Apocalypse: My Apartment Has Traits

Chapter 151: Chapter 134: Filling the Ranks

The rules of the wilderness are cruel and clear: if the Lord from the previous month is successfully hunted down, a new Lord will emerge in the same area by the end of the next month.

Only those villages which failed to eliminate last month’s threat will face the return of old enemies.

The long-buried questions in Su Lin’s heart can no longer be suppressed at this moment:

“Uncle, wasn’t the Lord from last month lured away by my parents using the Beast-Luring Incense, allowing the village to be saved? According to this, since the Lord wasn’t eliminated, shouldn’t it be the same one this month? Why would there be a new Lord?”

Su Qi’s cheek muscles twitched suddenly.

Captain Ye Xin’an and Liu Jun, among others nearby, also had flickering looks in their eyes as they unnaturally avoided meeting Su Lin’s gaze.

Seeing these unusual reactions, Su Lin felt a sinking feeling in his heart.

He furrowed his brows, his voice also growing heavy:

“What exactly is going on?”

Su Qi was silent for a moment before he let out a heavy sigh:

“Your parents did lure the Lord away, indeed. But… at the time, there was still an hour left before the beast tide ended…”

An hour? Su Lin’s heart chilled.

In such a short period, how could the Lord be lured far enough away?

It probably hadn’t gone far before that beast would turn back and kill again!

Su Qi shook his head bitterly, his voice carrying a suppressed pain:

“We’ve been telling everyone that your parents lured the Lord away, their fate unknown… Such words are just nice-sounding words meant for you to hear. Back then, you were too emotional, and I really… didn’t dare tell you the truth, nor speak of their final decision.”

Emotional?

Memories quickly flashed through Su Lin’s mind of when his parents first went missing.

Indeed, he was too emotional, sobbing and crying without end.

He instinctively felt a wave of disgust at the thought, a grown man crying like a giant baby, it was nauseating.

“So… my parents actually…” Su Lin’s voice carried a complex emotion.

Su Qi was silent for a long time again, slowly closed his eyes, and nodded heavily.

“At the time, Grandfather went with your parents as well; they all went with the determination to die. Grandfather even transferred the house title deed to me in advance…”

He opened his eyes, his gaze seemingly piercing through time, returning to that tragic night:

“According to Grandfather later, your parents… went into the Lord’s huge mouth with explosives and detonated them! This significantly injured it… In the end, it was Grandfather who risked his life and delivered the final blow.”

So that’s how it was.

Upon learning the truth, Su Lin didn’t feel much grief belonging to his predecessor.

His impression of those parents was ultimately just inherited slices of memory, difficult to truly resonate with.

But to avoid appearing out of place, he forcefully squeezed out two tears.

The room fell into oppressive silence. Everyone seemed to be carefully watching Su Lin’s reaction, considerate of his current “grief,” with no one speaking for the moment.

Su Lin felt helpless but was grateful he had sent Su Tongxi home earlier.

If that girl had been present and heard the news, she would probably have cried her heart out.

He took a deep breath, suppressed that deliberately induced sorrow, and his voice returned to calmness:

“Let’s discuss the pressing matters, they are urgent.”

Seeing him seemingly in control of his emotions, everyone visibly sighed in relief.

Su Lin now holds a very important position in the village, his strength is also central, no one wants to see him fall into depression due to grief, not to mention reverting to his former self.

However, Su Qi’s grief was genuine. He took some moments to calm his turbulent emotions before seriously getting back to the main topic:

“Rest assured, Grandfather should exit seclusion in the next couple of days. Changes from the early emergence of the Lord exist, but the impact shouldn’t be too great. However, to avoid today’s situation where Captain Ye was in danger, until Grandfather exits seclusion, all village activities outside will temporarily cease.”

“Understood.” Captain Ye Xin’an and Liu Jun immediately agreed.

Though Ye Xin’an risked his life against the beast tide, and was quite injured, his team’s overall loss wasn’t too severe; only a few were injured, and there were no life-threatening injuries. However, in the hunt for the Lord, this Tendon Lock Martial Artist might miss out.

Su Qi turned to Zhou Long and Chen Feng, speaking sincerely:

“Thanks to both of you joining our Martial Seal with the Yunzhou Clan, otherwise, even if Grandfather succeeds in breaking through to the First Transformation, our village manpower would be stretched thin.”

Zhou Long clasped his fists, concise:

“Just a part of our duty.”

After dealing with the injured and subsequent arrangements, everyone left with heavy hearts.

Arriving back at the Su Family’s Old Mansion, the Martial Arts Training Room upstairs remained silent.

Zhao Yaxin was looking after Su Yingying and didn’t ask much when the uncle and nephew returned, silently serving tea.

Sitting down, Su Lin went straight to the core issue:

“Uncle, now that the wilderness beast groups are rampaging, leaders running rampant, we go deep into hunting the Lord, isn’t the number of Flesh Lock Martial Artists in the village still insufficient?”

Su Qi had nothing to hide from his nephew, slowly nodding, with worry in his brows:

“Originally, with the addition of Zhou Long and his group, there’s barely enough. But…”

He paused, recalling Ye Xin’an’s description, his tone deeper:

“Now the leaders being driven to the wilderness outskirts by the Lord, are all over. We want to reach deep inside, inevitably fighting through beast groups along the way. This consumption… manpower indeed seems insufficient again.”

Su Lin pressed:

“Is the Lord’s location fixed?”

“No.” Su Qi shook his head, “It usually occupies the depths of the wilderness, requiring a search. But this time, it shouldn’t be hard to find. According to the description, this new Lord has a strong territorial awareness, likely when we step onto its domain, it’ll find us itself. The real challenge is how to safely cross this wilderness occupied by leader beast groups to reach the depths.”

“Hmm.” Su Lin’s lips suddenly curled into a crafty smile, “Perhaps, uncle, you needn’t worry about this.”

Su Qi was taken aback:

“Oh? What do you mean?”

“I have a clever plan.” Su Lin teased, his eyes shining with confidence, “Just trust me, Uncle. I’ll handle the Flesh Lock Martial Artist situation. For other arrangements, proceed as you planned.”

“You little rascal…” Su Qi was both amused and exasperated, gesturing at him.

Though curious, he had long trusted his nephew deeply.

“Good! In that case, I’ll arrange the manpower and route as usual.”

“No problem.”

With business concluded, Su Lin looked up at the ceiling, with concern for Grandfather in his eyes:

“As for Grandfather’s side, is it truly without risk?”

Su Qi assured:

“Relax. Grandfather was deeply poisoned before, took some time to completely eliminate residual toxins, the breakthrough itself poses no problem. He even needed only four Treasure Meat pieces, Qi and Blood are already filled; he’s just waiting for the breakthrough.”

His tone shifted, looking at Su Lin, eyes filled with expectation:

“It’s actually you, the Shadow Core is about to fill, isn’t it tonight?”

Su Lin nodded, eyes gleaming:

“Tonight.”