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Chapter 24: Fu Chen, are you a monster?
Bai Qingqing was enclosed inside of a purple ball and nobody knew the specific situation. Regardless of whether she was injured or not, she could not stay in it for more than a day. When the team would leave the city in a few hours, if she hadn’t come out, Fu Chen would have to violently open this prison made of vines.
Fu Chen raised his hand and placed it on the ball. He tried to use his mental power to perceive what was happening inside but he could not reach it nor could he feel Bai Qingqing. His expression became colder and his hands clenched into fists as his murderous gaze fell on the unconscious Zhong Zhang not far away.
The door of the vehicle was opened carefully and Bai Tiantian stood outside in the faint moonlight. She tried to see through the darkness and quietly asked: “Captain, would you like to eat something?”
Fu Chen spat out: “Get out!”
Her eyes widened in fright and tears started falling. She choked and said in an aggrieved voice: “Captain, I
 I am also very worried about my sister! It’s all my fault!”
She blamed herself. Because of her kindness, she had followed a young boy but had ended up being sold to the auction house. Everybody had gone to look for her and now Cheng Rui was seriously injured and she didn’t know if Bai Qingqing was alive or not. Hadn’t it been for her, they wouldn’t be in this situation and Bai Tiantian covered her mouth and sobbed; her guilt flowed out in salted tears and she felt she was about to suffocate.
“Captain, I know you’re worried but you have to eat
” Before she could finish her sentence, Fu Chen suddenly appeared in front of her and stared at her coldly, as if she was nothing more than a bug. This look filled her heart with fear and the blood in her body froze under the intensity of his gaze.
Since Fu Chen had woken up after being drugged, his attitude towards her had become more and more indifferent each day, his eyes sometimes looking at her with disgust. She couldn’t figure out why or how this had happened but she felt wronged and scared. At least, the other men of the team were kind to her.
But this time, Fu Chen’s unconcealed enmity made her fear for her life. Her voice stuck in her throat and her face paled.
“If you don’t want to die, get lost.” Fu Chen slammed the car door.
Bai Tiantian fell backward and sat on the ground, her back drenched in a cold sweat. Shen Mingxuan had been standing guard outside and happened to see her; he walked to her and asked about the situation.
“What’s wrong? Is the captain refusing to eat?”
The men had a good relationship; after all kinds of battles and surviving together, they had formed a friendship and they obeyed and trusted Fu Chen with their lives, never questioning his decision.
“The captain is in a bad mood.” Bai Tiantian bit her lips and added, “Mingxuan, do you think my sister will be okay?”
Shen Mingxuan was silent for a second and sneered: “Why worry about her? You should think about yourself more, you’ve been hurt but still care about others.”
Bai Tiantian had tears in her eyes: “I blame myself for everyone getting hurt. Brother Mingxuan, I’m so sorry.”
With her crying, her appearance was too pitiful and Shen Mingxuan felt distressed. She was such a gentle and kind-hearted girl, not a scheming and vicious woman, and he wanted to protect her.
He stretched out his hand and wiped her tears: “How can I blame you. Don’t think too much, let’s go.”
“Yeah.” Bai Tiantian followed him to the SUV parked in front.
Liang Zhiyu and Xiao Yang were discussing the next course of action and making plans to leave the city tomorrow. When they saw Shen Mingxuan and Bai Tiantian approach, Liang Zhiyu’s fox eyes narrowed.
So far, the team had been in a series of incidents twice because of Bai Tiantian. Perhaps because of Bai Qingqing’s influence, Liang Zhiyu and Xiao Yang felt as though the haze on their minds was slowly getting lifted. They both realized that although Bai Tiantian’s kindness and innocence were valuable in the last days and would make people feel better, it would inevitably kill someone. Unless they tied her to their side, there was really no way to prevent her from escaping and causing trouble, and with the distance left before they could reach the Yaoyang base, they hoped it would go smoothly.
Bai Tiantian had cried and had obviously been scolded by Fu Chen. Xiao Yang felt a little unhappy; he used to think that she was very cute and a good person, especially when she was next to Bai Qingqing who used to be such a demon. But now, although Bai Tiantian was a genuinely good person, the team had almost been wiped out several times because of her and Xiao Yang realized she was somewhat harmful. He tried to tell himself he shouldn’t think of her that way but he really hoped Bai Tiantian would wake her from her ridiculously nice personality and notice the disservice she was doing for the Thunder Squad.
