Natural Enemy

Su City belonged to the Yue and Wei families, a fact generally acknowledged by those who lived there.

Since the outbreak of the apocalypse, there had been a simple, unspoken rule in people’s minds: the more people there were in a place before the apocalypse, the more dangerous it became after.

The main reason for this was the chaos during the initial outbreak.

That was when zombies posed the greatest threat to humanity.

Faced with this unprecedented, malevolent species, humans initially did not know how to deal with them.

Especially in that era of peace, when few people held weapons in their hands.

Under such circumstances, humans easily joined the ranks of the zombies, further exacerbating the chaos.

But Su City defied this rule.

Su City was a prosperous city even before the apocalypse.

After the outbreak, it should have become a lifeless, forbidden zone for humans.

But now, it remained just as prosperous, perhaps even more so than before.

There was only one reason for this phenomenon: the Awakened.

The Yue and Wei families were all Awakened.

This abnormal, concentrated awakening was not due to blood ties, but was triggered by a special geographical area.

That day was the family gathering of the Yue and Wei families.

Almost all members of the Yue and Wei families were gathered at their respective family headquarters, which is now the so-called

“First Ring Area” of Su City.

At the moment the apocalypse broke out in this area, all humans underwent an extremely intense mutation.

Heaven was not fair.

Even in a global apocalyptic crisis, there would be some places that received a “favor of the apocalypse” due to uneven concentrations.

But at the same time, Heaven was fair, because this opportunity did not mean absolute good.

For the members of the Yue and Wei families, if they did not evolve into Awakened, they would directly turn into zombies.

There would be absolutely no ordinary people.

The favor of the apocalypse was both an opportunity and a disaster for the two major families.

The Yue and Wei families lost one-third of their family members that day, among them, Yue Xiaolu’s parents.

This meant a generational break in succession.

The heavy burden of the family was placed on the young shoulders of Yue Xiaolu far too early.

This girl, who had just turned twenty, might have to take over the heavy position of family head from her parents decades ahead of schedule.

Moreover, the generational break in succession also caused a more serious problem: division.

The Yue family was now divided into two factions: the young faction that supported Yue Xiaolu, and the senior, old-school faction centered around Old Man Yue.

The old-school members held a near-paranoid paternalism toward young people like Yue Xiaolu.

They did not believe that a young person like Yue Xiaolu had the ability to manage the current Yue family, especially the Yue family in this turbulent era.

They advocated for the power of the family head to be kept by the older generation, and for Yue Xiaolu to succeed as the head only after she had grown up.

Yue Chang was such an old-school member.

They worried about the death of Yue Xiaolu’s parents, and also about the handover of power in the Yue family.

There was only one way to solve their worries, and that was to restore the health of Old Man Yue, Yue Zhiyue.

But it was easier said than done.

Under the crisis of survival, humans were often highly self-serving.

In such an environment, Awakened with healing and support qualities were already extremely rare.

And among these rare Awakened, the healing strength they possessed was mostly limited to the recovery of external injuries.

Simply put, their healing was limited by the target’s own biological self-recovery limit.

And the stubborn illness that Old Man Yue faced could not be summarized with the words “external injury.”

He had long since developed several conditions that modern medicine was powerless against.

The highest rank for healing-type Awakened usually did not exceed the third tier, with most remaining at the second tier.

As non-combat members, their ranks were usually extremely difficult to raise.

But the Yue family was still willing to support them unconditionally.

This was in the hope that one day, one of them would break through to the fourth tier and bring some turning point to the Yue family’s stalemate.

The old-school members of the Yue family were constantly looking forward to the appearance of such a “finished product,” but this expectation seemed so ethereal.

Because the purer a healer’s healing characteristics, the more they would be detached from combat, and the more difficult it would be to raise their rank.

But today, Yue Chang had actually found a wild finished product.

A healer whose characteristics were simply unheard of in their purity, and moreover, was fourth-tier, a genuine fourth-tier.

She was simply a miracle, to have such pure healing characteristics and yet have risen to the fourth tier.

The Yue family needed this person.

She should belong to the Yue family!

