Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm



"There is nothing you can do about it." Those words echoed in my mind as I stared at the woman in front of me.

"Nothing I can do about it?" I asked, tilting my head to look at her. Seriously, what had gotten into her? This was not making any sense.

"They are here and they are staying," she said practically stomping her foot. This was not her. She never acted like this. Yes, she could be a princess when she wanted to, but for the most part, she kept that under wraps and never confronted me like this.

"Wang Chao," I said, not taking my eyes from the other woman in the room. "Why don't you guys go down and see who has invited themselves into my home." Wang Chao and Liu Yu Zeng stood up and walked towards the door, Ren Rou Xuan following close behind.

"Does this mean that they can stay?" asked Ruan Rou Xi looking at me with hope shining in her eyes. I scoffed in reply.

"It means that Wang Chao has the final say in the matter," I deflected. "Now leave." I was… a lot of things... pissed, angry, betrayed... so many emotions were bubbling inside of me that I couldn't see straight.

Standing up, I turned around and walked out of the living room, Chen Zi Han and Liu Wei following behind me.

----

"You okay, Sweetheart?" asked Liu Wei as the three of us headed toward our bedroom. I had a pounding headache and just wanted to lie down.

"Peachy keen," I said with just a tinge of sarcasm.

"You think she is under the influence of a spirit user?" asked Chen Zi Han as he opened the door. The darkness of the room called to me and I flung myself down on the giant mattress.

"Maybe? Probably? I mean, that was not her normal behavior at all. But that makes me worried that we need better defenses at the front gate."

"Better defenses how?" asked Liu Wei as he pulled out a laptop and put in a DVD. Chen Zi Han tucked me in under the blankets and the two men laid down on either side of me to just veg.

"Shoot first?" I suggested. I mean, it would make life easier. But it made my skin crawl that a potential power user managed to worm their way into my stronghold. What would happen if they managed to stay here under the radar? How much influence could they hold after just a few days? A few months? A few years? And what would they do with it?

I shuddered thinking about it.

The beginning of a superhero movie started playing and I settled myself down, forcing what just happened out of my head. It was a problem for another day. Right now, sleep was calling and I was more than happy to answer.

---

Wang Chao strolled down the hallway and into the lobby of the apartment complex that Li Dai Lu had taken over. He could barely control the rage he was feeling as he thought about the confrontation between her and Ruan Ruo Xi. It was not up to the other woman to challenge Li Dai Lu. This was her home, her fortress and if anyone had an issue with that, well, hiding bodies was a lot easier at the end of days than it was before the world went to pot.

"Do you think it is a spirit user?" asked Liu Yu Zeng under his breath. Ren Rou Xuan and Ruan Rou Xi trailed behind them, not so close that they could hear their conversation, but not too far either.

"Probably," admitted Wang Chao. Even he could see that Ruan Rou Xi was acting a lot different than she had been for the past few months, but something still bothered him. In all of his practices, in all of the power that he had accumulated over the past three months, not once could he coerce someone to do something that completely went against their free will.

In other words, either this newcomer was much stronger than he was, or those thoughts that Ruan Ruo Xi spewed were what she really felt. He was hoping for the first one because it was a lot easier to kill someone than it was to try and replace Ruan Ruo Xi. 

Don't get him wrong, he could do it, it would just be a pain in the ass.

Sitting inside the lobby were the 25 people that had managed to gain entrance to the Elysian Base. Something that no one else had managed to do since they took the building over in December.

Wang Chao strolled to the front of the group, his presence alone commanded them to look at him and acknowledge him. "You have gotten farther than anyone else," he started, looking at each one of them, probing into their minds. "Congratulations on that." He quickly skimmed the surface, but couldn't find what he was hoping for. There was no spirit user in this group.

"Unfortunately, you will be turning around and leaving. I suggest that you try your luck at the Navy base, but frankly, it has nothing to do with us," Wang Chao continued, no longer caring about the people in front of him. But if there was no spirit user, then that meant that everything fell on Ruan Rou Xi's shoulders.

'There are only 24 of them here,' said Liu Yu Zeng, using the connection between the two men to speak. 'Someone has disappeared.'

'Fuck,' snorted Wang Chao, rubbing his forehead. Waving his hand to the men with guns surrounding the refugees, he indicated for them to remove the outsiders from the building.

"You can't do this to us!" one of the men yelled. His arms were around a woman quietly weeping. He was so desperate to stay here. He needed his wife to be safe. There was no place else to go.

Wang Chao turned around and looked at the man. "Give me one good reason why I can't," he said, a sneer on his lips. This was what Li Dai Lu had been warning them about for months. There would always be people wanting to take advantage of others without offering anything in return.

"My wife is pregnant," said the man, as a look of defeat crossed his face. It was a gamble to come here, but he had heard rumors about this place, that it was impenetrable, that it was the safest place in the country right now. He had to get his wife here. There were no other options.

"And what are you willing to do in return?" asked Wang Chao. His mind immediately went to what supplies would be needed just to have these people stay and he wondered if there was enough formula and diapers. He chuckled to himself when he realized that he was pulling a Li Dai Lu.

"Anything," said the man, straightening his back and staring at Wang Chao. "I can even leave if that is what you want, I just need my wife to be safe."

Wang Chao stared at the other man. He understood his feelings, and the drive to make sure that the person who meant everything in the world to him was safe and cared for. Searching his mind, Wang Chao closed his eyes. Tilting his head, he called Hua Le Yang over. "Find them a place for tonight. When she wakes up, Li Dai Lu will make the final call."

Hua Le Yang saluted and then turned to the couple. When the husband realized what was going on, he started to cry in relief. Nodding his head in thanks, he lead his wife over to where the soldier stood. Even if it was only for tonight. At least they would be warm and safe. They could figure out tomorrow when tomorrow came.

Seeing what just happened, the rest of the people in the lobby started to scream and shout about why they needed to stay, but by the end, they were all dragged out of the building and deposited on the other side of the gates. "Kill whoever tries to come across," said Liu Yu Zeng to the watch towers.

When he received their confirmation, he nodded his head and returned to Wang Chao's side.

"Was that a good idea?" he asked, cocking his head in the direction that the couple had gone in. Wang Chao shrugged his shoulders. "The guy was a prison guard, he will be handy to have around even if it is an extra pair of eyes in the crow's nest. Not to mention his wife is pregnant."

Liu Yu Zeng hummed in understanding. Li Dai Lu had a soft spot for children, especially now that there were so few. There was no way that she would send them away. "But they are the least of our concerns," reminded Wang Chao and Liu Yu Zeng moaned in response.

There was a rat hiding somewhere in the building, probably a spirit user. They would have to flush him or her out and fast, before they managed to tear down what they had worked so hard to build up.

"Any ideas?" asked Liu Yu Zeng as Wang Chao put in an emergency call over the radio.

"Yeah," he answered with a weary smile. "Kill anyone that we don't recognize."

Liu Yu Zeng nodded his head in approval. "Sounds good to me," he said as the two men waited for everyone to show up in the lobby. Hopefully, they could figure things out before Li Dai Lu found out or shit hit the fan