The Max-Level Boss Just Wants to Be a Slacker [Apocalypse] – CH2

Chapter 2: Deterrence

After sleeping for a long time, when he woke again, Mo Xiu finally felt that his condition had improved a little.

Logically speaking, after dying such a miserable death in his previous life, most people would probably be filled with thoughts of revenge.

But Mo Xiu’s kindness had already been worn away during those days of constant hiding and fleeing.

At the beginning, he couldn’t understand why those people betrayed him. Later, he finally realized it was because he had, by chance, leveled up several times very quickly, and eventually became the strongest ability user in the Shanhe Base.

Somehow, rumors began to spread that his physique was special, that he might be hiding a secret capable of rapidly increasing supernatural abilities.

So some people developed crooked thoughts and wanted to drag him into a laboratory for experiments.

But his strength was too great to deal with directly. Instead, they came up with the idea of framing him, turning Mo Xiu into a target of public criticism.

When he was first hunted down, Mo Xiu still held back, unwilling to truly hurt anyone. But those people showed him no such restraint. They attacked him without hesitation, not caring whether he would be crippled or maimed—as long as he was left with a breath of life so they could take him back.

As time passed, hatred kept accumulating in Mo Xiu’s heart.

At some point, he learned how to truly fight back. No longer did he only flee from pursuit—he began killing those who tried to harm him.

After killing many people, he gradually grew numb.

Some of those who had designs on him were also killed when he self-destructed in a final act of mutual destruction.

He would rather die—even if it meant his corpse being torn to pieces—than allow those people to get what they wanted.

After being reborn, Mo Xiu’s hatred had not disappeared.

But after all the killing in his previous life, he was truly tired.

He didn’t plan to waste all his time on revenge. In this world full of zombies, no one knew how long they would survive. Rather than exhausting himself over people who weren’t worth it, he would rather live his own life.

Of course, he also wanted to find the man who had foolishly guarded his corpse in his previous life.

Unfortunately, at this point in time, he had no idea where to start looking.

Mo Xiu’s first impression of that man had only come two or three years after arriving at the Shanhe Base. He didn’t know where the man had lived before that, so there was no point rushing.

But as long as he returned to Shanhe Base and waited, they would surely meet again.

Thinking this, Mo Xiu rummaged through his backpack and pulled out quite a few snacks.

Potato chips with spicy strips and jelly—he stuffed himself with them randomly until his stomach became round and full, then collapsed once more onto the soft, luxurious bed.

The bed in the villa was indeed completely different from the one in the dormitory back then. In his previous life, how had he never realized that this mattress was incomparably softer than that tiny, shabby dorm bed?

Back then he had been too busy worrying about this and that, never truly enjoying life.

Then he died just like that.

What a waste.

As he quietly enjoyed the peaceful moment, Mo Xiu realized that even in a terrifying apocalypse filled with monsters and chaos, it was still possible to steal a brief moment of calm.

Compared to that, filthy human hearts disgusted him even more than zombies.

Mo Xiu spent two full days in his room, eating and sleeping, peacefully enjoying his leisure.

By the third day, the people in the group could no longer sit still.

Everyone began discussing it among themselves, unable to understand what had happened to the “workhorse” they had always been able to command at will.

Among them, the one with the most complicated feelings was Xi Wenlin.

Something was wrong. This was way too wrong!

Mo Xiu had really stayed in his room for two entire days without coming out or asking about the team’s situation. Did he truly not care about them at all?

Xi Wenlin believed he understood Mo Xiu quite well. The guy was a classic soft-hearted do-gooder with an overwhelming sense of responsibility.

Logically speaking, if he ignored Mo Xiu for half a day or a day, the man should have come out on his own initiative.

Xi Wenlin had already planned it out—when that happened, a few casual words from him would make Mo Xiu feel guilty, and he might even gain some extra benefits.

After all, during their years together in the university club, Mo Xiu had always treated him very well. Whenever Xi Wenlin casually mentioned something, Mo Xiu would help. He must have feelings for him—otherwise, who would be that foolish?

Because of this, Xi Wenlin had developed quite a sense of superiority.

However, he was straight and had no interest in someone like Mo Xiu, a male college athlete. The type he liked was gentle, beautiful girls.

Xi Wenlin was convinced that Mo Xiu liked him, and he intentionally never rejected it. After all, Mo Xiu came from a decent family, usually had plenty of money on hand, and was generous and easygoing. There were plenty of benefits to gain from him.

But who would have thought that this time Mo Xiu would really stay in his room for two whole days?

Could it be…

Had something actually happened to his body?

Xi Wenlin wasn’t truly worried about Mo Xiu. He simply knew that Mo Xiu was the most reliable among them.

Everyone depended on him to stay alive. If something happened to Mo Xiu, how could any of them continue living comfortably?

However, he had grown used to putting on airs. After being pushed out the door last time, he couldn’t bring himself to take the initiative to find Mo Xiu.

But the food he had secretly stockpiled was almost gone after two days, and he began to panic.

So when everyone urged him to go check on Mo Xiu, Xi Wenlin didn’t refuse.

