Still hoarding supplies in the apocalypse? I'll just go on a killing spree and looting!

Team Leader Song scrambled to his feet, clutching an empty magazine of pistol.

A strange beast almost smashed his head open just now.

He would probably be dead if he hadn't slipped.

The blinding light shining from behind made Team Leader Song turn around.

He raised his hand to shield his eyes and saw a bald woman jump off the armored vehicle.

It was as if they had stepped out of the light.

Her left hand held a strangely shaped curved knife in reverse, while her right hand held another one in the same hand. The serrated edges of the two knives gleamed a cold green light under the car headlights.

She ignored them and walked straight to the most dangerous left side of the defensive perimeter.

There were three strange beasts attacking two armed police officers at the same time.

The bald woman started running, then sped up, before the two armed police officers ran out of bullets.

She rushed to the edge of the battle zone.

The first cut is a diagonal slash.

With his right hand, he cleaved the back of the first beast's neck from the upper left to the lower right with his sword.

With just one strike, the small beast's head fell to the ground.

Then came the second cut, an upward slash.

The left-handed knife pierced the lower jaw of the second beast from bottom to top.

It ripped open the beast's throat, and a large gushing spray of dark green blood spurted out.

The third beast turned to her and let out a threatening roar.

He pounced directly on Lin You.

Lin You simply sidestepped its attack and slashed at its neck with her right hand.

He pressed down on it, using his size advantage to crash into the beast.

Accompanied by spurting jets of dark green blood.

The small beast tumbled and flew away.

It rolled a few times on the ground and struggled to move.

They have completely fallen silent.

Three knives.

Three strange beasts.

The armed police ceased fire, and the entire defensive perimeter fell silent for a moment, with only the sounds of the beast's corpse twitching on the ground and the hissing of dark green blood corroding the asphalt road surface.

Those small, strange beasts were perhaps driven away by the blinding light.

Lin You, who had fought her way out, carried a scent that instilled fear in them.

These small, strange beasts began to retreat into the gray fog.

She flicked the blood off the blade, the dark green blood leaving a trail of streaks under the car headlights.

Lin You turned to look at Team Leader Song, "Is your command vehicle still drivable?"

Team Leader Song looked at her.

He first looked at her knife, then at her bald head, and finally at her face.

Her face was exactly the same as the one on the wanted poster, but it wasn't written on the poster.

She can kill three strange beasts in three seconds.

"It can still be driven," Team Leader Song said breathlessly, "but the driver is dead."

Lin You looked at Team Leader Song in front of her and asked in a casual and indifferent tone, "Well, the apocalypse is here, death is normal. Where are you all headed?"

"Lanhuashan Scenic Area." Team Leader Song ejected the empty magazine, pulled a new one from his waist, and slammed it in with swift movements.

The armed police behind him formed a smaller defensive circle, and some were bandaging the wounded.

Someone was squatting on the ground picking up scattered bullet casings. Every bullet was extremely precious now, because bullet casings could be reloaded after the apocalypse.

"Oh." Lin You's tone was very flat, as if she were talking about the weather. "Don't you know that place already belongs to someone?"

Team Leader Song's hand stopped on the holster.

He frowned as he looked at Lin You. The image of her killing three beasts with three slashes was still in his mind, but his professional instincts made him subconsciously scrutinize the bald woman in front of him.

He stared at that face for eighteen hours, remembering everything from the surveillance footage of the shooting to the wanted poster.

Team Leader Song was silent for a moment before saying, "You mean, that place is already your territory."

"Yes, you can think that way."

Team Leader Song remained silent. Behind him stood an armed policeman, a young man in his early twenties, the one whose sleeve was torn in half.

Unable to hold back any longer, she blurted out, "Just because you say it's yours doesn't mean it's yours! That's a national scenic area, you...!"

"Xiao Li." Team Leader Song raised his hand to stop him.

His gaze never left Lin You.

He wasn't judging whether Lin You's words were true or false.

The man who killed three strange beasts with three strikes didn't need to lie about this; he was judging something else: what conditions this woman would offer next.

"We're going there to set up a temporary shelter," Team Leader Song said. "Lanhua Mountain has a suitable terrain for defense; there's a reservoir and infrastructure on the mountain. If you've already occupied it, we can coordinate. It's all about things before the apocalypse..."

"The events leading up to the apocalypse are over," Lin You interrupted him.

