Severed Hands

Zhao Jingyao's attitude was gentle, and a sense of joy could be seen in his soft smile.

It was an eye-opener for Xia Guang.

Jiang Chu smiled and said, "No need for now. Do you have a doctor here? I have a patient who will need their wounds treated in a moment."

Gao Qingyang, who had just gotten off the vehicle and walked over, was utterly baffled. He said loudly, "Since when do we have a patient? My wounds are already scabbing over and almost healed."

Zhang Hu punched his back. "You talk too much."

The two of them still held their wounds, unable to fully trust this place.

Jiang Chu smiled cryptically and said, "Not right now, but there will be very soon."

Zhao Jingyao glanced at her, then chuckled softly after a moment. He didn't pry further, which was the proper way to interact with others.

"We do. I'll have Xia Guang call one over. It's been a tiring journey, and your people must be exhausted. Have them go with Xia Guang to get a meal. Since we're acquaintances and you're on my turf, there's no need to draw such clear lines."

Zhao Jingyao's handsome, resolute face was completely natural, without a trace of pretense. He narrowed his long, narrow eyes to look at Jiang Chu.

"Xia Guang, go find a military doctor."

Jiang Chu's attention wasn't on him. She stared at the motorhome, lost in thought for a few seconds, before turning to Zhao Jingyao. "Alright, then sorry to trouble you."

Jiang Chu told Chen Qingqing and Gao Qingyang to go ahead.

She whispered a few words into Zhang Hu's ear, then smiled apologetically at Zhao Jingyao. "Officer Zhao, we might make a mess of your place. You don't mind, do you?"

Zhao Jingyao naturally didn't mind.

Seeing that the surrounding soldiers were all busy with their own tasks, with few paying attention to this spot.

When Zhang Hu got into the vehicle, Cui Zhaodong was still unconscious. He stuffed a rag tightly into Cui Zhaodong's mouth.

He untied the rope secured to the bed frame and tied it again, except this time, the other end of the rope was in his hand.

He dragged Cui Zhaodong down from the vehicle.

They walked to a spot hidden from view behind the motorhome.

Finally, he handed Jiang Chu a meat cleaver, his movements neat and swift.

"This cleaver is sharp. It'll chop right through," Zhang Hu said seriously.

Ning Ting's eyelids twitched. Doing something like this on someone else's turf was truly unique to their team.

Seeing that the person dragged down was an unfamiliar face, Zhao Jingyao didn't question it. After all, every team had its secrets, and the social order of the apocalypse had completely collapsed.

Private punishment and executions were commonplace.

He wouldn't say anything.

The slight sense of justice he once had had completely vanished after leaving the Southern Base. He had grown accustomed to seeing such things and had even done them himself.

"The doctor is on his way."

Jiang Chu thought about it and felt she couldn't just take advantage of him so blatantly. Holding the cleaver Zhang Hu had handed her, she weighed her options and said calmly, "Officer Zhao, I'm afraid I'll have to trouble your doctor to prescribe some medicine. We might need to use supplies from your stronghold. I'll exchange them with other medicines from our team, so please don't worry about that."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Jingyao pulled back his smile. "No need for an exchange, it's just a bit of medicine. You saved my life back at the hospital, and I turned a disaster into a blessing by gaining an ability. If we calculate things so clearly, a life-saving debt can never be fully repaid. Unless, as the saying goes, a life-saving favor should be repaid with one's body? Besides, those weapons from before aren't even worth mentioning."

Seeing this, Jiang Chu didn't say anything more.

She lamented that one could still meet good people in the apocalypse.

She held the cleaver. Seeing that Zhao Jingyao had no intention of avoiding the scene, she didn't hide her actions from him either.

Zhang Hu said excitedly, "We should lift him up, put his hand on a chopping block like chopping vegetables, and then *crack*—one chop with enough force will do it."

Although Zhang Hu wasn't very smart, he was at least better than Gao Qingyang; he wouldn't ask why they suddenly decided to take action.

These two were the sharpest blades under Jiang Chu's command, and they worked with absolute dedication.

However, hearing Zhang Hu's description made the corners of Jiang Chu's mouth twitch.

Wanting to get it over with quickly, she gestured for Zhang Hu to pin Cui Zhaodong's hand down.

With a cold expression, she raised the cleaver and chopped down decisively. The blade drew blood instantly, incredibly sharp.

Cui Zhaodong, who had been injected with a sedative, actually woke up from the intense pain. His pupils contracted to the extreme, and his entire face contorted, one side turning a bruised, purplish-blue. He bit down hard on the rag in his mouth, the veins on his forehead bulging as he tried to stand up.

Ning Ting immediately pinned him down as well.

Jiang Chu wouldn't hesitate, let alone soften her heart.

Qin Yan had Dr. X as his trump card. If Cui Zhaodong revealed that trump card to them and Dr. X conducted research, what then?

There were already endless zombies to kill. She didn't want some new species to suddenly appear in the future, nor did she want Qin Yan to have more perverted teams like the Corpse Whisperers.

Cui Zhaodong showed no mercy to his own subordinates, so how could she show him any?

"Zhang Hu, gag him tighter, don't let him scream. Both hands must be chopped off."

Not only did she want to chop them off, but she also wanted to chop them so thoroughly that they couldn't be reattached. What Jiang Chu needed to do was keep Cui Zhaodong alive and bring him to Qin Yan. That way, her mission would be considered complete.

Zhang Hu replied, "Got it."

He stuffed the gag even deeper into Cui Zhaodong's mouth.

At this moment, Jiang Chu seemed to transform into a cold-faced Yama. Once one hand was chopped off, she moved to the other. Blood splattered everywhere, and the severed hands fell to the ground, blood pooling and staining the earth red—a nauseating sight.

Zhao Jingyao, who had been caught up in the sentiment of their reunion, seemed to only just snap out of it. He turned his head away, giving their team some space.

Just then, Xia Guang arrived with the doctor. Seeing the bloody scene, his eyes narrowed, and he stammered for a moment before finding his words, "This... Jiang Chu, we haven't seen each other for a while, and yet you've become so fierce. Severing hands like this... are you asking our doctor to save his life? With this kind of force, those hands can't be reattached."

Zhao Jingyao shot him a warning glance, indicating he was talking too much.

He coldly spat out two words: "Save him."

"Take the doctor over."

Xia Guang had thought there was an injured person in their vehicle, but he hadn't expected the patient to be right here, with wounds freshly inflicted on the spot.

This truly exceeded his comprehension.

"Alright, I'll have someone bring a stretcher. We'll head straight to the medical room in a bit."

The military doctor glanced at the bloody scene. He was highly experienced and didn't offer any opinions, saying to Major Zhao, "Saving his life is no problem, Major Zhao. I'll go ahead."

With that, he walked over to the woman holding the cleaver.

The more he looked, the more alarmed he became. Were ordinary girls in the apocalypse really this fierce?

Seeing Xia Guang bring someone over, Jiang Chu let out a sigh of relief. "Wait a moment, just two more chops and we're done. Are you the doctor? Keep him alive. He cannot die."

The military doctor's face stiffened, and he said numbly, "Understood."

Clearly, this woman had technique. Although it was a gruesome sight, she hadn't cut in a way that would take the man's life.

Keeping him alive would definitely not be an issue.

Jiang Chu delivered two more chops, finally severing Cui Zhaodong's hands completely.