Shen Yelan slowly turned around to face the men.
The one with badly dyed blond hair grinned at her, showing his stained teeth. "Maybe we can help you, sweetheart?"
The way he said "help" made it very clear what kind of help he had in mind. His eyes ran up and down her body, staring longer on her bare legs. They lived in one of the most rundown parts of the city, and there were rarely any young girls seen here. Even though the girl before them was damaged and her face was beyond recognition, they didn't care. It didn't matter what her age was, either. A girl was a girl.
Shen Yelan's only healthy eye slightly narrowed.
"Thanks, but I'm good." Shen Yelan responded in the R country language.
"Don't be so quick to say no," another one said with arrogance. "Brother Kang doesn't offer his help to just anyone. You should feel lucky."
Shen Yelan chuckled. The sound was melodious, yet somehow, it sent shivers crawling down the spines of all four men. The state of her face made her look even more horrifying. They felt something was deeply wrong, but they shook that thought off quickly. After all, this girl could barely stand straight.
"What are you laughing at?" someone asked angrily.
"Nothing. Just thinking about how it's always idiots like you who don't know how to mind their own business," Shen Yelan shook her head, like she was genuinely disappointed in them.
"Watch your mouth!" The one they called Brother Kang stepped forward, his face red with anger. "Since you don't know what's good for you, don't blame us for what happens next. Grab her."
One of the men, bigger and more muscular than the others, stepped forward. It was obvious none of them saw her as a threat. They weren't worried about her running. They definitely weren't worried about her fighting.
In her previous life, Shen Yelan wouldn't have even blinked at seeing a dozen men his size, let alone one. But the current state of her body made everything more complicated. But that didn't mean she couldn't fight. It would just be harder and more painful.
She sighed. It hadn't even been a full day since she'd woken up in this broken body, and people were already lining up to get themselves killed. Well, who was she to deprive them of what they so desperately needed?
Her eyes slightly narrowed and a creepy smile appeared on her face, making her already horrifying appearance even more terrifying.
The big man stopped in front of her. She barely reached halfway up his torso. Behind him, the others were already laughing, already imagining how this was going to end.
Shen Yelan stood perfectly still, watching as his hand inched near her. Just as it almost touched her shoulder, she moved.
Bang!
The iron rod in her hand shot forward, hitting the man square in the chest. It wasn't a particularly hard hit, but the moment the rod made contact, the man froze completely. His eyes went wide with shock. His mouth opened, but no sound came out. He was paralyzed, unable to move a single muscle.
Shen Yelan twirled the rod in her hand. Coincidentally, one end of the rusted iron rod was pointed and broken off at a sharp angle. Shen Yelan shifted her grip and drove the pointed end straight into his neck. It went through flesh and cartilage with a wet, meaty sound, coming out the other side in a spray of hot blood.
Blood splattered across her face and chest, painting her already dirty shirt with fresh red. But Shen Yelan's expression didn't change at all.
The other three men stood frozen, their laughter dead in their throats. They stared at the body on the ground, then at the girl standing over it, covered in blood, holding a dripping iron rod.
For the first time, they realized they'd made a terrible mistake.
Shen Yelan tilted her head slightly, her one good eye locked on them.
"So," she said softly, her voice almost pleasant. "Who's next?"
For a few seconds, nobody moved. The body on the ground was still twitching. Blood pooled around it, spreading slowly across the concrete.
Then their leader snapped out of his shock.
"Kill her!" he screamed. "Kill that bitch right now!"
Shen Yelan sneered, the expression making her swollen face twist grotesquely. "Come on then."
The other two stepped forward, trying to look brave, but their hands were shaking. They were all ordinary people who had learned to fight in the streets to survive. They were nothing compared to someone like the girl before them, who had just killed their strongest companion and did not even blink.
Five minutes later, two bodies were lying dead on the ground with bloody holes in their body. Shen Yelan stood over them. She was breathing hard and had sweat mixed with the blood on her face. In front of her, their leader was on the ground, scrambling backward, his eyes wide with terror.
