1644: Raised by Life's Parents

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'Does evolution really not change a person's mind and spirit?'

She thought it wouldn't. But when this question surfaced in Xie Feng's mind, she found herself unsure.

Xie Feng felt she hadn't changed. She wasn't like Qiu Chantian, talking about eating people, nor did she have any urge to destroy the world. She was willing to do anything to protect and repay Dong Luorong. Yet, as she silently emerged from the wardrobe, a new, almost detached state seemed to settle over her, and she felt no stir of emotion about what she was about to do.

These were two living, breathing people.

The stockier one looked to be in his thirties, wearing a gold wedding ring on his left hand—probably with a wife, maybe even a few kids at home calling him "honey" or "dad." The thinner one was younger, likely at the age when his mother would still call to remind him to dress warmly, and he might spend his days off going to movies with his girlfriend, debating between a comedy or an action film.

They had lived this long because someone had poured in a lot of care, effort, and money. They had probably worked hard themselves to pass the tests and enter the security department. Did they have dreams or plans for the future?

As these thoughts ran through her mind, Xie Feng raised the straightened coat hanger hook high and plunged it into the right eye socket of the thin man.

Until the sharp metal rod pierced him, he hadn't even realized someone had stepped out from the wardrobe behind him. Both he and the stocky man had fallen in the hallway, stunned by the gruesome scene in the bathroom—after all, this wasn't wartime. Even security guards rarely saw corpses in their day-to-day work.

Xie Feng suspected these "spoiled darlings," coddled by equipment, salaries, and benefits, were probably just good at intimidation and beating people up. When it came to real suffering and horror, they might even be less prepared than she was.

Especially when it came to this kind of death.

In the sudden, piercing scream that shot up to the ceiling, Xie Feng grabbed the back of his collar and threw him into the bathroom. Whether he'd end up crashing into the corpse or hitting the floor with the hook embedding even deeper in his skull, she didn't concern herself with for the moment.

She had too much of an advantage right now.

Everything happened so quickly that no one had time to react. As she took the thin man's place standing by the wardrobe, the stocky man was just to her left, still scrambling to his feet. Realizing something was wrong, he fixed his gaze on her, backing away as he reached for the weapon at his waist, his face pale, his legs wide apart.

"How unsightly," Xie Feng said softly. It was something she had heard countless times growing up, a deeply ingrained habit. "A girl shouldn't sit with her legs open."

By the third word, her voice was drowned out by his agonized scream, a sound so raw it seemed to rip at his throat. No one else heard her words. Her newly enhanced strength was remarkable; with just a single kick, she could feel something shatter beneath her foot.

"Blame yourself," Xie Feng whispered, bending down to grab his ankle and pulling him back into the hallway before he could see Dong Luorong lying on the bed. "Sitting there with your legs open—you were inviting me to kick you, weren't you?"

In the bathroom, the thin man had managed to pull the hanger hook out of his eye socket. Though he continued to wail and sob in pain, he had managed to pull out a gun. Clutching his bloody half-face with one hand, he raised the weapon toward the door—just as his gun barely leveled, and before he could pull the trigger, Xie Feng sprang back, disappearing behind the wall.

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