"Hu, you bastard!" Bai Ru's furious voice rang out as she charged down the sand dune like a lioness, kicking Hu Laoda square in the chest. With a startled cry, Hu Laoda tumbled backward, rolling twice before nding face down in the sand, his naked body curled up like a shrimp.

  "Lili, are you okay? Are you hurt?" Bai Ru, her chest heaving with rage, turned quickly to check on Li Li, who was still kneeling on the ground with a white pair of panties stuffed in her mouth. Her expression was one of shock as she stared at Hu Laoda, who had been sent flying by Bai Ru’s kick. But instead of gratitude, she shot Bai Ru a resentful gre.

  "Lili, you—" Bai Ru froze. Why was Li Li looking at her like that? Hadn’t she just defended her from Hu Laoda? Was she wrong to help her?

  "Hu, I warned you," Lin Tao’s voice was cold as he descended the sand dune, his face like frost. Slowly, he drew the gun from his waist, his thumb pressing down on the hammer as he leveled the weapon at the crumpled figure in the sand. "I told you before—if they’re willing, I won’t interfere. But this time... don’t bme me."

  "Wait, wait! Listen to me!" Hu Laoda panicked at the sight of Lin Tao’s gun. Ignoring the pain in his chest, he scrambled to his feet and pointed at Li Li. "She was willing! I swear, she agreed to it! Ask her if you don’t believe me! This has nothing to do with me!"

  Lin Tao kept his gun aimed at Hu Laoda, but his brows furrowed slightly. He turned his gaze toward Li Li, whose expression was complicated and unreadable.

  Bai Ru, however, was quicker to react. "Lili, tell the truth! Did he force you? Don’t be afraid! Lin Ye is here—he won’t let him hurt you. Just nod, and Lin Ye will put a bullet in his head!"

  "Li Li, say something!" Hu Laoda shouted, his naked body trembling with urgency. "Are you really going to let them kill me? Who else will protect you then? Tell them! You were willing! You did it because you like me!"

  Li Li’s gaze softened as she looked at the darkening bruise on Hu Laoda’s chest. Then, with surprising calm, she pulled the damp panties from her mouth, stood up without a trace of shame, and looked Lin Tao in the eyes. "Lin Ye, I was willing. Hu-ge didn’t force me."

  Lin Tao stared at her for a long moment. Then, without a word, he re-holstered his gun and turned away, walking back up the sand dune without hesitation.

  Bai Ru, however, was furious. She gred at Li Li, her brows tightly furrowed. "Li Li, after everything he did to you, you’re still lying? Do you have any idea what you’re doing? You’re walking toward your own death!"

  "What did Hu-ge do wrong? He’s been good to me. Last night, he even shared his food with me." Li Li scoffed, shaking her head. She lifted the pair of damp panties, twirling them between her fingers as she smirked. "Oh, you mean this? Come on, Bai, haven’t you ever heard of a little rolepy? My man likes to pretend he’s forcing me—it makes it more exciting for him. I have to act reluctant, or it wouldn’t be any fun. Oh, sorry, I forgot—you’re still a virgin. You wouldn’t understand how to please a man."

  "Li Li, you—" Bai Ru took a deep breath, looking at her old friend in disbelief. "What happened to you? How can you cling to a coward like him? What makes him worthy of your loyalty?"

  "How dare you look down on my man!" Li Li’s eyes fred with anger. "Tell me, other than Lin Tao, who among us isn’t a coward? Do you remember the pilot who arrived with Zhang Hong and the others? Or those two men we killed? They weren’t even as brave as Hu-ge! At least Hu-ge is willing to fight the infected. The others? They trembled at the mere sound of them."

  She sneered. "That pilot you admired so much—do you think he was a good man? He stole food from the tunnels, and apart from you and Zhang Hong, every woman here has been used by him. Ask Jiao Jiao! She always called herself a virtuous woman, swore she would wait for the perfect rich husband. But the night before the pilot and his two co-pilots died, she was on her knees, servicing all three of them just for three sticks of dried sausage. You two were the only fools still clinging to some naive notion of sisterhood. Meanwhile, Bing Bing was hoarding food while the rest of us were starving."

  "What?" Bai Ru’s world spun. Li Li’s words hit her like a sledgehammer, leaving her mind bnk. Had she and Zhang Hong been fighting to maintain a bond that never really existed? Trading their bodies for food was one thing, but hoarding supplies while the others starved—was this what Zhang Hong had been so desperately trying to protect?

  Li Li smirked, her eyes filled with scorn. "Don’t be so shocked! You and Zhang Hong were the only ones dumb enough to believe in loyalty. When you’re starving, who has time to care about anyone else? And those two men we killed? Do you really think they raped our sisters?"

  "They... didn’t?" Bai Ru felt a chill creep through her veins. She had helped kill those men herself, stabbing them in a blind rage. But now, as she repyed the memory, she realized their supposed victims had been fully clothed. There had been no signs of struggle.

  "It was Hua. That dead bitch set them up. Those women were sleeping with the pilot, hoarding food together. When the pilot died, Hua and those two men tortured them for their stash. One of the women nearly escaped, so they killed them both to cover it up. But Hua was smarter—while those two idiots were hiding the bodies, she ran straight to us and framed them for rape. She thought she was clever, but I saw everything."

  "Even Hua..." Bai Ru’s voice was barely a whisper. Her entire worldview was crumbling around her.

  "She made one good choice at the end, but don’t think I’m lying—I don’t need to make up stories about the dead." Li Li shook her head, then gave Bai Ru a cold, pitying look. "So don’t act like you’re any better than me. Every woman here is doing the same thing—seducing men for protection. You just have better looks and can aim higher. I, on the other hand, was never even on Lin Tao’s radar. So I settled for what I could get. The only difference between us is that I don’t pretend."

  Bai Ru’s lips trembled, but she had no argument. She knew she had been trying to seduce Lin Tao, using a subtler approach. In this world, love was a joke—security was all that mattered. If things were normal, she wouldn’t even look twice at a man like Lin Tao. But now? Now, she needed him.

  "No response? See? Even a so-called celebrity is no better than me. If Lin Tao hadn’t shown up, and instead Hu-ge had offered you food in exchange for a night with him, would you have refused? Don’t kid yourself. Strip you down, and you’re just another desperate woman like the rest of us." Li Li sneered.

  As she helped Hu Laoda dress, he smirked at Bai Ru. "I’ll let that kick slide since you didn’t know any better, big star."

  "Do as you wish, Bai Ru," Li Li added, her voice dripping with mockery. "But don’t fool yourself—if you want Lin Tao, you’d better stop pying coy. He won’t say no if you throw yourself at him."

  Bai Ru clenched her fists and turned away, walking off without another word.