IDMLA 19

As the commotion continued, the footsteps outside the door gradually became clearer.

They were coming in.

Tang Tang narrowed her eyes, supporting herself against the wall as she slowly rose from her crouch on the ground, tightening her grip on the knife in her hand. The footsteps sounded chaotic, there was probably more than one person.

“Damn, why the hell is there a chair blocking the door from the inside?”

“Careful, there might be someone in there.”

“Who could it be? Have some guts, we’re people with abilities now! Even if someone’s in there, who cares, anyone who’d block a door with a chair is probably just some ordinary person. They’d probably faint just seeing us, hahaha.”

Two male voices came through loudly. From their tone and manner of speaking, it was clear that one was slightly more cautious, while the other was quite rude.

Tang Tang figured she wouldn’t be getting any more rest tonight.

She just didn’t know what kind of abilities these two had, or how strong they might be.

As they spoke, the two walked in one after another.

Since this was a stationery store, there was a cashier counter right by the entrance. Tang Tang had worried earlier that if someone pushed the door open, she’d be exposed at first glance, so she’d already hidden behind the counter.

Now that the two had come in, one of them conjured a burst of flame and swept it around the store to look around.

“Strange, why is no one here?”

“Who the hell would be here? Stop being so paranoid, alright? Come on, let’s go sit in the back. Haven’t slept in a day and a night, I’m exhausted. Let’s go! What are you standing there for?”

Tang Tang listened to their footsteps, which seemed to be moving deeper into the store. She figured they probably hadn’t noticed her and was about to slowly sit back down when she heard the more cautious guy suddenly call out to the other.

“Wait—”

“What now?”

“Check over there.”

The moment she heard that, Tang Tang tensed up again.

Here it comes?

Sure enough, following the cautious guy’s words, their footsteps, which had been fading deeper into the store, turned and began slowly approaching the cashier counter.

Tang Tang held her breath, raising the half-meter knife in front of her, doing her best to protect herself.

But what came around the corner into the cashier area wasn’t either of the two, it was a huge burst of flame.

“What the hell! Why’d you send such a big fire over there? If you burn this place down, where are we gonna sleep tonight!”

Tang Tang cursed inwardly.

She quickly grabbed the wet blanket behind her and held it up in front of herself, barely avoiding getting burned by the fire. She was drenched in sweat.

Abilities really were terrifying.

While she was catching her breath, the two over there watched the flame die out and exchanged a glance.

“Who’s there?” the cautious one asked.

“Stop talking nonsense and just go look!”

Then the next second, a voice sounded from right above Tang Tang’s head.

“There really is someone!”

Tang Tang recognized it as the rude guy’s voice.

He reached down and grabbed at the blanket in front of her. “It’s wet—no wonder the fire didn’t catch.”

The guy was strong. Tang Tang couldn’t out-muscle him and nearly stumbled forward. Weighing her options, she let go.

“What the hell, it’s a girl!”

The guy held a small fireball in his hand, bringing it close to get a better look, and exclaimed in surprise. But then his voice shifted to delight.

“Wang Qi, come check this out, she’s got a raincoat on!”

Tang Tang’s heart sank when she heard that. They’d probably noticed it was raining outside and were now eyeing her gear.

Thinking quickly, she instinctively hid the knife she’d set down to grab the blanket behind her back, hoping they wouldn’t notice it and become wary.

Wang Qi, the cautious one, finally stepped in. Like the guy in front of him, he also held a small fireball in his hand.

Both of them had fire abilities.

Tang Tang thought back to what she’d seen through the dorm peephole earlier, it seemed like a lot of people had awakened fire abilities.

But what should she do now? If they attacked her, she didn’t know if she could handle them alone. And if she couldn’t, could she even escape?

Her mind raced, but on the surface she just looked up at the two of them, watching their every move.

“You look familiar. Have I seen you somewhere before? Oh, I remember now! Aren’t you the girl who dumped that idiot Jiang Zhu? You’re still alive?!”

Tang Tang: …

Damn it.

This guy really had no manners.

Did he even know how to talk?

She wanted to slap him so bad.

“But judging by the look of you, you probably don’t have much longer to live anyway. How about you hand over everything you’ve got, and keep me company for the night? Honestly, I couldn’t stand that pretentious idiot Jiang Zhu, but you, I’m pretty interested in you.”

The guy looked Tang Tang up and down, taking in her clearly exhausted state, grinning lewdly as he reached out to strip off her raincoat.

Tang Tang hurriedly dodged backward while glancing up at Wang Qi, only to find that he seemed completely indifferent to what was happening. She realized he had probably tacitly approved of his companion’s actions.

Seeing the boy in front of her miss once and quickly reach out again, Tang Tang’s expression turned cold. Taking advantage of the moment when neither of them was paying attention, she reached behind her and grabbed the half-meter-long blade.

Just as the boy’s hand was about to touch her, she suddenly seized his wrist with her other hand, and with the hand holding the knife, she moved fast, accurate, and ruthless, pressing the blade hard against his arm.

“Ah—”

A scream immediately rang out, echoing throughout the store.

Tang Tang really wanted to rub her poor ears.

“You fucking bitch, do you want to die?! Let go of me now!!”

The boy’s face twisted in pain as he gathered flames in his other intact hand. Tang Tang’s expression hardened. She pulled the knife back and swiftly swung it toward that hand.

It looked like she was determined to chop his hand off.

The sight made the guy’s heart skip a beat. This woman’s fucking crazy! he cursed inwardly, hurriedly pulling his hand back.

Tang Tang breathed a quiet sigh of relief, having expected that he wouldn’t dare to test his flesh against her blade. She quickly grabbed the helmet beside her and put it on, then snatched up the quilt that had been pulled aside, kicked past the man blocking her way, and dashed forward.

Wang Qi, standing a bit farther away, seemed not to have anticipated things turning out like this and froze in place for a moment.

The next second, Tang Tang swung her knife and charged straight at him.

The aisle at the cash register was still a bit narrow, and Wang Qi wasn’t a slender man. With him standing there, the path was completely blocked.

Tang Tang had no intention of being trapped here by these two!

She still had plenty of good days ahead to enjoy!!

Wang Qi was startled by her ‘ferocious’ demeanor. Awakened ones weren’t invulnerable to blades after all, and with her reckless, ‘might as well die together’ attitude, no ordinary person would dare to stand in her way.

Besides, they had only awakened their abilities a few days ago and weren’t even used to their current physical state yet.

Wang Qi panicked instantly and quickly backed away.

Tang Tang seized the opening, darted forward nimbly, and with her right hand wielding the knife and her left hand dragging the wet quilt, she bolted out.

Facing the raging storm outside, Tang Tang’s expression beneath the helmet was perfectly calm.

But in reality, she was crying inside.

When would this suffocating life ever come to an end?!

Let her awaken an ability!

Even just a small one would do!

As an ordinary person, surviving in the apocalypse was like walking on thin ice, treading cautiously every single step, ahhh!!