Xia Mei did not expect that in her seemingly final moments a girl, whose powers resembled the anime character’s Misaka Mikoko aka Railgun, would appear from the sky to rescue her. Jiang Zhuying’s extravagant entrance, coupled with the blue current dancing around her, was an unforgettable scene. Truth be told, such a breathtaking scene was something one would expect to see in anime or superhero movies.
“I’m Jiang Zhuying and what’s your name?” Jiang Zhuying shook hands with Xia Mei. Although she was meeting Xia Mei for the first time, Jiang Liushi felt as if he was watching two close friends reconnecting after a long time.
“My name is Xia Mei, Tianyin Xia Mei.” Xia Mei introduced herself happily.
“Oh, nice to meet you, sister Xia Mei!” said Jiang Zhuying.
Ran Xiyu walked toward them and asked, “Xia Mei, were you a student of this school? We’d like to inquire about something.”
Before Xia Mei could answer, someone called Xia Mei’s name.
“Xia Mei! Xia Mei!”
Ran Xiyu turned back to look and spotted seven men rushing toward them on their motorcycles. Their leader was a 20-years-old young man. He was wearing a racing leather jacket and a helmet, which made him look cool.
“Xia Mei, are you okay?” The young man jumped down from his motorcycle, and he held Xia Mei’s arms, asking worriedly.
“I’m okay, brother,” replied Xia. Then, she stepped back quickly. The young man was Xia Mei’s brother, but it was obvious that she was not happy at all.
“Xia Mei, I’ve told you times and times again that you should follow me. You won’t have to take such risks. If you follow me, you won’t face any danger ever again. If I had not come in time, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself,” said the young man while removing his helmet. On his neck was a green tattoo which extended to the rest of his body. Nobody knew how big it was.
Xia Mei snorted and said, “You talk like you were the one that saved me. Open your eyes, the powerful Sister Railgun was the one that saved me! If not for her, I would already have become food for the zombies.” Then, she moved closer to Jiang Zhuying.
Xia Mei’s brother stared at Jiang Zhuying in surprise. He had come as fast as he could after receiving his subordinate’s signal, but it had never crossed his mind that by the time they would arrive the situation would already be resolved.
Based on the color of the signal flare, a group of powerful zombies should have attacked his sister. The newcomers could not help but wonder how it was possible for the girl standing before them to have dealt with that many zombies.
Although Xia Mei’s brother had snapped of his daze, he kept staring at Jiang Zhuying as her beauty had captivated him.
Xia Mei’s brother bowed and said, “Thank you very much for saving my sister.”
“It was nothing. Don’t even mention it,” replied Jiang Zhuying politely. Meanwhile, she Xia Mei and her brother’s relationship left her confused. From their attitude, they looked more like enemies than siblings.
“Uh?” As soon as he heard her accent, the young man looked up suddenly. “Are you…Chinese?”
Although Japanese was quite easy to learn, it was difficult to master it. Jiang Zhuying’s accent was clear, and even Ran Xiyu could tell that she was not a native speaker. Naturally, native speakers, especially the ones that had dealings with foreigners, could easily distinguish from which country the speaker came from.
“Yes, we are Chinese.” Jiang Zhuying nodded.
Jiang Zhuying’s confirmation made the young man frown. Then, he looked at Jiang Zhuying, Jiang Liushi, and Ran Xiyu carefully without saying anything.
The young man’s attitude made Jiang Zhuying feel uncomfortable. ‘Does he not like Chinese?’
Unexpectedly, the young man grabbed Xia Mei’s hand and tried to pull her. “Xia Mein, you have to follow me back to the camp today.”
“No!” Xia Mei shook her head.
However, that didn’t change the young man’s determined mind. “You don’t have a choice. I will even let the weaklings you call classmates to join and give them good jobs,” said the young man while turning to look at Xia Mei’s classmates. The young man’s eyes betrayed his disdain for them. At the same time, Xia Mei’s classmates shuddered as they were afraid of him.
“You want me to join your damnable group and get tattooed like you? I will never join your Sword Club! Do you think I’m unaware of what you usually do? I won’t follow you!” Xia Mei stubbornly refused to follow her brother.
