Apocalypse Mode: My Cheat Code Virtual Boyfriend - Chapter 10

It was the third day since the apocalypse began. At 6:55 a.m., everyone was already up. After packing the last few items, they could head to their new home.

Originally, Bai Xun had planned to hire a moving company to transport their belongings. Their family’s Wuling van would have required multiple trips back and forth. However, after calling every moving company in the area, no one was willing to take the job.

With the heavy wind and rain, moving items in such downpours while worrying about furniture and valuables getting soaked, not to mention the calf-deep floodwaters on the streets, made the job more trouble than it was worth.

Left with no choice, they had to move everything themselves.

For the first trip, they drove Grandma, Mom, and Bai Xun’s younger sister to the 33rd floor. The supplies they had moved up the day before still hadn’t been unpacked. After dropping them off, Bai Xun and Cheng Wei returned to slowly transport the rest.

With the outside world growing increasingly unsafe, Bai Xun specifically warned them not to go downstairs before leaving the 33rd floor. They were to stay upstairs and wait.

The packed supplies had been carefully selected. Apart from grains, oils, rice, and flour, they also brought a few other items.

The pots, pans, bowls, and utensils were old companions that had been with Bai Guifang for years, not a single one could be left behind. Especially the extra-large rice cooker and the custom-made iron wok; these were the very tools that had cemented her reputation as the “Lunchbox Queen.”

Another rather unexpected kitchen item was a diesel flame jet gun, likely bought for singeing pig hair. However, due to its intense and hard-to-control flame, it had been left unused for a while.

As for why it was dug out again, it was probably because it could at least serve as a makeshift self-defense tool.

They also brought along several sets of lightweight, warm clothing and a few down quilts, these would come in handy during the upcoming cold waves and snowstorms.

The box of lettuce seedlings, two tomato plants, and two boxes of Chinese cabbage seedlings grown upstairs were taken. Along with them, small shovels and several unopened bags of soil they had bought were loaded into the car. The six chickens kept on the third floor were caught and placed in cages before being brought to the vehicle.

The small diesel generator was a valuable item, and with more than half a barrel of diesel left, it was definitely coming along!

Toothpaste, toilet paper, shower gel, if it could be used, why waste it?

After a full day of packing yesterday, there wasn’t actually much left to take. Bai Xun and Cheng Wei managed to move everything in just two trips. The house looked almost untouched, as if its owners had merely stepped out temporarily.

Bai Xun locked the front door, silently bidding farewell in his heart. He then got into the driver’s seat, leaving the self-built house far behind.

On the third day of the torrential rain, the floodwaters had risen even higher. It took them nearly three times the usual distance to drive into the underground parking lot of East City Yipin. Along the way, some sections of the road were already barricaded with flood-prevention sandbags to block the accumulating water. It seemed only a matter of days before all underground structures would be swallowed by the floods.

After moving everything to the 33rd floor, Bai Xun wanted to make one more trip outside. The remaining diesel wouldn’t last the generator another half-month.

Gas stations allowed private purchases of diesel with ID registration. Bai Xun brought along several extra-large empty plastic barrels from home, buying 300 liters should keep them going for about two months.

Flooded roads blocked their path. For some reason, the navigation system, which normally directed them to main roads, seemed to have gone haywire, leading them into a remote residential area with narrow, intersecting alleys. Although the water level here was lower, the further they drove, the more eerie it felt. Before long, they found themselves in an old urban renewal zone.

Bai Xun felt a creeping unease in his heart, as if something in the darkness was watching them. The Wuling minivan weaved along the edge of the half-collapsed wall, giving off the unsettling sensation of being surrounded by trees with grotesque, snarling faces.

Cheng Wei, sitting in the passenger seat, was clearly growing restless as well. His tail, which had been hanging quietly beside his calf, began to twitch agitatedly, causing the passenger seat to tremble slightly.

The cabin was sealed shut, with no windows open. Outside, an endless wall of rain diluted and washed away the scents of the outside world, simultaneously dulling the feline’s keen senses of hearing and smell.

