Yao Tao dropped the mutated rat down to the first floor.
The heavy fall, instead of hurting it, seemed to knock the rat back to its senses, its four legs kicked and it flipped itself over.
Seeing the man and woman in front of it, it took them for the “enemy” who’d just slammed it, and lunged at them, squealing.
Wang Mingyang and Nannan, the couple, were still in the middle of their argument when they suddenly heard a thud behind them.
By the time they turned to look, a dog-sized mutated rat had already lunged.
“Mingyang, there’s a monster!” Nannan shrieked, instinctively ducking behind Wang Mingyang.
But she never expected Wang Mingyang to move even faster than her, in a single step he’d already gotten behind her, shoving her straight into the mutated rat’s path.
Nannan’s mind went completely blank.
She watched the “monster” closing in on her face, and what flashed through her mind was the image of Wang Mingyang using her as a human shield just now.
How could he… how could he do that…
Hadn’t he said he’d protect her?
They were about to get married. She was supposed to be the happiest bride in the world…
Hiding on the second floor, Yao Tao watched the whole scene unfold, her expression blank.
She’d known all along this was exactly how it would go.
Feelings, promises, in the apocalypse, the only thing anyone could truly count on was ability.
Whoever held the resources held the combat power.
As long as there were supplies, there’d be people willing to risk their lives for them.
In the face of danger, love amounted to nothing more than a hollow “I love you.”
“Thud!” The mutated rat slammed into Nannan and, off balance, crashed to the ground again.
Yao Tao had already beaten it half to death back in the storeroom, that lunge just now had been the last of its strength.
Nannan stood frozen in place for several seconds before she dared believe she’d escaped disaster.
The mutated rat lay convulsing at her feet, its four legs twitching, a sight terrifying enough on its own.
Nannan was normally terrified even of an ordinary dead rat, let alone one big enough to bite through her throat.
“Mingyang! Mingyang, where are you… I’m scared…” She turned to look for Wang Mingyang, only to find he’d already fled the mall.
She ran after him, crying.
At last, they were both gone.
Yao Tao stretched, and prepared to head down to the first floor to finish her final sweep.
Just then, a sound came from the first floor.
She quickly crouched low, ducking behind the billboard, tilting her head to peer through the gap below.
A man in a security guard’s uniform crawled out from behind the jewelry counter, rubbing his hands together in glee. “Finally, they’re all gone. Heaven’s on my side, hahaha, all this gold is mine now.”
The moment Yao Tao got a clear look at his face, her pupils shrank sharply.
It was Yang Hu!
In her past life, Yang Hu had been one of the core members of Zhu Hua’s team.
When she’d been locked up on the charge of hoarding team supplies, Yang Hu had used the excuse of delivering food to grope her.
She’d been furious and terrified, and only through fierce resistance had she stopped him from succeeding.
Even now she remembered every word he’d hissed at her in his rage.
“What do you have to be so high and mighty about? Without our boss, you’re no different from those women who trade their bodies for food. If you serve me well, maybe I’ll put in a good word for you with the boss, let you stay on the team as a laundry girl, not bad, right?”
Plenty of teams took in women willing to be their “laundry girls”, as long as it meant a scrap of food, they’d do whatever they were told, with no dignity to speak of.
Yao Tao stared down at Yang Hu on the first floor, her eyes glinting cold.
She wasn’t going to let Yang Hu get another chance to run into Zhu Hua.
Down on the first floor, Yang Hu had already beaten the mutated rat to death with the rubber baton he carried, and now cradled armfuls of gold jewelry in both hands, burying his face in it in ecstasy.
“Hahahaha, I’ve struck it rich! Struck it rich!”
Yao Tao pulled the air rifle from her space, took aim, then lowered it again.
Killing him this way would be letting him off far too easily.
Just then, someone came storming through the mall’s front entrance, pointing furiously at Yang Hu. “Put that down, that’s all mine.”
Yao Tao raised an eyebrow.
Well well, the young couple was back.
Wang Mingyang and Nannan entered, one after the other.
Wang Mingyang charged forward aggressively and shoved Yang Hu aside, shielding the gold behind him. “I’m warning you, all of this is mine, you touch my stuff and see what happens.”
