As the two pretty girls looked on stunned at the scene, Shangguan Bing Xue walked towards Shen Mei and pointed her hand towards her.
As she looked at Shen Mei with cold and dim eyes, frost-like energy began to slowly accumulate in her hand as she used her Magic to convert the Mana into power and supply that power to her skill.
Soon, the air before her began to shimmer with a slight crystalline brilliance and the dust particles froze, floating like snowflakes around Shangguan Bing Xue and giving her the appearance of a true ice goddess.
Perhaps she sensed the danger of imminent death before her, perhaps it was the abrupt drop in temperature surrounding her, or perhaps it was just that the dazing effect she had received after her brain was fiercely shaken from being hit so hard but Shen Mei raised her head to look Shangguan Bing Xue in the eyes.
"W- Why are you attacking me...?" Shen Mei asked in a low voice. She grimaced in pain and her heart sank as she realized that not only had her arm been fractured but her internal organs had been slightly shaken when her body slammed against the truck protected by shells and bones of mutant beasts which ended up causing her slightly serious injuries.
Recovering from the fractures suffered by her left arm would take Shen Mei at least three weeks and could even take up to one month if she did not receive magical treatment and only depending on her Vitality stat. As for the internal injuries, Shen Mei did not know since this was the first time she was in this kind of miserable situation.
"Let me ask you something." Shangguan Bing Xue ignored Shen Mei's question and inquired, "Why didn't you do anything despite knowing the situation of these girls? If you dare to lie to me, believe me or not but our faction has ways to find out thanks to a treasure called Inner Heart Mirror that Bai Zemin possesses. If you lie, I will personally take it upon myself to peel your skin off inch by inch and give you the cruelest death you could ever imagine."
Since the apocalypse erupted two months ago with the mysterious and sudden appearance of the entity known as Soul Record, this was probably the second time Shangguan Bing Xue had been enraged to the point where she lost the ability to dominate over her emotions.
The first time was when she learned that a Beijing University student named Qiao Long was using his back then newly acquired strength to abuse female students and teachers as well as to kill or enslave male students.
Now, the case of the two twin girls surnamed Wen had become the second occasion when her murderous intent overpowered her.
Shen Mei did not know whether what Shangguan Bing Xue said regarding possessing a treasure capable of debunking people was true or not, but she did not want to risk her luck as she could feel death looming over her with such pressure that it was difficult for her to even breathe after being wounded to such a magnitude.
"The reason I didn't even do anything is because I simply couldn't do it even if I wanted to." She said still feeling somewhat dizzy.
Shangguan Bing Xue's eyes grew cold and the frost energy turned into an ice spear that with a thought on her part as well as a wave of mana approached Shen Mei's neck.
Shen Mei felt the coldness of the ice spear on her neck and her face turned even paler. A drop of blood slid silently from where the frozen tip touched as if to demonstrate the sharpness and danger posed by the weapon aimed at her.
"If you think I won't kill you just because Bai Zemin already gave you his word, then let me tell you that you are being too naive." Shangguan Bing Xue sneered in an indifferent voice and pointed out, "Forget about me, I'm sure with the affection that man has for helpless children who were not granted the opportunity and time to grow up to be able to fend for themselves, death would be the last thing you would have to worry about if he gets to know about this."
As for who "that man" was, Shen Mei instinctively understood who Shangguan Bing Xue was referring to when she said those words.
"I'm really not lying." She said and used her eyes to look Shangguan Bing Xue straight into hers. "Although I am indeed strong, one of the soul evolvers who worked for Bai Yong possessed a skill that was useless but served to make no one dare to take these girls away from him. Even the god of the heavens wouldn't do it unless he wanted to cause more harm than good."
"What skill is that you speak of?" Shangguan Bing Xue asked with a frown.
"I don't know the name of that skill." Shen Mei shook her head without realizing it, causing a grunt of pain to slip out of her mouth. After a moment of silence, she said in a low, pained voice, "I only know that if someone moved the two twins more than 1000 meters away from Bai Yong, they would both experience shuddering pain. I know because I saw it in the past and you can also ask them if you don't believe me. My estimation is that the skill must be something similar to a seal that is set on the twins with Bai Yong as the key to the seal."
Shangguan Bing Xue frowned harder the more she listened. Indeed, just as Shen Mei had said just now that was a rather useless skill that was of no use in combat nor to save a person's life. However, it was an effective skill to restrain someone.
"Then why not kill Bai Yong and that soul evolver? Don't tell me you weren't able to do that either." Shangguan Bing Xue pursued. So far, everything Shen Mei had said was reasonable but this did not mean that she believed her completely.
"Kill Bai Yong? Sure, that's easy." Shen Mei laughed and coughed up some blood before slowly saying, "But do you really think a person like him, who was in the world of politics for so many years, is such a fool? Bai Yong hide that soul evolver somewhere unknown along with 60% of the resources of the whole camp, resources that by the way only he and probably his sister Bai Wei know where they are."
What Bai Yong had with him this time was nothing more than emergency resources that he had kept for himself in case situations like today's happened. For lack of time and fear of being caught, he had no choice but to abandon all other resources temporarily and had planned to infiltrate subordinates who had family to slowly move those resources to the place where he would settle later. Unfortunately, he was killed by Shangguan Bing Xue and with the death of his sister Bai Wei added to the equation those resources were somewhere unknown within the establishment.
