Chapter 128: Her Superpower Saved Her

The racket outside the camp finally woke the few people who had been resting.

Yuyong rubbed his eyes and stepped out of the tent, and there was Qin Sheng, the Tang saber in her hand pressed against the jaw of the man who had come in the middle of the night, as if she could have taken his head off at any moment.

“Li Qing? Is it you?” Yuyong squinted for a while before he recognized the face beneath the blade and called out quickly.

Li Qing had begged Qin Sheng for a long time, but Qin Sheng, as if she hadn’t heard him, kept the saber at his throat, utterly unmoving.

“Yuyong! Save me—tell Qin Sheng to put the saber away!” Li Qing’s voice trembled uncontrollably. The saber in front of him had once been Qin Sheng’s trusted weapon in her one-on-one fight against the zombie pack, a blade that could drop one with a single stroke, no exaggeration. Li Qing was terrified she might accidentally carve him while holding it.

Yuyong frowned. He understood there had to be a reason Qin Sheng had it on Li Qing’s neck.

He gave Li Qing a once-over from head to toe. When Li Qing noticed the scrutinizing look, he hurriedly tucked something behind him, as if hiding it would erase it from all eyes. Yuyong’s face darkened at once.

“Yuyong, why are you standing there? Why don’t you tell her to lower the saber?” Li Qing’s voice was edged with accusation.

Yuyong’s brows knotted. “We gave enough supplies for the people we sent away. Why did you come here at midnight to steal?”

Again Li Qing, already exposed, halfheartedly shifted the same stuff farther behind him, as if no one would notice.

“So what? We’re all friends. What’s wrong if I take two of your compressed ration biscuits?”

Yuyong tightened his hands and grew more irritated. They had agreed to keep everything in order, yet one of them still broke the rules.
They had already shared what they could. Without supplies left, they blamed us.
Wasn’t that a plain act of moral blackmail?

“Li Qing!”

Yuyong was a straightforward man; when cornered, his words came out clumsy. Even furious, with his beard bristling, he could still not spit out a proper retort.

“I’m saying, Qin Sheng—everyone’s friends here. It’s no big deal to take a little of your stuff. Is it really so hard for you to keep that saber off my throat?”

Li Qing cast another leering look at Qin Sheng, then let his eyes roam over her figure for longer than decency allowed.

Little Nuo, who had stood nearby, could barely bear it. Her face turned cold.

“If you look at me one more time, I’ll gouge your eyes out.”

Before Qin Sheng could answer, Nuo had her hands balled into tight fists and, almost through clenched teeth, thrust out the threat.
Qin Sheng glanced at her and met that icy, terrifying stare. Nuo tried to draw back, but Qin Sheng had already seen everything.

“What business of yours, little brat?” Li Qing snapped. “Besides, weren’t these curves made for people to look at?”

His gaze flashed back over Qin Sheng again, shamelessly.

Qin Sheng gave him a cold, slight curve of a smile. Moonlight flashed along the Tang saber; it lasted only an instant. A flash of hard light passed before Li Qing’s eyes, and in the next moment he was swallowed by endless dark.

“Next time, use your hands directly,” Qin Sheng said, lifting an eyebrow toward Little Nuo.

Nuo blinked, then laughed nervously and nodded.

Li Qing’s eyes burned like fire. He collapsed to the ground, clutching at them, crying out in pain. Terror of absolute blackness made him unable to believe that her words and warning had already taken his eyes.
He had no idea this would happen.

Blood slowly seeped from the two hands covering his face. Qin Sheng had measured her strength perfectly. To avoid drawing the zombies again, she had used a subtle angle of force. Li Qing’s eyes were damaged, but it was not the total ruin he imagined, and he would not bleed so much.

He screamed anyway and rolled on the ground; the compressed biscuits and bottle of water he had hidden spilled across the dirt, turning the scene into confusion all at once.

The rest of Qin Sheng’s people, however, remained calm.
Not a blink passed over their eyes at the scene; on their faces was the look that this was still not enough.
Harassing their captain and losing your eyes was already cheap punishment.

Qin Sheng was satisfied. The people she needed had to be hard enough in mind; seeing blood was only the minimum standard.
She wiped the saber clean, slid it back into its scabbard, and walked slowly to where Li Qing was rolling and searching for direction, looking down at him as one would inspect garbage.

Li Qing noticed someone in front of him and tried to stay composed through the pain.

“Qin Sheng! You ruined my eyes! You destroyed both my eyes!” he shouted at a direction he could no longer trust, hurling foul abuse.

