Gu Dongling's lips curled into a dark, unsettling smile. He stepped in front of Song Tiantian, looming over her, and suddenly leaned his face so close to hers that she scrambled backward in alarm.
"Brother Gu?"
"With someone as pretty as you right here, why would I ever want to go anywhere else?"
Song Tiantian sensed danger and tried to bolt, but she was no match for Gu Dongling's grip. He caught her wrist effortlessly and pulled her toward him, his lips close to her ear. "Tiantian, you've been very naughty lately—ignoring me, hanging around Fang Cheng all day."
"Brother Gu, let go of me!"
Watching her flush with indignant embarrassment, Gu Dongling leaned in and pressed a kiss to her cheek. The color drained from her face instantly. "Let go of me!" she cried. "I genuinely don't have feelings for you."
"That's fine—feelings can grow over time. But my patience has already run out." His other hand found her waist, and in one swift motion he lifted her and threw her onto the couch.
Song Tiantian struggled and screamed with everything she had. Gu Dongling, losing patience, unbuckled his belt and used it to bind her wrists. His breath was hot against her neck. "Tiantian, I really do like you."
"Fang Cheng is just a block of wood—what's so great about him? Come with me. I'll protect you. You've only awakened a space ability; without someone to protect you, you won't survive the apocalypse in peace. People from the base have already been asking around about you." He bit her neck, then continued, "Why choose some other man when you could choose me? If you pick someone else, their whole squad might be men—and do you really think an entire squad of men will be polite enough to leave you alone?"
"No—"
"You're too stubborn. I'll treat you well."
No—
Song Tiantian's eyes burned red. She refused to accept this. Why, just because she was surviving in the apocalypse, did she have to be at the mercy of a man—forced to trade her body for safety?
She had worked so hard. In this squad, she had never once asked for special treatment. She had contributed her space ability without hesitation—all because she wanted to earn a simple shred of respect, to hold her head high and live on her own terms.
Why couldn't she escape this fate?
Was Gu Dongling right? In this broken world, if she didn't choose a man early enough, would she inevitably end up in someone's hands anyway?
Gu Dongling looked down at her dazed, pitiful expression and smiled, then began working at her clothing. The moment Song Tiantian felt his hands moving, something fierce and unbreakable ignited in her chest.
In that instant, her eyes seemed to blaze red. Her body burned. Something wild surged through her like a current. She felt a vast, boundless power welling up from within—and with it, her mind cleared.
She stared at Gu Dongling, who had his face buried against her, and with a fierce jerk, she wrenched her hands free. The belt—solid and unyielding a moment ago—snapped clean in two.
She froze for a split second. Gu Dongling still hadn't stopped. Remembering every word he'd said, feeling the violation of what he was doing, Song Tiantian gritted her teeth—and drove her foot straight into his groin with everything she had.
Gu Dongling was completely blindsided. The kick landed perfectly, and she heard something crack. The pain hit him like a thunderbolt—his eyes flew wide open, the veins on his forehead bulged, and then he let out a bloodcurdling howl.
Song Tiantian stared at her own hands in disbelief. She had a new power—that much was clear. She looked down at Gu Dongling curled up on the floor, the fury in her chest still blazing. She raised her foot and stomped down on the same spot once more.
"AAAH—"
This time, Gu Dongling's scream was truly wretched. He went deathly pale, great beads of sweat rolling down his face, until finally the pain overwhelmed him entirely and he blacked out.
Song Tiantian leaned against the wall, gasping in great heaving breaths. When she confirmed he was unconscious, her heart was still hammering. She quickly buttoned up her clothes and ran—out of the room, out of the base, into the open air.
She didn't expect that the moment she cleared the base gates, she'd spot Axin's SUV in the distance. She sprinted toward it and sure enough, found Axin and Xiaojiao inside.
Xiaojiao saw her running toward them in a panic and knew immediately that something was wrong. She pushed open the car door and climbed out, gesturing for Axin to translate.
