Volume One, Chapter 48: Mo Youxue's Awakening

The burning site was set in the abandoned open-air parking lot on the far west side of the base.

Before even approaching, Mo Youxue was hit by a nauseating stench.

The foul odor of scorched rotten flesh mingled with the scent of some chemical agent, flooding her nostrils.

“Miss Mo, this way please,” Li Hua said politely as he led the way, his polished shoes stepping over dried blood stains on the ground.

He deliberately slowed his pace to let Mo Youxue take in the scene along the route.

A dozen or so ragged survivors were pushing iron carts.

On the carts lay twisted, deformed corpses, dark red bodily fluids seeping through the cracks and leaving long, viscous trails on the cement floor.

At the sight, Mo Youxue’s stomach convulsed violently.

She gripped the sides of her maid’s dress so tightly her knuckles turned white.

Some corpses were so heavily decomposed that bare bones showed starkly;

Others still held their deathly grimaces, their cloudy eyeballs staring blankly at the sky.

The most terrifying were several bodies that had obviously died not long ago, their skin an eerie blue-gray, as if they might suddenly spring to life at any moment.

“Our autopsy process is very simple,” Li Hua said, kicking aside a severed arm blocking the way. “For each cart of bodies that comes through, you just note the number on the form.”

Like a magician, he pulled out a stack of registration sheets from his briefcase. “Here, like this—Old Wang, five bodies, 5 contribution points.”

Suddenly, he grabbed a passing stooped old man. “Old Zhang, give the newcomer a demonstration!”

The old man smiled obsequiously and lifted the waterproof tarp covering the cart.

The stench exploded like a bomb, forcing Mo Youxue to stagger back two steps.

At the top of the heap was a little girl, half her face missing, yet a pink hairpin stubbornly clung to the remaining strands of hair.

“Ugh—” she could no longer hold back, turning away to retch.

From behind her came Li Hua’s malicious chuckle: “Miss, you’ll have to adapt quickly. We’re expecting to process over three hundred bodies today.”

He deliberately jabbed the pen at the registration sheet. “By the way, all bodies must have their skulls opened for examination. If it’s a killing by a living person, the brain matter looks different.”

Mo Youxue covered her mouth with her sleeve, cold sweat soaking the back of her dress.

The sunlight suddenly grew dazzling; she saw her shadow trembling on the ground like a fallen leaf.

At that moment, she distinctly heard the sound of something shattering.

It was the pride she had once held so high.

---

“Let’s get started,” Li Hua said, pressing the pen into her trembling hand. “Oh, and the protective suits are over there.”

He pointed to a pile of rubber suits in the corner, stained with suspicious discolorations. “Though one’s got a hole... but Miss, you’re not afraid to get dirty, are you?”

Mo Youxue glanced toward the villa.

The bulletproof glass reflected the cold light of the sun like an ivory tower out of reach.

She suddenly recalled An Ruoran’s rosy complexion from that morning, her awkward gait, and the faint satisfaction hidden beneath her respectful facade.

A low laugh escaped her lips.

Li Hua was taken aback by her unusual reaction. “What are you laughing at?”

Mo Youxue slowly raised her head; sunlight cast shadows beneath her lashes, unable to conceal the sudden fire igniting in her eyes.

She finally understood.

In this collapsing world, so-called dignity and pride were but the scraps slipping from the fingertips of the powerful.

All the business rules her father taught her had become useless; here, only the most primal law of the jungle prevailed.

“Nothing,” she said, releasing her grip as the pen clattered onto the bloodstained ground. “I just suddenly figured some things out.”

The squeak of the carts came again as another batch of bodies arrived.

The stench hit her face once more, yet this time she did not retreat.

She strode directly to the foul-smelling rubber suits and without hesitation picked up the dirtiest one, donning it.

The moldy rubber clung coldly to her skin, sending a shiver through her, but she showed no sign of hesitation.

“We’re supposed to open the skulls, right?” she said, picking up an iron hook. Her voice was eerily calm. “Teach me how to tell the brain matter apart.”

Li Hua stared at the suddenly transformed Miss Mo with suspicion.

Sunlight glinted off her ink-stained hands as she clumsily but resolutely learned the technique of examining corpses.

Her pale cheeks were splattered with corpse fluids, and the expensive silk maid’s dress was hidden beneath the protective suit’s grime, yet her spine was straighter than ever.

This was the truth An Ruoran had long understood.

Mo Youxue pried open the skull of a male corpse with the iron hook; the decayed brain matter splattered onto her gloves.

She stared at the grayish-white mass and suddenly grasped all her friend’s choices.

That timid white rabbit who always hid behind others had seen through this world’s truth long before she did.

In the ruins of collapsed order, a woman’s beauty and intelligence were merely commodities to be bought and sold, and the shrewdest investment was to sell oneself to the strongest man.

---

“Not bad at all,” Li Hua’s mocking voice came from behind. “Looks like Miss is quite talented.”

Mo Youxue ignored his sneer.

She mechanically recorded the numbers while Lin Ye’s deep, unfathomable eyes flashed in her mind.

Those eyes looked at her and An Ruoran as if they were two goods to be assessed.

And now she understood the criteria—not education, not family background, but who could please him more, who was more… useful.

“Next cart!” she called out, her voice edged with resolve.

The old man pushing the cart jumped in fright, nearly toppling the pile of corpses.

…

As the setting sun dyed the smoke over the burning site blood-red, Mo Youxue peeled off the protective suit soaked with the stench of death.

She stood before the yellowed mirror in the washroom, staring at a stranger who was also herself—disheveled hair, pale lips, and eyes burning with ambition.

Slowly, she loosened the collar of her maid’s dress, fingertips grazing the delicate skin beneath her collarbone.

Here should have been sprayed with Chanel No. 5; instead, it was stained with an unremovable stench.

The woman in the mirror curled a cold smile, her fingers tracing downward along the curves.

“Just wait…” she whispered to the empty air where An Ruoran seemed to linger. “Whatever you can do… I will do better.”

Water from a bottle splashed over her face, the sound mingling with her suppressed sobs.

But when Mo Youxue raised her head again, all weakness had been washed away.

Reflected in the mirror was no longer the pampered young lady, but a woman prepared to pay any price for survival.

In the distance, the villa’s lights flickered on one by one, like a palace floating in the darkness.

Mo Youxue carefully wiped each finger clean, then drew a half-used cherished lipstick from a hidden pocket in her skirt.

This was her last luxury, now transformed into her sharpest weapon.

As the crimson balm traced her lips, she recalled the suspicious smear of cream at the corner of An Ruoran’s mouth that morning.