Chapter 28: Rivers of Blood

“Stop!” Su Miao shouted loudly.

She was terrified to the extreme, but the uncle who was pushing the door showed no intention of stopping—he actually quickened his pace.

They were starving.

The people in this villa still had roasted fish to eat, which meant there was plenty of food stored inside. There might even be others upstairs. Therefore, it was absolutely necessary to first control this young woman.

They were here for a bite to eat.

Once they were fed, they wouldn’t trouble the residents. As long as the original inhabitants kept a room, there would be no issue.

The uncle reached out his hand, already imagining the roasted fish he’d soon enjoy, steaming rice, and perhaps even a sip of wine…

Suddenly, a sharp pain struck his chest. Without warning, he collapsed.

Seconds after he fell, he heard others dropping to the floor nearby, close enough to touch. But his vision faded, then his hearing, until all that remained was the terrifying pain in his chest, as if a nightmare abyss had swallowed him whole.

Just before he lost consciousness completely, a random thought crossed his mind: How did she shoot so accurately in such darkness?

In the blink of an eye, five people lay on the floor.

Blood pooled across the floor, slick and sticky.

Su Miao stood with her crossbow, pressed against the wall, utterly frightened.

She hadn’t expected them to break open the cabinet so violently, then charge at her directly—it was terrifying!

She quickly reloaded the crossbow, and another aunt collapsed.

This time it was a young woman.

In a moment, eight bodies lay dead on the floor.

Those who were about to rush in saw the corpses and the pooling blood, and screamed in terror.

“Aah!”

“Murder! Murder!”

“So young, yet so cruel! I’ll fight you to the death!”

Someone, seeing a loved one killed, charged at Su Miao in rage, desperate for revenge.

Then this woman was struck in the brow by an arrow and fell.

The rest broke down completely.

They scrambled to escape, fleeing faster than they’d arrived.

One slipped on the stairs and fell.

The others paid no mind, trampling over the fallen body in their rush to leave. Yet another, unlucky, stepped on a body, missed his footing, crashed to the ground, head hitting the marble. His body tumbled into the rainwater, and he moved no more.

When everyone had finally fled, three more corpses lay at the entrance.

What Su Miao didn’t know was that some of the escapees, in their panic, forgot about the mudslide zone to the east. Their feet slipped, they fell, and were swept away by the turbulent rainwater.

In the nearby villas, the new residents who heard the commotion outside firmly shut their doors and windows; not a single soul went out to investigate. They were well practiced in handling such situations.

Inside the villa.

Su Miao crouched in a corner with her crossbow, trembling.

When only the sound of torrential rain remained outside, and the living room was quiet again, she slowly calmed down.

But this time, too many had died, all in the living room, making the smell of blood overpowering.

Even the storm winds blowing through the doors couldn’t disperse the stench.

Su Miao searched her magical space and found a kerosene lamp.

Using a small fireball spell, she lit the lamp.

The kerosene lamp, hard to find, had been purchased with difficulty at the wholesale market before the apocalypse began.

With a glass chimney protecting the flame, she didn’t have to worry about the lamp going out.

The living room brightened.

Yet the blood on the floor was so abundant that, under the lamp’s light, it reflected and refracted, painting the entire room red.

Su Miao temporarily put away the cabinet she’d used to block the door and began retrieving arrows from the corpses.

Each arrow pulled out spilled more blood.

The first floor’s environment grew worse.

Su Miao didn’t care.

As long as none of them could speak, she wasn’t too afraid.

Once all the arrows were recovered, she began, starting at the entrance, to push the corpses one by one down the steps into the rainwater.

The torrential rains over the past few days had raised the water at the bottom of the steps to about fifteen centimeters deep.

By tomorrow, she believed, the water would carry all the bodies away.

It took her about twenty minutes to finish.

Afterward, she summoned a small waterball spell to rinse the living room floor.

But with each rinse, the blood spread further, until almost the entire first floor was covered in bloody water. Very little was actually washed out.

Su Miao blinked. Faced with this, she was helpless.

Her water magic extended only as far as the “small waterball spell.”

It was unrealistic to rely on that to clean the whole first floor.

So she gave up decisively.

She closed half the front door, blocked it again with the cabinet, and went upstairs.

Carrying her kerosene lamp, Su Miao entered the second floor living room, just in time to see Xia Xiao’an standing at her door, looking at her in terror.

“Sister Su, are you all right?” Xia Xiao’an’s voice trembled.

“Mhm, it’s over. Go back to sleep,” Su Miao replied.

Xia Xiao’an nodded, returned to her room, quickly closed the door, and covered her mouth.

She’d wanted to mention that Su Miao’s dress was soaked in blood, but fear held her back. Even though she knew that Su Miao had protected her once again.

Su Miao paid no mind.

When retrieving arrows, blood occasionally splashed onto her—it was normal.

She went to the bathroom, filled the bathtub, and threw in a small fireball; the water quickly heated to a comfortable temperature.

Dismissing the fireball, she took off her bloodstained dress, used a small waterball spell for a quick wash, then soaked in the tub for thirty minutes to relax.

The apocalypse world was truly perilous!

And those untrustworthy people—better not let them appear before her again.

…

In another villa, He Weixin, the leader of a small group, shivered uncontrollably, gripped by a sudden sense of overwhelming danger.

“Boss, are you all right?” a brother at the table asked with concern.

“I’m fine, keep eating.”

He Weixin didn’t think much of it.

He was grateful to those who’d broken into the villa—they’d left behind so much food, enough to last them a good while.

Just as he thought this, he heard shouting outside.

“Devil! It’s a devil!”

“Aaah! Murder! Murder!”

“Someone save us, please! Help!”

The voices belonged to those who’d been driven out that afternoon. He Weixin watched from the window for a moment, then drew the curtains.

Those trash—let them live or die as they will.