When it came time to sign up for work, Shen Qi didn’t hesitate at all, choosing street clearing right away.
Nuonuo no longer ate dog food, fallen beast meat was now its source of energy, and Shen Qi needed to take it out to hunt. Chen Qinglie, having Babu himself, understood this well, which was part of why he’d quietly let Shen Qi and Nuonuo join the street-clearing group without objection, not without a little bit of favoritism involved.
Besides that, the group leader had asked about every member’s background before letting them join, and upon learning that Shen Qi had traveled alone with Nuonuo, crossing the entire city from the East District all the way to this mall on h City’s outskirts, he judged that she’d be capable of helping out in a fight.
The streets were still covered in debris, but conditions had improved quite a bit. Some of the less severely damaged buildings already had military-led reconstruction crews working on them.
Everything seemed to be moving in a positive direction, as if before too long, reconstruction would be complete, the fallen beasts would all be exterminated, the mutant beasts would retreat into the deep mountains, and everyone could return to the peace and calm of life before the earthquake. Everyone shared that same beautiful hope.
Yet reality proved otherwise, misfortune always struck when least expected, catching people off guard.
Shen Qi’s group had just finished killing off a few waves of fallen beasts, and Nuonuo, keeping away from the crowd, had just finished eating its fill, when, right as everyone was preparing to head back to the mall to rest, the earthquake struck again.
Barely half a month after the last one, another massive earthquake swept across the globe, once again with zero warning and no way to detect it in advance.
The good news was that reconstruction hadn’t finished yet, and survivors were all staying at temporary shelter points, some open-air like the East District square, others earthquake-resistant like the mall, so casualties were minimal. The bad news was that this quake was no weaker than the one half a month ago, and it destroyed all the reconstruction work that had just barely begun, along with people’s optimism and resolve.
Shen Qi hugged Nuonuo’s leg and crouched down, feeling the intense trembling of the ground.
Sobbing, wailing, cursing, one after another, endlessly.
Once the earthquake subsided, they were hit with yet another wave of fallen-beast attacks.
Stray cats and dogs that had once roamed the city streets, household birds and wild sparrows, even former pet snakes and pet lizards, all of them swarmed in like creatures possessed, as if the earthquake, which had brought disaster to humanity, had instead granted them a boost in strength.
As Shen Qi fought, her mind wandered, and she found herself thinking back to the official announcement, that the earthquake had released anomalous particles, though officials had never clearly stated what exactly these particles were or what effects they had.
Everyone had speculated before that it must be connected to the mutant beasts and fallen beasts somehow, otherwise, there was no explaining the animal mutations.
Now, it seemed the connection was real, and not a small one at that, these so-called anomalous particles were most likely serving as a kind of nourishment for fallen beasts, continuously making them stronger.
Perhaps the same held true for mutant beasts as well. Shen Qi glanced thoughtfully at Nuonuo, whose fighting stance seemed noticeably more energized than usual.
The battle dragged on for a long while, there were simply too many fallen beasts to kill off quickly.
Gradually, only the soldiers were still fighting alongside Shen Qi and Nuonuo, most of the other survivors, stretched thin, had slowly retreated behind the soldiers or behind Nuonuo and Shen Qi.
No mystery there, the soldiers had guns, and Nuonuo’s size and its heroic presence in battle gave off an overwhelming sense of security.
Shen Qi didn’t mind the other survivors’ retreat, no one could have foreseen a situation like this before setting out, and by now most survivors were at the end of their strength, retreating to the side at least kept them from getting in the way. Even Shen Qi herself was only managing to hold on thanks to Nuonuo’s support and over half a month of training.
The only ones truly fighting with any ease were probably the soldiers, but within a single group, there were too few of them, with limited ammunition, while the fallen beasts kept coming in wave after wave without end, two fists were no match against four hands [1]two fists were no match against four hands (shuāng quán nán dí sì shǒu, 雙拳難敵四手) Idiom, even a skilled fighter can’t hold off multiple opponents at once, being outnumbered … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3166618_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3166618_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });.
For a while, no one could break the stalemate, and some in the crowd had already begun quietly sobbing, as if they could see a fatal outcome ahead.
Shen Qi had no particular complaint with the other survivors, but there was one person in particular she found utterly exasperating. Yang Fan clung tightly behind her, gripping the hem of her clothes, a complete useless pretty-boy burden, severely getting in the way of her fighting.