Qin Sheng stood as if she had not heard, watching him vent his fury until he exhausted it.

“Is that all?”

Her voice appeared over Li Qing’s head the next moment. He jolted with a sharp chill. Her voice sounded like a demon from hell, and he instinctively tried to run backward.

Qin Sheng seemed to read his move and smiled slightly, almost amused. “Go on. I’m giving you more time.”

Li Qing, seeing this, again exposed his bleeding eyes and began cursing her anew.

“You don’t deserve a good death, Qin Sheng! I only made a few jokes and you destroyed my eyes! This is the captain you all chose? If you provoke her, you’ll be tortured to death like me!”

Li Qing knew words could not hurt Qin Sheng, so he turned his venom toward the people who followed her.

Qin Sheng seemed almost curious whether this was enough to weaken her little squad from the zombie-forest trail. She scanned them once. A few quick glances at their eyes were enough.

“Li Qing,” Wang Qiang said, unable to bear it any longer. “Don’t try to stir us. Since we chose Qin Sheng, we chose her. My life is hers.”

Xiao Pang beside him let out a helpless yawn. “You came in the middle of the night to split us apart. You even bothered to try—but it won’t work.”

Xiaoxiao nodded in agreement. “You harassed our captain with your tongue. Making your eyes pay for it was already generous. And then you stole our supplies too. At your age, you should be ashamed.”

When Xiaoxiao said it, Qin Sheng nodded with fierce approval. Xiaoxiao’s tongue was as sharp as a blade; all of them were merciless in that way.

Qin Sheng was pleased with her team. She turned back to Li Qing, voice softened with a hint of proud defiance. “So—any other complaints?”

Li Qing was left dumbstruck. He could not understand how those three women would listen to her so completely.

“Qin Sheng! What did you feed them?” Li Qing ranted, going half-mad. “How do they listen to you like dogs?!” He had torn all his polite disguise apart and become nothing different from Zhang Dong: just a hidden brute.

Qin Sheng had no interest in arguing over nonsense. She scratched at her brow and turned to leave.
Li Qing had already lost both eyes. Whether he lived or died depended on fate.

When he heard the sound of Qin Sheng turning away, he hardened. From his waist he drew the knife he had hidden for so long and stabbed toward her lower back.

Perhaps because he had lost sight, his remaining senses seemed sharpened. The tip went exactly to her waist.
The strike landed with full force. He had decided: Qin Sheng must die.
For him, because of her he had lost his eyes and all he had left; she had to die.

“Sister!”
“Qin Sheng!”

At that moment, as Li Qing surged forward, Little Nuo saw him pull the knife from his waist and rush at Qin Sheng. Her chest tightened as though someone had clutched her throat.
Qin Sheng heard Nuo’s cry—and heard Shen Shi’s as well.

Little Nuo bit down and ran for Qin Sheng with all her strength, but she was always two steps short, no matter how fast she moved.

Qin Sheng frowned, suddenly aware of a wave of cold behind her.
She quickly gathered her qi, focused her breath; perhaps fear of death quickened her, but her speed surged without her noticing. She felt a force rising around her, something almost beyond her reach.

I need you.

She spoke it silently in her mind, and in the next instant red flames burst from her palm. A blood-red light flooded the whole camp. It was so blinding that several people were forced to cover their eyes with their hands.

Li Qing, blind, could not see it. In the second he believed he had won, he burst into laughter.
“She’s dead! Qin Sheng is dead! She’s finally dead—my blade finished her!”

Even those keeping their eyes covered tried to lower their hands at once, but the glare gave no one a chance to look away.

“Qin Sheng! You cannot die!”
“Sister!”

Shen Shi and Little Nuo were blocked by that blinding light as they rushed closer; they could do nothing, only rely on their judgment.
Shen Shi clenched her fists until her knuckles whitened. Li Qing’s voice still echoed in her ears. Neither of them truly believed Qin Sheng could be killed, yet the fear refused to leave.

“Is that so?”

Qin Sheng’s voice suddenly filled everyone’s hearing.
Li Qing froze. He dropped onto the ground in a confused crouch.

Shen Shi’s fists, suddenly released, opened at once, though blue veins were still faintly visible beneath her skin.
“Sister—you’re all right? Good!” Little Nuo’s heart finally loosened when she heard Qin Sheng. She only lowered her hands from her eyes when the light vanished.

Only when Qin Sheng stood safe did Nuo feel the weight on her chest lift.

“I’m fine, Little Nuo,” Qin Sheng said lightly.
The red glow in her palm faded, first faint, then gone.

It had been her power that saved her.