(Lirean Province- Capitol City)
(Adna Supermarket)
The gun in Qin Lan's hand was still warm as she pointed it at the men who backed away from the young girl.
She could sense that the fuzzy feeling in her chest was getting stronger by the minute but didn't know the reason why.
"Put your hands above your heads," Qin Lan ordered calmly as she pointed the gun at the leader whose palms were still ablaze.
Boss Deng's pupils dilated even further and he along with the rest of his gang followed her commands immediately.
However, there was an expression of hesitation and confusion on the boss' face as if he was struggling with something.
The other survivors inside the supermarket were too afraid to move.
Who was this mysterious woman and how did she have a gun?
"Are you okay?" Qin Lan softly asked the girl whose uniform was slightly crumpled.
Liu Yifei nodded in shock since she still didn't fully register what had just happened. Gong Li bravely walked up to her from the back of the store and grabbed her hand.
She bowed deeply and thanked Qin Lan before leading Liu Yifei away from the dangerous situation.
Qin Lan nodded slowly, and her expression briefly softened before hardening once more as she stared at the group of rapists.
"Behind… BEHIND YOU!" one of the survivors suddenly yelled in fear.
"The monsters! There are monsters behind you!"
In order to enter the supermarket, Eve had been forced to remove most of the barricades blocking the entrance, so a few zombies managed to sneak in.
"Eve… deal with them," Qin Lan softly whispered without even turning around.
Eve rushed towards the incoming horde of zombies and swung her fist at the nearest one.
The survivors in the supermarket watched in disbelief as her slender fists were capable of breaking bones and tearing holes in the zombies' chests.
Eve was a demon in combat.
She had insane reflexes and her supernatural strength was a force to be reckoned with. Qin Lan wasn't sure if bullets would be enough to take her down.
Qin Lan had full confidence in Eve's ability to deal with the zombies who were attracted to the now open supermarket.
Now she could turn her attention to the more important matters…
What should she do with this gang?
Qin Lan was not someone who believed in second chances especially for men willing to brutalise others in the early days of the apocalypse.
But she had a limited supply of bullets…
The warm fuzzy feeling in her chest got even stronger and for a brief moment it was as though someone else was speaking through her.
"You have two options…." Qin Lan darkly whispered as her creepy voice sent a shiver down the spines of everyone in the room.
"I put a bullet in your skulls… or you take a walk outside. The choice is yours…. actually, I wish that you would take the second option."
"Go… walk outside… you don't deserve safety… you don't deserve food… you want to behave like animals?"
"I'll put you down like animals…"
There was an eerie hypnotism in Qin Lan's gentle voice as her twisted words entered the minds of the group of men and warped their thoughts.
Each man had the same urge to run outside and never eat again or seek out any shelter.
It was as though their natural instincts were being rewritten.
What was truly horrifying was that they had no idea that they were being manipulated and each assumed those strange thoughts were their own.
Only Boss Deng could vaguely sense that something was wrong but an ability user who had not upgraded his gift was no match for Qin Lan.
One by one the men walked forward slowly and then broke out in a mad dash as they ran past Eve and the horde of zombies.
This sudden appearance of prey caught the zombies by surprise and the ones that planned to enter the supermarket were attracted to the men who ran outside.
Boss Deng's movements were jerky and unsteady, but his body kept running as if he was no longer the one in control.
The group of men only managed to get a few hundred feet away before the surrounding zombies pounced on them.
Their horrifying screams and cries of pain could be heard from inside the store as the zombies tore them apart limb from limb.
Boss Deng managed to fend off a few zombies using his fiery power, but his movements were slow and unresponsive to the incoming threats.
He died without knowing why he decided to leave the supermarket without putting up a fight.
Qin Lan pulled out a knife from her pocket and joined forces with Eve to clean up the remaining zombies by the entrance before helping her barricade the entrance once more.
She was amazed that the situation had been resolved so easily but perhaps it was because she possessed a gun.
"Sister? Is that you?" a nervous voice called out from the back of the store.
Qin Lan had just finished pushing the last table against the door so she could turn her full attention to the handsome young man who vaguely resembled her.
Her little brother walked over with hesitant steps until he was only a few feet away.
"I thought you were supposed to be in your dorms," Qin Lan spoke in a tone that she hoped did not reveal her inner annoyance.
Truthfully the original Qin Lan did not see her brother often, so she had no idea if her attitude towards the young man was suspicious or not.
"Sister… what… what are you doing here?" Qin Wei stuttered as he could not recognise the badass woman in front of him with the sister who he vaguely remembered.
"What do you think? I was looking for you…" Qin Lan smiled warmly as she placed the gun back in the holster attached to her hip.
"Are these kids from your school?"
For a brief moment it was as though this was no longer the apocalypse and Qin Lan was just a concerned sister asking about her little brother's friends.
"Umm…what… yeah…" Qin Wei hesitantly spoke.
Qin Lan walked towards the seven students who were looking at her in awe and pulled out a first aid kit from her pocket.
Her brother lingered by the entrance and did not dare to walk over since he could not look Liu Yifei in the eye.
"Was anyone hurt?" Qin Lan asked softly as she approached a girl who was crying and gave her a warm hug.
They were all teenagers.
A few days ago, their biggest concern would be the upcoming mid term exam and now they were in a world that had gone to hell.
Qin Lan opened the first aid kit and carefully treated any wounds or scratches on their skin.
It seems like one of the boys had been punched by the group of men and his left cheek was beginning to swell up.
She advised him to go to the freezer section and put some ice on the affected area to reduce the swelling.
Eve walked over with blood still dripping from her palms.
Qin Lan grabbed a few wet tissues from the shelves and carefully cleaned her hands.
She did not know why she had such a great impression of Eve but somehow it felt right to look after and care for her.
"Don't worry… those bad men won't hurt you ever again," Qin Lan spoke to Liu Yifei who was staring at her with tears in her eyes.
"Here… drink some water…"
She grabbed a bottle and opened it before handing over to the girl who was still trembling.
Qin Lan did not even want to imagine what would happen if she had arrived just a few minutes later.
Unfortunately, that kind of scene would only become more common as social order broke down and humans exposed the darkness in their hearts.
As Qin Lan handed over the bottle of water, her eyes could not help but notice the tattered old pendant around Liu Yifei's neck.
A memory briefly flashed across her mind of a beautiful girl who stood beside a tall muscular man who wore a military uniform.
Lightning crackled in the palm of the man who possessed an intimidating aura.
Behind them was a large group of ability users who seemed to be looking at her with a mixture of fear and hatred.
The girl was whispering something, and Qin Lan could not make out the words but the expression of condemnation on her face was impossible to ignore.
She also wore an identical looking pendant around her neck.
Qin Lan furrowed her brows as the sudden memory from the original Qin Lan faded away and was once again locked behind a white blur.