The Max-Level Boss Just Wants to Be a Slacker [Apocalypse] – CH44

Chapter 44: Resolving It

Xiong Gangyong was startled by the thing that suddenly emerged, while Mo Qi slightly frowned as he looked carefully at the creature hidden behind the shelves.

The creature looked extremely bizarre. At first glance it resembled a lizard, but something about it seemed off. In its mouth it held half of an arm.

Judging from the color of the blood at the severed end and the gray-black fingernails, it was actually the arm of a zombie.

They had seen mutated animals before, but Mo Qi had never seen one that ate zombies—such disgusting corpses.

“My god, what is that thing? A gecko? Since when do geckos get that big?” Xiong Gangyong exclaimed beside him.

Mo Qi quickly realized that the creature really did resemble the common gecko from before the apocalypse.

So most likely, that had been its original form before mutation. But now its body had grown into a massive monster—large enough to equal three Xiong Gangyongs put together.

He had no idea how it had managed to squeeze behind the shelves earlier without being discovered, making only the faintest noise.

Xiong Gangyong’s shock wasn’t strange. In the apocalypse, such obvious and powerful mutated animals were rare. Very few people had seen them.

Or rather—those who encountered creatures of this level rarely survived.

As the mutated gecko emerged, its huge body shifted the surrounding shelves. Perhaps due to its massive size and the explosion sounds from outside, its movements became more hurried.

The shelves were pushed aside, revealing what lay behind them.

Mo Xiu would have seen it clearly—there were bones and scattered remains piled there.

Mo Qi had lived long enough to recognize such scenes. From the blood splatters, their color, and the condition of the fragments, he could easily deduce something.

This mutated gecko had not only eaten zombies.

It had also eaten living humans.

It seemed this place was its lair.

After living here for so long, it must have devoured plenty of zombies. No wonder Mo Qi had sensed such a strong surge of demonic energy here.

Judging by its aura, the mutated gecko’s level was no weaker than the gray wolf they had encountered earlier. In the current apocalypse, it was certainly a formidable enemy.

Even so, Mo Qi’s attention wasn’t fully focused on it.

The explosion earlier had clearly come from the direction of the warehouse where Mo Xiu was.

The distance wasn’t far, and such a loud noise definitely meant something serious had happened.

Although Mo Qi had followed Mo Xiu’s signal and taken Xiong Gangyong away earlier, he had secretly left his spiritual sense watching over him.

Now he quickly concentrated and checked Mo Xiu’s situation.

Soon he discovered that the explosion had been caused by Mo Xiu fighting Xu Liang—specifically by Xu Liang’s fire-type ability.

Although the commotion was loud, Mo Xiu seemed completely capable of handling it.

Not only was he uninjured, he had also avoided the explosion perfectly. In fact, none of the protective talismans Mo Qi had given him earlier had even been used.

Xu Liang, on the other hand, looked miserable—clearly at the end of his strength.

From the looks of things, Mo Qi didn’t need to worry. He could simply leave the matter of dealing with Xu Liang entirely to Mo Xiu.

Once he confirmed that his future dao companion was safe, Mo Qi finally shifted his focus back to the mutated gecko.

The gecko stared at them with blood-red eyes, slowly chewing the half-arm in its mouth.

The crunching sound was now disturbingly clear, making Xiong Gangyong’s scalp tingle.

The mutated gecko looked back and forth between Xiong Gangyong and Mo Qi.

Then it suddenly lunged straight toward Mo Qi.

Mo Qi wasn’t surprised at all.

During this time he had learned more about this world from Mo Xiu. In this world, creatures like this weren’t called demons—they were simply said to have mutated.

Of course, in Mo Qi’s mind the difference was only in terminology between worlds.

He wondered whether this gecko had developed intelligence after mutating to this extent.

But the reason it rushed toward him was easy to guess from the way it had just devoured zombie flesh.

Unlike the gray wolf before, this gecko—even among demon cultivators—resembled a demonic practitioner. It clearly knew how to extract demonic energy from zombie bodies to strengthen itself.

And Mo Qi himself was a demonic cultivator. His body was filled with absorbed demonic energy.

To the creature, he was far more attractive than ordinary humans or zombies.

Still, at this level, the monster was far too naïve if it thought it could harm him.

Mo Qi had already prepared his spiritual sense to defend himself.

But what surprised him was that just as the mutated gecko charged toward him—

Xiong Gangyong, who had been stunned moments earlier, suddenly grabbed his arm and dragged him toward the exit without hesitation.

While running, the man shouted anxiously:

“Good heavens, what are you standing there for?! Are you stupid? It’s charging right at you! Do you have a death wish?!”

Mo Qi instinctively followed the man’s pace.

