Walking into the luxurious estate, Liu Yang noticed its surrounding wall towered at a staggering six meters.
It wasn't an ordinary decorative iron fence, either-it was a solid steel barrier that completely blocked any view of the interior from the outside.
It was obvious that the owner placed extreme value on privacy.
They didn't care in the slightest that the sheer wall ruined the villa's overall aesthetics.
Stepping onto the grounds, the lavish setup inside surprised Liu Yang even more.
The courtyard actually featured a full helipad, complete with a bright orange private helicopter parked right on top of it.
The entire property was several tiers higher in luxury than Liu Yang's own gated community.
Even the exterior windows were made of thick bulletproof glass.
This place had to be worth at least a couple billion.
Walking into the grand hall, he found piles of packaged food stacked on the floor.
For three full-grown men, it was enough supplies to last at least a week.
To Liu Yang, however, it was practically nothing.
Compared to the sheer volume stored in his Dark Space, it was barely a drop in the bucket.
The surviving thug put on a groveling smile and turned to Liu Yang. "Big brother, we scavenged all this food over the past few days. It's all yours! Just take it and go!"
Liu Yang's voice turned icy. "Just this much?"
"J-Just... just this much..." Hearing Liu Yang's frigid tone, the man shuddered, nearly pissing his pants all over again.
Liu Yang was an absolute killing machine who popped heads without blinking. A single wrong word could mean instant death.
The thug felt as if an executioner's blade were hovering right over his neck, ready to fall at any second. He stood there, trembling in sheer terror.
Liu Yang scoffed. "Three grown men, and this is all you managed to hoard after all these days? What a bunch of useless trash."
Seeing Liu Yang's visible dissatisfaction, the thug hurriedly offered another piece of information. "The owner built a safe room down in the basement! He stacked a ton of food inside, but... we just couldn't break in."
Liu Yang's interest was instantly piqued. "Oh? Why didn't you say so earlier? Lead the way!"
The owner of this villa had clearly been a die-hard survival prepper before the world went to hell.
Not only did he construct a six-meter solid perimeter wall, but he even built a full-blown panic room in his basement?
Had the guy actually predicted the apocalypse?
It seemed the ultra-rich really were the most terrified of dying.
Besides, fortified safe rooms of this caliber were usually reserved for top state officials. Yet this billionaire had built one right inside his personal home.
He truly had money to burn-and an absolute obsession with his own survival.
A textbook paranoid, death-fearing tycoon.
Guided by the thug, Liu Yang descended into the basement and arrived before the safe room.
It wasn't particularly large.
Rather than a room, it resembled a massive steel box-a rectangular vault cast from stainless steel over ten centimeters thick, measuring roughly five meters long, five meters wide, and three meters high.
The vault door featured a small, square observation window about twenty centimeters across, reinforced with ten-centimeter-thick bulletproof glass.
Liu Yang leaned closer and peered through the narrow viewport.
Piled inside was a massive stockpile of compressed rations and emergency supplies-and sitting right in the middle of it was a stunning young woman.
Liu Yang glanced at the thug beside him. "What's the story with the girl inside?"
"Uh... she... well, she's..." The thug began stammering, shifting uncomfortably.
"Speak up, damn it, or I'll slice you in half right now!" Liu Yang instantly drew his Black Light Katana.
Terrified out of his mind, the thug blurted out the truth in a single frantic breath:
"She's the villa owner's daughter! The three of us were his hired bodyguards! When the apocalypse hit, we killed the old man, took over the property, and tried to force ourselves on his daughter, but she locked herself in the safe room and we couldn't get to her!"
He gasped for air after spewing out the confession in one desperate burst.
Liu Yang blinked, suddenly putting the pieces together. "Well, damn. You three sly bastards really outdid yourselves. As hired bodyguards, the moment the world ended, you murdered your boss, stole his mansion, and even tried to assault his daughter? You're even more ruthless than I am!"
Liu Yang couldn't help but draw comparisons in his head.
He had only killed Zhao Ming, taken his villa, and claimed his girlfriend because Zhao Ming had already turned into a zombie.
These three security guards were far worse-they had executed their employer before he even had a chance to turn.
"Heh... couldn't help it. His daughter was just too damn gorgeous," the thug muttered with an embarrassed, awkward grin.
Liu Yang shook his head inwardly. The villa owner really had terrible luck.
In peacetime, he was a paranoid survival prepper who built an impenetrable safe room and stocked it with endless supplies.
Who could have guessed that when disaster struck, his own bodyguards would covet his daughter and murder him on the spot?
What a miserable way to go.
The old man had planned for every apocalyptic scenario imaginable, yet never factored in dying because his daughter was too attractive.
A beauty truly could be a fatal distraction.
As the saying went: Others stockpile food while I stockpile guns; my neighbor's pantry is my personal granary.
In the apocalypse, stockpiling resources without the martial strength to back it up was utterly meaningless. You couldn't defend a single bit of it.
Done reflecting, Liu Yang turned to the thug. "Is there anything else left in this place?"
"N-No! Nothing else! Can... can you let me go now? I'll get out of your sight right away, I swear I'll never show my face around here again!" The thug shook his head frantically, his eyes desperate and pleading.
"Of course. In fact, I'll send you on your way myself," Liu Yang said coldly.
"Flash!"
With a swift, casual sweep of his blade, the thug's head detached from his shoulders and hit the floor.
Liu Yang had zero intention of letting a traitorous bodyguard live-someone who had executed his own employer at the very start of the apocalypse.
Besides, claiming he killed his boss just because the guy's daughter was pretty was a pathetic excuse.
If it had been a matter of life or death, killing an employer might have been understandable. But this was pure greed.
After decapitation, Liu Yang turned his full attention back to the safe room.
The bulletproof viewport on the door was too small to get a complete view of the interior.
He couldn't clearly gauge just how stunning the woman inside was, but judging by the bodyguards' desperate actions, she had to be a top-tier beauty.
Not only had they murdered their boss for her, but even after she locked herself away, they had tried every aggressive method imaginable to breach the vault.
Examining the steel door, Liu Yang noticed deep chop marks, drill holes, and heavy scorch marks from blowtorches.
Still, one had to hand it to the rich owner-he hadn't cheaped out on construction.
Whatever specialized stainless steel alloy had been used, it had withstood fire, high-powered electric drills, and heavy blades with only minor surface blemishes.
It hadn't suffered any structural damage whatsoever.
Out of pure frustration and spite, the bodyguards had ultimately used arc welders to seal the door seams completely shut.
In other words, even if the girl inside wanted to open the door now, it was physically impossible.
She was trapped inside to slowly starve to death.
If Liu Yang hadn't stumbled upon this place, she would have died in that steel box without anyone ever knowing.
Liu Yang raised his Black Light Katana and thrust it directly into the vault door.
"Schwing!"
The blade sank effortlessly into the massive steel barrier, penetrating it as cleanly as if it were slicing through soft tofu.
The utter lack of resistance shocked even Liu Yang.
"Holy shit... this blade is insane! Over ten centimeters of solid stainless steel, and it poked through like soft cheese?"
He knew the weapon was sharp, but he hadn't expected this level of godlike cutting power.
An item granted by the stone monument was truly a masterpiece!
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