Picking Up My Ex-Wife in the Apocalypse - Chapter 25

The second Great Purge arrived with overwhelming force. Layers of dark clouds pressed down, thick with purple lightning snaking through the churning expanse. Si Qi looked up, watching blood-red mist pour from the sky like bolts of exquisite silk.

Standing by the window, she watched the glass shatter under the pressure of the wind, the shards deflected by her invisible spatial barrier. She stared at the crimson sun with a touch of curiosity. Do the people who didn’t enter the Purge see this, too?

Beside her, Luo Fenghe handed her a heavy tactical pack. Si Qi took it, noting that he was wearing an equally large pack. She pursed her lips. “Don’t you plan on coming back after this is over?”

“Better to be over-prepared,” Luo Fenghe said, wiping sweat and a thin trail of blood from a shallow scratch on his cheek. “Besides, it’s not like you lack the strength to carry it.”

“Don’t you have one of those storage pouches? You know, the tiny ones that hold a cubic meter of space?”

Si Qi found herself missing that little bag—weightless and effortless to carry. Luo Fenghe gave her a bizarre look and reached out to touch her forehead.

“No fever,” he muttered. “We aren’t Space-types, Si Qi. Where would we get a bag like that? We’re in an apocalypse, not a high-tech sci-fi era.”

Si Qi lowered her eyes and gave a soft “Mhm.” She had subconsciously assumed it was common technology; she’d forgotten that Si Ruxu was a Space-type and creating such a pouch was a specific use of her power.

She resigned herself to the heavy pack. As the blood-red mist descended to envelop them, she clipped her bag to Luo Fenghe’s so they wouldn’t be separated during the transition.

The mist didn’t dissipate, but the silence was soon replaced by the sounds of movement and the scent of various elemental powers. Si Qi leaned in and whispered, “We’re inside. There are people all around us.”

“I know,” Luo Fenghe replied calmly.

Si Qi: “???”

“Someone just stepped on my foot.”

He’s certainly composed, she thought. Getting stepped on in total darkness and not even flinching.

In the first Purge, Si Ruxu had kept them far away from the crowds, and they had survived because of it. She wondered what the goal was this time. Was it pure slaughter again, or something else?

As the mist thinned, Si Qi felt the crush of the crowd. Frowning, she blinked herself and Luo Fenghe to the edge of the plateau. Once the air was clear of the overwhelming scent of different powers, she stood firm.

Luo Fenghe looked around, startled by the sudden change in scenery. “You can do that, too? I thought your power was just white air blades.”

“It’s Space,” Si Qi corrected. “I can teleport. And they aren’t air blades; I’m tearing the space at specific points to cause damage.”

“The ‘favored daughter’ indeed,” Luo Fenghe said with a hint of envy.

“With great power comes great responsibility,” Si Qi murmured, repeating the weight she felt on her shoulders. “You have to be ready for the future.”

She felt like a mayfly dyed in a specific color, born with a mission, destined to live or die according to His plan. Destiny, it seemed, always had a price tag attached to its gifts.

*****

The Awakened around them were scanning the horizon in silence. Suddenly, text began to scroll across the sky-screen:

[Mission: Collect enough supplies within seven days.]

[Time Remaining: 7 Days.]

“Supplies? How much is ‘enough’? Can’t ‘He’ be specific?!” a man nearby screamed. His rank was low; he knew he’d have no advantage in a loot-fest.

No one answered him. Squads exchanged wary glances before splitting up. Hushed whispers drifted through the air:

“I heard only two people survived the last one. If ‘His’ goal is to kill us all, how much is enough?”

“Who knows? Just grab everything you can.”

“Wait… what if it’s a ranking system? Maybe only the top two collectors get to live?”

The crowd went silent at that suggestion. Several more teams disbanded instantly, trust evaporating.

Si Qi found a small hill and sat on a large rock. Luo Fenghe sat beside her. “The last Purge… was it a ranking system like they think?”

“No,” Si Qi said, wrinkling her nose. “I used my power to find a loophole. The Purge was designed to kill every single Awakened. It didn’t feel like a competition; it felt like an execution.”

