At this moment, Shen Tangtang was already twirling the dagger in her hand while waiting under a tree.
Seeing the figures of the two men, her tone was as calm as water, “Are you following me?”
“Little girl, what kind of talk is that? Anyone can walk this road, why can’t we?”
“What’s the point of wasting words with her? Washing herself all nice and clean isn’t just to seduce men? We’re fulfilling her wish, she should be happy.”
The two men were wearing tattered clothes with hair sticking together in strands, and a stench could be smelled from far away.
Shen Tangtang looked down at her own clothes. Aside from being a bit cleaner, there shouldn’t be anything wrong with them!
Unfortunately, the two men didn’t give Shen Tangtang a chance to speak, closing in from left and right to box her in.
“Hehe, little girl, let us brothers take good care of you.”
Shen Tangtang ducked down and slipped out from under one man’s arm, casually turning her head to kick out. The two grown men crashed right into each other and fell to the base of the tree.
“Stinking bitch, when I get up I’ll show you.”
The man on top cursed as he struggled up, though he lacked much strength due to hunger.
Shen Tangtang looked at the sickly, pale faces of the two. With them in that state and still thinking about such things, they really were beasts.
Tightening her grip on the dagger in her hand, she stepped forward and slit the man’s throat. Blood instantly gushed out like a fountain, spraying all over the remaining man’s face.
Everything happened too fast, and the man’s terrified eyes froze permanently on his face.
“Ah… murder! Murder! You’re a monster!”
The other man let out a loud scream, his eyes filled with intense fear. Watching Shen Tangtang slowly approach, he backed away in terror, “Don’t come over, little girl—no, Granny, spare me! I was just temporarily out of my mind, we didn’t mean to do anything to you. Spare me, I swear, I will never tell a soul about what happened today…”
“I only believe that dead men tell no tales.”
Shen Tangtang approached the man, the dagger in her hand gleaming with a reddish hue. Then, the blade descended steadily.
Overcome with despair, the man rolled over to dodge the attack, scrambled to his feet, and tried to run away.
Shen Tangtang followed leisurely behind him. She had deliberately chosen this burial ground; there were no people around, so she didn’t have to worry about him stirring up any trouble.
Panicking and choosing his path blindly, the man was scratched repeatedly by sharp leaves, continuously begging for mercy. In the end, seeing that Shen Tangtang was still following closely behind with no intention of letting him go, he couldn’t help but start cursing.
“Stinking whore, it’s a blessing for you that our brothers took an interest in you. Damn it… bitch, I’ll fight you to the death…”
The man stopped in his tracks, but seeing the dagger in Shen Tangtang’s hand—completely unstained by a single drop of blood—fear gripped him again, and he ran even faster.
He had no weapon to defend himself and couldn’t match someone who did, especially since this chick was so fast and killed without blinking. Anyone could tell she had training.
Shen Tangtang had originally been chasing him unhurriedly when a sudden wave of unease welled up in her heart. Before she could think, she stepped forward quickly and stabbed the man right in the heart, then sprinted away from the scene.
The man turned his head with great difficulty, raising a finger to point at Shen Tangtang’s retreating back. His throat sounded like a broken bellows as mouthfuls of fresh blood gushed from his mouth.
Not even a minute after Shen Tangtang left, a giant mutant venomous scorpion picked up the scent of blood, rustling through the underbrush from deep in the woods.
The mutant scorpion probed the warm corpse with its tail, seemed to signal something, and then six smaller mutant scorpion babies appeared, swarming around the corpse to devour it.
Shen Tangtang emerged from the bushes and stepped back onto the main road, looking completely unruffled without a single trace of grime or blood on her.
Aside from a slightly pale face, no one would ever guess she had just killed people—and two men at that.
This was Shen Tangtang’s first time killing someone, yet she felt none of the fear usually associated with a first kill.
Ever since she transmigrated into this wasteland world, she had killed countless times in her dreams: how to twist the blade more flexibly, how to leap with greater agility, how to kill without staining her hands with blood. It was as if the violent genes deep in her soul had been activated, tearing away the quiet, self-cultivating packaging of the Anning Temple, though she had kept it all suppressed. Over a decade of day-in, day-out tranquility had almost made her forget why she had been taken into the Anning Temple in her past life.
She looked around; there wasn’t a soul in sight. Of course, this was a location she had deliberately chosen—far enough from the safe city that the probability of encountering mutant beasts was quite high. By tomorrow, those two men would be reduced to nothing more than a pile of bones, and no one would ever figure out who they were.
Shen Tangtang walked back into the crowd returning to the safe city, pulling her hat brim down low. With a bundle of firewood strapped to her back, she followed the crowd with numb footsteps.
She had never intended to come outside the safe city to look for food; from start to finish, she just wanted to go fishing.
The moment the dagger touched her hand, she had wanted to test it out.
The feel of it was pretty good, and it cut through iron like mud.
The wasteland world was never short of wicked people. Shen Tangtang felt that being a little wicked herself didn’t matter—it was far better than living in cowardly misery. If those two men hadn’t harbored evil intentions toward her, she wouldn’t have made a move. One could only say today was their death anniversary, and she just happened to send them on their way down.
