Apocalypse: My Apartment Has Traits - Chapter 46 - 42: The Wasteland

Chapter 46: Chapter 42: The Wasteland

“Of course I know that,” Su Lin nodded solemnly, then asked, “Can I go?”

But his second uncle frowned and pondered, not answering immediately.

Su Lin felt a bit uneasy inside.

He didn’t really want to reveal the matter about the Enhanced Slaughter Saber.

After all, there’s no blueprint as an excuse to cover up the entry.

Keep it under wraps, or it won’t work.

Some real secrets are better off buried in your heart.

After a moment, Su Qi spoke, “You heard earlier, I need to head to the Search Team and keep things stable. Your situation must remain unseen, so you can’t come with me.”

Now it was Su Lin’s turn to frown, “Then what should I do?”

Old man Su Can pondered for a while, then looked over at his daughter-in-law, “Let Yaxin take him.”

Yaxin?

Everyone was taken aback, including Zhao Yaxin herself.

Zhao Yaxin glanced at Su Lin, then looked at her daughter clinging to her leg, face upturned, hesitating, “But at home…”

Su Can waved his hand, his tone leaving no room for doubt, “I’m not bedridden; I’ll look after Yingying. Right, Yingying?”

He looked lovingly at his little granddaughter.

Su Yingying’s big watery eyes curiously gazed at her little uncle, and she asked crisply:

“Is Mom going to take little uncle out to fight little monsters?”

Su Lin squatted down, gently poking her lean but adorable little face, and said with a smile:

“Little uncle is going out to find some meat for you to eat, but little uncle doesn’t know the way outside, so can your mom take him?”

Meat!

Su Yingying’s eyes instantly brightened, and any tears that might have welled up at the thought of her mom leaving now spilled out from her mouth corners. Her little head nodded quickly:

“Yes! Yes!”

Zhao Yaxin’s mouth twitched slightly, both amused and annoyed at her daughter, who was easily bribed by “meat”.

Actually, the three Su Family members all had an unspoken agreement.

That was to give Su Lin a small lesson.

It’s fine to let him go out and train, but thinking of hunting beasts for meat is too much.

A one percent chance of getting meat—this is more of a convenience rather than a serious tactic.

This time taking him out is to teach Su Lin not to expect a one-time success.

After all, he’s still young.

Su Can finally decided, “Bring Tongxi over too. You two rely on each other now, and it would be lonely for her alone at home when you go out. I’ll give her some pointers on her training. Her talent shouldn’t be wasted.”

He actually had another thought:

To know more about this granddaughter-in-law and see if her nature is true and consistent.

This will determine if the Su Family will invest resources in her in the future.

Though there’s the constraint of being a tenant, if someone’s heart drifts, no restrictions can hold them.

Especially since women tend to be influenced by emotions.

…

With the old man’s decision, Zhao Yaxin naturally had no more objections.

Especially with her daughter eager to follow her little uncle to find meat, which amused her.

Zhao Yaxin walked ahead, wearing a brown leather armor that fit well, with an upright posture and a cold expression as usual, as if covered in frost.

Su Lin followed behind her, accustomed to his sister-in-law’s cold demeanor.

He knew her cold exterior hid a kind heart.

More importantly, Su Lin now understood why his sister-in-law had been angry with him when she took him to the market before.

Thinking about this made Su Lin’s thick-skinned face flush slightly.

After unlocking the Skin Lock, he realized how perceptive Martial Artists are to people’s gazes.

That day, he couldn’t help sneaking glances at that enormous rear, surely his sister-in-law noticed!

“I probably got taken as birds of a feather with my predecessor,” he muttered to himself.

Zhao Yaxin suddenly stopped walking ahead.

Su Lin was puzzled, about to ask what’s going on, when Zhao Yaxin abruptly turned back, her eyes, filled with hidden annoyance, glaring like daggers at his face, her teeth gently biting her lip, then coldly saying:

“Walk beside me!”

Su Lin was confused again, innocently widening his eyes, and instinctively defended, “No! Sis, I really wasn’t looking this time…”

He didn’t, he was just lost in thought!

“Still talking?! Walk ahead!” His usually cool sister-in-law stomped her foot in anger, her voice carrying a barely noticeable hint of shame and annoyance.

Su Lin had no choice but to walk forward with a dejected look, feeling utterly hopeless. He truly didn’t see it this time!

Which bastard sabotaged me!?

Su Lin gritted his teeth and glanced back, soon spotting the “culprit.”

He saw an aunt washing clothes outside, looking enviously at Zhao Yaxin’s round and perky backside. As he walked up to Zhao Yaxin, the aunt packed up her things and left.

