Misunderstanding

Having narrowly escaped, the entire RV team was in a state of shock and lingering fear. While their hunts had been relatively safe thanks to Ke Xiaoshan’s presence, allowing for swift healing even of severe injuries, this encounter with a true monster lurking in the city center had brought the suffocating sense of dread from the apocalypse crashing down upon their hearts.

This place was not a playground, after all. A single misstep could very well lead to death.

No one seemed to be in the mood to continue hunting in such a place. Lu Shanshui inventoried their crystal core reserves, concluding that they had “enough.” Bai Xiao An couldn’t fathom what “enough” meant; they clearly had a huge pile of the things, including numerous high-level Tier 3 cores. If exchanged for equivalent goods, they could easily sustain an ordinary family of three for an entire year.

In any case, Bai Xiao An was vehemently demanding that they head directly to the aquarium to retrieve the core, stating that once she had returned to her male form, she would accompany the RV team on any reckless adventures they wanted. Fighting with this body was simply too disadvantageous. She was short in stature with a pitifully small attack range. More importantly, her base stats were far too low; had she been in her original body, she wouldn’t have had her arms broken in a single exchange.

Ultimately, the RV team agreed to a unified decision, heading directly for the aquarium. Naturally, there was no shortage of self-unaware zombies who blocked their path, but the three combat members dispatched them with ease. Those they couldn’t dispatch were simply sent flying to the side. No zombie could keep up with the RV’s speed unless they had laid an ambush beforehand. As for the RV itself, with its multiple internal sub-spaces, who knew what kind of engine Xu Huairou had installed. Bai Xiao An only remembered that they had procured several dozen barrels of gasoline during their fuel acquisition, a far cry from the fuel consumption of a normal RV.

Ke Xingmei had now taken over driving duties. Meanwhile, Bai Xiao An, Ashe Wen, and Lu Shanshui, their three main fighters, guarded the roof, ready to deal with anyone who approached. They sped along the road, enjoying the exhilarating ride.

Unfortunately, the good times didn’t last long. Even a team like theirs could be intercepted. And the ones blocking their path weren’t zombies, but two heavily damaged, modified pickup trucks.

Seeing the two pickups blocking the road ahead, Bai Xiao An’s eyelids twitched.

“The Red Blade Team…” Those iconic twin heavy machine guns were Song Zhiyang’s prized possessions; he generally wouldn’t lend them out. However, the two pickups looked battered and ravaged; their caravan shouldn’t have been reduced to this state. And their leader Song Zhiyang’s designated ride, that flashy, customized heavy truck, was nowhere to be seen.

Driving two modified pickup trucks and venturing deep into the city with only a few skilled fighters was not what Song Zhiyang had wanted. But Meng Fanhai was proving to be a real pain, stubbornly refusing to back down. Despite leading a heavily depleted camp after their previous clash, he had managed to fight Song Zhiyang’s Red Blade Team to a standstill. According to Wobu Zai, Ren Anhua’s current location was deep within the city, and Song Zhiyang had seen the military enter as well. Who knew what would happen inside? He simply couldn’t afford to wait.

This was a rare opportunity. He absolutely had to deal with Ren Anhua this time.

But the skirmish at the city’s edge was proving difficult to resolve quickly. He was left with no choice but to assign a few respected subordinates to command the situation, not seeking victory, but merely to hold back the madmen from the camp. He himself, along with vice-captain Cui Jian, a promising rookie in the team, Wobu Zai (to track Ren Anhua), Yang Qing (specifically to deal with Ren Anhua), and several other skilled members, had left the main force and headed directly into the city’s interior.

It wasn’t Song Zhiyang’s first time in the city center, but he had never ventured this far. The number of high-tier zombies was simply too great. Had it not been for that promising rookie’s remarkable strength, perhaps half of the ordinary members would have already died. That rookie was strange, a monk in this dog-eat-dog world. He wore a simple kasaya with a gray base and held a string of prayer beads. He seemed to have nothing else.

Yet his strength was not to be underestimated. Every punch and palm strike was clean and decisive, instantly killing even Level Two zombies. Their deaths were brutal, as if they had exploded from within, which seemed wholly unlike something an amiable monk would do. Despite all this, he somehow managed to keep his kasaya spotless, untouched by any filth.

Even more surprising was that this monk, who was so fierce in a fight, actually served as the team’s healer, and it was because of him that the team had suffered such low casualties. Song Zhiyang had never seen such a capable support fighter before. Whenever he witnessed the monk’s abilities, he felt that recruiting him into his team had been a truly wise decision.

“Captain, that’s her, standing on the roof, wearing a swimsuit and white stockings, the one who looks the sexiest.” Wobu Zai was the first to get out of the car. There were quite a few people on the team who had seen Ren Anhua that day, but it was Wobu Zai who had the most vivid impression of her and could most accurately confirm her identity.

Thus, he served as a guide, directing the trucks to intercept the RV team on their predetermined path. Otherwise, with the speed of those two battered pickups, they wouldn’t have been able to catch up with the RV team’s high-tech, modified vehicle.

Bai Xiao An had naturally recognized Wobu Zai as well. She didn’t easily forget those who dared to provoke her. After all, they were few in number, and most of them ended up dead anyway, so she often made a point of carefully remembering their faces with the respect due to the dead.

This Wobu Zai had spoken lewdly to her. She had let him off once before, considering that he didn’t know her identity and the situation hadn’t been right. But he dared to call her a sexy little thing now, and she wouldn’t stand for it. Bai Xiao An had immediately decided to go down and wipe this guy off the face of the earth before discussing anything else.

