The people in the room looked at each other it was a bit too coincidental.
With things having come to this point, Tong Yang had no other choice but to step forward and open the door.
Aunt Liu stood at the doorway, her expression blank, calling out, “Qing Qing.”
“I’ll go with her,” Tong Yang said.
Aunt Liu replied, “The gentleman only wants to see Qing Qing alone.”
Tong Yang tightened her lips and said, “Just wait a moment.”
After saying that, she closed the door again, bringing Yan Qing back into the room.
“Tong Yang, what should we do? It’s too dangerous to let Yan Qing go alone,” Chu Shiyu said worriedly.
Xu Junyue added, “But this is a good opportunity.”
Tong Yang said in a deep voice, “It is indeed an opportunity.”
She turned to look at Yan Qing, who was clearly frightened, hunching her shoulders and not daring to speak.
“Yan Qing, I warned you many times before entering the parallel world and emphasized how dangerous it is. I wanted you to be mentally prepared before making a decision.”
“You can choose to help or not; I won’t force you. However, since you are already here, I can only give you two choices.”
“First, cooperate with us. I can guarantee that even if the plan fails, I can safely send you back to the real world. Second, you can go back to the real world right now.”
Tong Yang patted her shoulder and continued, “I won’t blame you, but we need to take strong measures to obtain the high-quality gene drug, and we won’t have the extra energy to take care of you.”
After her words, the room fell into silence.
Yan Qing tightened her lips, tears dried on her face, her chest heaving violently. “I… I don’t want to go back.”
“Then cooperate with us.”
She grabbed Tong Yang’s hand that hung by her side, as if trying to draw some strength from her, and said, “Sister Tong Yang, give me a little more time.”
“Okay.”
“You guys say, if I die, will the police uncle give me an honorary citizen award?” Yan Qing said, sniffling.
“You will leave alive,” Tong Yang assured her.
Yan Qing sniffed, “Oh…”
“Alright.” Ye Huai suddenly spoke up, returning the phone to them.
Xu Junyue asked, “Can we go online now?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll give it a try… Hey! It really works!”
“Let’s create a group and do a voice call.”
“Can we make long-distance calls?”
Ye Huai nodded, “District One has a central satellite receiver, as long as we don’t leave.”
“That’s something! I wonder when we’ll have that over there.”
“What are you thinking? Didn’t you hear that it’s mainly used for military purposes?”
“Stop talking nonsense, hurry up and finish this.”
After pulling everyone into the group chat, Tong Yang asked, “Yan Qing, did you bring your headphones?”
Yan Qing nodded, a blue night headset packed in her small bag.
Tong Yang told her to let her hair down, “In a bit, when you leave the room, we will do a remote call with you and monitor the surveillance in real-time. Hide the dagger I gave you, and if anything unexpected happens, protect yourself first. I will rush over immediately.”
Yan Qing nodded, taking a deep breath, “Sister Tong Yang, I understand.”
“What about us?” Xu Junyue pulled out a watermelon knife, eager to try.
Tong Yang said, “You guys find a suitable place to stay, keep the call going. If anything unexpected happens, do whatever you want; the bigger the commotion, the better.”
“If your life is hanging by a thread, try to tell me what happened right before you die. No matter what I ask you to do in the meantime, don’t waste time asking why; just do as I say.”
Because at that time, she might have already entered the loop, while others would only regain their memories at the moment of death.
Chu Shiyu and the others, who were aware of the situation, nodded, “I understand.”
Tang Shuyan was very curious about her half-hidden secret, wondering what method she would use to bring them back to life, but now was not a suitable time for idle chatter.
“Anyway, I’ll listen to you.”
Yan Qing naturally didn’t need to say anything; in the current situation, Tong Yang could walk three steps east, and she wouldn’t dare to take even a centimeter more.
“Then let’s go; be careful.”
“No problem.”
“Tong Yang, you too.”
“Let’s find a great geographical location; it would be great if we could find a way to get a bomb.”
Yan Qing put on her Bluetooth headset, exhaling deeply, “Isn’t it just my dad from the parallel world? I don’t believe he can just eat me.”
After saying that, she couldn’t help but glance at Tong Yang.
“Sister Tong Yang, make sure to come find me quickly.”
