Apocalypse Park

Crisis is in pursuit

The woman curled up on the ground suddenly let out a low moan, breaking the tense atmosphere in the room.

“Ah, that really did hurt a bit,” she said, rubbing the back of her head as she stood up.

Emma felt her eye twitch in concern as she watched "Mrs. Lin" rise to her feet. Now it was two against one.

The man with them was tall and strong, but that wasn’t the main issue. Emma was exhausted, her arms and legs felt like jelly, and she barely had the strength to defend herself.

"Mrs. Lin" stood up straight, cracking her neck. When she turned around again, she had transformed into a boy of about seventeen or eighteen, someone completely unfamiliar.

"Oh dear, of all the parents in the world, we had to meet an orphan," the boy complained to his companion without even glancing at Emma. "Mr. Lin" silently nodded, taking two steps out of the bedroom.

With each step, "Mr. Lin" transformed, and by the time they stopped, they had become a middle-aged white woman with red hair.

Speaking fluent Chinese, the woman asked the boy, "She didn’t hurt you just now, did she?"

The boy flashed a smile, revealing a set of white teeth. “Of course not, she’s not that strong.”

Watching the two interact so casually, Emma’s heart sank. She quietly took a step back and trembled as she asked, “Are you also from the New World?”

The boy seemed suddenly intrigued. “Oh? You know so much already? I underestimated you. No wonder you’re so quick on your feet.

Hmm, I noticed earlier that you’ve probably evolved a bit. Your potential must be quite high.”

The boy’s tone was light and lively, as if he were chatting about a favorite game. If it hadn’t been for the fact that this boy had just taken on the appearance of her deceased mother to lure her into the room, Emma might have actually let her guard down.

“Is my friend really dead?”

The boy exaggeratedly shrugged his shoulders. “She’s in the bathroom. It seems she was severely dehydrated and went to get some water. But it looks like this place is in a drought?

Anyway, there wasn’t a single drop of water from the faucet. Oh, and her death wasn’t pretty. I’d advise you not to look.”

Tears welled up uncontrollably, but Emma quickly wiped them away, staring at the two in front of her as she took another step back.

She had already encountered one so-called "evolved person" from the New World in Ethan. Now, suddenly faced with two more, Emma’s caution was at its peak. “If you didn’t kill my friend, then why are you here? And why did you trick me into coming inside?”

The boy spread his hands. “When we came through, we couldn’t choose our landing spot! Falling into a home with a bed to rest on isn’t so bad. In any case, your friend was already dead when we arrived.”

“Then why pretend to be my parents? How do you even know about them?” Emma asked deliberately, sensing that the boy loved to talk and might reveal more information.

Perhaps reading her thoughts, the red-haired woman cut in before the boy could answer, raising a hand to stop him from speaking. With a cold expression, she said, “I wanted to see how far people in this world have evolved.”

In a flash, the woman’s nails extended by half a meter, gleaming faintly in the darkness. She smiled slightly. “I just want to see how you’ve evolved.”

The moment the red-haired woman’s nails shot out, Emma kicked a chair forward to block their path and quickly turned to run. Luckily, she hadn’t closed the door when she entered the room, leaving her an escape route.

Emma didn’t dare look back, rushing toward the stairwell, taking the steps two at a time.

Sure enough, footsteps quickly followed, the sound of pursuit right behind her. The boy’s voice grumbled, “She hurt me again!”

Then, everything went silent. All that was left in Emma’s mind was one thought: escape. Her lungs burned as if all the oxygen had been squeezed out of them. Each breath she took was scorching hot, searing her throat. Even though Emma wasn’t afraid, she couldn’t avoid the discomfort.

Exhausted and injured, her limbs felt weak, making her run slower. Just as she was about to reach the neighborhood gate, she heard the sharp whistle of metal slicing through the air. Clenching her teeth, Emma rolled to the ground, narrowly avoiding the red-haired woman’s long steel claws.

She rolled about a meter away and looked back to see the red-haired woman and the boy catching up, ready to pounce.

