Apocalypse: Become stronger by absorbing flames at the start; my name is the Flame Emperor.

Tianhai City, outside the East District.

Inside an air-raid shelter, seventy or eighty people, men and women, young and old, were crammed together, all squatting on the ground with their legs drawn up to their chests.

Shivering.

"That rat swarm was terrifying. They were so dense that they devoured everything in their path, whether it was zombies or survivors."

"It's fortunate we didn't live in the city, otherwise we would have been doomed too."

"Yeah, I came to Tianhai City to see my girlfriend. Before I even got in, there was a rat swarm. I don't know if my school beauty girlfriend fed zombies or rats."

A young man with a buzz cut looked relieved, but also somewhat frightened.

"Tomorrow at dawn, I'm going to escape from here, escape from this city."

Lin Yu and the other two sat in a corner, closed their eyes, and rested quietly.

Just then.

The sound of footsteps echoed outside the air-raid shelter.

"Damn it! What bad luck!"

"These damn rats made me starve all day."

Before long, several figures walked in, cursing and swearing.

The young man at the head of the group was clearly taken aback when he saw the crowd in front of him. He hadn't expected there to be so many people in this remote and impoverished place.

Then, his eyes lit up.

He said to a burly man behind him, "Go, make them all hand over their food. Anyone who doesn't, I'll kill him."

Liu Qi's vicious voice sent a chill down everyone's spine.

In the apocalypse, everyone except the powerful Awakened Ones is starving.

The burly man nodded in agreement.

He walked towards the crowd.

"Kid, do you have any food? Hand it over."

The burly man held a steel knife and threatened the person closest to him.

"Brother, I don't have any food on me. You'll have to ask someone else for some."

The man remained calm and gave the burly man a cold look.

"Tier 1!"

With just one glance, the burly man felt a chill run down his spine and quickly said, "Never mind if you don't have any."

This scene brought a sigh of relief to everyone.

It seems this burly man is quite easy to talk to.

He quickly looked at the second person.

She was a fat woman, who looked to weigh at least 300 pounds, like a ball.

"Young man, I don't have any food either. You should ask someone else."

The fat woman's sweet "little brother" almost sent everyone present to their deaths.

I even throw up leftovers from the night before.

The burly man was stunned, and then kicked out.

Who knew!

Not only did he fail to kick the fat woman down, but he was also knocked back two steps by the rebound force.

Oh my god!

Is being fat and strong really useful?

Feeling the cold gaze of his boss Liu Qi sweep over him, the burly man was instantly enraged and kicked hard.

He kicked out suddenly.

There was no suspense at all; the fat woman was kicked to the ground.

Then another dozen or so kicks landed.

"You're so fat, how can you not have food? Do you look like someone who's easy to talk to?"

Those around them felt a chill run down their spines, thinking to themselves, "When you asked the first person for something, you were so polite; didn't you seem like someone who was easy to talk to?"

"Ouch~ Don't kick me, sir! I'll do anything you want!"

The fat woman kept calling him "little brother" in a deliberately affected, high-pitched voice, which disgusted everyone.

The burly man's face turned purple, and he kicked even harder, cursing as he did so.

"You're a handsome young man, right?"

"Hey bro!"

"Who the hell is your little brother?"

After dozens more kicks, the fat woman fell silent, clearly having been kicked to death.

The burly man, expressionless, snatched the fat woman's designer handbag and pulled out over twenty Snickers bars and some bread.

"Damn it, they really are asking for trouble."

The burly man cursed and kicked the man a few more times before leaving.

He pointed his steel knife at the remaining people and said fiercely, "Everyone, hand over your food willingly. If I find it, you'll end up like that fat old woman."

Everyone's faces turned ashen; they wanted to get angry but dared not.

Whoever the burly man approached, that person would obediently offer him the food he was holding.

"Grandpa, please, leave us some, or my grandson will starve to death."

An old woman was clinging to the strong man's leg, tears streaming down her face.

She had a lot of good stuff hidden in her bag; heaven knows how she's survived this long.

"Get out of here, or I'll kill your grandson too."

Upon hearing this, the old woman dared not utter another sound and silently squatted back in the corner.

Next, about thirty more people, though angry, dared not speak out and handed over their food.

Surprisingly, these people, who were not very strong, only around level three or four, had quite a lot of supplies on them.

"Brother, I just escaped here today, and I really have no food."

A rather pretty woman, her face pale, said.

As she spoke, she turned around to show that she had indeed not hidden anything.

"Take off your clothes, who knows if you're hiding in your bra? Nobody's that big!"

The burly man spoke with a lecherous grin.

The woman's face turned ugly. With so many people watching, asking her to take off her clothes was incredibly humiliating.

But that's how the apocalypse is; in her eyes, nothing is more important than survival than dignity and face.

Just as she was about to unbutton her clothes, a voice came.

"That's enough. The food we just looted is enough for you."

A square-faced man carrying a sword stepped out from the crowd, exuding an aura of righteousness.

Beside him was a little girl who looked about ten years old.

"Who do you think you are, to teach me how to do things?" The burly man's face turned cold.

"Whoosh!"

The square-faced man flashed and appeared in front of the burly man, throwing a heavy punch.

Extremely fast.

"Tier 1!"

Only two words flashed through the burly man's mind before he was sent flying by a punch.

It slammed heavily in front of Liu Qi's feet.

Liu Qi's face darkened, and he roared, "You fucking courting death! Brothers, attack together!"

As he spoke, he made the first move.

Unfortunately, he didn't understand the difference between level one and level ten. In just two minutes, all his underlings were lying on the ground groaning in pain.

Liu Qi's right hand was broken off, and he was in so much pain that cold sweat poured down his forehead.

"roll!"

The square-faced man glared.

He didn't want to meddle, but these people went too far.

He not only killed people, but also stole food from the elderly and children, and forced women to undress in public. He simply couldn't take it anymore.

"You just wait, this isn't over. Don't think you're so great just because you're at the first level," Liu Qi said angrily, clutching his arm.

"If we don't leave now, we'll die!"

The man with the square face stepped forward, startling the group of people who turned and ran.

After the group of thugs left, the square-faced man's expression softened, and he said to the crowd, "Everyone, take your food back."

Upon hearing this...

The people whose food had been searched rushed forward and stuffed the pile of food into their own bags.

"Old woman, this bag of cookies is mine. Are you putting them in your own bag too?"

"What proof do you have that it's yours? Your name isn't even written on it."

"I'll fucking kill you!"

"Ah! Murder! Someone's trying to kill this old woman! Everyone, come and judge this..."

This scene is strikingly similar to some images from before the apocalypse.

The noise lasted for more than ten minutes before it stopped.

"Big brother, thank you! If it weren't for you, we would have gone hungry tomorrow, and we don't know how we would have survived."

"Yes, young man, you're so kind-hearted, well done," the old woman chimed in.

"Thanks!"

Everyone kept praising the square-faced man.

This little incident enlivened everyone present, and they started chatting enthusiastically.

Lin Yu and the other two did not participate.

They were busy with their own things.

"Tomorrow morning, we'll go find Xiaoyou and the others. They're in an abandoned, unfinished building."

Lin Yu contacted his sister through the post.

Knowing they were alright, I breathed a slight sigh of relief.

"But six more of those brothers died."

Xiao Li and Zhou An were somewhat silent and saddened.

"Don't think too much about it. Get some rest. Tomorrow, the zombies and mutated rats will have a big battle, and then it will be our hunting season."

Lin Yu gently patted the two of them on the shoulders.

You just have to adapt to these things on your own.