“Yeah, I’ll be watching.”
Yan Qing put her phone back in her bag, stood up with determination, “Let’s go! It’s time for us to serve our country!”
Yan Qing walked to the door and forcefully opened it, revealing a pale face that almost collided with hers.
“Qing Qing, the gentleman has already gone in,” Aunt Liu’s face was almost pressed against Yan Qing’s nose, showing no intention of stepping back.
Yan Qing looked at the face so close to her and immediately lost her bravado, threatening like a paper tiger, “Did you eavesdrop on us? Be careful, or I’ll have my dad fire you!”
Aunt Liu’s expression froze, her pupils dilating, and without warning, she knelt down, raising her hand to slap her own face repeatedly.
“I was wrong… I was wrong…”
“Slap—”
“Slap—”
It seemed she was using all her strength, her cheeks showing clear finger marks that quickly swelled up.
A trickle of blood flowed from her nostrils, and blood appeared at the corner of her mouth. Her fingers touched the blood and immediately smeared it on her cheek.
Yan Qing was stunned for a second and cursed, “Are you sick? Take me to the study!”
“And my friend needs to go out for a bit; don’t stop them, and don’t let anyone into my room!”
“Yes, Qing Qing.” Aunt Liu stopped harming herself and expressionlessly stood up from the ground.
Seeing this scene, Tong Yang in the room let out a sigh of relief.
Yan Qing was tough and didn’t respond to softness; the more she was indulged, the more she would become arrogant. Aunt Liu’s act of weakness just fueled her arrogance.
Yan Qing and Chu Shiyu left the room one after another, leaving only Tong Yang and Ye Huai in the room.
“Can you hear clearly?” Tong Yang asked, wearing her headset.
“I can hear.”
“No problem.”
“Where do you plan to go?”
Xu Junyue said, “Find a rooftop with a wide view; it would be perfect to test the performance of the gun the police uncle gave us.”
Chu Shiyu replied, “I’ll find a place to hide first.”
“What about Tang Shuyan?”
“Me?” Tang Shuyan’s voice was lazy, “I plan to go visit some people first, talk about the Dao. If that doesn’t work, I know a bit of martial arts.”
“Won’t that cause a commotion?” Xu Junyue asked.
Tang Shuyan said, “I think you guys are too conservative. After the woman killed that person, the law enforcers just went to clean up the scene without arresting her. What does that mean? Killing isn’t a crime! So as long as you don’t expose your identity and leave the crime scene in time, it doesn’t matter how much chaos you cause.”
Xu Junyue exclaimed excitedly, “You make a good point!”
“Tong Yang, I apply to take action directly without waiting for Yan Qing to sound the alarm!”
Tong Yang frowned, recalling that the woman who killed someone indeed wasn’t arrested, and there were no laws in the safe zone. As long as they weren’t caught, causing chaos in advance didn’t seem like a bad idea.
“Okay,” Tong Yang agreed, “But it can’t just be you triggering the alarm; try to find ways to make the residents of the safe zone turn on each other.”
“No problem!”
“Yay!”
Chu Shiyu said, “I’d rather do nothing and let Qing Qing get the high-quality gene drug and leave smoothly.”
Chu Shiyu was clearly a moderate, but unfortunately, Tong Yang, Xu Junyue, and Tang Shuyan were all radicals.
Tong Yang said, “You all be careful; after the chaos starts, find a way to protect yourselves. If anything unexpected happens, I will notify you, and you must find a place to meet up immediately.”
“Understood!”
“No problem!”
Tong Yang returned to the computer, and the surveillance footage showed Yan Qing following Aunt Liu through a corridor, arriving at the other side of the villa, stopping in front of a closed door.
“Knock—”
“Sir, Qing Qing has arrived.”
Yan Qing looked nervous, clutching the hem of her clothes, her fingertips turning white from the pressure.
“Don’t worry, I’m watching you,” Tong Yang said softly.
Hearing her voice, Yan Qing instinctively wanted to respond.
“Don’t speak.”
“Oh…”
Yan Qing anxiously looked around, seemingly searching for the surveillance camera.
Tong Yang knew these things were very discreet and hard to detect even in dark environments.
“Come in.”
