Yan Xia’s tearful complaints had broken her heart. Back then, when Yan Qing listened to them, she had only felt overwhelming guilt.
She had only thought that she should have left home earlier, should have arrived there sooner. She had not noticed anything wrong at all.
Later, she and Cheng Yutang had risked their lives protecting her eldest uncle’s family as they made their way to the nearest base to the city center. It was a small post apocalyptic survivor base built together by survivors.
The total number of survivors was less than eight hundred. Since most of them came from Heshui City, the survivors named it Heshui Base.
After helping settle her eldest uncle’s family down at the base, she and Cheng Yutang went to the Task Hall to accept missions.
The moment her cousin Yan Xia heard that they had to leave the base to carry out dangerous missions, she immediately hugged Yan Qing, wiped away her tears, and cried pitifully about how terrified she was of the frightening zombies outside.
Grandma was already old, so she definitely could not take on missions. Her eldest uncle and aunt both looked half dead and utterly dispirited, so how could they possibly be relied upon?
During their journey to the base, their group had nearly been bitten by zombies several times. They had not even run as fast as her elderly grandmother.
Unable to bear seeing her younger cousin suffer, Yan Qing had no choice but to take on more missions at the Task Hall together with Cheng Yutang and work harder to support her eldest uncle’s family.
During one supply searching mission, they encountered a Level Two psychic ability zombie. Not only could it control the zombies around it, but it could also launch mental attacks against Yan Qing’s group.
Just as that Level Two zombie used a psychic attack on Yan Qing and prepared to deal her a fatal blow, at that critical moment, she awakened a lightning ability!
The squad that had nearly been completely wiped out survived because she awakened her lightning ability in that moment of crisis. There had originally been twelve people in the mission squad, but only she, Cheng Yutang, and Wei Hao survived!
After surviving that brush with death, she thought about what would happen if one day she died. She could not imagine how her incredibly delicate cousin would survive in this apocalypse.
So she found her eldest uncle’s family and told them what she was thinking. She wanted her cousin to accompany her on lower difficulty missions so that she could train Yan Xia’s courage and physical abilities. She would also protect her every moment and never let her get hurt.
But her grandmother immediately jumped up and scolded her viciously, cursing her for not caring about her cousin and even wanting to send her to her death. Yan Qing tried desperately to explain herself, but what she received in return were the cold looks from her eldest uncle’s family.
In the end, it was Yan Xia herself who cried and said she was willing to go on missions together, but she demanded that Cheng Yutang go with the two of them as well.
At first, Yan Qing thought Yan Xia was worried that she alone would not be able to protect her. She even thought it was a good idea for Cheng Yutang to come along, because having both of them protect Yan Xia would be safer.
When she learned that Level Three zombie crystal cores could possibly allow ordinary people to awaken abilities, Yan Qing, who had only just advanced her lightning ability to Level Two, fought with every ounce of strength she had and killed two Level Three zombies. She had nearly lost her own life in the process.
She carefully dug out the crystal cores and placed them into the pocket close to her body. On the way back, she remained anxious and on edge, afraid that someone would discover she had Level Three crystal cores and try to steal them, even though nobody knew.
After returning to Heshui Base, she found Yan Xia and Cheng Yutang and handed each of them one of the two Level Three ability crystal cores from her pocket.
After Yan Xia and Cheng Yutang consumed the Level Three crystal cores, they awakened wind and water abilities respectively.
And the very first thing they did after awakening their abilities…
Was actually plan how to kill her!
Even the nine squad members she had rescued from a pile of zombies were persuaded by Yan Xia and Cheng Yutang to turn against her. After they had killed the Zombie King and she was completely exhausted, they took advantage of her drained abilities and mental exhaustion to attack her together!
After she delivered the final strike against the Zombie King, she had leaned halfway against a wall, covered in blood and resting.
At that moment, Yan Xia and Cheng Yutang approached her together with the nine squad members, all carrying their own weapons.
Having just taken two sips of water, she raised her head and looked at the people surrounding her in a half circle. She was stunned.
“You…? This is…?”
“Yan Qing, today, you must die here!” Yan Xia held the custom weapon Yan Qing had specially commissioned for her and stared at her with a vicious expression.
“Why?” Yan Qing could not understand. What had she done that made Yan Xia, whom she regarded as her own younger sister, look at her with such hatred?
Even her boyfriend Cheng Yutang, and the squad members she had nearly given half her life to save, were staring at her with gloomy expressions at this moment, as if they wished they could eat her flesh and drink her blood.
“Why? You’re actually asking me why? Hahahahahaha! This is too ridiculous!”
“Why were you born a rich young lady while I could only be the daughter of a gambler? Why did you get whatever you wanted since childhood while I could only receive your charity and pity?”
“Why wouldn’t you give me your house? Why wouldn’t you give me everything you own? You’re a jinx! You caused your parents’ deaths, what right do you have to possess so much wealth?”
Using her Tang saber as support, Yan Qing struggled to stand up. She stared at the nearly crazed Yan Xia before her with utter disbelief as a scorching tear fell to the ground.
Heaven knew the truth. Her parents had helped Yan Xia’s family countless times. Her eldest uncle, Yan Xia’s father, had been hopelessly addicted to gambling. He had squandered every bit of money her family had given him, which was why they had fallen into their current state!
And her parents had treated Yan Xia like their own daughter. Everything she had, Yan Xia had too!
Even when her parents bought property for her, they had also bought one for Yan Xia. It was Yan Xia’s father who had failed to live up to expectations and gambled it all away!
She and her parents had clearly gotten into a car accident on the way back to their hometown to visit Grandma. Back then, she had only been sixteen years old. Even now, she was only twenty two!
A crack sounded.
Something had shattered… Ah… it was her heart that had shattered…
“Why? Why? Why?! I’m going to kill you! Ahhh!!!”
Yan Xia continued roaring as she raised the specially customized dagger that Yan Qing had commissioned for her and slashed toward her.
Heh, what irony.
“Clang!”
The Tang saber blocked the dagger’s advance, sparks bursting violently from the clash.
Yan Qing and Yan Xia stared directly at one another. On one side, Yan Qing’s face was streaked with tears of disbelief. On the other, Yan Xia’s eyes were filled with jealousy and hatred.
“What are you all standing around for? Attack together!” Cheng Yutang saw that Yan Qing, despite already being completely exhausted, could still raise her Tang saber and resist. Shamelessly, he ordered the other nine squad members.
The other squad members exchanged glances with one another and simply gave up using weapons. Instead, they directly unleashed their own ultimate abilities against Yan Qing.
Unable to dodge in time, she forcefully endured the combined attacks of ten Level One ability users, including Cheng Yutang.
“Blegh!”
She spat out a mouthful of blood.
She could already feel her internal organs rupturing. A ringing sound filled her ears, and her vision gradually became blurry.
Just as those ten people saw that she still had not collapsed and were preparing to unleash another round of ability attacks, the monstrous hatred in Yan Qing’s heart supported her as she used the Level Three ultimate skill that only a Level Three ability user could use with the last of her life!