Ren Anhua felt a high sense of crisis.

The man before her was somewhat beyond her expectations.

She had not expected to face a fourth-tier Awakened from Su City so soon.

However, she was not afraid.

What was there to be afraid of for someone who couldn’t die?

At worst, they could just hurt each other.

But the problem was, once they started fighting, what would happen to Tang Yunxuan?

It seemed that letting him leave now wouldn’t be safe either.

Ren Anhua had clearly understood what an ordinary person represented in Su City.

For an ordinary person like Tang Yunxuan to act alone was really a bit dangerous.

She had brought him out herself.

If she didn’t bring him back in one piece, she would be too sorry to Chen Shu and the others.

“Everyone, the bar is closing early today. Please understand. All drinks are on the house. Please go home,” Yue Chang ordered calmly.

As he spoke, the music in the bar automatically stopped, and no one dared to whisper below.

‘Dear melon-eaters, there are no more melons for you to eat,’ he clearly expressed his meaning to the onlookers present.

“Oh, then thanks,” Ren Anhua said, pulling Tang Yunxuan along, naturally preparing to run.

Although Ren Anhua was usually reckless, she wasn’t brainless.

At least when she was reckless, she would combine it with the actual situation.

Today, with Tang Yunxuan, she didn’t want to recklessly challenge a fourth-tier advanced player.

“But that doesn’t include you, this lovely pink-haired lady,” Yue Chang directly cut off Ren Anhua’s escape plan.

And the phrase “pink-haired lady” made Ren Anhua feel very uncomfortable.

“Don’t get too far away from me. Stand behind me,” Ren Anhua grabbed Tang Yunxuan by the collar, forcefully lowering the male high school student’s altitude to her own, and then whispered in his ear.

Ren Anhua could not guarantee Tang Yunxuan’s safety in front of a fourth-tier, but at least if he was behind her, even if Tang Yunxuan was left with only a head, she was confident she could save him.

“Now, Hunter’s Bar is open exclusively for you. This is the Yue family’s territory. It was before the apocalypse, and luckily, it can still exist as a bar after. I like this place. It has left me with many memories, some that allowed me to grow, some that made me bitter. This is a place worth protecting for me.”

As Yue Chang spoke, he walked to a seat opposite Ren Anhua and poured himself a glass of lemon wine.

This middle-aged man had maintained his figure well.

It was clear he was a man who exercised regularly.

His posture was tall and straight, but Ren Anhua sensed a hidden ruthlessness in him.

“Today, you’ve dirtied this place. Is there nothing you want to say to me?” Yue Chang only took a small sip before putting down the stemmed glass in his hand.

“I think this is a misunderstanding. How did I dirty this place?” Ren Anhua extended her middle finger, dipped it in the blood splattered on the floor, and then placed it in front of Yue Chang.

“You see, my blood isn’t this disgusting. You should look for the other three people, the two without hands, and the one whose hand was just half-sawed off,” Ren Anhua finished, then dipped her middle finger into Yue Chang’s glass of lemon wine and swirled it around, cleaning it.

“Haha, you’re quite a joker. May I ask what this lady’s name is?” Yue Chang nonchalantly moved the blood-stained lemon wine to the side.

“You can just call me Tiezhu,” Ren Anhua thought for a moment and still used the terrible name she had registered when entering the city.

Coming up with a name on the spot was really too difficult for her.

“Alright, Miss Tiezhu. You are a very impressive person. Such pure healing ability, and a fourth-tier at that. You are an outstanding talent, and the Yue family needs a talent like you right now. I wonder what your opinion is?”

Yue Chang paid no mind to the name that was obviously made up on the spot.

He only cared about one thing, and that was whether Ren Anhua was willing to join the Yue family.

The Yue family.

Ren Anhua had heard of them as soon as she entered Su City.

This city, which had risen from a family, showed a high degree of family worship.

It was very difficult for Ren Anhua to even avoid the keyword of the two major families.

But the problem was, she hated this city.

“Join the Yue family? As the boss? If you let me be the boss, I’ll go.”

“No, I need you to be our boss’s doctor.”

