Chapter 22: The Final Remnant

It was the evening of the third day after the apocalypse began.

A scarred Hummer, its chassis smeared with the bodily fluids of monsters, drove into Yongcheng No. 1 High School. Crushing the corpses scattered across the ground, the vehicle passed directly through the teaching building and came to a stop beneath the student dormitory.

Lu Li, dressed in a black trench coat, opened the car door, carrying a black backpack in each hand. The bags were bulging, though it was unclear what they contained.

Several male teachers were guarding the dormitory entrance. Seeing Lu Li step out, they immediately circled around him. Not daring to get too close, they stood at a safe distance and asked guardedly, "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

Recognizing the men, Lu Li sighed helplessly. "Mr. Yang, it’s me, Lu Li, from Class 8, Senior Year."

"Lu Li?" The middle-aged teacher with the square face, who appeared to be their leader, paused. He stepped back half a pace to look Lu Li over carefully before asking suspiciously, "Why are you dressed like that? And you’re coming from outside the school... Tell me, has the rescue team arrived?"

"Rescue?" Lu Li shook his head, automatically ignoring the first two questions. "I haven't seen any rescue. Mr. Yang, can I go back to my dorm to pick something up?"

Hearing that there was no rescue, a look of distinct disappointment washed over Mr. Yang’s face. "Go ahead, but the situation is special now; your dorm might already be occupied by someone else."

Lu Li frowned. In his previous life, he had stayed in the school dormitory for an entire month after the apocalypse started, so no one had ever seized his room. He hadn't expected that after his rebirth, he would lose his bed just because he went out to hunt monsters for two days. Moreover, Mr. Yang’s gaze seemed a bit strange.

Still, Lu Li didn't care. He had only returned to school today to retrieve one specific item and had no intention of staying long. If someone had taken his empty bed, so be it.

Lu Li’s dormitory was on the third floor, the third room to the right after heading up the stairs. Stepping over a corridor littered with trash, he pushed open the dormitory door. Before he even entered, a foul stench of cigarette smoke assaulted his senses.

A lazy voice drifted from inside: "Who is it? Coming here to visit me..."

Lu Li followed the sound and saw a skinny youth lying on a bed with his legs crossed, smoking. The dormitory had been ransacked, looking no different from a garbage dump.

"Huang Bin?"

Lu Li quickly recognized the skinny youth as Huang Bin from Class 6. This guy was a known loafer who hated studying and spent all his time hanging out with local thugs outside of school, acting like they were his brothers. Before the apocalypse, Lu Li had no connection with Huang Bin. His only memory of him was being cornered by this guy’s boss, "Brother Dao," who had extorted 100 yuan from him.

"Oh, look who it is. If it isn't little brother Lu Li! I haven't seen you for two days; I was wondering if you’d been eaten by monsters and turned into dung..." Huang Bin exhaled a cloud of smoke, squinting with a mocking grin. "Nice outfit you’ve got there. Did you go shopping?"

Lu Li didn't respond; he simply began searching his desk with an expressionless face. He was looking for a photo—a group portrait. It was the last memento left to him by his late parents.

However, the photo wasn't on the desk. Instead, it was sitting in Huang Bin’s ashtray.

"I'm talking to you, are you deaf?" Seeing Lu Li stay silent, Huang Bin took another drag. As if doing it on purpose, he turned the cigarette butt in his hand and pressed it onto the photo that Lu Li cherished like his own life.

*Sizzle...*

The searing cigarette butt left a charred hole in the photo, perfectly obscuring his father’s kind, smiling face.

Lu Li’s eyes turned icy in an instant, a violent, murderous intent rising from the depths of his heart.

"What are you doing?" Lu Li stared at the photo in the ashtray, saying each word with chilling precision.

"Huh? You mean this? Heh, I thought you didn't want it anymore..." As Huang Bin spoke, he prepared to burn his mother’s face in the photo with the cigarette.

However, this time, there was no sizzling sound of burning. Huang Bin suddenly felt his right hand, which was holding the cigarette, grow light, and something rolled off the bed. It looked like... his hand?

"My hand! My hand! AAAAAHHH!!!" Huang Bin shrieked, clutching his spurting wrist in agony. Beside him, a mantis-like creature wreathed in black mist had appeared out of nowhere, its blade-like arms gleaming.

Just as Lu Li was about to command his soul soldier to end the beast's life, a voice came from behind him.

"Binzi, let’s go find that chick Xu Xiao today, yeah? Wait, who the hell are you?!"

Lu Li turned his head and saw, standing at the door, the very thug who had extorted him—Brother Dao. Brother Dao recognized Lu Li immediately and subconsciously stepped back.

"Lu... Lu Li? Haha, long time no see, Brother Lu Li..."

Lu Li didn't speak. His only response to Brother Dao was the sound of blades slicing through bone and flesh. Huang Bin, who had been howling and shouting for Brother Dao to kill Lu Li just a second ago, was now nothing more than a headless corpse.

"It has been a long time." A cold sneer curled onto Lu Li’s expressionless face as two more blade-armed mantises manifested at his sides. "So, are you going to ask for protection money this time?"

With his only photo destroyed, Lu Li was in a foul mood. He wouldn't mind killing this street thug who had bullied him in the past.

To Lu Li’s surprise, however, the fierce-looking Brother Dao didn't act tough as usual after hearing his question. Instead, he flopped onto his knees.

Brother Dao looked up with a sycophantic smile. "Brother Lu Li, what are you talking about! I was ignorant before. You’re a big man, please don't hold a grudge against scum like me..."

Lu Li frowned, completely caught off guard by this reaction. "I killed your lackey right in front of you. Don't you intend to settle the score?"

Brother Dao, kneeling on the floor, shook his head repeatedly. "What score is there to settle? It was Huang Bin’s own fault for being blind! I'm grateful that you got rid of him for me!"

"I didn't know this dorm was yours, Brother Lu Li. If I had known, I swear I would have cleaned it for you three times a day! I never would have let that brat Huang Bin move in..."

"Are you in charge here now?" Lu Li began to piece together the situation.

"Acting manager, just acting manager! It’s all thanks to everyone’s support. Say, Brother Lu Li, why don't you move out of this dorm? I’ll clear out another one for you..." Brother Dao smiled fawningly, still kneeling on the ground with no intention of standing up. It was as if he were a lowly dog in front of Lu Li—without his master’s order, he would never dare to overstep.

The street thug who had once extorted him had now turned into a fawning dog? Lu Li couldn't figure out the logic behind it, assuming it was simply fear of the soul soldiers he had manifested.

"No need to clear out another dorm; I'm not staying the night." Lu Li retracted his soul soldiers and picked up his backpack from the floor. "However, I just heard you say you were going to 'find that chick Xu Xiao.' What did you mean by that?"