Ark Chess Player

Her lingering humanity told her that this person was one of the few who had offered them a helping hand in all these days.

We must never repay kindness with enmity. If we attack this person, how are we any different from the infected members of the Reunion Movement?

"It's okay."

A person who looked exactly like her suddenly appeared beside her, with a sinister smile on his lips, sharp and ruthless eyes.

"You see that car? If you can take it, you can leave this hopeless city. Haven't you been dreaming of escaping here? Now is your best chance." Another version of her, shrouded in shadow, spoke, a familiar yet strange voice echoing in his mind, like a demon chuckling in his ear.

“He just saved us! Without him, Rada would have died, Anna would have died, Rosalind would have died, Natalia would have died! And I could have done nothing, I couldn’t have done anything!” Sonia roared in her heart.

Winter, General Winter, was the name Sonia was called with fear by the students at Peterheim High School. She liked the nickname; it was cool, but she knew it all too well.

She doesn't deserve it.

She doesn't deserve it yet, at least not now.

No matter how much she enjoyed landing her fist on her enemy's face, and how reassuring the sensation of bone touching the other's face was, there were limits.

Faced with those mutated monsters, monsters who were once students themselves... she was utterly helpless. Her hands trembled, her breathing became erratic, and she could do nothing alone.

Sonia once fantasized about fighting against a torrent of steel alone in her dreams, confronting a giant beast by herself, and being able to face her father's slaps without fear.

The reality, however, was cruel. When she saw the monster, she wanted to run away and hide, and she dared not and did not want to face it head-on.

If Sonia had no one to protect by her side, she might even perish from her own fear and eventually become one of these monsters.

She was just an idealist, self-righteous, and hypocritical hero.

"You're right. Without him, we would all have died here sooner or later."

Surprisingly, the part of me that was smiling so maliciously agreed with this, but...

"But what if he just leaves like that? How much longer can we hold out here? That mixture of rice and water with weeds, the moldy, green-spotted bread, the barely drinkable filtered liquid... Ha, all of that will be burned to ashes in the second fire. You won't even have any left to eat. Wait, are you going to keep eating that meat? Even if you did, how much meat is left to eat in this city?!"

Sonia's other self in her consciousness was like an actor, performing with great emotion.

She grinned maliciously and pointed at the girls behind Sonia, as if taking stock of the food in the refrigerator.

"Who should we start eating? Right, let's start with Natalia! Isn't she a noble from Fourth Middle School? Who doesn't hate nobles? If the noble students hadn't attacked the commoner students from the very beginning, plundering food, fighting for resources, and building their so-called bases, using their numbers as an excuse to enjoy the food at the food station, laughing as they watched others fight tooth and nail for a few grains of rice, standing high above and looking down on everyone's lives, maybe things wouldn't be like this now! It's all their fault, it's all their fault!"

—Not entirely, if there hadn't been that first fire, if there hadn't been that fire.

"Yes, but don't forget, you started the second fire."

—Me! I...I just wanted to find their leader, to talk to them, but I accidentally knocked over the candlestick, and then...

"Yes, yes, yes. Whether it was unintentional or reckless, so what? You know the outcome better than anyone else."

The twisted self displayed an extremely mocking smile, taunting, "This fire shattered the stronghold of the nobles and also destroyed the last food supply point in the school! Everything is beyond repair. This fire caused the indiscriminate chaotic fighting among the students to burn down all obstacles. We could have held on for a few more days, but in the end, you burned everything to ashes!"

Like a clown's manic laughter, the dark side speaks of the regret that Sonia has been accumulating over the days, plunging a sharp blade deep into her heart, causing unseen blood to flow.

"Ah, let's eat Rosalyn after we finish Natalia! There's not much flesh left in the first place, and those monsters even took a piece off her. We have to take her while she's still fresh."

Sonia, her gaze lingering on the shadows, looked at Rosalind, who was limping. The short-haired girl wore only thin clothing on her upper body, the sleeves of which were torn. The arm that Rada had previously wrapped with her own clothes was now bandaged. Rhine Lab's emergency spray was more effective than expected, not only stopping the bleeding but also bringing the girl back from the brink of death. There's a reason why Kroos is so expensive.

