Reborn One Week Before the Apocalypse

Chapter 450: Chapter 440: Astonishing Action

After a fierce internal struggle, Xu Shan ultimately put the items back and returned to her room in silence.

’I can’t take anything with me. If I go, I’ll just be another mouth for my brother to feed. I’d be better off just staying here and not causing trouble for anyone.’

As a grown woman, Xu Shan could do the math.

Seeing that Xu Shan had made her choice, Tang Mo went back to bed.

It was as if the incident had never happened. Neither of them ever mentioned it again.

With Xu Yuanshan’s family taken care of, Tang Mo brought out another batch of food from his room. And just like that, the Xu Family resumed their happy life of two meals a day.

Tang Mo also went back to his routine of training with Mr. and Mrs. Xu.

Xu Shan, feeling she was too old for it, would just watch with Pingping and An’an instead of participating.

As for Zhou Jingyi, that last fight seemed to have reawakened something within her. Her passion for training and learning grew even more intense. This made Mr. Xu nervous. Fearing his wife and the others would eventually surpass him in strength, he too became more driven and diligent.

For some reason, the Xu Family’s enthusiasm for physical training intensified. Sometimes, when Tang Mo wanted to be lazy, lie around a little longer, and watch some shows, the ever-eager Mr. and Mrs. Xu would drag him up from the bed, the couch, the chairs—wherever he was hiding.

’This is all well and good, but can’t we have some moderation?!’ Tang Mo silently wiped away a tear of misery.

A few days later, Tang Mo suddenly felt a portion of the spiritual power he’d left to monitor the property management center sever.

’Has a Spirit Attribute Superpower User appeared?’

’No, that’s impossible. Neither Zhang Laohu’s group nor Xu Jinsan’s group are Spirit Attribute Superpower Users.’

’The only other possibility is... someone at the property management center died.’

Meanwhile, Xu Jinsan and his family were gathered in the living room of the property management center, completely unaware that, right beside them, several of the people who had been tied up were now corpses.

Although Zhang Laohu and his men were Superpower Attribute Users, they weren’t invincible. They were still flesh and blood, their physical conditioning merely a cut above that of an ordinary person.

And so, quietly, all of them except for Zhang Laohu had perished from the prolonged lack of food and water.

Zhang Laohu, however, was comparatively lucky. Xu Jinsan had given him some water on the day he arrived, so his condition was slightly better. He could still hold on for a while.

Still, if he didn’t get any more food or water, he likely only had a few days left.

Sitting to one side, Xu Jinsan was in no mood to worry about whether these men lived or died.

"Why isn’t Auntie back yet? Did something happen? Or did she get caught?"

Xu Ru was aware of the plan her family had made with her aunt, and she’d been waiting these past few days for her aunt to bring food.

"That Xu Yin is a cunning little wench. It’s been days and Auntie still hasn’t come out. That girl must have found out."

Tan Jing spat on the floor. Just the mention of Xu Yin made her grind her teeth in hatred.

’If that little troublemaker hadn’t meddled, they wouldn’t be freezing and starving like this. They’d still be in that big house, drinking warm porridge in comfort.’

Xu Yuanshan said nothing, but he clearly agreed with his wife.

’Their family knew all too well how easy Xu Shan was to manipulate. She did whatever they said; she couldn’t even bring herself to argue.’

’Now that things hadn’t gone according to plan, it must mean they’d been found out.’

’It seemed the plan to have his older sister bring the children and food out was a bust. If they wanted to fill their stomachs and find something to eat, they’d have to think of another way.’

’If they couldn’t find more food soon, his family would starve to death.’

Xu Yuanshan’s family of three were all ordinary people. If they couldn’t find anything to eat, they wouldn’t last as long as Zhang Laohu.

’But what other options were there?’

Xu Yuanshan’s gaze fell once more upon the near-death Zhang Laohu.

"You said you could find food?"

Xu Yuanshan yanked the gag from Zhang Laohu’s mouth again.

"What is it? Finally couldn’t take it anymore and came to beg your granddaddy?"

Zhang Laohu was a strange one. Even in his current state, he refused to utter a single conciliatory word. It was as if he wasn’t the one tied up, but the other way around.

Xu Yuanshan suppressed his disgust. "How about a deal? You find food for us, and I’ll untie you. I’ll give you a chance to live."

Of course, Xu Yuanshan knew Zhang Laohu was a ticking time bomb, but at this point, he had no better options.

"Fine," Zhang Laohu agreed quickly.

"Yuanshan, is this really a good idea? If you untie him..."

Tan Jing didn’t finish her sentence, but everyone present knew what she meant to say.

Xu Yuanshan was hesitant, and his movements slowed.

Finally, Xu Yuanshan’s eyes landed on a small stool off to the side.

The stool was made of wood, but it looked heavy.

With barely a moment’s hesitation, Xu Yuanshan lifted the small stool and brought it down viciously on Zhang Laohu’s right arm.

ARGH!!!

Zhang Laohu screamed in agony.

But Xu Yuanshan didn’t stop. He smashed the stool against Zhang Laohu’s shoulder and right arm again and again, until the bones within were completely shattered.

Not even the monstrously vicious Zhang Laohu had expected the man before him to be so ruthless.

’To prevent me from getting revenge later, to control me better... he actually thought to cripple one of my arms.’

Hatred surged in Zhang Laohu’s heart. The resentment from being tied up for days had already been building to a breaking point.

And in fact, that was exactly what Xu Yuanshan was thinking.

’Zhang Laohu looked tall, sturdy, young, and powerful. If I really let him loose, I wouldn’t stand a chance against him, not with two women to look after.’

’In times like these, there was no such thing as trust between people.’

’There was no choice. I had to cripple his right arm.’

Xu Yuanshan was confident he could handle a one-armed Zhang Laohu.

’After all, I’ve been doing manual labor for many years. I might not be a match for a young, strong man, but I have no doubt I can overpower a cripple.’

Seeing Xu Yuanshan’s actions, Tan Jing and Xu Ru were inwardly surprised, but neither said a word to stop him.

’In their hearts, they felt the same as Xu Yuanshan: this was the only way to guarantee their own safety.’

But Xu Yuanshan’s calculations were doomed to fail. Because the news wouldn’t broadcast such things openly, he had no way of knowing that a new type of human had appeared in the world: the superpower user.

And superpower users were beings who completely transcended ordinary people, who couldn’t be measured by common logic.