XG 107 - Who died and made you the king?
A rather bold and cocky man from the crowd reached out to grab Wong Xue Guo with a greedy expression. Disgusted, she dodged the hands and grabbed his wrist before forcefully twisting it to his back until she heard a satisfying cracking, along with his pained cries.
Lately, she had started playing with dumbbells, which she found at a gym and brought it back. Winter was ending so she does not need to wear a thick coat. Her thinner jacket showed her slim figure, barely revealing the hint of muscle on her forearm.
Her fearless eyes and effortless way of twisting an adult man's arm had the group of perverted men finally have a sense of wariness towards her. However, even if her move had dissuaded the weaker-willed men, there was still some fearless man that liked to break women.
Sensing their movement, Wong Xue Guo's expression turned even colder. "I wonder how many of your men will die... before you could hold me down?" She pulled out her sword halfway from its sheath, oozing with bloodlust. The blade was sharp and gleamed from the reflection of the light.
Just as the group of men were ready to trample the fiery young woman's confidence, L.L and Kang Xunsu had already pulled their guns out and pointed at them.
Kang Xunsu sneered at them, his expression taunting them to make a move. He really hated these men that pulled down their gender's reputation and reliability.
Beom Seok was angry too, but someone had to keep the peace, somewhat. "We are here to talk, between civilized people. If you continue to act like barbaric animals that have no care for anything other than temporary enjoyment, we will have to discard our formality and let our strength do the talking."
Kim Sung-Ho stared at every member of his team that turned hostile with wide eyes. Are they not here to seek peaceful cooperation?
"Wah, will we be able to survive this?" Inching closer to Kim Sung-Ho, Ash clutched onto his gun worriedly. Even if it was shameful to seek protection from a kid much younger than him, it was a fact that Kim Sung-Ho was stronger than him.
Self-protection was more important than shame!
"What is all this noise? So disturbing!" A thunderous voice came from the most good looking tent.
"Leader!"
The fancy and large tent flapped open and a muscular man with wheat coloured skin came out with a grumpy expression.
The leader must be someone that had worked hard under the sun before the apocalypse outbreak. His face was not outstanding and barely stood out, but his muscular body type was the type that women would love during the apocalypse era, as he would definitely make them feel safe.
The guide went to the leader's side and whispered to his ears, likely about what happened.
All the while he listened, the leader was wiping his sweat-covered naked torso with a small towel. He was acting as if he had just finished a good workout with a satisfied expression when the ambiguous voices from his tent had everyone know the truth.
For the nth time, Wong Xue Guo was bloody glad she had worn a mask and filtered out the disgusting smell.
Chanyeol suddenly asked, "Is there a cult fanatic guy in your group?"
Wong Xue Guo could feel it. The atmosphere became tense when Chanyeol mentioned 'cult fanatic'. Even the ambiguous sounds behind the tents became a tad softer.
"No." The leader finished his wiping scene and let the dirty towel rest on his shoulders. "Are you here for him?"
"We prefer not to work with that guy, and your group, if he's here," Chanyeol answered.
The leader stared at Chanyeol, who returned it without cowering. Both have similar builds, and it was hard to say who would win when they fought.
It was the leader that broke the staring match and grinned. "Good. We hate those sons of the bitches."
The leader of this shopping mall's base was called Duljjae and he graciously invited them to call him by name. Did he think they would be honoured with that 'entitlement'?
"Are you guys from Musihada Lab? What do you want, entering my base?" Duljjae asked in the rightful manner of an owner.
What do you think people want when they enter a shopping mall? Get stuff, of course!
But of course, Wong Xue Guo does not say those snarky words and just rolled her eyes discreetly. She stepped away from the man she had twisted his wrist and waited for her group's representative to speak.
"Collecting supplies," was Beom Seok's short answer.
"If you want to take things from my base, you will need to give us something equivalent to it. That's the rule of my base," Duljjae said.
Wong Xue Guo eyed Duljjae in disbelief. Who died and made you the king? Oh right, the zombies.
If possible, Kang Xunsu really does not want to discuss terms and bargain for supplies, because one party would definitely be on the losing side. Besides, he rather gave things to the survivors than these horny dogs that only know how to rut instead of taking care of their people properly.
"Where is that cult guy?" Chanyeol suddenly asked.
"Why do you want to know? Didn't you say you aren't willing to work with him?" Duljjae asked.