“Do your strength is enough to let you live safely? The zombies almost killed you and your classmates today, and your base is gone! Where can you go?” The young man then looked at Xia Mei’s classmates and said, “You can all enter my Sword Club and become ordinary citizens.”
The five people were shocked at first, and then a wave of happiness surged in their hearts. In fact, the Sword Club had set up a safe area a long time now. The so-called ordinary citizens needed to work hard, but they led a relatively stable and safe life. At least, they did not need to live in fear of the zombies chasing them.
A chubby girl touched Xia Mei’s shirt in excitement and said, “Xia Mei, your brother is willing to accept us.” She was hoping that Xia Mei would agree.
Xia Mei replied, “You can join them if you want, but don’t count me in. If you still want to follow me, please stay here. In any case, joining the Sword Club is a good choice for you.”
No matter what the young man said, Xia Mei wouldn’t agree. Therefore, the five classmates were in a dilemma. To be frank, all of them wanted to join the Sword Club, but they didn’t want to leave Xia Mei.
“What’s your choice?” asked the young man.
The five people shrank their necks. Although they were extremely embarrassed, they eventually chose to join the Sword Club.
Jiang Liushi shook his head. He didn’t know Japanese, but Ran Xiyu was interpreting for him. He guessed that Xia Mei was the one that had always been helping her classmates. However, in the face of fear, they chose to abandon her, even though they clearly knew that a miserable life lay before them now that they had joined the Sword Club.
“You guys…uh!” Xia Mei snorted again. To be honest, her classmates’ decision hurt her. However, it couldn’t affect her choice.
“Xia Mei, I’ve said that it’s not up to you whether you come or not. If you keep refusing, I’ll have to use force,” said the young man impatiently. Then, he clenched Xia Mei’s wrist to make her feel pain.
The young man was already getting on Jiang Zhuying’s nerves, and she could no longer stand his behavior. “Xia Mei, what is going on?”
“Hey! What are you trying to do? Can’t you understand that Xia Mei doesn’t wasn’t to follow you?”
“It’s none of your business. It’s a private matter!” barked the young man. Meanwhile, he stepped toward Jiang Zhuying while glaring at her.
Jiang Zhuying was truly enraged. She had never met such an unreasonable fellow before. She had just saved his sister, so how could act like that?
“Are you guys from Long Teng? Usually, when I meet people from Long Teng, I have the urge to kill them on the spot. However, since you saved my sister, I’m willing to let you go. Don’t irritate me, or else I can’t guarantee that I won’t change my mind.”
“What? Hahaha! Come again? Can you please repeat that? Truly ridiculous!”
When the young man heard Jiang Zhuying’s mocking words, he frowned and pulled unsheathed his katana suddenly. “It seems that you want to get a taste of this!”
“What are you doing!? This sister saved me!” shouted Xia Mei. “Before doomsday, our mother was driven crazy because of your involvement in smuggling drugs and your subsequent incarceration. Then, after the outbreak, our father died. Do you also want me to die? You’ve committed countless atrocities, so in my heart, you’ve stopped being my brother a long time now!”
Xia Mei’s words caused the young man’s facial muscles to twitch a few times, but he slowly lowered his katana. The cause of their mother’s madness was something that the young man did not know until now.
The young man’s shady past stunned Jiang Zhuying. She also realized that the so-called Sword Club was no different than the shady organizations such as the Yakuza before the outbreak.
“It turns out that you are a scumbag! Your cancerous existence has been harming people a long time now!” said Jiang Zhuying in a cold voice. She despised people like him from the bottom of her heart.
“What did you say!?” shouted the young man.
“Sister Misaka, please don’t anger him. He is capable of everything!” Xia Mei was a little panicked.
Then, the young man narrowed his eyes and said, “This is the last chance I’m giving you to leave. Don’t think that you saved Xia Mei. You just saved Xia Mei’s classmates. As for Xia Mei, she could hold on until I arrived.”
After that, the young man looked at Xia Mei again. “You don’t want to come with me because you want to follow them – the Chinese? I will never agree nor allow you to join any team, especially one with a Chinese man!” said the young man and looked at Jiang Liushi.