Volume 1 Chapter 4: Joey the Demon

“Urgh…” Her neck was squeezed, and Little Lian’s pretty face quickly turned red. Her chubby little hands tried hard to pry Qin Lun’s fingers open as she whimpered uncontrollably.

“Let her go!” For the first time, Hu Fei’s calm and elegant oval face showed a trace of anger. She ran over, lifting the medical kit with both hands and swung it toward Qin Lun’s head.

“Heh!” Qin Lun’s eyes flashed, and a sinister, strange smile appeared on his lips. With a single-handed tug, he used Little Lian as a shield, blocking her in front of him.

“Ah!” Hu Fei was shocked. She twisted her body with all her might, and the heavy medical kit just missed Little Lian’s shoulder. But she lost her balance, stumbling past them both.

The red glow in Qin Lun’s eyes intensified. He threw Little Lian aside, twisted his waist, and kicked out, striking Hu Fei’s round bottom. Using her forward momentum, he sent the Ice Queen flying right into a dozen zombies behind her, turning the stairwell into a chaotic tumble.

As she rolled, Hu Fei’s icy, beautiful face was full of confusion and disbelief. The Ice Queen, who was always pampered and protected like a treasure by everyone in the base, seemed unable to accept that a man had treated her like trash.

It was not until a zombie bit her shoulder hard that Hu Fei snapped out of her daze from the sharp pain. Her typically frosty oval face finally showed panic and frustration. Trapped under the zombies, she reached out toward Qin Lun and Little Lian.

“Save… save me!”

“Sister Hu Fei, no…” Seeing Hu Fei fall into the zombie horde, Little Lian turned pale and screamed in panic.

“Heh, you’re lucky. Qin Lun likes you better than that stuck-up girl. With this pile of fresh meat to distract them, it should slow down the chasing zombies a bit.” Qin Lun grinned wickedly, watching Hu Fei struggle desperately among the zombies. He took two steps forward, hoisted Little Lian over his shoulder, and chased after Lin Feng ahead.

Lin Feng hadn’t gone far. The burst of energy from his fear of Joey Foster only got him down one flight of stairs. Now, at the next landing, he was surrounded again by more than a dozen zombies, using an iron rod clumsily to keep them at bay.

When he saw Qin Lun appear behind him carrying Little Lian, despair spread across Lin Feng’s face.

“Hmph, this girl is still useful. Watch her!” Qin Lun tossed Little Lian to Lin Feng and strode toward the approaching zombies, kicking the nearest one away.

Lin Feng was overjoyed. He steadied the trembling and frightened Little Lian, following closely behind Qin Lun.

Qin Lun watched the dozen zombies ahead. He spun the black dagger around his thumb and grinned fiercely. The next moment, the serial killer leaped from the stairs with arms outstretched, charging into the horde.

The leading zombie was a young woman, her lab coat torn like rags. A black lace bra sagged on her chest, exposing a pale breast with a pink, erect tip like a cherry.

Qin Lun slammed his left hand on the side of her face mid-air, pinning her firmly against the wall. He braced his feet against the chests of two zombies behind her, using his forward momentum to surge downward.

“Roar!” The female zombie roared continuously, her cheek scraping a long bloody streak on the wall as the two zombies behind her toppled backward, pulling down a dozen more zombies in the stairwell.

“Boom!” The zombies piled up at the next landing, flailing wildly. The two zombies Qin Lun had stepped on had sunken chests, blood foaming from their mouths, twitching weakly—clearly badly injured.

The female zombie’s face was a mess of flesh, and the white bone on one side of her head was exposed. She was barely breathing.

“Damn, this is brutal!”

Lin Feng’s face flushed with excitement, completely forgetting his earlier fear. He joined the death match because he admired this kind of cruelty and violence, even considering it the essence of life.

Qin Lun stepped over the zombies and broke through the encirclement. His pale face was twisted, making him look even more menacing. His calves were a bloody mess, with torn muscles hanging like rags where the zombies had bitten him. The back of his left hand, which he had used to press the female zombie, was bleeding badly—he too had paid a heavy price.

After defeating the blocking zombies, the stairs ahead were clear. Although scattered zombies still trickled into the emergency exit from below, forming another large horde wouldn’t be easy anytime soon.

“Waa!” After they rushed down several flights of stairs, Little Lian—who had been half-supported, half-dragged by Lin Feng—finally snapped out of it. She burst into tears, her round, chubby face covered instantly in snot and tears.

“You… be quiet! Stop crying!” Lin Feng, sweating, covered Little Lian’s mouth and glanced nervously ahead at Qin Lun.

“Ah! You brat, why are you biting like a zombie!” Lin Feng had just relaxed when a sharp pain shot through his hand. Little Lian was biting down hard on his thumb joint. “Let go! If you don’t, I’ll throw you to the zombies!”

“You two bad guys got Sister Hu Fei killed! I’ll bite you to death!” Little Lian wiped her tears and said fiercely.

“That has nothing to do with me!” Lin Feng turned away, muttering under his breath.

“Then come back with me to save her!” Little Lian pleaded tearfully with Lin Feng.

