Wen Xian’s gaze drifted as she looked at the people opposite her, puzzled. “I really don’t understand how things ended up like this today. You and I have never had any dealings with each other. Why do you harbor such deep malice toward me? Why do you keep trying, again and again, to take my life?”
Ding Wei shot Chen Lian a glance from the corner of her eye. Seeing his calm expression, unreadable and without emotion, she let out a cold laugh. “You and I may not have crossed paths, but you killed Shouzi. He was our companion. Is there something wrong with us avenging him?”
Wen Xian knew it was nothing more than an excuse, but since Ding Wei would not say anything further, she had no desire to press the matter. She turned to Chen Lian. “Is that your reason as well?”
Chen Lian nodded calmly. “He was my brother.”
The corner of Wen Xian’s lips twitched faintly, as if in mockery. Chen Lian’s gaze flickered, but she had already turned to Xiang Yuyang. “And you? What’s your reason?”
Xiang Yuyang still wore that refined, upright demeanor. His eyes moved back and forth between her and the large white wolf at her side. “Do you know? The Sifang Plaza that I built with my own hands is gone.”
Wen Xian nodded. A cold gleam surfaced on Xiang Yuyang’s face. “Miss Ding told me that it was because you wanted to hunt the white wolf beside you and caused a disturbance in the forest, driving the other animals down the mountain.”
Wen Xian was utterly astonished and could not help glancing at Ding Wei. She looked back at her smugly, making no attempt to defend the lie she had spread, rven with the person involved standing right in front of her.
Wen Xian let out a low laugh and said to him, “I always thought you were a smart man.”
Xiang Yuyang’s expression darkened at once, but Wen Xian no longer paid him any attention. She looked at the three men she did not recognize. “Were you brought here by her as backup?”
Ba Hai’s gaze had been fixed on her the entire time. His small, triangular eyes were like lasers, as though they could pierce through her clothes and see through her naked body. His look was strange and unfathomably deep, like a sticky abyssal sea.
Hearing her question, he met her eyes. His straight brows twitched slightly, and his voice was hoarse and sluggish. “No. If you die, you belong to them. If you live, you’re mine.”
Wen Xian forced herself to ignore the danger in his stare and nodded faintly. Then she struck without warning. All those present heard only the sharp sound of air being torn apart, followed by a scream. When they looked again, Ding Wei had already been dragged in front of Wen Xian, a green vine coiled tightly around her neck.
“Ding Wei!”
“Awooo!”
Chen Lian and the others were shocked and rushed forward to save her, but the white wolf let out a howl and planted its massive paw on Ding Wei’s chest. She screamed again. A sudden, piercing pain shot through her chest, and she could no longer catch her breath. Instinctively, she clutched at the wolf’s paw.
Wen Xian bound her entire body with the vine, then looked up at the stunned crowd and said to Chen Lian, “Whether or not I killed Shouzi, you know the truth in your hearts. But she keeps using that excuse to harm me. If I hadn’t been lucky last time, I would have died under her gun.”
She smiled, and there was a trace of bleakness in it. “This is the apocalypse. Even if I die, I’ll leave nothing behind, and no one will seek justice for me. And you, least of all, would say a word. So if she dies by my hand this time, it’s nothing more than being outmatched, isn’t it?”
How had this world become like this?
She tightened the vine, forcing Ding Wei’s head back. Her face was already flushed red, the three scars on it standing out more vividly and grotesquely than ever.
Her bloodshot eyes bulged as she glared fixedly at Wen Xian. Even as she struggled to breathe, she still refused to yield. “You wouldn’t dare kill me!”
Wen Xian applied more force.
“Wen Xian!”
Every member of Chen Lian’s team now held a hunting rifle, all of them trained on her. Chen Lian said urgently, “Let her go, or you won’t be leaving this place either!”
Wen Xian lifted her eyes toward him. “Were you ever planning to let me leave?”
Chen Lian choked on his words, scrambling for something to say. In his heart, Wen Xian had always been soft-natured. She surely wouldn’t—
“No!”
“Crack.”
“Ah!”
Shao Qingqing’s despairing scream rang out beside them, followed by the crisp sound of bones snapping. Chen Lian jerked his head around just in time to see Wen Xian releasing the vine in her hand. As for Ding Wei… her neck was twisted at an unnatural angle, and she had already stopped breathing.
Chen Lian’s eyes instantly turned red. “Ding Wei!”