As the most mature and calm member of the team, Liang Zhiyu had always acted as some kind of bystander and remained unexpectedly neutral no matter what happened. He had realized that most of the incidents had been somehow linked to Bai Tiantian and thought that Shen Mingxuan would have to keep an eye on her in the future.
Portable spaces were rare in this apocalyptic era; all major bases desired such abilities and they were able to stock up on resources every time they went to gather supplies. But if the user caused too much trouble, they would only bring destruction to their own team.
The sirens in Wucheng kept blaring and the sound of an explosion in Area C was alarming. Thinking of the weird mutants, Liang Zhiyu pushed his gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose and told Xiao Yang: “Go check on the situation.”
Something big must have been happening tonight, which was most likely the reason nobody seemed to care about the whereabouts of Zhang Zhong.
Xiao Yang climbed to the top of a tall building and looked in the distance. Raging flames were burning in Area C; screams and cries could be heard and most of the shanty towns had already turned into ruins. He went back down and said: “Brother Liang, there seem to be mutated zombies or other mutant species in Area C. The Wucheng’s soldiers are using firepower to suppress it but the situation is not very optimistic.”
Liang Zhiyu raised his hand to look at the time and muttered: “The city gate will be opened in one hour.”
Xiao Yang’s face darkened: “We can’t wait any longer, it will be too difficult later.”
At this moment, another cold voice sounded: “Let’s leave now.”
Fu Chen walked from behind the military vehicle with his long legs and looked at them solemnly: “Zhang Zhong still has some value. We can use him to have the soldiers open the door.”
The team had originally planned to leave quickly as soon as the gate opened and Zhong Zhang had just been kept for extra insurance. But when Fu Chen gave his order, everyone acted immediately and got in the car to head to the exit.
In Wucheng, except for the soldiers and gifted teams going on missions, no one was allowed to drive out of the safe area without clearance. Therefore, when the Thunder Squad reached the exit inspection checkpoint, the soldiers came with weapons and said: “Get off the car.”
Fu Chen brought Zhang Zhong out directly, his gun pointed at his head: “If you don’t want your city lord’s brother to die, let us go.”
Who didn’t know Zhang Zhong’s face in the city? An officer immediately gestured to his troops and yelled with a vigilant expression: “Don’t move! Put him down!”
“I will count to three. One, two, 
”
The man’s heart was not as strong under pressure as Fu Chen’s. He let them leave and asked a subordinate to go report the situation. It would take at least ten minutes for them to pass the gate and they still had time to intercept them.
Wucheng’s city lord was called Zhang Yu and last night’s battle in the villa had caused a lot of waves in Area A. But because of the incident in Area C’s prison at the same time, he had sent most of the firepower to suppress the mutants who had appeared.
His brother’s ability was one of the strongest in the entire city and he wanted his help to deal with Area C, but when the soldiers came back, they told him the villa had been destroyed and Zhang Zhong’s whereabouts were unknown. When Zhang Yu was about to send another team to search for him, he received a call telling him his brother was seriously injured and unconscious; several unidentified survivors had taken him hostage to escape from Wucheng.
Zhang Yu had been able to sit firmly in the city lord position thanks to the high-level Gifted behind him. When he learned his only brother was wounded, he became furious.
“Don’t move for now but find ways to delay time.”
***
The car drove into the safety passage established at the entrance of the city. Xiao Yang headed towards the exit, Fu Chen was controlling Zhang Zhong behind and Liang Zhiyu and Shen Mingxuan were staying alert.
Ten minutes passed quickly and as they saw the gate, an artillery shell dropped from the sky 1 and blasted a hole in the road. Xiao Yang hit the brakes and stopped the vehicle in a tailswing.
Ability users were approaching from the rear and even if they were not necessarily high level, they could still cause a lot of trouble due to their large number. Xiao Yiang gripped the steering wheel with both hands, slammed on the accelerator, and soared into the sky, leaping over the pit that had been created in front of them.
“City lord, they are escaping!”
Zhang Yu yelled: “Catch them! Bring their bodies back to me!” He wanted to whip all of their corpses!
Soldiers were still blocking the exit at the end of the passage and were easily brought down by Fu Chen. The car broke through the iron gate and flew out.
Xiao Yang kept driving for a long time at high speed and Bai Tiantian, who was sitting in the passenger seat, closed her eyes tightly in fright and tried to fight her nausea.
After leaving the city, they kept going for about two hours until they stopped at a deserted gas station. The military vehicle had been hit by many bullets and coupled with the forceful exit, it was too damaged to no longer be of use.
