Chapter 399: Fuck My Life
Qiao Ren looked between the four men and decided that bargaining was still worth trying.
"The Red Jackals control the routes that Head Luo depended on. Fuel, weapons, medicine, information. Kill me, and you lose all of it," he said, lifting his chin like he was still in charge.
"We can take the routes too," Lingyun said, resting his chin on my shoulder.
"You don’t know where they are."
"I know where some of them are," shrugged Lingyun like it wasn’t that big of a deal.
The certainty in Lingyun’s voice made Qiao Ren stare at him, although Yuche didn’t react. The two of them appeared to share a strange language made entirely of ignored questions and suspiciously specific knowledge. But as long as it continued producing green cores and dead enemies, I didn’t see a reason to care about their secrets.
After all, it wasn’t like I had been completely honest with them either.
"Why did you attack?" I asked, switching gears again.
"Head Luo sent an emergency signal."
"He was already dead."
"We didn’t know that when we came."
"And when you found out?"
Qiao Ren hesitated before admitting, "The market needed leadership."
"It had leadership."
"Wei Lingyun had controlled it for less than an hour. He came alone, killed Head Luo, and expected everyone to just accept him. He was injured, and the market was divided. Taking it was the logical move," Qiao Ren said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
And it would have been, if we weren’t involved. Unfortunately for him, we were.
I glanced at Lingyun. "He thought you were vulnerable."
"I’m adorable when I’m vulnerable."
"You were never vulnerable."
His eyes softened as he looked at me. "That’s even nicer."
Qiao Ren looked as though he regretted surviving long enough to become part of the conversation, but I still had more important questions than which trade routes he thought would save his life.
"Your men came upstairs for me."
"They needed leverage," he admitted.
"That didn’t work."
"No."
"You also drove a zombie herd toward the market."
"We used sirens and blood to draw them to the eastern fence. They were supposed to occupy the guards while we secured the warehouses."
His answer sounded honest. The zombies had followed the sirens until the plants woke beneath the warehouse, then abandoned the bait and turned toward me.
"What made them change direction?" I asked.
Qiao Ren frowned. "I don’t know."
"The herd stopped following your sirens."
"I saw it happen, but we didn’t cause it."
Lingyun lifted his head from my shoulder, and the warmth in his expression sharpened. Yuche’s hand tightened slightly at my waist as he said, "They turned after you appeared at the window."
"Not immediately," Zhenlan added from beside the broken window. "It happened after the plants started moving."
I didn’t appreciate everyone connecting those details while Qiao Ren listened. His fear faded as he studied me, replaced by the kind of interest that usually created more trouble than it was worth.
That decided what happened next.
I grabbed the front of his coat before he could ask the question forming behind his eyes. "You interrupted my shopping, sent men into my room, damaged Lingyun after I’d already put him with a healer, and brought several hundred zombies close enough to smell."
"I can compensate you," Qiao Ren said as he tried to lean away.
"I already have your market."
His attention snapped toward Lingyun, who beamed at him.
"You don’t own it," Qiao Ren argued.
"Don’t I?"
The roots beneath the corridor shifted in answer. They’d gone quiet after the fighting, but the green core’s power still pulsed through them, making them hungry for more blood.
One slipped through a crack beside Qiao Ren’s knee and curled around his leg. When he tried to pull free, another wrapped around his waist and forced him upright. "What are you doing?" he demanded.
"I haven’t quite decided yet," I admitted. "I’ll tell you when I do."
More roots entered the corridor, moving with greater care than they had during the attack. One secured his damaged wrists, while another crossed his chest and tightened until his breathing became shallow.
The plants were still taking power from me, but they were also listening. That made their theft slightly less offensive.
Qiao Ren turned toward Yuche. "You need my routes."
"She’s already decided," Yuche replied.
"I haven’t said anything."
"You moved the roots."
Apparently, that counted.
Qiao Ren struggled hard enough to drive his knees against the concrete. "Wait. I can give you names, Head Luo’s contacts, other markets, military stockpiles, and safe roads."
Lingyun leaned around me until Qiao Ren could see his smile. "You should’ve offered those before trying to take Rouxi."
"I didn’t know who she was."
"And that was your mistake," Lingyun agree.
The baby vine climbed higher around my shoulders, and both leaf-heads leaned toward Qiao Ren with their mouths open. He stared at the rows of tiny teeth while I scratched one of the stems beneath its leaves.
"You’re not eating him," I warned.
Both heads hissed at me.
"He probably tastes terrible," I pointed out, not wanting them to get a tummy ache. But that possibility didn’t discourage them at all.
Qiao Ren pulled against the roots one last time. "If you kill me, the Red Jackals will come after you."
I looked through the broken window at the freight yard, where grey-clad bodies covered the pavement between crushed vehicles and burning zombies. "I think they already did."
When I closed my hand, the roots around his chest tightened at once. Bone cracked beneath his coat, and his mouth opened without enough air escaping to form a scream. Another root wrapped around his throat and pulled his head back while the vines continued closing around him.
His spine broke before his neck did.
When the roots released him, Qiao Ren collapsed at my feet in a pile of dead body.
Lingyun looked down at the body before kissing my cheek. "I knew you’d like him."
"I didn’t."
"You kept him for almost five minutes."
"That was questioning."
"It was very romantic."
I turned toward him. "You’re going back to the healer."
His smile vanished. "But the attack—"
"Is over."
Yuche glanced toward the freight yard and confirmed it with a small nod. Lingyun searched the other men for support, but Zhenlan folded his arms while Chenghai pointed toward the examination room.
Outnumbered, Lingyun leaned against me and sighed. "Carry me?"
"No."
Chenghai took one step forward, and Lingyun immediately straightened. "I can walk."
Before he could begin another performance, metal slammed against metal below us. The sound came from the freight yard, and Yuche turned toward the broken window first.
One of the shipping containers still held several surviving zombies behind a wall of twisted steel. Living men stood closer to them than we did, blood covered the pavement, and wounded market guards moved along the opposite loading platform.
The zombies ignored all of them.
Every body inside the container pressed against the side facing our warehouse. Fingernails scraped steel, teeth snapped at empty air, and every rotting face remained lifted toward the upper window where I stood.
Fuck my life.