Chapter 117: If You Interest Me, I Will Spare You

“Wait!”

Just as the dagger in Qin Sheng’s hand was about to fall, Zhang Dong suddenly shouted. Qin Sheng frowned, but still lowered her hand.

Since he was already a man with one foot in the grave, she might as well hear what Zhang Dong had to say.

“Qin Sheng, I know I can’t beat you. If I tell you something you’re interested in, will you let me go?” Only after fighting Qin Sheng did Zhang Dong realize how absurd his earlier plans had been. He was no match for her at all, and he was beginning to regret ever agreeing to Guo Jun’s request. Now even his own life might not be safe.

Qin Sheng thought for a few seconds, then said lightly, “That depends on whether what you say interests me.”

As soon as she finished, Zhang Dong let out a breath of relief. Thankfully, Qin Sheng did not seem that eager to kill him. Otherwise, why would she have stopped attacking just to consider his words?

In truth, Qin Sheng was not really thinking it over. She was merely toying with him. Killing a trash like Zhang Dong outright would be letting him off too easily.

“The drugs were all ordered by Guo Jun,” Zhang Dong said quickly. “You know I’m just a little thug. How could I possibly defy something ordered by the captain of the guard unit? I had no choice. I was helpless too...”

He kept talking about his supposed difficulties, completely forgetting all the people he had bullied and killed by relying on Guo Jun’s influence.

Qin Sheng’s expression remained calm. She even idly picked at her ear, clearly not interested in a single word he said.

Seeing that Qin Sheng’s expression did not change at all, Zhang Dong became nervous. He rubbed his hands together and hurriedly searched his memory for every detail of his meetings with Guo Jun, trying to come up with something that might catch her attention.

“Guo Jun wanted me to kill you. He could never allow you to take the seat of the Seventh Captain. He said that if you became the Seventh Captain, the entire safe zone would be thrown out of balance...”

Zhang Dong kept talking to himself, never noticing the ridicule on Qin Sheng’s face.

What did he mean, that the entire safe zone would be unbalanced if she took the seat of the Seventh Captain?

Hadn’t she come here through a fair competition and won it with her own strength?

Qin Sheng found this kind of casual erasure of a person’s achievements utterly disgusting.

He even claimed the whole safe zone would be unbalanced. More likely, it was just Guo Jun himself who felt unbalanced. If Qin Sheng became the Seventh Captain of the safe zone, the ones suffering would be none other than Guo Jun and Guo Ting.

Not to mention that it would make dealing with Qin Sheng much harder in the future. From then on, every move would have to be carefully weighed, because the Seventh Captain and the First Captain held equal rank.

Qin Sheng merely curled her lip, still obviously uninterested.

For a moment, Zhang Dong did not know what else to say.

“Then tell me why you wanted to deal with Shen Shi,” Qin Sheng said softly, signaling for him to explain that matter.

Zhang Dong seemed like a dying man suddenly grasping at a lifeline. Yet the shore of death did not seem to be life after all. He knew nothing about Shen Shi or Guo Jun’s real plan; he had only received Guo Jun’s orders. If Shen Shi tried to stop them, then Shen Shi would simply have to die.

Shen Shi was extremely weak, leaning against a tree like a man on his last breath. Only when Qin Sheng called his name did he stir and slowly lift his head.

Those eyes seemed to hold no light at all.

“I...” Zhang Dong opened his mouth, unsure how to answer. After a helpless sigh, he said, “Guo Jun only told me that if Shen Shi tried to interfere, he would have to be dealt with...”

Qin Sheng nodded and said nothing.

Untie the bell, and the one who tied it must be the one to untie it. Zhang Dong was, in the end, nothing more than a tool for murder, and there were some things Guo Jun would naturally never tell him.

Seeing Qin Sheng nod, Zhang Dong grew excited at once and asked, “Then... does that mean you won’t kill me?”

Qin Sheng lifted her eyes, tilted her head slightly, and curved her lips in a faint smile. Yet the face that smiled was cold to the extreme, filled with killing intent. “No.”

The smile on Zhang Dong’s face froze instantly. When he finally understood, his features twisted with fury. “Qin Sheng, you don’t keep your word! No wonder Guo Jun said you’d throw the whole safe zone into chaos. You’re a disaster!”

He cursed wildly. Facing life and death, the reluctance from a few hours earlier no longer mattered at all. It was as if he had already foreseen his own death, and at the end, he still wanted to carry evil through to the very last moment.

“Qin Sheng, may you die miserably! You’ll never become the captain of the Seventh Guard Unit in this lifetime! And that pretty little girl too, the one who seems to be your friend...” For some reason, Zhang Dong suddenly remembered the second arena match, when he had seen Qin Sheng standing outside the stage. Only then did he realize that the girl he had taken advantage of seemed to have some connection to Qin Sheng.

He noticed Qin Sheng’s brow draw together, and the dagger in her hand tightened.

“What a pity. I never even got to touch her properly...” Zhang Dong said lewdly, still savoring how he had taken advantage of the girl that day.

Leaning against the tree, Qin Sheng’s expression was indifferent, like a Rakshasa crawling out of hell. One look was enough to make a person’s soul scatter.

