Playboy Cultivator in the Apocalypse

Chapter 259 Natural Selection

Renton blinked after gasping for breath, seeing Aaron's eyes burrowing into his soul. He looked for help, but Denzel and the rest coward in fear. "I... am... so...rry...."

"It's funny how everyone's suddenly remorseful when they're facing down death, isn't it?" Aaron asked mockingly.

"I...." The scruffy man winced, feeling his vision blurring.

"Aaron, please...." Eric winced, looking at the man, "I beg you."

"You hear that?" The red-haired soldier asked the man in his grip, "The leader of the Immortal Skye supporters has begged for a idiot dissident's life. Do you accept?"

Renton took a sharp breath when the fingers around her neck loosened, allowing him to breathe. "I... yes... I...."

"That's all? All the rational people are going through this brutal training because of your idiot antics." Aaron frowned, "Yet you won't show gratitude?"

Denzel and Moe felt icy chills crawl down their spines when they got confirmation that the dissidents were to blame. The supporters knew it, but now they had proof.

"T-Thank...." Renton wheezed, "You... Eric...."

"Squad leader." Aaron corrected coldly, stunning everyone.

The man winced, looking down at the thousands of zombies below, "S-Squad... leader...."

Whoooosh! CRASH!

Everyone gasped when the red-haired soldier threw the man backward, sending his body crashing into multiple desks.

"You have two decisions." Aaron announced, panning everyone's faces, "You can accept Ice General Skye as your leader unconditionally--or you can die. That's it."

His words were underscored by the sound of insults from below, pushing to get inside the building.

"Since you're alive and preparing to train, I'll answer your pressing question." The red-haired soldier announced, "This [is] training; it's not a suicide mission.

All of General Skye's new training simulate what you'd face if you left her base. You're collecting food and supplies. Others are gathering water. Some or protecting people.

At the same time, each exercise puts soldiers into a position where the thing they're learning is the only way to survive.

For you, it's learning how to regulate your Qi. If you can't, you cannot survive the hordes of sick in the commerce district."

A stunned silence washed over the room after the confirmation that she did know where she had sent them. However, it was well-purposed.

"You're not the only people struggling with Qi control." Aaron smirked, "The top candidates learning a fire technique with General Skye have it the worst."

â•?â"€â"ˆâ"€â•?â"€â"ˆâ"€â•?

Two hundred soldiers stood on the beach, sweating profusely.

Teams of ten stood above 20 metal tubs covered with tarps, billowing steam that made their skin crimson. Water dripped from cold pipes that led from the tarps to the clear plastic tubs.

"You're behind schedule." Evalyn said chillingly, walking up to one of the steel pipes and touching it.

CRrreeakKKkkkKkkKkk!

It instantly froze, stressing the metal, making the water running down the pipe speed up.

The operation distilled water, removing the salt so they could drink it without dying. Once they collected the steam in the tub, it was free of the lethal salt that causes severe dehydration.

Usually, the process wouldn't be grueling, as the soldiers would create and stoke fires as the heat source. However, Evalyn had forbidden that, so teams of four crouched under each tub, using a technique to heat it. Moreover, the technique was extremely difficult.

"Ice General, this offensive technique explodes!" A blonde cried, sweat dripping down her body, "It's extremely dangerous! We're expending all of our Qi just healing each other!"

Burns lined everyone's bodies and a few had missing fingers that the soldiers couldn't save.

"Of course, it's dangerous--it's a fire technique." The Ice General scoffed, rolling her eyes, "That's the problem. As someone wielding fire, you have an obligation to be responsible.

If you use that technique in a building with your fellow soldiers, you'll all burn to death.

That's why you're desalinating water while learning the importance of self-restraint now--when you can only kill yourselves."

Everyone's stress multiplied when they heard her words.

"G-General Skye, this isn't a fire technique." A brown-haired soldier gulped, "It's a military style bomb...."

"This is a fire technique." Evalyn smiled strangely, "All of you have discovered that--otherwise, we wouldn't have collected any drinking water."

â•?â"€â"ˆâ"€â•?â"€â"ˆâ"€â•?

-

Meanwhile, at Immortal Skye Kaze stood before 99 Immortals, taking one of his exclusive technique classes. Everyone was thrilled to learn a new technique, a flame technique no less.

"Today, we're going to learn [Combustion]." Kaze explained, "I'll start by explaining what this technique looks like."

He smiled, raising his hand. The air above the students warped in a huge bubble before--

BOOOOOOOOOOOM!

--the sky ignited in a biblical explosion that could signal the end of the world.

Immortals screamed and ducked for cover, everyone covering their ears. However, they opened their eyes a few seconds later and saw the emperor smirking.