Ye Huai moved the mouse, adjusting the camera to the study.
The door in front slowly opened, and Yan Qing’s fingertips dug into her palm as she gritted her teeth and walked in.
Perhaps knowing that Tong Yang was watching her every move from a nearby room made her feel a little more at ease.
Yan Qing raised her head and saw a bright study, with her dad and mom sitting and standing at the desk, the light from the window slanting down on them.
Clearly, they had been fighting in the dining room, covered in bloody wounds, but now they looked perfectly fine, as if nothing had happened.
“Qing Qing, come here,” her mom smiled at her, waving her hand.
Yan Qing hesitated for a few seconds, and suddenly the door behind her slammed shut. She instinctively turned to look.
“It’s okay, Aunt Liu has left.”
In her earpiece, Tong Yang’s steady voice came through.
Yan Qing turned her head back, looking at the two people at the desk who were gazing at her with calm smiles, and called out, “Dad, Mom.”
Her dad and mom looked similar to how they did in reality, except for their strange eyes and smiles; everything else seemed the same as her familiar parents.
However, they hadn’t been this harmonious together in a long time.
“Did you sneak out again last night?” her dad asked.
Yan Qing walked to the desk and said in a muffled voice, “Yeah, I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay, as long as you’re not hurt,” her mom said.
Her dad said sternly, “I’ve told you many times, the outside world is very dangerous. You can’t run around like that again, understand?”
“I understand.”
Her mom walked out from behind the desk, reaching up to brush her hair away from her temples, saying, “We received your message, but unfortunately, the anchor point has escaped back to the Shadow World. But it’s good that you returned safely.”
Yan Qing’s expression froze for a moment, and Tong Yang’s voice came through her earpiece.
“Ask them what to do about the transaction.”
Yan Qing came back to her senses, unconsciously taking half a step back to avoid her mom’s hand as she asked, “What about the transaction?”
Her mom withdrew her hand, standing still in front of her, her expression returning to calm as she said, “That’s not something we should be concerned about.”
Upon hearing the answer, Tong Yang’s frown deepened. Wasn’t District One the one wanting to cooperate with the Meng family?
“What kind of person did you bring back?” her dad asked.
Tong Yang replied, “Friends from the Nameless Zone.”
“They’re friends I met in the Nameless Zone,” Yan Qing obediently repeated her words.
“Qing Qing, those people are very dangerous. Don’t bring them home casually.”
“I understand.”
“Come sit over here.”
Her mom dragged a chair over and placed it in front of the desk, calling out to Yan Qing.
Looking at the chair squeezed between the two of them, Yan Qing’s body stiffened.
“Can I not go over…” Yan Qing mumbled.
The expressions of the two gradually turned cold.
“Why not?”
“Come here!”
Her dad glared, looking like he was about to explode at any moment.
Yan Qing was so scared that her shoulders trembled; without waiting for Tong Yang’s reminder, she slowly moved her feet over.
“Good girl, sit down.”
Her mom’s cold hand rested on her shoulder, almost with a hint of forcefulness, pressing her down onto the chair.
On her left sat her dad, and on her right stood her mom. She didn’t dare to look around, trying her best to control her trembling.
“Are you scared?”
Yan Qing hurriedly shook her head, afraid that if she took a second too long, she would raise suspicion.
“Why are you scared?”
“Aren’t we family?”
Yan Qing wanted to cry but had no tears, “I’m not scared.”
“Yan Qing, does Uncle Yan have a bunch of keys hanging from his waist?”
Hearing Tong Yang’s voice, Yan Qing instinctively looked down and indeed saw a bunch of keys on her dad.
“Ask them if you can put something in Dad’s safe.”
Yan Qing swallowed hard, glancing at her dad on her left, and asked, “Can I put something in your safe?”
She tried hard to suppress the tremor in her voice, and after speaking, she immediately lowered her head, not daring to look again.
“What does Qing Qing want to put?”
“Just something very precious.”
Yan Qing continued as Tong Yang prompted her.
“Sure.”
“Dad, what’s the password for the safe?”
Her dad stared at Yan Qing until she felt her scalp tingle before he spoke, “The password is your birthday.”
“My birthday?” Yan Qing exclaimed.
“You are our only precious daughter; the password for the safe has always been your birthday.”