"You are General Winter, she is General Summer. One is the harsh winter, the other the blazing summer. You should be irreconcilable enemies, you should be fighting to the death. What made you soften your heart and accept her? Isn't the excuse you need enough? Just how scared are you that you need to find a sense of security like this? Don't forget, when she came to you, you had just chopped those traitors who tried to kill you while you were asleep into pieces. It's a pity that you hadn't made up your mind then, otherwise you would have frozen them as food reserves, and maybe you could have survived this winter."

Shut up!

Sonia screamed inwardly, but with a playful smile on her lips, she refused to let her go.

"Remember that incident? Rosalyn went to confront the Reunion Movement, but she returned unharmed. Everyone else who tried to break out was killed by that little white dwarf. Why was she the only one who survived? What did she do? What did she sacrifice? Why did all the masked people disappear the day after she returned? Everyone who remained at the school, whether noble or commoner, turned into monsters. Black pus flowed from their swollen, ruptured limbs, and their heads split open, revealing new heads, like insects breaking free from their cocoons. In the end, the monsters wandered the school hand in hand."

Rosalyn wouldn't do that; it has nothing to do with her! It's all that little dwarf's fault, all his fault!

"Really? You dare say you've never had such a thought?" The chaotic self laughed loudly. "I am you, and you are me. This is my thought, and it's also your thought."

—Stop talking, I've heard enough. Get out, get out of my mind!

"Not enough, not enough! Everyone has a place according to your own order. Next is Rada, ah, such precious medicine was used on her halfway, what a waste. I hope she can take responsibility and make Natalia and Rosalind as delicious as possible before it's her turn. Even I would find it hard to swallow if I just tore them off..."

--shut up! shut up……

Sonia felt as if all the blood in her chest was about to drain away. She no longer had the strength to argue. In self-reproach, she was slowly losing something very important; her humanity was disappearing.

"The last person. To be honest, I didn't expect it to be her."

The bizarre, malevolent creature fixed its gaze on the blue-haired, blue-eyed girl, and suddenly burst into a terrifying, maniacal laugh.

"Hahahaha!! Why her of all? Huh? If she hadn't brought those people here, you wouldn't be dreaming about those traitors who want to attack you every night, right? What is it that makes you put her first in your heart? Is it because she shares the same name as your mother, Anna? Don't make me laugh. I am you, I know you, I understand you. You're just using her as an excuse. As long as there's a reason, violence isn't unacceptable, is it?"

A chaotic and evil self-awareness stretched out its arms, and pieces of walking clothing rose from the ground, surrounding Sonia at its center.

Their gazes were fixed on Sonia. They had no bodies, no heads, but Sonia could sense that they were laughing, a half-smile.

"A school uniform that can walk is truly imaginative for self-protection."

The pitch-black creature, shrouded in darkness, scoffed disdainfully: "Indeed, compared to headless zombies, this scene is a bit more peaceful."

—It's so noisy, get out, get away from here!!

Sonia wanted to escape, but she had nowhere to go. The moving school uniform surrounding her gradually revealed the shapes of her companions.

Anna, Rada, Rosalind, and Natalia stared at her expressionlessly, as if they were conducting a trial.

The shadowy figure, now completely plunged into darkness, stood in the middle of the crowd and pronounced to Sonia: "You are guilty."

--I don't.

Natalia, stained with blood, stared blankly at her. She lowered her head and murmured to herself, "You saved me because of your guilt in starting the second fire."

—I don't want to kill you.

Rosalyn, clutching her arm, forced a smile, her lips twitching as she endured the pain: "Don't take it so seriously, you just accidentally hurt yourself."

—I can't stop thinking about this!

Rada, her body pierced by the monster, her blood pooling on the ground like a lake, stared at Sonia and said, word by word, "You deserve to die."

—I am not guilty of such a crime.

The pages of the red-covered book were scattered on the ground, her braids came undone, and Anna, her glasses broken, hung the familiar short axe around her neck and wiped it away.

"I hate you."

"I……"

Sonia's body trembled suddenly, and her complex and stagnant inner turmoil came to an end.

For her, time seemed to have passed for a very long time, but it was just a matter of a moment.

She needs to make a decision.

