[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-after-i-fully-prepared-for-the-apocalypse-the-un":3,"chapter-after-i-fully-prepared-for-the-apocalypse-the-un-after-i-fully-prepared-for-the-apocalypse-the-un-chapter-169":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","After I Fully Prepared for the Apocalypse, the Ungrateful Cried with Regret",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":20,"prevChapterSlug":21,"totalChapters":22,"novelImage":23},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":16,"volume":17,"translator":18,"content_hash":19},146333,236,"Chapter 169: Dire Straits","after-i-fully-prepared-for-the-apocalypse-the-un-chapter-169",169,"\u003Cp>The cooldown on \"Five Senses Enhancement\" ended.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nina Jacobs controlled the Little Zombie Rat as she awaited the completion of her level-up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Little Zombie Rat could better sense the surrounding situation from its vantage point in an open area.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nina Jacobs could even hear the panicked shouts of some Superpower Users.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The world outside was in chaos.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It felt as if everything could be destroyed at any moment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But within her own little world, it was exceptionally quiet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So quiet she could clearly hear the sound of every single water droplet falling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were fewer droplets than before—so few, in fact, that it seemed she could count them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The pond beneath the droplets had grown larger again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She quietly waited for the last droplet to fall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just then, Wendy Marshall stumbled back, her face deathly pale.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They had been using their Superpowers continuously for hours since the fighting started.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>During that time, she and Jessica Vance had even fallen back to rest twice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But now, she couldn’t muster even a shred of her Superpower.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The same went for Pascal Paige.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She had been busy healing the wounded, but now, regrettably, she had the will but no longer the strength.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Are you guys okay?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yvonne Willow took out a few bottles of water and handed them over.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Outside, the sky was already darkening into evening.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She couldn’t imagine what they would face that night.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"At our usual rate of Superpower recovery,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>it’ll take at least three more hours to get back half of our Superpowers.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pascal Paige lay on the ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Superpower exhaustion felt like being completely hollowed out. She was weak all over, like the enervating collapse that comes with a high fever.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was an awful feeling, and she believed the others felt the same way.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Let alone trying to fend off zombies in this condition.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Gold Element Superpower Users, with me!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We’re going to repair the main gate below!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Julian Dempsey shouted, his head beaded with sweat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The main gate downstairs had been barricaded with steel plates, but there were just too many zombies below.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The plates were in danger of breaking loose.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"But if we pull the Gold Element defenses from here, people are going to die.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yara Garcia said, pointing to the people on the platform outside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was dangerous enough just standing there killing zombies; they also had to guard against Superpower-wielding zombies making ranged attacks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their best protection at the moment was the Gold Element defenses.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"We can’t worry about that now!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If the entrance is breached, we’re all finished!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Julian Dempsey shouted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even though their chances of survival were slim, every extra second they could live counted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But strangely, after some of the Gold Element Superpower Users left, the people on the platform felt the zombies’ attacks from below weaken.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"No, wait—look over there!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Someone pointed to the nearby basement entrance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The zombies seemed to have gone mad, swarming like a tidal wave toward the basement entrance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"No! No, don’t!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One glance was all it took for Eric Stone to understand what was happening.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She let out a heart-wrenching scream.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was the members of the Lockwood Squad, who had been hiding in the basement. They had opened the door on purpose.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tears blurred everyone’s vision.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were taking the pressure off those fighting upstairs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Using their own lives to draw the zombies’ attention.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The scent of fresh blood drove the zombies into a frenzy. Like starving beasts, they abandoned their assault on the platforms and lunged toward the survivors in the basement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Down on the first floor, Julian Dempsey and the others repairing the steel plates seemed to have realized what was happening as well.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Dempsey, what’s wrong?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>a nearby Superpower User asked, watching Julian Dempsey suddenly collapse to his knees.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You damn zombies... I’ll kill every last one of you.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Julian Dempsey knelt on the floor, his head bowed. Large tears splashed onto the ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’So these were the people we were protecting.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’Not a single one of them was a coward.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Dempsey, we’re still here.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We have to kill every last zombie here\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>and avenge Uncle Stone, Miss Warner, and the others.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Having finally understood what happened, several team members offered grim words of comfort.