[Hello guys, I have completely corrected the previous Chapters and made huge changes. Please read again from Chapter 67 to get a better idea of the Chapters.]

The motion was simple enough, but the closeness made Yan Cijin’s fingers pause for half a second. Bai Li brought her lips to Yan Cijin’s palm and placed the capsules into her mouth. That brief touch on her palm was almost nothing, just a quick contact that disappeared in an instant, but Yan Cijin still felt it clearly. Her ears turned a little hot, though she pretended not to notice and quickly lifted the bottle of mineral water to Bai Li’s lips. She tipped the bottle carefully and fed Bai Li water in small amounts so she would not choke. Bai Li took three sips, enough to swallow the medicine, then lightly waved once to show she did not want any more. Yan Cijin immediately stopped, screwed the cap back on, placed the bottle aside, and sat quietly beside her again.

Bai Li was truly exhausted by then. She leaned back against the cabinet behind her and allowed herself a moment to rest, her shoulders settling slightly as if her body had finally admitted how tired it really was. Only then did she notice the zombie blood still on Yan Cijin’s face and neck. There were dark streaks along her skin, and even though they were not as bad as Bai Li’s own bloodstains, they still stood out clearly. Bai Li glanced at her once and reminded her in a low voice, "You still have zombie blood on you, wipe it off." Yan Cijin nodded and reached into the backpack again. She pulled out a wet wipe, then took out her phone and began wiping the blood off her face and neck bit by bit, adding disinfectant as well so the smell would not linger too much. She moved patiently, carefully, almost methodically, cleaning away the grime and blood that had collected there over the course of the night. It took a long time. More than ten minutes passed before most of the bloodstains on her body were finally cleaned away, though a few marks still remained on her clothes. But with so many people still in the room, there was obviously no place or reason to change them. The whole room remained tense, and even as the two of them took care of themselves, the others kept glancing over from the side with a strange mix of discomfort and curiosity.

Once Bai Li and Yan Cijin had finished dealing with their wounds, Wang Bo finally broke the silence. He had been quiet for a while, probably watching everything carefully and waiting for the right moment to say something that might sound useful. He straightened up a little, then looked toward Yan Cijin with a forced smile on his face. "Dr. Yan, right? I only remembered after wiping my face clean. You’re the most beautiful girl in our hospital, who doesn’t know you?" The way he said it made it sound almost flattering, but there was also a clear attempt to soften the earlier tension in the room. Yan Cijin didn’t even bother to glance at him. Her expression stayed flat, detached, and she did not reward his words with even the smallest reaction. That annoyed Wang Bo a little, though he still kept smiling like nothing had happened. He clearly wanted to continue, wanted to smooth things over in the most shameless way possible, so he went on, "It was all a misunderstanding just now. We thought you were zombies and didn’t mean to fight you. We’re all from the same hospital, so everyone should relax."

His words hung in the air for a moment, awkward and insincere, and the room stayed quiet enough that even the faint noises from outside felt far away. Bai Li remained leaned against the cabinet, her expression cold and unreadable, her bandaged hands resting near her lap while she kept watch on everyone in the room. Yan Cijin, meanwhile, still did not respond to Wang Bo. She simply sat beside Bai Li, her face calm again after wiping the last of the blood off her skin, her phone resting in one hand and the wet wipe in the other. The atmosphere between the two women remained strangely steady, almost quiet enough to feel separate from the rest of the room, while the others all sat there waiting and watching, each one measuring the situation in their own way, and Wang Bo’s smile stayed fixed as he tried to keep the conversation going.

Yan Cijin looked at Wang Bo, her face turning colder by the second, and the look in her eyes was not the same calm indifference she usually wore around others. This time, something had shifted deep inside her. A memory had surfaced, clear and sharp, as if a curtain inside her mind had been pulled open all at once. It was not just some vague flash either. It was the kind of memory that came with weight, with smell, with sound, with the ugly feeling of disgust that had once been buried and then forcefully brought back to the surface. She stared at Wang Bo’s smile, and in that instant, she remembered the previous life she had lived through, the one where she had still been too trusting, too soft, too foolish to see human nature clearly.

All her lives had followed the same broad route, yes. The apocalypse came, the interdimensional market appeared, the zombies spread, and she kept going forward trying to survive. But not every single day had been identical. There had always been small differences, little events outside the main path, little side happenings that the world itself seemed not to care about. If her life was a book, then those things were the small scenes the book rules did not fully control. And one of those scenes was coming back to her now in painful detail. Back then, after getting the powers from the interdimensional market, she had broken out of the zombie crowd with all the strength she had gained, and then she had gone down the hospital stairs alone. She had already used up a huge amount of power killing zombies one after another, her body running on pure force and survival instinct. Then, when she reached the tenth floor, she had heard screams calling for help. She had still been naive then. She had still believed that people, even in the apocalypse, might be worth saving if they were desperate enough. So she had gone toward the sound.

That was when she first met this group.

Yan Cijin was already close to her limit.

