The Strongest Way to Survive in the Apocalypse - Chapter 1：Li Qiang

The sun shone brightly on the 14B High School of Shenyang. The wind gently blew through the streets and the temperature was cool. The grass in the school field glistened with dew, evidently still slightly wet after last nights rain. The air was both cool and fresh and the sky was a beautiful blue, accentuated by the lazy afternoon clouds that hung in the sky.

17F Classroom.

“Hey, Li Qiang! Li Qiang!”

A huge figure raised his sleepy head.

“This is the 4th time this month! I gave you a detention last time and it seems like you haven’t learnt your lesson! Come to the my office after school!”

Sighing, Li Qiang lowered his head back onto his desk.

Yu Beixue, the class teacher, quivered with anger upon seeing this, but didn’t say anything more and continued with the lesson.

“Look at that giant fool! Other than his size, he is a waste!”

“Why is he so different to his sister? I heard An Qiang broke the school record in last years National Examination!”

“Li An is really dreamy, I would sacrifice 10 years of my life to tranform into a male and be her boyfriend.”

“Don’t taint my goddess with your sh*tty lesbian dreams!”

“Yu Yan, I will fight you if you continue with your homophobic words!”

Li Qiang wrinkled his brow, listening to the loud girl group next to his desk.

“Ding! Dong! Ding! Dong!”

As soon as he heard the bell, Li Qiang stood up, and with uncanny grace for such a large figure, raced out of the classroom, bag clutched in his meaty hand.

‘Wang Lei told me to be there at 5 today, but he will have to make do with 5:15.’

Li Qiang raced through the corridors, taking huge lumbering strides.

As he ran, he heard a shout from behind him.

“Li Qiang, you better be running to my office!”

He made a grimace but continued running.

15 minutes later, Li Qiang came to a stop outside of a shady looking building which read ‘Happy Nightclub’.

He walked inside, already familiar with the bouncers. He chucked his bag towards an old man who was mopping the floor.

“Old Man Da, which room is it this time?”

“Room 9, Second Floor. We will be opening early today, so find me in the back for your bag.”

As soon as Li Qiang walked into the room, he was pulled aside by Wang Lei.

“Bro Qiang, nice to see you. Listen, the details have changed. Instead of 20 to 25 people, I’ve received info that the f*cking Spider Group was hired by that old b*tch, Luo Feng. He’s raised the number of his fighters to at least 40.”

Li Qiang digested this quickly and displayed 2 fingers towards Wang Lei.

“I need 20,000 then.”

Wang Lei agreed quickly.

“Bro Qiang, I have also hired some more people to fight for us as well. The agreed place with the empty warehouse near the Fang Restaurant, so lets go in an hour.”

Li Qiang was no normal teenager, despite what his grades suggest. He discovered at a young age that he possessed abnormal strength. Once, when he was young, he got angry and punched a hole though a wooden door! As such, he found out that he could use this strength to earn easy money, and built a reputation within the gangs of Shenyang. Wang Lei was someone who had hired him several times, and knew of his freakish strength.

A line of black SUV’s pulled up outside of an old-looking warehouse. Wang Lei’s people flooded out of the cars, armed with bats and metal pipes, followed by Wang Lei and Li Qiang. Inside they found themselves facing another crowd of people, similarly armed.

“You old f*ck, Luo Feng, come out here and get ready to receive a beatdown.”

Wang Lei roared at the enemy, breaking the silence.

“Hehe, don’t worry, this daddy is always ready to sh*t on his son. Wang Lei, I want 24C Street!”

A middle-aged man walked out of the crowd, with a long scar that extended out of his collar and up to his chin.

“Alright, you old sh*thead. I want 13A Street!”

Luo Feng went silent, then agreed with a nod.

As soon as he did so, the men behind him charged into the crowd of Wang Lei’s men.

This custom of fighting over land was decades old.

The fighting was fierce, yet controlled. As soon as a man was unconscious and on the ground, he was ignored, and not harmed further. This was agreed upon by both sides, in order to prevent their men getting killed or crippled.

Unfortunately for Wang Lei, his men were slowly getting overpowered by Luo Feng’s men and the ‘mercenary’ Spider Group. Wang Lei, seeing this, patted Li Qiang on the back.

“Monster Qiang, its your turn.”

Li Qiang was 17 this year, yet already had a reputation within the underworld. He was nicknamed ‘Monster Qiang’ because of his huge stature and his immense strength.

Immediately, Li Qiang charged into the fray. He threw a punch at the nearest enemy group member and hit him powerfully in the chest. He was thrown back a few feet and then lay still on the ground. Li Qiang was like an tornado, throwing huge punches and his extreme agression began to turn the tables.

As he fought, he drew attention from the crowd because of his prowess and size. They began to gang up on him, to no avail. His supernatural grace for his size let him dodge or nudge off most of the blows. Those that did hit, inflicted barely any damage and his iron-like bones and tough layers of muscle protected him well.

“Hahahaha!”

Li Qiang fought ferociously, laughing loudly all the while.

You see, the reason he entered the underworld was not only to earn money. He came from an illustrious background and had a large allowance. The true reason was that he had an odd urge, a strange desire that came from his bones. From infancy, he had an overpowering desire to fight. To exchange blow for blow, to spit blood and to break bones. This unnatural desire bottled up through the years, before finally he entered gang crime and fought to his heart’s content.

This image of a huge figure covered in blood, cackling, beating down everyone in front of him sent chills through everyone present, even his allies.