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Let’s go. Back upstairs.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Julian Dempsey wiped away his tears.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’That’s right. Not a single person from the Lockwood Squad had backed down.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’He couldn’t afford to break down here either.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’With over two hundred team members behind them, how could he give up so easily?’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Holden Shaw hadn’t been idle, either.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He infused any object he could throw with his Speed Element Superpower, relentlessly hurling them down at the zombies below.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The massacre downstairs did indeed buy the people upstairs a moment to breathe.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Many people sat quietly to one side, slowly waiting for their Superpowers to recover.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, less than an hour later, people on the platform began to be hit by Superpower-wielding zombies once more.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even Finn Hart was on the verge of passing out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the zombies below seemed to know no fatigue.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even late into the night, the ground below continued to boil with them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"We’ve held on for so long... We’ve killed thousands of zombies,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>but it’s useless. It’s all been for nothing.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"We’re at our limit. Maybe we shouldn’t have fought back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Maybe we should have just stayed down there and waited to die...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Just how many more zombies are there?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>How much longer do we have to last?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"...No one is coming to save us.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All of City J is finished...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>BANG.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unable to bear the pressure any longer, someone in a corner took their own life with a single shot.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As true night fell, fear began to spread even more rapidly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Eric Stone, you can’t stay here any longer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You have to go back and rest.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kurt Garrison frowned as he watched Eric Stone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She was like a robot, ceaselessly unleashing her Superpower on the horde below.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her Superpower was almost completely depleted, and she could only conjure a few faint sparks of electricity, but still she persisted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"If I do nothing,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>it’ll feel even worse.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Eric Stone said.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But in the next instant, a vine snaking up the wall wrapped around her ankle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>THUD!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Eric Stone was yanked violently against the railing by the vine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The zombies below grew even more frenzied.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some zombies even began climbing over one another, forming a grotesque human pyramid.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Eric Stone!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kurt Garrison tried to sever the vine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But a Wood Element zombie was already scrambling up it!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Catching sight of it out of the corner of her eye, Eric Stone kicked Kurt Garrison back and away from the edge.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Wood Element zombie’s hand was just about to close around Eric Stone’s throat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She closed her eyes, resigned to her fate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’Perhaps this is it...’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just then, a brilliant jet of flame shot through the night sky.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The flame struck the Wood Element zombie hanging from the vine, instantly turning it into a human torch.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Feeling the pull on her ankle vanish, Eric Stone and the others looked over in astonishment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On a platform not far below, they saw a vaguely familiar woman standing there.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing that Eric Stone was out of danger, Nina Jacobs turned her attention to the zombies below.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Is that...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Chase Gallagher’s friend?!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Molly Ulrich recognized Nina Jacobs, and Wayne Warner standing beside her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’She’s awake?’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That’s the second-floor platform!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It’s easy to get grabbed by zombies from there!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>one of the team members exclaimed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For safety’s sake, they had only dared to fight the zombies from the fourth-floor platform.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’But she went straight to the second floor?’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Nina Jacobs... is awake?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Finn Hart also made his way to the platform upon hearing the news.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nina Jacobs stood on the second-floor platform below.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From their position above, they had a clear view of her every move.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was where the zombies were thickest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Does she have a death wish?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>someone murmured.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"My God, what is that?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Molly Ulrich thought her eyes were playing tricks on her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She watched as Nina Jacobs placed a hand on the wall behind her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The surface of the wall seemed to become coated in a layer of bright orange liquid, which slowly slid down toward the ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sparks erupted wherever it passed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was like flowing lava.\u003C\u002Fp>",1389,"2026-05-29T03:44:18.636Z","2026-06-01T04:29:06.436Z",1,"novelbin.me","4ef327c63be43e672d519a63b61acee0fab40f6b2b645d89a3a4d31ced013d5e","after-i-fully-prepared-for-the-apocalypse-the-un-chapter-170","after-i-fully-prepared-for-the-apocalypse-the-un-chapter-168",312,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fafter-i-fully-prepared-for-the-apocalypse-the-un-cover.jpg"]