Tong Yang and Ye Huai outside the monitor were momentarily stunned, not expecting to learn the password so easily.
However, they checked all the surveillance in the study and didn’t see any sign of the safe.
“Dad, where is the safe? After I prepare the things, I want to put them in myself.”
Suddenly, her mom’s hand on her shoulder tightened, causing Yan Qing to cry out in pain.
“Don’t you know?” her dad turned his head, staring at her intently.
Yan Qing’s eyes filled with tears from the pain, complaining, “I forgot, Mom, you hurt me.”
Her mom immediately released her grip, “I’m sorry, Qing Qing, I hurt you.”
Her dad shot her mom a glare, coldly saying, “If Qing Qing forgot, then she forgot.”
“Yes, if Qing Qing forgot, then she forgot.”
Yan Qing looked left and right, feeling that these two people were both scary and strange. They clearly looked like they would fight at the slightest disagreement, and their wounds had inexplicably disappeared, yet they acted extremely indulgent in front of “Yan Qing.”
“Qing Qing, the safe is in the cabinet next to the bookshelf; don’t open it with the password,” her dad suddenly said.
Yan Qing was taken aback, asking in unison with Tong Yang, “Why?”
Her dad turned his head back, staring at the computer screen, saying, “It will trigger an alarm.”
Yan Qing asked in confusion, “Then how can I avoid triggering the alarm?”
“With a key.”
“Dad, which key?”
Her dad said, “This one.”
He took the keys from his waist and picked up a silver serrated key.
Perhaps thinking they weren’t as scary as she imagined, Yan Qing tentatively said, “Can you give me the key?”
Her dad replied, “Sure.”
With a surprised expression, her dad placed the key in front of her, saying, “Once the safe is opened, it can only be opened again after an hour.”
“Thank you, Dad.” Yan Qing clutched the key tightly in her palm, whispering.
“Qing Qing, whatever you want, Dad will give it to you,” her dad said.
“Mom too.”
In the real world, her parents satisfied all her material needs but neglected her spiritual needs, rarely accompanying her. Hearing these words unexpectedly made her feel a bit dazed.
“Dad, Mom…”
“Yan Qing.”
In her earpiece, Tong Yang’s voice rang out, seemingly reminding her of something.
“Thank you.”
“Good girl, no need to thank us.”
“We haven’t watched TV together in a long time,” her dad said.
“Yeah, let’s spend some time together today.”
Unexpectedly, she got the safe key more easily than anticipated, and Yan Qing didn’t encounter any danger, which made Tong Yang finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Despite being in different environments, the personalities of Yan Qing in both worlds were remarkably similar, so it wasn’t surprising that she wasn’t recognized by the people of the parallel world.
Moreover, although her dad and mom in the parallel world seemed to behave strangely, they indeed cared about their daughter’s safety, just as “Yan Qing” had said.
This way, even if Yan Qing exposed her identity, she could use “Yan Qing” to threaten them.
Yan Qing was temporarily stuck in the study, but fortunately, there was no danger.
Xu Junyue and the others had already reached their respective positions, ready to cause a ruckus.
Tong Yang still didn’t stop them; perhaps if too many alarms went off at once, her dad and mom, as the instructor and instructor’s wife of District One, would be drawn away, allowing Yan Qing to directly use the key to open the safe, retrieve the high-quality gene drug, and let the others take the opportunity to escape to a completely safe place.
In short, things were going a bit more smoothly than Tong Yang had imagined.
Suddenly, she heard Yan Qing’s gasping through the earpiece.
Tong Yang looked down; she was surrounded by two people in front of the computer monitor, the dim glow illuminating her face, reflecting the terror in her eyes.
Tong Yang’s expression darkened; she probably guessed what was playing on the computer screen. The surveillance cameras in the self-destruct game venue would be live-streaming in real-time.
Ye Huai adjusted the angle of the footage to another camera, and the content on the computer screen came into view.
Xu Junyue, with her pink hair, kicked the door and walked into a bedroom, where a long-haired woman sat on the floor with her back to her, a man lying in front of her, uncertain of his life or death.
