Chapter 16: The Beauty Trap
The sound of the whistle had barely faded when several figures appeared at the warehouse entrance—it was Mohr, Daryl, and the others.
"You two little bitches, put your guns down right now!" Mohr was the first to rush in, followed closely by Tara and Andrea.
All of them had their guns raised.
Little Stone’s hands trembled as she glanced at Wichita in terror.
Wichita’s heart sank to rock bottom.
Six against three; there was no chance at all.
“Gentlemen, I think we can talk this through,” Wichita said as she slowly placed her gun on the ground and raised her hands.
Little Stone followed her example, setting her weapon down and moving to stand beside Wichita with her hands up.
Daryl walked over to Wichita, gave her a shove, and said, “Behave yourself.”
At some point, Amy had brought over a chair and placed it behind Li Changsheng.
Li Changsheng sat down, crossed his legs, and cast a half-smiling, half-serious look at Wichita and Little Stone before turning to Mohr. “Mohr, what happened to the last guy who tried to trick us?”
Mohr looked baffled for a few seconds, but then quickly realized Li Changsheng was trying to frighten them.
He replied, “Boss, that bastard’s name was Rick. We chopped off his hands and feet.”
Li Changsheng put on a menacing face and snarled at the con artist duo, “So, do you two want to lose your legs, or just your feet?”
Little Stone shrank back in fear. “That’s too much... Can you go easy on us?”
Li Changsheng looked up at her. “How would you like me to go easy?”
Little Stone replied in a small voice, “How about just my fingernails?”
Li Changsheng stared at her, his face expressionless.
He leaned in closer, his head drawing near as he stretched out the words, “What do you think?”
Wichita hurriedly stepped in front of Little Stone and forced a smile at Li Changsheng. “I’ll do anything you want, just let her go.”
Li Changsheng narrowed his eyes, a wicked grin playing at his lips. “Anything?”
Wichita shuddered, a bad feeling rising within her. “Y-yes, anything.”
“Then you’ll work for the camp for five years, no contribution points, no pay.”
“What!?”
Li Changsheng, of course, had no intention of keeping them by force. After teaching Wichita a lesson, he let them go.
Yet, surprisingly, when Wichita heard they were heading to the Disease Control Center, she actually chose to stay.
Li Changsheng couldn’t figure out what she was thinking.
Wichita was obviously a strong-willed woman; she must have her own reasons for staying.
But Li Changsheng didn’t care. His strength was absolute, and besides, he believed that having more people with various “skills” in the camp was a good thing, as long as they didn’t cross the line. He could tolerate them.
On the way back, Daryl asked curiously, “Boss, are you really going to take in those two con artists?”
Li Changsheng nodded. “Why, Daryl?”
Daryl looked worried. “I’m afraid they’ll steal from us.”
Li Changsheng clapped him on the shoulder. “Daryl, if we can’t even handle two female swindlers, how can we ever manage a complex camp?”
“These two aren’t evil to the core. If they’d dared to shoot, I’d have ended them already.”
Daryl nodded. “I trust you, Boss.”
There was no need to travel at night, so they all stayed in the supermarket for the night.
It was already past one o’clock when Li Changsheng took his turn on watch.
He stood at the supermarket entrance, quietly appreciating the night while remaining alert to his surroundings.
Suddenly, footsteps approached behind him.
Li Changsheng frowned. He disliked people wandering about in the dead of night—didn’t they realize the trouble it could bring to the camp?
Turning around, he saw Wichita leaning against the door, her hands behind her back, pale legs crossed beneath her dress.
She’d just bathed in his RV.
Li Changsheng asked, “Wichita, it’s late. Why aren’t you resting? What are you doing here?”
Wichita smiled brightly. “I was worried you’d be bored, so I thought I’d keep you company on watch.”
Li Changsheng glanced at the fair-skinned woman, a faint smile curling at his lips.
He already knew Wichita’s background, so he was well aware she had ulterior motives.
Let’s see what tricks you pull.
He said indifferently, “Thanks, but there’s no need.”
Wichita stepped outside, and the chill made her shiver; she quickly hugged her arms to herself.
Li Changsheng tossed her his jacket.
Wichita caught it, her shy smile returning. “Boss, you’re so gentle. I saw that Amy was beaming with happiness tonight. She’s a lucky girl.”
Li Changsheng chuckled; there wasn’t anything serious between him and Amy.
“You’re not so bad yourself,” he replied, somewhat perfunctorily.
Wichita huffed inwardly. She’d always used her beauty to charm men, but Li Changsheng not only saw through their trick, he didn’t even spare her a second glance.
Is my charm really so lacking? Just wait until I trick you, then I’ll dump you hard.
With that, she deliberately took a step forward, stumbling. “Ouch, my foot...”
She clutched her ankle, feigning pain.
Li Changsheng was unimpressed by her poor acting. Did she really think he was some naïve fool?
Still, he had no reason to refuse the advances of a beautiful woman.
He quickly put on a caring expression, slipped an arm around Wichita’s waist—though not in the right place.
Soft! But a bit small...
Wichita gritted her teeth, cursing inwardly: Was that on purpose?
But she’d come this far, so she forced herself to ignore his hand on her chest and continued pretending to be in pain.
Li Changsheng, all concern, dragged her over to the steps and sat her down—his hand never once leaving its perch.
Wichita, teeth clenched, soon realized something was off.
He’d never even looked at her ankle—he was just taking advantage of her.
She glared at Li Changsheng in shame and anger. At last, his hand let go, and he laughed. “Seems your ankle’s all better now.”
“Bastard!” Wichita spat, shoving him away before storming off into the supermarket’s tents.
Tsk...
Inside the tent,
Little Stone saw Wichita return and quickly asked, “Wichita, how’d it go? Did you trick him?”
Wichita was silent for a moment before saying, “Sleep!”
She flopped onto the makeshift bed.
Little Stone stared in disbelief. “Wichita, don’t tell me you lost yourself in the process?”
...
At the Disease Control Center.
As the only surviving researcher, Jenner began recording a video, uploading today’s research results.
“I’m Jenner. Today is day one hundred ninety-four since Project Wildfire began, and day sixty-three since the sudden global outbreak of the disease.”
“No temporary research results to report. It’s currently known that after infection, a person will transform into one of the dead monsters within three minutes to three days. Now uploading records.”
“Record one: I finally managed to shut down the radiation shields in the East Wing, which saved a lot of power. Damn, I should have figured that out sooner—now there’s barely enough electricity to last a week...”
“Record two: The dormitory in the West Wing is completely out of power. I have to sleep in the lab now, my schedule is all over the place, I can’t sleep properly.”
“Living underground means never knowing day from night. But if I go to the main hall, I have to face those bodies—I just can’t do it.”
“That’s all...”