Bai Yong had many enemies plotting against him but in the end none of them dared to make a move. This was because those 60% of supplies that Bai Yong controlled were what mainly kept the camp afloat and if those foodstuffs disappeared overnight then chaos would spread everywhere once the survivors discovered the situation.
In this apocalyptic world, food was the most valuable resource and only by having large quantities of food would the survivors behave obediently. Without this food, everyone would starve to death sooner or later and in fear of having to go out into the outside world in search of food the wrath of these people would first fall on the base government.
Shangguan Bing Xue gritted her teeth, completely frustrated. She waved her hand and under Shen Mei's relieved eyes the ice spear turned into small ice shards that fell gently to the ground.
If Shen Mei killed Bai Yong to save the twins, in the end she would only be causing harm to them since it was impossible for Shen Mei to carry two girls while carrying Bai Yong's body around. Besides, no one could guarantee that nothing bad would happen to the girls if Bai Yong died and since that soul evolver was in an unknown place no one could do more than watch even if they didn't like the sight or just look to the side to pretend nothing was happening.
"But you don't need to worry." Shen Mei said as she slowly stood up.
".... What do you mean?" Shangguan Bing Xue asked in a dissatisfied voice. She didn't like this woman at all from the first moment she saw her and her impression of her was only dropping lower and lower.
Shen Mei pointed at one of the corpses that had been decapitated by Shangguan Bing Xue and said in a somewhat weird voice, "That soul evolver was already killed by you before, so I assume the effect of the skill he casted on Wen Yun and Wen Yan should have dissipated by now."
Shangguan Bing Xue followed Shen Mei's eyes? and saw the head of a suspicious looking man looking up to the sky with frozen blood on the bottom.
She sighed in her heart and did not give Shen Mei a second glance before walking towards the truck where the twins were.
Shen Mei smiled bitterly at the sight. She clearly sensed Shangguan Bing Xue's enmity towards her so without saying anything and without waiting for an "I'm sorry" for what had just happened, she walked towards Luo Li to check her condition.
Shangguan Bing Xue looked at the twins, who were staring at her with wide eyes, and said slowly and in a low voice to avoid scaring them, "Wen Yun, Wen Yan. My name is Shangguan Bing Xue and I am an evolved human who belongs to an enemy camp to this camp that was previously ruled by the man who harmed you."
The eyes of the two twin girls shone faintly as they heard these words and their fear as well as their wariness towards the beautiful woman in front of them dropped quite a bit as they waited for her next words.
"The person named Bai Yong and all of his men were already killed by me and my teammates, so you two no longer need to fear. We will take care of you from now on..." Shangguan Bing Xue paused as she didn't know what else to say before continuing, "This place practically fell completely into the hands of the leader of the group I belong to. Both, he and I, as well as the rest of us. follow very strict rules regarding child care... so you girls won't have to worry about experiencing painful experiences like this anymore."
Both, Wen Yan and Wen Yun, stood silently with wide eyes staring at Shangguan Bing Xue for a long time. Even after almost a full minute the two girls still did not seem to wake up from the fantasy they thought they were living in.
Right. To these girls, what they had just heard was no different from a fairy tale; a beautiful story similar to the ones their parents narrated to them when they were still alive.
For Wen Yan and Wen Yun, the arrival of the Soul Record had been the end of their lives and the beginning of a seemingly endless suffering. Like many others, the two girls suffered; but the suffering they went through, despite not having to worry about food or being eaten by a wild beast or a zombie, was in some ways worse.
Deprived of their freedom, deprived of their dignity, deprived of everything that made a human a human. Many times Wen Yan and Wen Yun secretly thought that it would be better to die than to continue living a hell like the one they lived through every day. However, both girls gritted their teeth and endured.
Wen Yan did not do it for her own sake, Wen Yun did not do it for her own sake. Both sisters, apart from sharing similar appearances to the point of being difficult to distinguish, also seemed to share similar feelings and thoughts. While Wen Yan endured for the sake of not leaving her sister Wen Yun alone, Wen Yun also endured because she knew that if she left this world her sister Wen Yan would have to suffer her portion as a consequence of her selfishness.
"B- Beautiful big sister..." Wen Yun mumbled in her angel-like soft voice. Her eyes shone with hope just like Wen Yan's as she asked in still disbelief, "Th- That words you said.... We... Really...?"
Shangguan Bing Xue's heart stung as these two girls found it hard to believe the reality before them to the point where they could not even utter words properly.
How much had they suffered...? Neither Shangguan Bing Xue nor probably any other person would probably be able to imagine.
In the end, all Shangguan Bing Xue could do was nod without another word for fear that her voice would falter in the face of her uncontrolled emotions.
Seeing her nod, the two twins finally couldn't take it anymore. All the grievance they felt, all the pain, the hatred in their hearts, the fear that still overwhelmed them, and countless other emotions, finally completely de-bordered the hearts of the two girls.
The place where death reigned, had now become sadder with the sharp and heartbroken cries of two beautiful little girls.
Even for a cold and indifferent person like Shangguan Bing Xue, it was hard to bear the urge to burst into tears at the heartbreaking sight.
Even now, the two sisters held on to each other as if in fear that one of them would disappear. Even as the tears spilled uncontrollably down their soft faces like those of a newborn baby they were both unconsciously trying to protect the other.
It was the kind of life they had been living since the world changed.
Really thank you very much to all who give gifts to the novel and support with valuable Golden Tickets. I hope we can all keep it up <3

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