Even without cheats, we must survive the apocalypse

"Nothing more. Do you think an elephant would care about an ant crawling on its body?" Angelo suddenly laughed, very satisfied with Chu Xiao's attitude. "Sir, you underestimate the cult and Sir Lobelin. It is true that there are some doubts about you and Miss Ruan, but that is not important. The cult does not care."

"The value of you and Miss Ruan is enough for us to ignore those insignificant doubts."

At this moment, Chu Xiao understood that he and Mengmeng were being won over by the cult.

Chapter 54 Warrior

Chu Xiao had heard from classmates who went abroad to work that it was very easy to encounter the kind of religious persuasion that seemed unreliable at first glance.

He never thought that one day he would encounter such a thing.

If we consider it from the other side's perspective, Chu Xiao and Ruan Mengmeng are certainly worth being won over. Even though they were at a great disadvantage in terms of numbers and equipment, they were still able to almost wipe out more than a dozen fully armed enemies. Such talents are extremely valuable in the post-disaster world.

No... If that's all, what kind of value is it that makes these people not even consider the doubts about them? Because they were caught by Shikoti so suddenly, Anna lied in a hurry. Even with Shikoti's help, many details can't stand up to scrutiny. Not to mention the long-term, as long as the cult members go to the island again to check, even if Suxin and the others evacuated in advance, the traces left behind are not so easy to hide from professionals.

So... is there a deeper reason behind this? Is it really just because I "don't care"?

Chu Xiao's brain was working rapidly, but Angelo just looked at him quietly, as if giving him time to think.

He suddenly remembered a small thing. When he just boarded the ship, Dr. Heidi had helped him treat his wounds, and the blood-stained gauze after treating the wounds was taken away by her.

Could it be that the blood taken away by Dr. Heidi at that time revealed something?

At this moment, Chu Xiao was even worried about whether he would be caught and sliced, but judging from Anglo's current attitude, he didn't have to worry about becoming a test subject. And Shi Koti had already told him not to worry, so Chu Xiao could only suppress his anxiety for the time being.

"The second question is, are you willing to become one of us?"

Sure enough, Angelo's second question was a direct invitation to Chu Xiao.

In response, Chu Xiao smiled bitterly: "Do I have the right to choose?"

"Of course." Angelo said, "You may have some prejudice against us, but the Order... at least here, we will not force you to make a choice. If you insist on refusing, you will still be a VIP on the ship for saving Miss Anna, but... Mr. Lobelin will feel very sorry."

"At the same time, if you choose to reject my invitation, then the process will remain the same. We will have to conduct more detailed inquiries and investigations on the suspicious points between you and Miss Ruan, as well as any other companions you may have. Ah, don't worry, this is not a threat, it's just a normal process."

Chu Xiao cursed inwardly. Is this called "having a choice"? Can this be considered "not a threat"? He understood what the other party meant. If he obeyed and cooperated, then this inquiry and review would be a mere formality. But if he refused, then all kinds of escalation and in-depth investigation would be carried out... The consequences would be completely unpredictable. At the same time, the previous deception and this refusal could be regarded as a great disrespect to Sir Lobelin. Although the Sir seemed amiable, Chu Xiao knew in advance from Anna's diary that Sir Lobelin was a dangerous person who regarded human life as worthless. At least on this ship, the other party really controlled his life and death.

"Young man, you may not know what a precious opportunity the invitation given to you by Sir is."

Chu Xiao knew that this was Anglo's way of offering his price, or in other words, showing goodwill. This made Chu Xiao feel like he was participating in an interview at a company, but this was an interview that could not be failed.

Chu Xiao laughed, looking very relaxed: "Can I ask a question?"

Angelou was patient: "Of course."

"What are we really worth? I know my own worth. Aside from being able to fight, I can't imagine why you are suddenly so... lenient towards us?"

Angelo shook his head: "To use your words, Mr. Chu, you underestimate yourself. Your value is far greater than you think."

The tall man whispered, "Do you know 'Warrior'?"

Angelo used the English word "warrior", and even Chu Xiao, who was extremely weak in foreign languages, could understand it.

"At least, I understand the meaning of this word."

"Then let me tell you now, Mr. Chu, your value lies in the fact that you are a 'warrior', and a rare naturally born 'warrior'."

Through Anglo's explanation, Chu Xiao finally understood that the so-called "warriors" were "secret weapons" artificially enhanced by using viruses and the technology of the cult, which were somewhat similar to the "super soldiers" in the movies. Their degree of enhancement was far beyond that of ordinary people, and had already broken through a certain irreversible threshold.

