The morning after wiping out the Azure Dragon Society, I was lying in the bunker's heated pool, resting with my eyes closed, absorbing the immense energy from the crystal core. A piercing alarm shattered the peace again.
"Brother Lie. More fools are knocking at our door." Su Xiaodao hurried to the poolside, handing me the surveillance tablet. "There aren't many this time, only a few dozen. But the leader seems like an old acquaintance."
I took the tablet, glanced at the feed, a cold smirk curling my lips.
On screen, a few dozen ragged figures wielding crude weapons were advancing up the mountain path toward the bunker. The man at the front, though filthy and gaunt, I recognized instantly.
Son of Jiangzhou's richest man, my nemesis from my past life. Su Rui.
The day the crimson moon descended, he was live streaming from his downtown villa and got scared out of his wits by a mutated poodle. He had actually survived the apocalypse's early days. An A-grade three-headed hellhound.
These past days, downtown had become a monster's playground. His hillside villa was flattened. He sacrificed dozens of bodyguards as bait, fleeing like a madman. He knew full well the only truly safe place in all of Jiangzhou was my mountain bunker. So he came sniffing around like a hunting dog.
"Chen Lie, I know you're in there."
Su Rui stopped about fifty meters from the main gate. Pointing at the wall, he let out a hysterical laugh.
"Huh? You think hiding in this turtle shell makes you safe? I've awakened the power of the hellhound. I'm strong now. Today I'm going to smash your door down and take all your supplies."
Watching Su Rui's clownish ranting on the screen, I rose from the pool, casually grabbing a towel to dry off. An A-grade tattoo made him this cocky.
"Brother Lie. I'll handle him."
"No need. This grudge is from my past life. I'll settle it myself. Open the gate."
Click. The heavy titanium alloy door slowly slid open. I stepped out of the bunker alone.
"Chen Lie. Finally brave enough to show yourself. With just these few dozen pathetic losers you brought, you think you'll take my supplies?"
I glanced at the terrified thugs behind him, legs trembling, my face full of disdain. "To deal with you, I'm enough alone."
"Chen Lie. See who I brought for you."
The crowd parted slowly. From the black mist, a graceful figure emerged. She wore a bloodstained red dress. Her skin was pale, her beautiful features livid, but those eyes now held a strange crimson gleam. On her exposed waist, a red spider lily tattoo began to bloom. Translucent red petals materialized behind her. A bewitching, unsettling fragrance filled the air.
Xiao Yujing. She's alive.
Not only alive, but awakened, and an A-rank totem. The underworld spider lily.
The surrounding thugs stared at her, their gazes growing hazy. Some even knelt, crawling toward her like lost souls.
Xiao Yujing raised a hand. A crimson vine dangled from her fingertip, coiling around a thug's neck. He didn't struggle, but wore an entranced smile. Instantly, his face turned ashen. His strength was sapped away. A spider lily bloomed from his chest.
Xiao Yujing closed her eyes in pleasure. A hint of color returned to her pale face.
"Chen Lie. Surprised? I've awakened too."
Su Rui stood behind her, a cold smirk on his face. "Chen Lie, where's all your arrogance now? Xiao Yujing is an A-rank psychic now. Her spider lily scent can control dozens of awakened ones. Let's see if you can raise a hand against the woman you once loved."
Xiao Yujing chuckled, slowly approaching. With each step, a crimson spider lily bloomed at her feet. The floral scent grew overpowering.
In a daze, the black mist cleared and my world shifted.
I was back in my past life. The beast tide surging. A blood moon in the sky. I lay bleeding in the ruins. A mutated three-headed hound stalked closer. Xiao Yujing knelt beside me, weeping.
"Chen Lie, I was wrong. I shouldn't have left you. I shouldn't have trusted Su Rui. If I could go back, I'd stay by your side."
She reached out, her voice gentle, laced with heartbreaking memories. "Chen Lie, please forgive me."
I watched her silently, then smiled. "Xiao Yujing, your illusion is too weak."
The kneeling, weeping Xiao Yujing froze.
I took a step forward. The phantom of Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin emerged. Nine dark dragon silhouettes opened their crimson eyes. An ancient black coffin hovered behind me. Crimson chains on the coffin trembled faintly. An immense forbidden pressure descended.
The ruins, the beast tide, the blood moon, the weeping Xiao Yujing, all shattered like glass. Reality returned.
Xiao Yujing paled, stumbling back. A trickle of blood escaped her lips. The phantom of the red spider lily behind her trembled violently, petals wilting one by one.
"This can't be happening." She looked at me in disbelief. "Impossible. My Yellow Springs blossom scent can draw out the deepest obsession in one's heart. How could you have no reaction at all?"
"Obsession? You don't even deserve to be my obsession."
Xiao Yujing's face instantly drained of all color. This cut deeper than any attack. She bit her lip. A flicker of panic surfaced in her eyes.
"No, Chen Lie. You definitely liked me before. You're just still hating me, aren't you?"
She suddenly changed her expression, tears glistening in her eyes. She looked at me with a pitiful gaze.
"I admit I was wrong back then, but I didn't know the apocalypse would come. I really thought you'd gone mad, Chen Lie. If you just let me into the bunker, I can come back to you. I'm an A-rank awakened now. I can help you. I can control those survivors for you. I'm useful to you."
"Xiao Yujing, you bitch. You just said you'd help me kill him."
Xiao Yujing spun around sharply and shrieked. "Su Rui, shut your mouth. If you hadn't humiliated Chen Lie during your live stream, if you hadn't forced me to come laugh at him with you, how would I have ended up in this mess? Did you even look back once when you ran away? What right do you have to judge me?"
Su Rui was shaking with rage.
I watched these two tear each other apart, and I just found it utterly boring. To think I was killed by these two in my last life. How pathetic.
"Chen Lie. I was wrong. I really know I messed up. Just give me another chance, please."
She reached out to grab my wrist, but before she could even touch me, an invisible pressure blasted her flying backward.
I looked down at her from above, my voice calm. "You don't regret what you did. You just realized Su Rui can't protect you anymore, and I'm stronger than him."
Xiao Yujing's body shook. The tears in her eyes froze.
I looked at my right hand. The black coffin phantom behind me slowly opened. A pitch black chain snaked out from inside the coffin, instantly wrapping around the red spider lily totem.
"Red spider lilies are indeed beautiful. What a shame they bloomed in the wrong place."
As the words fell, the chain from the black coffin suddenly tightened. Xiao Yujing let out a pained scream. The sea of blood flowers behind her collapsed with a roar. Countless phantoms of red spider lilies wilted in the air. The totem power inside her body was forcibly sealed by the Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin. Her originally eerie crimson eyes rapidly returned to normal. She collapsed to the ground as if all her strength had been drained.
"My power. Chen Lie. You've sealed my power." She stared at me with utter despair. "You might as well kill me."
"Kill you? You're not even worth my second strike."
Su Rui looked at Xiao Yujing, whose power was sealed. His eyes held no pity, only venomous resentment. "Worthless. Can't even seduce a man."
Xiao Yujing stared at him in disbelief. "Su Rui, what did you say?"
Su Rui stomped the ground beside her and roared. "If it weren't for you, this jinx, I wouldn't have ended up like this."
The last shred of fantasy in Xiao Yujing's eyes shattered completely.
Watching the scene, I only felt boredom. The apocalypse never changes a person. It just digs out the filthiest things in their heart ahead of time.