What?! I Became the Zombie Beauty in the Villain’s Arms – CH15

Chapter 15: A Little Anger

Zhao Shunyan parked his heavy SUV in a wide arc, forming a protective barricade around the newly established camp.

As he stepped out of the vehicle, he immediately sensed that something was drastically wrong with the atmosphere.

The ambient temperature was exactly the same as the previous night, but the air felt freezing, suffocatingly heavy—as if a violent blizzard was about to break.

Duan Xiaolin was standing in front of several terrified scavengers. He held a cigarette loosely between his fingers, his dark eyes locked onto them. “So. You let her walk away?”

Zhang Tian let out a shaky sigh, her eyes darting nervously. “We… we didn’t have a choice. I tried my best to make her stay, but she probably didn’t want to cause me any trouble with the squad, so she just left…”

“Alone.”

“Yes.”

Another scavenger, eager to justify their actions, quickly interjected. “She turned into a zombie! Her arms were covered in grey-green rot! Those are blatant symptoms of infection! We couldn’t let her stay in the camp! Brother Duan, our late Vice-Captain said you didn’t hesitate to kill the infected. So long as she’s a zombie, we had to get rid of her, right?!”

Duan Xiaolin exhaled a long plume of smoke, saying absolutely nothing.

The aura radiating from him was terrifyingly oppressive. It was a suffocating gloom that forced everyone to instinctively step back.

No one could tell if he was genuinely furious or if he was simply going to drop the matter entirely.

When Zhang Tian saw Zhao Shunyan approaching, she quickly ran over and quietly summarized what had just happened.

Zhao Shunyan frowned, subtly reprimanding her. “Even if she was infected, she clearly hadn’t fully turned yet, had she? There are thirty of you in this camp, and you were terrified of one frail girl? If she was mutating, you should have just tied her up and waited for me to get back to deal with her. And you just let her wander off into the dark… Let me ask you this: did anyone actually see her get bitten? Did anyone see any fresh wounds or blood on her?”

He shot a cautious glance toward Duan Xiaolin and raised his voice slightly. “For all we know, she might possess a unique superpower that alters her skin tone. And you cowards were so terrified of death that you chased Brother Duan’s companion away into the Gobi. How am I supposed to explain this to him after he was so kind as to help us navigate?”

The logic actually made sense.

Zhang Tian’s face went slightly pale as a wave of intense regret washed over her.

If only I had been a little tougher.

She should have forced Pei Xiqing to stay, even if it meant physically tying her up or locking her in a tent. She had shared a tent with the girl all night; if Pei Xiqing were truly a mindless zombie, she would have attacked her hours ago.

The scavengers, however, remained stubbornly defensive. “How can you expect us not to react when we see the virus?! We were showing mercy by not executing her on the spot!”

“Exactly! If you had seen her arm, you would have panicked too! The skin was grey-green! She looked like her flesh was about to slough off her bones in chunks!”

“Zombies deserve a bullet to the brain! She didn’t even try to deny it!”

“Captain, you were more ruthless than anyone when dealing with mutants in the past! I guarantee you, whether we’re judged by the central base or the operatives of Franlun, our actions were completely justified!”

Zhao Shunyan sighed heavily, turning to Duan Xiaolin with an apologetic expression. “Brother Duan, I really don’t know what to say. Since Miss Pei didn’t actively deny the infection, you can’t entirely blame my men for reacting defensively. They had no other choice. After all, you and I both know how catastrophic the virus is.”

Zhang Tian stepped forward, bowing her head. “I’m so sorry. It’s my fault for not handling the situation better.”

Both Zhang Tian and Zhao Shunyan waited nervously for the man’s response.

Zhang Tian was terrified to even look at him.

Sensing her fear, Zhao Shunyan did something rare. He reached out, gently wrapping his hand around hers and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

It’s fine, his look seemed to say.

When they first met, he hadn’t known the nature of the relationship between Duan Xiaolin and the girl. But over the past two days, he figured she was nothing more than a temporary plaything. As long as Duan Xiaolin was still here to guide them to the central base, the life or death of one random woman was ultimately irrelevant.

Duan Xiaolin flicked his cigarette butt to the ground, crushing it slowly beneath his leather boot. Without a single word, he turned around and climbed into the driver’s seat of the G-Class.

A terrible sense of foreboding hit Zhao Shunyan. He hurried after him. “Brother Duan, wait! What are you doing? It’s pitch black outside. We’ve set up camp and cleared the immediate perimeter. It’s safe here. Where are you going?”