“Ah! I’ll kill you!”
“Bang, bang, bang, ah!”
As Shao Qingqing shrieked hysterically, several vines shot out in an instant. In the blink of an eye, they knocked the rifles from Chen Lian and the others’ hands, followed immediately by a merciless lashing. Caught completely off guard, they found themselves with no strength to fight back.
While they struggled in disarray, they had no idea that Ba Hai, Xiang Yuyang, and the others were already utterly stunned.
When Wen Xian first made her move, they had only seen two branches suddenly extend from her hand. That alone was already the pinnacle of wood-type abilities they had ever witnessed. Even Ding Wei, whose combat power was considered strong, could only form wooden spikes thirty to forty centimeters long, and producing five at a time was already her limit.
But now, those two vines had killed Ding Wei in the blink of an eye. Immediately afterward, five or six more materialized, and she controlled them simultaneously to attack different people. Each vine seemed to have its own target and pattern of attack, moving with perfect coordination and no confusion whatsoever, as though every vine had grown eyes, able to see where the enemy dodged or struck and respond with swift counterattacks.
What kind of immense ability reserves would that require? And what level of reaction speed?
Several times, Chen Lian managed to grab hold of a vine, only for it to vanish from his grasp the very next second and reappear from another direction to continue the assault.
To disperse one’s ability and replenish it again within such a short span of time, how many people could possibly accomplish that?
Even Ba Hai and his two brothers, who usually acted as if nothing fazed them, could not help exchanging glances. As for Ba Hai, the way he looked at Wen Xian grew even more sticky and heated.
More than ten minutes later, Wen Xian finally stopped. Every member of Chen Lian’s team lay gravely injured on the ground. The only one still standing was Qi Hao, and even his face still bore traces of fear.
Wen Xian’s breathing was slightly uneven, which at last gave Ba Hai and Xiang Yuyang a faint sense of reassurance. If she had continued attacking like a tireless machine, anyone would have been afraid.
She looked at Chen Lian and the others, now battered beyond recognition, and said coldly, “Now we’re mortal enemies. Back when I wasn’t the one who killed Shouzi, you still refused to let it go. After today, I suppose you’ll be even less likely to spare me.”
Chen Lian staggered as he tried to get up, his gaze dark yet unyielding as he looked at her, making his resolve clear.
Wen Xian nodded. “In that case, I might as well kill you now and save myself future trouble.” She raised her hand as she spoke.
“No! Don’t! I swear, we’ll never go against you again, I swear!”
Shao Qingqing suddenly screamed out. Her face was smeared with dirt, her clothes torn, countless bloody welts exposed on her body. She trembled uncontrollably, and when she looked at Wen Xian, her eyes were filled with fear.
“Shao Qingqing! She killed Ding Wei, she killed your best friend!” Chen Lian cried out in disbelief.
“Shut up!”
Tears welled at the corners of Shao Qingqing’s eyes as she glared at him. “That was your fault too! If Shouzi hadn’t run his mouth back then, talking about class belles and first loves, and kept pestering her, and if you hadn’t been so ambiguous, brushing it off with a couple of half-hearted words before dropping it, Shouzi wouldn’t have died. Ding Wei wouldn’t have grown to hate Wen Xian out of jealousy. And she wouldn’t have died today!”
She broke down as she spoke. “All of this is because of you. And now, you’re going to drag the rest of us to our deaths too?!”
Chen Lian’s eyes widened like brass bells, unable to believe what he was hearing. “You… what do you mean? You’re saying I—”
“Yes, you!”
Shao Qingqing did not know where she found the strength to struggle to her feet. Pointing at him, she said, “Ding Wei loved you so much. And you? You prided yourself on being a real man who takes responsibility, on being loyal and righteous. Anyone who asked you for help, good or bad, you never refused. Do you know how insecure she felt standing by your side? Do you know how many times she cried behind your back? If it weren’t for that, how could Ding Wei have started hating Wen Xian just because of a few words from Shouzi?”
Ignoring the stunned Chen Lian, she staggered forward two steps and dropped to her knees. “At first, Ding Wei was only a little jealous. But when the apocalypse came, she acted fierce and ruthless on the surface, yet inside she was terrified. She was afraid Chen Lian would abandon her because Wen Xian resembles his first love, so she poured all her fear and panic onto you…”
Sobbing, she pressed her forehead to the ground. “I know she was wrong. We were wrong too. We didn’t stop her. We even helped her again and again. It would be effortless for you to kill us now, but… but I don’t want to die. I want to live!”