Under the watchful eyes of the others, he walked to Mo Xiu’s door with an affected composure. Knocking on the door, he called out, “Mo Xiu, open the door! It’s me!”

Mo Xiu, who had been lying on the bed meditating to cultivate his abilities, frowned when he heard the voice.

So soon? They really couldn’t hold out at all.

Still, it was within his expectations.

He got out of bed and opened the door. Outside, he found a crowd already gathered around—Xi Wenlin clearly acting as their representative.

“What do you want?” Mo Xiu asked.

“I…” Xi Wenlin froze at the question and instinctively shook his head.

Seeing that Mo Xiu was about to close the door again, he hurriedly blocked it.

“Mo Xiu, why haven’t you come out for two days? Are you feeling unwell?”

“No,” Mo Xiu replied expressionlessly.

Noticing Mo Xiu’s expression, Xi Wenlin sensed his displeasure. He didn’t really care, but he softened his tone slightly and said, “Since you’re fine, then go out and search for supplies. Everyone’s waiting for you.”

Coming here just to order him to work—truly typical of these people.

Mo Xiu replied calmly, “What? Is someone going with me today?”

Xi Wenlin was momentarily speechless. “Th-that’s not necessary… It’s too dangerous outside…”

Hearing this, Mo Xiu felt that his past self had been unbelievably stupid.

“So it’s not dangerous for me to go out alone? I’m not going. I’m resting.”

Mo Xiu refused so bluntly that Xi Wenlin was completely stunned.

He couldn’t understand why the man who used to be so easy to manipulate had suddenly changed his temperament so drastically.

“Mo Xiu, how can you say that? Someone has to go out and look for supplies!” Xi Wenlin said anxiously.

“Someone has to?” Mo Xiu nearly laughed in anger.

“What, are you not a person? Or are none of the others here people?”

The others heard their conversation and looked over, but Mo Xiu didn’t care.

Xi Wenlin’s face turned green with anger. Gritting his teeth, he continued, “That’s not what I meant. It’s just that among us, your ability is the strongest—you’re the most suitable for fighting.”

Mo Xiu swept his gaze over the crowd and curled his lips, no longer bothering with nonsense.

“So what? If I’m not here, are all of you planning to stop living?”

Xi Wenlin was left speechless, and the others looked rather unpleasant.

An elderly man standing nearby stepped forward and spoke in a lecturing tone.

“Young man, how can you talk like that? Asking you to go is because we trust you. We’re entrusting you with an important responsibility!

How can you betray everyone’s trust like this?”

A middle-aged woman beside him chimed in, “Exactly, exactly. We’re staying here to conserve our energy so we won’t drag everyone down when it’s time to move on.”

The surrounding people all began talking at once, their noise giving Mo Xiu a headache.

He hadn’t opened the door to argue with them anyway.

So he simply waved his hand.

A bolt of lightning crackled down, striking the ground at the feet of the elderly man who had been most eager to lecture him.

Everyone was startled by Mo Xiu’s sudden action.

The old man was so frightened that he stumbled back several steps before losing his balance and falling to the ground.

A deep black scorch mark was left on the floor.

Everyone present swallowed nervously.

The entire area fell into an eerie silence.

No one dared to shout or complain about Mo Xiu anymore.

A trace of mockery flashed in Mo Xiu’s eyes as he slammed the door shut.

Just as he had guessed, these people had been protected far too well.

So well that they seemed to have forgotten that this was an apocalypse where the strong ruled and danger lurked everywhere.

Because of Mo Xiu, they had barely faced zombies at all.

So even a simple arc of lightning was enough to terrify them.

However, his current ability level was still too low. The limit of what he could do was roughly this much.

There were around a dozen people in the entire team, including students from the school and survivors they had encountered on the road.

Aside from Mo Xiu, who had dual abilities, there was one earth-type ability user and one water-type ability user. Their levels were the same as his—Level One—and their offensive power was very low.

Mo Xiu, who was already close to reaching Level Two, was considered the strongest among them.

With his current strength, seriously injuring a few people wouldn’t be a problem, but killing someone would take much more effort.

Dealing with so many people at once carried even greater risk and would be troublesome.

Mo Xiu had no intention of putting himself in real danger.

For now, simple intimidation was enough.

Outside the tightly shut door, the group looked at one another in silence.

Their expressions were heavy.

No one even bothered to pretend to be united and help the old man up.

In the end, the old man recovered on his own. Half-lying on the ground, he stubbornly kicked his leg and struck his dazed wife standing nearby.

Cursing loudly, he finally allowed the older woman to help him up.

Once he was standing again, the woman looked worriedly at Xi Wenlin.

“Xiao Lin, what should we do now?

Look at this Xiao Mo—what exactly is going on with him? That child… how did he suddenly become like a completely different person?”

Hearing this, Xi Wenlin’s face darkened even further.

If he knew what was going on, would he still be stuck outside the door like them?

Inside the room, Mo Xiu took out a fairly handy iron rod he had picked up earlier on the road from his backpack and tapped it lightly in his hand.

He bared his teeth in a satisfied smile.

Now, it was time for them to repay him.

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