31. Treating people like fools?

The car drove smoothly on the snow, and the flat snow gradually took on undulating contours, with mountains and hills.

The fox fur coats worn by Fu Yunong and the other three were spotless white, and the fluffy fox fur made their cheeks appear even whiter. The soft texture wrapped around their bodies, keeping out the cold.

Lin Songsong leaned against the car window, chewing on dried meat, and mumbled, "These clothes are so comfortable, much warmer than a cotton-padded coat." Xiao Linfang, holding half a cake in her hand, nodded in agreement, her eyes full of satisfaction.

Fu Yunong chewed on the dried meat, recalling the fight in the village earlier, and couldn't help but laugh, "Did you guys notice? When we fought those people earlier, not one of us even pulled out a gun."

Xiao Linfang paused for a moment, then laughed, "That's true! I'm so used to my superpowers that I always forget to use my pistol. I'm always a little afraid of that thing, afraid it might go off accidentally."

Shi Dong gripped the steering wheel and smiled slightly as he replied, "Superpowers are indeed useful, but we can't forget about handguns. Everyone knows guns can kill, but few have actually seen superpowers."

Several people agreed wholeheartedly.

The car drove on until noon, and the glare from the snow became increasingly blinding. The group didn't stop and had lunch in the car: dried meat and cake, along with a few sips of warm water from a thermos—simple but filling.

According to Zhong, there was nowhere to stay for dozens of miles around, and they had to reach their next destination before nightfall. Spending the night outside was too risky.

"Huh? What's that?" Fu Yunong suddenly pointed ahead.

The group looked in the direction she pointed, and in the snow not far away, a familiar sign was faintly visible. Although it was mostly buried by snow, the three blurry characters for "convenience store" were still recognizable.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a cluster of buildings covered in snow. The tall buildings had long since collapsed, leaving only a few low houses with their roofs exposed. Your convenience store was hidden among them, its storefront looking dilapidated, yet the padlock on the door was still securely locked.

Shi Dong slowed down, his eyes filled with wariness. After a disaster, shops and convenience stores are the first places to be looted, so there was no reason for this place to still be locked.

She didn't linger, stepped on the gas, and the car sped away. But before they had gone far, a steaming basket of buns suddenly appeared out of nowhere by the roadside!

Hua Hua, who had been curled up on Lin Songsong's lap, suddenly stood up straight, her ears perked up, her eyes fixed on the front, and she made a soft purring sound in her throat.

Fu Yunong's eyes widened in disbelief. "How could this be..."

"Something's not right." Shi Dong's voice turned cold instantly. The car drove straight ahead and crashed into the bamboo basket without any hesitation, sending the buns rolling onto the snow.

Not far along, a wooden table suddenly appeared out of nowhere by the roadside, covered with a whole table of hot dishes, and even a bowl of white rice.

Fu Yunong frowned, looking disgusted. "This is so fake! Do they think we're idiots?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the dishes on the table disappeared, replaced by boxes of clean, clear purified water.

The four people: "..."

Seeing that they didn't react, the purified water turned into a row of weapons placed on the snow: pistols, rifles, and even a rocket launcher, with ammunition boxes placed next to them, looking brand new as if they had just come out of the factory.

"..."

Then, they watched in disbelief as the weapons turned into chests of gleaming gold bars!

They couldn't take it anymore! The four got out of the car, quickly formed a battle formation, and quietly activated their supernatural abilities.

"Come out." Shi Dong's gaze swept across the surrounding snow. "Is it fun to play these tricks in the shadows?"

Hua Hua suddenly jumped down from Lin Songsong's arms, arched her body, her tail held straight, and walked step by step towards the left slope, her nose constantly sniffing the air.

Shi Dong cocked his pistol with a "click" and followed quietly behind it.

In the snowdrift behind the slope, Huangfu Jinrang's nose was covered in a fine layer of cold sweat, and her face was pale. Her physical strength was already weak, and maintaining the illusion had already exhausted most of her energy, but these people were completely unresponsive. She was about to give up!

"Oh no! Someone's coming this way!" Huangfu Jinrang panicked. Relying on the illusion to conceal her form, she cautiously moved to the other side. But after only two steps, the person followed again; she moved again, and the other person caught up again. After several such attempts, her mental energy was completely exhausted, and her vision blurred.

Damn cat!

The illusion rippled like water the next second before shattering.

The scene before Fu Yunong and the others changed instantly: it was still snow, but they had stopped at the place where they had first seen the convenience store. Judging from the tire tracks left in the snow, they were clearly going around in circles!