Luo Fenghe nodded, looking down at the city ruins below. “This place looks like the early days of the apocalypse. There should be supplies in the city. People will scavenge today, but they’ll start killing each other for it by the end of the week.”

Si Qi opened her pack to offer him some jerky, but her hand froze. “You said this looks like the early days, right?”

Luo Fenghe nodded. He saw her eyes light up and let out a chuckle. “What is it?”

“We’re going to a supermarket.”

Before he could respond, the world blurred. They appeared inside a small convenience store. Being on the outskirts, no other Awakened had reached it yet. Si Qi began stuffing her bag.

Luo Fenghe reached out to stop her, then reconsidered and let his hand fall.

Si Qi didn’t grab rice or canned meat. She grabbed milk, yogurt, candy, chips, and spicy strips. Finally, she shoved two packs of instant noodles into Luo Fenghe’s arms. Hearing footsteps outside, she grabbed him and blinked back to their hilltop.

“I thought you were going to occupy the store,” Luo Fenghe said, adjusting to the teleportation. Si Qi sat down, tore open a bag of chips, and handed it to him.

“Occupy it for what?” she asked between bites. The familiar taste of the old world brought a rare, genuine smile to her eyes. “If the rule really is about collecting the most food, we can just rob the person with the biggest hoard on the last day. If the rule is a trick, then collecting it was useless anyway.”

Luo Fenghe sat beside her. “You suspect the condition isn’t that simple?”

Si Qi nodded. She sensed no killing intent in this space—at least not yet. For now, He didn’t seem to want them dead.

The first day passed in relative peace as the thousands of Awakened scattered to claim grocery stores and shops. No one wanted to waste energy fighting when there were still seven days on the clock.

*****

In a laboratory far away, a woman in a white coat watched the screen, scrolling through the “early apocalypse” scenes with interest.

“The first Purge was the late-stage apocalypse. The second is the early-stage. Do you think the next ones will be the world before the end?” Si Luoheng asked.

Si Ruxu sat nearby, her water untouched. “I don’t know.”

Si Luoheng let out a bored sigh and moved the feed. She scanned the map, seeing powerful Awakened claiming supply points while the weaker ones wandered the residential streets.

Si Ruxu watched the screen, her heart hammering with a mix of hope and dread. She knew Si Luoheng had made a deal with Him: five Purges. If humanity survived all five, the apocalypse would end.

But she didn’t know the price. Two years had passed since their last argument, and Si Luoheng had become sharp, paranoid, and volatile.

Suddenly, a red alert flashed on the screen. The tracking was being jammed. Si Luoheng chuckled. “Interesting. ‘He’ doesn’t want us to find Si Qi.”

Si Ruxu’s fingers tightened at the name. “Track Luo Fenghe instead.”

“On it.”

The screen flickered, showing Luo Fenghe and, beside him, Si Qi sitting on the ground happily eating chips.

“They’re interesting,” Si Luoheng laughed. “Everyone else is fighting for crates of grain, and they’re just having a snack.”

“They must have realized something,” Si Ruxu murmured. She might not fully understand Si Qi anymore, but she knew Luo Fenghe never did anything without a reason.

Si Luoheng watched her sister. She watched the way Si Ruxu’s eyes were glued to Si Qi, the way her pale face tightened with every movement. Her own gaze turned dark and possessive.

“Sister, for the last three months, every disaster has bypassed Luo Fenghe’s base. You know why. You know who is in that base.”

Si Ruxu looked down. “I don’t need you to remind me. I know the difference between personal feelings and the future of humanity.”

“I hope so,” Si Luoheng whispered, her smile not reaching her eyes.

She watched Si Ruxu with a hunger born of jealousy and insecurity. She wanted to replace Si Qi in her sister’s heart, but she couldn’t. She didn’t want to hurt Si Ruxu, so there was only one solution.

I’ll just make sure Sister stops loving her.

Si Luoheng stared at the image of Si Qi, her expression unreadable and cold.

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