According to the scrawny man, Xu Xiaohuo, the group had been celebrating a friend's birthday at an internet café when the outbreak began. They managed to kill a few people who had turned into zombies and barricaded themselves inside the café. However, starvation forced them to venture out, eventually reaching the supermarket. Of the original thirteen, only five remained alive.
Among them were Dong Feng, the bald leader; Ju Tou, a yellow-haired brute; Quan Ge, a man with an eagle tattoo on his arm; and Yuan Zi, whose face was adorned with a conspicuous bandage.
Yellow hair, tattoos, bald heads, and bandages—it all seemed oddly familiar.
Ruyi frowned, pondering for a moment before a curse slipped from her lips.
No wonder something felt off! These weren't random survivors—these were the perverts from Chapter Four who had tried to assault me!
Initially, when Xu Xiaohuo mentioned there were five of them, she hadn't made the connection. But the distinctive descriptions? How could she forget?
What a twist of fate! The realization brought a sinister grin to her face, one that made Xu Xiaohuo's already bruised visage pale further.
Both groups stopped a safe distance apart, and Ruyi peeked from behind Xu Xiaohuo.
The four men across from her visibly gulped.
"Your toy gun looks pretty realistic. Where'd you buy it?"
The unexpected comment nearly made Ruyi trip over her own feet. She had been mentally rehearsing an intimidating opening line, something straight out of a movie. But this...this wasn't in the script.
Apparently, the speaker's teammates thought it was embarrassing, too, as Ju Tou promptly kicked Yuan Zi for his stupidity.
It was Quan Ge, the tattooed man, who finally stepped up with something more polished:
"This was our fault, miss. But these are dangerous times, and it's better to be safe than sorry. Since you're unharmed, why don't we apologize and put this behind us?"
As he spoke, his eyes remained glued to her chest, the lecherous glint in his gaze impossible to miss.
Only then did Ruyi remember her current attire—just a tight black tank top and stretchy jeans, after having stripped down for agility.
She wasn't one to brag, but her looks and figure were undoubtedly in the top tier. People always said she took after her father, Ji Tao, whose striking features had once captivated her well-to-do mother, Qiao Huixin, despite his status as a small-time delinquent. Of course, their whirlwind romance was more the stuff of tragic love stories than fairy tales.
Reality always proves that no love can withstand the pressure of an empty stomach.
Realizing the men were mentally undressing her, Ruyi shot them a glare sharp enough to cut glass.
"'Sorry'?" she snapped, her tone icy. "Do you think a half-assed apology is enough? I nearly died because of you! Or is your brain so full of crap that you think everyone else is as stupid as you?"
"Dammit, she's just asking for it!" Ju Tou growled, his eyes devouring her figure. "That gun's probably a fake. Let's jump her and see how tough she really is!"
Ruyi's smile turned razor-sharp. "Oh, so you want proof? Who should I demonstrate on?" Her gaze flicked coldly across the group before landing on Xu Xiaohuo.
With a saccharine smile that sent shivers down his spine, she asked sweetly, "How about you?"
Xu Xiaohuo immediately panicked, his body trembling as he yelled, "Quan Ge! Don't listen to Ju Tou! I swear it's real! I'll stake my reputation on it—it's more real than real!"
"Pfft!" Ruyi couldn't help laughing as she kicked him hard in the backside. "Your 'reputation'? You're a riot. Get out of my sight. I'll let you go this time, only because you've been entertaining."
Xu Xiaohuo hesitated, his joy at being spared mingled with reluctance.
The truth was, Ruyi's gun was real—but she had no aim to speak of. In a chaotic fight, her stray bullets would do more to summon zombies than to hit their intended targets. When she'd first drawn the weapon, it was to intimidate and stall for time, just in case her opponents were part of a larger group.
Now that she'd identified these thugs as the same ones who had harassed her earlier, she felt much more confident. Even her pre-apocalypse self could have handled two or three of them without issue. After all, it had only been in the heroine's over-the-top storytelling that Ji Ruyi was portrayed as useless, weak, and hysterical.
"You're still here? Want me to escort you out?" Ruyi asked sarcastically as she holstered the gun. She knew better than to rely on gunfire unless absolutely necessary. Zombies' decaying ears might not hear much, but the noise of a gunshot would surely draw them in droves.
Xu Xiaohuo yelped in relief, dashing toward his companions.
Has he been watching too many action movies? Ruyi thought, bemused by his theatrics.
Her deliberate actions seemed to unnerve the remaining four men. Quan Ge, the most cunning of the group, eyed the massive blade strapped to her back.
He couldn't help but assess the situation more carefully. He knew the dangers of the outside world too well; their original group of thirteen had been whittled down to five. Yet here was Ruyi, a lone, seemingly delicate woman, standing unscathed after navigating zombie-infested streets. Her calm demeanor and faintly mocking gaze suggested she was far from ordinary.
Still, Quan Ge wasn't ready to back down entirely. "Miss, we're not afraid of you, but you should know how sharp those zombies' senses are. If we fight and attract them, it'll be game over for all of us. Why not sit down and talk instead? In times like these, we should stick together to survive."
Ruyi raised an eyebrow, surprised by his attempt at diplomacy. Despite his reasonable words, she wasn't fooled; the way his eyes roved over her left no doubt about his true intentions. Still, he had a point—if a fight broke out among the cluttered shelves, the chaos could easily spill over. The smell of fresh blood alone could invite disaster.
"Fine," she said after a pause. "I'll overlook what just happened. But let me make this clear—don't try anything stupid, or I won't hold back. I fought my way through hordes of zombies to get here, and I can fight my way back out."
With that, she unsheathed her enormous blade and slung it over her shoulder, striding confidently toward the food aisle.