Yang Hu wasn’t intimidated by Wang Mingyang’s threat in the slightest, and swung the rubber baton straight at him.
Wang Mingyang dodged the blow to his head, but it caught his shoulder instead, and he cried out in pain. “You dare hit me?”
Yang Hu narrowed his eyes and gave a smug chuckle. “So what if I hit you?”
“You’re the security guard here, aren’t you? You dare assault me, I’ll… I’ll report you!”
“Pfft… hahahaha…” Yang Hu laughed so hard his stomach hurt. “Are you an idiot? Go ahead, report me, go on, see who’s going to listen to you.”
Only then did it hit Wang Mingyang.
Everyone had already fled, who exactly was he supposed to report this to? Besides, none of this gold belonged to any of them in the first place.
“Since that’s how it is, don’t blame me for what happens next.” Wang Mingyang charged forward and grappled with Yang Hu.
Nannan was terrified, wanting to help Wang Mingyang but not knowing what to do.
Yao Tao slipped through a broken display window on the second floor and used a safety rope to slide down to the mall’s exterior on the first floor.
The two men were still grappling with each other on the first floor.
Wang Mingyang was clearly losing. He tried to wrestle the baton out of Yang Hu’s hands but failed.
Yang Hu struck him several times with the baton, splitting his head open and covering him in blood.
Nannan couldn’t stop crying, begging over and over, “Please… stop fighting, please stop…”
Yang Hu kicked Wang Mingyang aside and looked at Nannan, his eyes full of malice. “Fine… for the sake of a pretty girl like you, I’ll let him off. But how are you going to repay me?”
“I…” Nannan was at a loss. “Take all the gold, we don’t want any of it.” She clutched tightly at Wang Mingyang’s arm, trembling.
Yang Hu smiled, up to no good. “The gold was already mine to begin with. Both your lives are mine too. But if you serve me well and make me happy, I’ll let you go. How about it?”
Nannan stood there in shock. “You can’t do this. This is wrong.”
“Hahaha, I just love a naive woman like you.” Yang Hu stepped forward and grabbed a fistful of Nannan’s hair.
Nannan’s shrill scream echoed through the mall’s first floor.
“Mingyang… boo hoo, help me, please help me…”
Wang Mingyang, clutching his bleeding head, slumped dazed on the ground, as if Yang Hu had beaten him senseless.
But was he really that dazed?
Not at all.
His mind was perfectly clear.
He’d finally understood he couldn’t win this fight.
And in a situation like this, he might well get beaten to death, so what did it matter, giving up one girlfriend to save his own life?
Even a fiancée didn’t matter. Worst case, he’d just find another one later.
Nannan was pinned to the ground by Yang Hu, sobbing, her clothes being torn.
“Stop right there!” A crisp woman’s voice rang out from the mall entrance.
Everyone turned to look at once.
“Bang!” A soft pop, and a burst of blood bloomed on Yang Hu’s shoulder.
“Ah!” Yang Hu cried out in pain, clutching the wound as he stumbled backward.
Nannan scrambled up, not caring that her clothes were in disarray, staggering toward Wang Mingyang.
Wang Mingyang couldn’t be bothered to comfort her at all, he was staring, stunned, at the woman who’d just shot Yang Hu.
Yao Tao walked closer, step by step, her baseball cap on her head, her ponytail swinging behind her, radiating energy.
“Bang!” She fired another shot, into Yang Hu’s other shoulder.
With a bleeding hole in each shoulder now, Yang Hu’s face went pale. “Let’s talk this over, big sister, it’s a misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding… don’t shoot, the gold is all yours.”
Yao Tao raised the air rifle, taking aim at Yang Hu, then turned to Nannan, expression blank. “Do you want to let him go?”
The question sent Nannan into loud sobs, shaking her head furiously.
She’d nearly been ruined by that man just now, how could she possibly let him go?
It was just that she had no power to avenge herself, and Wang Mingyang was injured, unable to win against him.
“Tell me. Do you want to let him go?” Yao Tao demanded.
The sharp shout seemed to snap Nannan awake all at once, and with reddened eyes she screamed with everything she had: “…Kill him!”