Emma flung a white object into the air. With a thought, two large iron doors suddenly appeared and fell from the sky with a gust of wind, slamming down on the boy and silencing his scream.

Emma’s legs gave out, and she collapsed to the ground.

She could see the boy struggling but unable to get up, but it didn’t bring her any satisfaction. The red-haired woman, who posed the greatest threat, was still standing outside the iron doors.

But Emma was too exhausted to run any further.

Each time she used a card, it drained her energy. Summoning the iron doors had depleted the last of her strength. She couldn’t even stand now, lying on the ground, glaring at the red-haired woman with bitter defiance.

To her surprise, the red-haired woman sighed instead of attacking. She sat down where she was.

Frowning, she turned to the boy trapped under the iron door and asked, “How could you be so clumsy?”

The boy, surprisingly unscathed despite the heavy doors, coughed twice before retorting breathlessly, “I’m made of flesh and bones, nothing fancy. Naturally, I can’t move as fast as you! Ugh, it’s crushing my windpipe.”

The red-haired woman scoffed. “More like all that extra weight. I don’t know how you’ve managed to survive, being so slow.”

“What are you talking about? If it weren’t for my high potential—”

Emma stared in disbelief as the two pursuers bickered, seemingly having forgotten all about her.

“Uh… aren’t you here to kill me?”

“Huh?” The boy’s head poked through the bars of the gate, looking at her in surprise. “Miss, did you really think we were going to kill you? No wonder you ran like crazy. I kept calling out to you, but you didn’t stop. I’m already highly evolved; killing someone like you who’s just starting out wouldn’t benefit me at all.”

Seeing this supposedly highly evolved person lying on the ground, crushed and unable to move, Emma’s mouth twitched, but she held her tongue. At the same time, she felt a wave of relief. If they didn’t mean her any harm, that was good news.

But still…

“Miss, could you please move the iron door? It’s squashing me flat.” When no one answered, the boy whined again.

Emma glanced at the red-haired woman sitting on the ground, puzzled as to why she was just watching.

After a moment, she coldly said, “I can do that, but first, you have to introduce yourselves.”

“Of course, of course. My name’s Landon, nice to meet you. How about a handshake?” The boy rested his head against the bars, and seeing Emma roll her eyes, he quickly added, “Oh, right, this is my other personality. Her name is Martha.”

Emma’s eyes widened. “Another personality?”

“That’s right. Before the New World descended, I was the second person globally to be officially diagnosed with split personality disorder.” Landon’s voice was full of pride as he raised his chin. “Then I evolved and managed to separate Martha out, but for now, we can’t stray too far from each other. Uh… my abilities are a bit complicated, so I won’t explain too much. And don’t ask how I know about your parents—that’s part of my ability too.” Realizing he almost said too much again, Landon quickly added, “Anyway, Martha is a life scientist. She’s very interested in newly evolved humans, which is why she was in such a hurry earlier.”

Emma turned to look at Martha, who nodded solemnly.

“So what’s with the long nails?” Emma asked, still confused by Martha’s now perfectly normal, short and rounded fingernails.

“For blood samples. Once the blood is drawn, she can analyze some basic data. It’s a skill Martha developed herself—not much use in combat,” Landon explained honestly.

“Wait, are you saying that not only can you evolve abilities, but even your split personalities can?” Emma was genuinely shocked. Landon really lived up to his potential as a powerhouse. “If this keeps up, won’t you be like an entire army by yourself?”

“It’s not that simple,” Landon said with a grimace. “This ability is pretty useless right now. Apart from her nails, Martha can’t even hurt anyone. Alright, enough with the ability talk. Can you please let me out now? We can chat more later, okay?”

Emma let out a deep sigh. Maybe it was the shock of seeing her deceased parents in such a bizarre way, but after talking with Landon, she no longer sensed any malice from him or Martha. She smiled wryly and admitted, “It’s not that I don’t want to let you out—I’m just completely drained. I need to rest for a while.”

She hadn’t even finished speaking when a strange sound came from the nearby guard room, a startled “Ah?”

Martha, who had been sitting quietly, suddenly sprang to her feet, her face serious as she muttered, “Uh-oh.”