Xu Junyue approached with the watermelon knife, and the surveillance footage almost followed her perspective in real-time, constantly zooming in until she saw the woman with blood on her hands, grabbing a mass of indistinct flesh, devouring it like a beast.
The body lying on the ground had been disemboweled, its insides almost completely eaten away.
Xu Junyue made a disgusted expression, and with a swift motion, she directly decapitated the woman.
At the same time, the corresponding alarm light on the computer screen lit up.
The scene was vivid and clear; the head rolled to the corner, and blood splattered onto the camera.
Even though she realized the parallel world was exceptionally cruel, Yan Qing was still so frightened that she covered her eyes.
Xu Junyue picked up the headless corpse and threw it out the window, finally holding up the head and aiming it at the window across the street, tossing it in.
“Yay! It went in!”
At the same time, Xu Junyue’s voice echoed in the earpiece.
“Xu Junyue, you are being monitored,” Tong Yang reminded her.
In the computer screen, Xu Junyue’s movements clearly paused as she cautiously looked around.
“You can’t see the monitor; just keep doing what you need to do.”
Tong Yang speculated that Yan Qing’s parents brought her to watch the surveillance for a very simple reason; just as Meng Xiao said, it was a way for them to entertain themselves.
“Yan Qing, have you ever played a zombie game? This is a holographic zombie game; the scenes you see can never happen in the real world. Do you understand what I mean?”
Yan Qing bit her pale lips and nodded.
“Qing Qing, your friends are not good people,” her mom whispered in her ear.
The surveillance footage followed Xu Junyue to the next location, where she killed her way through, leaving shocking bloodstains along the way, as if she had been soaked in blood.
The command base, continuously receiving alarms, dispatched law enforcers to clean up the mess for her. Unsurprisingly, none of the law enforcers punished Xu Junyue; their appearance was merely to clean up the scene.
Realizing this, Xu Junyue became even more reckless, leaving a trail of corpses wherever she went. When she encountered a few people who resisted, she was more than capable, and with a sharp watermelon knife, she was unstoppable.
“Dad, I don’t want to watch anymore,” Yan Qing said softly.
“Okay,” her dad replied, “let’s switch to someone else.”
He switched to another camera, and the image of Chu Shiyu appeared.
Unlike Xu Junyue’s flamboyance, Chu Shiyu, who hadn’t received professional training, quietly sneaked into a bedroom where an elderly man sat on the sofa, a white radio beside him, emitting the sharp cries of a child.
He listened intently, tilting his head.
Chu Shiyu approached from behind him, and the cries from the radio grew sharper. Just as she raised her short knife to strike, the old man suddenly turned around, revealing a mouth full of pitch-black teeth, smiling at her.
Seeing the old man’s appearance, Chu Shiyu’s body stiffened slightly. Facing those eyes that were almost devoid of whites, she thrust the knife forward with a “thud.”
The old man’s cheek was punctured, blood gushing out, and a decayed tooth fell out.
The cries of the child continued from the radio, and Chu Shiyu steeled herself, twisting the dagger embedded in the old man’s face, the flesh wrinkling like a wrung-out cloth.
Then, she pulled the blade out and retreated a few steps.
The old man made a gurgling sound from his throat, like water boiling, as his rotten teeth fell out one after another.
“Chu Shiyu, throw the radio out,” Tong Yang reminded her.
Chu Shiyu understood her meaning, picked up a blanket, wrapped the radio in it, and threw it out the window.
The child’s cries immediately attracted the attention of nearby residents, who opened their windows to silently observe the situation outside, and some gradually stepped out of their rooms.
Just as “Yan Qing” had said, the people here were mutually disdainful; after leaving their rooms, a mere glance at each other would lead to an immediate attack, causing harm to one another without restraint, not much different from those living in the Nameless Zone.
The biggest difference between them was that people in the Nameless Zone needed to fight each other for resources, while the residents of District One simply enjoyed the slaughter.
Chu Shiyu was relatively steady; after killing someone, she didn’t leave the room immediately but hid behind the door to observe the situation outside.
After all, in a face-to-face situation, she had little chance of winning.
Yan Qing’s dad seemed dissatisfied with Chu Shiyu’s performance and immediately switched to the next surveillance screen where the alarm light was flashing.
“This gentleman, please jump down from here,” Tang Shuyan said, standing by the window, addressing a pale-faced man in the living room.
