Chapter 37 What if I knew?

Bai Qi felt the hand on her back stiffen for a moment, but it quickly returned to its gentle, nonchalant rhythm, patting her back to soothe her.

Su Yanqiu listened quietly to Bai Qi's intermittent, terror-stricken sobbing: "They've started eating people! I heard him thinking... saying that if they could trick us girls into going up there, it would be enough to feed them for a long time... They've already... already eaten a child! That child was only..."

Before she could finish, she began to retch violently again; Su Yanqiu saw that she had started vomiting bile.

Su Yanqiu's face turned pale as well; she dared not imagine such a cruel and bloody scene.

But she forced down the nausea and took a deep breath. Her tone was surprisingly calm, even tinged with a weariness that suggested she had long expected this: "I know. Sooner or later, it was always going to come to this."

As she spoke, she used a tissue to carefully wipe the corners of Bai Qi's mouth and the cold sweat from her forehead.

"Throughout human history, in times of great disaster and famine... records of people trading children to eat and cannibalism are not uncommon. Hunger can strip away the bright, beautiful veneer of civilization and turn people into the most primitive beasts. This isn't just a simple matter of moral decay; it's the consequence of survival instincts overriding everything else."

The calmness in Su Yanqiu's words diluted the suffocating atmosphere of terror that had been lingering in Bai Qi's mind.

Bai Qi hugged Su Yanqiu helplessly; she was terrified.

Although Su Yanqiu valued her ability, Bai Qi knew clearly that if such a thing were to happen to her, she would only be the one being eaten.

Because she had no combat ability whatsoever.

The thought that the outside world had begun to resort to cannibalism made Bai Qi grip Su Yanqiu even tighter.

She tried her best to draw a sense of security from Su Yanqiu.

At the same time, she felt a glimmer of gratitude; at least during this period, she was one of the lucky ones. The older sister in Building 17 had been very good to her, taking care of her and sharing food. Even after escaping to Building 16, Su Yanqiu had been incredibly kind to her, not to mention the powerful firepower of Zhou Yan, who protected them all.

Thinking of this, a sense of security emerged in her heart once more.

She patted her chest, then stood up.

Su Yanqiu helped the somewhat exhausted Bai Qi out of the bathroom, and as soon as they reached the sofa, Zhou Yan's gaze immediately shifted toward them.

Su Yanqiu shook her head slightly at him, signaling that Bai Qi was fine.

Zhou Yan leaned in, looking worried at Bai Qi's pale, trembling appearance. What on earth happened in the high-rise? What could have scared his little cheat Li Ke this?

Bai Qi took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, her gaze gradually becoming firm.

Su Yanqiu half-squatted down and took her cold little hand, her voice becoming extremely gentle and filled with deep concern: "Xiao Bai, in your current state... can you still assist Xiao Yan? If you can't, don't force yourself; you can take a day off... They won't be able to take us down." Su Yanqiu's words were filled with intense confidence.

With Zhou Yan's current firepower, trying to take the 11th Floor by force would have a lower success rate than jumping into the water to fight a mermaid one-on-one.

Furthermore, knowing Zhou Yan's consistent caution, Su Yanqiu was ten thousand percent certain that he still had other heavy weapons he could pull out.

Bai Qi looked at Su Yanqiu and nodded heavily: "I can! I can assist Brother Zhou!"

Su Yanqiu smiled gently and reached out to ruffle Bai Qi's hair.

"Why 'Brother Zhou'? Isn't that a bit distant? Just call him Brother."

Being teased by Su Yanqiu Li Ke this, Bai Qi felt herself truly relax quite a bit.

She nodded obediently: "Okay! I will assist Brother!"

Bai Qi seemed to understand the importance of her ability at that moment, and she no longer felt so insecure.

Su Yanqiu's gaze turned icy as she looked at the man and delivered a shocking line to Zhou Yan: "The residents on the upper floors have already started eating people!"

The people behind them exclaimed: "What the hell!"

Zhang Dongxue had been sitting leaning against Su Yanyue, with Li Ke and the girl named Wang Xiaoyun to her right. The three girls were instantly flustered upon hearing Su Yanqiu's words. Only Li Ke was different; her eyes revealed an indescribable sense of anger and madness.

Zhang Dongxue hugged Su Yanyue, who was closest to her, tightly.

"Don't hug me! I'm scared too!" Su Yanyue was at a loss for words.

She just wanted to hug her Xiao Yan right now.

Su Yanqiu and Bai Qi looked toward Li Ke at almost the same moment.

They had both sensed the girl's noticeably intense and abnormal reaction to hearing the news.

The two exchanged a look.

Bai Qi felt the hand on her back exert a slight pressure and understood Su Yanqiu's intent, swallowing back the words that had reached her lips.

The man saw that the situation seemed to be turning against him and panicked. He had been forced into this Li Ke a duck being driven onto a perch, and his mental fortitude wasn't particularly strong to begin with.

He hadn't even managed to say a single word, and none of the "talking points" that the people on the upper floors had prepared for him had been spoken, yet they had already seen right through him!

Although he couldn't understand how she knew all of this!

That didn't stop him from being terrified!

In his panic, he tried to open the door to escape back to the upper floors, but Wang Zeyu, who had been prepared, delivered a flying kick that knocked him straight to the ground.

The man turned his head and saw the undisguised coldness in Zhou Yan's eyes; he was so terrified that he shook Li Ke a leaf, incoherently begging for mercy: "Don't! Don't... don't hit me! Whatever you want to know, just ask me! Ask me! What if I happen to know?"