"Little bro, listen to me—I'm right here and I need to say something important."
His voice carried that particular tone of self-righteous confidence that grated on Elric's nerves like nails on a chalkboard. The skinny influencer stepped forward, phone still recording, apparently believing he held some kind of moral authority.
"In times like these, we should all be helping each other survive. And you—you're a superpowered individual, which means you need to set an example for the rest of us. You have a responsibility to—"
BANG! BANG!
Before he could finish his sanctimonious speech, two thunderous gunshots echoed through the destroyed supermarket.
Two bullets punched directly into him with devastating force.
A gleaming silver Desert Eagle had materialized in Elric's hand—appearing from his dimensional storage in an instant—and two precisely aimed shots immediately cut off his moral grandstanding mid-sentence.
Elric had already found him annoying just from his appearance and behavior, but the man technically hadn't directly provoked him... until this exact moment.
Trying to morally blackmail him in the middle of the apocalypse? Demanding he sacrifice his resources and safety for strangers while he himself contributed nothing?
Those were the exact type of people Elric despised most in any world.
So he didn't bother with arguments, debates, or explanations.
He simply answered with bullets and permanently shut the hypocrite up.
Unfortunately, this was Elric's first time actually firing a real handgun in his life. He wasn't yet familiar with the substantial recoil of a Desert Eagle .50 caliber, so the shots didn't quite land where he'd intended.
Instead of the clean headshot he'd visualized, one bullet slammed into his chest—puncturing his lung—while the other tore directly into his groin area with catastrophic results.
Neither shot killed him instantly... but in today's world, with no hospitals, no antibiotics, no emergency surgery, those wounds amounted to a slow, agonizing death sentence spanning the next ten to twenty minutes.
"He—he's got a gun!"
"Holy shit—he just shot him without warning—"
"Don't say anything! Don't even look at him!"
Several other survivors who had been mentally preparing their own moral speeches about sharing and responsibility froze in absolute terror, their faces going pale. Not a single person dared to say another word or even make eye contact with Elric.
The message had been delivered with perfect clarity: moral posturing equals death.
He collapsed backward onto the blood-stained tile floor, both hands clutching desperately at his wounds as crimson pooled rapidly beneath him.
His phone clattered away, still recording, capturing his own dying gasps for an audience that would never see the footage.
"You... you can't..." he wheezed, blood bubbling from his lips. "I was just... trying to help everyone..."
Elric walked past him without breaking stride, not even glancing down.
"You weren't trying to help anyone. You were trying to force me to help you while risking nothing yourself. There's a difference."
He continued walking toward Lily, leaving him to bleed out alone on the cold floor—an educational example for anyone else harboring similar thoughts.
Watching him writhing in agony, Lily let out a long, relieved breath.
"Serves him right," she muttered with genuine satisfaction. "Really—he deserved it. Should've just killed him outright and saved him the suffering."
Her voice carried real venom as she continued:
"That bastard used me as a human shield when the centipede attacked... and he's the main one who forced Officer Rachel and the others outside to die!"
"Oh?" Elric's eyebrow arched with renewed interest. "Officer Rachel?"
When Elric had first arrived at the scene, he hadn't bothered keeping his Clairvoyance ability continuously active—it drained mental energy unnecessarily when not needed.
So he didn't have complete information about what had transpired before his arrival.
But now, hearing Lily mention a policewoman specifically, his attention immediately sharpened with predatory focus.
He had consumed countless apocalypse novels, web fiction, and system-based stories in his previous life as an ordinary college student.
A beautiful policewoman... injured and vulnerable... located nearby...
The narrative practically wrote itself.
Was she someone the System would evaluate as "qualified"? The probability seemed exceptionally high.
"Yes!" Lily nodded quickly, eager to provide information and prove her usefulness. "Officer Rachel—she came with two male officers. He and his group forced all three of them outside to fight that giant centipede alone, using them as sacrificial shields."
Her voice grew quieter, more somber.
"The two male officers were killed almost instantly—bitten to death while trying to protect everyone. And Officer Rachel had her entire leg bitten off below the knee... the monster threw her body through a window into that collapsed office building next door."
She gestured toward the damaged structure adjacent to the supermarket.
"I don't even know if she's still alive after injuries like that..."
Elric's eyes narrowed thoughtfully, his mind already calculating possibilities and strategies.
"Is she beautiful?"
"Wha—why does that even matter right now...?"
