Picking Up My Ex-Wife in the Apocalypse - Chapter 7

A crushing pain radiated through her entire body. Si Qi struggled to open her eyes, swallowing back the metallic taste of blood. She felt something heavy pinning her down, rendering her unable to move. After a few short, ragged breaths, her consciousness fully returned, and she saw what was lying on top of her.

It was Si Ruxu. The woman was ghost-white, her breathing shallow and weak. There wasn’t a trace of elemental energy left in her body; she looked as vulnerable as any ordinary human.

Si Ruxu’s eyelashes fluttered as if she were trapped in a nightmare. Her pale fingers were white-knuckled, gripping Si Qi’s clothes like a lifeline. Si Qi’s eyes darkened. Even now, if she wanted to kill Si Ruxu, the woman wouldn’t be able to lift a finger to stop her.

Given their history, Si Qi didn’t believe Si Ruxu was the type to show such total vulnerability unless she was truly at her limit. Did we run into more danger after I passed out? Where are we?

Si Qi adjusted Si Ruxu’s position, resting the woman’s head on her lap. She sat up and looked around. The air was thick with the fresh, crisp scent of greenery. They were in a simple room woven from living plants. There’s no furniture, no lamps, yet strangely well-lit.

Once she confirmed there was no immediate danger, Si Qi closed her eyes to check her own condition. The wounds in her abdomen and chest had mostly healed, leaving only patches of tender pink skin. Her energy reserves were at an unprecedented high. Following the flow of her power, her consciousness arrived at a sealed space.

Inside that space was a familiar double bed; the one Si Ruxu had pulled out in the cave—along with various food supplies and crates of unknown items. But what dominated the view was a literal mountain of energy crystals.

In the two years since the apocalypse began, Si Qi had rarely seen Si Ruxu at the base. Most of her time was spent in the wasteland—scavenging, collecting samples, or hunting hordes. Every step was a dance with death, and this mountain of crystals was the physical record of the life Si Ruxu had led.

Si Qi looked down and withdrew her consciousness. It didn’t take a genius to realize her Space ability had somehow linked with Si Ruxu’s. Perhaps it was a resonance between similar powers, or maybe another “greedy” survival instinct of her second ability.

But she didn’t want to take Si Ruxu’s things. No one was obligated to live as a parasite. Now that she had the power to protect herself, the embers of her long-buried self-respect began to flare up once more.

Si Qi slowly began channeling energy into Si Ruxu. She wasn’t a healer, but she could provide enough raw fuel to jumpstart Si Ruxu’s own regenerative powers. Based on their time together, it seemed Si Ruxu currently lacked the strength to even absorb crystals on her own.

******

After a long while, Si Ruxu’s eyes flickered open. Si Qi didn’t miss the split-second flash of guarded alertness in those amber depths.

Si Qi offered a faint, indifferent smile. “You’re awake?”

Si Ruxu nodded, still looking drained. She lazily wrapped her arms around Si Qi’s waist, leaning in close. “It’s safe here. A mutated plant is sheltering us; I traded that wolf carcass for a few days of protection.”

Si Qi nodded. It made sense. Plants were starved for nutrients after a Great Frost. A mutated wolf was a perfect offering.

Suddenly, something tapped Si Qi’s back. She turned to see a small vine holding a piece of fruit. It placed the fruit in her hand and slowly retreated. Quite a polite plant, she thought.

Si Qi lifted the limp woman and settled her properly in her arms. “How did you get hurt?”

Her voice was low and slightly raspy from dehydration, but it held a hint of hidden softness.

“Just some energy depletion,” Si Ruxu replied tersely.

Si Qi caught a glimpse of the “professional” Si Ruxu in that brief answer. “Miss Si Ruxu, you are currently an injured party and my ally. You need to tell me exactly how you were hurt, why you can’t recover your energy on your own, and how I can help you. Clear?”

Si Qi’s voice was calm and steady, possessing a weight that didn’t belong to a newly awakened rookie.

Si Ruxu hadn’t expected Si Qi to be able to help, and she was about to decline when she looked up and met Si Qi’s eyes. The blood-red patterns were still there, unnerving and eerie yet the worry in Si Qi’s gaze was like a cup filled to the brim, spilling over.