“Then I can’t do that. Compared to saving people, I prefer killing them,” Ren Anhua had already placed her hand on the hilt of her knife.

“You seem very unwilling. In that case, I will have to resort to some necessary measures.”

“You seem very confident in your own strength?” Ren Anhua’s fingers were already on the clasp of her knife.

“With strength, of course one is confident in their own strength.”

The crisp sound of breaking iron echoed in the empty bar.

Ren Anhua held the hilt and delivered a clean and decisive slash, but unfortunately, her blade did not follow.

The watermelon knife broke in two, and the culprit was a thin black pillar with a diameter of about two fingers that had suddenly appeared between the two of them.

The material of this suddenly appearing black pillar was unknown, but it looked very sturdy.

Ren Anhua’s watermelon knife had broken when it struck it.

“What the hell, my treasured soul-bound blade!” Although it was just a watermelon knife she had picked up, she had used it for so long and had developed some feelings for it.

For it to suddenly be gone like this, Ren Anhua felt a little heartbroken.

“Your swordsmanship is fast, but unfortunately, your sword is not very good,” Yue Chang waved his hand, and more black pillars suddenly pierced down from the ceiling and connected with the ground, forming a birdcage-like structure that trapped the pink-haired girl.

“This ability is called Prison. If you cooperate, I will still treat you gently,” Yue Chang’s attitude, as if he had casually caught a bird, greatly annoyed Ren Anhua.

“Are you f*cking looking down on me! You think you can trap me with just this?” The white flame erupted.

Ren Anhua planned to use the most primitive force to deal with this arrogant and conceited fellow before her.

A heart-trembling cracking sound echoed continuously in the enclosed space.

The cage shattered, but at the same time, Ren Anhua’s arms also shattered.

She really didn’t know what this thing was made of; it was incredibly hard.

But compared to Ren Anhua’s surprise at the hardness of the black pillar, Yue Chang’s surprise at Ren Anhua’s combat power was even stronger—this pink-haired girl’s ability was healing?

If he hadn’t seen Ren Anhua’s rapidly recovering arms, Yue Chang would have even suspected that this was a pure strength-type Awakened.

However, after confirming Ren Anhua’s recovery ability, Yue Chang relaxed a lot.

‘With such a recovery ability, she won’t die, right?’ he thought to himself.

Breaking through the containment, Ren Anhua charged directly at Yue Chang.

No matter what his ability was, as long as she took him down, there would be no problem.

“It seems the gentle method won’t work,” facing such a crisis, Yue Chang remained calm, because this was his home ground.

Even denser black pillars pierced out from all around.

In this enclosed space, his ability was almost invincible.

In an instant, layers of black pillar prisons protected Yue Chang.

Even if he let Ren Anhua dismantle them, it would still take a considerable amount of time.

In fact, before meeting Ren Anhua, Yue Chang had never even thought that this thing could be dismantled with bare hands.

Unable to attack, Ren Anhua could only retreat and dodge.

These black pillars were not only Yue Chang’s sturdy shield but also his sharp spear.

The speed at which the black pillars pierced out was too fast to see clearly, and they were also extremely sturdy.

It was not difficult for Ren Anhua to imagine what would happen if she were hit by this thing.

She would probably become like a butterfly specimen fixed by a thin needle, unable to move.

It was only at this moment that Ren Anhua realized she had met her natural enemy.

But it was too late.

The black pillars continued to pierce out, but they would not retract, compressing Ren Anhua’s dodging space step by step.

Finally, a black pillar pierced through her right shoulder and out of her left waist.

The agile, dodging figure was instantly pinned in mid-air.

Immediately, more black pillars pierced toward that small figure.

In the end, Ren Anhua still became a butterfly specimen.

She was caught.

Although she couldn’t die, this posture made it impossible for her to exert any strength, and she had no chance of escaping.

She had screwed up, completely screwed up.

“Tang Yunxuan, run!”

She didn’t want to let Chen Shu down.

She could only hope this silly boy could be a little smarter.

In her current state, she couldn’t heal him.

If only someone could come and help her shed her tail to survive.