Shen Hanyin looked up as people rapidly surrounded her.
There were more than a dozen of them, all carrying clubs, kitchen knives, or similar weapons.
The leader was a burly man with a powerful build.
“Brother, hand over all your food and we’ll let you go.”
“I don’t have any.”
The man sneered.
“The little girl said you do.”
Shen Hanyin lowered her gaze toward the child.
The little girl looked back at her expectantly.
“Big brother, can you give me more chocolate?”
“How did you find me?”
The girl grinned proudly.
“I saw that you had food, so I secretly followed you the whole time. I’m pretty amazing, right? You never even noticed me.”
The moment those words left her mouth, a wave of dizziness washed over Shen Hanyin.
The whole time?
Had the girl seen her take food out of her space?
Even though Shen Hanyin had checked her surroundings repeatedly before retrieving anything, she still didn’t dare take the risk.
She had been careless.
When she gave the little girl those chocolates, it wasn’t because she pitied her or because some saintly compassion had suddenly awakened.
It was simply a coincidence.
She happened to have two pieces of milk chocolate in her pocket, a flavor she didn’t particularly like.
Without thinking, she had handed them over.
Now that careless gesture had created a huge problem.
Seeing the shock on Shen Hanyin’s face, the leader laughed mockingly.
“You helped her out of kindness, and she repaid you by betraying you.”
“Feeling heartbroken?”
Heartbroken?
Not really.
There had been no kindness or affection behind those chocolates.
Naturally, she didn’t feel betrayed.
The group tightened their grip on their clubs and knives.
Shen Hanyin drew her Tang saber and reminded herself to stay focused.
The leader’s expression immediately turned serious when he saw the blade.
“Be careful. Don’t kill him. He still has to take us to where he found food.”
Then he waved his hand.
Everyone charged forward at once.
Shen Hanyin struggled to keep up.
Clubs struck her again and again.
At the same time, her saber left several people wounded.
Her strength was fading.
She began retreating.
The attackers pressed forward.
Shen Hanyin could feel herself approaching her limit.
Without hesitation, she slipped one hand into her pocket and retrieved a pistol from her space.
Bang!
The shot struck one man’s arm.
The group froze in shock and immediately retreated.
No one had expected her to have a gun.
Everyone knew how strict firearm regulations had been before the disaster.
The leader’s expression changed instantly.
“Brother! Brother! It’s a misunderstanding!”
“We’ll leave right now!”
“Right now!”
Shen Hanyin said nothing.
Her gloves were thick today.
To hold the pistol properly, she had been forced to remove one.
In weather colder than negative thirty degrees Celsius, only a few seconds were enough for her fingers to start going numb.
She silently gave herself countless reminders.
Countless justifications.
Then her finger slowly tightened around the trigger.
The little girl collapsed to the ground.
For a moment, Shen Hanyin stared.
She had never expected the first person she killed with a gun to be neither a villain nor a monster.
Not some vicious criminal.
Not some irredeemable beast.
Just a pitiful little girl.
Yet she wasn’t innocent.
She had followed Shen Hanyin all the way here.
She had pointed her out to the crowd.
Most importantly, she might have seen Shen Hanyin’s space.
Maybe the child didn’t understand what she had witnessed.
But that possibility alone was enough.
Enough for Shen Hanyin to kill her.
She returned the pistol to her pocket.
The leader immediately seized the opportunity and hurried his people away.
Shen Hanyin glanced once at the little girl’s body.
Then she put her glove back on and walked away without another look.
As she turned around, she froze.
Luo Qi.
Xu Chengyi.
Li Yuan.
And several others.
They stood there staring at her in horror.
Inside her pocket, Shen Hanyin’s hand clenched into a fist.
She stared back at them without speaking.
After a moment, Luo Qi smiled casually and greeted her as if nothing unusual had happened.
“Li Yuan was looking for us earlier. He wants to organize another trip into the mountains.”
He shrugged.
“Food is only going to become scarcer. We figured we’d try our luck again before things get worse.”
“You coming?”
“When?” Shen Hanyin asked.
“Tomorrow.”
“The sooner the better.”
“Okay.”
Luo Qi nodded.
“Seven in the morning. Downstairs.”
Shen Hanyin nodded once and walked past them toward home.