Si Ruxu’s throat tightened. Finally, she compromised. “It’s core exhaustion.”

Core exhaustion meant the body’s energy was so depleted that it lacked the “suction” required to pull power from crystals. It was like a starving person too weak to even chew. It was incredibly dangerous, yet Si Ruxu had continued to push herself.

Si Qi realized then: Si Ruxu didn’t value Si Qi’s life, but she didn’t seem to care much for her own, either.

Si Qi pressed the fruit from the plant into Si Ruxu’s mouth and placed a hand over the woman’s abdomen, channeling energy directly into her core. Simultaneously, that other “greedy” strand of power inside her surged out, ignoring Si Qi’s commands and shamelessly siphoning energy from Si Ruxu’s space.

Si Qi tried to reel it in, but it wouldn’t budge.

“It’s fine,” Si Ruxu murmured, leaning comfortably into the embrace. “I have plenty of those.” She didn’t seem to mind the intrusion into her space or the theft of her crystals. She just nibbled on the fruit, letting the warmth of the incoming energy repair her parched core.

“Do you like children?” Si Ruxu asked out of the blue.

The question was so jarring that Si Qi’s energy flow actually wavered. “I like… the ones that listen,” she answered cautiously, her mind full of question marks.

“I’ll give you a million points,” Si Ruxu said, her voice as flat as if she were discussing the weather. “Breed with me.”

******

In this world, the union of high-level rare Awakened almost guaranteed a powerful child. But pregnancy in the apocalypse was a massive risk. The base had tried this with three high-level couples over the last two years; only one had succeeded. That child, at just one year old, could already use telekinesis to fix its own bottle.

At first, Si Qi thought it was a joke. Then she realized it was something much worse.

She searched Si Ruxu’s eyes for a hint of humor. There was none. “Can’t we just end the apocalypse after the five Great Purges?”

“I don’t know if I’ll survive five Purges,” Si Ruxu said, wiping her hands. “And I don’t know what the ‘truth’ at the end will be.”

“So you want to leave behind a high-level child to secure the base’s future?” Si Qi laughed, a bitter sound. “How can you guarantee the child will survive those Purges?”

For the first time, Si Qi was glad she had been an ordinary human. She hadn’t been tortured by the “truth,” and she didn’t view the base as her religion.

“I decline,” Si Qi said, emphasizing every word. She couldn’t lecture Si Ruxu, but she could hold her ground.

Si Ruxu didn’t argue. Over the next few days, they survived on the fruit the plant provided. In exchange, Si Qi nourished the plant with her energy. Occasionally, Si Ruxu offered her canned goods or jerky, but Si Qi refused them.

They maintained a tacit silence regarding the “breeding” proposal. By the fourth day, Si Ruxu had recovered enough to defend herself.

Before heading out to scout, Si Qi reported her plan. “I’m going to look around and see if any hunters are nearby.”

Si Ruxu handed her a knife and hid several Level 6 crystals on her person. “Be careful… come back early.”

She adjusted Si Qi’s clothes with the intimacy of a lover, though she carefully made sure the tracking device she’d planted remained hidden. Si Qi saw it, of course. She just smiled and said nothing.

*****

As soon as she left the plant’s domain, a bounty poster blew against her foot. The woman on the poster looked cold, exquisite, and untouchable.

“Hey, you over there. Are you looking for Si Ruxu too?”

Si Qi turned. It was a young man with a friendly face, likely a college student before the world ended. He saw the poster in her hand and walked over. “Me too. Want to team up? We can split the points fifty-fifty.”

Very few people had the guts to hunt Si Ruxu alone. Si Qi looked at him, her distrust evident. But the boy didn’t give up. “I’m Luo Fenghe. Ever heard of me?”

Luo Fenghe. Si Qi’s eyes flickered. A genius from the neighboring base—a Metal-elemental whose missions never failed. He was known for being incredibly powerful, able to take on ten opponents at once.

“Never heard of you,” Si Qi said. She had no interest in him. She walked toward the base, casually dispatching a few wandering zombies along the way.

Most hunters were currently circling the “last known” coordinates, but Si Qi led the boy toward a remote cliff. Once they were completely isolated, she stopped and turned around.

The space around her began to ripple and tear. The blood-red patterns crawled across her face as she stared at the boy stepping out from the shadows.

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