Killing Their Own People

Seeing them, Xie Huiqing first let out a sigh of relief, then her whole body pitched forward.

Xie Yi lunged and caught her just in time.

Only then did the others realize how badly she was hurt. Her hands, clamped over her abdomen, were slick with blood, and her clothes were soaked through in a dark, spreading stain.

Her face was deathly pale, beaded with cold sweat, and she looked utterly frail.

Song Weishi didn't want to think about what would have happened if someone else had found her instead. Would Xie Huiqing have died?

From what she remembered, Xie Huiqing had always seemed invincible. She handled everything with ease; even when disaster struck the city, she steered it through with swift resolution. She was, without a doubt, the heart of Huihai City.

The fact that even the lower rungs could still eat meant this leader was a good one. No matter how hard things got, she never abandoned her people.

And yet, this very woman now faced death—not from monsters, but from internal power struggles and backroom knives.

A hot surge of anger rose in Song Weishi's chest. She spun and cut down a guard charging from behind with a single slash of her blade.

The knife she held was razor-sharp—one cut, and blood sealed the throat.

It was the first time any of them had seen Song Weishi kill like this. Nothing like how she'd fought before.

She never hesitated. In one breath, she dispatched the several people rushing at her, barely bothering to defend.

Her body took two heavy hits. The protective suit and the stab-proof vest beneath were slashed open, but luckily they were only blunt impacts—no open wounds.

Song Weishi quickly taped up the torn spots on her suit, then said coldly to the two behind her: "Bandage her up. Suit up. We're moving. We can't stay here."

Without waiting for a reply, she charged out with her blade raised.

Her wounds weren't fatal. Apart from her vital spots, everything else would heal on its own. She was practically an unkillable war god.

Song Weishi exploited that trait to its absolute limit, cutting down the endless stream of people rushing down toward them.

Out in the open, plenty of others had noticed the commotion. Xie Yi and Xie Huiying moved fast, shouting for Song Weishi to come on so they could leave.

Xie Huiqing tightened the binding around her waist wound, but moving was difficult for her.

The four of them rode the elevator upstairs, planning to break out. Xie Huiying would drag Xie Huiqing—the invalid—along, while the other two cleared a path ahead.

The light in the elevator cast harsh shadows across four grim faces. The moment they stepped out, the thick, cloying stench of blood slammed into their noses.

Song Weishi led the way. She'd barely rounded the corner when Xie Yi yanked her back.

Her back slammed into Xie Yi without warning, and a bullet whizzed past her face—so close it was almost touching—before embedding itself in the wall to her right. Song Weishi broke out in a cold sweat. That had practically grazed her.

Even if she'd survived the shot, battered as she was, no one would give her decent medical treatment now.

All four held their breath. They were being pinned down, and the people below would be coming up soon. They didn't have much time to run.

From behind them came the sound of a round being chambered. Song Weishi turned—Xie Huiqing was standing beside her, pistol raised.

"Stand back. I'll handle it."

Song Weishi didn't know exactly how good Xie Huiqing was, but she glanced at her wounded abdomen and stepped back.

Xie Huiying nervously stepped forward, only for Xie Yi to hold her back. "Qing, your wound..."

Xie Huiqing turned to her sister. "Sis, give me something to throw."

Xie Huiying handed her a weapon. Xie Huiqing took it, hurled it out in one smooth motion, then followed in three quick steps, sliding and dropping into a stable shooting stance.

Two gunshots rang out at once. Xie Huiqing's arms locked rigid, her body didn't sway an inch—though the strain on her waist wound made her hiss through her teeth.

The enemies across from them dropped.

Xie Yi and Xie Huiying quickly hauled her back up.

The man in front had a bullet hole dead between his eyes, and he fell stiffly to the ground. Dead.

Song Weishi clicked her tongue. A crack shot, no doubt about it. That was Xie Yi's gun. Xie Huiqing shoved it back into place and let the two women carry her along.

But her steps were growing shakier and shakier. The wound at her waist kept tearing, each second a new layer of torment.

"Wait. Go in there and grab the meds."

As they passed a research lab, she pointed at the racks of reagents and vials. "Growth factors. Anti-inflammatories."

Xie Huiqing could barely hold herself up anymore. Both hands dug into Xie Huiying's arm to keep from collapsing. At this rate, she couldn't fight on, couldn't even make it out under the others' cover.

Xie Huiying's eyes reddened as she dragged her along, both of them rifling through the vials until they finally found what Xie Huiqing needed.

They couldn't trust the pharmaceutical companies anymore, but this was life-or-death. Priorities had to be judged. If drinking poison meant you lived, you drank first and worried about the antidote after your life was saved.

By this point, Xie Huiqing was already half-kneeling on the floor. Her body was terribly weak, the wound on her belly couldn't be stitched, and it felt like her intestines might come spilling out of the gash.

Blood loss had dulled her mind. She barely had the strength to stand.

If her constitution hadn't been so strong, she would likely be dead by now.

Song Weishi could see she couldn't walk anymore. Her wounds wouldn't survive more running.

Carrying her piggyback wouldn't work either. Xie Yi simply scooped her up in her arms. She was strong, but even in that position, Xie Huiqing couldn't hold out long. Under the growth factors, the wound was closing with agonizing slowness; until it did, she was completely immobile.

