"condition? You still pose a condition, you came to our house and fight us and you still pose a condition, f**k you bi**h" Yufei would have normally agreed to have a strong person as a friend during an apocalypse, but when she had a rethought about everything, she knew she could be backstabbed at any given time.
"if you are afraid of being backstabbed, just know that you are two and I am one"
"that was the same thing we thought until we almost died" Banjo just watched them bickering at each other, ' girls will always be girls, I can't imagine myself acting like a child over such a big matter '.
"hey you know what, Yufei let's hear her out, let's hear her condition first, after all in the position we are in, I don't think we have a say" Banjo said and nodded his head towards the chains that bounded them down.
"yeah! I like that, you see you should be more like him" the girl said, gesturing to Banjo's words.
After a while of thinking, Yufei finally accepted to listen to what the girl had to say.
"your condition must either favor I and Banjo, or favor both group, okay!"
The girl just snickered, using both of her hands to cover her mouth as her shoulder rose and fell continuously.
"well, the condition is you let me in your group-"
"that favors only you" Yufei interrupted meaning to remind the girl of her earlier statement.
"-and i tell you my name"
"what... what! Your name, who the hell cares about your name, the condition favors only you we can't accept" Yufei angrily remarked.
"well, we could tweak that a little, let's say... I also won't backstab you"
"hmm! That might work actually, for now me and Yufei are weaker than you, so if you could stay with us without backstabbing us or doing any funny tricks, then me and Yufei could grow strong enough to not be afraid of you"
Banjo narrated, mainly saying it to Yufei so she could calm down and see his points. He had known Yufei for the longest, he knows exactly how she feels about the whole matter.
"okay then we agree" Yufei finally agreed after thirty minutes of thinking.
"my name is... X, you should remember it" the girl named X said, while unlocking the padlocks that held the chains together.
"X, just X, I can't believe we made a deal in such a dumb name, like seriously who names their child X, I'm sure if you have a junior sibling then they would be called O, X and O... pfft"
Yufei laughed uncontrollably, only stopping after she and Banjo were freed from the chain. The instant she stood up she immediately ran up to Banjo and hugged him.
"Banjo I missed you, I thought you had died, do you know how much it pained me when I saw the sword in your chest..."
Yufei cried on Banjo's chest, while he just patted her on the head, and hushed her, "come on don't cry, it's over now, it's all over, I won't be leaving any time soon".
"such a beautiful family reunion, can I join?" X walked forward to join in a group hug, only to be met with the separation of Yufei and Banjo.
"you guys are no fun, humph!" she harrumph and crossed her arms.
Going to the biggest couch, X lied down yawning and rubbing her tummy. "Hey who knows how to cook, 'cause I don't and I'm getting hungry".
"you can't cook, where have you been living all your life, under a rock!"
"in a simulator"
X nonchalantly said, as someone who had lived in a simulator all her life would never know that things like this shouldn't just be said out anyhow.
"you are a lost cause, well I'm the one preparing food hope you'll eat without the fear of poison" Yufei joked while entering the kitchen.
An hour and some minutes later she came out with fried steak, steamed buns, chicken dumplings and curry soup.
"you are so slow in cooking, what were you cooking that took so l-" X was busy complaining because of how much her stomach was growling, but as the smell of the dishes got to her nose, she began to mouth water.
"wow what food did you prepare" she jumped off the couch instantly crossing the distance from the couch to the dinning table where different foods winked at her.
Picking up the chicken dumplings and the curry soup, she began eating unwittingly. Banjo too who had freshened up, also picked some steamed buns and fried steak on his plate.
"wou are vuch a rood jook" X words jumbled up because of the food in her mouth.
"table manners, swallow the food before you talk"
Banjo said, since the time he woke up he has been refraining from talking or making contact with X, she had killed him after all he still had that fear of her at the back of his mind. So anytime he talked to her he made sure to pick the right words not to irk her.
Now that he sees she is not so much of a trouble he decided to let his guard down and familiarize more.
X who had swallowed the food in her mouth, repeated her words.
"you are such a good cook"
"oh! Thanks for the compliment"
This was how they continued for the rest of the month, killing the zombies outside the compound, getting closer as friends, eating, playing, fighting and becoming stronger.
After a month, another world announcement spread round to those that were still alive and kicking.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[You have survived a month.
Reward: achievement(first training complete)]
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
"Argh! Who would have thought that finding a phoenix so big will be so hard" Tang Zhan trekked.
For the past, one month he has transversed many difficult terrains, fought many dangerous beasts, eaten different magical fruits, found magical places.
Still with all these he hadn't found the phoenix, and so on the thirty third day of his journey he picked a mountain, that pierced the clouds and decided to climb it.
If he could reach high enough he would at least be able to view more places and mark out more areas to search and if possibly find the phoenix home.
Three days straight he climbed this mountain, using it as a way of exercising his body, surprisingly whenever he got to his limit and passed he always got an increase in whatever stat he had surpassed.
Finally, thirty seven days from the beginning of his journey, he got to half of the mountain. He looked around to get a view of everywhere and as he saw everything he felt like a god overlooking his creations.
"wow it is so beautiful, if one can bring his girlfriend over here for a date, she would love him forever, this sight is marvelous" Tang Zhan speechlessly closed his opened mouth.
He closed his eyes and enjoyed the cool breeze hitting his body and the high quality qi entering his body just by breathing alone.
In this euphoric state, all Tang Zhan's senses enhanced, hypnotized by the peaceful environment, and with this development his senses picked up a familiar feeling.
He divulged more in this feeling and he could feel something within him reacting to the hot feeling, the feeling seemed hot when it first hit him but at the same time, it felt refreshing.
He felt at home.
...
Beyond the clouds, at the top of the mountain, the peak of the mountain that was meant to be pointed, was instead wide open with rock formations circling around the wide ground like a claw.
This wide ground was as wide as three football stadiums. It was filled with everything that glitters, in the middle was an entity, it was so large that it took up two third of the whole space.
This creature was a fiery giant bird, and below this giant bird were three other little version of the bird.
The bird suddenly looked into the distant, squinting it's eyes, and tilting it's head slightly.
' child '.