Hesitating for a moment, Bai Xun accelerated to 60 kilometers per hour, hoping to quickly leave the area.

“Turn left ahead and enter Guilin Alley…”

The dark figures standing in the curtain of rain were illuminated by the headlights, and they all turned their heads toward the vehicle. Bai Xun’s heart skipped a beat as he sharply turned the steering wheel!

The nearest figure was struck by the front hood and slammed into a large elm tree at the entrance of the alley. A face with narrow, squinting eyes, rat-like whiskers, and a sharp snout pressed against the windshield. Its hair, covered in green moss, tangled in the wipers and slapped against the glass with each swipe, creating a scene both eerie and terrifying.

“Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit!!!”

Bai Xun instinctively slammed on the brakes, bringing the Wuling minivan to a halt. The next moment, a grating, teeth-chilling sound echoed from the side of the vehicle.

He shouldn’t have stopped! Those humanoid creatures were catching up!

“Don’t be afraid. Keep driving.”

Cheng Wei’s calm voice snapped Bai Xun back to reality. His body reacted before his mind could process the situation, he pressed the accelerator, shifted gears, and sped forward. The windshield, still bearing the rat-man, and the vehicle, now dragging an unknown number of them, burst through the rain curtain!

But this only shook off the rat-men who hadn’t yet climbed onto the vehicle. Those already on board dug their sharp claws into the sides of the van, gradually closing in on the cabin.

Cheng Wei took off his jacket, leaving only a thin, fitted T-shirt. He rolled down the window, reached out, and grabbed the head of a rat-man crawling outside. The creature’s hard skull felt like nothing more than a sheet of tin foil in his grip, crunching under the pressure.

“What are you doing? Get back in here! It’s dangerous outside!” Bai Xun spared a glance at Cheng Wei’s sudden movement. After crushing the skull of the scrawny rat-man and tossing it off the vehicle, Cheng Wei actually climbed halfway out of the window!

“They’re about to get into the cabin. I’ll be back. Close the window, Bai Xun.” With a burst of strength from his upper body, Cheng Wei flipped onto the roof of the vehicle. The next moment, the rat-man that had been snarling and baring its teeth at Bai Xun through the windshield was yanked upward by a single hand.

Bai Xun pressed the button to lock the windows. With the rat-man no longer blocking his view, his visibility improved significantly. Now, his only task was to focus on driving.

On the roof, Cheng Wei was surrounded by the short, nimble rat-men. These mutated creatures from the sewers were clearly more cunning and alert than the snake they had encountered earlier. They lunged at Cheng Wei in unison, covering his line of sight. Meanwhile, the two strongest among them, who had been clinging to the underside of the vehicle, quietly climbed up to the windows and began gnawing at the tempered glass with their rodent-like teeth.

The weak are easy targets, Bai Xun was far more appealing to bite into than Cheng Wei, with his muscular build.

Out of the corner of his eye, Bai Xun noticed a rat-man climbing up the side of the window, its sinister teeth aimed at him. With a surge of determination, he slammed on the accelerator and swerved toward a protruding, unstable wall nearby. An exposed steel rod pierced through the rat-man’s body, tearing it away from the window.

The other rat-man hanging on the opposite side was nearly flung off by the inertia, but its claws remained firmly hooked on the edge of the car window, refusing to let go.

Cheng Wei, under siege, flipped one over with a single swipe. The rat-men that lunged forward again to obstruct his vision were all swiftly dealt with, their necks twisted and their bodies tossed off the vehicle.

This greatly enraged the pack of mutated, communal monsters. At an even faster pace, using their companions’ lives as a price, they swarmed over him in a frenzy, entangling his limbs and piercing his flesh with sharp teeth and claws.

Cheng Wei seized two rat-men that lunged for his eyes, crushed their skulls underfoot, and kicked them off the vehicle. Those biting into his arms and back were grabbed by the nape of their necks, torn off, and killed with a single, decisive squeeze.

