Chapter 304: The golden fruit 15.

"What about you?"

"We are fine."

They left the family behind.

The road grew quiet again.

Yan Cijin leaned back in her seat.

"You really do not think much of yourself."

Bai Li kept her eyes on the road.

"I think exactly enough."

"You saved them."

"They would have died otherwise."

"That is what saving people means."

Bai Li glanced at her.

Yan Cijin looked away first.

Neither noticed the faint smile that lingered on the other woman’s face.

They eventually left the minivan behind and returned to the motorcycle.

The rest of the journey would have been simple if not for the siren.

It started somewhere ahead.

One long, broken wail.

Then another.

Bai Li stopped the motorcycle.

Yan Cijin listened.

"That sounds automated."

"It is."

The siren repeated.

A red light flashed in the distance.

The city beyond it seemed too still.

Bai Li started the motorcycle again.

They moved forward carefully.

The road opened into a broad avenue lined with office buildings.

There were no zombies.

That was the first warning.

The second was the bodies.

There were dozens of corpses on the road, all dead in the same direction, as if they had been running from something.

Yan Cijin’s expression changed.

"Something happened here."

Bai Li slowed.

A deep metallic sound came from somewhere between the buildings.

Not a groan.

Not a roar.

A mechanical clanging.

Then the ground trembled.

The motorcycle rocked beneath them.

Bai Li stopped completely.

Yan Cijin looked ahead.

Something moved behind a parked bus.

A silhouette emerged.

It was too tall to be human.

Its body was massive and swollen with mutation, one arm almost twice the length of the other. Its skin was stretched tight over dense muscle, and its jaw hung open around a mouth full of crooked teeth.

The creature turned its head.

Then it looked directly at Bai Li.

Bai Li sighed.

"Annoying."

Yan Cijin drew her weapon.

"I was thinking the same thing."

The creature roared.

Windows shattered along the entire street.

Bai Li stepped off the motorcycle.

"Stay here."

Yan Cijin ignored her.

"I am coming."

Bai Li looked at her.

"You do like making things difficult."

"And you like pretending you can do everything alone."

For a moment, neither moved.

Then the creature charged.

The first impact cratered the asphalt.

Bai Li jumped aside.

Yan Cijin moved in the opposite direction.

The creature swung its arm.

Bai Li caught it.

The impact sent dust across the street.

Her boots slid backward half a meter.

That was enough to surprise Yan Cijin.

Bai Li smiled.

"Strong."

Yan Cijin rushed in.

She struck the creature’s knee.

It buckled.

Bai Li released its arm and drove a fist into its chest.

The monster flew backward and smashed through the side of a delivery truck.

It climbed out immediately.

Yan Cijin whistled softly.

"That did not work."

Bai Li rolled her shoulder.

"I did not hit hard enough."

The creature charged again.

This time they moved together.

Yan Cijin drew its attention from the left. Bai Li went right. The creature turned too slowly.

Yan Cijin severed the tendons behind its ankle.

Bai Li appeared behind it.

One strike.

The back of its skull shattered.

The creature collapsed.

Silence returned to the street.

A few seconds passed.

Yan Cijin stared at the body.

Then she looked at Bai Li.

"You know, sometimes I think you enjoy that."

Bai Li raised an eyebrow.

"Sometimes?"

Yan Cijin laughed.

They were about to continue when a voice came from the top of a nearby building.

"Down!"

Bai Li looked up.

A man fired a gun from a window.

The shot was not aimed at them.

It struck another figure behind them.

A woman collapsed onto a rooftop across the street.

"Sniper?" Yan Cijin said.

"No." Bai Li’s expression became serious.

The shooter fired again.

This time the bullet was aimed directly at them.

Bai Li caught it.

The round stopped between two fingers.

Yan Cijin stared.

Bai Li looked toward the window.

"Rude."

The shooter disappeared.

A moment later, several figures emerged from the building entrances on both sides of the street.

Not zombies.

Humans.

Armed.

At least twenty of them.

Yan Cijin slowly lowered her weapon.

"Bandits?"

"Probably."

One of the men stepped forward.

"Drop your weapons and the bike."

Bai Li blinked.

Yan Cijin looked at the man, then at Bai Li.

"Do they know who they are talking to?"

"I do not think they have considered it."

The man raised his gun.

"Last warning."

Bai Li sighed.

Then she smiled.

It was not a kind smile.

The road became very quiet.

Bai Li took one step forward.

The first gunman fired.

She vanished.

A blur crossed the street.

The gunman hit the ground.

Before the others could react, Yan Cijin moved.

She slipped through the first line of attackers like water, knocking weapons from hands and dropping bodies with controlled strikes. Bai Li moved through the opposite side with even less effort. Guns were broken. Arms were dislocated. Knees were swept aside.

The bandits panicked.

Some ran.

Others fired wildly.

Bullets struck concrete.

Bai Li caught one attacker by the collar and threw him into a parked car. Yan Cijin used the weapon of another as a lever, disarming him and dropping him flat.

Within moments, only the leader remained.

He stumbled backward.

Bai Li walked toward him.

He lifted his gun with shaking hands.

"You should have run."

Bai Li stopped.

He fired.

The shot never reached her.

Yan Cijin had stepped in front of her.

She deflected the bullet with her blade.

Bai Li looked at her.

Yan Cijin did not look back.

"You are welcome."

Bai Li’s lips curved.

"I did not need it."

"I know."

The leader ran.

Bai Li let him.

Yan Cijin watched him disappear.

"You are letting him go?"

"He has already lost."

They returned to the motorcycle.

Before Bai Li could start the engine, a faint sound came from the alley beside the building.

.

.

.

TO BE CONTINUED.