Lily blinked with confusion and mild hurt, clearly not understanding why physical appearance would be relevant to a rescue decision.
But after a moment's hesitation, she answered honestly:
"...Yes. Beautiful. Very much so. She's probably the most stunning woman I've ever seen in real life."
The moment those words left her mouth, Lily felt a sharp, sour sting twist painfully inside her chest.
She had just become Elric's woman barely ten minutes ago.
And already he was asking about another woman's beauty?
The implication was crystal clear—he was planning to take Officer Rachel in too if she survived.
Would that make Lily the... the second woman? The side piece? The less important one?
Bitter jealousy began boiling inside her, but she forcibly swallowed it down and didn't dare voice any complaints out loud.
This wasn't like before the apocalypse, where you could simply dump an unsatisfactory boyfriend and find a new one through dating apps.
Her survival now depended entirely and completely on Elric's protection and resources.
And besides... Officer Rachel had tried to protect her earlier, had fought that monster to keep civilians safe. She was cold and distant, yes—but fundamentally a good person who deserved to live.
If she ended up as Elric's second woman... Lily supposed she could accept that outcome.
Still... Rachel was absolutely stunning. Much more beautiful than herself by any objective measure.
Could she even compete for attention? Would she become irrelevant?
The insecure thoughts spiraled through her mind.
Meanwhile, Elric remained completely unaware of and uninterested in Lily's internal emotional crisis.
He simply activated his Clairvoyance ability, the enhanced vision penetrating through walls and debris to search systematically for the wounded officer.
He located her within mere seconds.
And the moment his supernatural sight landed on Officer Rachel, Elric's eyes visibly brightened with satisfaction and anticipation.
This woman absolutely, without question, met the System's acceptance standards.
In fact, she was quite possibly the most beautiful woman he had encountered in the real world aside from the exceptional Olivia.
Her facial features were exquisitely sculpted—high cheekbones, full lips, perfectly proportioned. Her skin appeared pale as polished ivory, flawless despite the blood and dirt. Her height measured around 5'9", tall and commanding even while collapsed.
Her torn police uniform couldn't conceal her impressive curves and athletic muscle definition.
But the most striking aspect was her expression and bearing—even unconscious and dying, she radiated a sharp, fox-like intelligence combined with a cool, distant aura that commanded respect.
Cold. Proud. Stunning. Untouchable.
Except she was very much touchable now, wasn't she? Vulnerable. Helpless. In desperate need of rescue.
Perfect.
However, Officer Rachel's current physical condition was absolutely critical.
Her right thigh had been nearly torn completely off just below the knee—hanging by threads of muscle, tendon, and skin. Blood covered the concrete floor beneath her in an expanding pool.
She'd used her torn uniform shirt as an improvised tourniquet tied tightly around her upper thigh, but the bleeding was far from controlled.
Without immediate medical intervention, she would fall into hypovolemic shock within minutes and die shortly after.
Just as Elric completed his assessment, the familiar System notification chimed clearly in his mind:
[DING! Suitable candidate detected.]
Name: Rachel
Age: 27
Appearance: 94
Figure: 92
Purity: 100 (Virgin, High purity, Untainted)
System Overall Evaluation: 93
Exchange Reward Count: 26 resets per month
[Assessment: Meets system standards. Taking her in will significantly promote Devil Fruit Tree growth and resource generation.]
Elric nodded with deep satisfaction.
Rachel's appearance score of 94 placed her in the absolute top tier—equal to or higher than most of his current collection. Her figure score of 92 was also exceptional, though slightly below some others.
But most importantly, her overall evaluation of 93 matched his highest-rated women, and her monthly reward count of 26 cycles exceeded even Natasha's output.
Extremely high value. Critical priority acquisition.
"Alright," Elric announced abruptly, turning away from the supplies. "We're leaving immediately."
He didn't need to gather more resources from the supermarket—he already had plenty stored in his dimensional inventory.
What he needed was to reach Rachel now, before she bled out completely and died.
Because allowing a System-qualified police beauty with a 93 rating to die from preventable injuries?
That would be an absolutely unacceptable waste of a valuable resource.
"Lily, follow me. We're going to save your Officer Rachel."
"Y-yes!" Lily scrambled to follow, relief and anxiety mixing on her face.
At least if she helped save Rachel, maybe the other woman would see her as an ally rather than competition?
There is 50 chapter Advance, in my patreon. If you are interested can check it out.
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