“That has absolutely nothing to do with you,” Duan Xiaolin replied, his voice dropping to an absolute zero.

“Brother Duan, what do you mean by that?”

Duan Xiaolin turned his head, his dark eyes locking onto the Captain. “Since when is it your turn to interject when I decide to do something?”

The night air was already freezing, but Duan Xiaolin hadn’t even raised his voice or made a threatening gesture. Yet, that single, freezing look carried such crushing psychological pressure that Zhao Shunyan physically struggled to keep his head raised.

He hadn’t felt this level of terrifying oppression even when he was deliberately trying to test the man’s combat strength earlier today.

“I’m… I’m sorry…” Zhao Shunyan stammered, trying to regain control. “Brother Duan, if you want to go search for her, we will help you. There’s strength in numbers. We’ve only been separated for a few hours, so she can’t have gotten far. Let us search the city with you. We’ll find her in no time.”

“No need.”

Duan Xiaolin rolled the window up halfway and started the heavy engine.

Zhao Shunyan planted his hands on the door frame, persisting. “Brother Duan, please. There’s no need to do this alone.”

Hearing this, Duan Xiaolin calmly raised his handgun, pressing the cold muzzle directly against the center of Zhao Shunyan’s forehead.

Zhao Shunyan’s blood froze. He hadn’t even registered the man drawing the weapon. The sheer speed and absolute pressure were paralyzing.

He swallowed hard. “Let’s… let’s talk this out, Brother Duan. I know you aren’t the type to act impulsively. Whatever issue we have, we can sit down and resolve it, right?”

Duan Xiaolin smiled. It was a terrifying, hollow expression. “Who told you I wasn’t that kind of person?”

“…Brother Duan, it’s practically suicide to go out alone right now. At least wait until dawn.”

“There is nothing left to discuss. This so-called ‘alliance’ is over.” Duan Xiaolin’s voice was perfectly calm, but every syllable carried irresistible finality. “If you want to stop me, try.”

Zhao Shunyan’s face hardened, his survival instincts and ambition overriding his fear. “Stop his car!”

We cannot let him leave.

If he left, their guaranteed ticket to the central base and their primary source of top-tier intelligence vanished with him.

Several heavily armed scavengers immediately sprinted forward, forming a human barricade in front of the G-Class.

Duan Xiaolin didn’t even tap the brakes. He floored the accelerator, sending the massive armored vehicle surging directly toward them.

Terrified out of their minds, the scavengers dove into the dirt at the absolute last second, barely avoiding being crushed under the heavy tires.

His face twisting in anger, Zhao Shunyan stepped into the road. A massive, crackling sphere of blue lightning coalesced in his palm. He hurled the high-voltage blast directly at the hood of the G-Class.

The millisecond before the lightning struck, Duan Xiaolin jerked the steering wheel violently to the right, drifting the heavy vehicle perfectly out of the blast radius.

He hasn’t used a single ability this entire time, Zhao Shunyan thought, stunned. Even now, he’s just outmaneuvering us with pure reflexes.

“Stop him!” Zhao Shunyan roared at his men, giving chase. “If he leaves, none of us are reaching the base! We’ll all die out here!”

Desperate, several scavengers leaped onto the back bumper of the moving G-Class, while others scrambled into their trucks, intending to ram the vehicle to a halt.

Just as a scavenger managed to pull himself onto the roof of the G-Class, a high-caliber sniper round cracked through the air.

The bullet flawlessly grazed the very tip of the man’s ear.

Screaming in terror, the scavenger tumbled backward off the roof, hitting the asphalt hard. He clutched his bleeding ear, staring into the darkness with wide, horrified eyes.

A dozen bright red laser sights suddenly cut through the gloom, painting the chests and foreheads of every single scavenger attempting to stop the G-Class.

The chaotic camp instantly froze. Nobody dared to move a single muscle.

They all knew that if they twitched, they would be vaporized in the next millisecond.

A targeting laser rested dead center on Zhao Shunyan’s chest. He squinted into the suffocating darkness. Two massive, heavily armored military off-road vehicles were rolling toward them, their high-beam strobes blindingly bright.

Ling Lang was sitting casually on the windshield of the lead vehicle, his heavy assault rifle braced against his knee. Spotting the standoff, he raised an eyebrow, smoothly rolled off the hood, and landed gracefully on the asphalt.

