107: Chapter 107 He Appreciates My Artistic Talent

She was about twenty-five or twenty-six years old, with fair skin and delicate features. Even with her hair disheveled and her face pale at this moment, her beauty was hard to hide.

Her eyes were large, and she was currently looking at the three people outside the door in terror.

"Mr. Su... Mr. Su sent you? He... He's still alive?"

The moment Su Yuran saw this face, her entire body froze.

She recognized this woman.

Half a year ago, her father had taken her to a business cocktail party.

At the party, a business partner had brought several recent college graduates to introduce.

They were said to be promising young people, and she was one of them.

At the time, her father had talked with this woman for a long while.

She had naively thought her father was just mentoring a junior.

So... it turns out it had already started back then...

"Is he still alive?"

The woman pressed, her eyes filled with urgency and expectation.

"He said he would come back for me, he promised!"

Su Yuran closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

When she opened them again, only coldness remained in her eyes.

"Open the door, we're here to save you."

The woman hesitated for a moment, looking at Qin Lin and Han Qing.

In the end, she removed the chain lock and opened the door.

The space behind the door wasn't large, about ten square meters, with a bed, a small table, and a storage cabinet.

In the corner, empty packaging bags and mineral water bottles were piled up.

Clearly, she had been living here for some time.

The woman was wrapped in a thick down jacket, but she was still shivering.

It wasn't from the cold; it was from fear.

"Are you... are you really sent by Mr. Su?" she asked cautiously.

"In a way."

Qin Lin walked into the room and looked around.

"What is your name?"

"Xu... Xu Xue," the woman answered in a low voice.

"Are you Mr. Su's people? Where is he now? Why didn't he come?"

Su Yuran walked up to her and scrutinized her carefully.

Xu Xue felt somewhat uncomfortable under her gaze and took a step back.

"What is your relationship with my father?" Su Yuran asked directly.

Xu Xue was stunned, and then her face instantly turned deathly pale. "You... you are..."

"I am Su Yuran, Su Zhenyun's daughter."

Su Yuran said each word deliberately.

"Now, answer my question. What is your relationship with my father?"

Xu Xue opened her mouth but couldn't speak.

She clearly knew of Su Yuran's existence and also knew that her own status couldn't bear the light of day.

"I... I am Mr. Su's... assistant."

She eventually chose a euphemistic way of putting it.

"Assistant?" Su Yuran sneered.

"What kind of assistant needs to live in such a luxurious villa? Needs him to specially build an underground shelter? Needs him to stockpile half a year's worth of supplies?"

Xu Xue lowered her head, her fingers twisting together.

"Miss Su, I... Mr. Su and I really only have a working relationship. He appreciates my artistic talent and said he could sponsor my art exhibition..."

Appreciates artistic talent?

Qin Lin was speechless; he probably appreciated your 'body art.'

"Shut up!"

Su Yuran suddenly raised her voice.

"I don't want to hear your disgusting stories! I'm only asking you one question: where is my father? When did he come here? And where did he go afterward?"

Xu Xue was frightened by her Aura, and tears began to well up.

"I... I don't know. On the day the apocalypse broke out, Mr. Su drove me here, said it was safe, and told me to stay and not go out."

"He said he would handle things at home and then come back for me."

"How long did he stay here?"

"He left as soon as he dropped me off," Xu Xue sobbed.

"He helped me organize the supplies, checked all the equipment in the shelter, taught me how to use the generator, and then said he had to go back to pick up his family. He said he'd be back in a week at most."

"And then? Did he come back?"

Xu Xue shook her head, tears falling continuously.

"No, I waited and waited. I waited for two weeks, and he never came back. Later... later the power went out, and the generator broke. I tried to fix it but couldn't, so I could only use candles."

"I didn't dare go out. It was too cold outside, and people often came to the villa to scavenge for things..."

The more she spoke, the more distressed she became, nearly choking with sobs.

"I thought he was going to leave me here to fend for myself..."

Looking at her crying, the anger in Su Yuran's heart was gradually replaced by a complex emotion.

Was it anger? Was it sympathy? Or was it sorrow?

This woman was just one of the many objects of her father's 'appreciation,' yet because of a promise, she had waited bitterly for over a month in the apocalypse.

While her mother was also waiting for her husband to return home.

How ironic.

"When was the last time you saw my father?"

"It was the day he left."

Xu Xue wiped her tears.

"I remember clearly, it was December 18th around 3 PM. He was in a great hurry when he left, saying he had to get home before dark."

December 18th.

Su Yuran remembered that she was still at school that day.

She had received a call from her father around 4 PM, telling her to stay in her dormitory and not move, saying he would send someone to pick her up.

So on that day, her father had settled this 'talented young person' first before remembering her, his daughter.

"Do you know where else he might have gone? Besides here, does he have any other... similar places?"

Xu Xue hesitated for a moment. "Mr. Su has another apartment in the west of the city, it's for... for another older sister to live in."

"But I don't know the specific address. I only heard him mention it once, saying it was over in the High-tech Zone."

"Another older sister?" Su Yuran's voice was ice-cold.

"How many more are there?"

Xu Xue didn't dare look at her. "I... I don't know. I've only known Mr. Su for a few months. He never talked to me about these private matters."

Su Yuran closed her eyes.

Enough.

She didn't want to listen anymore.

Although she had been mentally prepared, every bit of new information made her heart ache a little more.

"Pack your things and come with us."

She turned her back to Xu Xue.

"Only the most important things. Pack light."

Xu Xue was stunned. "Go? Go where? Mr. Su said for me to wait for him here..."

"He's not coming back."

Su Yuran interrupted her, her voice tinged with exhaustion.

"If he could have come back, he would have long ago. Either he's dead, or he's encountered something he can't get away from. If you keep waiting, there's only a dead end ahead."

"But..."

"No buts."

Su Yuran looked back at her.

"You can choose to stay, but we won't come back to save you. In the apocalypse, everyone only gets one chance."

Xu Xue looked at the three of them, then at the small room she had stayed in for over a month.

Finally, she gritted her teeth.

"I... I'll go with you."

She quickly packed her things.

A few pieces of clothing, a sketchbook, a pen, and some personal items. Qin Lin noticed that her backpack also contained several books, one of which was a "Wilderness Survival Guide."

"You've read this?"

Xu Xue nodded. "Mr. Su gave it to me, saying I could look at it in case something happened. I've been reading it all month and learned a few things."

At least she wasn't completely useless.

The four of them left the basement and returned to the first floor of the villa.

Before heading out, Su Yuran suddenly stopped and looked at the oil painting in the living room.

"Wait."