"Xiaojiao's asking what happened."
"I—" The last of Song Tiantian's composure crumbled, and she burst into tears. Xiaojiao looked completely at a loss, then turned and made a quick gesture to Big Circle. The big orange cat scrambled out of the car at once, reared up on his hind legs, and wrapped his fluffy front paws around Song Tiantian in a hug.
Xiaojiao's reasoning was simple: she liked Axin—hugging other girls for comfort was Big Circle's job. Big Circle was adorable, soft, and warm, and he had a particular talent for cheering people up. Song Tiantian would feel better.
And she did. It was genuinely hard to stay terrified while being embraced by a cat. The fear loosened its grip.
"Xiaojiao says, considering how upset you are, she's lending you Big Circle for a hug."
"Thank you." A smile broke through Song Tiantian's tears. Big Circle patted her on the back solemnly for good measure, which made her laugh despite herself. "Thank you too, Big Circle."
"I'm alright now."
After a long moment, Song Tiantian said quietly, "I think I just awakened a new ability." Her eyes brightened. She tested it—there was a tree nearby, and she drew back her small fist and punched it as hard as she could. Her hand went straight through the trunk, leaving a gaping hole in the wood.
She stared at it, utterly stunned. When had she become this strong?
One punch, and she'd punched a hole clean through a tree?
Her mind reeled. If she'd been using her full strength when she'd stomped on Gu Dongling... she clenched her fist. It felt like a dream. She punched the tree again, slower this time, paying attention—feeling the enormous energy flowing through her body, converging in her fist like a river finding its mouth.
When her knuckles connected with the bark, the whole tree swayed. A deeper, wider hole opened in the trunk. And her hand didn't hurt at all. In the instant of impact, that surging energy had wrapped around her fist like armor.
Strength ability. The words surfaced in her mind with sudden clarity. She looked up at Axin and Xiaojiao. "I think I awakened a strength-type ability."
She thought of the strength-type ability users she'd seen before—mostly big, broad-shouldered men who looked explosive just standing still. She'd never imagined she'd awaken something like that herself. It wasn't flashy. But it was useful.
Wasn't this exactly what she'd been missing? If she was strong enough to knock someone flat with one punch, who would dare touch her?
"Congratulations," Axin said. Xiaojiao cheered beside her, genuinely delighted.
Then Xiaojiao's expression shifted. She remembered the state Song Tiantian had been in when she came running out—ghostly pale, in a panic. Something had happened. She tugged Axin's sleeve, conveying her concern and curiosity, wanting to know what had gone on.
Axin asked Song Tiantian directly.
Perhaps because of her newly awakened power, the anxious knot that had lived in Song Tiantian's chest since the apocalypse began had finally, strangely, loosened. She didn't flinch from the question. She told them everything, plainly and without softening it.
Axin received this with a calm face. Xiaojiao, on the other hand, was furious—she stamped her foot so hard she left a crater in the ground. Big Circle covered his face with both paws. The owner gets scary when she's angry. He promptly waddled back to the car to work on another can of food. The tangled messes humans made were of absolutely no interest to him.
"Xiaojiao wants to know if you'd like to come with us to City B."
To Xiaojiao's surprise, Song Tiantian shook her head. "Thank you, Xiaojiao—and thank you, Miss Ning. If this were the me from before, the me who hadn't awakened a strength ability, I probably would have said yes without a second thought. A me with no power to protect herself—traveling with you two would have been the best choice possible."
"And now?" Axin asked. She wasn't surprised. Song Tiantian had never been the kind of person who wanted to live under someone else's protection. There was an unbreakable quality to this girl, something in her bones that refused to bend. And yet she also knew herself clearly—when she lacked power, she survived carefully, stubbornly, without giving up unless there was truly no other way. But given strength? Song Tiantian's life would become something luminous.
