Even without cheats, we must survive the apocalypse

The girl's movements were extremely skillful and neat. The moment she drew the knife, it was like ripples in a cool spring, and the temperature in the entire room seemed to drop a little. She held the handle of the knife and slowly brought the blade closer to her eyes. Her fingers slowly brushed across the back of the knife, watching the cold light flow from the blade.

"Brother Xiao," the girl said, "this knife doesn't seem to be the same one we had before."

"Anna had someone use the cult's latest technology to help you make a major upgrade on this knife." Chu Xiao introduced with a smile. Seeing his girl happy, his mood also improved.

Ruan Mengmeng took her new weapon, stood a little further away, and tried to swing it in the spacious living room. The girl's body seemed to be shining with silver light, and the refined knife light seemed to be able to easily cut through the air. The girl's level was naturally quite high. Even if she was wielding a long knife in such a room, she was able to accurately avoid other objects in the room while swinging the knife quickly.

As a bystander, Chu Xiao couldn't help but sigh that Ruan Mengmeng was the most charming and pleasing to the eye.

"Great!" Ruan Mengmeng sheathed the knife in a very beautiful posture. "I really have to thank Anna. This is really a very good knife."

"As long as you like it."

"Of course, if possible, I really hope they can return the old knife to me," Ruan Mengmeng said with some regret, "After all, it is very commemorative."

Chu Xiao knew that this was the girlish sentiment that belonged only to Ruan Mengmeng.

After giving the gift to his girl, Chu Xiao stroked the card in his hand, knowing that it was time to talk about some serious matters. The changes encountered today, plus Anna's last words, seemed to indicate that something was about to happen.

Seeing that Chu Xiao and Ruan Mengmeng were about to discuss business, Aita turned around and prepared to go back to her room, but she heard Chu Xiao's voice behind her: "Wait a minute, Aita."

"Master?" The maid turned around and asked in confusion.

Chu Xiao opened his half-closed eyes with all his strength, and held the last chip that Etta had given him in his hand in his pocket, as if he had finally made up his mind: "No need to avoid me, just stay by my side."

Something seemed to be slightly rippled in the depths of the maid's eyes, but this subtle change was probably not even noticed by Etta herself. She folded her hands on her lower abdomen, bowed and said, "I understand, Master. Please allow me to prepare tea for you and the young lady."

"Okay, I'll wait for you to come back." Chu Xiao said, and the expression on his face seemed a little relaxed.

Chapter 83: Snooping

Chu Xiao didn’t know whether his decision was right, nor did he know whether the trust he had shown would lead to any consequences. However, when the decision was made, Chu Xiao felt a little relieved.

Ruan Mengmeng sat down next to Chu Xiao with a smile, staring at Chu Xiao's profile. Although she didn't say anything, her thoughts were already written in her eyes.

"Girl, do you think I will regret this decision in the future?" Chu Xiao gently stroked Ruan Mengmeng's delicate chin, as if he was stroking a cute cat.

The girl placed her cute little head on Chu Xiao's thigh and tilted her head to look at Chu Xiao's face: "No, Brother Xiao. We have been with Aita for such a long time, and I believe she will not do anything to harm us. Sister Yan and the others will definitely like Aita very much. I said at noon that we would take Aita away with us."

Chu Xiao imagined what kind of expression his sister would have when she met Aita, and couldn't help laughing out loud.

Aita quickly returned to the living room with tea and snacks. The silver tray was filled with exquisite tea and steaming black tea. She placed the tray on the tea table in front of the sofa, then stood respectfully beside Chu Xiao.

"Aita," Chu Xiao said in a calm voice, "I can trust your loyalty."

"Yes, my master," the maid replied, "I am loyal to you."

Chu Xiao stood up, put his hands on Etta's shoulders, and looked closely at the maid's beautiful big eyes: "If I want to leave here, are you willing to go with me?"

"Master, I am your property and will naturally follow you forever." Eta answered without any hesitation.

Her eyes were extremely calm, without any sign of emotional fluctuation.

