Chapter 49: A Hardened Resolve and a Sister’s Fury

After extracting useful information from the three men perched in the tree, I no longer paid them any mind.

I left them clinging to the tree, perpetually clawed at by the zombies below, and calmly closed the window once more.

I couldn’t eliminate them yet. Once my sister finished absorbing the energy from the crystal cores, I would lead her to find Brother Li and discover his true intentions.

Incidentally, I would also settle the score for his transgressions!

No one who dares to harm my sister, Bai Han’s sister, should expect to live comfortably.

Indeed, these individuals had to be kept alive, for they would serve as guides to Brother Li.

However, if two of the three perished, I wouldn’t be concerned in the slightest.

As long as one person remained alive to lead the way, that would suffice.

The myriad experiences during my ten years in the apocalypse, coupled with the fatal scars etched upon me, had profoundly altered my being.

My inherent kindness was now deeply buried within my heart. What surfaced instead was a ruthless resolve, unyielding as bedrock.

Sometimes, if you don’t kill others, they will surely come to kill you.

Just like now, even with the world plunged into the apocalypse, that Brother Li still wouldn’t let my sister go. He even dispatched people to our home, intending to abduct her.

Fortunately, my sister’s quick thinking and shouts drew the surrounding zombies, averting what could have been a dire outcome.

****

“Brother, I’m all done absorbing! My body feels much lighter now.”

Just as I leaned against the window, lost in thought, my sister’s joyful voice drifted from the doorway. Within mere seconds, she burst in with a flurry of excitement.

Indeed, about twenty minutes had passed, so my sister should have finished absorbing those few crystal cores.

Energy from low-level crystal cores is absorbed very quickly. However, once a crystal core reaches Level Three and above, the absorption rate begins to slow considerably.

On one occasion, after I acquired a Level Five crystal core, it took me a full three days to completely absorb all its energy.

“Good. Since you’re all finished, go pack your things. We’re leaving here immediately.”

“? Where are we going, Brother? Outside are terrifying zombies. Can’t we just stay home and wait for the government to send the army?”

“We’ll return later. For now, I need to have a meeting with that Brother Li. It’s too dangerous to leave you alone at home, so I…”

“What? We’re going to find him? Brother, you should have said so sooner! I’m coming, I’m coming! This time, I also possess great power. For that guy to harass me… I’ll punch him so hard he flies away! And that scoundrel Wang Lili, I’ll make sure she knows that Bai Xia is not to be trifled with!”

“…”

“Alright, I’m going to pack now.”

Witnessing my sister’s spirited expression, I couldn’t help but feel a pang of embarrassment. When did her personality become so… spirited?

My sister appeared in a whirlwind and departed just as swiftly. From her recent words, it was clear she harbored a deep dislike for both Brother Li and Wang Lili.

Only after seeing my sister off did I turn around and open the window once more.

The three men in the tree were surprisingly resilient. Despite over a dozen zombies clawing upwards from below, not a single one had been dragged down.

However, upon closer inspection, I discovered the reason they hadn’t fallen.

The three men had torn their shirts into strips, connecting themselves to each other. These makeshift ropes were then tightly bound to the tree branches, ensuring they wouldn’t suddenly plummet.

While this method prevented them from easily falling, if one person were to drop, the other two would inevitably follow.

“Brother, do you think we’ll make it out alive?”

“I don’t know. If I’d known this would happen, I certainly wouldn’t have brought you two along.”

“But we had to come. Brother Li would have killed us.”

“That’s right! Especially at this point. I personally saw Brother Li shoot several people dead without even blinking.”

“Sigh, damned if you do, damned if you don’t. This is such a f*cking mess!”

Listening to the three men’s conversation, my heart remained unmoved.

I had witnessed scenes of even deeper camaraderie than this… though the endings were always tragic, with none escaping death’s clutches.

Fleeting loyalty must be tempered with self-awareness.

When one clearly lacks the means to help others, a swift decision should be made. Prioritizing one’s own survival is always the correct path.

After all, in the apocalypse, one’s life is the most valuable commodity. As long as you’re alive, there’s still hope!

With this thought, I no longer hesitated.

I retrieved a dozen one-yuan coins from my spatial inventory. Then, under the stunned gazes of the three men in the tree, I flicked them one by one towards the zombies below, precisely piercing their heads.

In less than a minute, all the zombies were dead.

The zombies, who had moments ago been thrashing wildly beneath the tree, were transformed into layers of stacked corpses, a sight the three men in the tree found difficult to accept.

“Now, take me to see that Brother Li.”

I smiled at the three men, my eyes growing even colder.