"Give me the supplies or get lost."
Su Ling's formidable aura, coupled with her singular feat of eliminating all the zombies in the villa district, instilled a sense of fear in Jiao Jiao and the others. However, their numerical superiority made them believe Su Ling wouldn't disregard their lives.
To their surprise, Su Ling paid them no mind. Her actions were swift and brutal, a blade at their throats, threatening immediate death.
"Life," Jiao Jiao replied to Su Ling, fearing a delayed answer would cost her head.
As the katana was removed from her neck, Jiao Jiao's legs went weak, and Xu Yu caught her in time.
Su Ling, carrying the katana, looked at the burly man. "Are you letting me pass or not?"
Despite the burly man's imposing height of nineteen, he faltered under the murderous intent in Su Ling's eyes. He couldn't comprehend how such a young girl possessed such ferocity and killer instinct.
"You can pass, but you need to explain how you brought the zombies into the villa district!" the burly man said, looking at Su Ling. This was his utmost concession. A ruthless individual who could move freely among zombies was someone to be avoided at all costs; she was terrifying.
"It has nothing to do with me," Su Ling stated, looking at the burly man. "The car isn't mine."
"Do you expect us to believe that?" the pregnant woman, whom Su Ling had rescued that morning, spoke up. She pointed at the car behind Su Ling. "If you deny it's yours, then why is it parked right in front of your door?"
The pregnant woman's question hit the mark, emboldening the burly man and the others. The fear that had gripped them moments ago began to dissipate.
Su Ling coldly regarded the pregnant woman who questioned her. Her gaze made the pregnant woman fearful, and she instinctively hid behind her husband. The man shielded his wife and glared at Su Ling with displeasure, spewing venom. "What are you glaring at? Believe it or not, I'll dig your eyeballs out and feed them to the zombies?"
Throughout this exchange, Su Ling remained indifferent, her emotions unruffled. Having survived in the apocalypse for five years, the ugliness and greed of humanity were nothing new to her. What she was witnessing now was merely an appetizer. Survivors in the early stages of the apocalypse hadn't yet experienced its true cruelty, and their aggression hadn't fully manifested.
"Ask them," Su Ling said, gesturing with her katana towards Jiao Jiao and Xu Yu.
Upon being pointed at by Su Ling's katana, Jiao Jiao and Xu Yu, who had just recovered their composure, turned pale. Despite their fear, Jiao Jiao didn't back down. "What do you mean? You caused the trouble yourself, it's your car, and now that you've messed up, you don't dare admit it?"
Su Ling let out a cold laugh and, in full view of everyone, hurled a ball of fire onto the car. The flames ignited instantly, an unstoppable inferno.
"Ah, my car..." Xu Yu exclaimed in distress as his beloved vehicle went up in flames. His outburst exposed the truth.
With the truth revealed, Su Ling looked at the burly man. "Are you going to move aside now?"
The burly man sheepishly touched his nose and shifted to the side. Su Ling strode forward, re-entered the password, and as the door unlocked, she entered and casually closed it behind her. Meanwhile, Jiao Jiao and Xu Yu, having attempted to play a trick and failed, found themselves in a worse predicament.
The burly man turned to the pair, grabbed Xu Yu by the collar, and growled, "So, you've been playing us for fools, making us the bad guys bullying a young girl?" He threw Xu Yu onto the concrete ground, away from the burning car. Xu Yu's head throbbed from the impact, and before he could recover, the burly man's fist descended, eliciting a yelp of pain.
Jiao Jiao looked at the burning car, then at Xu Yu being roughed up by the burly man, her eyes red with anger and frustration as she stamped her feet. The pregnant woman and the group surrounding them watched impassively, some even joining the burly man's actions. In a short while, Xu Yu was beaten into unconsciousness. Jiao Jiao, on the other hand, was roughly carried away by the burly man, like a chick in a hawk's grasp.
The farce concluded, the onlookers dispersed with disgruntled expressions and returned to their homes.