Urban Powers After the Apocalypse

"Wait, my hood is still on—I can't see anything…" The little girl squirmed behind Xu Mo, seemingly trying to lift the cloth bag over her head. A moment later, a sharp scream erupted, and she instantly collapsed.

Xu Mo knew she had been frightened by what she saw. He stopped, turned around, and pulled the half-lifted hood back down over her head. Shaking his head, he said, "I didn't take your hood off precisely because I didn't want you to see this… How are you? Can you still walk?"

"I… I…" The little girl was trembling all over, unable to stand, barely able to form words.

Xu Mo slung his backpack around his neck, then crouched down and carried the girl on his back, stepping out of the blood-stained, abandoned factory.

"Huh?"

As he stepped out of the factory's main entrance, Xu Mo suddenly realized that the white van they had arrived in was gone.

After a moment of contemplation, his brows furrowed slightly. He finally recalled that he had only killed six people—one was missing. The lookout, the one called "Old Stick," had likely taken advantage of the chaos and driven away.

Since someone had escaped, this place was no longer safe. Xu Mo didn't dare linger near the factory. Carrying the little girl on his back, he stumbled along the path toward the distant lights.

"Are you a police officer?" The little girl rested her small chin lightly on his shoulder, whispering in a childlike voice near his ear.

"No."

"Then… aren't you afraid? You killed so many people." She continued asking.

"Not… not really." Even though she was just an elementary schooler, Xu Mo didn't want to lose face in front of a girl.

"You're lying. I heard you crying…"

"Shut up! Do you believe I won't just drop you here, rape you, kill you, then rape you again and kill you again?!"

Xu Mo was getting a headache from this talkative little girl. He even started to doubt whether saving her was a wise decision. Fortunately, his harsh threat seemed to have scared her into silence. The girl shrank against his back, not daring to speak anymore.

Her body was soft and light, yet after carrying her for nearly a kilometer, Xu Mo was utterly exhausted—his legs felt as if they weren't his own.

"This place should be safe. Two hundred meters ahead, there's a police station. You can go there to report what happened." Xu Mo crouched down, placing the girl on a roadside stone block. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a phone he had casually picked up in the factory, pressing it into her hand. "If you don't trust the police, you can call your family to come get you."

The little girl nodded and reached to remove her hood, but Xu Mo quickly grabbed her wrist. After all, he had killed six people, and he was involved with the secret of the Doomsday Fragment. If his identity were exposed, it could cause unnecessary trouble.

"Don't you trust me? I just wanted to see what you look like…" The girl was perceptive, seemingly guessing at Xu Mo's concerns. She lowered her hands and didn't insist.

"It's nothing special—two eyes, a nose." Xu Mo chuckled, patting her head through the cloth. "Besides, I didn't come here just to save you. I was captured alongside you by accident…"

"But you saved me. That's a fact. I have to repay you. What do you want? I can give you a lot of money, or make you the general manager of any subsidiary in our group, or even offer you a long-term, high-value contract…"

The little girl spoke with surprising confidence, her words extravagant yet sincere. Despite her lack of understanding of the world, her earnestness was touching.

Xu Mo smiled faintly. While her offers were tempting, he didn't believe such a young girl had the authority to make such decisions. Still, her sense of gratitude and determination were rare qualities. She seemed naïve, but also kind-hearted.

"Forget it. Accepting something would make it seem like I saved you for a reward. That doesn't sit right with me… But you, be more careful next time. Don't get kidnapped again."

"Wait!" The girl seemed surprised by his refusal. Out of options, she removed a jade Buddha pendant from her neck and placed it in his hand. "Then… take this as a memento."

The jade Buddha was about the size of a thumb, crystal-clear and finely carved. Xu Mo wasn't knowledgeable about jade, so he had no idea how much it was worth. But in his understanding, something this small shouldn't be worth more than a thousand yuan. Accepting it felt reasonable.

"Alright, I'm leaving. Wait exactly one minute before taking off your hood. A full minute, or else…"

"I know! 'Rape, kill, rape again, kill again'—you love scaring little kids like me…" The girl sat on the stone block, sulking with her arms crossed.

As Xu Mo's footsteps faded into the distance, she grew anxious and called out, "Hey, hey! You're just leaving like that? Don't you want to know my name?"

Xu Mo ran dozens of meters before turning back. He saw the girl still standing at the stone block, stomping her foot in frustration—but she really hadn't removed the hood. A faint smile appeared on his lips. Without hesitation, he turned and disappeared into the night.

"Hey! Remember this—I'm called…"

A moment later, the little girl's childish voice echoed through the darkness, as if she had shouted her name. But by then, Xu Mo was already hundreds of meters away—he couldn't hear her at all.

Not long after Xu Mo left, the girl finally counted to sixty and removed the black cloth bag, revealing a delicate and mature face—an unusual beauty for someone her age.

"What an interesting person… And his scent… it reminds me of my father." She narrowed her fox-like eyes, biting her fingertip as she murmured softly.

Then, her expression abruptly turned cold. Picking up the phone, she dialed a number and commanded icily, "Big Guy, I'm at Xiguan in Shangshan City. You have one hour to get here. If you're late, take two months' salary and find another job."

Forty-five minutes later, a convoy of one black Mercedes S600 and two Audi A6s appeared at the end of the rural dirt road.

The vehicles stopped in front of the girl. Several men in black jackets immediately got out, surrounding her protectively. Their disciplined demeanor and swift movements revealed them as professionally trained bodyguards.