The survivors in the residential complex went from threatening persuasion at first, to curse-filled threats later, until eventually they were all too exhausted to speak, their resentment toward Li Xuan multiplying several times over in their hearts.

After all that threatening, they got no food supplies, and instead exhausted a lot of energy from all the shouting—their throats burned painfully, feeling absolutely miserable. Many people felt they might die of thirst before they even starved to death.

On the second night, the sound of rain woke the survivors.

Heavy rain!

Torrential downpour!

Without any warning, a sudden torrential rain began pouring down!

Bean-sized raindrops fell densely, forming vast curtains across the sky.

Zhang Rui excitedly ran to the window, stuck his head out, opened his mouth wide, and greedily gulped down the rainwater.

Splat-splat-splat~ The raindrops hit his face, the pain forcing Zhang Rui to pull his head back inside.

The rain was too heavy!

The moment he opened his mouth, it filled completely with rainwater.

Zhang Rui watched the increasingly heavy rain pouring down outside, his initial excitement gradually fading away.

A sense of foreboding seized his body and mind.

He thought of something—with such heavy rainfall, could the rescue teams still come?

"Could it be that Li Xuan already anticipated this heavy rain, that rescue teams wouldn't be able to arrive, which is why he's so confident and unafraid?"

Zhang Rui quickly shook his head, dismissing this thought.

"The heavy rain definitely won't last long! It'll stop by tomorrow! It has to be this way!"

Zhang Rui continuously comforted himself in his heart, tossing and turning unable to sleep.

With hope right before their eyes, suddenly blocked by the heavy rain—no one could accept this.

By the eighteenth-floor window, Li Xuan gently stroked the feathers on Yun Xiuzhi's head. "The apocalypse is baring its fangs for the second time."

Yun Xiuzhi looked at the heavy rain outside, fear evident in her eyes.

In such torrential rain, she simply couldn't fly outside!

Fortunately, she had latched onto a powerful ally! She didn't need to go out searching for food herself, otherwise tonight would have been terrible.

"How long will this heavy rain last?"

"A very long time."

"The rescue teams won't be able to come."

"It's raining globally now. People can only rely on themselves for survival. Expecting others to save you is nothing but a gamble," Li Xuan said quietly.

Apocalypse Version 1.2! Global torrential rains!

No living creature could escape this disaster!

The heavy rain would trigger floods, and beneath the floodwaters, all things became equal.

Water levels would rise daily, and humans had to reach higher ground to survive!

The floods would submerge everything—corpses, zombies, all kinds of pollution. The water would contain countless viruses, and anyone with wounds entering the water would easily get infected.

Yun Xiuzhi shrank back. "How terrifying. Will the apocalypse ever end?"

"No. All we can do is strive to survive," Li Xuan said calmly.

Ding~ Intelligence updated!

A mechanical voice sounded as two pieces of intelligence appeared in Li Xuan's mind.

[Women Are Like Clothing: Rescue Team Second Squad Captain Huo Shuangshuang will awaken an ability during the second version: Battle Garb! Her body transforms into battle armor that enhances the user's strength, speed, and constitution. The enhancement scale increases as the ability improves. Ability rating: A-class!]

After reading the intelligence, Li Xuan's first thought was that Uncle Liu hadn't deceived him—women really could become clothing.

An A-class ability was already quite high-level with ample potential. Without exaggeration, Huo Shuangshuang was a perfect support.

Even an ordinary person wearing Huo Shuangshuang-brand battle armor could become a minor superhuman. What if a superhuman wore Huo Shuangshuang?

Could they achieve a 1+1＞2 effect?

Huo Shuangshuang would make a good teammate, but it would be difficult to make her willingly join his team. She wasn't like Yun Xiuzhi—before the apocalypse, Yun Xiuzhi was just an ordinary homebody with poor mental fortitude, afraid of zombies, fearful of death. She hid away for nearly three versions before becoming an empress, relying on the nearly unstoppable Brain Snatcher Strange Being.

Actually, anyone who controlled the Brain Snatcher Strange Being could become a martial arts powerhouse. Its ability was to seize others' brains, using them to help with cultivation, comprehend martial arts, and acquire knowledge—utterly absurd.

Just possess a few geniuses, and martial arts cultivation would skyrocket.

Huo Shuangshuang was a rescue team captain—her mental fortitude wasn't something Yun Xiuzhi could compare to. She was probably already an official personnel before the apocalypse.

How to persuade Huo Shuangshuang?

Li Xuan thought about it but couldn't come up with a good method. He currently didn't need teammates who might leave at any time; he needed teammates who were truly aligned with him.

He set aside that thought and focused on the second piece of intelligence.

[The Snake Person's Return: When the apocalypse descended, Huo Lingling was raising a newly born pure white Texas rat snake. The darkness made Huo Lingling lose composure, and she fled in panic. Upon going out, she encountered zombies and unfortunately got infected.

The little white snake inadvertently swallowed one of Huo Lingling's hairs when the darkness came, gaining the ability to transform into Huo Lingling. Later, Huo Shuangshuang who came to rescue mistakenly thought it was her sister Huo Lingling. The snake's naive intelligence was mistaken for shock-induced complete memory loss, with behavior resembling a child's.

When the second version descended, the little white snake awakened two abilities: Snake form: Bodhi Divine Garb ability, rated A+-class. When activated, the body transforms into divine garb that enhances the user's comprehension and learning ability / Huo Lingling form: Absolute Shadow Sacred Garb ability, rated S-class. When activated, the body transforms into Absolute Shadow Sacred Garb, granting the user temporary infinite space ability while slightly enhancing strength and constitution!

(Infinite Space: When external attacks approach, the surrounding space infinitely extends—what appears to be a small distance is actually infinite spatial distance!)

While experimenting with the abilities, Huo Shuangshuang commanded the little white snake to transform into Bodhi Divine Garb, connecting their hearts. Huo Shuangshuang thus learned that what she rescued wasn't her real sister but the little white snake transformed into Huo Lingling, completely shattering her previous assumptions and breaking her heart. After the experiment, Huo Shuangshuang refused to see the little white snake again.

Later, when Mountain-Moving Black Spiders attacked the settlement, the little white snake couldn't find Huo Shuangshuang and had no one to use its abilities on, ultimately being crushed to death by the Mountain-Moving Black Spiders. The 'strongest support' vanished before fully demonstrating its capabilities.]

The strongest support!

Awakening two abilities—one S-class ability involving spatial manipulation, and one A+-class ability enhancing comprehension and learning!

What an absurd talent!

Or perhaps it should be said—what incredible luck?

Currently, Li Xuan still hadn't figured out whether ability awakening related to talent or luck.

"Huo Shuangshuang might be difficult to handle, but isn't the little white snake easier to manage?" Li Xuan began calculating in his mind.

The little white snake kept searching for Huo Shuangshuang right until death, showing great dependence on her and unwillingness to use its abilities with anyone else.

The little white snake had the ability to transform into Huo Lingling but lacked Huo Lingling's memories. It was Huo Shuangshuang's subsequent care that made the little white snake dependent and utterly trusting of her.

Unfortunately, the little white snake never understood until death that Huo Shuangshuang's affection wasn't for it, but for the real Huo Lingling.

If Huo Shuangshuang couldn't accept the little white snake, he was willing to take care of it for her.

Li Xuan rubbed his chin. "Infinite space—what an interesting ability."

This ability reminded him of a certain anime character known as the strongest man.

Perhaps he too would become the strongest during the second version!