She casually stuck the mantis knife in her right hand into the corpse of the strange beast on the ground; the serrated teeth made a very soft tearing sound as they entered.

It was a strange sound, but now it gave everyone present a chilling feeling of menace.

"Chasing me is your duty. Killing is my revenge. Now, meteorites are falling from the sky, strange beasts are crawling on the ground, and you and I are standing in the same gray fog. Talking about things before the end of the world is meaningless."

Team Leader Song was silent for two seconds. "Then what do you want to talk about?"

"Your command vehicle is still drivable. Your men are still able to fire. You need a safe place, and I need manpower."

Lin You tapped the hood of the armored vehicle with the back of her left-hand knife, producing two crisp metallic clangs.

"Lanhua Mountain Scenic Area is large enough. My base is in an abandoned resort in the north of the scenic area. You can set up camp at the visitor center at the south gate of the scenic area. The two places are two kilometers apart and will not interfere with each other. The water in the reservoir is not drinkable, but I have clean water sources, and I can share the water with you. The same goes for electricity."

After a brief silence, Team Leader Song asked, "Conditions?"

"You are responsible for the security of the base. However, in the event of external threats, such as hordes of alien beasts or other survivor factions, all battles will be under my unified command."

Team Leader Song looked at her. "You want me to obey your orders?"

"I want your gun to be pointed in the direction I want when it matters most. You can manage your own people all the time, I won't interfere."

Lin You stopped striking with her left hand and gripped the mantis knife stuck in the beast's corpse with her right.

He stared at Team Leader Song without blinking.

The posture seemed casual, but Team Leader Song noticed that all the muscles in her body were being engaged.

Thinking of the massive shooting and murder case that shocked the entire city of Z.

Team Leader Song's gaze fell on Lin You's face again.

"Some of your men are injured. I have medicine, survival supplies, and safe shelter. You have manpower, so cooperating with me is not a bad deal for you."

Team Leader Song turned his head and glanced behind him at the team members and armed police brothers who had followed him out.

The young armed policeman named Xiao Li was still glaring at Lin You, but his lips were pale, there was a scratch on his left arm, and blood was seeping from his sleeve and dripping onto his fingertips.

The other armed police officers were watching him—waiting for his decision.

He turned back to look at Lin You.

How do you know the terrain of Orchid Mountain?

"I've been there."

"When?"

Lin You didn't answer. She walked up to the injured armed policeman and waved to the SUV behind him.

Mu Xue quickly jumped out of the SUV, after Lin You gave her instructions in a low voice.

He quickly took out a small bottle of Yunnan Baiyao, a roll of bandage, and two bottles of mineral water from the trunk of the SUV and tossed them into the hands of the young armed police officer.

"Clean the wounds with mineral water, not tap water, it will cause infection." Then she turned to Team Leader Song, "State your decision. You still have wounded soldiers."

Team Leader Song put the pistol back into its holster on his waist.

He walked to the command vehicle, opened the passenger door, took out a vehicle-mounted walkie-talkie, and turned it on.

A crackling sound of electricity came from the walkie-talkie, indicating that the equipment was still usable and had not been damaged in the solar ion storm.

However, the ionosphere disturbed by solar ion storms has made long-distance communication impossible.

The pervasive gray fog now seems to be affecting the communications of the command vehicle.

"Frequency. Use this for future communications." Team Leader Song then recited a string of numbers.

After a simple setup, a short echo came from the walkie-talkie.

"Let's go." Lin You walked back to the armored vehicle, opened the door, and glanced back at Team Leader Song. "Don't stop if there are any monsters on the road."

Team Leader Song looked at her, his lips twitching slightly, wanting to speak but unsure of what to say.

He confirmed that the woman in front of him was the same person who had been chasing him for two days and two nights in a shooting incident.

"Your name," he finally said.

"Lin You".

The armored vehicle starts.

The headlights came on again, cutting through the gray fog.

The command vehicle's engine roared to life, its headlights shining from behind, casting the armored vehicle's shadow onto the road ahead.

It was stretched very long.

On the highway shrouded in gray fog.

Lin You was driving when she saw An An sleeping in the passenger seat. She picked up her shirt and covered An An with it.

The walkie-talkie crackled with the sound of a channel being turned on. "Buzz, Lin You, I'm a little confused."

That was Mu Xue's voice.