Three days ago, when Lin Fan first saw that post, he didn't think much of it. He just assumed someone was overly curious.
But now, seeing the overwhelming number of missing-person posts flooding the internet, Lin Fan finally realized — the other party was hell-bent on hunting him down.
He didn't know who the person behind it was, but he was certain they weren't affiliated with the authorities.
Otherwise, they wouldn't be using a bounty to track someone down.
And once it involved civilians, Lin Fan became extremely suspicious of their intentions.
After all, he'd always believed in one principle: When someone is willing to pay a massive reward for a piece of information, that information must be worth even more to them.
Given the current situation, Lin Fan dared not risk his or Xin Xin's life just to find out whether the other party's intentions were good or evil.
He skimmed through the posts and saw that while there were replies, most were just curious onlookers. No one had any concrete information.
Seeing this, Lin Fan breathed a sigh of relief.
After all, the world was in chaos now. Everyone was doing everything they could just to survive. Few had the time or energy to chase after some vague post in an online forum…
And since the Doomsday Era began, the online forum police who used to manage security hadn't shown up again.
Whether they'd been reassigned to help maintain offline order due to a shortage of manpower, or…
Lin Fan didn't want to think further.
"This situation is indeed a problem. I need to find a way to resolve it soon — I won't be able to sleep easy otherwise." Lin Fan stared at the usernames behind those search posts in silence for a long time. Instead of sitting around and waiting, he figured it was better to strike first.
He decided to unmask the true identity of the person behind the posts before they could uncover his.
That way, he would be the one lurking in the shadows — and they, exposed in the light.
---
The next day, Lin Fan was busy all day again.
By the time he finished washing up that night, it was already around 1 a.m.
After setting up the patrol and defense systems, Lin Fan lay down and quickly fell into a deep sleep.
He didn't know how much time had passed when a shrill warning siren suddenly woke him up.
> "Alert! Intruders detected!"
> "Number of intruders: 7, male, armed with iron knives, clubs, and hammers. Threat level: 19!"
> "Intruders are damaging the fence and iron gate. Engage in counterattack?"
Lin Fan leapt out of bed, bloodshot eyes glaring at the screen that automatically popped up — a live feed transmitted from his patrol bots.
Seven burly men, wielding a variety of deadly weapons, were viciously smashing the iron gate of the farm. Some were trying to scale the wall to climb over. Several mid-sized cargo trucks were parked nearby, and two figures stood near the lead truck.
Lin Fan squinted, staring carefully for a moment — and rage instantly erupted in his chest.
He recognized one of them.
It was fucking Yu Lin!
His face remained expressionless, but his pupils narrowed slightly.
That didn't mean he felt nothing. Quite the opposite — this was Lin Fan at his most furious.
Two days ago, Yu Lin had called, asking to buy food. He'd rejected her outright, and they'd fallen out completely.
Now, two days later, in the dead of night, seven or eight thugs had shown up with weapons trying to break into the farm. And Yu Lin stood watching from a distance… with another man.
Did he really need to think hard about what was going on?
"Yu Lin, you're a fucking monster." Lin Fan jumped out of bed, threw on a thick coat, and immediately issued orders to all the guard mechs on the farm.
Rendezvous at the main gate!
Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!
Dozens of Hummingbird-class defense units and the Hunter-class hound bot sped toward the gate.
By the time Lin Fan got there, two of the intruders had already scaled the wall and were preparing to jump down.
---
"Xiao Ling, are you sure about this? Does Lin Fan really have food in there?"
By the truck, Sun Dayou frowned. "I paid a lot for these guys. If this turns out to be a dead lead, we're screwed!"
"Relax… There's a massive storage building on this farm. I was here just a few days ago. I saw it with my own eyes — it's packed with food. Easily enough to fill several trucks," Yu Lin replied softly.
"Good! If this works out, we won't just solve our food problems — we might even make a fortune…" Sun Dayou grinned.
Yu Lin narrowed her eyes, carefully hiding the trace of disgust within them.
The man beside her was a former deputy general manager at her old company. He was more than ten years older than her, ugly, and utterly incomparable to Lin Fan.
But he had money. And power.
The day she broke up with Lin Fan after that argument, she'd thrown herself into this man's arms in a fit of anger — a clean, seamless transition.
She thought sacrificing her dignity would bring her a better life. But she never expected the apocalypse to arrive so suddenly, casting her straight from heaven into hell.
Since the Doomsday Era began, food prices had skyrocketed.
The once "ugly duckling" Lin Fan had now become a white swan. Yu Lin's regret was so sharp, it physically hurt.
When she called Lin Fan a few days ago and got ruthlessly rejected, her pride was shattered. She couldn't bring herself to beg him again — so she made a brutal decision.
She convinced Sun Dayou to gather a crew and attack the farm at night to steal Lin Fan's supplies.
And if they failed to take it?
She had a backup plan.
Burn the whole warehouse down.
If she couldn't have it — she'd destroy it.
That's a woman's vengeance. That's the cruelest kind of revenge.
---
"Hurry up, Second and Third!" Sun Dayou called out.
"Quit rushing! This wall's too damn high — I'm looking for a good spot to jump!" one of the men on the wall grumbled. He glanced into the farm below.
> "Intruders have entered automatic counterattack range. Initiating extermination protocol."
Suddenly, a pair of eerie blue lights appeared at the base of the wall — eyes glowing coldly in the darkness, locked onto the intruders. A mechanical voice echoed out.
"What the fuck?!"
"What the hell is that thing?!"
Both men roared in panic.
Then — a flash of light.
Bang! Bang!
Two muffled shots rang out.
The air filled with the acrid stench of gunpowder. The two men atop the wall froze — then toppled backwards, falling lifelessly outside the perimeter.
"Holy shit! Are they dead?!"
"Where's his head?! His head's gone!"
"Fuck you, Sun Dayou! That bastard has guns in the farm! Fuck your ancestors!"
Screams of despair erupted outside the iron gate.
Lin Fan stood silently in the shadows, coldly watching it all unfold.
He could have stopped the Hunter-class bot from killing them — but he didn't.
Those men had come armed with deadly weapons, intent on breaking into the farm. If not for the fence, he and Xin Xin might already be dead.
In the apocalypse, Lin Fan always assumed the worst about people.
Because in a world like this, people who've lost their humanity… are far scarier than the apocalypse itself.
He slowly raised his head, his eyes blending into the darkness of night.
Then, he uttered four words, cold as ice:
"Kill. Them. All."