But Lu Shanshui reached out and stopped her.

Bai Xiao An was puzzled by Lu Shanshui’s actions. His expression seemed complex, as if he wanted to say something but struggled to put it into words. He hesitated, but then gave up, as if he wanted to stop something from happening but ultimately realized he couldn’t, and reluctantly released her.

Bai Xiao An’s puzzlement didn’t last long, as Song Zhiyang’s voice jolted her awake in the next second.

It was hard to describe the sensation, as if she were trapped in a long dream, yet knew she was dreaming and wanted to wake up but couldn’t. She always felt that something was wrong, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. Now, she was finally being jolted awake.

“Ren Anhua! I never thought you’d actually turn into something like that!”

Song Zhiyang’s voice shattered some kind of barrier erected in the girl’s mind.

Ren Anhua—a familiar yet alien name. A name she had almost forgotten. When had it started? The girl felt as if it had been a long time ago, but reason told her it had only been since yesterday, when Ren Anhua had become Bai Xiao An upon leaving that laboratory, and Bai Xiao An could no longer recall the three characters of Ren Anhua’s name.

The girl fell into a daze. What was her name again?

A series of fragments flashed through her mind, black and white and blurry like overexposed film: the surgery, the green cloth, the shadowless lamp, the craniotomy, the gleaming knives, the unknown parasitic creature drawing closer to her head, and… Ke Xingmei and Bai Rui.

She seemed to be on the verge of recalling something important.

But she was immediately interrupted by Song Zhiyang.

“In Pingding County, you, Ren Anhua, have always been used to step on me, Song Zhiyang, and when people talked about me, Song Zhiyang, they would use you, Ren Anhua, to elevate me. You’ve always been above me, and I’ve always wanted to bring you down. Though we’re rivals, I, Song Zhiyang, have always considered you, Ren Anhua, to be someone of importance. To think you’d actually fall to this state, wearing such a shameless outfit, and even…”

Song Zhiyang’s gaze lowered. In the fabric tightly wrapping the girl’s lower body, a thin line emerged, connecting to a cylindrical box, which was fastened to the inside of those delicate white stockings. If one didn’t know the truth, finding such a salacious item on a girl’s private area would easily lead to some kind of misunderstanding about this poor girl. And Song Zhiyang was clearly someone who had formed such a misunderstanding.

“To even wear such toys during battle, you seem to be enjoying this small body, huh? I never took you for this kind of person.” Song Zhiyang’s eyes were filled with mockery and deep disdain.

How could you slander someone’s innocence out of thin air!

But the girl looked down at her lower body. Without any other clothes to cover them, she was only wearing a sukumizu and a pair of white stockings. The stopcock connected to the urine tube, fastened to the top of her stocking, was obvious and undisguised, exposed to the gaze of others. It certainly made it easy to mistake it for some kind of special toy; from a distance, no one could distinguish between a thin tube and a wire.

But the problem was that she wasn’t that kind of person! This was merely a necessary design for the excretion of metabolic waste; there wasn’t anything… For some reason, the girl felt a little guilty.

But explaining to others that this wasn’t some kind of toy, but her urine tube, didn’t seem any less shameful. Yet, she couldn’t swallow her pride and allow others to misunderstand. Humiliation and anger brewed in her chest, but she dared not let them grow, as a result of Ke Xingmei’s modifications. If she revealed that terrible expression under Song Zhiyang’s misapprehension, she would never be able to clear her name.

Even if she turned back into a man, she probably wouldn’t be able to face Song Zhiyang again.

But just letting Song Zhiyang see her like this was embarrassing enough. She was the magnificent Ren Anhua, the man who had dominated Pingding County with his gang in the early days of the apocalypse. This current appearance was too much of a dark history.

Fully realizing her true identity, Ren Anhua harbored a genuine desire to kill.

In short, if Song Zhiyang died here, all problems would be resolved.

“So you’re even making that kind of face; did someone flip a switch for you, hahaha! Ren Anhua, you’ve truly shown me something new today.” Song Zhiyang stepped out of the car, laughing arrogantly.

It was over; her emotions had burst through after all. Song Zhiyang had seen that terrible expression on her face. Explain? Explain what? There was nothing to explain. She was pure as the driven snow and definitely didn’t have any…

Ren Anhua’s heart was a mix of emotions at that moment, countless words coalescing into a single sentence:

Song Zhiyang must die!

“You…” The flames around Ren Anhua grew fiercer and fiercer. Lu Shanshui and Ashe Wen, who were near her, quickly retreated to the side, as the intense heat was even causing the RV’s Space Anchoring shell to warp slightly.

“Die!”

Shooting out from the RV team with a dazzling burst of light, she had returned to being the one known as Ren Anhua. High temperature, power—this was the true Ren Anhua, the one who always crushed her enemies with absolute strength.

Faced with this meteor-like attack, Song Zhiyang showed no fear whatsoever. He held his blade horizontally to block, and blade clashed against fist. A violent shockwave cleared a ten-meter radius of empty space, and Song Zhiyang steadily withstood this unparalleled strike.

“I’m not like you, enjoying yourself with your subordinates. To surpass you, to trample you underfoot, I’ve been struggling for survival in these death zones every day,” Song Zhiyang’s blade suddenly turned crimson, even emitting a faint, luminous glow at its edge. “Do you know the power of a Tier 4 Awakened?”

Song Zhiyang drew his blade and slashed diagonally at Ren Anhua, carrying a fiery light.