Chapter 8: Alternating Extreme Heat and Cold

“Brother Xiao?” Gu Yi settled Gu Wan down and then entered the house.

At this moment, Brother Long had already been tied up tightly, his entire body exposed.

Chu Xiao’s expression was dark, the gun in his hand having turned into a knife.

Standing in front of Brother Long, he gestured up and down with the blade.

In the end, he was nothing more than a small-time thug. Even if he was a gang leader, he was still the kind to bully the weak and fear the strong.

At his feet was a yellow puddle.

“Do you still remember robbing that elderly widow’s home? The one in the east alley of Huai Tree Street.”

The temperature had risen a little, so Chu Xiao shrugged off his coat.

“Not talking? Playing dead?”

The flat of the blade slapped across Brother Long’s face, cold against his skin.

“I—I’ve never been to the place you’re talking about, big bro…” Brother Long’s legs shook, his lips trembling.

Inwardly, though, he was wondering why his underlings outside hadn’t yet come in to rescue him.

“Never been there?” Chu Xiao laughed coldly.

“N-no, I don’t think so.” Brother Long wasn’t so sure anymore. He’d robbed too many people to remember if some old lady had been among them.

“Heh.”

“No matter. You can go down below and take your time remembering.”

The blade sank into flesh, silent.

The sunlight stung Chu Xiao’s eyes as he absorbed the man into his storage space.

Outside, the rest of the gangsters were nothing but scum.

One shot each, he finished them all, and once stored away, Gu Yi stood dumbfounded at the door.

Gu Wan, in the next room, slept deeply.

“Clean up the blood. We’re heading back.”

The sudden spike in temperature gave Chu Xiao a bad feeling, so he gave Brother Long a quick death.

He donned a fur coat on the way out, but by the time they returned to the villa, he was stripped down to almost nothing but his underwear.

Gu Wan and Gu Yi sat in the backseat.

“Brother Xiao, I… please let my sister and me go. I swear, I’ll never breathe a word about this.” Gu Yi’s hands trembled.

Chu Xiao slammed the gas pedal, the car speeding to 120.

“We’re all grasshoppers tied to the same rope. If you want your sister to live well, you’d better behave yourself.”

Ten years in the apocalypse, yet Chu Xiao still hadn’t learned to hide his hatred.

But how could he? That was the man who had killed his grandmother.

This life, the last life—she had been his only family.

The memory flashed before him: his grandmother lying in a pool of blood, the police cordoning off the area, the murmuring voices replaying in his mind.

“Get out!” After parking, Chu Xiao stormed into the villa without looking back.

If Gu Yi dared to run now, he wouldn’t hesitate to send the siblings into the apocalypse ahead of schedule.

“Wanwan, we’re here.” Seeing Chu Xiao’s expression, Gu Yi still followed him inside.

The house was filled with the aroma of food.

“Xiao…” Jiang Ning had seen the car return, so she set the steaming buns on the table. Now she held two bowls of porridge.

Chu Xiao ignored her, heading straight into his room.

Watching Gu Yi with a disheveled girl trailing behind, Jiang Ning gave Gu Yi a questioning look.

“Well, it’s a long story. Ning-jie, could you help arrange a room for my sister first?”

“I’m not even eighteen yet! Just call me Jiang Ning.” She huffed, setting the bowls down.

Her eyes fell on the blood-stained, half-conscious girl clinging to Gu Yi, and she seemed to understand.

Chu Xiao’s room was on the fourth floor—standalone, with a single exit.

Access required a key card.

The first floor had many rooms, so Jiang Ning casually arranged one.

“If your sister doesn’t mind, I can help her bathe.” Jiang Ning looked at the girl covered in blood and filth, barely clinging to life.

“Brother, no!” Gu Wan resisted outsiders, clutching tightly to Gu Yi’s shirt.

Jiang Ning didn’t push the issue.

