99: Chapter 99 The Dignity of Female Stars

Soon, Yang Mi changed into clean clothes and walked out.

Although the grime had been washed away, the exhaustion in her eyes and the haggard look on her face remained clearly visible.

She had lost a lot of weight, and her former star aura had been completely worn away.

She looked at Song Yang and lowered her head: "Thank you for saving me."

Song Yang did not respond to her thanks, only saying indifferently:

"I have brought your sister; she is still alive."

Yang Mi raised her head and asked eagerly:

"Where is Yang Yueqi? Is she here? I want to see her!"

Song Yang raised his hand, pointing to a room at the end of the second-floor hallway:

"She is waiting for you inside."

Yang Mi's gaze followed the direction of his finger, and she couldn't wait to rush over, but Song Yang's next words made her stop in her tracks.

"I saved you and brought her here, but whether she can continue to live well depends on you."

"She is still young, and I don't want to use force, but I need obedient people. If you can make her understand this, she will be able to survive."

"If she cannot accept it, I will not bother with someone who cannot bring me any benefits."

Yang Mi understood what Song Yang meant.

The future fate of her only relative was completely in the hands of the man in front of her.

Her own experiences must absolutely not happen to her sister again.

She took a deep breath, suppressing the bitterness in her heart, and nodded.

"Rest assured, I will make her survive."

Yang Mi walked into the room and gently closed the door, shutting out the faint clamor from outside.

Song Yang leaned against the hallway wall, still able to hear everything inside the room.

Crying began to emanate from the room.

It was the kind of painful crying that comes after a long separation, accumulating countless fears and longing.

Yang Yueqi hugged her sister tightly, fearing that this was just another dream.

She buried her cheek in Yang Mi's shoulder, her tears soaking the clothes Yang Mi had just changed into.

"Sister, I thought I would never see you again."

Yang Yueqi's voice was choked with sobs as she recounted intermittently, "These past few days, I've been so scared."

She recounted as completely as possible how Song Yang had saved her and brought her here.

Yang Mi listened quietly, her hand stroking her sister's back, soothing her just like when they were little.

After a long while, Yang Yueqi's emotions calmed down slightly; she lifted her red and swollen eyes to look at Yang Mi.

"Sister, where are we going next? Are we still going back to our hometown?"

The word "home" made Yang Mi's eyes dim, revealing complex and indescribable emotions.

She grabbed Yang Yueqi's hand and said with difficulty:

"I... I might not be able to stay with you anymore."

The color instantly drained from Yang Yueqi's face, and she looked at her sister in disbelief:

"Why? Do you not want me anymore? Are you still angry at me, blaming me for not coming to find you sooner?"

"It's not that, silly girl, how could your sister not want you?"

Yang Mi suppressed the heartache in her heart and forced a smile.

"I have very important things that I must do."

"What is more important than us being together?"

Yang Yueqi's tears welled up again, and she clutched Yang Mi's hand tightly.

"I don't care! I finally found you, I don't want to be separated from you again! Wherever you go, I'm going too!"

Seeing her sister's stubborn and dependent gaze, Yang Mi felt a stabbing pain in her heart.

She knew she had to separate from her.

It was impossible for Song Yang to take her in.

"Yueqi, listen to me."

Yang Mi cupped her sister's face and looked into her eyes seriously.

"You have grown up; you are no longer the little girl who needed her sister to protect her every moment. The world has changed, and we all must learn to survive on our own."

Her gaze turned toward the door.

"Although Song Yang looks cold, he is capable. If you follow him, at least you can live safely. I hope you will live well; that is more important than anything."

"But I just met him."

Thinking of the chilling aura about Song Yang, Yang Yueqi couldn't help but feel afraid.

She didn't understand why her sister wouldn't stay with her.

Yang Mi took a deep breath and said word by word:

"This is the only thing your sister can do for you. Promise me you will listen to him and strive to survive, even if it's for my sake."

She knew Song Yang was right outside the door, and she also knew that Song Yang was highly likely to hear her.

For her sister's future, she had no choice but to believe in that man and force her sister to accept this reality.

After a long while, the room door creaked open.

Yang Mi walked out, her eyes red and swollen like ripe peaches, tear tracks still wet, winding down her cheeks.

Inside the room, Yang Yueqi's suppressed crying came out intermittently, like an abandoned little beast whimpering while licking its wounds.

Yang Mi did not look back, walking straight to where Song Yang was leaning against the wall.

"Mr. Song, could you lend me a dagger?"

Song Yang unhooked a standard-looking military dagger from his waist and handed it over.

He knew what the woman wanted to do, but he was not prepared to stop her.

"Thank you."

The woman gripped the dagger and walked toward the first-floor lobby.

Many eyes inside the Exchange converged on Yang Mi.

A few men with fierce gazes exchanged glances and followed silently.

They recognized this woman; she was the commodity Song Yang had just bought.

Inside the Exchange, commodities were protected, but once they stepped out of this door, the rules were no longer the rules.

Such a former female celebrity, even in her fallen state, was still a highly tempting prey for them.

The Exchange's heavy iron door was pushed open, and Yang Mi's figure disappeared outside.

Those trailing men also quickened their pace and rushed out impatiently.

However, the moment they stepped out of the Exchange's gate, the scene before them made them stop abruptly.

Yang Mi was already lying on the ground, and a small pool of dark blood quickly spread beneath her.

The dagger she had borrowed from Song Yang was now deeply embedded in her chest, with only the black handle left exposed.

Her eyes were slightly open, gazing at the pitch-black sky.

This female celebrity, who once shone brightly under thousands of lights and was chased by countless people, had thus ended her life, which had been full of humiliation and torment.

"Damn it, bad luck! Thought we could pick up a bargain and have some fun with her, but she fucking committed suicide!"

"Enough, she's dead, what's the use of saying all that? This kind of goods, precious in the past, aren't they just the same now? It's just a pity about this face and figure."

"Sigh, what a pity. This woman was resold dozens of times; it's normal that she couldn't take it anymore and committed suicide."

A group of people discussed it one after another.

The Exchange had its own set of rules; even though a death had just occurred, it did not cause much of a commotion.

Soon, staff members walked out expressionlessly, efficiently wrapping Yang Mi's corpse in a grey-black shroud and carrying it away.

The dark red bloodstain on the ground was quickly covered with sand and dirt by others, then wiped a few times with a mop; except for the lingering scent of blood in the air, everything seemed as if nothing had happened.

The onlookers who had originally come to watch the excitement, seeing there was no more show to watch, dispersed disappointedly, each returning to their own corners to continue the Exchange's eternal theme—survival and trade.

In this apocalypse, death was the most ordinary thing.

...

Inside the second-floor room, Yang Yueqi's crying had stopped at some point.

A moment later, Song Yang pushed open the door.

Yang Yueqi was curled up in the corner of the room, hugging her knees tightly, her head buried deep in her knees.

After a long while, Yang Yueqi squeezed out a faint sound from her throat:

"Is my sister really not coming back?"

"She is not coming back."

Song Yang replied.

Yang Yueqi's face, buried in her knees, jerked up, her tear-stained little face full of disbelief.

Her lips trembled, but she couldn't say a word, only large tears rolling down silently.

"You can choose to follow me, or you can choose to make your own way; it's up to you."

Song Yang waved his hand, and a few bags of bread and yogurt appeared on the table.

Yang Yueqi looked at the food on the table and swallowed her saliva.

She was really hungry, and she really wanted to survive.