"I must have been mesmerized by your pretty face." Chu Xiao laughed at himself, and then said, "From now on, you will truly become one of us. I don't have the ability to read minds, and I hope you will live up to the trust I have placed in you."

Logically speaking, after experiencing the sinister human hearts in the doomsday world, he shouldn't trust others so easily, let alone a "man-made" girl with an inhuman origin. However, an inexplicable feeling made him unable to let go of this ignorant girl.

He joked that he was deceived by Aita's looks, but there were girls who were more beautiful than Aita around him. For example, Shikoti was a beauty that brought disaster, but he just treated her as an object for mutual use.

Maybe he himself couldn't explain the real reason, but when he looked at this innocent, beautiful and somewhat rigid maid, for some reason, he always thought of his sister unconsciously.

Obviously, Aita and Chu Yan have no similarities at all, either in appearance or personality, but Chu Xiao sees a hint of his sister in Aita from time to time.

...Maybe it's been a while since I last saw her, so I miss her a little...

Chu Xiao shook his head, put aside all the thoughts in his mind, sat back on the sofa, and took out the card that Anna had secretly slipped to him before leaving.

"Brother Xiao, what is this?"

Chu Xiao shrugged helplessly: "The thing Anna stuffed into my hand looked like an access card or something like that, but she didn't tell me what it was supposed to be used for."

At this time, Aita reminded: "Master, this is the dock's permission card."

Chu Xiao and Ruan Mengmeng couldn't help but look at each other. Ruan Mengmeng had secretly investigated the location of the dock before. For them, even if they could successfully enter the dock inside the Nibelungen, it would be a waste of effort if they couldn't open the hatch to the outside. However, they didn't expect Anna to give them the most critical key in time.

"Brother Xiao!" Ruan Mengmeng's eyes suddenly became excited. Having the authority card meant that they finally got the chance to escape from this ship.

Chu Xiao nodded vigorously: "That girl really gave us a great gift."

The question now was when and how to escape from the ship. According to Shikoti, in two days, Chu Xiao would have to participate in the strange initiation ceremony, as a "god servant" to communicate with the so-called "god" of that unknown ghost thing. Chu Xiao didn't want to participate in this evil ceremony at all, because who knows what terrible things would happen.

Although he had agreed to cooperate with Shi Koti, the permission card gave Chu Xiao a little initiative. He recalled the scene in the office at that time. When Anna pushed Chu Xiao out, she turned her back to Shi Koti. The small action of handing out the card should not have been noticed by Shi Koti.

It should be inconvenient for Anna to meet Chu Xiao alone, otherwise she would not have to rely on such little tricks.

"I'll find a chance to leave in the next two days." Chu Xiao calmed himself down and considered the current situation. "We have to leave before the ceremony. Even if we survive that weird ceremony, there might be some sequelae."

And judging from the current situation on the ship, Chu Xiao always felt that something was going to happen soon.

Ruan Mengmeng nodded and held the long knife in her hand again: "What about Anna?"

Chu Xiao was silent for a moment. He could take Aita away, because in the eyes of the cult, Aita was just an expensive tool. But Anna was different. If he dared to abduct Anna, he would definitely be hunted down by Sir Lobelin. Moreover, their own escape plan had not yet been fully implemented, so it was simply a pipe dream to take Anna away.

The young man sighed: "Anna has a father who loves her. Although there are some conflicts between father and daughter, they will eventually be resolved. Besides, Anna's personality is actually not suitable for surviving in the dangerous world outside."

In response to this, Ruan Mengmeng could only helplessly say "hmm".

The snacks on the coffee table had gone cold at some point, and it was already pitch black outside the porthole.

Etta walked into the kitchen carrying a silver tray. When there was no one around, the maid, who had remained calm until now, slowly raised her hand and pressed it against her chest.

She seemed to feel her own heartbeat and whispered to herself, "Can I be with my master... forever..."

Originally no one could answer the question of this android girl, but Eta raised her head and looked into the void, as if there was a voice answering her question.

【joy.】

"Really..." Etta was not panicked. She said softly, "I don't understand. I just feel good."

Then there was a silence, and it seemed as if an invisible gaze was cast from the void, full of curiosity and prying.

