The sniper rifle spat death, bullet tearing into flesh before the man could even react. He toppled immediately.
Cowering behind cover, the surviving bystanders stared at the delicate young girl ahead. Throughout the commotion, Ye Shu never even furrowed her brow; a row of eight small, pearly teeth peeked from her lips in a childlike, innocent smile that sent chills through every soul watching.
"This is a robbery... Hand over anything of value, or I'll kill you."
Everyone looked at that cherubic little face, then at the corpses of Scarface and his gang—faces frozen in death. They nearly lost control of themselves.
She was even more terrifying than Scarface—an utter demoness. Killing without batting an eyelid, the stuff of nightmares had come to life.
"Well? Why are you just standing there? Is there a flower on my face? Get moving! And if I catch any of you hiding something... hmm!"
With that impatient command, Ye Shu was the picture of aggressive authority. The burly men, terrifying moments before, went utterly mute, now more like mice before a feline.
"Pang Pangzi, get over here!"
"Coming, coming!"
Pang Pangzi picked up his walking stick and, limping badly, dragged himself up the fishing boat's staircase. Catching sight of Ye Shu, the pain from his bleeding wounds dulled slightly.
Ye Shu's words sounded like heavenly music to Pang Tong's ears. To the survivors, though, her words were a death sentence. They looked at Pang Pangzi with mixed schadenfreude—the murderous woman was so savage that this poor fat man was unlikely to survive the night.
Ye Shu tossed him a first-aid kit and said coldly, "Take what you need."
Pang Tong took no offense. Smiling, he accepted the box, expertly slicing away necrotic flesh from his thigh, draining the pus and blood, cleansing with hydrogen peroxide, applying ointment, and finally wrapping the wound with a new bandage. From the kit, he also popped some antibiotics and washed them down without a word.
Ye Shu couldn't help but give him another look. If memory served, this guy was always the cowardly one, once shrieking in terror at low-level monsters... What had happened to transform a coward into this?
"Heroine Ye, it's such a relief to see you again!"
Pang Tong broke down in tears, all two hundred pounds of him crying like a child.
"Weren’t you out-of-province last time I saw you? How’d you end up in Jincheng?"
Ye Shu crunched on her duck neck bones, eyeing him up and down.
"Well... I was originally in Fucheng, but because of certain reasons—well, it’s a long story…"
Ye Shu spat out a duck bone and replied offhandedly, "Then make it short, just hit the highlights."
Shameful as it was, Pang Tong really just wanted to latch onto Ye Shu’s strong backing.
"Uh... As soon as I heard where you were, I made my way over. But my car exploded on the way, with a fire and then a rainstorm. Luckily, I’d bought an inflatable raft and stocked up on food… When I passed through Jincheng, those people lured me in pretending a child needed help… and, well, here I am. Because I’m big—cough—I was kept as livestock, as a two-legged sheep, really."
"They… eat people…"
Pang Pangzi spoke with eerie calm, though the way his hand shook made his fear obvious. Had Ye Shu not passed through, he would have died in this survival game.
"I know. Yuhu City… was the same. The rain caught everyone off guard; people couldn’t stockpile supplies, and anything stored low got ruined. Eventually, they ran out of options, ate rats, and finally turned on each other."
She’d noticed the strange look on their faces long before Scarface and his men’s true nature emerged—predatory, just like those cannibals in Yuhai Bay. It was a look she’d never forget: cold, contemptuous, like a beast spotting prey.
Pang Tong glanced at Ye Shu, startled—this was the most she’d ever spoken.
"What are you looking at me for?"
Ye Shu caught the heat of his gaze and frowned almost imperceptibly.
Back in the first round of this sick game, Pang Pangzi hadn’t run away from a male ghost—and had even tried to help her take revenge. That was why Ye Shu had always shown him unusual leniency.
"Nothing! Just thought you looked especially heroic saving people."
Pang Pangzi was a master of reading the room, quick with the flattery. Sure enough, Ye Shu’s glare softened a little.
The deck was piled with supplies from the survivors—far more than a mere handful. Boxes stacked with instant noodles, candies, high-calorie chocolates, canned congee, milk peanuts, fruit preserves… there was plenty.
Initially, Ye Shu had thought these people were driven to cannibalism by famine. But in truth, they’d hoarded food, ignoring it to eat human flesh instead.
From Pang Pangzi she learned: each day, they fed on 'two-legged sheep,' divided by rank.
Lower rank: sixty-year-old elders;
Middle: young women, strong men, teenagers;
Top tier: infants under two years old…
Her mind changed in an instant. These people could not be allowed to live!
...
"Boss, is this good enough for you?"
Li Laosan nervously rubbed his hands together, catching sight of the pistol at Ye Shu’s waist—a mixture of fear and obsequiousness in his muddy eyes.
"Not bad. I’m very satisfied."
That they could find so much food during a rainstorm was far beyond her expectations.
"Boss, since you’re happy, could you let us go? Everything we have is here."
"Yeah, we haven’t eaten, we’ve got family—please, let us leave."
"Yeah, we’re leaving now, won’t bother you at all."
They’d killed before, yes, but only the helpless—elderly, women, children. Someone like Ye Shu, though, they’d never met, not anywhere in Jincheng.
There was something inhuman about her, a faint reek of fresh blood still clinging to her. Li Laosan, attuned to the scent of death, could tell she’d killed just moments ago. He wanted nothing more than to run.
"Who said you could go?"
Ye Shu held a lollipop in her mouth, hand toying with a grenade, grinning at Li Laosan and his men.
Li Laosan lost his composure. He’d hoped to buy safety with the supplies; instead, he was being double-crossed. He forced a smile, "Boss, you said if we handed over the goods, you’d let us leave. Are you breaking your word now?"
"I, Ye Xiaoshu, mean what I say—I never go back on my word."
Ye Shu’s vow made them hesitate. They looked at each other, ready to bolt at any instant.
"But my word only counts for people. Beasts who eat people—aren’t people. So killing you isn’t breaking my word."
As soon as the words left her mouth, the group tried to disembark. Ye Shu raised her sniper rifle and opened fire. Blood and viscera stained the muddy water, dozens of corpses floating grotesquely before sinking into the ooze.
Pang Pangzi’s ample flesh shivered at the sight, but in his heart, he thought: The wicked meet their match, and Ye Heroine is the best of the good. He grabbed a rag and began helping Ye Shu clean the blood off the boat.
In Jincheng, many more 'two-legged sheep' were still tied up. Ye Shu, not wanting further trouble, tossed Pang Tong a gun and let him finish the job himself.
The captive residents wept with gratitude, finally fishing Scarface and his cronies from the water and beating the corpses.
"My poor daughter! Those monsters ruined you…"
"They deserved to die—the heavens have their cycles, and retribution never fails!"
"The gods finally opened their eyes. It’s such satisfaction to see those beasts punished. If they weren’t already dead, I’d kill them again myself! But my daughter, my son-in-law, my granddaughter… they’re never coming back!"
The speaker was an elderly man, strangely uninjured—Ye Shu figured they’d kept him alive as backup food, his old flesh too tough for their tastes.
The fishing boat drifted over murky waters, the world now eerily devoid of buildings.
Compared to hiding among high-rises, Pang Pangzi felt a rare sense of peace here.
Ye Shu fiddled with a radio, unable to tune the channel she’d found before. Growing frustrated, she clawed at her hair. "Pang Pangzi, where’s the refuge in Jincheng? Do you know the exact address?"