The man gripped a hammer tightly, glaring at him.
Tang Shuyan said helplessly, “Sir, jump down from here, and none of us will be harmed.”
“Look at those few benefactors; they’re having so much fun fighting.”
The man remained unmoved, raising the hammer high and swinging it at Tang Shuyan.
“Tsk!” Tang Shuyan impatiently dodged to the side, “I’m negotiating with you!”
“Get lost!”
In the instant the man lunged at him, he seized the man’s arm and directly threw him down from the second floor.
“Be lenient when possible; I don’t easily kill, to avoid damaging my Dao heart…”
“Bang!”
Before he finished speaking, a seven or eight-year-old boy smashed a rusty iron basin over his head, a dull sound echoing in the earpiece.
“Huh? What sound?”
“I heard it too.”
Chu Shiyu and Xu Junyue were still unclear about what was happening.
Tang Shuyan turned around, expressionless, looking at the little boy, “Although you’re not human, considering your young age…”
“Bang!”
The boy raised the large iron basin and struck him on the head.
Tang Shuyan took a deep breath, “I advise you…”
“Bang—”
“What sound??”
“Tang Shuyan, are you okay?”
“Bang…”
Tang Shuyan reached into his small bag, pulling out a sharp kitchen knife, and with a “thud,” he slashed it across the boy’s throat.
“Crazy!”
“If I don’t kill you, my Dao heart will be stable.”
Tang Shuyan, without any psychological burden, threw the boy’s still-breathing body out the window and then left the room for the next location.
As they continued to create chaos, more and more people appeared on the street. They almost attacked anyone they saw, and those who were slow-moving and posed no threat became live targets, with hardly a single inch of them left unharmed.
The law enforcers who arrived after receiving the alarms saw the carnage on the street and made no attempt to stop it, coldly standing by to watch until everyone was dead or the blood flowed like a river before choosing to clean up the blood and limbs on the ground.
Despite the increasing chaos on the street, Yan Qing’s dad, as the instructor of District One, showed no signs of action.
Yan Qing was squeezed in the middle, her gaze drifting, not daring to look at the screen.
At that moment, the woman suddenly turned her head, staring closely at her face, her voice calm as a well: “Qing Qing, why aren’t you watching?”
The man also turned to look at her.
Yan Qing immediately straightened her back, nodding vigorously, “I’m watching, I’m watching!”
Seeing Yan Qing return her gaze to the computer screen, the two finally relented and looked away.
Yan Qing felt like she was sitting on pins and needles, not daring to look, yet not daring not to look.
As the chaos on the street escalated, her dad and mom showed no signs of leaving; instead, they seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the scene, their eyes glued to it.
If this continued, not only would Yan Qing risk a mental breakdown, but Chu Shiyu and the others might also fall into danger. They needed to find a way to draw them away and quickly obtain the high-quality gene drug.
“Ye Huai, I’ll find a way to draw them out of the study so that Yan Qing can get the high-quality gene drug. If they refuse to leave, I’ll barge in and kill them, and you keep me updated on the situation in the study.”
Ye Huai nodded, “Okay.”
“Can you see the location of the safe on the surveillance?”
Ye Huai adjusted the angle of the surveillance, and the footage showed a large bookshelf with a cabinet door about a person’s height on the right, “It should be in the cabinet.”
“Good.” Tong Yang nodded, shouldering her backpack, equipping her gun and dagger, “I’m not sure if there will be danger here. If someone breaks in and I can’t leave without going crazy, then I might as well die in their hands. I’ll find a way to come back and save you.”
Ye Huai said, “Okay,” pausing for a moment before asking, “Time loop?”
He could guess this, and Tong Yang wasn’t surprised; at this point, there was no need to hide it.
“Yeah.”
After saying that, Tong Yang pushed open the bedroom door and walked out.
“Please do not leave the bedroom.”
Aunt Liu stood in the corridor, her gaze icy.
Tong Yang ignored her and walked straight toward her.
“First warning.”
“Please return to the bedroom.”
“Second warning…”
With a silenced pistol, she fired a bullet at close range, hitting Aunt Liu in the abdomen, and a blood hole immediately spread across her body.