"Combustion pulls oxygen together and ignites it." Kaze smiled, holding an invisible ball in his hand while small explosions went off above it, "While it's destructive, it's also the first flame technique and the one you must master to learn fire cultivation."

Confusion spread through the crowd.

"Observe." He continued, waving his hand. Once again, the sky warped, but no explosion happened, "All the concentrated oxygen in the world won't explode--it requires a spark."

Snap!

BOOOM!

The emperor snapped his fingers, and the sky exploded again, albeit lesser.

"Now that there's a spark, you add more oxygen to the flame." Kaze smiled, waving his hand in a circle. When he did, the fizzling sky ignited into a genuine flame and created a tornado, stunning everyone.

"Cultivation techniques alter physics and chemistry with extreme catalysts--they don't bypass them." He explained, "So if you can break apart techniques, you can make new ones using logic and science.

This technique gathers oxygen and sparks it. By controlling both aspects, you can create flames and explosions of all sizes. Such is the nature of military-grade cultivation!"

Cheers rocked the atmosphere after his announcement.

One of the reasons Kaze was so powerful was his knowledge of physics and science, exponentially more refined on Earth than in the upper planes, where physics was "created" by magic.

Therefore, he could improve techniques, turning them into devastating attacks.

"Let's get started." Kaze smiled, pulling out dozens of pink and blue chalk sticks, "We're teaming up in groups of three of the same gender.

One person will gather oxygen. Another will ignite it. Lastly, the tracer will trace a person's meridians to help them feel Qi moving through their body."

?ŸŸ‡?ŸŸ‡?ŸŸ‡

Kaze walked around, watching the male and female groups awkwardly tracing each other with the chalk. At first, no one wanted to use the sexy~chalk on the same sex. However--

"Thank you for giving us this chalk, Emperor Lexicon." Rein sighed, "Having horny men line up to get tracing was extremely awkward."

Whitney, Sammy, and Lily expressed the same sentiment.

All the females froze, thinking about the situation, and stopped complaining, getting to work.

The men had the opposite reaction, depressed that some got to [sexy trace] with females. However, they got over it once they saw the females' cultivation results skyrocket.

Soon, everyone forgot that the chalk triggered sexual pleasure and focused on beating the other gender to the finish line. It became a Qi control competition.

Kaze smiled mysteriously, watching them. The first class was three hours, and they had created small, continuous fires. "Great work, keep it up."

â•?â"€â"ˆâ"€â•?â"€â"ˆâ"€â•?

"You learned a flame technique." Evalyn smiled, overlooking the soldiers on the beach. A continuous flame burned a few feet away from her hand, "You just can't control it.

However, that will change fast if you don't want to lose your fingers or scavenge in the inner city. Until you prove yourselves worth saving, I won't help you."

â•?â"€â"ˆâ"€â•?â"€â"ˆâ"€â•?

"You're not special." Aaron said coldly, "Just as General Skye said, Immortals aren't interfering in your training unless we're willing to put our name behind you. All the soldiers in your shoes."

An icy chill crawled down their spines when they heard the rotation.

Denzel's eyes trembled, looking out the window. "Wait, does that mean the general expects us to die?"

"The idiots, yes." The red-haired man confirmed, "The same idiots threatening everyone's placement in Immortal Skye died without our intevention. That's not a coincidence."

"How is this okay?" The black man asked with depleted eyes, "What type of leader culls her ranks instead of protecting her people?"

"General Skye is protecting you." Aaron scoffed, "The Immortals will demand your lives or exile after they learn about their families.

General Skye is trying to prove you're trustworthy so she can put her name behind you.

However, one major incident will get [everyone] branded a liability and put down like rabid dogs. So she created a system where idiots like Mick can kill themselves without affecting your placement."

After five minutes of grim silence, the buff black man clapped and stood up.

"I don't know about ya'll, but I'm not dying." Denzel declared, "So I'm gonna stop complaining and start training and kissing ass. Confirmation that this wasn't a suicide mission is all I needed."

"Go for it." Moe, the curly-haired blonde, said coldly, "I'm not playing this game. I won't follow a leader that can't keep her people from killing innocents."

Renton listened quietly, showing no indication to follow Aaron's orders [voluntarily] after the man held him outside a skyscraper window. He'd do it if asked but prayed for non-intervention so he could figure out how to escape.

"No one asked for your idiot opinion." Chen scoffed at the curly-haired brunette, "Let's get started."

? Everyone but Moe and Renton got up and pulled back arrows, looking at the sea of zombies below them. After communicating their strategies, they let their arrows fly.

BOOM! Boom! BOOM! Boom! BOOM! Beep! Beep! Beep!