(Heurn Province)
(Fagong City- Outskirts)
"They… they took my granddaughter… I… I had no choice!" the elderly woman stammered as she backed away from Qin Lan with fear in her eyes.
Qin Lan smiled sweetly at the trembling old lady and quietly extended her palm until her fingers touched the woman's throat.
"Okay… then where can I find their base?" Qin Lan said calmly but her fingers slowly tightened around the old lady's neck.
"I… I… they will kill…" the elderly woman hesitantly spoke. Qin Lan looked at the woman directly in her eyes and saw hesitation mixed with guilt.
She was lying.
Qin Lan closed her eyes and once again activated her ability that was screaming to be unleashed.
Thin black threads exited her mind and entered the head of the elderly woman.
A connection formed between the two of them.
Qin Lan had to force herself not to break the old lady's mind and instead focused on scanning her memories.
Hmm… what a disgusting piece of shit…
Qin Lan's eyes narrowed as she discovered the shocking truth.
The old woman in front of her was a scammer who worked with a certain gang called the 'Blood Hounds'.
She would use her fragile looks to attract the sympathy and attention of passing survivors and then they would be ambushed by the gang members who were hiding nearby.
The men were usually killed, and the women were taken back to the base…
As for the base's location…
Qin Lan accessed the rest of the memories in the elderly lady's mind and then cut off her ability just before she turned her into a puppet.
She reopened her eyes and saw the old woman shivering in fear.
Qin Lan slowly took out the knife attached to her hip and allowed the scammer to see the blade gleam in the sunlight.
"You knew what those men would do to those kind survivors… didn't you?" Qin Lan quietly whispered.
"Those kind survivors who tried to help out an elderly woman… and what was their reward? To be killed or captured…"
Her voice did not travel very far nor was it particularly loud and yet her words echoed in the old woman's ears.
How? How did she know?
"No… I… I…" the elderly woman's voice was abruptly cut off as Qin Lan swung her knife and sliced her throat.
She collapsed on the ground and began to convulse as blood leaked out of the open wound. Qin Lan stood by and did nothing even as the old lady began to whimper for help.
She wanted the elderly woman to know a taste of the fear that the men would have felt as they lay on the ground helpless as their female companions were taken away.
Qin Lan furrowed her brows and stepped away from the elderly woman who had now gone completely silent.
Blood pooled around her corpse and soon it would be a feast for any zombies that passed by.
Eve walked over and gently held Qin Lan's hand. Even though her favourite human had an expressionless mask on he face, Eve could tell that she was feeling upset.
"Eve… Liu Yifei and Gong Li need to experience fighting against humans… all of their training would be useless if they freeze up in a real fight," Qin Lan calmly spoke.
"I'm going to take them to a nearby bandit den and even if they don't fight… I want them to see and understand how to be merciless…"
"I just… I just don't want them to become victims."
Qin Lan felt Eve's gentle grip on her palm get even tighter as the zombie empress leaned down and planted a soft kiss against her cheeks.
"Okay… I'll protect them," Eve softly promised as she raised up her left hand and played with a strand of Qin Lan's hair.
The two women returned to the car where Gong Li and Liu Yifei were still waiting patiently inside.
Qin Lan had dragged the scammer over to behind the pile of cars, so the two teenage girls did not know what had just occurred.
"What happened to the old woman?" Liu Yifei asked curiously.
"She was part of an ambush by a local gang… she would pretend to be injured to get survivors to walk over and then the gang members would attack them," Qin Lan explained in a bitter tone.
"It was a trap that took advantage of human compassion…"
There was a brief moment of silence in the car and Qin Lan could feel a certain dark emotion rise up in her heart.
Humanity were monsters… maybe the world would be a better place if…
They were all her puppets or playthings.
Qin Lan shuddered as the thought entered her mind and she quickly took in a few deep breaths before gently exhaling.
"And the old lady…" Gong Li hesitantly spoke.
"Dead along with the gang members," Qin Lan's cold voice echoed through the vehicle.
"Sister Lan I'm sorry… I thought that…" Liu Yifei stammered out an apology since she thought that Qin Lan was upset.
Qin Lan let out a heavy sigh and looked in the mirror. She saw the two young teenagers sitting in the back with troubled expressions on their faces.
Maybe it was time for a difficult conversation.
Qin Lan tapped her fingers against the side of her chair and thought about what words to say.
"Liu Yifei… I'm not mad at you. In fact, it is good that you are still able to be kind during the end times but… blind kindness will only be taken advantage of," Qin Lan spoke in a serious tone.
"No matter what the situation is… you must be able to protect yourself before you attempt to help others."
"Remember that in these times your enemies will be both zombies and humans… and frankly speaking… humans are the more terrifying of the two."
"Do you understand what I'm saying?"
Both girls nodded and Gong Li in particular had a thoughtful expression on her face as her hand subconsciously drifted towards the weapon attached to her hip.
Truthfully there was a part of Qin Lan that wished that she could shelter these girls from the ugly reality of the end times but that would be doing them a disservice.
If sometime were to happen to her, then these teenagers needed to know how to survive on their own and protect themselves.
Qin Lan twisted the key in the ignition port as she spoke. The car shuddered to life as Qin Lan pressed her foot on the accelerator and the vehicle sped off in a certain direction.
She planned on taking a small detour before they continued on their journey to the secret military base.
Qin Lan knew that she was no hero but the least she could do was make sure that there were a few less monsters in this broken world.
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