Arriving at the city gates, most of the scavengers who had ridden out to distant reclaimed fields had already returned.
Lin Daiyu was chatting with a few close girlfriends when she suddenly spotted a familiar figure walking over from the avenue near the east corner, drawing closer and closer.
“Tangtang.”
Hearing the familiar voice, Shen Tangtang raised the brim of her hat and saw Lin Daiyu waving at her.
She walked forward at a measured pace.
“Tangtang, why did you go out scavenging? Were you by yourself? Did you run into any danger?”
Lin Daiyu glanced next to Shen Tangtang, noticing she was all alone, and asked with some worry.
“I’m fine, just went for a walk around the neighborhood out of boredom. Didn’t find any food, just these.”
Shen Tangtang said, giving the bundle of firewood on her back a slight lift.
The three young girls sitting with Lin Daiyu looked at Shen Tangtang happily, and one of them patted the spot next to her, “Tangtang, come sit over here. We’ll head back together in a bit.”
“Thanks, Sister Zhang.”
Shen Tangtang nodded and walked over to sit beside them.
Seeing Shen Tangtang sit down, the few young girls resumed discussing their previous topic.
“Daiyu, tell us how far things have gone between you and Bai Yanjun. When we came back just now, I saw the way he looked at you—oh my god, it practically melted me.”
“Yeah, he wouldn’t even hang out with us today, sticking by your ‘Jun-brother’ the whole time. Come on, did you guys sneak off to do something bad behind our backs?”
“Hahaha, Daiyu is blushing! Don’t tell me Li Qin guessed right? Tell us, does he last long?”
“Oh you guys… you guys are so annoying. Jun-brother and I aren’t at that stage yet.”
Lin Daiyu lowered her head in embarrassment, her face turning completely red.
The three girlfriends exchanged glances and chuckled secretly. It looked like the young man was willing and the maiden was agreeable—this affair was definitely worth watching.
Having listened for quite a while, Shen Tangtang gathered that today Bai Yanjun had once again tagged along with Lin Daiyu to forage for food.
They were all at the age of blossoming youth, making them all the more curious when talking about romance. They peppered Lin Daiyu with questions about how far they’d gotten and whether it hurt, until Lin Daiyu’s face flushed with shamed annoyance, and she swung her little fists as if to hit them.
While listening to the latest gossip on the side, Shen Tangtang couldn’t help but wonder about the plot in the original novel. Bai Yanjun never truly won Lin Daiyu over in the end. Although he desperately wanted to drag Lin Daiyu firmly into his family’s swamp, Lin Daiyu had a younger sister to take care of, and as for later…
Tsk tsk tsk, she couldn’t quite remember the details further down the line.
“Tangtang, how come you’re zoning out again?”
Lin Daiyu looked at Shen Tangtang with concern. She felt that ever since the day before yesterday, Tangtang had a habit of spacing out, and her smiles had grown fewer than before.
“I’m fine, what is it, Sister Daiyu?”
Shen Tangtang looked at Lin Daiyu in confusion.
Seeing Shen Tangtang’s clear eyes, Lin Daiyu asked with a hint of worry, “Is something bothering you that’s hard to talk about? I’ve seen you zoning out a lot these past two days.”
“No, I was just thinking about how to save up credits. I really don’t want to live on the outskirts of the shantytown.”
After a moment of thought, Shen Tangtang voiced her real thoughts.
Especially after passing by the outer shantytown today and occasionally catching sight of a pile of waste on the road, she had zero desire to live in a place like that.
Her luck hadn’t been too bad, truth be told. The body she transmigrated into was located inside a mid-level safe city, where tall outer walls blocked mutant beasts and mutant plants. Unlike the heroine’s original safe zone—where the outermost shantytowns were merely fenced off with barbed wire and bore the brunt of every attack, while only the inner aristocratic district had a proper wall—this place was sturdier.
“Don’t worry, when the time comes, Qiqi and we can all live together, and we won’t have to spend so many credits.”
Hearing that it was just about this worry, Lin Daiyu patted Shen Tangtang’s shoulder and said with an expectant expression.
Shen Tangtang shook her head inwardly. She couldn’t possibly pin her hopes on others. In the novel, Lin Daiyu was wrapped around Bai Yanjun’s finger so thoroughly that the moment she left the orphanage she moved straight into the male lead’s home to wait on his whole family.
Yet Shen Tangtang, who had grown up alongside Lin Daiyu, knew that up until now, Lin Daiyu’s sole goal was to work hard to save credits, buy a home in the shantytown, and bring her sister to live with her.
Back in the dormitory.
Lying on her bed, Shen Tangtang replayed the events of the daytime in her mind. Even now, she could still recall the thrill she felt at the time—an excitement so intense her fingertips had trembled. This was her long-suppressed true nature.
Closing her eyes, she listened to the sounds of breathing around her. It seemed her self in this lifetime was also quite a deviant. It was just that she was a deviant who knew very well how to conceal her inner self.