She pleaded, “Wen Xian, I know you’re strong, but… could you please spare us? We’ll never oppose you again. I’m begging you…” She knocked her head against the ground again and again, the sound painfully heavy.
No one present spoke. Ba Hai and his two brothers watched coldly. At some point, Xiang Yuyang had already retreated a considerable distance with Old Qiu and the Tibetan mastiff. Chen Lian stood there as if his soul had left him. Cai Cai lay on the ground, her condition unknown. Qi Hao supported the severely injured Fan Yaohui in silence. Xiao Tong had long since hidden far away.
Wen Xian, however, felt only absurdity. So Ding Wei’s inexplicable hostility all this time had stemmed merely from a few careless words from Shouzi, and from Chen Lian’s ambiguous attitude.
And Shao Qingqing, fully aware of the truth, had stood by coldly and even helped deal with her.
Now her humility and lowered stance were nothing more than the result of Wen Xian being strong enough that they were no longer her match.
What a ridiculous truth. What a ridiculous reality.
But why?
Why was it that when they wanted to deal with her, she had to endure it, yet when they couldn’t beat her, she was supposed to let them go?
Wen Xian bit down hard on the inside of her cheek. A flash of green light flickered through her eyes, too fast for anyone to notice.
The next instant, a sharp whooshing sound cut through the air. With two fierce lashes, Chen Lian and Shao Qingqing were sent flying. They did not even have time to scream before they were knocked unconscious, crashing to the ground some distance away, utterly insensible.
She struck again, and still no one could stop her. Everyone present felt a chill in their hearts.
At that moment, Wen Xian turned her gaze to Qi Hao. His face had already gone pale with shock. She said coolly, “Today, consider the debt from before repaid.”
Qi Hao’s face flushed instantly as he understood what she meant. In fact, back then his words had not played much of a role. On the contrary, today he had also been swayed by Ding Wei’s instigation, believing the beast tide at the ancient town had been caused by Wen Xian’s white wolf, and so he had joined in against her.
Yet she still remembered that small favor. He did not dare meet her eyes and murmured a quiet thanks.
Wen Xian then looked at Xiang Yuyang. “And you? Still want revenge?”
Xiang Yuyang smiled faintly. Behind him, the Tibetan mastiff let out an impatient low growl. He cast Old Qiu a glance, and Old Qiu hurriedly patted the mastiff’s head and stepped forward to block it behind him.
Only then did Xiang Yuyang speak. “We all heard what was said just now. We understand that the beast tide at the ancient town had nothing to do with you. It was all malicious incitement from Ding Wei for personal reasons.”
He sighed. “Times are hard now. There’s no grudge between us. There’s really no need for us to fight each other. It’s simply not worth it.”
Old Qiu echoed with a genial laugh from behind, like a kindly elder. “Yes, yes.” Although they had the mastiff as a capable helper, Wen Xian alone had just dealt with Chen Lian and the others. And the big white wolf by her side had not even made a move yet.
A wise man adapts to the times.
Wen Xian was not surprised by Xiang Yuyang’s “sense of timing.” From their first meeting, she had known he was someone who could bend when necessary and navigate all sides smoothly.
She nodded. “Since the misunderstanding has been cleared up, then return the landlady to Xiao Tong. In times like these, a Tibetan mastiff shouldn’t starve even without eating people.”
Xiang Yuyang’s expression stiffened briefly. He tilted his head and cast a meaningful glance toward Xiao Tong, who was shrinking far away in a corner, then smiled. “It was all a misunderstanding. Xiao Tong’s mother was never Bawang’s food. Those words were just an excuse Ding Wei used to threaten him. Once we return, Xiao Tong will be able to see his mother.”
Wen Xian neither confirmed nor denied it, nor did she look at the grateful gaze Xiao Tong cast her way. Instead, she turned to the three unfamiliar men. “Fight?”
Ba Hai narrowed his eyes slightly. Yu Xiang, the square-faced man, burst out laughing and strode forward a couple of steps. He hoisted an American M134 minigun onto his shoulder and aimed it at her. “Little girl was pretty fast just now. Since you don’t want to keep our boss company, I’ll have a little exchange with you myself.” With that, he pulled the trigger without hesitation.
The roar of gunfire rang out, and he laughed in exhilaration, already looking at Wen Xian as though she were a dead woman.