“There’s a bathroom in the bedroom. Do as you like. I’ll fetch some clothes for her. Don’t wander.” Jiang Ning’s room was on the third floor, where Chu Xiao kept some basic supplies.

Once she left, Gu Yi placed Gu Wan in the bathroom, though he looked uneasy.

“I’ll be right outside the door. Just wash up a little.”

He closed the door halfway.

In her room, Jiang Ning dialed Chu Xiao’s number, but no one picked up.

She turned on the air conditioner. Nuomi and Banban grew restless, meowing.

Without a card, Jiang Ning couldn’t access the fourth floor.

When Chu Xiao had renovated the three basement levels, he had also reinforced the fourth floor: bulletproof glass, bulletproof doors, reinforced walls, and even a secret passage.

“I don’t know her size, so I grabbed some free-size clothes. What was the temperature like outside when you came back?”

Jiang Ning wasn’t a naïve girl. On the contrary, after reading so many apocalypse novels, she was more alert to such things.

Chu Xiao had told her: after alternating extreme heat and cold, a great snowfall would follow.

She had to use this window to help Chu Xiao find the remaining four people.

In the apocalypse, going it alone was suicide.

Only by joining forces with the strong could one hope to survive.

“It was hot—at least thirty degrees. Now it’s probably around thirty-five.”

After handing over the clothes to Gu Yi, Jiang Ning left the room.

Chu Xiao had more than one car. After meeting Jiang Ning, he’d also bought several rugged Jeep Wranglers.

There were seven or eight modified vehicles in the villa.

The one Jiang Ning drove was a converted civilian armored vehicle. Chu Xiao had brought back at least ten from overseas raids, though only one was parked in the courtyard.

At 175 cm tall with long legs over a meter, Jiang Ning paired with the armored car was a sight.

Chu Xiao had nosebleeds the first time he saw it.

He had thought beauties like Jiang Ning would prefer small, cute cars.

But no—she really was the number one female war goddess of the apocalypse: bold, sharp, and captivating.

The vehicle roared to life, and Jiang Ning, following the GPS on her phone, drove out of the gate.

Chu Xiao finally calmed down, standing by the window watching her leave.

Inside, the thermometer read 50°C.

“She won’t die. Come out.”

A sudden voice sounded above Gu Yi’s head.

“Brother Xiao?”

Chu Xiao nodded.

The two went to the living room, where steam rose from the buns on the table.

Banban and Nuomi lay at Chu Xiao’s feet.

“Eat.”

The vast living room echoed only with the sound of porridge being sipped.

Throughout the meal, Gu Yi’s eyes never left Chu Xiao.

What kind of mess was this? Things were only getting stranger.

A sigh escaped, making Gu Yi’s hand tremble as he held his bowl.

“I’ll give you two choices. One: submit to me. Two: you and your sister die here today.”

Gu Yi: ???

Big brother, how is that a choice?

That’s just…

“We submit to you.”

Gu Wan appeared in simple casual clothes, her long black hair falling down her back.

“Sister!” Gu Yi barked at her.

This Chu Xiao was unpredictable.

“Brother, what are you still hesitating for? Do we even have another choice besides submitting? Besides… him, I believe in him.”

Gu Wan’s hands clenched tightly.

That moment, he had stood in front of her.

Even if he had his reasons, the truth was they had nothing—no money, no leverage.

What could he possibly gain from them?

And this enormous villa already proved the man before them wasn’t ordinary.

“You’re a man, yet you have less resolve than your sister. Might as well send you to meet Yama now.”

Chu Xiao finally understood why, in his previous life, Gu Yi had always hidden behind the scenes, too cowardly to step forward.

If not for his useful mental powers, Chu Xiao would’ve already sent him to the underworld.

“Hm? Did Ning Ning set the temperature too low?” Chu Xiao felt a chill.

But the thermostat showed 24°C.

Outside, a cold snap froze the windows in an instant, and the temperature plummeted to 5°C.

On TV, the weather station reported on the extreme conditions.

“This is bad!”