Zhang Dong kept cursing in his own world, as if this would stir Qin Sheng’s anger. As long as Qin Sheng broke, he would not have lost this fight.

And just then, Qin Sheng’s eyes finally seemed to flicker with a different emotion.

“What do you think you can do?” Zhang Dong sneered. “That day on the arena, didn’t you still fail to protect the person you wanted to protect? What a shame I didn’t get the chance to teach that wild little bitch a proper lesson, so you could watch from below as I bullied her. Even if I lose to you today, I didn’t lose to that filthy woman. She didn’t even make it through the second arena round, and now she’s lying in a hospital bed. Do you really think you’re still from the same world after you go back? Maybe you won’t even know where the next man who bullies her will come from...”

Before he could finish, he suddenly went still, his eyes beginning to lose focus. Staring in disbelief at the slit across his throat, he realized Qin Sheng had gone straight for his voice.

He hurriedly clutched the wound at his neck, but it was too late. Qin Sheng had already cut through his carotid artery. Blood burst out at once, staining the ground red. After a single convulsive struggle, Zhang Dong went limp and lost all life.

The air filled with the thick stench of blood. The dagger in Qin Sheng’s hand was still dripping. After dealing with Zhang Dong, her expression did not change in the slightest, though the killing aura around her was so heavy that even standing at a distance one could feel it.

Qin Sheng tossed the bloody dagger aside, then took out a prepped alcohol wipe from her pocket and cleaned her hands. After that, she bent down for some reason, as if taking something from Zhang Dong’s body.

Not only Wang Qiang and Xiao Pang, who were stunned speechless, but even Shen Shi, though not frightened by Qin Sheng, could not help but marvel at how decisive and ruthless she was.

When she first fought Zhang Dong, she could clearly have taken him down in one blow, yet she had deliberately toyed with him, retreating every time she had the chance to strike decisively.

Back then, Shen Shi had not sensed even a trace of killing intent from her.

But now, Qin Sheng’s killing intent seemed to have risen gradually, layer by layer.

Zhang Dong, on the other hand, had failed to see it and kept provoking her, pushing her all the way to the peak.

For a moment, the entire safe zone fell into dead silence.

Even the foolish-bearded man was stunned senseless by the scene. He had always thought Zhang Dong was the most formidable person around, never imagining that before Qin Sheng, Zhang Dong was no different from an ant she could pinch to death at any time.

The one with truly terrifying strength was the petite girl standing before them.

It was hard to imagine such power living inside her body.

Unfortunately, by the time the foolish-bearded man understood, it was already too late. Taking advantage of Qin Sheng wiping her hands, he looked around and quietly stepped back two paces, intending to make a run for it first.

Just as he thought he could leave the camp unscathed, a flash of light swept past his eyes. The next instant, the blade slit his throat cleanly. The foolish-bearded man looked down and saw the dagger that had crossed his neck now embedded solidly in a tree trunk.

Before he could even turn to look at Qin Sheng, he collapsed, lifeless.

Two deaths in rapid succession, and both men had been among the stronger ones earlier, Zhang Dong and the foolish-bearded man included. The others could only stand there, stunned, not knowing whether their own end would be the same.

A few who had never truly accepted Zhang Dong stepped forward at once, saying they had only sided with him because their supplies had been stolen and that leaving would mean certain death anyway.

They did not dare approach Qin Sheng, so they went to Wang Qiang, who was easier to talk to.

Wang Qiang glanced at Qin Sheng, not knowing why she had remained with her back to them the entire time, and could only arrange things for those people for the moment.

As for the others who had originally supported Zhang Dong, they now turned on a dime and began frantically denouncing him, as though doing so would earn them a chance to keep their lives in front of Qin Sheng.

Shen Shi coughed twice. Just as he tried to stand, he heard the faint sound of a large group approaching from not far away.

In a zombie forest like this, the only large group that could come out like that was a horde of zombies.

Shen Shi immediately tensed. His voice was rough as he said, “Bad news. The zombies are coming.”

It was probably the blood from Zhang Dong and the foolish-bearded man that had drawn a mass of them over.

The moment everyone heard that the zombie horde was approaching, they panicked at once and scattered like headless flies, crashing about in search of somewhere to hide.

“Get up into the trees first,” Shen Shi said, forcing down the discomfort in his body. Together with Wang Qiang, he helped everyone climb onto the high branches to hide for the moment.

If the zombies did not notice them, they would probably just finish eating Zhang Dong and the foolish-bearded man and leave.

If they did notice, they might still be able to buy some time.

Within a few minutes, everyone except Qin Sheng had climbed to the relatively safe treetops.

“Qin Sheng,” Shen Shi called her name. Seeing that Qin Sheng was still standing motionless where she was, he grew worried and climbed back down from the tree. But the moment he came close, he felt the oppressive chill around her.

It was as though some invisible barrier stood there. No matter how he moved, Shen Shi could not get any closer to Qin Sheng.

“The zombie horde is coming. We should hide for now...”

The moment the words left his mouth, he noticed Qin Sheng’s eyes, red as though soaked in blood. Just one glance was enough to leave Shen Shi frozen in place.