“Get out of the way! Can’t you see I’m busy?!”
Yang Fan cowered but still argued with a straight face: “There’s so many fallen beasts, it’s way too dangerous for me alone over there! You’re so strong, and we’re former coworkers, what’s the harm in helping me out! My mom always said, anyone who won’t help is selfish, I know you’re not like that, so please, help me out!”
Shen Qi had reached her limit. She kicked Yang Fan aside and shouted, “We’re not close, go find your mom to protect you, and get the hell away from me!” Back when they worked together, how had she never noticed what an insufferable person he was? All because they weren’t close, if she’d known from the start what kind of person he really was, she wouldn’t have bothered keeping up even surface-level politeness.
That kick of Shen Qi’s carried tremendous force, and without even aiming, she’d sent Yang Fan flying straight into a pile of fallen beasts.
He let out a terrified shriek, the pitch shooting straight for the heavens, loud enough to affect even the fallen beasts’ less-than-sharp hearing, more and more of them swarmed toward him.
The soldiers, controlling the whole battlefield, saw the fallen beasts clustering together and immediately opened fire.
Yang Fan happened to be holding a kitchen knife, standard-issue for everyone when the group had first formed as a self-defense weapon. In his desperate fight for survival, his will to live surged, and he swung the blade wildly in a full circle, the fallen beasts on the inner ring got hacked down, while those on the outer ring were mowed down by gunfire, and against all odds, he actually managed to catch his breath for a moment.
Shen Qi, having just finished off one wave herself, also got a chance to breathe. She glanced over at Yang Fan, flailing his knife around in a panic just to stay alive, and couldn’t help but sneer.
A grown man, and he could actually fight off fallen beasts just fine when it came down to it, so why put on that useless pretty-boy act? He’d been spoiled rotten.
The danger was gradually being resolved. Nuonuo picked out a few fallen beasts to its liking and buried itself happily in eating them, its big tail sweeping back and forth like a whirlwind.
Shen Qi had originally expected that Nuonuo eating fallen beasts in front of everyone would draw objections, and had even mentally prepared a whole rebuttal in case someone criticized it.
But in reality, as Nuonuo chomped away happily, aside from Shen Qi occasionally shooting it a proud, motherly glance, everyone else acted as if they simply didn’t see it at all.
Of course, everyone had just witnessed Nuonuo’s power firsthand in that brutal fight. Danger lurked everywhere outside, and who knew when they might need this big dog’s help to save their lives again, no one dared say a word against it.
Not to mention, just moments ago, plenty of people had survived only by hiding behind Nuonuo.
And besides…
Everyone quietly glanced over at Shen Qi’s expression.
People are always the type to bully the weak and fear the strong. The military was powerful, sure, but they still had to follow orders, their orders were to protect the civilians, so they couldn’t just abandon them.
Shen Qi was different. She was just another ordinary survivor herself, if she wanted to, she could have Nuonuo carry her to safety at any time. It was obvious to anyone paying attention that Shen Qi had adapted to this new world far better than the others, killing fallen beasts without hesitation, and taking the fewest injuries of anyone.
With Yang Fan’s example serving as a warning, it was clear this pretty young lady was not someone to be trifled with, and no one dared pick a fight with her anymore.
As for Yang Fan himself…
He was busy reevaluating his entire worldview.
That kick Shen Qi had given him earlier had left his stomach aching dully even now, and he even suspected he might have some internal injury.
After the brutal fighting, Yang Fan was covered in wounds, his expression dazed. He let the medical staff apply medicine and bandage him up, his gaze fixed and unmoving, his right hand still clutching the kitchen knife tightly.
His feelings right now were deeply conflicted, on one hand, he thought Shen Qi’s coldness toward him had been way too much, on the other, he couldn’t deny that surviving on his own strength had actually felt pretty good.
The experience of facing fallen beasts head-on made him realize, more deeply than ever, that the world had truly changed, it wasn’t a time anymore when a few words could talk someone into helping you. What his mother used to tell him wasn’t entirely right either.
Only strength let you live better, let you fear nothing. Yang Fan looked toward Shen Qi, and perhaps without even realizing it himself, his eyes held a longing, a brightness that was worlds apart from the false, spineless look he used to wear.
Change, sometimes, happens in the blink of an eye.
References[+]