She stood there, her body unmoving, still just staring at Tong Yang.
In the moment they brushed past each other, Aunt Liu raised her arm, but Tong Yang quickly grabbed it.
Tong Yang twisted her arm behind her back, yanked her hair, and slammed her down onto the ground. With a “thud,” blood stained the floor.
Then, she pulled Aunt Liu’s head up to check the forehead wound, and as she expected, the wound was covered in crimson liquid and was healing rapidly.
So disgusting.
Tong Yang tightened her lips, drew the dagger from her waist, and slashed Aunt Liu’s throat. The gaping wound bled profusely, but it wasn’t enough; in a few minutes, the wound would completely heal.
Tong Yang pressed her head down onto the ground, using the blade to sever her trachea completely. When she reached the cervical vertebrae, the dagger was no longer enough, so she pulled out a kitchen knife she had prepared in advance, raised it high, and brought it down heavily until she completely decapitated her.
At this moment, she noticed that the flesh on Aunt Liu’s neck was writhing and growing, but she couldn’t find the part connecting to the body, so it couldn’t complete the healing.
“Healing?” Tong Yang’s fair neck and cheeks were splattered with specks of blood, and she sneered, “Let’s see how you heal now.”
Watching the girl’s swift and brutal actions on the monitor, Ye Huai was momentarily stunned.
She didn’t leave directly but picked up the bloody head, leaving the corridor. The surveillance footage followed her outside, where she chopped off a branch and shoved it into the wide-open head, then planted it into the flowerbed soil before turning to leave.
Tong Yang didn’t believe that it could still heal like this.
She wasn’t sure if the high-quality gene drug could bring someone back to life.
If it could, once the parallel world produced this drug on a large scale, the real world would eventually be trampled by them.
“Tong Yang, the alarm has gone off,” Ye Huai reminded her.
In the study, the expressions of the two people sitting beside Yan Qing changed drastically.
“Qing Qing, stay in the study and don’t leave.”
“We’re going out for a bit.”
Yan Qing immediately breathed a sigh of relief, nodding repeatedly, afraid they would change their minds.
“Tong Yang, they left the study; be careful.”
“Okay.”
Tong Yang replied, standing still without leaving.
Her goal was to draw Yan Qing’s parents out, giving Yan Qing time to open the safe and obtain the high-quality gene drug.
Next, she just needed to stall for time like everyone else and find a safe place to meet up after everything was done.
While waiting for Yan Qing’s parents to arrive, a phone call came in.
Unlike the others who were using social media for voice calls, her call didn’t interrupt their conversation; they just couldn’t hear the sound for a moment.
“Tong Le…”
Seeing the name flashing on the screen, Tong Yang couldn’t help but frown.
Why did he suddenly call her?
Tong Yang hesitated for a few seconds, remembering that she had promised Tong Le yesterday that she would answer if the call went through.
In the end, she still picked up the phone.
“Hello, sister,” Tong Le’s clear voice rang in her ear.
“What’s up?”
“What are you doing? Are you playing outside with Sister Shiyu?”
Tong Yang said, “Yeah, we’re playing a game.”
“What game? Have you eaten?”
“An all-encompassing zombie game, I have eaten.”
Just then, two figures appeared in the corridor, heading straight for Tong Yang.
Wearing her headset, answering the phone didn’t affect her movements.
She took the initiative, raising her hand to fire two shots, but the ones coming were not Yan Qing’s parents but law enforcers in black uniforms.
“Sister, what’s that sound over there?”
“Game sound effects.”
The law enforcer who was hit didn’t fall immediately but stubbornly moved closer to Tong Yang.
Tong Yang controlled one of them, the blade cutting through his skin, but the wound was still healing. Had he also injected the gene drug?
High-quality gene drugs were rare; the law enforcers must have been injected with inferior gene drugs.
To stop the wound from healing, Tong Yang did the same, using the kitchen knife to chop off their body parts directly.
“Sister…”
“Game sound effects.”
“Did you have lunch?”
“I did! I ate with Lin Lin!”
“Alright, I’ll hang up for now.”
“Okay! You and Sister Shiyu be careful; I’ll wait for you to come back.”
“Sure.”
Tong Yang didn’t continue the conversation and hung up the phone.
