Chapter 9​​

Ten days after the outbreak began, Xu Ningyu took advantage of Yuan Jing’s nap to tie her up.

Tian Tian called me from the living room to see it happen. I was in the kitchen trying to cook pickled fish soup.

Seeing my unsurprised expression, she couldn’t contain her curiosity. "Did you say something to Xu Ningyu?"

I shrugged. What could I possibly have said?

I merely told him that the food blogger living next door had a large stockpile of supplies. And that the guy was a lecherous pervert. Yuan Jing was so pretty… she could probably trade for quite a lot of food, right?

These were the exact words Yuan Jing had whispered to Xu Ningyu in my previous life. I was simply returning them verbatim.

When Yuan Jing awoke, she found herself bound to a chair. A strange man sat beside her, leering as he ran his hand along her thigh.

She started struggling in terror, just as I had done in my previous life.

Xu Ningyu, meanwhile, hauled the food the fat man had brought into his bedroom and locked the door.

The camera feed now showed only Yuan Jing, bound and screaming curses, and the sweaty, heaving form of the fat man on top of her. The visual assault triggered memories of the inhuman abuse I’d suffered myself last time. My body began to shake.

Tian Tian snatched the remote from my hand and turned off the TV.

She held me close, whispering comfort: "It’s okay, Jiajia! We don’t have to watch. That’s not you."

"You’re safe now, right here."

For a solid week, Xu Ningyu brought that fat man over every day.

At first, Yuan Jing fought back ferociously, cursing and screaming. Xu Ningyu responded with brutal kicks and punches. She wasn’t allowed any of the food the man brought.

After a few days, Yuan Jing became like an empty shell, showing no reaction at all.

Afraid she’d starve to death and cut off his supply line, Xu Ningyu force-fed her some scraps.

Seeing Yuan Jing in such a pitiful state stirred not a single shred of sympathy in me.

The pain she and Xu Ningyu had inflicted on Tian Tian and me in the last life – this time, she would bear it all herself.

And this… this was only the beginning.