As soon as the illusion broke, Shi Dong immediately locked onto her figure, reached out and grabbed her like a chick, pulling her out of the room.

Fu Yunong leaned closer to take a look and saw that it was a young woman: shoulder-length short hair, a dirty face, a noticeable scar on her right cheek, and hands red and purple from the cold. She was half a head shorter than Fu Yunong and very thin. She was wearing an ill-fitting cotton-padded jacket, the original color of which was no longer recognizable.

Hua Hua circled around her twice, sniffing her all over.

"You're a superhuman, right?" Fu Yunong asked, taking the initiative to speak.

Huangfu Jinrang kept a straight face and didn't say a word, his chin held high, looking somewhat stubborn.

Shi Dong grabbed her shoulders and hissed coldly, "Speak!"

Huangfu Jinrang struggled violently and turned to run, but before she could take two steps, Lin Songsong picked her up. "Don't run, answer properly, and we won't hurt you." After saying that, she gently put her down.

Xiao Linfang leaned down, looked her in the eye, and asked softly, "Little girl, why are you alone? Where are your parents?"

Huangfu Jinrang seemed to be enraged. He bared his teeth and shrieked, "They're nearby! You'd better release me now, or you'll be sorry!"

Fu Yunong raised an eyebrow, her temper flaring. She shook her head with a smile, "Do we look like fools? We've been serving hot buns and dishes in the snow, even using weapons as bait. And now, we're lying to us?"

Huangfu Jinrang knew that nothing she said would make a difference, so he closed his eyes, stiffened his neck, and said, "Kill me or torture me, it's all up to you!"

"Ouch!" The next second, she cried out in pain, clutching her head. Shi Dong flicked the top of her head with his finger, the force not too light or too heavy, but enough to make her feel pain.

Shi Dong withdrew her hand, a half-smile on her face, "We'll ask you questions later, and you'll answer. If you try anything funny again, it won't be as simple as just eating roasted chestnuts."

The car restarted, and the little girl was sandwiched between Fu Yunong and Xiao Linfang, while Lin Songsong, holding Huahua, moved to the passenger seat.

The carriage was warm and cozy, and Huangfu Jinrang found himself somewhat reluctant to leave this feeling.

"Eat up." Fu Yunong handed over the bread roll and water bottle. Under the little girl's suspicious gaze, she smiled and took a bite herself first.

This girl looked exactly like Shi Dong when they first met, and Fu Yunong actually felt a sense of familiarity with her.

Huangfu Jin stared at the bread for a few seconds before finally taking it and starting to eat it in small bites. But the more she ate, the more she couldn't resist, and eventually she started wolfing it down—she was so hungry.

She hadn't eaten two bites when she choked and her eyes rolled back. Xiao Linfang quickly held the water bottle to her lips, both amused and exasperated, "Eat slowly, no one's going to take it from you."

Huangfu Jinrang took a sip of water to catch her breath, but as she ate, her eyes suddenly reddened. She first sobbed softly, then broke into uncontrollable wailing, her shoulders shaking violently. The others didn't speak, but silently handed her tissues. They knew without asking that this girl must have suffered a lot.

After crying for a while, Huangfu Jinrang gradually stopped crying and sobbed, "Don't go this way, people will die."

Shi Dong immediately slammed on the brakes, turned his head to look at her, his eyes filled with doubt.

Huangfu Jinrang's expression changed several times, but finally, as if he had made up his mind, he slowly began to recount his experiences.

Before the apocalypse, she was the daughter of the Huangfu family. Her father was a well-known local entrepreneur, and her mother was a gentle and virtuous socialite. She was pampered from a young age, and was elegant and proper, and skilled in piano and calligraphy and painting.

But after the disaster struck, everything changed.

On the day of the evacuation, the convoy was attacked. In the chaos, her parents grabbed her younger brother and crawled into the last car. No matter how much she chased after them and cried out, the car sped away. Only then did she realize that the so-called rich girl was utterly insignificant in front of "the only hope of the Huangfu family."

But she refused to accept it; she wanted to live!

In the days that followed, she lived a life of hiding, surviving by stealing and scavenging. She barely made it through a few months before being captured and taken back by a group of ruthless men. Just as they were about to assault her, a woman stepped forward; her name was Sister Hong.

"Sister Hong blocked it for me, but they...they..." Huangfu Jinrang gritted his teeth, his eyes filled with hatred.

Afterwards, Sister Hong comforted Huangfu Jinrang, saying that she did this kind of work on the street anyway, and that she should just consider it as being bitten by a dog and not take it to heart.

“But those people are not human! They bully Sister Hong every day, and they always make fun of me, slap me, beat me, and burn me with cigarette butts…” She touched the scar on her right cheek, her voice trembling.

