"And if I am disinclined to acquiesce to your request?" asked Liu Yu Zeng as he looked down at the man in front of him. I chuckled, remembering the few times that I had said that to him. Cracking my neck, I looked up at Chen Zi Han.
"Not getting involved?" I asked as he continued to hold me in absolute silence. He looked down at me and shook his head. "Whether she lives or dies depends on you," he said shrugging his massive shoulders like we didn't have a couple of star-crossed lovers kneeling in the dirt in front of us.
"You can't kill her," said He Hai Tao as he turned his attention to me. I can't say that I have ever really met the man, except to know that he was with Liu Yu Zeng and Chen Zi Han. "Her brother died to save my life. I won't let you kill her."
I could feel Chen Zi Han stiffening behind me. He did not like how He Hai Tao addressed me. "He saved you," I pointed out. "Not me. Whatever agreement was reached between the two of you has nothing to do with me whatsoever."
"I will not let you kill her," he snarled standing up. Given his height and how close to me he was, I was sure that he wanted to intimidate me. Unfortunately for him, he was nowhere near as terrifying as a zombie Alpha. Looking up at him from where I was pinned between him and Chen Zi Han, I smirked.
"Let me guess… over your dead body?" I said with a raised eyebrow. When he grunted, I rolled my eyes. "And who are you to tell me what is or is not going to happen?" I mean, Liu Yu Zeng had almost 200 men in the apartment complex, surely he wouldn't miss one… right?
'She will live,' growled a voice, no longer as sweet and kind as it once was. 'You will take her back and let her fulfill her destiny.'
I froze when I heard that voice. Ignoring my pounding migraine, the ringing in my ears and all the voices in the chaos, I stared at the girl on her knees in the cage in front of me. I raised my chin and looked down at her. "Who are you?" I growled.
All of a sudden there was silence. Even the sniffling of the scared girls in the cages stopped. Tapping Chen Zi Han's hand to let me go, I sunk back down into a crouch.
I stared at the girl, allowing some of the fury that I had tried to suppress to rise to the surface. Zombies had fled from me when they saw me like this, and yet, this girl did nothing, not even a flinch. "I already said, Han Li Mei," she answered with a tilt of her own head. If she had three sets of teeth she would make a good zombie.
But Han Li Mei meant absolutely nothing to me. So why was she so important that one of the voices wanted to save her? Then it hit me. She was one of the four, one of the four that would end this apocalypse, take credit for what I would do, and take one of my men.
A blanket of red descended over my eyes and I completely blanked out for a moment.
---
Chen Zi Han had never felt such blinding fury coming out of the bond that he shared with Li Dai Lu. He didn't understand what was going on, but one moment her flame was calm, only a slight flicker of annoyance, and the next, her entire body was engulfed in a purple flame so strong that the girl in the cage flung herself back with a scream of pain.
Then there was pandemonium. He Hai Tao tried to reach around Li Dai Lu to get to the girl, only to end up singed by the flames pouring out from the princess. Everyone else froze, not knowing what to do. They all knew what those flames could do to an indestructible zombie, let alone a human.
Chen Zi Han racked his brain to figure out what to do when he was pushed aside by Liu Wei. Not even hesitating, Liu Wei plunged into the purple flames and gathered the woman into his arms, whispering into her ear.
----
'Go to her!' commanded the voice from the darkness, startling Liu Wei as he stared at Li Dai Lu being engulfed in flames. 'Now!'
For the first time, Liu Wei didn't have any problems obeying the voice. Pushing aside Chen Zi Han, Liu Wei pulled the distraught woman into his arms. Completely ignoring the purple flames, it took him a few seconds to realize that there was no unpleasant heat, no pain from burns, nothing.
His queen looked up at him from where she was in his arms and the look of devastation on her face was enough to put him into a murderous rage. "You are all going to leave," she said, and the pain in her voice broke his heart.
"No, we won't," he promised her. He knew that he couldn't technically speak for the other three men, but he knew that wild horses couldn't pull him away from her.
"You will, the voices said so," she said and it was the first time she had admitted to hearing voices in her head. Was it like what he was going through? Because she didn't need to listen to them any more than he listened to his.
Pulling her even closer, he leaned down to whisper in her ear, her flames creating a world just for the two of them. "I will never leave you. Even when you want me gone, I will still be there, in the darkness, watching you. I am yours. Remember? You licked me and everything," he said, trying to infuse some humor into his words, but he was completely serious.
He was obsessed with the small woman in his arms. She was so strong and delicate at the same time. The way she moved, the thoughts in her head, everything drew him closer to her like a spider to a fly. But he was more than willing to be a fly in her web. Otherwise, he would have to stay on the outside, only watching while she lived her life.
And he refused to live like that.
He could feel her calming down, the racing heart starting to slow to a regular pace. But he still held her and refused to let go until she asked him to. And he hoped she never would.
"What if there was someone else meant for you? One that you wouldn't have to share?" she asked in a small voice as she buried her face in his chest. He just laughed at that idea. Someone else? Was she crazy? Didn't she understand?
"There is no one else," he said with pure conviction. She scoffed at that statement. "There is, she is kneeling right in front of us now."
Liu Wei pulled her back just enough to be able to see her face. "What are you talking about?"
"She is here to take one of my men," she started and he could hear a gasp from outside of the flames as they got higher a burned brighter, completely connected with her emotions. "Four heroines for four heroes. Want to take a guess who the heroes are?" she asked as she looked up into his eyes.
"Poor He Hai Tao, destined to be the second male lead. I wonder how he will feel about that?" once again she scoffed and buried her head in Liu Wei's chest.
"Then we kill her. We'll kill them all until there is no one left," he said, a tone as cold as an ice burg entering into his voice. If she wanted them dead, then they would die. It was very simple.
He felt more than saw her shaking her head. "I don't know if I want that," she admitted. "I want you guys to choose me because of me, not because I killed off the completion."
"Ah, Sweetheart," he whispered in her ear as he kissed her forehead. "There is no competition," he continued as he rested his cheek on top of her head. "But if you want to keep her alive, then we will."
"I don't think it is a matter of want," she admitted, her arms tightening around Liu Wei's waist, "I want to kill her. But I should let you guys live the lives you were supposed to."
Closing her eyes, she slumped into Liu Wei's arms and allowed the purple flames to die off into nothingness. What was supposed to happen would happen, one way or another.
---
I think that there is a point in everyone's life that is so significant to them that even years later they can still pinpoint that exact moment and confidently say that that was when their life changed.
I thought that, for me, it was the first time I transmigrated into a zombie apocalypse and I discovered that I was so much stronger than I ever thought I could be. I remember wanting to be the heroine of my own story, only to find myself ripped apart by zombies.
Then I was reborn into the same world and once again, I thought that I would be the heroine of my own story, kind of like Cinderella if Cinderella needed to kill zombies to save her prince charming. And then that dream came, and I realized that I was never going to be the heroine, and this wasn't even my story.
But I forgot something crucially important. I forgot that I was trying to change, trying to be a bad bitch....trying to live my life on my own terms. So, if I couldn't be the heroine, then I would be more than happy to be the villain.
As soon as the purple flames dropped, I took out a gun and shot the girl in the cage right in the head.
This was my moment. This is where I defined myself.
Cinderella's dead, long live the Queen.
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