"Huan Tian, you—"
Rip!
Before Lin Qingqing could finish her sentence, Huan Tian had already torn open Liang Jing's shirt, revealing a large expanse of fair skin. Bruises and red marks from last night's rough treatment were still clearly visible, but there were no signs of any bite wounds. Her long, pale legs were also clean, without a single scratch.
Rather than feeling shame at her exposed body, Liang Jing's face lit up with a twisted kind of joy, as if she'd just been granted a reprieve from death. Her eyes sparkled with wild excitement.
"Huan Tian, look! There are no wounds on me at all. That means the injury must be on Lin Qingqing! She lied to you!"
Lin Qingqing was stunned by the sudden accusation.
"I… I wasn't hurt. I swear it's not me…"
"Oh really? Then who else could it be? It's not me, and Huan Tian never gets hurt. It has to be you! You're the reason the zombies broke into our safe zone—because of the blood scent on your body! Otherwise, they never would have charged in. I'm sure of it!"
Liang Jing's voice rose to a near-hysterical pitch, her certainty so chilling it made Lin Qingqing uneasy. She stared at her as though she had seen it all with her own eyes.
"Liang Jing, how can you make things up like that?"
"Make things up? Please prove me wrong! Strip down and show Huan Tian, just like I did. Or are you too afraid?"
"I…" Lin Qingqing bit her lip, too ashamed to speak. She was sure she had no wounds, and Huan Tian had already checked her last night. But to strip again in front of everyone... it was unthinkable.
"Huan Tian, you believe me, right? You already checked me last night." Her voice trembled as she met Huan Tian's eyes, tears brimming at the corners.
Liang Jing's heart sank.
Last night? He already checked?
Then it meant... Huan Tian had probably already gotten his "reward" from Lin Qingqing.
No wonder! Alone with a young and beautiful girl like that, what man could resist?
Fury surged in Liang Jing's chest.
No, Lin Qingqing can't stay. Huan Tian must only have me by his side!
Her eyes darkened with malice. If Huan Tian weren't here, she would've ripped off Lin Qingqing's clothes herself to expose her body.
"You said it yourself—that was yesterday! But we just ran all the way here. Who knows if you got scratched or not on the way? If you're hiding an injury, both Huan Tian and I could die with you!"
Liang Jing turned to Huan Tian, her voice suddenly cold and persuasive.
"Huan Tian, we can't take that risk."
She stepped closer, lowering her tone with a mix of desperation and temptation:
"If she refuses to strip, then there's only one choice—leave her behind. Let her fend for herself. You and I can keep moving. As long as you keep me alive, I… I promise I'll be even better than Lin Qingqing was last night."
The shamelessness and venom in Liang Jing's voice left Lin Qingqing completely speechless.
Was this the same "Liang Jing" she once knew? They had only just escaped the swarm of zombies, and yet for a greater chance of survival, she had already turned into something monstrous.
Lin Qingqing's face turned pale, then flushed, then pale again. Finally, she gritted her teeth and said,
"Fine! Huan Tian, I'll take it off and show you…"
She reached up to unfasten her buttons, but Huan Tian grabbed her wrist firmly.
"There's no need," he said coldly. "I believe Lin Qingqing wasn't bitten. And I have an even more accurate way to find out."
Without hesitation, he grabbed Liang Jing and dragged her to the door. The zombies that had been clawing mindlessly at the entrance suddenly stopped. Their focus shifted—all of them now reaching, howling, and scratching desperately toward Liang Jing.
"Ah! No—no!"
Liang Jing screamed in terror, stumbling back and slamming into the wall behind her.
The truth couldn't be clearer now.
"No… that's impossible. I wasn't hurt… How could it be me?"
"There must be a mistake. Huan Tian, you saw it yourself—there's not a single wound on my body!"
But Huan Tian didn't even spare her a glance.
"Lin Qingqing, the zombies—deal with them."
