Before she could speak, Ling Jiang said first, "I think we shouldn't leave any loose ends. This is not the time to be soft."
So much for her overthinking. Neither of them was a decent person.
Tch.
How was she supposed to curse them out?
"I know we can't be softhearted. I'm not going to beg for them," Lan Jin replied. "But how do we deal with them? Just throw them down?"
Lan Jin's thinking was naturally straightforward and brutal. But right now, they were in the corridor by the usual entrance and exit. The people they had already tossed down had piled up around the 24th floor entrance. If they threw more down, there might not be any space left to get in or out.
Besides, leaving a heap of bodies there was hardly pleasant to look at. For a moment, Lan Jin hesitated.
Still, whatever they decided to do, having this conversation openly in front of their captives—was that polite? Brother Li heard their exchange and realized they weren't joking. His face went pale as he begged, "Sister, I was wrong! Please let me go. I swear I won't come back."
"Men's promises? You think I'm stupid?" Ling Jiang sneered. "If I let you go, you'll gather a crowd to get revenge." She grabbed Brother Li by the collar and slapped him several times in quick succession, each blow making him cry out.
While their attention was on Brother Li, Qian Jun, still lying on the floor, suddenly twisted his face into something vicious. He propped himself up and snatched the axe lying beside him. Without a second thought, he swung it toward Ling Jiang's unprotected back…
But even if they hadn't noticed, with Qian Jun's current strength, he wouldn't have reached her.
Still, the motion was enough to startle. Lan Jin, frightened, spun around, grabbed the axe with both hands, and yanked hard to wrench it away…
And that's when tragedy struck.
The moment had been too urgent. Lan Jin hadn't had time to control her strength. Not only did she pull the axe away, but she also, in one smooth motion, flung Qian Jun right over the corridor's edge.
Qian Jun traced an arc through the air, screaming all the way from the 31st floor until he hit the frozen ground outside the 24th with a loud thud. And that was the end of him.
…
Silence.
No one dared look at Lan Jin, afraid they might be next.
In truth, Lan Jin was more nervous than any of them. She had never once lost control of her strength like that before. Glancing around at the others, she finally muttered awkwardly, "I didn't mean to. I was in a rush and couldn't control it."
Ling Jiang nearly spat blood at that. But since Lan Jin was one of her own, she shot her a quick look, motioning for her to come stand behind her.
Lan Jin kept defending herself. "I really didn't mean it."
That innocent expression of hers made goosebumps rise on everyone's arms. How could a woman say the most harmless words while doing the most terrifying things?
Innocent?
She had thrown a man over the edge and sent him flying that far. Innocent?
Anyone who believed her was a fool.
Ling Jiang, however, didn't think Lan Jin was scary—she thought her strength was incredible. It was something Ling Jiang could do too, but only with a lot more effort.
Looking at Brother Li, who had collapsed on the floor and was now crawling away, Ling Jiang was just about to speak when hurried footsteps came from the stairwell.
Moments later, Lao Gao and Huang Jinghe arrived, panting.
They had thought what happened downstairs was shocking enough. But the looks on the people's faces here—looking at Lan Jin and Ling Jiang like they were ghosts—made them unsure how to even start asking questions.
Lao Gao stood frozen for a while before finally whispering, "What did you two do to scare them like this?"
Lan Jin answered, "Nothing."
Right. Nothing. She had just thrown some "trash" downstairs. By accident.
But hearing her say "nothing" only made the frightened captives shrink back farther. Brother Li, near tears, said, "Sister, we were tricked by Qian Jun! I swear we won't ever come again. Please let us go!"
Lao Gao frowned. Like Ling Jiang, he didn't believe in leaving enemies alive. He hadn't seen what happened, but he wasn't keen on letting these people walk away.
"No."
The refusal came instantly.
Seeing that Lao Gao wouldn't relent, Brother Li kept pleading, "Big brother, big sister, we really know we were wrong. We were trapped by Qian Jun, really we were!"
None of the four believed a word of it.
In the end, after a quick discussion, they decided the obvious choice was to kill them. There weren't many captives left in the corridor anyway. But before doing that, Lao Gao said, "Shouldn't we clean up the trash downstairs first? Or do you expect me to go do it myself?"
Huang Jinghe stared at him in disbelief. It was one thing to kill someone. But to wring the last bit of work out of them before their death—make them clean up their own mess—was that even human?
Yet no one disagreed. Ling Jiang even nodded approvingly. "Exactly. Why leave a mess? They should clean it up."
Brother Li's face crumpled. These people weren't human. They were devils.
Then again, weren't he and his group the same, when they had the upper hand?
In the apocalypse, the strong prey on the weak. Who still talks about rules?
Resigned, Brother Li dragged the corpses of his fallen companions far away, clearing the entrance of the 24th floor. When they were done, Ling Jiang struck each of them hard at the back of the neck, knocking them out cold.
Lao Gao stripped them of their clothing. "If they wake up before they freeze, they're lucky. I'll let it go."
"You're so generous," someone muttered.
By now, night was falling and the temperature was dropping fast. If the unconscious captives didn't wake within minutes, they'd never wake again. Not that Lao Gao had any real intention of leaving. He stayed put until every last one of them froze solid before finally walking away.
So yes, he had only been talking. He had never meant to give them a chance.