Chapter 53: Confession

Translator: Letty / Editor: DarkGem / IceTea

As Qing Shui and Jing went out of the room, Chang gradually felt better, and his stomach stopped twitching. He wiped off the residue beside his mouth and stood up from the ground.

Chang took the broom and cleaned up his vomit, and then returned to his bed.

“Don't be afraid, I won’t kill you.” Chang rubbed his blood-covered hands against each other and tried to comfort the doctor who was trembling in fear on the corner of her bed.

“Trust me, he won’t kill you.” Pang Zi accompanied Chang to calm the doctor. He made his voice softer, but at the same time justified himself, “They threatened us, so that's what they deserved! I was wondering the whole day why you gave them our food; I would’ve never guessed your plan until I saw it now!”

Pang Zi patted on Chang’s shoulder with joy.

“I’m just not used to this…” Chang shook his head as if he was shaking away the expression of the woman during her final moment; he went up to the water tank and rinsed off the blood on his hands and knife.

While Chang was cleaning himself up, Qing Shui and Jing came back with empty hands. He stood beside Chang and rinsed his hands along with Chang.

“I’m sorry for what happened just now; I got too emotional…” Chang cracked a difficult smile.

“Don't worry about that, you did much better than I expected.” Qing Shui shook off the water on his hands and grinned at Chang, “It wasn't you first time, was it?”

“No, it’s my second time.” Chang scratched his palm to remove the thick blood. “This time I’m calmer, but the thoughts in my mind were chaotic.”

“Don't think too much, you really did a good job,” Qing Shui praised again.

“But I woke the doctor,” Chang rubbed on the back of his hands.

“Chang, think about this; no one can sleep tightly at the moment, and there’s no way that you can keep her asleep unless you drug her.” Qing Shui chuckled, “Even if she hadn’t woken up by then, the noise I made when moving the bodies was also loud. At that time, even the fine blood gushing sound could awaken the entire room, so stop thinking too much. You’re a really sensitive person.”

“It wasn't me being too sensitive, but rather that those thoughts seemed to come from thin air; I just have to sort them out.” Chang finally cleaned up the blood stain and turned his back.

“There is only one thing I need to tell you – everything you do is to survive in this cruel world!”

To survive!

Somehow Qing Shui’s word freed him from his worries. They were more useful than any polished persuasions. Chang laid down and let Qing Shui’s words wander in his mind; he didn’t even look at how Qing Shui was proposing the “secret deal” with the doctor, nor did he take care of Jing, who he was always concerned about. He was so relaxed that he fell asleep almost at the same moment his head touched the pillow.

He slept until the next morning.

When Chang opened his eyes, he realized this was his first time that he slept through the morning since the red fog. The fog had already brightened up by the sun light; he knew it was almost noon.

As he suddenly sat up, the first person he noticed was Qing Shui.

“Finally, you woke up.”

“Yeah.”

“Something went wrong.”

“What happened?”

“That doctor sold us out,” Qing Shui pointed at the door.

“How do you know?” Chang’s heart sunk, and he bounced up from the bed.

“I feel it.” Qing Shui’s index finger knocked on the bed beam. “She seemed strange since last night, and then she smiled to me when she went out of the room. It was weird, because it was the first time she ever smiled as I remember.”

“It must be a fake smile!” Qing Shui rubbed his hair, “and that fake smile must mean that she’s hiding something!”

The door opened again as Qing Shui spoke, and several armed soldiers walked in – the one who brought them over was the doctor.

“Someone reported to us that you murdered your roommates, and we also found pieces of nails and hair with blood around the courtyard.” The leader was the captain that they had met several times. He frowned, “I don't need any explanation because we are soldiers, not policemen or judges. We have confirmed that the corpses were the residents of this room; they also went missing this morning, therefore you are under great suspicion.”

The captain seemed reluctant, “Forgive me, but we really don't have time to investigate. Since you were reported and are the only suspects, we have no other choice but to deport you. Even if this might be unjust, this is the only thing we can do to protect the base.”

“We understand.” Qing Shui nodded as the captain said, he didn’t continue on the topic but turned to the doctor, “Why did you do this to us?”

“I was only looking out for myself; I’m afraid I would be killed by one of you while I was asleep.” The doctor’s face returned to a dull look, but this time it was mixed with grim.

“I’ve told you already that we won’t kill you.” Chang was baffled.

“Hahaha, why would I believe in you? To be honest, I don't trust you at all, nor what you have said.” The doctor stepped forward, “Each one of you is pretending; you shared food to us in the afternoon and then you killed them at night! What else could you not have done?”

“And you, you’re Chang, right? Don't look at me with those innocent eyes! None of you are innocent, I knew it the first day we met.” The doctor became louder as she spoke, as if she was venting out her anger and grievances, but it might’ve also been a channel for her to express her fear these days. “Since the first day, you were taking the beds that didn’t belong to you! That family took three bed for four people and you were much greedier than them, you took four beds! Have you ever thought of how there was only one bed should for my family?”

“You were even able to fall asleep with peace in your mind. How dare you pretend that you are being nice to me? I bet you never thought of giving one of your beds to my parents when they were dying!” Her voice was desperate, “Maybe you have thought of giving out one bed to us… but there must’ve been some other reason or excuse that you used to make yourself feel better for not giving your bed. Humans are selfish, I didn't blame you, so don't blame me for making such a decision today either.”

“I have no sense of security in staying together with you all, so I reported you. After you leave the base, you might not even have a shelter and be eaten by some monsters. Of course, you might be able to go through the first night, but what about the second…” The doctor’s voice was getting lower and lower, and her expressionless face returned. “But who cares about that? The only thing I want is to sleep here safely…”

Her voice became quieter as the door was opened again suddenly. Jing, Pang Zi and Lin were detained back to the room.

Looking at Jing and Pang Zi, Qing Shui was disappointed, “Captain, could you please let us stay in the base? We have meat, a lot of meat. It can be used to save someone’s life, perhaps that could cancel out part of our crime…”

Qing Shui pointed at the barrels, but the captain was obviously not persuaded.

“Like this, we can hunt. We only ask for a shelter to stay in and we will hand a part of the food we obtain to the military…”

The words made the captain raise his brows, but he still shook his head determinedly.

Qing Shui understood how important it was to maintain the stability in the base from the captain’s attitude. He heaved a long sigh and took a deep breath as he said, “Well, we are EMs.”

*EM refers to person with special ability, who also gained ability from encephalon mutation.