Song Tiantian's eyes were very bright. She closed her small fist—that small, formidable fist—and when she spoke, her voice carried a confidence that hadn't been there before. "Now I think I can live better. Xiaojiao, Miss Ning—now that I've awakened a strength ability, I can't let a gift like that go to waste. If I traveled with you two, I'd probably be safe. Under your protection, no one would dare touch me. But..." she paused. "That's not the life I want. I don't ask for much. I just want to live freely, by my own abilities."
"This is the apocalypse—a time of chaos. The old me couldn't even protect herself; I was just scraping by. But now I have the power to do that much, at least. There's an old saying: when you're poor, cultivate your own virtue; when you have power, uplift others. In this world, there are so many women surviving the same way I was—the ones who gave up on their own, I'll leave them to their choices. But the ones who never wanted to submit—who ended up compromising anyway, worn down by survival into something hollow and numb—they don't deserve that fate."
"So what are you going to do?" Axin asked.
Song Tiantian worried her lip gently. "Nothing grand. I just want to fight—for myself, and for them. The apocalypse won't last forever. One day there will be peace again. But as long as ability users exist, ordinary people will struggle—and women especially. It's only been two months since this all started, and you've already seen what happens to women who haven't awakened abilities."
"If it keeps going like this, women will just keep disappearing."
"And when the day finally comes that the apocalypse ends—" Song Tiantian's voice grew heavier. "Human numbers will have plummeted. Men will be the majority. Women, a small fraction." Her smile turned bleak. "What do you think will happen to women without abilities at that point, Miss Ning?"
"Breeding stock," Axin said quietly.
Song Tiantian was still for a moment. Then her eyes cleared again. "Yes. Breeding stock. Like sows expected to produce litters. The men will wrap it in a pretty excuse—women are precious, we must protect them, give them the best food, the finest shelter—but what's the difference between that and a luxury pen for livestock?"
"Miss Ning might think I'm overreaching. When I could simply keep my head down and live quietly, I'm choosing to take on something thankless."
Xiaojiao immediately shook her head. Axin wouldn't laugh at Song Tiantian—and she didn't. There was no mockery in Axin's expression. No anger either. No pity. Just... a face that had listened, and remained still.
Xiaojiao blinked at her, slightly baffled. Axin seemed to have no feelings at all sometimes. But then—if she had no feelings, why was she so good to her?
The answer lit up in Xiaojiao's mind. Maybe she was the only one in the world who could bring feelings out of Axin. She thought of the dream she'd had for twenty years, and felt quietly, privately pleased. Who cared whether Axin pitied anyone else or laughed at anyone else, as long as she was good to her.
As for the rest—Xiaojiao was a zombie. The most she could offer was not hurting people. Saving the whole world was beyond her. She didn't mock Song Tiantian, though. If anything, she rather admired her. This girl had real ambition.
"I'm not laughing at you," Axin said.
Hearing the quiet certainty in Axin's voice, Song Tiantian's face softened into a smile. "I believe you, Miss Ning."
"So you're staying. What's your plan?"
"Grow stronger first. City C is actually a good place for me to develop my abilities right now. I have big ideas, but I'm not stupid. The women I want to help are only the ones who still have fight left in them. The ones who've already given up—who'll take any handout, do anything to survive, even abandon their own dignity—they'll find a way regardless. They don't need me."
Xiaojiao thought: Song Tiantian had changed. She'd become brilliant somehow. Luminous with confidence.
"And I want to see," Song Tiantian added, "how the squad reacts when they find out what Gu Dongling tried to do. Whether they'll blame me for fighting back—or blame him for what he did to a member of his own team."
"You already know the answer," Axin said.
"I know." Song Tiantian's eyes dimmed slightly. "I just want to see it for myself. And then I can let go—let go of a love that was never going anywhere, and of friendships that most people never truly valued. After that, I'll build my own crew. Do what I want to do. Get stronger." She looked at Axin—cool and soft at once, cold to everyone in the world and soft only to Xiaojiao.