Without hesitation, Lin Qingqing took the short spear and drove it straight into the head of the nearest zombie. One after another, they collapsed at her feet. The fear in her eyes gradually faded, replaced by cold resolve.
The best way to overcome fear of zombies is to kill them with your own hands—and the more, the better.
Liang Jing tried to crawl toward Huan Tian, hoping to beg for mercy. But just as she moved, her vision went dark—Huan Tian suddenly struck her down with a reverse blow, slamming her hard to the floor.
Before she could scramble to her feet, a bloodstained short spear was already pointing directly at her eye.
"I'm warning you," Huan Tian said coldly. "From now on, you're on your own. Don't drag us down with you."
A buzzing filled Liang Jing's head as her entire body began to tremble violently. "I'm not infected! I swear I didn't lie to you! Please, don't leave me behind… please…"
She lunged forward, trying to grab onto Huan Tian's leg, but he kicked her away with an unfeeling, powerful motion.
"Qingqing, please… help me. Say something. There must be a mistake. I don't want to die…"
Liang Jing turned her pleas toward Lin Qingqing, even falling to her knees, kowtowing in desperation.
"I was wrong. I shouldn't have accused you like that… But we worked together for so long—please, I beg you, save me. I don't want to die…"
Huan Tian narrowed his eyes, catching something in Lin Qingqing's expression.
"You know where she's injured, don't you?"
Lin Qingqing bit her lip hard, then nodded slowly. Her gaze toward Liang Jing was filled with icy finality, as if she were already looking at a corpse.
"I'm sorry, Liang Jing," she whispered. "I thought… it wouldn't come this fast."
"With your pride, after what those bastards did to you last night, you'd have taken emergency contraception immediately. Assistant Liu in the secretary's office keeps a box in her desk drawer. You know that."
"They treated me like that, of course, I had to take it…"
Liang Jing blurted out instinctively, but the moment the words left her mouth, realization hit her like a punch, and her throat tightened painfully.
"No, I didn't take it! Ahhh! I didn't take anything!"
"Huan Tian, don't listen to Lin Qingqing's nonsense! I'm a loose woman—I never take contraceptives, never!"
She clutched her head and tore at her hair desperately, her face contorted in anguish. Her eyes were wide open, pupils shrinking rapidly in panic, almost wild.
A flash of sorrow flickered in Lin Qingqing's eyes.
She knew Liang Jing too well—proud and stubborn, with deeply ingrained traditional family values. After enduring that hellish nightmare last night, someone like Liang Jing would have sought emergency contraception immediately and likely taken a large dose out of sheer fear.
And taking a large dose of emergency contraception in a short time can only lead to one outcome: an early period.
"No! It's not true! It's all a lie! I haven't had my period!"
"If you don't believe me, I'll show you… just look…"
Her voice broke off abruptly, words caught in her throat and no longer coming out.
Looking down, the bloodstain on her skirt was glaringly obvious—too vivid to ignore. It was just that she had been running at the back, so no one noticed before.
"No… this can't be real… I don't want to die!"
Tears welled up instantly in Liang Jing's eyes, her whole body trembling as if shattering. She suddenly fixed her wide, desperate gaze on Huan Tian, as if clutching at a last lifeline.
"Huan Tian… you're so capable… you'll protect me and get me out of here, won't you? You have to!"
"If you help me escape, I'll give you everything—money, a house, a car… whatever you want! Or maybe… You want me?"
"I'm good at what I do. I can sleep with you… Just please let me live. I'll agree to anything… please… I want to live to see my son… please…"
At this moment, Liang Jing had completely transformed into a pitiful creature begging for mercy, so much so that even Lin Qingqing couldn't bear to look directly at her.
The apocalypse had only just begun, yet the cruel reality had already shattered those around them into such a state, breaking hearts.
But the only response to Liang Jing's pleas was cold and merciless.
Huan Tian ruthlessly kicked Liang Jing, who had lunged for his leg, down to the ground, cutting off any possibility of physical contact.