What kind of monster had they messed with?
"Please..." His voice was shaking. "Please, let me go. I won't...I swear I won't do it again. Please, I'll-"
Suddenly, his voice stopped in his throat, and he looked down at his chest, where an old rusted metal rod was sticking out.
"You talk too much," Shen Yelan muttered, pulling the rod free.
The man made a gurgling sound and collapsed.
"May you bleed to death," she whispered, then turned away.
Shen Yelan walked out of the alley, barely able to keep herself standing with the help of that rod. In her hand, she clutched a car key that she'd fished out from one of the dead men's pockets. She made her way back to where she'd first spotted those men. The old car was still there, looking like it had seen better days about twenty years ago.
She got in the car. The seat was too far back and her feet barely reached the pedals.
She stared at the steering wheel for a second, then adjusted the seat forward, checked the mirrors out of habit, and pulled out onto the street without letting herself think too hard about the fact that she was a seven-year-old driving a car.
The car soon left the city and entered a lonely road that was surrounded by tall trees. No other car could be seen for miles. This road was old and neglected and was full of cracks and potholes. The car rattled every time she hit one, sending a new wave of pain through her body.
After an hour of driving, Shen Yelan turned the steering wheel and entered an unpaved road. There was no sign next to it. Anyone who didn't already know it was there would have driven past without a second thought. The speed of the car decreased as it bumped along the uneven surface before it finally stopped.
Shen Yelan managed to step out of the car and support her body with the rod she had brought along with her. She stood still for a minute and looked at the forest ahead of her. Then, she slowly started walking. The pain in her body was getting unbearable. Her hands were shaking and her vision kept going fuzzy around the edges. She could feel her body was hitting its limit. The fact that she was still conscious at all was some kind of miracle. But she couldn't stop.
"Hold on just a little longer," she muttered to herself.
A couple of minutes and a few twists and turns later, she stopped in front of a small wooden cabin. From the outside, it looked old and abandoned. The windows were broken and the door was barely hanging on the hinges and was swinging eerily in the wind.
She walked inside the cabin and went straight to the small kitchen before opening the cupboard under the sink. She reached her arm into the back of the cabinet until her fingers found the wooden slat along the side wall. She pressed and slid it down, revealing a keypad. She punched in a six-digit number, paused, and then punched in another password. This time it was made of letters.
A soft click echoed before the floor beneath her feet started to tremble. A square section of it, roughly the size of a small elevator platform, separated itself from the rest and began to lower slowly. Dust rained off the edges. The light from the kitchen above grew smaller and smaller until the platform stopped moving.
She started walking. The passage was narrow with old wooden walls and was covered in dust and so many spiderwebs.
Behind her, the platform rose back up, sealing her in.
Now she was completely surrounded by darkness. However, Shen Yelan was not afraid at all. She continued walking until she found herself facing a metallic door. A single light bulb flickered over the door. Beside it was another keypad.
Unlike before, she entered a complex combination of numbers, letters, and symbols.
For the first time since she had created these high-security safe cabins, she was glad she did not place a fingerprint scanner. She had always toyed with that idea, but she had ultimately decided against it because she knew all too well how easily fingerprints could be duplicated. Given that hacking the password wasn't difficult either but with the self-destructive protocol she had installed, anyone attempting unauthorized access would find themselves facing a rather explosive surprise.
There was a reason she called these places her 'safe haven'. She had made spaces like this all around the world, which no one besides her could access.
With a soft beep, the metallic door unlocked, swinging open to reveal a spacious underground bunker. The lights flickered to life as Shen Yelan stepped inside, making her blink her eyes a couple of times to adjust them.
At one side of the bunker was a metallic bed, along with a fridge stocked with supplies, and shelves filled with various necessities. At another corner was a small door leading to a compact bathroom, complete with a shower and toilet. There was a metallic closet against the far wall, packed with clothes and other necessities.
Shen Yelan walked to the bed and finally let herself drop onto the mattress. The rod slipped from her grip and clattered against the floor somewhere nearby.
Then the darkness took her.