【Give me.】

Etta's body suddenly shook, as if she was dizzy, and she almost fell to the ground, but the maid immediately held on to the table and raised her head calmly.

"I refuse." Aita suddenly expressed his refusal to a being that did not exist here, calmly but firmly, "The memories of my time with the master belong only to me. I refuse to give them to you."

【reject?】

A certain huge existence "gazed" at Etta. To him, Etta's refusal was ridiculous. He could crush her will at any time and turn the maid's short memory into his own food. However, that existence did not do so. The great one's eyes left the maid and did not care about Etta's little rebellion.

After all, someone had already prepared sufficient "food" for him in this grand and magnificent vessel.

Chapter 84 Nightmare

This night was not destined to end so easily, and the undercurrent that had been brewing for a long time finally surged.

On the luxurious private yacht, An Suxin stood on the highest sun deck, observing the situation on the sea with a telescope as usual.

The huge ship was still anchored on the sea, like a steel island.

The girls on the yacht have basically adapted to life at sea, because there is no shortage of food, and the facilities on the yacht are advanced enough, so the girls' lives can even be called comfortable. But after a long time, it is inevitable that they have begun to feel bored.

Gu Ke, whose injuries had almost healed, spent every day either fishing or studying various equipment in the captain's room, or playing games with entertainment equipment found on the ship; Su Muhe focused his energy on cleaning and exercising, forcing himself not to think about the two missing people; as for Yun Duoer, as the youngest girl on the ship, she gradually became tired of exploring and began to lock herself in her room.

The young secretary looked worried. If those two people didn't come back, their small doomsday team might really be in trouble.

At this time, Chu Yan walked out of the cabin below and came to An Suxin's side.

"It shouldn't be time for the shift change yet." An Suxin took the hot water from Chu Yan and smiled at Chu Yan, "Where are they?"

"I saw Yiquan before I came up. Gu Ke is still in the captain's room. Susu and Yun Duoer have already fallen asleep." Chu Yan did not show any hostility at this moment. She rubbed her aching temple irritably. "As for me, I can't sleep anymore... I had a disturbing nightmare."

"It's really rare. Did you dream about your brother?" An Suxin leaned against the railing, squinting her eyes slightly, trying to relax a little in the night breeze.

"If that's the case, it's not a nightmare." Chu Yan snorted lightly, then said in a deep voice, "I dreamed that something was 'looking' at me."

An Suxin immediately opened her eyes and frowned slightly. Although Chu Yan didn't have the metaphysical ability to avoid danger and seek good fortune like Yun Duo'er, An Suxin couldn't really treat the various inhuman abilities she had shown as an ordinary nightmare.

"Whose sight?" An Suxin asked softly.

"I couldn't see its shape clearly in the dream, it was like a huge mosaic," Chu Yan shook her head, indicating that she was not clear, but she looked in the direction of the Nibelungen, "I can only be sure that this feeling is related to that ship. It was just a vague feeling at first, but it has become clearer and clearer in the past few days. It feels to me like something is gradually...growing?"

The girl's tone was uncertain, and her cold face was full of anxiety: "There must be something hidden on that ship that is beyond our understanding."

An Suxin remembered the reminder Yun Duoer had given them before. When they first saw the huge ship, Yun Duoer was so terrified that she used four "very" to describe the existence of extremely terrifying things on the ship.

Obviously, Chu Yan also remembered what Yun Duo'er said, and her eyes were filled with gloom as she looked at the Nibelungen. The huge ship anchored on the sea in the distance still shone with gorgeous brilliance in the night, and it looked extremely magnificent and eye-catching in the middle of the night, but in the eyes of the two, this gorgeous ship was like a steel dragon lurking on the sea.

An Suxin did not continue Chu Yan's words. This extremely beautiful woman frowned at the moment - she could not think of a way to change the current situation. This feeling of powerlessness made the secretary very uncomfortable. She tightly grasped the railing of the deck and used silence to cover up her inner irritation. She has always been a very opinionated person. The experience of being pushed to the edge of a cliff once made her extremely disgusted with the feeling of being out of control.