"Stay away from us. Otherwise, I won't hesitate to treat you like a zombie and kill you. This is my last warning."
He reloaded a fresh magazine, pulled open the emergency exit door, and stepped outside. The zombies outside had all been turned into corpses by Lin Qingqing, but more were rapidly approaching the door.
Liang Jing trembled all over, her voice nearly broken with despair as she made a final plea:
"Huan Tian, can you leave me a weapon? You have so many… please give me one, just one."
There was no reply. Even Lin Qingqing knew the answer without being told. She instinctively gripped her spear tightly.
Giving a weapon to someone doomed to die was nothing but a waste.
The last flicker of hope in Liang Jing's eyes was utterly extinguished at Lin Qingqing's movement. Her stark, naked desperation forced Lin Qingqing to lower her gaze, unable to meet it.
What Lin Qingqing didn't see was that, as that hope died out, a blazing fire called "madness" was rapidly igniting in Liang Jing's eyes, growing fiercer by the second.
Clatter!
Huan Tian swiftly swung open the emergency door and, with a raised hand, pierced the brain of a zombie lunging at him.
Just as Lin Qingqing stepped forward, a hand suddenly yanked her backward by the hair, pulling her off balance.
"You little bitch, it's all your fault! Why was it I that Liu Tong caught and not you? You're prettier than me, you should've been the one to die!"
"Liang Jing, are you crazy? Let go of me!"
Liang Jing crazily grabbed Lin Qingqing's hair from behind. Seeing the zombie that had just charged over, cold light flashed in her eyes as she brutally shoved Lin Qingqing down under the zombie's feet.
"Die! Die right now for me!"
She let out a hysterical, angry laugh—madness and desperation ringing through her voice.
"With your blood as bait, the zombies won't want to eat me anymore! Huan Tian and I can escape!"
Huan Tian quickly raised his gun to rescue, but unexpectedly, Liang Jing lunged forward, using her body to block Huan Tian's line of fire.
"Don't worry about her! She can buy us precious time. We need to take this chance and run!"
That delay caused the golden rescue window to vanish. The zombie leapt at Lin Qingqing on the ground like a leopard, aiming straight for her neck.
Even Huan Tian thought Lin Qingqing was done for.
But at this life-or-death moment, Lin Qingqing suppressed the panic in her eyes. She clamped one end of her spear under her armpit and pressed it firmly against the ground, the sharp tip aimed straight at the zombie's head.
Thud!
With the ground's support and the zombie's momentum, the spear pierced straight through the zombie's skull, from the nose bridge through the back of the head, sending its braincase flying.
The zombie's attack motion continued briefly but abruptly stopped.
A rare spark of admiration appeared in Huan Tian's eyes. Liang Jing, seeing Lin Qingqing survive, was suddenly filled with overwhelming fear.
Huan Tian rushed over and grabbed Lin Qingqing, but she shook him off and slapped Liang Jing hard.
Smack!
Liang Jing's head slammed into the emergency exit door with a heavy thud, blood streaming from her nose.
"Don't waste time on her. Let's go."
Huan Tian charged ahead, with Lin Qingqing close behind. Her breath came in heavy gasps; even she had been scared out of her wits just now—it was a purely instinctive reaction.
"You surprised me with how you handled that."
"The fourth survival rule of the apocalypse: Never underestimate the madness of a dying person. If you had dared to give her a weapon just now, the first one she would have stabbed wouldn't be a zombie—it would be you."
Huan Tian's cold voice echoed in Lin Qingqing's ear. At last, in those words, she heard a long-missed lesson, just like the one she'd heard in the early morning:
"Congratulations. You're qualified."
A strange flush rose to Lin Qingqing's cheeks, a sudden heat spreading from her chest to her face, making her feel inexplicably flushed.
"Liang Jing will catch up," Lin Qingqing glanced back over her shoulder, clenching her teeth.
Huan Tian's sharp gaze swept over the approaching zombies. "No. I won't give her the chance."