Angelo told Chu Xiao that "warriors" are extremely rare talents. Only those who have a high adaptability to "gifts" and strong willpower can become warriors. In order to cultivate a warrior, the cult often has to pay a huge price and maintain it through various drugs.

"Through testing a small amount of your blood, our people have determined that you are a very rare person who is born with a high affinity for the Gift. Therefore, your body can withstand the Gift and be strengthened from an ordinary person to the current level, almost equivalent to the 'warriors' of the cult." Angelo said, "Since the Manifestation, other branches of the cult have also reported very few similar cases of humans who are born with a high affinity for the Gift, but you are the first case we have actually encountered here."

The look in the other party's eyes made Chu Xiao's hair stand on end. Although Shi Kodi had warned him in advance, Chu Xiao still felt a little uneasy when he heard the other party's tone: "You are not going to slice me up, are you?"

Chu Xiao knew that he was able to reach his current level entirely because of his sister who had been injected with the stabilizer.

"Please rest assured about this. A living warrior is far more valuable than a mouse on a lab bench. The cult has already collected sufficient data on the warrior's physique. Moreover, you appeared at a very good time. If it was two months ago when you just appeared, you might have been asked to make some sacrifices for the cause of the cult."

Chu Xiao already knew by this time that these people in the cult called the virus a "gift" and the catastrophe a "manifestation of God."

Angelo seemed to have grasped Chu Xiao's lifeline and said, "According to our people's speculation, you have been able to survive until now because of your body's high adaptability. You unconsciously used the gift to strengthen yourself in danger and gradually reached the level of a 'warrior'. Unfortunately, based on our current understanding of 'warriors', no matter they are natural warriors or warriors trained by the cult, once they break through a certain threshold, they will gradually fall into irreversible loss of control after using the 'gift' again and again. Only the medicine developed by the cult can suppress it. Without the support of the cult, your life is actually almost gone."

"After all, how can mortals accept the gift from the gods without paying a price?"

After hearing what Angelo said, Chu Xiao showed a complicated expression, showing fear and uneasiness at the right time, but in his heart he was sorting out and digesting this overwhelming amount of information.

The reason why the cult wanted to win him over was because they saw his high affinity with the virus, which exceeded the level that normal people could achieve after the disaster, broke through a certain limit, and reached a strength comparable to that of the so-called "warriors" of the cult. Therefore, they judged that Chu Xiao was worth winning over, and believed that they held the trump card to control Chu Xiao.

But Chu Xiao himself knew that he was not a natural "warrior" and he relied entirely on his sister to stabilize his physical condition. Therefore, the means used by the cult to restrict him were meaningless from the beginning.

"What about Mengmeng? Is she also a 'warrior'?" Chu Xiao asked.

"Through her fight with Shikoti and the confession of the guy you captured alive, Miss Ruan has also been strengthened to a considerable extent, but in fact, she is still within the normal range and has not broken through the threshold to reach the level of a warrior. Her overly strong fighting power is largely because she was already strong enough before receiving the gift." Angelo sighed, "It should be said that she is worthy of being the daughter of Ruan Zhaolong."

Chapter 55: Passing the Level

The virus has a strengthening effect on the human body. Those who survived have a certain degree of adaptability to the virus, but the direction of this strengthening varies from person to person. Take the girls around Chu Xiao as an example. Even the weakest Su Muhe, although the degree of improvement is limited, her physical strength has actually increased a lot compared to before the disaster.

There are even clouds around him that are metaphysical in nature.

Chu Xiao also saw with his own eyes the extremely strange and terrifying monsters that were born from this virus. He felt that even the cult that had done the most in-depth research on the virus might not be able to fully grasp the full picture of this virus.

"warrior"……

Chu Xiao pretended to be terrified and confused, but she was quietly chewing on this word in her heart. Because during the training, Shi Koti showed her the ability to heal herself.

That woman possesses abnormally strong strength, so she is also a so-called "warrior"?

But Chu Xiao remembered that when she was in the hospital, she was still playing the role of "Zheng Wei". After being shot by An Suxin with a pistol, she obviously bit the medicine hidden in her teeth and entered a state similar to his "deep enhancement", bursting out unimaginable powerful strength, quickly healed the wound, and escaped.

If we consider my own experience, the "warriors" of the cult are unable to actively enter a state of "deep enhancement" by their own will like me?