Zhao Yaxin gave him a cold, sidelong glance with her beautiful eyes, as if saying: You’re still arguing? Caught in the act!

Su Lin: “…”

Now even jumping into the Yellow River couldn’t wash this away.

Then, he lowered his head and cast a few more glances at that “backside.”

Anyway, it’s not like it can be explained away!

Splat!

Unable to bear it any longer, Zhao Yaxin gave him a light but firm slap on the back of his head.

…

The two left the village, passed through the outskirts, and headed straight into the wilderness.

The last time Su Lin went out of the village with his second uncle, they only reached the outskirts.

At that time, having just crossed over on the first day, he was exhausted physically and mentally, barely had a bowl of congee, too weak to even truss a chicken, and with just a piece of leather armor in hand, he was panting like a dog.

Now, he was fully armed, not only with leather armor but also carrying a long saber and hand crossbow; with a heavy quiver strapped to each thigh, he moved with steady steps, light as a swallow.

Su Lin looked at the increasingly desolate scene ahead, sighing in his heart.

After unlocking the Skin Lock, he was a completely different person from the past waste.

…

The wilderness is not a forest, but the carcass of a dead civilization, a gigantic and silent graveyard of steel jungle.

Crumbled walls and ruins curled into twisted silhouettes under the gray-yellow sky, rusted steel frames like the ribs of a giant beast jutted out ferociously from the collapsed buildings, covered with dark red rust.

The wind swept up sand and unknown fragments, howling across the cracked asphalt road, picking up a few faded, brittle pieces of paper, and then crashed into tilted road signs, emitting creaky wails.

The yellow of the sand, mixed with the gray of concrete, was the eternal and oppressive main color of the wilderness.

Deep into the wilderness, Zhao Yaxin stepped onto a giant wreck of a half-buried billboard, drew the long saber shimmering with cold light from her back, and turned to Su Lin, her tone cool but with an undeniable warning:

“Don’t think that just because you’ve unlocked the Skin Lock, you can lower your guard.

“In the wilderness, there are plenty of things that can take your life.

“It’s not just the mutant beasts, remember, here, whenever you see any suddenly appearing bright colors, you must immediately become alert!

“Even if it’s a plant that looks harmless, you must be careful; it’s best not to approach at all.

“In the wilderness, plants are often more terrifying than animals.”

Su Lin’s expression was solemn, he kept his sister-in-law’s words firmly in mind, and nodded seriously: “Understood.”

Zhao Yaxin didn’t take him down the relatively open but conspicuous main road but chose to move through the shadows of crumbled walls.

They found some supplies along the way but didn’t pick them up temporarily, as that wasn’t their purpose, and carrying them would be cumbersome.

Zhao Yaxin’s sharp eyes scanned the rustling surroundings, whispering survival tips:

“The main road is prominent, easily attracting unnecessary attention, even ambushes. Instead, these ruins, although difficult to traverse and with complex terrain, are at least more concealed, offering some cover. However…”

She changed her tone, reminding: “You still have to be careful in case something happens to be hiding here, like lurking mutant beasts or… something even more dangerous.”

“Okay.”

Su Lin was seriously learning.

They advanced along a natural “passage” formed by a toppled building, leaping and climbing over rugged concrete blocks and exposed steel bars.

Zhao Yaxin demonstrated her rich experience, occasionally stopping, crouching down to examine the ground, and soon finding fresh mutant beast droppings and some faint claw prints and shed fur.

Following these clues, she quietly led Su Lin in pursuit through the ruins.

Effort paid off in the end.

They slowed down, held their breath, and hid behind a half-collapsed wall.

Not far ahead, a mutant beast the size of an elderly man’s electric cart came into view.

It had a faint resemblance to a golden retriever, but its muscles were knotted all over, fur gray-brown, the most terrifying were the pair of giant fangs protruding from its mouth like those of a saber-toothed tiger, gleaming with a sinister white light in the dim lighting.

It was using its massive head to nudge a thick, half-buried concrete slab with dull “thump thump” sounds, seemingly excavating something.

“About two hundred meters.”

Zhao Yaxin mentally calculated the distance, then glanced at Su Lin with her phoenix eyes, her tone level but questioning: “Can you hit it?”

Now, it was time to test if this brother-in-law of hers was boasting.

Su Lin licked his somewhat parched lips, a glint flashed in his eyes.

“Of course, no problem.”

In the next moment, he steadily raised the hand crossbow, the cold bow tightly against his cheek, his gaze through the simple sight, firmly locking onto the saber-toothed golden beast in the distance, oblivious to the approaching danger.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by novlove.com