Bai Xun could no longer hear the heavy thuds of bodies hitting the roof of the vehicle from above. The battle up there must have ended. The rat-man hanging on the other side of the car window had jumped off at some point. Cheng Wei, lying on top of the driver’s cabin, reached down and knocked on Bai Xun’s window.

The Wuling mini-truck gradually slowed down and pulled over to the side of the road.

Cheng Wei jumped down from the roof, stripped off his thin T-shirt stained with blood and foul filth, tossed it into a roadside trash bin, and only then opened the car door to climb inside.

“Here.”

“Here.”

Both spoke at the same time and froze in surprise. Bai Xun reacted first, quickly draping a towel he had found in the car over Cheng Wei’s head. If he didn’t dry off, he’d freeze!

With the towel on his head, Cheng Wei unclenched his fist, revealing a translucent crystal shard resting in his palm, glowing with a soft, radiant light.

Bai Xun frowned, his gaze originally fixed on the bleeding wounds on Cheng Wei’s arms and shoulders, but the glow of the crystal shard drew his attention away.

An unexpected stroke of luck, it seemed they weren’t completely out of fortune after all.

Bai Xun lightly touched the crystal shard with his fingertip. It transformed into a beam of white light and vanished into his body, while a mechanical voice echoed in his ear: “Acquired Crystal Shard ×1. Current Crystal Shard Count: 2.”

A surge of joy rushed through his emotional center, but it was quickly replaced by concern. “The wounds must hurt a lot. Let me check where the nearest clinic is. We’ll go there right now.”

Cheng Wei pressed the towel firmly against his wounds. Felines had a high tolerance for pain, and his expression showed no sign of discomfort. “It’s fine. The wounds aren’t deep. Don’t worry about me. The bleeding will stop after a while. Let’s keep going to the gas station. Don’t waste time on my account.”

Bai Xun stared intently at Cheng Wei’s gray-edged white ears, which were now rotated backward. He was lying.

“We’re going to the clinic first.”

Bai Xun pressed his lips together and opened the navigation app. There was a clinic nearby that was still open, just a five-minute drive away.

“Are you angry? I’m sorry.” Cheng Wei put on his jacket. Whether from blood loss or the cold, his lips were faintly pale.

“I’m not angry. You could have told me it hurt. You promised me you would.” Bai Xun kept his eyes on the road, steadily driving into an open stretch.

“It hurts a little.” After a long pause, Cheng Wei muttered in a low voice.

Bai Xun suddenly regretted his words, they had been too harsh, his tone too heavy, laced with accusation.

Cheng Wei probably didn’t want him to worry. He could endure this level of injury until he got home, where he could pour alcohol on it and wrap it tightly with bandages. Everyone had been on edge these past two days, and he didn’t want to be the one holding them back.

Besides, Cheng Wei had gotten hurt because of him.

“I’m sorry, I was too harsh just now.” Bai Xun took a deep breath and sincerely apologized to Cheng Wei. “You got hurt protecting me, and I shouldn’t have stopped the car either, letting those rat-people climb up.”

The tip of Cheng Wei’s tail, slightly bedraggled from the rain, twitched. “It’s fine. Were you worried about me? If saying it hurts makes you care about me, I’ll remember that.”

Bai Xun blushed and changed the subject. “We’re almost at the clinic. Let them clean your wound later. I’m not sure if it’ll get infected after being soaked in rainwater.”

The tip of Cheng Wei’s tail swayed unconsciously, brushing against his calf again and again.

After arriving at the clinic, Bai Xun stayed with Cheng Wei while his wound was cleaned. When it was time for bandaging, Bai Xun excused himself to use the restroom. Closing the stall door, he opened the Star Game system panel.

He now had two crystal cones. One was reserved for the Ocean Ark, leaving the other to unlock either the Pet Home, Kitchen Simulator, or Renovation Master.

Bai Xun decided to unlock the Kitchen Simulator.