“Well, well. What do we have here?” Ling Lang drawled, a dark smirk playing on his lips. “Are you idiots actually actively seeking a death wish? How dare you attack my brother’s car?”

He walked forward slowly, taking his time as he pressed the extended barrel of his rifle directly against the temple of a frozen scavenger. “You know… the last guy who tried to block my brother’s path is currently rotting in a subterranean water dungeon at the central base, undergoing daily electrocution and flaying sessions. What? Are you boys looking to sign up for the same treatment?”

“M-Military…?” The scavenger stammered, noticing the distinct tactical insignias on Ling Lang’s gear. He immediately dropped to his knees in terror. “No! We swear! We just didn’t want Brother Duan to leave so late! It’s too dangerous outside!”

It wasn’t just Ling Lang. Sixteen heavily armed operatives poured out of the two armored vehicles behind him. They were all wearing elite military combat uniforms, their posture disciplined and their weapons raised. They stared at the rogue scavengers with a mix of curiosity and lethal intent.

Based entirely on the cutting-edge weaponry in Ling Lang’s hands and the terrifying, synchronized aura radiating from the new arrivals, every scavenger in the camp reached the same horrifying conclusion:

This is a top-tier special operations squad.

Zhao Shunyan’s expression cycled rapidly through shock, fear, and finally, a forced, placating smile. “Ah, you guys are back! Thank God. This was all just a massive misunderstanding.”

Ling Lang pressed the barrel harder against the kneeling man’s skull. “Repeat that. What the hell did you just say?”

Zhao Shunyan’s smile froze. “I said it’s a misunderstanding. We absolutely did not mean any disrespect to Brother Duan! We were genuinely concerned for his safety. Leaving the perimeter alone at night is incredibly dangerous…”

“He could run into a horde, yes, we know,” Ling Lang interrupted, his voice dripping with venom. “Do you think I’m legally blind? Or are you just a pack of rabid animals incapable of reading a room?”

Zhao Shunyan’s face darkened furiously. Behind his back, out of sight, he began to secretly channel a concentrated burst of lightning into his palm, preparing a lethal strike.

But before the energy could fully manifest, Long Yan appeared beside him like a ghost, her hand clamping like a vice around his wrist.

Instantly, a surge of lightning—two entire tiers stronger than his own—flooded his system, violently devouring his gathered energy.

Zhao Shunyan’s eyes practically bulged out of his skull. “This is…!”

Long Yan laughed coldly. “What? Have you never felt what Tier-One lightning actually feels like?”

Agonizing, white-hot pain erupted through Zhao Shunyan’s arm, as if his bones had been set on fire. The hyper-dense electrical current bypassed his skin and surged directly into his nervous system, feeling like millions of venomous insects relentlessly gnawing on his muscles.

Every muscle fiber touched by Long Yan’s overwhelming power began to spasm violently and uncontrollably.

Zhao Shunyan gasped for air, his knees giving out. He collapsed into the dirt, his eyes rolling back as he fell unconscious from the sheer sensory overload.

Ling Lang scoffed. “Sister Long Yan, what the hell? I hadn’t even gotten to the fun part of teaching him a lesson, and you already fried him.”

“Oh, please. Stop wasting time with this trash and go check on Brother Duan.”

Ling Lang turned back to his squad, barking an order. “Stop standing around enjoying the show! Get over here! Round these idiots up, confiscate their weapons, and drag them to the center of the camp to await punishment!”

“Sir, yes sir!”

Several massive, heavily muscled operatives broke from the formation, securing the perimeter. Two of them jogged past the scavengers and approached the driver’s side of the G-Class. “Brother Duan! We executed the objective flawlessly! We finished the sweep two hours ahead of schedule! Good thing we pushed the pace, otherwise these rogue bastards might have actually caused a problem!”

“Hey! Back the hell off!” Ling Lang shouted from behind them. “Why are you jumping the chain of command to report directly to the boss?! I’m the Captain of this squad!”

“Your name isn’t even going to be on the commendation roster after this op, Ling Lang! Shut up!”

Every single one of these men was a veteran military operative, having survived brutal elimination trials to secure their rank. Two of them were rare dual-ability users, and the rest were absolute apex predators in their respective power classes.

If you pulled any single one of them out of the lineup, they would be the undisputed champion of their specific ability branch in the wasteland.

Duan Xiaolin slowly rolled down his window, his expression unreadable. “Send Ling Lang over.”

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