(Heurn Province)
(Fagong City- Outskirts)
Qin Lan pressed the accelerator gently as she drove the car towards the city looming in the distance.
Heurn Province used to be a highly economically developed region, so the roads were well paved and maintained.
There was one major city and a few small towns that they would need to pass through before they arrived at the location of the secret military base.
Fagong City was the first stop on the list.
Qin Lan glanced at the city that was now a shell of its former glory. Fires could be seen burning in the distance and several buildings had collapsed.
Abandoned cars littered the road and one could see the corpses of men, women and children rotting away under the sun.
The smell… it was disgusting…
Flies buzzed softly as they feasted on the carcasses, and one could observe tiny white maggots crawling through the rotting flesh.
The end times… was truly the greatest test that humanity had ever undergone.
Qin Lan looked away from the bodies and focused on driving around the cars that were stranded in the middle of the road.
Whenever the road was completely blocked, Eve would exit the car and lift up the vehicles using only one hand.
It was hard not to be impressed with her strength, Qin Lan smiled at the zombie empress who winked at her.
Eve tossed the car several hundred feet away and it crashed to the ground with a heavy thump.
She began walking forward and removing the other vehicles that were blocking the way.
Clearly many people had attempted to flee the city using their cars once the apocalypse had begun.
As for how many were successful… well the corpses on the ground told the unspoken truth.
Hundreds of thousands had died…
Even in the original Qin Lan's memories, she was unsure of how many humans were left once a few years had passed.
"Are you girls okay back there?" Qin Lan softly asked with concern evident in her voice.
"We're okay Sister Lan… just need some water…" Gong Li hesitantly replied as she turned her face away from the direction of a young child's corpse.
It was hard for the two teenage girls to stomach such brutal sights even though they had seen many similar scenes before.
There was small part of Qin Lan that envied them… she didn't know if there was something broken inside her, but she felt nothing as she looked at the bodies.
It was as though she had seen death numerous times before and now, she was numb. An unfeeling monster…
Qin Lan pushed those dark thoughts towards the back of her mind and focused on driving the car in the direction of the city.
They were only a few hundred feet away when a loud shout came from behind a pile of cars along the side of the road.
"Help! Help me!" a frail voice cried out. An elderly woman stumbled out from behind the cars and walked towards them.
She appeared to be around eighty years old with heavy wrinkles covering her face and hands that trembled slightly.
She wore a tattered brown jacket and a pair of pants that were too large for her skinny legs.
"I need food… I need…" the woman stuttered slightly and then fell to the ground in an apparent unconscious state.
"Sister Lan, are we going to help her?!" Liu Yifei quickly asked as she snapped her fingers and a first aid kit appeared out of thin air.
Qin Lan raised up her palm and both girls were instantly silenced. She looked at Eve and the pair exchanged a knowing look.
In the apocalypse nothing was as it seemed and blind kindness would only lead to ruin and despair.
Qin Lan closed her eyes and focused on the black mental threads that existed in her mind.
She activated her ability and the warm feeling in her chest got stronger and stronger.
She extended the threads outwards and they travelled several feet away from her body. The threads bypassed the elderly woman on the ground and moved towards the pile of cars.
"There you are…" Qin Lan darkly whispered as she sensed the minds of twenty individuals. She could not see any of their features but instinctively felt their malice.
This was clearly a planned ambush designed to take advantage of good-natured survivors.
Their actions would not go unpunished…
Qin Lan furrowed her brows as she forced her mental threads to burrow inside the minds of every single one of the bandits.
Break.
Qin Lan thought of a simple command and all it took was that single word for the bandits to be reduced to mere puppets.
Their memories, thoughts, feelings, and emotions were all wiped away.
Qin Lan shuddered and had to bite her lips to stop herself from moaning as she felt a surge of pleasure.
This power… it was incredibly addicting…
The sinners… the sinners must be punished… in the name of Lord Var…
A slight frown appeared on Qin Lan's face as she opened her eyes and forcefully cut the connection between herself and her new puppets.
No… she had almost lost control.
Qin Lan took in a few deep breaths and then gently exhaled in order to calm herself down. She silently counted to ten a few times in her mind before her ability finally deactivated.
She opened the car door and walked towards the old lady who was still on the ground in a seemingly unconscious state.
"Your companions behind the cars have just been taken care of," Qin Lan harshly whispered as she prodded at the old woman's ribs using her foot.
"Did they threaten you or did you do this out of your own free will?"
Qin Lan's question remained unanswered as the old lady pretended not to hear her voice.
She did not believe that the plain looking woman in front of her was capable of dealing with one of the most vicious gangs in the city.
Qin Lan grabbed the old lady by the arm and lifted her up. She walked towards the pile of cars and felt the elderly woman tremble as she approached.
Finally, Qin Lan stopped and tilted her head down to address the old woman who refused to open her eyes.
"Look…" Qin Lan's spoke in a hushed tone.
Her voice seemed to carry an unspoken command and the elderly woman found herself instantly obeying.
She opened her eyes and saw a sight that she would never forget. Twenty large men armed with home-made weapons were slumped on the ground.
These men were well known rapists and murderers who terrorised the outskirts of the city and yet…
Their eyes were all glassy and unfocused.
They were like puppets whose strings had been cut… only the faint up and down movement of their chests showed that they were still alive.
"What… what did you…" the elderly woman stuttered in shock.
"Tell me…" Qin Lan's soft whisper was like a poisonous viper slowly wrapping around the neck of its prey.
"Where can I find their base?"
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