Jiang Chenyu, who had been dragged out to the yard, felt his eyes darken at the sight. Massive mental power surged out, and just as the energy tainted with malice was about to invade the brains of all the men present, he noticed the change in the girl’s body and dispersed his mental power in surprise.
Song Qing’s ability was at the peak of the first tier, and the moment she finished absorbing the energy, she advanced to the next tier. The remaining effect of the drug in her body was also expelled as her physical strength enhanced.
Gritting her teeth, she jumped up, her eyes bloodshot as she pinned down the foul-smelling Ji Guohao and beat him violently. Every wind blade he launched was blocked by her earth walls.
She delivered several heavy punches, each one hitting solidly into flesh.
Looking down at the man groaning and wailing in pain beneath her, his honest-looking face now twisted, Song Qing felt disgusted even to touch him. Panting for breath, she picked up a long wooden bench nearby and swung it heavily onto him, specifically targeting vulnerable areas like his head and groin where it would hurt the most.
The dull thuds of wood striking flesh echoed in the room. Sitting quietly by the dining table, Wang Xia watched this scene, the dead light in her eyes growing brighter and brighter.
Song Qing’s physical strength was now equivalent to a second-tier ability user, leaving Ji Guohao completely powerless to resist. Although he had advanced to the second tier over a year ago, living a life in the village where food and drink were brought to him without lifting a finger meant he had never gone out to fight zombies at all, always ordering others to do it. Now, he was utterly incapable of fighting off the woman on top of him.
Curling his body to cover his head while screaming in agony, he yelled toward the seven or eight lackeys outside, “What are you all doing?! Hurry up and get in here to kill this bitch!”
The men around, who hadn’t reacted in time to the delicate girl turning into a violent one, quickly snapped out of it and surrounded her to attack.
“You’re the bitch!” Song Qing roared, knocking Ji Guohao unconscious with a heavy blow before getting up to deal with the surrounding men.
Aside from Xiao Liu, a second-tier speed ability user who was somewhat tricky to handle, the others were quickly beaten to the ground by her.
Seeing that things were turning bad, Xiao Liu quickly ran to his companion who was holding Jiang Chenyu hostage.
Panting for breath, Song Qing walked toward them.
“Don’t come any closer! If you come closer, I’ll kill him!” Xiao Liu grabbed the rope on Jiang Chenyu’s body, shouting at her with a brave front that hid his fear. Being a head shorter than Jiang Chenyu made his words look somewhat laughable.
However, another burly man remained silent, his palm-sized black hand directly choking Jiang Chenyu’s neck while his bell-like eyes stared darkly at her.
This was more intimidating than anything else.
“I won’t come over. Don’t hurt him,” Song Qing said hastily, stopping in her tracks. Tightly gripping the bench in her hand, she anxiously asked the System in her mind, What’s the situation with the man choking the male lead?
The System replied, “Second-tier strength ability user.”
Seeing how much Song Qing cared about the sickly man in his hands, Xiao Liu felt joy in his heart and shouted a threat at her, “Drop the bench and put your hands up! Otherwise, don’t blame me for being ruthless to your man!”
“Ah Hui, choke him tighter,” Xiao Liu gestured with his head to the taciturn man.
Ah Hui complied by tightening his grip on Jiang Chenyu’s neck.
Jiang Chenyu’s pale face became flushed from suffocation, yet his face showed no expression. His pitch-black eyes quietly looked at the girl standing a few meters away.
“I’ll do it. Don’t hurt him.” Seeing him in severe distress, Song Qing dropped the bench in her hand and slowly raised her hands.
The moment her hands were fully raised, a large bucket filled with water appeared out of thin air right above Ah Hui’s head, knocking the unprepared man off balance and causing his grip on Jiang Chenyu to loosen.
Song Qing pounced forward violently, pinning him down to rain punches on him. At the same time, she activated her ability, sending a hard lump of earth smashing into Xiao Liu’s face, knocking him unconscious instantly.
Song Qing held a deep grudge against the man beneath her who had dragged and choked Jiang Chenyu. The male lead, whom she had so carefully protected, had his healing wounds torn open and was choked to suffocation by this man.
If she didn’t beat him into a pulp, she would be letting herself down. She used earth to bind his four limbs, slamming her strength-filled fists violently into his face.
“You bastard, injuring my Brother Yu! I’ll beat you to death!” Song Qing said huffily.
Sitting nearby, Jiang Chenyu heard her words, his eyelashes fluttering lightly as a strange gleam flickered deep in his eyes.
