Chapter 18: Chapter 18: THE APOCALYPSE ARRIVES.
After the two women put on the clothes, aside from their appearances, everything else about them was identical to Su Wei and Lin Qianqian.
Initially feeling a twinge of guilt about killing these two, that guilt vanished upon hearing their conversation with Li Wei.
Ye Zi'an nodded in satisfaction, and seeing his expression, the two women finally relaxed.
However, in the next moment, a silver flash appeared, and both women collapsed into a pool of blood.
Ye Zi'an retrieved Li Wei's body and called for Huizi and Anna.
"Come help me stage the crime scene."
Professional matters were best handled by professionals.
[TL/N: I've decided to remove a few lines that felt too brutal for my taste. But don't worryโthis change won't impact the overall story at all.]
Meanwhile, Anna arranged the three bodies to create the scenario where Li Wei came to seek revenge, only to be fatally countered by Su Wei, resulting in all three dying together.
Huizi forged two suicide notes, handwriting that was convincing enough to pass for the real thing, ensuring that once the apocalypse began, Su Chen would be unable to discern their authenticity.
Once Anna had set the scene, she said, "Boss, there's one issue with this setup: Su Chen might not be the first to discover the bodies. He could be hiding out of town for years, and someone else might find them first."
Anna didn't realize that the apocalypse would arrive tonight and instinctively believed Su Chen would still be avoiding the police and wouldn't return to Xia City anytime soon.
"I have my reasons for how I want this arranged. Just follow my orders," Ye Zi'an replied.
Anna shrugged indifferently; she had to admit that Ye Zi'an was a generous employer.
As midnight approached, Ye Zi'an called Ye Yu, instructing her to cut off the power supply within the fortress and to ensure that the electrical systems would not be turned back on.
With the iron doors powered down, the people inside the fortress would be temporarily unable to escape, and it would be difficult for zombies to enter.
Ye Zi'an remained inside, awaiting the arrival of the apocalypse. He wanted to test whether he could obtain Su Chen's system.
After his rebirth, Su Chen had accidentally activated the Goddess of Luck system at midnight when the apocalypse began.
Ye Zi'an was eager to see if he could activate the system in Su Chen's absence.
The three of themโone man and two womenโwere just like Su Chen's team.
The Goddess of Luck system ensured that the first monster killed by the host each day would drop a card, and it allowed for the permanent enhancement of two cards daily.
The only downside was that each card could only be enhanced once and could not be strengthened repeatedly.
However, in the apocalypse with extremely high drop rates, this was a divine ability.
As the round moon reached midnight, it suddenly turned a deep crimson, instilling a sense of unease.
With a chilling wind blowing through, the once brightly lit city was plunged into darkness.
An invisible electronic storm was destroying all operational electronic devices, wiping out much of the technological civilization humanity had developed over decades.
As the lights went out, a blue light streamed in through the window and directly into Ye Zi'an's mind.
A mechanical voice echoed in his head:
"Congratulations on activating the Goddess of Luck system."
After successful binding, the mechanical voice stuttered, seemingly surprised, as if it had bound the wrong person, and continued, "Wha... Why are you here? My host should be Su Chen, right?"
"Unbinding system, progress 1%."
Damn, did it really just glitch out?
Before Ye Zi'an could react, the villainous system quickly took action, arrogantly declaring, "Now that you're here, don't even think about escaping."
"System absorption in progress, current progress 10%."
The unbinding process of the Goddess of Luck system came to an abrupt halt, while the absorption progress of the villainous system skyrocketed.
A sound akin to consumption echoed in his mind, indicating that the villainous system was devouring the Goddess of Luck system.
This realization allowed Ye Zi'an to finally relax; it appeared that the villainous system could successfully eliminate the so-called Goddess of Luck system.
This was a much easier situation, given that half of Su Chen's opportunities stemmed from the Goddess of Luck system.
[Host successfully seized Su Chen's system, Tower of Babel base favorability +5, Chaos Yin-Yang Technique efficiency +10%]
Outside, Anna and Huizi were still on lookout duty. The sudden blackout in the city didn't faze them much; they had witnessed far more chaotic battlefields before.
"Alright, let's go."
The three returned to the vehicle, ready to head back to the fortress and pick up those customized weapons from the steel factory.
On the streets, hordes of ragged, grotesque zombies surged into the crowd.
"Are you insane? It's New Year's Eve, and you're scaring people dressed as zombies!"
The sudden blackout had entirely ruined the festive atmosphere.
The zombies paid no attention to the man's complaints, opening their gaping jaws to bite at him.
The once lively square had turned into a scene of terror.
In the pitch-black night, the sounds of zombies' howls mixed with humans' cries for help echoed throughout the area.
Fortunately, Ye Zi'an had already planned the escape route and specifically chose a powerful off-road vehicle.
The two headlights illuminated the road ahead as if it were daytime.
At midnight, aside from clusters of young men and women gathered in a few large squares for the New Year's celebration, most people were safely indoors, leaving only a few hundred scattered zombies on the road.
Anna and Long Island sensed something was off.
With years of mercenary experience, they could clearly feel the threat these zombies posed.
Anna gazed at the zombies attacking humans on the street, incredulously exclaiming, "My God! What's happening? How could these people turn into zombies?"
Even Anna, who had seen her fair share of extraordinary situations, was shocked by this inexplicable supernatural phenomenon.
Noticing the confusion in the two women's expressions, Ye Zi'an comforted them, saying, "The apocalypse has arrived; it's happening worldwide. Once we return to the fortress, I'll explain everything."
But in his heart, he thought about activating the Tower of Babel as soon as they got back and quickly obtaining the two women.
The two exchanged glances and instinctively chose to stay, not leaving.
At the steel factory, Ye Zi'an waved his hand, making hundreds of tons of machinery and the finished weapons vanish into thin air.
This display left both women in awe.
Over the past seven days, they had witnessed countless inexplicable miracles with Ye Zi'an.
From being an ordinary rich boy, he had transformed into a mercenary king they now looked up to.
The fortress was dimly lit, and muffled voices of women could be heard. Ye Zi'an opened a hidden door left by the side of the castle gate and led the two back into the fortress.
Outside the fortress, the air was occasionally filled with tragic cries, while the round moon had inexplicably turned blood-red, and the power system within the fortress had failed.
Ye Zi'an approached the castle gate to check on the generator. The restarted machine was running smoothly. It seemed that Ye Yu had followed his instructions, shutting down all electrical systems within the fortress and turning off the generator.
Ye Zi'an reconnected the generator, input the password, added diesel fuel, and restarted it.
With the machine whirring back to life, several large searchlights illuminated the dark fortress, casting light upon Ye Zi'an as if he were a deity descending from the heavens.
As the onlookers saw Ye Zi'an return from outside, the restoration of power brought brightness back to the fortress, providing the two hundred people with a sense of security. They fell silent, turning their attention to the only man in the fortress, Ye Zi'an.
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๐ฆ๐๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ ๐บ๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ผ-๐๐ถ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ'๐ 40+ ๐๐ฑ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฝ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ:
๐๐ผ-๐๐ถ.๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ/๐๐ผ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