Abandon the pride of being human, abandon moral principles, abandon everything except survival.

As a survivor, as a resident of a gray world, as a villain whose hands are stained with life.

As if to push her to the edge of an abyss, the omnipresent, dark self, transformed into black mist, leaned close to her ear and whispered, "It's alright. Haven't we been doing this all this time? For food, for protecting our companions, how many times have we done this? Kill him, kill him instantly, without any mercy."

Sonia's hand holding the short axe trembled, as if invisible hands were supporting her shoulders, teaching her step by step how to do it.

"Keep an eye on this guy in front of you. No matter how weak he is, he's still the one who defeated the Sarkaz infected. First, cut off his hands, then his feet, and finally chop off his head. That way you can drive this car and take two people with you. As for who those two people are, don't you already know?"

Sonia slowly raised her hand. The axe, stained with the blood of humans and monsters, still had pieces of meat stuck to it and emitted a strong stench.

"Sonia?"

Anna, supporting Natalia and Radamanthys, watched Sonia's back and vaguely sensed what Sonia was about to do. She quickly called out, "Sonia, wake up!"

She tried to run up, but in her haste she tripped over Natalia and Rada, and the three bear cubs fell heavily to the ground.

The monocular mirror slipped and crashed heavily to the ground, cracking as it did so.

Anna flung the pendant holding the monocle away and shouted at the girl's retreating figure, "Sonia, wake up! You don't need to feel guilty about that, you did nothing wrong! Don't be impulsive!"

Sonia acted as if she hadn't heard anything; her body convulsed as if in a spasm, with two wills battling within her, neither able to gain the upper hand.

Lin Lu watched her quietly. Within his spiritual vision, he could see so much.

He gave the choice to the girl in front of him, while also anticipating and waiting for her response.

With her hands holding the short axe, Sonia struggled repeatedly, her remaining humanity and bestiality battling each other until a victor emerged.

“Sonia, head of the Ursus Student Self-Government Association. I don’t care what happens to me, but my companions need a place to stay. I know there’s no such thing as a free lunch. I’m willing to give you my life; you can use it however you want. Whether you want to use me as a pawn or resort to the dirty tricks of the nobility, I’ll accept it all.”

Sonia held the short axe in front of her with both hands and bowed her head to show her loyalty to Lin Lu.

She vaguely heard another version of herself hysterically raging, venting, mocking, and howling.

Sonia was prepared, even if doing so was unlike her, unlike... a hero.

Lin Lu stared at her, reached out and took the short axe the girl was holding. The axe was heavy, much heavier than he had imagined.

Sonia's eyes were lifeless. She tried to back away, but unexpectedly, her hand was grabbed and pulled forward, her cheek gently bumping against a solid chest.

Lin Lu hugged the girl, throwing the short axe aside, where it fell deep into the churning mud.

He held the girl's head with his right hand and gently patted her back with his left.

"It's alright, it's alright."

Lin Lu held the girl in his arms, gazing at the still-dim night sky in the distance.

The moon is bright and flawless; the dark clouds will eventually disperse.

Chapter 114 The Seed of Evil

"If you cry now, no one else will see it."

Lin Lu held Sonia in his arms and whispered in her ear, as if a demon were talking in his sleep.

There are only two places where a girl cries: either when she's alone in the bathroom, or when she's in her father's arms.

Although Lin Lu isn't a bear dad, he's a professional when it comes to being a father. He's either the father of his enemy, beating them up like a son, or a loving father to a sweet girl like Amiya, treating her like candy to be kept in his mouth or ice to be held in his hands for fear of melting—he's a middle-aged man after all.

Mr. Lin, who is known as the perfect man, are you kidding me?

"I won't cry..."

The girl protested softly, but her voice was full of sobs, and her body was trembling. Her little hands were tightly clutching the vest on Lin Lu's chest.

Sonia tried to hold back; she didn't want to show even a hint of fear or exhaustion in front of her companions. She had to pull herself together; she couldn't just give up like this.

...But the chest in front of her felt so good that Sonia pressed her cheek against it. She could hear Lin Lu's heartbeat, and she could smell his scent—a very pleasant scent. Besides the all-too-familiar smell of blood, she also smelled the sunshine.