Only after beating Ah Hui until he was bruised, battered, and spitting blood into unconsciousness did Song Qing pant heavily and get up. She went over to untie the ropes for Jiang Chenyu, who was sitting on the ground. Looking at the large patch of blood soaking his white shirt near his abdomen, she pouted with red eyes, full of guilt.
“I’m sorry, it’s all my fault. If I hadn’t insisted on entering this village, your wound wouldn’t have torn open.”
His hands freed, Jiang Chenyu rotated his numb wrists. He lowered his eyes to look at the girl kneeling beside him with red eyes and a red nose, looking like a wronged little rabbit, and rubbed her head with a chuckle.
“It’s not your fault. You did very well.”
These words carried a bit of sincerity. He truly hadn’t expected that a girl who would scream and tremble all over at the sight of a cockroach could calmly advance her tier under such an emergency just now and beat eight or nine men to the ground.
Three of them were even second-tier ability users. Although part of it was due to them underestimating the enemy, it had to be said that Song Qing’s performance had made Jiang Chenyu look at her in a new light.
Song Qing helped him walk into the house to treat his wounds. Before stepping inside, she shrank behind Jiang Chenyu with a “whimper.”
Clinging to his broad back, she peeked out with two eyes to observe the situation inside, her body trembling with fear.
Inside, Wang Xia, who had remained expressionless ever since Song Qing met her, now wore a eerie smile. Kneeling on the ground, she held a twenty-centimeter fruit knife, stabbing it repeatedly into Ji Guohao. Blood splashed onto her delicate face, making her expression look increasingly ecstatic.
Song Qing noticed that Wang Xia seemed to pay special attention to Ji Guohao’s crotch area, which was now a bloody, horrific mess. The unconscious Ji Guohao twitched a few times before completely breathing his last, yet Wang Xia’s knife still did not stop.
“B-Brother Yu, what’s going on?” Song Qing didn’t dare look any longer. Shifting her whole body behind Jiang Chenyu, her forehead resting against his warm back, she asked stutteringly.
“They probably had a grudge,” Jiang Chenyu’s voice showed no surprise. Sensing the movement around them, a faint smile played at the corner of his lips as he pulled the girl hiding behind him to sit down at the corner of the yard.
They sat right on the long wooden bench Song Qing had dropped earlier.
Song Qing tried to pull him up disapprovingly, “Brother Yu, your wound hasn’t been treated yet.”
“No rush, there’s still a show to watch.” Jiang Chenyu took her hand and made her sit beside him.
Song Qing sat down in confusion, looking at the dim yard, unaware of what show there was to watch.
The two women who had been observing the situation from outside saw that those men had all fallen and excitedly ran through the village to spread the word.
Within two minutes, fifteen to twenty elderly people and women arrived at the scene. Carrying kitchen knives and wooden sticks, they set upon the eight fallen men. The entire yard looked like a massive live-streamed murder scene.
Song Qing took two glances and didn’t dare look anymore, burying her eyes against Jiang Chenyu’s arm, her head in a total mess.
She wasn’t going to save those men; they had just committed violence against her and Jiang Chenyu, and she wasn’t so much of a Saint Mary.
However, through the actions of these villagers, she realized that this small village didn’t seem to be an evil village as she had thought. Was there some hidden story behind it?
With a faint smile on his face, Jiang Chenyu watched the villagers commit violence against those men. It was as if he wasn’t watching a scene of collective murder, but rather a grand visual feast, his expression extremely pleased.
He had originally wanted to kill these men himself, but now it seemed he wouldn’t get the chance. These men were too useless—they couldn’t even beat a little coward.
Who knew how much time had passed—fifteen minutes, or perhaps half an hour?
Just as Song Qing was drifting off to sleep amid the noisy sounds in the yard, a mix of excited voices from the village men, women, young, and old, alongside the men’s miserable screams, Jiang Chenyu patted the top of her head to tell her to get up.
Song Qing raised her head and sat up straight, discovering that apart from a pool of blood, nothing was left in the yard. The corpses had been moved to who knows where, and the simply dressed villagers stood awkwardly to the side, their eyes fixed on her with intense emotion.
There was gratitude, excitement, and expectation.
Standing among the villagers, Wang Xia calmed the excited crowd and walked up to Song Qing. Her smile was gentle and grateful, completely devoid of her initial expressionlessness.
“Miss Song, thank you for saving our village.”
