Edge of the Apocalypse
Chapter 40 - 38: Judge by Actions, Not Intentions

Chapter 40: Chapter 38: Judge by Actions, Not Intentions

"What are you doing!? What are you doing? What did I do? Why are you tying me up?"

Yu Dong had bound Zhao Yun’s feet with nylon zip ties, leaving her kneeling on the ground.

"Tell me how you turned Zhou into a zombie."

Yu Dong was fully geared up. His face was hidden inside his helmet, its visor a black reflection that made his expression unreadable.

"Zhou turned into a zombie? How is that possible? When I heard him leave this morning, he was perfectly fine."

Zhao Yun wore an expression of complete ignorance.

Yu Dong nodded.

"Put your left hand on the table. Spread it flat."

"Huh... What for?"

Zhao Yun subconsciously complied. Yu Dong drew the tactical knife from his waist and, with a single strike, chopped down on her pinky.

SQUELCH!

A gush of dark red blood sprayed out. The sharp tactical knife had sliced clean through the pinky on Zhao Yun’s left hand.

"AHHHHH!!!!"

Clutching her left hand, Zhao Yun writhed on the ground like a maggot.

"Tell me how you turned Zhou into a zombie."

"I didn’t! I told you I didn’t!!!"

"Put your left hand on the table."

"No! I won’t!"

SLICE!

Yu Dong slashed at her right hand—the one she hadn’t managed to hide...slicing off her index finger and half of her thumb.

Blood gushed out, flesh torn asunder.

Zhao Yun stared at her right hand, her face contorted in agony. All her prior composure was gone, replaced by disbelief and profound terror.

"AHHH!!! IT HURTS!!! STOP CUTTING!!!"

"Refuse me again, and I’ll just chop your entire hand off."

Yu Dong’s voice was so calm, as if he were talking about something as natural as killing a chicken for its feet, that it made Zhao Yun’s blood run cold!

At that moment, Zhao Yun saw a glimmer of Lin Xiaojun in Yu Dong.

"Now, tell me how you turned Zhou into a zombie."

"I’ll talk! I’ll talk... I’ll tell you...."

She wasn’t ruthless. She was just a spineless coward who caved after twelve kicks, letting them do whatever they wanted with her...

With blood gushing from her two-and-a-half severed fingers, Zhao Yun spilled everything.

"It was a needle... a needle dipped in Zombie Blood. Lin Xiaojun gave it to me and told me to prick you or Zhou Jianguo with it. I couldn’t find a chance to get close to you, so I pricked Zhou Jianguo in the middle of the night. He got infected with the zombie virus."

"How were you so sure Zhou would turn in the morning and not eat you during the night?"

"Lin Xiaojun told me. He’d tested it. The change takes about twelve hours... Wait, that’s not right. He should have turned around lunchtime, when you were all eating. Why did he turn this morning?"

"Where did he test it?"

"Building Three... On the day of the big storm, he went to Building Three. He found two male survivors, pricked them both, and twelve hours later, they turned into zombies!"

"That animal!"

Yu Dong was filled with rage, yet his gaze on Zhao Yun was one of utter confusion.

"You... why are you doing Lin Xiaojun’s bidding? And don’t tell me he didn’t take part. I don’t believe it."

"He... he was part of it, but he’s good to me... He takes care of me, always gives me food and water. And he said that as soon as they find other women, I can be... free."

"Okay, so you’re a worthless slut. I have one last question."

Yu Dong stared into Zhao Yun’s eyes, searching for any sign of intelligence. This next question was the real reason he’d dared to let Liu Ye’ye allow Zhao Yun into their building in the first place.

"You made it into Building One. You were free. We weren’t going to force you into... that kind of thing, and we weren’t starving you. You’d already achieved your goal. What reason was there to keep working for him and try to destroy this place? Isn’t that getting your priorities completely wrong? You were a property manager. Your brain should be sharp enough to figure that out, right?"

Zhao Yun seemed to find this question amusing. She looked at Yu Dong with pity.

"You think you’re tough because you can bully me? You think cutting off a few of my fingers makes you a hardass? Lin Xiaojun is way more ruthless than you!"

"Who do you have? Zhou? Some powerless old geezer. Can he compare to Jiang Xupeng or Liang Mian?"

"You can’t win against Lin Xiaojun and his people. This place will belong to them sooner or later."

"The rules of this world have changed. It’s the survival of the fittest. Only a truly strong person can keep me alive. You’re not it..."

Zhao Yun believed that the strong deserved respect. The more shameless and unscrupulous you were, the bigger your piece of the pie. This was the lesson from her thirty-two years of life, and it was the key to her climbing from a vocational school student to a property manager.

Yu Dong nodded. He understood everything now.

’Being ruthless and able to fight gets you everything... Heh. A brainless rightist.’

"A ’bright fist’? What’s that? I’m telling you to surrender now, open the door, and offer up Liu Ye’ye. Brother Jun might spare your life. Otherwise... you’ll end up just like Zhou."

She didn’t know yet that Liu Ye’ye was also dead.

’Yu Dong knew Liu Ye’ye’s death was an accident. She was trying to save me...’

’She succeeded, but at the cost of her own life.’

Rage coiled in Yu Dong’s gut, threatening to erupt.

His hand went to his knife as he shot Zhao Yun a cold glance.

"Ignorant."

CLANK! CLANK!

There was a sound at the main door, and it wasn’t a zombie.

A flicker of joy crossed Zhao Yun’s face, and she cried out, "Brother Jun—"

The word caught in Zhao Yun’s throat.

Because Yu Dong’s knife was already at her throat. The tip pricked her skin, and a trickle of blood ran down.

The fear of death consumed her. She felt like she couldn’t breathe. She knew that if the blade pierced her, she would die.

Her heart was in her throat.

’Yu Dong’s cold gaze made her regret everything. She shouldn’t have said those things to provoke him. She could have kept playing the victim...’

But after three seconds, Yu Dong put the knife away. He tied her hands behind her back and gagged her with a pillowcase.