Looking at the arm gripping him tightly—and at how Xiong Gangyong knocked over shelves while running to slow the monster’s pursuit—Mo Qi blinked in surprise.

He truly hadn’t expected this.

At such a critical moment, the man hadn’t abandoned him or treated him as bait.

Instead, his first instinct was to drag him along and run together.

Being called an idiot by this big brute was a little irritating, but regardless of whether Mo Qi needed saving or not, he acknowledged the favor.

“My god, why is this warehouse so big?! Why is that thing so fast?!

How can it even take shortcuts?!

If I’d known, I wouldn’t have gone this deep into the warehouse! Am I really going to die here today?!

No! I’m only nineteen! I haven’t even had a girlfriend yet!”

Xiong Gangyong was clearly terrified. Not only did he run faster, but he also talked even faster.

“Nineteen?”

Mo Qi glanced at the overly mature face beside him.

He would have believed the man was thirty-nine. This guy had definitely grown up too quickly.

Nineteen—the same age as Cheng Cheng. Yet it didn’t show at all.

Even at a moment like this, Mo Qi found his thoughts wandering.

Despite his burly appearance, this was really just a kid.

However, judging by the mutated gecko’s movements, it was obvious this place was its territory. It even knew how to take shortcuts to catch up to them.

And lizards had another trait—they could climb walls and ceilings.

Sure enough, they watched as the gecko swiftly crawled onto the ceiling before leaping down toward them.

Its target was clearly Mo Qi.

What Mo Qi didn’t expect next was that Xiong Gangyong suddenly pulled him behind himself.

Using all his strength, he fully transformed his body into metal and shouted:

“Run! Leave me! I’ve got a metal-type ability—it can’t bite through my skin! Go get help!”

As he spoke, he actually grabbed the mutated gecko tightly, letting its fang-filled mouth clamp down on his shoulder.

Seeing this, Mo Qi clicked his tongue inwardly.

His luck was pretty good—he kept meeting good people.

But there was one thing this prematurely aged kid had gotten wrong.

Although his body was covered in metal, that didn’t mean the monster couldn’t bite through it. With Xiong Gangyong’s current ability level, he wouldn’t last long.

By the time help arrived, the creature would probably have already crushed his bones.

Mo Qi sighed softly.

When Xiong Gangyong noticed that Mo Qi still hadn’t left, he became furious.

“Why are you still here?! Get lost, pretty boy! Go find help! Are you waiting to see how I die?!”

Mo Qi smiled and shook his head.

“Leave it to me.”

Then Mo Qi unleashed the spiritual sense he had already prepared. It surged into the monster’s mind and shattered its entire consciousness.

A creature whose consciousness had been destroyed could not survive.

The mutated gecko collapsed instantly, unable even to let out a final cry.

Seeing the monster lying lifeless before him, Xiong Gangyong couldn’t react for a moment.

Just seconds earlier, those sharp teeth had been biting into his shoulder. He had clearly felt the metal shell cracking.

How had it suddenly died?

Remembering what Mo Qi had said earlier, Xiong Gangyong stared at him in shock.

“You… you killed it?”

Mo Qi didn’t deny it. He nodded calmly.

But immediately afterward, he flicked out a thread of spiritual sense and placed a mental imprint on Xiong Gangyong.

Only then did he continue speaking.

“When we go outside, say that you killed it.”

“But I didn’t kill it!” Xiong Gangyong frowned, not understanding why someone so powerful would want to hide it.

“Even if you want to say it was me, you won’t be able to. I don’t want others to know my secret. I left something inside your body—if you talk nonsense, you might explode and die,” Mo Qi said with a cheerful smile.

Xiong Gangyong felt a chill run down his spine.

He tried to say that Mo Qi had killed the gecko—but when he opened his mouth, he discovered he couldn’t say the words at all.

Only then did he realize Mo Qi had been serious.

Of course, Mo Qi had no intention of actually making him explode. After all, he felt Xiong Gangyong was a decent person with a good heart.

The imprint simply made it extremely difficult for him to reveal the truth.

As for why he lied about the exploding part…

Teasing a foolish kid was amusing.

Watching Xiong Gangyong stare blankly between him and the corpse of the mutated gecko, Mo Qi smiled even wider.

By the time Mo Xiu finished dealing with Xu Liang and came searching for Mo Qi, this was the scene he walked into.

Mo Qi was smiling brightly at Xiong Gangyong for some reason.

Aside from when he smiled at Mo Xiu, Mo Xiu had almost never seen him show that expression to anyone else.

For some reason, Mo Xiu suddenly felt a little uncomfortable.

He pressed his lips together and walked forward a few steps.

Only then did he notice that not far from Mo Qi lay the corpse of a grotesque monster.

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