely.

No one returned until dawn.

It seemed Anderson had accepted their way of handling things.

Gu Ning checked her watch. In three hours, it would be time for her meeting with Ji Jiuzhe.

Strangely, she felt impatient—impatient to tell him that the world had regained its light, impatient to hear his voice.