122 3.07.27 – A Troll vs. A Provocateur – Downfall of Humanity
A while ago...
Ren Han was returning from the toilet when he discovered the empty base. Walking up the stairs, he noticed a person in black laying on the platform. With her chin resting on her hand, she drew on her tablet silently.
‘The most feared human in the world? What a joke.’ With a wicked grin, he took off his shoes and crept towards the innocent victim. Seeing her silly reaction, he started to laugh. Putting back his shoes, he saw how she fell on her butt, his laughter intensified. He waited for her retaliation, but there was none. She didn’t run away, she didn’t shout at him, nor did she attack him. She just sat there, hiding and hugging her knees in silence.
“Grandma, did I scare you?” Ren Han asked provocatively. Sitting at the edge of the wall, he grabbed her tablet. Seeing a man with pink cat ears and super long pink eyelashes, he grinned and added a pig nose. Satisfied, sliding the screen, his expression dimmed. Like before, there were a few couple photos, which indicated that they weren’t a simple couple. It appeared that they were excessively wealthy.
Bing Shi wasn’t lying about her relationship? Standing next to each other in front of a black hypercar, they emitted a completely different aura. Skipping the irksome man, Ren Han’s gaze switched to the girl. For Ren Han, who was used to seeing overly beautiful people, Bing Shi, in his eyes, changed from an ugly duckling to a duckling.
*Silence*
Hearing no response, feeling a tad awkward, he shouted at the people below to ask about the situation.
While the drones were charging, a quarter of the soldiers cleaned up the main roads cluttered with cars. Half of the group drove to the city to stockpile on resources, like rice, canned food, and beverages. They had to gather everything before others.
The rest was looting zombies. As there was too much of them, they had to find another way besides breaking their skulls. Trying to put one nucleus on fire, they found out that it didn’t thaw. Pilling a hoard of zombies up, they circled the rotten mountain with rocks and put them on fire.
.....
Hearing a sound of footsteps, Ren Han turned his head.
Bing Shi looked at the tablet in his hands, taking a phone out of her pocket, she called Yi Zen’s number, “Yi Zen, could you bring me a new tablet? Mine broke, thank you.”
[“Kuro, destroy all the data from my tablet.”]
Bing Shi told Kuro to accompany Yi Zen, as a mascot, it would come in handy. Negotiating with the citizens and asking for help would be a lot easier.
[Yes.]
Without seeing her expression, it was apparent that she was staring at the tablet in his hands. Was he too much? Who cared? Laughing at other’s misfortune brought him so much entertainment. Going through the wiped out tablet, Ren Han’s lips curled up, “Is this considered another gift from my grandma?”
Bing Shi asked without looking at him, “Would you give it back if I asked nicely? If no, consider it as a gift.”
‘What a great lesson. Living people are far more terrifying than dead ones.’
Ren Han thought it through and decided to change his tactics, “I would.”
Bing Shi reached out her hands, “Can I get my tablet back, please?”
Ren Han blinked at her palms. She really did ask for it genuinely. Didn’t he just scare the shit out of her? What’s wrong with her? Should he go back on his words? It would bring him no benefits, so he gave her the tablet, “You can call your Yi Zen that he doesn’t have to bring you a new tablet.”
It’s not like he felt guilty. It’d be a new era, if Ziek Leoners felt guilt.
“Thank you,” Bing Shi ignored his sweet pretentious tone. Accepting the tablet, she put it inside her backpack, “It was a bluff. I never called Yi Zen.”
“...” Ren Han just fell for the stupidest prank ever. To find out what was Bing Shi’s scheme with him, he taunted her more than once. But, it’s like the word ‘revenge’ didn’t exist in her vocabulary. Not able to hold it in, he asked the question which was on his mind for a while, “Why me?”
Bing Shi stood up, “The way you eat lemons is the same as my boyfriend’s.”
The expression behind his mask showed a sharp smile. It’s hard to grasp her thinking, so he began to ask her questions. Her answer made lots of sense, “Really? How come you don’t get angry?”
Bing Shi zipped up her backpack and stood up, “Really... Hm, I do get angry. If you threw me out of the base, I’d get angry, perhaps. But don’t touch me, use a crane or something. That way, it’ll be more fun.”
Ren Han raised his eyebrow in amusement. She would be no different from those corpses. “Then what?”
Bing Shi sprinted down the platform, “I’d run away; there is no way I’m going to get caught by a crane, haha!”
Ren Han stood up and chased after her with laughter; she totally got him, “Come back! I’m so going to throw you out of the base!”
“Grandson. You just wasted a once in a lifetime chance!” She ran through the pipe towards the entrance, climbing up the stairs, she closed the lids right before his face. Sitting on it, she clapped her hands in satisfaction, “Don’t hurt yourself, I weight as much as a whale.”
“...” Hearing her words, Ren Han had a silly grin plastered on his face. He knew that with his current strength, he wouldn’t be able to lift the lid. Since it was only two months ago that he was discharged, his body was the weakest among all the men in the base. He was surprised when Bing Shi opened the lid, waved at him cutely and then closed it again.
Chuckling, he raised his hand in defeat. In this war of minds, Bing Shi reflected every one of his attacks. She never tried to correct his personality. She went along with it.
An unfamiliar yet familiar warmth engulfed his body.
Unfamiliar with Ziek Leoners.
Because for others, it was a simple moment of happiness.