What let this woman move through the world this way, indifferent to judgment, unbothered by threats?
Power. Strength.
Xiaojiao tugged at Axin's sleeve and conveyed something quietly. When she finished, she stared at Axin with wide, earnest eyes. Axin let out a low laugh, her voice soft. "Alright. We'll wait two more days."
She turned to Song Tiantian. "Xiaojiao's worried about you. She wants us to stay close for a few days."
Song Tiantian understood what Xiaojiao was really saying—she was worried someone would try to hurt her again.
"I'll go in with you in a moment," Axin added. "Xiaojiao's orders."
Song Tiantian laughed—a genuine one. Even when her heart felt a little numb to everything, every time she watched Axin and Xiaojiao together, she was reminded that real warmth still existed somewhere in this world. It just wasn't something everyone was lucky enough to find.
How wonderful.
She hoped with quiet sincerity that these two would love each other for the rest of their lives. Whenever she felt herself going a little cold inside, just watching them healed something in her.
Axin brushing Xiaojiao's hair, doing her makeup, helping her with her contacts, wrapping a silk scarf gently around her neck—it filled Song Tiantian's chest with something warm. And if anyone ever said a word against Axin, Xiaojiao would turn absolutely ferocious—stamping craters in the ground, summoning zombies to pummel the offender, or dispatching Big Circle to handle things when no zombies were handy.
Big Circle was, under normal circumstances, a magnificently lazy and food-obsessed cat with absolutely no shame. But for Xiaojiao, he was practically her loyal knight.
Thinking about how he'd hugged and patted her earlier, that round orange face so earnestly comforting—Song Tiantian felt a pang of regret that she'd been too upset to give him a proper squeeze.
Big Circle, crunching on dried fish in the car, suddenly felt a distinct chill down his spine. He poked his head out and squinted in Song Tiantian's direction. Nothing seemed unusual. He ducked back in and resumed his fish.
Song Tiantian sat in Axin's car, watching the base entrance from a distance. She waited until she saw Fang Cheng and the others head inside. Then she said, "Sorry to trouble you, Miss Ning."
Axin pushed open the car door and jumped out, then glanced back at Xiaojiao. "I'll be back soon."
Xiaojiao nodded quickly—go, don't let Tiantian get bullied. I'll be fine, I'm a zombie.
"Big Circle."
Big Circle stuck his head out of the car immediately, looking round and unbearably cute. What does human servant number two need?
"Keep Xiaojiao safe. Don't let anyone mess with her."
Big Circle nodded with his mouth full of fish, thinking privately: Does the owner even need my protection? If she goes full zombie mode, even I can't win that fight.
Song Tiantian led Axin to the villa her squad had been assigned. Standing at the door, there was no sound from inside. She didn't move to enter. She stood there a long time.
"Miss Ning, can you give me a moment?"
She could already half-guess what was coming next, and she needed to prepare herself. She said quietly, "In a minute, I'll go in alone. Would you wait outside?" Worried Axin might not understand, she continued: "They're not fools. If you're there, they'll watch what they say. I need to hear their real thoughts. If something goes wrong, I'll call out."
"Alright." Axin stepped to the side, positioning herself behind a large potted plant near the entrance. If you didn't look carefully, you'd never notice her.
Song Tiantian shot her a grateful look. She stood in place for one more minute, then raised her hand and knocked.
Footsteps approached from inside. The door swung open. Song Tiantian looked at who was standing there, and said in a small voice, "Brother Lei... you're all back?"
"Come in. The captain's furious."
"Okay." Song Tiantian lowered her head and followed Lei Zhe inside. He glanced back at her and muttered under his breath, "Tiantian, why would you do something like that?"
Song Tiantian's eyes went red. Tears slipped free before she could stop them. "Brother Lei—Gu Dongling was forcing himself on me. Was I not supposed to fight back?"
"Couldn't you have just talked to him? Did you have to hurt him like that?"