He usually called her in the evening, and today he called early, probably because of yesterday’s conversation that made him feel uneasy, so he called to confirm.
After reconnecting with the group, Tong Yang asked, “What’s the situation on Yan Qing’s side now?”
“Damn it!” Yan Qing roared, “I can’t open the cabinet door; I haven’t even seen the safe!”
Tong Yang asked, “Where are they now?”
Ye Huai said, “One is approaching you, the other…”
“I opened it!”
Yan Qing shouted, “I finally opened the cabinet door! The safe is so big! Bigger than me!”
Ye Huai’s voice turned serious, “Be careful; that woman suddenly returned.”
“Damn?” Yan Qing gasped, hurriedly inserting the safe key into the lock.
At the same time, hurried footsteps sounded behind her.
Her mom stood by the door, her voice cold as ice: “Qing Qing, what are you doing?”
Yan Qing trembled all over, “Mom…”
Tong Yang cursed under her breath, just as she was about to head to the study, she collided with Yan Qing’s dad.
“Bang—”
A gunshot rang out, the bullet grazing Tong Yang’s shoulder.
She immediately ducked behind a pillar, firing three shots at Yan Qing’s dad, but unfortunately, she had never handled a gun before and wasn’t skilled enough, missing several shots. Moreover, the other party could heal, and even with a gun, she couldn’t easily get close, resulting in a stalemate.
“Mom, I want to open it and take a look…” Yan Qing’s panicked voice came through the earpiece.
Tong Yang gritted her teeth; it was not a solution to continue like this.
“Bang—”
At that moment, a gunshot rang out from not far away.
Tong Yang focused her gaze and saw Ye Huai standing in the corridor, smoke rising from the gun’s muzzle, as Yan Qing’s dad fell forward, having been shot in the forehead.
It was unclear whether his wound would heal, but Tong Yang didn’t have the energy to deal with him; she warned Ye Huai to be careful and ran toward the study.
Ye Huai then turned back to the bedroom to help them check the surveillance.
Yan Qing watched her mom approaching her, instinctively taking a few steps back, her body pressed against the cold safe, nervously saying, “Mom, I just wanted to take a look…”
“What do you want to see? Qing Qing, what’s going on with you?”
Her mom stepped in front of her, glaring at her.
“Your friend killed Aunt Liu; didn’t you love her the most since you were little?”
Yan Qing was cornered by her, shaking her head and not daring to speak.
“What do you want? Mom can get it for you, okay?”
Her mom grasped her hand, twisting the key to open the safe.
She was almost pressed against Yan Qing, her tone aggressive: “Qing Qing, have you forgotten? Dad told you not to open the safe without permission.”
At some point, she had produced a glinting dagger in her hand, and her expression had turned extremely sinister.
“Who are you? Where is my Qing Qing?”
“Mom! I’m Qing Qing… I’m Qing Qing…”
“You are not Qing Qing!”
“Yan Qing, get away!”
As Tong Yang rushed to the study door, her mom had already thrust the knife toward Yan Qing’s eyes.
“Qing Qing, be gentle; if you get hurt, Mom will know if you are the real Qing Qing…”
Yan Qing heard Tong Yang’s voice and caught a glimpse of the open safe beside her. Forgetting everything else, she bent down and hid inside.
“Bang—” The safe slammed shut.
Her mom stared blankly at the closed safe, murmuring, “Qing Qing…”
Tong Yang breathed a sigh of relief, quickly shooting her mom in the chest, then moving forward to twist the key. The safe indeed couldn’t be opened anymore.
“Yan Qing, are you okay?”
“Sister Tong Yang, I’m fine; it’s very spacious inside! Much safer than outside, and there’s a ventilation fan! You scared me to death!”
Tong Yang said, “The safe can only be opened again in an hour; we’ll meet here then.”
“Okay! Sister Tong Yang, be careful…”
“Attention all residents of District One, the time anchor has appeared, and her location information will be broadcasted throughout the district.”
“Attention all residents of District One, the time anchor has appeared, and her location information will be broadcasted throughout the district.”
“Attention all residents of District One, the time anchor has appeared, and her location information will be broadcasted throughout the district.”
At the same time, the voice echoed through all the broadcasts in District One.