Only after she had disappeared into the distance did Li Yuan finally let out the breath he had been holding.
“Holy shit.”
“What kind of person is that guy?”
“He’s carrying both a sword and a gun, and he just killed someone in broad daylight.”
The other residents of Building 9 already had a poor impression of Shen Hanyin.
One of them snorted.
“Did you see how smoothly he handled that gun? No way he’s some ordinary person.”
“Who knows what he used to do.”
Li Yuan was still processing the fact that Shen Hanyin owned a firearm.
“So all those previous fights with us were basically him playing around?”
Luo Qi glanced at him.
“Maybe.”
Then he smiled faintly.
“Why use a butcher’s knife to kill a chicken?”
“Damn.”
Li Yuan stared at him.
“You’re pretty impressive too. You were calm enough to smile and talk to him.”
Luo Qi laughed.
“Honestly, I was scared too.”
“I just didn’t show it.”
He patted Li Yuan on the shoulder.
“Come on.”
“You’ll probably be relying on him to protect you tomorrow.”
Back at home, Shen Hanyin’s hands were still cold.
They were trembling.
She felt dizzy.
Nauseous.
As if she might throw up at any moment.
She lay there thinking.
Guns really were easier.
The hesitation had been less intense.
The guilt wasn’t nearly as overwhelming.
But her body still reacted.
She felt sick.
She needed time.
Suisui sensed her unease and quietly stayed beside her.
Hours passed.
Shen Hanyin wasn’t hungry.
She didn’t want to eat.
Instead, she lay there staring at the ceiling.
Over and over, she tried to convince herself.
She hadn’t done anything wrong.
There was nothing to fear.
One day, things like this might become normal.
She had to accept it.
She needed to accept it.
Then she suddenly remembered what Luo Qi had said to her earlier.
At that moment, she realized she would probably have agreed to anything he asked.
Her mind hadn’t been functioning at all.
Holding Suisui in her arms, she sat curled up on the sofa.
Only around midnight did the nausea finally fade.
She got up and began organizing supplies for tomorrow’s trip.
At first, she considered bringing a pair of ice skates.
Eventually, she changed her mind.
She had nearly exhausted herself fighting those dozen people today.
What she needed was training.
Not shortcuts.
Relying on tricks during a real crisis could get her killed.
After washing up, she climbed into bed.
Two hand warmers rested near her feet.
The electric heater hummed softly nearby.
Suisui curled up against her chest.
Despite the temperature outside being well below negative thirty degrees, she didn’t feel cold at all.
The next morning, Shen Hanyin woke up early.
She had barely eaten anything the day before.
For breakfast, she made herself a bowl of wontons.
After feeding Suisui, she decided to bring the cat along this time.
The temperature had become too dangerous.
Leaving Suisui home alone wasn’t safe anymore.
She had much more to prepare today.
Cat food.
Biscuits.
Chocolate.
Heating patches.
A flashlight.
A lighter.
And a pound of smokeless charcoal.
Everything went into the foldable storage box.
She lined her backpack with a small blanket, added a hand warmer, dressed Suisui in protective clothing, and carefully placed the cat inside.
Then she carried the backpack on her chest.
By the time she finished, it was 6:50 a.m.
She headed downstairs.
Luo Qi, Xu Chengyi, and Li Yuan greeted her immediately.
The others kept as much distance from her as possible.
Before setting off, Luo Qi reminded everyone of something important.
“There might not be any food this time either.”
“We could end up returning empty-handed.”
“Prepare yourselves mentally.”
At exactly seven o’clock, they departed.
Having already made the trip once before, everyone understood how long the journey would be.
As usual, Shen Hanyin walked at the rear of the group.
At some point she felt Suisui wake up inside the backpack.
She reached inside and gently patted the cat.
“Be good.”
As if understanding her words, Suisui immediately stopped moving around.
Today’s journey went a little faster than the previous one.
After four hours, they arrived at the foot of the mountain right on schedule.
This time they chose a different route up.
There should still be food somewhere in the mountains.
The temperature had dropped too quickly and too drastically this year.
Under normal circumstances, winter had only just begun.
Even plants and animals unable to adapt to such extreme cold wouldn’t die immediately.
As long as nobody else found them first, the group shouldn’t return completely empty-handed.