Gu Ke also said that there had been a survivor in the shelter who actively stimulated his emotions to enter deep enhancement, but that person's adaptability to the virus was obviously not as good as Chu Xiao's. The only time he actively enhanced himself, he went into an irreversible state of loss of control and was eventually shot dead. His body was taken away by Sun Baishi's people for research.

From this perspective, the fact that he was able to survive the first active strengthening might really be considered some kind of special talent?

"How is it? Have you thought it through?" Angelo interrupted Chu Xiao's thoughts.

Chu Xiao lowered his head to hide his chaotic thoughts: "...Since you said so, I have no choice, right? I agree to join."

Perhaps because he felt that he had the trump card to contain the opponent, Anglu didn't care whether Chu Xiao was sincere or not.

The tall head of the security department stood up and extended his hand to Chu Xiao: "This is a very wise decision. In a few days, you will feel honored. The bishop will personally hold an initiation ceremony for you."

Chu Xiao shook Angelo's hand perfunctorily, but the other party didn't care and just thought that Chu Xiao was overwhelmed by the massive amount of information.

"I would like to ask you one last question."

"Please say."

"Who are those people who want to capture Anna? Who are your enemies?"

Angelo corrected him with a little dissatisfaction: "Mr. Chu, your question at this time should be who is our enemy?"

His answer was vague: "The enemies of the Order are a bunch of lunatics. You may meet them again soon."

After that, Angelo asked a few more questions symbolically and left the room. After the door of the interrogation room was opened, Chu Xiao saw two familiar figures walking past the door. One of them was wearing a serious and formal maid outfit, and the whole person looked serious, capable and elegant. She was the head maid, Ms. Sophia, who had met her once before, and following behind the head maid was Heidi, a female doctor in a white coat.

Ms. Sophia nodded slightly to Chu Xiao in the room and turned to leave. Heidi blew a kiss to Chu Xiao at the door and even deliberately opened the collar of her shirt to Chu Xiao, showing her deep cleavage.

It seems that the two people who were observing me behind the one-way mirror before were probably these two people.

After Anglo left, a staff member came in and told Chu Xiao that he could leave. As soon as he walked out of the interrogation room, he saw his girl sitting on a chair, swinging her long legs idly.

Seeing Chu Xiao coming out of the interrogation room, Ruan Mengmeng immediately rushed over and hugged Chu Xiao: "Brother Xiao, those bastards didn't do anything to you, right?"

Chu Xiao rubbed the girl's head, indicating that he was fine.

This was not the place to talk, so the two of them left the security department under the guidance of the waiter. When they walked out of the elevator again, the prosperous atmosphere filled the air, and Chu Xiao finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Mengmeng, what questions did they ask you?" Chu Xiao asked Ruan Mengmeng while moving towards the room.

Ruan Mengmeng scratched the back of her head and replied, "The questions they asked were actually quite perfunctory, not much different from what we had expected. No, they were even more general. It felt to me like they were just trying to get the task done quickly and go through the motions. In the end, I came out not long after I went in, and I had to wait at the door for a long time."

"Brother Xiao, what did that tall guy say to you?"

Chu Xiao rubbed his face and said, "This is a lot of information. Anyway, let's go back to the room first. It will take some time to digest it slowly. When we go back, we should check if the monitoring devices are still there."

Aita stayed alone in the bedroom reserved for servants, neither sleeping nor entertaining herself, but just sitting there quietly, like a beautiful statue. When Chu Xiao and the others came back, Aita came out of the room and respectfully greeted her master.

The room was very clean. Etta had tidied it up after they left, making it look very tidy. It even gave off a sense of desolation as if no one lived there.

Chu Xiao nodded to the maid, but did not rush to speak. Instead, he went straight to check the two locations where the eavesdropping devices were placed in the room. As expected, all the ** had been recovered.

"I have finally gotten through this hurdle temporarily." Chu Xiao muttered to himself, sat down on the sofa, and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Aita, has anyone entered this room before?" Chu Xiao asked Aita.

"An hour ago, two of Sophia's trusted maids came here," Aita replied. "I'm sorry, Master. I tried to stop them, but even though we're both androids, their authority level is higher than mine, and I couldn't resist."

Eta bowed her head deeply and apologized to Chu Xiao.

"What do you have to apologize for?" Chu Xiao smiled and didn't take it to heart. After all, as a man-made person created by the cult, it was natural that Etta could not disobey the orders of the higher-ups. "So what did they do after entering the room?"