After ten or so minute, the battle was won. More than 30 men lay on the floor and the rest were bruised and battered covered in blood.

The casuaties were pretty even on either side, but Luo Feng could only withdraw in the face of Li Qiang’s might.

“Hehehe. Luo Feng, you’ve really f*cked up this time. 13A Street has a number of good shops and businesses. I’ll see how you can still fight me after this!”

Wang Lei rubbed his hands together, gleeful.

Luo Feng was silent, staring at Li Qiang.

“Wang Lei, you may have won this time, but who knows in the future. As for you, big guy, you better watch out.”

Luo Feng left with his people, a dark expression on his face.

He put his arm around Li Qiang’s broad shoulders, walking back to the cars.

“I’ll drop you back to the nightclub, maybe we can have a few drinks.”

They got back to the nightclub, but Li Qiang refused the drinks and left quickly after being paid and collecting his bag.

He closed the door quietly behind him and slipped off his shoes. It was quite late, almost 8 o’clock, and his mother would go crazy if she saw him come back late with blood all over him.

He entered his room, only to find an unwelcomed guest.

“Brother. Where were you?”

Li An, his younger sister, was sitting on his bed, evidently waiting for him. Li Qiang felt a headache seeing her.

Her eyes widened, seeing his messy state and blood covered clothing.

“Li Qiang! Were you fighting again? I said I would tell mother the next time you fought!”

Li Qiang groaned mentally.

“An-An, please let your brother go this once. I swear I won’t ever do it again.”

Li Qiang abandoned all dignity at the threat of his mother and begged for mercy.

Li An beamed, pleased with her brother’s attitude.

“I told you last time that it would be the last time. I, a woman of character, cannot go back on her word! But for my dear brother, maybe I can….”

Li Qiang cursed inside and knew instantly what she was suggesting.

He pulled out the 20,000 Yuan and presented to her.

‘What dreamy? What brilliance? This money-grubbing sister is the only reason I’m not rich after all these years of dirty work!’

He thought this in his head, of course.

Li An’s pretty face bloomed into a self-pleased smile.

“I couldn’t take the money my dearest brother fought blood and sweat for, I am a woman of character.”

Li Qiang cursed his shameless sister, of course only in his head.

“It would be a great honour to your brother to present his dearest sister, whom he loves the most in the world, with this meager sum.”

He began rambling, used to this shameless sister. He continued for a few minutes before Li An was satisfied. At this point, her lovely face was akin to a star in its resplendence.

“If that’s want you really want, brother dearest, I suppose I should save it for when you are more mature and of age.”

Li Qiang was almost fainted at her shamelessness. ‘More mature’? ‘Of age’? She was his younger sister! Despite this, he clenched his teeth and thrust the money into her hands. He then ran out of the room and into the shower. He heard a shout from behind him.

“A towel and your clothes are already in there!”

His anger was soothed by this small deed.

The Li Family was from high places, and was both rich and influential. The father, Li Chen, was the only child of the Li Patriarch and so inherited the entire family fortune. He was akin to a classic handsome fellow, tall with clear eyes. He was nothing like the huge frame of Li Qiang. He was kind man yet also ruthless to his enemies and had served in the military when he was young.

The women of the family were just as outstanding. Li Ying, originally Bai Ying, came from another ancient and influential family and had married into the family. She, on the outside, was elegant and demure with glossy black hair and porcelain skin, which remained uncracked even in her middle-age. However, on the inside, she was a tigress. She ruled over the other 3 members of her household with an iron fist. This was also why Li Qiang was so scared by Li An’s threat of snitching.

Finally, the golden child, Li An. She was a copy of her mother, in character, disposition and looks. She was also much smarter than Li Qiang and excelled at every level of education. She spoke several languages and played the piano to a high level. She was able to do all this, only being 7 months younger than Li Qiang, because of her amazing talent.

The family followed a strict schedule on weekdays, enforced by the mother of the family, Li Ying. They were all up by 8 o’clock, and at breakfast at 8:30. In the evening, the parents arrived home at 8:00 and everyone was to be down for dinner at 8:30.

As the family sat around the table, there was an odd silence. Li Qiang exchanged looks with Li An, who seemed similarly puzzled by her parent’s quietness.

“Li Qiang.”

Li Qiang instantly recognized something was wrong, as his mother never adressed him as Li Qiang and mostly called him ‘Big Qi or Ah Qi’.

“Me and your father have discussed something very important and we have decided to tell you something. We have kept this from you for your entire life, but only so that we could accept you into our family.”

Mother Li paused and held Li Qiang’s hand.

“We still love you, no matter what.”

“The truth is, you aren’t our son. You might have guessed this, but we adopted you into the family when Ying was pregnant with An-An. When I was young and in the military, a good friend of mine died in combat. His wife had died during childbirth and so I took it upon myself to raise you.”

The dining room was silent and everyone looked at Li Qiang. His mouth spasmed as he felt the intense awkwardness.

“Dad, mom… to be honest, I have suspected this for many years. My body and looks are clearly not from this family.”

The awkwardness reined over the table for another few seconds.

“But, I will always continue to regard you two as my parents. You took me in, raised me and loved me. For that, I will always love you back.”

Li Chen directly stood up. He strode over to Li Qiang and hugged him.

“Son, I will always love you as well, and you will always have a place in my family.”

He was joined by his mother and the three of them hugged each other for a few seconds.

They then broke off and returnd to their seats. The table then resumed its liveliness, the awkwardness seemingly gone and Li An’s silence went unnoticed.

The day ended in sleep.