It's Me Again

[Required Charm Value: 1, Host's Charm Value: 9, Qualified.]

[Ding! Task triggered: Rescue the trapped woman.]

[Task reward: Random Attribute Point *1]

The familiar prompt sounded in her mind, and Ning Yu revealed a satisfied smile.

This was practically effortless, and she could earn an Attribute Point.

As soon as the door opened, an unpleasant odor wafted out.

In the room, a woman was bound by ropes to a high rack, her eyes covered with a dirty cloth, and a sock stuffed in her mouth.

She wore tattered office attire; she must have been a white-collar worker before the apocalypse.

Now her clothes had been cut in many places, particularly around certain sensitive areas.

Some parts of her clothing, especially her skirt, were completely torn.

She apparently hadn't bathed for quite some time, her body emanating a sharp, foul odor mixed with unspeakable smells.

When she heard the door open, thinking some horrifying thing had come again, she twisted violently in resistance, making muffled "mmph mmph" pleading sounds.

She was trembling with fear.

Ning Yu and Shen Yiyue looked at this pitiful woman, understanding what kind of inhuman treatment she must have endured here.

Ning Yu stepped forward and cut through the restraints on the woman's hands with one slash.

The woman, who had been struggling fiercely, suddenly felt her hands loosen as they were freed from the ropes.

[Ding! Task: Rescue the trapped woman completed!]

[Reward distributed: Charm *1]

Ning Yu heard the reward prompt and rolled her eyes - how did it end up like this?

Couldn't she get something better as a baseline?

The woman rubbed her bound wrists, which bore deep purple-blue marks from the rope - who knows how many days she'd been restrained like this.

She sensed that the newcomers weren't those men, so she slowly removed the blindfold.

She then took out the sock stuffed in her mouth and breathed weakly.

Her eyes had been covered for so long that everything was blurry, but she could vaguely make out that standing before her was a young girl.

This girl seemed to have beautiful silver-white hair, wasn't very tall, and appeared quite young.

She felt somewhat familiar, but couldn't quite place why.

Realizing she had been rescued and would no longer have to endure those beasts' abuse, she tried to express her gratitude.

But as soon as she opened her mouth, it turned into sobbing, and she burst into tears.

Streams of tears flowed from her eyes, telling the story of everything she had endured these past days - those men had barely treated her as human.

They would visit her whenever they were in a good mood, and when they weren't, they would beat her. She felt she was worth less than a toy to them.

She recalled how she had finally gathered her courage and fought her way out of the zombie-filled hotel.

After facing various difficulties and dangers, nearly dying several times to the zombies, she had finally escaped to this training center.

There was plenty of food and water here, and she thought she could stay safely for a while.

But then one day, a man being chased by zombies appeared, and she felt compassion and opened the training center's door to let him take shelter.

Who knew that as soon as he entered, he would knock her unconscious with a club.

What followed was days of unspeakable humiliation, memories as hellish as they were unbearable.

Blindfolded, she had lost track of how many days and nights she had spent in this foul-smelling room.

Her body had become so filthy that even she felt nauseated by it.

She deeply regretted how that single moment of kindness had led to her downfall.

She had tried to commit suicide several times but failed, only to be discovered and subjected to more beatings and abuse.

In the endless darkness, she would often think of that girl she saw fighting zombies at the hotel that day, remembering her beautiful figure.

She remembered how she stood among the zombie horde, standing in this hopeless apocalyptic city, with that proud and solitary bearing.

If she could have been as strong as that girl, would she have ended up in this situation?

No, that wasn't quite right. This wasn't entirely about being strong or weak.

It was about that cursed moment of kindness that day.

She gritted her teeth in anger, swearing that if she could do it over, she would personally hack that pursued man to pieces!

Ning Yu watched the woman before her, who seemed unable to stop crying.

The room was unbearably foul - she couldn't understand how those men could have done what they did.

Holding her nose, she prepared to signal Shen Yiyue to leave.

After all, the task was complete now, and the woman was free.

Whatever happened next wasn't her concern.

Just as she was about to step through the doorway, a weak voice came from behind:

"Wait... please wait..."

Having not spoken for many days, her throat was hoarse, and it seemed like she had used all her strength just to say those words.

Ning Yu slowly turned around, looking at her, waiting to hear what she had to say.

Through the dirt on her face, traces of beauty could still be seen - probably one reason why she had been targeted.

"Th-thank you... if it weren't for you... I..."

The woman stopped crying and spoke with difficulty. She raised her head, finally seeing her rescuer clearly.

Then her eyes widened, showing a complex expression:

"It's... it's you!"

???

Me again?

Ning Yu was completely puzzled - why was it always her?

Had this woman met her sister, or what?

This wasn't something to say carelessly.

The last person who said "it's you?" had already met their end.

"You know me?"

Ning Yu asked coldly and calmly.

Seeing Ning Yu's unfamiliar response, the woman froze:

Of course - she had only seen her one-sidedly, watching her fight from the hotel that day, while to Ning Yu, she was just a complete stranger.

She suddenly didn't know what to say. The person who had inspired her had now come to save her.

It was a coincidence known only to her.

But for some reason, even though she had been rescued, she seemed to sink into an even deeper depression.

Ning Yu particularly disliked people speaking in riddles - that blue-haired mechanical girl from last time had been annoying enough.

Seeing the woman say "it's you" and then fall silent,

She frowned, drew her dagger, and walked up to the woman.

Placing the dagger against the woman's throat, she fixed her with an icy stare:

"Speak, or I'll kill you."

But the woman seemed not to hear anything, remaining in her daze, as if life and death no longer mattered to her.

She simply allowed Ning Yu to threaten her with the dagger.

Ning Yu found herself at a loss for what to do.

The woman seemed completely frozen - if she killed her now, she wouldn't be able to get any answers.

After a long while, the woman finally came to her senses, her gaze lowered, appearing somewhat tired.

As if having made some kind of decision, she slowly began to speak.