Chapter 61: I Have Been Waiting Here for You for a Long Time

Dinner was a lump of cooked meat paste, with a strange taste—no one could tell what kind of meat it was. Lu Xuechuan and Xiong Hui looked at their food and vomited once again.

“Haven’t had meat in a long time, have you?”

“I was just like you not long ago, hadn’t eaten meat in ages, and the smell alone made me sick,” said a man from the company security team in charge of logistics, pointing toward the kitchen. “Go there, find the chef, and trade your dinner for some rice porridge.”

“Thank you,” Lu Xuechuan and Xiong Hui replied.

They approached the kitchen. The obese cook inside took one look at them and immediately understood. He took back their portions and gave them bowls of rice soup instead.

“Remember the rules—no outsiders in the kitchen. This is a restricted area.”

“Yes, yes,” they nodded repeatedly.

As night was about to fall, the two of them saw a familiar female classmate being taken into the kitchen. Not long after, what came out was a table, carried away.

In that instant, they couldn’t help thinking of Zhao Xue’s corpse. Their pupils trembled in terror.

“If we keep staying here, we’ll die. We’re definitely going to die,” Xiong Hui’s composure was beginning to crack.

Back at school, he had never seen anything like this.

“Calm down, try to calm down,” Lu Xuechuan looked around anxiously, trying to control his classmate, afraid someone would notice.

“These people in the company aren’t even human—they’re all devils,” Xiong Hui said. “You must have seen it yourself during the day. If we stay here, it’s only a matter of time before we’re dead.”

“Did you already forget Zhao Xue?” Lu Xuechuan asked.

Hearing Zhao Xue’s name, Xiong Hui began to tremble uncontrollably, tears streaming down his cheeks. “Zhao Xue is dead. They killed her. I’m going to get revenge. I have to make them pay!”

From one extreme to the other, Xiong Hui’s mental state was clearly deteriorating.

Lu Xuechuan felt lost. If there were teachers around, he could have gone for help. But now, there was no one.

“Xiong Hui, calm down. We don’t even have guns—how can we take revenge?”

“I have a way.” Xiong Hui’s eyes were dark and unfathomable as he stared at Lu Xuechuan, his mouth curling into a silent, chilling smile.

Lu Xuechuan was certain he had never seen such a terrifying smile before.

“These devils are afraid of the Murderous Witch,” Xiong Hui said. “Let’s go find her and ask for her help. She’ll be able to help us kill these monsters.”

A cold shiver ran down Lu Xuechuan’s spine. He felt as if his classmate was being controlled by some unspeakable, mysterious force.

“If we go looking for the Murderous Witch, we might get shot before we even get there...”

“No, we won’t. Zhao Xue said we won’t.”

“…”

***

Villa Number 36.

Su Miao sat in the glow of candlelight, listening to the rain outside, her heart calm and still.

She was pondering how best to deliver her newly concocted deadly hallucinogen to the company people. As long as they were alive, she knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep soundly for even a moment.

Should she try to find Chang Jieming from the security team?

The security team had just caused a major stir in the mountains; getting them to pull this off would be difficult.

Should she have Xia Xiao’an plant a psychological suggestion in someone from the company, so the influenced person would deliver the drug?

But that would require being able to hypnotize the target at the moment the drug was handed over—otherwise, the plan would likely fail.

What should she do?

Su Miao deliberated in silence.

She also wondered if Chang Jieming had delivered her message to the one with the sniper rifle. With a sniper, she could kill even more company people.

“Big sister, someone’s coming,” said Xia Xiao’an, who was busy studying the Barefoot Doctor’s Manual. “Two people—students—new recruits to the company.”

No sooner had she finished the word “company” than she saw Su Miao take out her AK47, ready to go and snipe the visitors at the front.

Xia Xiao’an hurriedly said, “Their thoughts are very complicated. It seems like something’s going on.”

Su Miao turned her gaze to the two furtive figures in the night.

There was no malice directed at her—only a great deal of fear.

These two must have just crawled out of the landslide zone. Taking such a risk could have cost them their lives.

Suddenly Xia Xiao’an’s whole body trembled. “Big sister, they—”

“What about them?” Su Miao asked.

“They’ve witnessed something horrifying. They want to kill the company people and take revenge,” Xia Xiao’an replied.

Su Miao blinked. So that was it.

Could they be the ones to smuggle the deadly hallucinogen into the company’s kitchen?

With this thought, Su Miao led Xia Xiao’an down to the first floor, temporarily moving all the cabinets blocking the door aside. She lit a candle on a table in the corner.

Xia Xiao’an looked at her in confusion. Had her big sister’s social anxiety really been cured? She was not only going downstairs to meet strangers, she was even clearing the barricade from the front door.

She tried to read Su Miao’s thoughts, but for once, she heard nothing.

Then she watched as Su Miao took a cardboard box from her magical space, removed five clear vials of deadly hallucinogen, portioned out half of the solid form into a new jar, and paired it with a jar of salt, setting everything on the table.

“Xiao’an, keep your expression steady when you see them—just think of them as vegetables. Meeting them is your task,” Su Miao instructed. “If you’re sure they’re set on revenge, give these to them. I’ll be at the stairs to protect you.”

Su Miao patted Xia Xiao’an’s shoulder and, in a flash, was already back at the staircase.

Xia Xiao’an blinked, feeling suddenly abandoned. Big sister Su Miao, they’re here for you!

At that moment, the two water-soaked figures appeared at the door.

Lu Xuechuan and Xiong Hui paused in surprise at the sight of Xia Xiao’an standing in the candlelight.

Her glowing black twin tails, the pretty dress, the pale, delicate face—this little girl looked nothing like a survivor of the apocalypse. She seemed as if she’d always lived in a peaceful world.

If not for the bloodstains still visible on the floor and walls, they might have believed it.

The only flaw was that the dress was a bit too large, though it hardly detracted from Xia Xiao’an’s cuteness.

So adorable—

Yet, what shocked them most was that the infamous Murderous Witch, Su Miao, was just a sweet little girl?

“I’m Xia Xiao’an, not the Witch,” she said, unable to bear the chaotic thoughts swirling in their minds. She introduced herself, “We’ve been waiting for you for a long time.”

Lu Xuechuan eyed her suspiciously. “You’re not Su Miao?”

Even as he asked, an inexplicable chill crept over him.

He felt incredibly foolish—here they were, in a villa smeared with blood, a candle flickering in the draft, illuminating a little girl by its side. No matter how you looked at it, something was off.

Most disturbing of all was that Xia Xiao’an said they’d been expected.

She wasn’t the Murderous Witch? Then what was she?

Why was his imagination running wild, as if the background music from a horror game was playing on its own?

Xia Xiao’an inwardly rolled her eyes and said, “Su Miao is my elder sister. She asked me to wait for you here. You can speak freely.”

That made sense.

But Lu Xuechuan only grew more afraid.

The Murderous Witch had known they would come all along—but how?

They’d only decided to come here that very night.