"That's exactly what I meant!"
The woman spoke, and as everyone around her turned to look, she found herself feeling more confident for no particular reason.
Of course, she wasn't trying to seek justice for the dead man. After careful consideration, she knew perfectly well that his death would make obtaining supplies twice as hard for her.
That was the only reason she had stopped Fan Shang: to see whether she could get some compensation out of him. Even catching his attention in the process would be a good outcome.
The woman was very confident in her figure.
"So you're saying Sequence Users are obligated to protect your lives?"
"Yes! You Sequence Users are supposed to protect us ordinary people. Otherwise, what gives you the right to awaken a sequence?!"
As she answered, the woman raised her snowy-white neck, looking for all the world like a white swan.
She was very pleased with what she'd said. After all, this was exactly what she'd done before the apocalypse: stir up conflict and firmly side with the majority,
then wave the banner of fighting for their interests, and the other side would inevitably cave under the majority's attacks.
She knew this tactic inside out. Otherwise, she couldn't possibly have gained so many followers.
Her words had clearly stirred the thoughts of those around her, and that realization made her grow even more assertive.
After all, with over thirty people against Fan Shang and these few sequence transcendents, she couldn't see how she could lose.
Zhou Ping, meanwhile, was so furious at her words that he laughed.
He'd never imagined an Impostor like this could exist in the world.
He couldn't even understand how she could bring herself to say something like "Sequence Users are supposed to protect ordinary people."
"Heh. You make it sound like we owe you something. We save you out of goodwill because we're all human. If we don't feel like saving you, who gives a damn whether you live or die?!"
Zhou Ping's voice abruptly turned sinister in the latter half of his statement.
Frightened by his words, the woman took two hurried steps back.
Then she recovered, and her voice grew louder again.
"Who do you think you're scaring? Everyone, come judge for yourselves! Do you think us ordinary people have it easy? Ever since we came to this hellhole, we haven't had enough food or warm clothes, and those monsters keep hunting us down. You're the only ones who can fight them now."
"If you don't fight them, are we ordinary people supposed to do it?"
"Everyone, isn't that right?"
At her words, the survivors who had been watching the spectacle froze.
They hadn't expected to be dragged into it.
Some of the smarter ones saw Zhou Ping's dark expression and lowered their heads. The less intelligent ones, however, began whispering among themselves after hearing her words.
"She's right. With great power comes great responsibility. Maybe we even deserve some credit for them awakening their sequences. They have to keep us safe!"
"Exactly. These Sequence Users take the most supplies every time. They take so much from us, so they have to take responsibility!"
"Hah. Isn't it just fighting supernatural monsters? If I were a Sequence User, I'd definitely do a better job than them."
As the murmurs rose around them,
Zhou Ping's face went red with anger, while the woman only grew more confident.
Seeing this, Zhou Ping felt an overwhelming urge to go up and punch her.
But just as he moved, a hand landed on his shoulder and stopped him.
He turned. It wasn't Liu Tie who had stopped him.
It was Fan Shang.
Zhou Ping opened his mouth to say something.
But Fan Shang spoke first, smiling cheerfully.
"So, you-what do you want?"
"The man's already dead. I won't bother telling you that the dead can't come back to life. So what do you want out of all this?"
As he spoke, Fan Shang had already walked up to the woman.
He was still stained with the supernatural creature's blood, and coupled with his corpse-pale face, the sight frightened her into taking another step back.
But then she thought of her pitiful remaining supplies, along with the time it would take to find another man.
Of course, the most important thing was the voices supporting her from behind.
The woman mustered a little more defiance.
Staring straight at Fan Shang's young but pale face, she spoke.
"Supplies!"
"We need supplies."
The woman deliberately emphasized the word "we."
"It's all your fault for not acting sooner! You got my man killed, and you got so many of us killed. We need compensation! We need supplies! You owe us all of that. We need to be compensated."
As soon as she finished, several people in the crowd chimed in.
"Yes! We need compensation! We need supplies!"
"My husband died. It's all your fault..."
"My child died. If you hadn't kept refusing to act..."
Listening to these complaints and murmurs, Fan Shang found it strangely amusing.
So he patiently spoke.
"Fine. You say your man died because I didn't act in time. Fine, I'll accept that. I can give you supplies, too. But what about them? Surely their deaths weren't my fault as well?"
Fan Shang smiled as he looked around at the crowd.
When the people who had just joined in met his faintly amused gaze,
somehow, the sight of that slight smile in his eyes sent an inexplicable chill through them.
They all lowered their heads.
"Of course, you can say it was my fault, too. But you'll have to give me a reason. Otherwise, I'll assume you're provoking me."
Fan Shang's voice was calm.
But the cold menace in his words was almost palpable.
The woman failed to pick up on it-or rather, she'd never considered the possibility that Fan Shang might attack her outright.
After all, she hadn't done anything, had she? She'd only talked. Even a sequence transcendent couldn't kill her just for saying a few words, could he?
The woman was still stuck in the mindset that killing required a reason.
So at that moment, she had only one thought.
And that was...
Damn it, don't they say stupid college students are easy to manipulate? This guy's ruthless. He's actually trying to divide us.
After racking her brains,
the woman finally came up with a way out.
"Setting aside whether you're actually at fault, are you saying their deaths have absolutely nothing to do with you as a Sequence User?"
Fan Shang: "?"
Liu Tie and the other two: "??"
Everyone: "???"
"Hey, what the hell are you talking about? You..."
Zhou Ping's eyes widened, and he couldn't hold himself back any longer.
He was about to roll up his sleeves and attack, but Liu Tie firmly held him down.
"Brother Tie, why are you stopping me? This woman-fuck, I can't take it anymore."
"Enough. You don't need to do anything. Just watch."
Liu Tie gestured for Zhou Ping to look.
And there was Fan Shang, staring at the woman without a trace of expression.
Even from this far away, Zhou Ping could feel the chill on his face.
Yet the woman was still babbling absurd demands like "You have to compensate me and all of us with supplies."
As for Fan Shang,
even he was struggling to keep his composure now.
Honestly, he didn't know how this woman could bring herself to say those things.
But Fan Shang knew how to shut someone up!
After letting her talk for this long, Fan Shang felt he'd already been merciful enough.
"...Anyway, from now on, if we run into supernatural monsters again, you have to protect us first."
When she finished, the woman looked up at Fan Shang.
She didn't see the anger she'd expected on his face.
Instead, his expression was calm, and cold.
As their eyes met, she felt a chill shoot from the soles of her feet straight to the top of her head.
"You..."
"Are you done?"
"If you're done, you can be on your way to the afterlife."
With that, he gave the woman no chance to speak again.
A foul-smelling axe blade rapidly grew larger in her eyes until it filled her vision.
Squelch-!!
Before you continue