Chapter3

"Ian! You damned bastard! How dare you smash the ventilation shaft and escape?!"

The moment the call connected, my stepfather Richard's furious roar exploded into the background. Through his heavy breathing, I could keenly hear Mary's suppressed screams of terror and the piercing alarm blaring from the television.

The bloody riots in Manhattan had completely shattered their sense of security. They went to my basement to vent their panic, only to find I wasn't there, which plunged them into utter anxiety.

"Get back here right now! Or I'll break your legs!" Richard threatened, his voice trembling despite his bluster.

Hearing those familiar curses, my eyes turned cold. The excruciating pain of being torn apart by zombies in my dream seemed to be throbbing again. To keep them calm, I decided to feign reassurance first.

"Dad, don't be angry!" I deliberately made my tone sound as obsequious and humble as ever, and said, "I saw the news, it's too dangerous outside. I didn't run away, I went to buy supplies for our family!"

There was a brief silence on the other end of the phone.

Two seconds later, David's urgent voice suddenly grabbed the microphone: "Supplies? You bought food?! How much?!"

"Two boxes of high-calorie canned meat, three large bags of whole-wheat bread, and two bottles of bottled water—I simply can't carry any more." I feigned extreme anxiety. "Lock the door, and I'll take the food back right away!"

"Get back here right now!" Richard abruptly slammed down the phone.

Hearing the busy tone on my phone, I gave a cold laugh. Although I told myself it might just be a dream, the betrayal in the dream felt too real, and I had to have a backup plan.

With a slight thought, I used my spatial abilities to precisely select several boxes of food from the stockpiled supplies. Then, I grabbed a dozen high-definition miniature pinhole cameras from the online store's inventory and stuffed them into my pocket.

Twenty minutes later, I pushed open the door of the hillside villa, panting, carrying a heavy hiking backpack and two large boxes full of food in my hands.

"Bang!"

I placed the heavy cardboard box on the living room carpet. The golden bread and the mountain of canned luncheon meat were instantly exposed to the air.

Just as the family of three stared intently at the food, their eyes gleaming, I pretended to wipe my sweat, and silently activated my spatial ability.

"Whoosh!"

The dozen or so miniature cameras in my pocket vanished into thin air like ghosts. One was precisely embedded in the gap of the crystal chandelier in the living room, another was wedged behind the kitchen blinds. In the blink of an eye, this villa was now riddled with blind spots for surveillance!

After doing all this, I was ready to observe their greed with a cold eye, but what happened next completely stunned me.

“Oh my god! It’s really food! It’s all food!” Mary screamed and lunged at the cardboard box.

“Ian…”

Richard looked at the supplies scattered on the ground, then turned to look at me. His face, which had always been filled with disgust and abusive language towards me, surprisingly showed an incredibly kind smile!

He reached out the hand that had slapped me countless times, gently patted my shoulder, and said in an unprecedentedly gentle tone, "I knew you were a grateful child. It was so chaotic outside, you must have been terrified on the way here, right?"

"Ian, wipe your sweat, don't catch a cold." Mary actually stood up and, for the first time ever, handed me a clean towel, her eyes filled with unbelievable affection. "You are truly a hero in our family."

David tore open a bag of sausages, gave me a thumbs up, and said, "Well done, bro!"

Looking at their kind faces and hearing the praise I had dreamed of hearing for the past five years, my previously cold and guarded heart suddenly felt as if it had been hit hard by something.

A bittersweet warmth instantly welled up in my heart.

I knew it... I knew it! It was definitely just a ridiculous nightmare!

They are, after all, my adoptive parents, and David is, after all, my brother. Faced with a real survival crisis, how could they possibly push me to my death over half a loaf of bread?

I clenched my fists tightly. The act of installing surveillance cameras out of precaution made me feel a little guilty at this moment.

“It’s okay, Mom and Dad.” I took the towel, my voice trembling with emotion. “I’m willing to do anything to protect you and this family.”

"BOOM—!!!"

Just as I secretly vowed to use my superpowers to protect them and keep them alive, a deafening explosion suddenly came from the direction of the city center!

The towering flames instantly tore through the gray morning mist.

"Ah—Help! Help me!!!"

A piercing scream rang out from outside the window. Our family of four turned in terror to look out the floor-to-ceiling window at the same time.

The Wall Street executive next door, usually so aloof and arrogant, was now smashing through his own yard's wooden fence, covered in blood. Behind him, seven or eight monsters with grayish-white pupils and mouths full of blood were frantically lunging at him in an extremely twisted posture.

"Pfft!"

Blood splattered onto our window instantly, then slid down the transparent glass in a shocking manner.

The piercing air raid sirens wailed like a death knell, echoing mournfully throughout the city.

The apocalypse has fully erupted.

I clenched my fists tightly and stood without hesitation in front of Richard and Mary, shielding them behind me. At that moment, I was determined to protect this hard-won "family bond."