Song Qing looked at her in confusion, “What was going on with those men?”
The smile on Wang Xia’s face faded, and after a moment of silence, she opened her mouth to speak, “They aren’t from our village. A year ago, just like you, they came to our village wanting to rest for the night and ask for some food.”
“There were a dozen of them. At first, they were very polite, but later, seeing that our village hadn’t been affected much by the apocalypse, with chickens, ducks, fish, and sheep being raised, abundant food, and a good location, they harbored malicious intentions and wanted to take over.”
“They had many ability users, while our village only had my husband as a second-tier ability user. We couldn’t resist. Those who refused to comply were killed, including my husband.”
Speaking up to this point, deep hatred surfaced in Wang Xia’s eyes, her voice dripping blood.
“Those beasts were worse than animals. Any slightly attractive woman in our village was gang-raped by them, and we were even forced to serve their every need. We couldn’t even commit suicide—they locked our children and the family members who could be used to threaten us in the cellar. As long as we didn’t comply, they would kill our dearest relatives right in front of us. After two such incidents, we never dared to resist again.”
Having finished speaking, Wang Xia grabbed her hands and held them tightly, her eyes filled with pleading and her voice urgent, “Miss Song, please help us, okay? There’s still a second-tier ability user guarding the cellar at the end of the village. Help us rescue our family members, I beg of you! Whatever you want afterward, as long as our village has it, we will give it to you unconditionally.”
These words made Song Qing very tempted. Being able to eliminate one more beast and not having to worry about food every day in the future, she nodded and let them lead the way.
The man at the end of the village had no idea what had happened, currently sitting by the cellar with his legs crossed, drinking alcohol.
Song Qing repeated her trick, taking a large bucket of water out of her space out of thin air to daze him, then raising a wooden club to knock him unconscious with a heavy blow.
The villagers hiding behind rushed forward, taking the man’s life with a single knife, and then eagerly went down into the cellar to rescue their family members.
As the cellar opened, an unpleasant stench of fermented urine and feces drifted out. Some emaciated children were brought out first, followed by adults who appeared mentally dazed.
Their emaciated state was comparable to Jiang Chenyu’s.
Watching the villagers crying and laughing as they embraced, Song Qing walked back in silence, suddenly feeling that those beasts had died too easily.
Returning to Wang Xia’s house, Song Qing took out clothes from her space for Jiang Chenyu to change into, fetched water to wipe clean the blood near his wound, and wrapped it carefully with bandages.
Having put on his clothes, Jiang Chenyu lowered his eyes to look at the overly quiet girl crouching on the ground, asking in a gentle voice, “What’s wrong? You look so downcast.”
Song Qing rested her forehead against his knee, staring at the gray concrete floor as she spoke in a muffled voice, “I just can’t understand how they could do such brutal, beastly things. We’re clearly all human beings.”
Jiang Chenyu, who had received the most malice, had a calm expression, finding such things utterly ordinary. Human nature was inherently evil; the fact that it hadn’t shown was merely because their own interests hadn’t been touched yet.
Turning everyone into instinct-driven, unfeeling zombies would be the most perfect ending for humanity.
He didn’t particularly want to comfort her, but seeing Song Qing crouching on the ground hugging her own legs, devoid of her usual cheerful aura, Jiang Chenyu let out a sigh. He reached out his bony, slender palm and rubbed the top of her dark hair.
“Because this is the apocalypse, a world devoid of order and law. As long as there is desire, tragic things will happen. Don’t be unhappy anymore, okay? You did very well today and saved so many people. Shouldn’t you be happy?”
Song Qing was, after all, a young girl who had been pampered by her family and hadn’t experienced too many setbacks. Hearing him praise her in such a gentle voice, the distress in her heart dissipated a little.
Looking up at his clear, refined facial features, “Did I really do very well today? Don’t you think it was because I insisted on entering this village that your wound tore open again?”
Jiang Chenyu pinched her chubby cheek, the soft, tender feel making him unable to resist rubbing it, “I don’t think so. It wasn’t just you who insisted on entering the village; I agreed to it too. You did very well today. Not only did you beat all the bad guys to the ground, but you also rescued so many villagers. You’re very impressive.”
“Hehe.” Being praised, Song Qing’s eyes shone brightly. Not only was she not angry about having her face pinched, but she even leaned her cheeks forward, letting him rub and squeeze to his heart’s content.
Jiang Chenyu didn’t stand on ceremony either, using both hands to grab her soft little face and rub it for quite a while.