Chapter 133: Your Doomsday Has Been Delivered (16)

The crowd who witnessed Ling Qiong’s "assault" stood frozen.

The atmosphere was stiflingly quiet; the very air seemed to have stopped circulating.

Ling Qiong tossed the brick she had been holding in her other hand to the ground and pulled a wet wipe from the car to clean her hands. She then threw the wipe at An Changjing, telling him to clean the car as well.

An Changjing: "..."

Ling Qiong looked up at the others, her smile incredibly sweet and innocent. "You’re all looking at me like that—do you have some sort of suggestion?" She added, "I did warn him not to touch the car, but he didn't listen. So, surely this can't be my fault, right?"

The witnesses, having seen the entire ordeal, felt a sudden, inexplicable sense of dread, as if they had stepped into a horror movie. It was baffling, given that the young girl before them looked so harmless.

"You... you killed him!"

Ling Qiong rolled her eyes internally. "Sir, please don't talk nonsense. He's still breathing." As she spoke, she gave the man on the ground a kick.

The man’s body twitched, he let out a groan, and then went still again.

"See? He’s still breathing."

"..."

Someone interjected, "He didn't mean to do it."

"That means it was intentional," Ling Qiong said with a smile. "It’s true that abandoned equipment is fair game for whoever finds it first. But this car has an owner, and I warned him. If that’s not intentional, what is?"

She had summoned this car through a gacha draw, after all. She had used it to save her "cub." The build quality was superb; she had driven it all this way without a single issue. While it wasn't as flashy as a sports car, the model was cool, rugged, and collision-resistant—she was quite fond of it.

"..."

"Alright, alright, it’s a misunderstanding," someone said, trying to smooth things over. "Let’s head to the shelter first; it’s not safe here."

The man on the ground was helped up and led aside. The speaker then beckoned for Jiang Xunchu to follow them, not bothering to ask for his opinion.

Jiang Xunchu’s voice was measured, but every word was clear. "I said, I am not going with you."

"Little Jiang, don't be ungrateful," the man said, his face darkening immediately.

Jiang Xunchu frowned. "And who was I protecting... when I got injured?"

"..."

"We’ve been taking care of you along the way, and now we’re kindly inviting you to join us. Don’t be so unappreciative."

A mocking curve touched Ling Qiong’s lips. "Only good people have hearts. Are you even that?"

The man glared at Ling Qiong, his brows furrowing in anger. "What business is this of yours, little girl..."

Ling Qiong replied, "His business is my business! Why wouldn’t it be?"

Jiang Xunchu felt a sudden tremor in his heart, as if something had crashed into it, leaving his ears ringing.

Seeing that negotiations were failing, the group exchanged glances, as if coming to a silent decision.

Click.

The three men opposite them simultaneously pulled out weapons and leveled them at the group.

An Changjing was so startled that the wet wipe fell from his hands. This group actually had weapons! How was he supposed to play this game? Maybe he should just give in!

"Little Jiang, we didn't want it to come to this. Just come with us, and everything will be fine."

Jiang Xunchu pulled his thoughts away from his inexplicable emotions. "What do you want?"

"Don't worry, we’ve been through thick and thin together; we won't hurt you." The man gestured toward Ling Qiong and An Changjing. "As long as you come with us, we’ll let these two go."

Ling Qiong arched a brow. "And you think you can manage that?"

"Little girl, you just got lucky earlier." At the time, no one had been paying attention, and her sneak attack had succeeded largely due to chance. The man brandished his weapon, his tone provocative. "Do you really think you’re faster than a bullet?"

"I’m not," Ling Qiong admitted honestly. "But... I have one too."

Bang! Bang, bang!

The moment Ling Qiong finished speaking, three gunshots rang out in quick succession.

The three men holding the guns collapsed to the ground, and Ling Qiong kicked their weapons away. By the time they realized what had happened, they were left with nothing but the searing pain in their thighs.

She pressed the muzzle against the forehead of the man who had been doing all the talking. "My trigger finger is still faster than yours."

Back in the day, when so many people weren't a match for 'Daddy,' did these amateur players who had only been at it for a month really think they could climb the ranks?

"You’d all better stay put, or I’ll give you a free performance of 'blooming heads,'" Ling Qiong said, glancing at the others who were about to move. She spoke with the softest tone, yet her words were the most ruthless.

The man whose forehead she was pressing was clearly the leader. The others were instantly intimidated.

Without needing a command, Jiang Xunchu retrieved the dropped weapons from the ground. It seemed only those three had been armed, leaving the rest helpless.

"Drive. What are you staring at?" Ling Qiong gave An Changjing a kick. Was this guy stupid? He should learn from the 'cub'—he knew what to do without being told.

An Changjing snapped out of it, let out an "Oh, oh," and scrambled into the driver's seat.

Ling Qiong hauled the man from the ground and forcibly dragged him into the car. "Don't follow us, or you'll have to ask the zombies for your friend back." She offered them a brilliant smile before adding, "And I don't think Mr. Zombie is as easy to talk to as I am."

Bang—

The car door slammed shut. They drove off, swaggering right through the middle of the group and leaving them covered in exhaust fumes.

...

Once the car had put some distance between them and the group, ensuring they weren't being followed, Ling Qiong looked at the man. "Tell me, what did you want with him?"

The man’s complexion was terrible; he likely hadn't expected a guaranteed win to end in such a disaster. This little brat...

Ling Qiong: "Is my question that hard to answer?"

The man snapped out of his daze, teeth gritted. "We were traveling together before, we just wanted him to come with us."

"Do you take me for a fool?" Ling Qiong rolled her eyes elegantly. "Given how you were acting just now, you call that 'just wanting'?"

"..."

"If you don't start talking properly, I’ll help your brain take a permanent rest."

The cold barrel pressed against his forehead; it would only take a slight squeeze of the trigger to send a bullet through his skull. Could you imagine a scene where someone with such a sweet face, looking so laid-back and leisurely, was threatening someone with a weapon while smiling?

A layer of cold sweat broke out on the man’s back.

"We didn't mean anything else, it’s just..."

Click—

"I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you!" The man was terrified that Ling Qiong would actually kill him. "He... he was bitten by a zombie but didn't turn. He might have antibodies, so..."

There was someone in their group who knew a little bit about the virus. Once they discovered this, they decided they had to keep him. They were alive for now, but who knew what would happen later? Jiang Xunchu had been bitten but hadn't mutated; he might have some other use in the future.

"That's it?"

Having lost a significant amount of blood, the man was pale. "That's it. We really didn't mean to hurt him."

Ling Qiong pulled the weapon away. "Is that so?"

The man nodded frantically, insisting that everything he said was true and that she could ask Jiang Xunchu if she didn't believe him.

Jiang Xunchu, sitting in the front passenger seat, said nothing, which presumably meant he agreed with the man's account.

Ling Qiong put the weapon away.

The man let out a heavy sigh of relief—he had survived.

Because the man had lost so much blood, Ling Qiong forced him to clean up before tossing him out of the vehicle.