Before they enter the shopping mall, Chanyeol had told Kang Xunsu that his main mission was to help them with what they needed, and the second was to find out about that guy that murdered people using God as an excuse.
Wong Xue Guo could guess that Chanyeol was trying to get information about that dangerous guy from Duljjae, who was the leader of this base and would have known a lot of useful information. Unless the dangerous cult guy had moved far away, it was likely they were acquaintances.
"We are from Masan street, allied with Musihada. Masan street people have a conflict with the cult guy," Chanyeol explained briefly.
"Huh. So this is revenge?" Duljjae asked in interest.
"We just want to protect ourselves, but we are afraid that that man won't let us go," Chanyeol said grimly.
Duljjae clicked his tongue. "That sounds like him."
"Can you tell us what you know about him?"
"Do you treat my base as an information centre?"
"That information is needed to see how far our cooperation could go."
Duljjae laughed and then stomped his feet. "Cooperation? Who says I would cooperate with Musihada that overturned the world? It is our right to demand compensation from you guys for ruining our lives!"
His words were one that accused and hated the preparator that created the apocalypse, but his actions were contradicting it. He was living his life in this apocalypse, and his arrogance showed it.
"Who said we will cooperate with you as well, scumbags that only know how to terrorise people? We will have to judge your use before we would even offer cooperation," Beom Seok shot back.
"We can't give information for free," the guide interrupted. "If it is important to you, you should pay for it."
"Reasonable," Wong Xue Guo nodded. "Originally, we planned to at least give something... but you dared to make a move against me. So we can only promise not to take your food instead. Take it as a payment for the information."
Beom Seok's lips twitched, trying not to laugh at the young miss's sarcasm. He glanced at Kang Xunsu, who did not look as if he minded her deciding things without discussing it with them beforehand.
The guide's face darkened at the girl's brazenness. "We could easily kill you-"
"Just as we could as well," Wong Xue Guo interrupted. "But think carefully. My group has eight people. This place is your base, full of your people, but we dared to enter with only small amount of people. Shouldn't that tell you something?"
"You cocky woman-"
"Chanjang, tell them," Duljjae stopped the guide, who had stepped forward threateningly.
Chanjang was the guide, who was surprised by his leader's words. "Leader?"
"That guy's enemy is an ally. Information, to us, does not mean much." Duljjae grinned, greediness vivid on his face.
Chanjang understood his leader's thoughts. He became more amiable to share their information. "That guy... Nanse, he's from another group, occupying a hotel close by to the church, which is also their territory. Both of us have large numbers and we go by different laws, so we learn to coexist with each other. Nanse's people won't touch us if we leave them alone."
Of course, before they came into an agreement, the battles between the two groups were terrible. Both groups had a large number of people and the large battle had trimmed down their numbers. It was to the extent that they decided to stop and negotiate because they could not decide the victor without losing more of their people.
"God's mercy is their slogan. Bullshit," Duljjae chuckled and sat on a beanbag. "They are just killing people using God's name. Those crazy people."
Wong Xue Guo agreed that those cult people sounds crazy, but Duljjae's group was not any better either. If Kang Xunsu's group were any weaker, Duljjae would have bullied them and she herself would be been raped.
"They will kill seven people as a sacrifice to God every Sunday in a public hall in a grand manner. They treat themselves as God's messenger, helping people to cleanse their sins and leave this dirty world. They do not kill their own members, treating those that joined them are all messengers. As long as there are still humans in this world, they will not 'rest'," Chanjang said.
"That guy has an ability. He makes people's aggression disappear and pushes up their fear." Duljjae lit a cigarette, already comfortably sprawled on the bean bag.
Wong Xue Guo wondered if he could get out of it in time if their group decided to attack.
"What are the conditions for him to use his ability?" Beom Seok asked.
Vihaan could only use his ability through his hands, and his ability was harmless towards mud, sand and water. Miu's ability would suck her away from reality if her mind was not grounded. Do Eunhyuk could only manifest one gun with endless bullets.
"Condition? What's that?" Duljjae snorted. "Till now, no one had successfully gone against him and survived. Outsiders do not know, but I think his group members would know."
Duljjae had noticed some of his people were missing, likely to have joined the church, or been killed by the other party secretly. He was angry, but his strength was not enough to deal with the cult guy now. If he found a way to get an ability too, there would be nothing in this world he would need to be afraid of.
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