The carriage was silent. Fu Yunong looked at the scar on her face, her eyes filled with anger.

brute!

Huangfu Jinrang wiped away her tears and continued, "A few days ago, Sister Hong asked me to find a way to escape. She said that they were tired of her and that she couldn't protect me anymore."

Then, one afternoon, Sister Hong deliberately seduced them, using all her charm to entangle them. Taking advantage of this opening, she escaped. Unfortunately, she was still discovered, and they chased after her, carrying her head. In her panic, she fell into a hole, lost consciousness, and suffered from a high fever for two days.

After the fever subsided, she discovered that she had gained supernatural abilities.

"...It's a mental manipulation technique, capable of mentally manipulating others. Unfortunately, I'm too weak," Huangfu Jinrang said dejectedly.

Fu Yunong patted her, "Don't be discouraged, your health is too poor right now. Just stay with us for a while and get better first."

Huangfu Jinrang lowered his head and said sincerely, "Thank you, thank you all."

It was getting late, and guided by Huangfu Jinrang, the group found a secluded cave to stay in. The cave didn't smell very pleasant, but having a sheltered place was already a relief.

The group skillfully divided the work and soon started a fire. They also sealed the entrance to the cave, leaving only a narrow gap for ventilation.

The hot tea bubbled and steamed as the group sat around the brazier, discussing what to eat later. Since entering Snow Wolf Village, they hadn't had a proper hot meal.

Lin Songsong chuckled carelessly, "How about we cook some meat porridge? It'll warm us up!"

Upon hearing this, the group tacitly thought of the porridge from the mountain stronghold and immediately felt nauseous, shaking their heads in disgust.

"Let's order takeout," Fu Yunong finally decided.

She selected fresh pig's trotters and green vegetables to make four servings of pig's trotter rice. Considering that Huangfu Jinrang might have indigestion, she also bought taro, shredded pork, and green vegetables to make a light taro soup rice bowl.

At the same time, she took out the side dishes from the space and let them choose for themselves.

Huangfu Jinrang sat by the brazier, hugging her knees, listening to the conversation with a blank expression. She could understand each word individually, but when put together, it was like listening to astronomy.

While they were still in a daze, several steaming bowls of rice suddenly appeared on the iron plate over the brazier, and the aroma instantly filled the entire cave.

Huangfu Jinrang's eyes widened instantly, and the small wooden stick she was holding fell to the ground with a "thud." She subconsciously rubbed her eyes. Was this... was this real? Had those people damaged her brain?

"Stop spacing out, eat up." Fu Yunong placed the rice bowl in her hand. "Eat slowly, there's more if you're not full."

Huangfu Jinrang took the bowl blankly, only realizing it wasn't a hallucination when her fingertips touched the warm bowl. She ate a mouthful of rice with the soup, even hissing from the heat because she ate too quickly.

Now she was completely awake; it was all true!

The others watched her silently, their eyes filled with smiles. Everyone present, except for Fu Yunong, had experienced this scene before; it was normal.

Huangfu Jinrang no longer cared about the heat or his manners, and began shoveling rice into his mouth with a spoon.

Fu Yunong called her twice, telling her to eat slowly, but she didn't hear him.

Looking at her like this, Fu Yunong secretly exchanged a glance with Shi Dong and the others, her eyes filled with worry. They had all noticed that this girl had hearing problems, especially in her left ear. When they spoke to her at a normal volume, she often didn't respond; only when they raised their voices would she respond. They wondered if her ear had been damaged when she was being bullied.

After eating and drinking her fill, Fu Yunong took out a large bucket from her spatial storage and filled it with water. She then bought an electric kettle from the system, plugged it into a power bank, and yes, she won again—the same capacity!

She boiled a full bucket of hot water for the little girl to wash up. Although it was a hassle, no one thought it was a waste.

Fu Yunong and Xiao Linfang scrubbed her back, their eyes filled with pity. Wrapped in hot water, Huangfu Jinran stood there, letting them do as they pleased, her eyes reddened by the steam, large tears streaming down her face. A suppressed sob echoed softly in the cave. The grievances and fears of the past six months finally found an outlet at this moment.

After washing up, Fu Yunong brought her a clean set of clothes and shoes, and even altered a light yellow fox fur coat for her. Huangfu Jin felt instantly refreshed after putting on the clean and soft clothes.

She touched the warm clothes she was wearing, lowered her head and remained silent for a long time. Then, as if she had made up her mind, she raised her head, looked at Fu Yunong and the others, and asked softly, "I...can I come with you?"