In the room, Song Weishi wrenched two experimental shelving racks off their mounts. Pretending to pull it from her pack, she produced a length of rope netting—something from the snowfields she'd never thrown away, which had been used for lashing cargo.

Good thing it came in handy. She stretched the net between the two racks, wrapped a layer of cloth over it, and made a simple stretcher.

She was handy like that—it took her less than three minutes.

The other three stared, mouths open, at the tool she'd practically conjured out of thin air. "What are you standing around for? Put her on it. We move."

The lab had casters too, and Song Weishi didn't pass those up either, sliding straight up under the racks. Maybe Xie Yi and the others would be suspicious of the supplies, but not now—they had no room for that. The tools were all just... here. Whether they believed her or not was their own business.

Xie Huiqing cracked a smile, lifting her head from the stretcher to give Song Weishi a thumbs-up. "Nice work."

Some of the grief that had been weighing on Xie Huiying's chest cracked open, and she shot Song Weishi a grateful look. She smacked Xie Huiqing's hand down. "Still messing around! Girl, just wait 'til we're out—I'm gonna beat you black and blue!"

When she'd first seen Xie Huiqing, she thought her heart would shatter. Fear swallowed her whole. Her hands trembled uncontrollably, her mind went almost completely blank.

She'd even thought to herself: if her sister died here, she would die too—at least her sister wouldn't walk alone.

Xie Huiying had already steeled herself for death. They were outnumbered; there was no guarantee they'd make it out of this.

But Xie Yi had always been reliable, never once giving her worry. And with a friend like Song Weishi by their side, Xie Huiying managed to talk herself out of that dark road.

They had to live—had to. There was still so much time, so many days ahead.

At least she had to get out of here first!

The two of them carried the stretcher, heads down, charging forward through Song Weishi's carnage.

The casters rumbled too loudly over the floor, but bumpy was better than nothing. Xie Huiqing bore up well enough. After downing the medicine, some color finally returned to her face, and she showed no adverse reactions.

Song Weishi's eyes went wild with the slaughter. At first her pistol couldn't hit anything cleanly, so she had to body-shot them and finish them off with her blade. But before long, she was landing one shot per kill.

Everyone in the place had been drawn to the commotion. The man in charge was locked in a ferocious fight with the remaining security guards, and the entire institute had descended into chaos—no one had time to look out for anyone else.

The front entrance was sealed. Everyone quarantined here could only tear each other apart. It had become a full-scale slaughterhouse.

Song Weishi took point, drenched in blood. At times she could barely see where she was going. She'd long since lost count of how many people she'd cut down, and she'd taken plenty of hits herself. Finally she reached the specimen room in the basement, swapped out for a fresh protective suit, and opened the door to the underground passage.

Xie Huiqing's access key had been lost in the fight. The main doors couldn't be opened from the outside, and there was no way to get out through the front. The underground tunnel was their only exit.

Before leaving, Song Weishi sent word to all the security guards, letting them know where the tunnel was. The base had gone to pieces, and Xie Huiqing didn't expect anyone to abandon their own safety to protect her—but she didn't want them dying down here, either.

Footsteps clamored above, people chasing down after them. They were dogging Xie Huiqing's trail, refusing to let go.

Today, these people were absolutely determined to make Xie Huiqing die. Everyone involved was in too deep to back out now—if she survived, she'd come for them all once she got out, even if they killed every single witness in the institute.

For a tech corporation, it was all about shared prosperity and shared ruin. But they resented Xie Huiqing's leadership. She was too humane, and her humanity got in the way of their profits.

Killing her had become the cleanest solution. Installing a puppet in her place was far more reliable than an equal partnership.

The man sitting before the bank of monitors adjusted his glasses, his face twisted with irritation. "Useless. I gave them plenty of time. How can they still let someone get Xie Huiqing out?"

The man standing beside him said nothing. The muscles in his square face twitched hard. He no longer wore the look of deference and obedience he'd shown Xie Huiqing before. His expression was dark as he just watched her on the screen.

So what if she was capable? This world bowed to interest. The bottom feeders didn't need to live like people, and she had to go and do the one thing that made people unhappy.

"Why not just use heavy weapons? The institute's built solid—flatten the whole room. I don't believe she'd survive that."

The man snorted, slumping back heavily into his chair. "You're quite ruthless. But I don't like the sound of that. Go release the Kapok Flower. That thing's already been brought back, hasn't it? Experiments are much more interesting when run on living people."

The square-faced man was stunned for a moment, then exclaimed in shock, "But—there are still our people in there!"

The man half-turned, eyeing him sidelong through his glasses. "A larger specimen pool gives better experimental results. Don't make me say it twice."

The square-faced man lowered his head to hide the shock on his face. "Understood."

The four of them made it down safely. Xie Huiqing's mind was foggy, but she forced her eyes open, cooperating with their movements.

Song Weishi took point. A sense of dread prickled at her heart. After securing Xie Huiqing to the vehicle, she didn't stop—she pedaled ahead as fast as she could.

The sound of the stretcher's casters echoed through the empty corridor. Behind them, the blast door was sealed shut. In theory, as long as the door stayed closed, there shouldn't be any great danger.

But the unease in her chest only grew stronger. Faster. Just a little faster. Fifty more meters and they'd be out. Song Weishi's legs pumped without pause. Through the layers of her protective suit, she suddenly caught a faint, delicate fragrance in the air.