Her body was tired, her breathing was a little rough, and every step she took down the stairs felt heavier than the one before. Yet she still kept moving because these people were not strangers to her anymore. She remembered Wang Bo very clearly, that nasty bastard who had acted so low in front of her just a short while ago, calling her benefactor with a face full of fake respect, begging her to save them together with the others. They had all been shaking in fear when the zombies came, and at that time she had still thought they were just ordinary people who were scared and weak. She had thought that since they were heading toward the hospital anyway, she might as well help them go down safely. So she had been clearing the zombies one after another, cutting a path for them, forcing herself to keep going even though her legs already felt tired. Six useless burdens behind her, and she still had to spend extra strength just to make sure none of them got bitten or dragged away. If she had been selfish, she would have left them behind long ago. But she had not been selfish. She had still gone forward.

By the time they reached the sixth floor, she was no longer in perfect condition. Her forehead was slightly damp, her hand was still steady but her energy had dropped a lot, and she knew she needed a short rest. Yan Cijin did not want to push too hard and collapse in the middle of nowhere, so when she found an empty room, she finally stopped and let them rest there first. It was one of those quiet rooms with no zombies inside, only broken furniture and dust on the floor. She leaned against the wall for a while, then slowly sat down and closed her eyes. She did not really sleep deeply. She only wanted to recover a little, to calm her body and gather back some strength. But even then, those people could not stay honest for even a moment.

At first they had pretended to be grateful. They had acted like she was their only hope. But the moment she said they had to wait and rest before going out again, their faces changed. One of them started complaining right away, saying why did she need to rest now, why could she not just take them all the way out, why did they have to stop here. Another joined in, then another, all of them speaking as if she owed them a complete escape, as if she was not the one who had been fighting for them until now. Their voices got louder and more annoying, and even in her tired state, Yan Cijin could feel the greed and impatience in them. She had stared at them then with a blank face and thought, maybe I really should have killed them already.

But her old self had been too naive. She had still believed there was some line they would not cross.

That night, while she was lying back with her eyes closed, Wang Bo, Zhang Fan, and Lin Da made their move.

They had long since been hiding filthy thoughts about Yan Cijin. They had looked at her strength and felt fear, but at the same time they had also felt desire. The kind of desire that came from ugly minds that did not care what a woman wanted, what she felt, or whether she had saved their lives or not. In their heads, she was only a powerful woman, and in their eyes that meant they could still try their luck if she was weak enough. Before this, they had not dared do anything because they knew they could not beat her. But now she was tired, now she was resting, now they thought they had found their chance. Their greed had grown teeth. Their cowardice had turned into cowardly courage. And just like that, the six of them quietly gathered together, speaking in low voices, planning to tie her up first and then force themselves on her.

None of them thought there was anything wrong with it.

That was the most disgusting part.

Wang Bo was the first one to move. He had found a steel pipe from somewhere and held it up in his hand, trying to come closer to Yan Cijin’s head. He probably thought one hit would be enough. He probably thought he could make her unconscious before anything else happened. His face was full of twisted excitement and fear at the same time. Behind him, the others were already in position, breathing fast, their eyes full of filth. One of them even had a rope in his hand, ready to tie her up like she was some kind of animal.

But Yan Cijin was never really asleep.

Her eyes opened in the next instant.

Everything changed in a flash.

Her hand shot out so fast that Wang Bo barely had time to react. He had not even finished lifting the steel pipe when she grabbed it with one hand and twisted it away from him. His eyes went wide, his mouth opened in shock, and before any of the others could even understand what was happening, Yan Cijin pulled the pipe down and drove it straight through his chest.

The sound was horrible and sudden.

Wang Bo froze like his whole body had turned to stone.

His face stayed stuck in that same stunned expression, his eyes shaking in disbelief as blood poured out of the wound. The steel pipe had gone clean through him. For one second he looked like he still did not understand it. Then his knees bent, his body shook, and he dropped straight to the floor with a wet thud.

No one spoke.

No one could speak.

The room had gone dead quiet except for the sound of their own breathing and the soft dripping of blood.

Yan Cijin stood up slowly. Her face was calm, even cold, and the half sleepy look from before had already disappeared from her face. In its place was something far more frightening. She looked at them like she was looking at trash that had finally been thrown in front of her.

Her eyes moved from Wang Bo’s body to the others.

Then she laughed.

It was a low, cold laugh, without any warmth in it at all.

"Must you really be like this?" she said.

Her voice was quiet, but it hit them harder than a shout.

Zhang Fan’s face turned pale in an instant. Lin Da took a step back and nearly tripped over his own feet. The others, who had been standing behind them a moment ago, now all looked like they had been struck by lightning. Their faces were full of fear, and their earlier dirty thoughts had turned into panic so fast it was almost funny. One of them dropped the rope right away. Another raised his hands like that would somehow help him. None of them had expected Yan Cijin to be awake. None of them had expected her to move so fast. None of them had expected Wang Bo to die so easily.

Yan Cijin looked at them with utter disappointment.

"You people," she said, her tone flat and calm, "really think I am blind?"

One of them swallowed hard and tried to speak. "W wait, no, no, Miss Yan, listen to us, we were just joking, we did not mean it, please, please forgive us."

Another immediately followed, "Yes, yes, it was Wang Bo, it was all his idea, we did not do anything yet, we really did not, please let us go."

Zhang Fan fell to his knees, his face twisted with fear. "We were wrong, we were really wrong, please, we know you are strong, we know we should not have done this, but please, give us another chance."

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To be continued.