Fu Chen dragged Zhang Zhong off the car like a dead dog and stared at the bloody man with somber eyes. He woke up under the assault of the pain and noticed they had stopped in a dilapidated gas station. He immediately urinated in fear and begged for mercy: “Let me go! You have already escaped, please let me go!”
Bai Tiantian saw the man was imploring them in shame and couldn’t help but show some pity in her heart. He had already lost his arms, they could still spare his life, and she said: “Let him go.”
Fu Chen coldly glanced at her and Shen Mingxuan frowned but stayed silent. Liang Zhiyu was not surprised by her words, he had observed her enough to understand her heart was always overflowing. As long as the other party showed some weakness, the girl would feel compassion.
Xiao Yang however thought he had heard it wrong: “What did you say? Let him go? Bai Tiantian, did you forget he was about to rape you and Qingqing?”
Zhang Zhong was an evil man, no matter what era he lived in. Begging was not enough to inspire pity.
Bai Tiantian bit her lip, couldn’t help but sympathize with the injured man on the ground and she whispered: “He is also a life.”
Xiao Yang’s handsome face sank instantly. Had Bai Tiantian been a man, he would have punched her long ago.
Zhang Zhong took advantage of the situation to cry out: “Please, be kind and let me go!”
Fu Chen squatted down and played with the sharp in his hands: “Let you go?”
Zhang Zhong looked at him and forgot his long-lost pride: “I swear, I will become a good man if you let me go.”
“Eh.” Fu Chen sneered and aimed his knife straight through his throat: “Maybe in your next life.”
Bai Tiantian had seen them kill zombies and thugs but it was the first time she witnessed such a cruel scene and she screamed: “Why did you kill him? He begged for mercy!”
The first thing Bai Qingqing heard when she came out of her ball of vines was Bai Tiantian’s cry of accusation. She immediately opened the door of the car and looked over.
Fu Chen was squatting next to a corpse and wiping his knife coldly, obviously just having killed someone, while Bai Tiantian was blaming him for not showing mercy.
Bai Tiantian’s anger she had been accumulating for a long time finally erupted and she kept shouting: “Fu Chen, you’re a monster!”
She had hoped Fu Chen was a warm and kind-hearted man. Even if that person did deserve to die, he should not have killed him in such a cruel way after the torture.
Bai Qingqing jumped out of the car, strode to Bai Tiantian, and slapped her: “Shut up!”
She really couldn’t bear it. If it weren’t for Fu Chen, Bai Tiantian would have become that man’s plaything by now. How could she stand here and listen to the cry of the Virgin Mary?
Bai Tiantian’s face became instantly red and she looked at Bai Qingqing with a blank expression as she covered her cheek, “Qingqing!”
Shen Mingxuan grabbed Bai Tiantian and protected her behind him, his peach blossom eyes particularly cold: “Bai Qingqing, are you crazy?!”
“Get lost!” Bai Qingqing bluntly replied, “You will only hurt the team if you keep protecting her!”
She pushed him away and caught Bai Tiantian. She pulled her to Zhang Zhong’s body and pressed her head down to force her to look at the corpse.
s“This scumbag you are sympathizing with, do you know how many innocent people he killed as he played? Do you know he was about to rape you just yesterday? If it wasn’t for my brother and the team to rescue you, you would most likely be the one dead! Bai Tiantian, wake up! What right do you have to sympathize with garbage?”
Bai Tiantian was forced to look straight at the body and she was shaking all over in fear. Shen Mingxuan was about to go help her again but was stopped by Xiao Yang and Liang Zhiyu at the same time.
“Can you see his disgusting face clearly?” Bai Qingqing leaned close to her ear and said in a cold voice: “This kind of person deserves to die a thousand times and it wouldn’t even be enough to inspire pity.”
The hideous bloody mess was too much and Bai Tiantian whimpered. Bai Qingqing got up and threw her in front of Fu Chen, just as a protective sister.
“Now apologize to my brother immediately!”
Seeing this scene, Xiao Yang couldn’t help but cheer for Bai Qinqing in his heart while Liang Zhiyu and Shen Mingxuan looked a little complicated.
Bai Tiantian raised her head and looked at Fu Chen as she cried: “I’m sorry! Captain, please forgive me!”
Her sister was right. She was blinded by the pity in her heart, the man on the ground had killed so many people. She should not sympathize with this kind of wicked person and she had made a mistake.
However, Fu Chen didn’t spare her a glance and only stared at Bai Qingqing.
ä»Žć€©è€Œé™ (cĂłngtiān’érjiĂ ng): lit. to drop from the sky (idiom) / fig. to appear unexpectedly / to arise abruptly / out of the blue / to drop into one’s lap