The secretary patted her cheeks, took a deep breath, and tried to calm herself down.

"I didn't expect you to have this side of you." Chu Yan said.

An Suxin's lips curled up: "I also thought that I would not have... Maybe, he is more important to me than I thought."

Chu Yan was able to remain calm in the face of An Suxin's confession, and sat down on a lounge chair on the deck: "How long do we have to wait here? Waiting like this is not a solution."

Chu Yan was telling the truth, but facing such a huge monster, they could not find any chance to get help from outside except waiting for the situation to change. This was on the sea, there were no hordes of zombies for them to use, and the force on the Nibelungen was far greater than Sun Baishi's shelter.

"I know." An Suxin said, "But I think we don't have to wait too long. There will be a turning point soon."

"Where is your basis for this?" Chu Yan asked sarcastically, "Is it your keen intuition?"

An Suxin shook her head: "You told me that something on that ship is gradually growing and maturing."

Chu Yan's heart moved slightly.

"These past few days, I've been staring at that ship, but I can't help but have a layer of doubt in my heart - is that ship really a doomsday shelter for the upper class? Remember Sun Baishi's shelter base that we saw before? It was just a large experimental base advertised as a 'shelter'."

An Suxin glanced at the incomparably huge man-made object in the distance. "I haven't actually boarded that ship. I can only speculate based on Anna's diary and the style of the 'Cult'. I'm very curious. The most important thing for a refuge base is safety, but they placed a terrifying thing on that ship that is enough to make a little girl use the word 'four verys' to describe it... More importantly, as you said, that thing is still 'growing'."

"Sister Chu, you have the deepest experience in this area. What do you think the things on that ship are?"

The blurry vision she felt from time to time, the strange sounds she heard, and the vague existence in her dreams... Combining all these factors, Chu Yan softly concluded: "It's like a powerful consciousness that is gradually becoming clearer. In this dream tonight, it has shown a sufficiently large presence, far beyond what it was a few days ago."

"Are you OK?"

"Apart from being irritating, it doesn't seem to have any effect. I can handle it."

"Even you who are far enough away from the ship can be affected. I can't imagine what is happening on the ship at this moment. It's just..." An Suxin paused for a moment and smiled bitterly, "Whether my speculation is correct or not, as this 'consciousness' matures, some changes will definitely occur, whether good or bad... At least that's what I expect..."

At this moment, the change that the two had been waiting for for a long time actually happened.

The Nibelungen, far above the horizon, had its dazzling lights extinguished in an instant! On the distant sea, the man-made behemoth was like a dark mountain, falling into an eerie silence at this moment!

Then, a red light suddenly lit up on the hull where the lights were off - an explosion occurred on the Nibelungen!

Chapter 85 Arrangements

"...His dark and secret love destroyed your life." Sir Lobelin softly recited a line from the poetry collection, his eyes lowered, as if hidden in a shadow.

When the explosion sounded, Sir Lobelin did not panic.

When the lights went out, he was sitting behind his desk, flipping through a collection of William Blake's poems. The only unpleasant thing for the knight was that the sudden power outage interrupted his reading pleasure.

"Sophia." Sir Lobelin did not leave his seat. In just a few seconds, the backup power supply started to work and the lights in the study came on again.

The head maid appeared silently in the study.

"Those annoying guys finally couldn't stand it anymore?" The Jazz lowered his head, flipping through the book in his hand, and didn't seem to care about what was happening on the ship.

"Someone has hacked into the power system and is causing chaos on the ship, and there's a message coming from the bridge that a ship is approaching us. It must be those lunatics." Ms. Sophia reported. Like her master, she seemed unconcerned about the fact that the enemy was approaching.

"...How are the arrangements for Anna going?" When the knight mentioned his daughter, he raised his head, and there was a touch of human empathy in his voice.

"The young lady is currently being placed in a safe house and is under the close protection of officers from the security department."

Sir Lobelin closed the poetry collection and was silent for a while. Then he said, "I originally planned to let her train for a few more days, but now it seems that the plan can be advanced. Let's arrange a helicopter to send Anna to the family island."