"A total of twelve listening devices were dismantled."

Chu Xiao was stunned for a moment, and then couldn't help but complain, "Fuck." Shi Koti only gave him two pieces of information, but when he came over and opened them up, he jumped to twelve?

Just at this moment, someone suddenly came to visit outside the door.

Chu Xiao was not surprised at all when he opened the door and saw the figure outside. Anna pouted and appeared outside with a stern face, but what Chu Xiao did not expect was that the person accompanying Anna was not Shikoti, but the head maid Sophia.

Chu Xiao was a little surprised, because this head maid rarely showed up. From what he saw today, this Sophia was definitely not just a maid.

"Are you surprised, Mr. Chu?" The head maid smiled slightly. Although she was nearly forty years old, Chu Xiao had to admit that she was a woman with great grace and charm.

"I really didn't expect you to come to visit me," Chu Xiao was a little unsure about the purpose of the head maid's visit, "but I'm not surprised by Miss Anna's visit. After all, she and Mengmeng have a very harmonious relationship."

Anna pouted and snorted.

"So, you won't invite us in?" The head maid smiled. "It's quite rude to let guests stand at the door."

(ps: There are too many pits dug in the front. It’s fun to play with the pits, but it’s painful to fill them...)

Chapter 56: Questioning

The visit of head maid Sophia was completely a surprise to Chu Xiao. Although he had not seen her many times, Chu Xiao vaguely realized that this person dressed as a maid was probably the top authority on the ship, second only to Sir Lobelin.

Judging from Anna's behavior, she was obviously more afraid of Sofia than her father.

As soon as Anna entered the room, she ran excitedly to Ruan Mengmeng and complained in a low voice about what a crazy learning task the head maid had assigned her. Ruan Mengmeng, who had also been forced by her family to learn a bunch of young lady skills, directly expressed her understanding and agreement, and immediately regarded Anna as a comrade-in-arms in the same trench.

"What about that woman? Was she finally fired by your father?" Ruan Mengmeng asked Anna directly, just asking the question that Chu Xiao was most curious about. However, Miss Ruan had a lot of opinions about Shi Kou Di, and she didn't say anything good when she opened her mouth, which made Chu Xiao a little embarrassed, and he deliberately coughed as a reminder.

However, this style of speaking was very pleasing to Anna's ears. She carefully glanced at the head maid Sofia and whispered, "No, she didn't take the blame for getting me lost last time. My dad... I don't know why he thinks highly of her."

Anna originally wanted to learn Ruan Mengmeng's way of speaking, but after being looked at by Sophia, she quickly changed her words and explained in Ruan Mengmeng's ear in a low voice: "I finally finished the task assigned to me by Sophia, and was going to come over to play with you - you know, I can't go out without Shikoti's company, but who knows where that guy ran off to? As a result, the head maid just happened to come back from outside, and as a result... I was confused and came here with her..."

Anna's voice was very low, but Chu Xiao was very close, so he could hear it clearly. Chu Xiao didn't understand why the head maid suddenly came to visit, but it couldn't be that she was so idle that she replaced Shi Koti to look after Anna, the eldest lady.

Although the other party was wearing a maid outfit, Chu Xiao could never really regard her as a maid. Although she still maintained an elegant and upright posture, even in a maid outfit, her temperament was more like a capable and elegant lady and a strict teacher, rather than a maid serving others.

Sophia politely declined the tea offered by Chu Xiao, raised her head slightly, looked around the room, and carefully checked the hygiene corners of the room from time to time. Her expression made Chu Xiao think of a teacher checking students' homework.

Soon, the head maid came to Etta.

"Head maid." Etta nodded slightly, revealing a sweet but lifeless smile.

Maid Sofia looked at Etta with an expressionless face. Suddenly, she raised her hand and slapped Etta hard on the cheek!

Chu Xiao was quick to act and pulled Aita into his arms, allowing his maid to barely avoid the heavy slap.

"Madam Sophia, what do you mean?" Chu Xiao kept smiling. Although he was trying to restrain himself, he still couldn't completely hide his displeasure. Although he was skeptical about Etta's existence, Etta was at least nominally his property!

“Sophia!” Anna also exclaimed after realizing it belatedly, “What are you doing!”

Although Ruan Mengmeng has not made any move yet, her entire aura has changed, and she is ready to take action at any time.

Sophia was a little surprised that her slap hit nothing, but she was not angry at all. She said with a little amazement: "Is this the reaction speed of a 'warrior' level? It's really amazing."