“It’s too late. If you want to die, go back yourself!” Lin Feng sighed, let go of Little Lian, and paused. “But I hope you can treasure the chance she bought you… with her life.”

Little Lian quieted down. She stopped crying, but tears continued to fall silently.

“Quiet!” Qin Lun, leading the way, suddenly raised a hand and stopped. He narrowed his eyes slightly, the red glow in his pupils faintly flickering.

“Someone’s talking downstairs. They sound alive.” Lin Feng listened for a moment and exclaimed with excitement.

“Go, you two lead the way!” Qin Lun grinned slyly, his right hand hidden behind his back, still holding the black dagger.

The three ran down two more flights of stairs and finally met another group at the next landing. Compared to Qin Lun’s trio, this group had more than a dozen people, almost all injured. There were not only death row inmates but also Federation soldiers in uniform, as well as Disciple Hansen and the cross-dresser Lili among them.

Most of the group were death row inmates, with only a few Federation soldiers. Most prisoners held iron pipes or knives, while the soldiers were unarmed, pushed ahead by the prisoners to act as shields.

The group paused briefly when they saw Qin Lun’s trio. After a few words from Lili and Hansen, no one paid them any more attention and they continued forward expressionlessly—both prisoners and soldiers looked indifferent.

By now, Lin Feng had already changed out of his suit into a prison uniform, and Little Lian, held between Qin Lun and Lin Feng, looked just like a hostage. It made them match this small team perfectly. The three silently joined the end of the group, blending in unnoticed.

“Hi, handsome guy, we meet again!” The cross-dresser Lili had drifted over to Lin Feng’s side, winking and teasing playfully, “It looks like you changed your outfit, huh?”

Lili’s voice was sweet, high-pitched, and somewhat coquettish.

“Shut up!” Lin Feng grabbed Lili’s arm angrily and hissed in a low voice.

“What a rude man! You hurt me!” Lili shook Lin Feng’s hand off, gave him a sharp glare, swayed her waist like a snake, and rubbed her wrist while sneaking a glance at Qin Lun at the back. “Your boss doesn’t look so good, does he?”

The wounds on Qin Lun’s legs were severe—the lower parts of his pants were soaked in blood, and every step left a bright red footprint. Yet he seemed completely unaware, his pace steady despite his pale face, as if he felt no pain.

“None of your business. Qin Lun is perfectly fine!” Lin Feng turned, stiffened upon seeing Qin Lun, and glared fiercely at Lili. “Why don’t you ask him yourself if he’s okay!”

“Alright, I was just expressing some concern!” Lili’s expression froze. She forced a dry laugh, a cold glint in her seductive eyes.

“Qin Lun sure is tough! But don’t say I didn’t warn you—don’t let him lose too much blood and collapse. Otherwise, you two will be tossed to the zombies as bait! We’ve already sacrificed plenty of people to get this far.”

Lili’s eyes swept over them, then she sneered, turned, swayed her hips seductively, and sashayed back to the middle of the group.

Lin Feng’s face darkened. He had already noticed Qin Lun’s leg injury. But to him, Qin Lun and the zombies were the same—so long as he could escape the base before both were destroyed, that was fine. But with so many death row inmates here now, without Qin Lun as protection, he and Little Lian wouldn’t last long.

Lili’s warning made Lin Feng look uneasily at the other inmates. Panic soon flickered on his face, and sweat beaded on his forehead.

“Not counting Hansen and Qin Lun, there’s also ‘Shepherd’ Hill, ‘Chameleon’ Chekhov, ‘Firecracker’ Rand, ‘Joker’ Grant… Damn, why does the base have so many serial killers gathered here!” Lin Feng’s lips trembled quietly as he cursed.

Realizing his life now depended entirely on Qin Lun, Lin Feng didn’t hesitate. He carefully dropped back a few steps and sidled up beside Qin Lun.

“Boss Qin Lun, should we stop and let me bandage your wounds? It’ll just take a few minutes!”

Qin Lun’s face remained expressionless. His eyes mechanically shifted, the corner of his gaze falling on Lin Feng.

Lin Feng felt as if a hungry beast were staring at him. His hair stood on end, and he lowered his head, not daring to meet the serial killer’s eyes.

“Hurry up!” Qin Lun glanced at him, then stopped and leaned against the wall, closing his eyes and speaking calmly.

“Don’t use that, let me do it.” Watching Lin Feng clumsily tear his prison uniform, Little Lian sighed, crouched down, and pulled out a spare pack of bandages and hemostatic agents from her lab coat pocket. She had taken them from the infirmary just in case, and now they came in handy.

They peeled open Qin Lun’s pant legs and gasped. A large chunk of the serial killer’s calf was chewed to a pulp, white bone exposed. The torn muscle fibers trembled in the air, looking exceptionally gruesome.

“Done. As long as you don’t move too much, the bleeding should stop gradually.” Little Lian turned away, muttering expressionlessly.

“Thank you, Little Lian.” Qin Lun opened his eyes as if awakening from sleep. The red glow deep in his pupils had vanished, leaving his gaze clear and pure. A serene, gentle smile spread across his face.

“Demon King Qin Lun…” Little Lian turned back in shock, her beautiful big eyes already brimming with tears again.