Overcome with excruciating pain, Chen Jiajia couldn’t help but cry out.

Song You’ai’s face also turned pale. "The second floor?" she asked, her voice trembling. "Is it that meeting room we saw locked with a chain?"

Xie Ning’s gaze was cold and deep. Another Metal Spike shot from between her fingers, coiling into a loop around Chen Jiajia’s neck.

Now, it looked as if the coiled metal wire could take Chen Jiajia’s life at any moment.

"What do you think you’re doing?" Chen Chong roared. "You’re a Superpower User! You can’t just bully people like this!"

"I am bullying you," Xie Ning’s voice was cold and low, laced with a hint of mockery. "You. Clear a path and come with me to save them. Or I’ll kill your daughter right now."

"No, don’t! Please, don’t hurt my daughter." A flicker of panic crossed Chen Chong’s face. "Fine, fine, I’ll go with you to save them. I’ll go right now."

Xie Ning kept the metal loop tight around Chen Jiajia’s neck and made a slight motion with her pinky finger. "After you."

"Director Shen, please help us! You’re fast; you can distract the zombies. Don’t worry, I promise I’ll stay right behind you and keep you safe," Chen Chong pleaded with the man in the black-framed glasses.

Xie Ning eyed the man.

’Oh? So the director from Su City Second Middle School is a speed-type Superpower User.’

Shen Wei hesitated. "There are too many zombies in that meeting room. We can’t handle them."

Chen Chong glared at him in fury. "But you’re the one who locked Song Shijun and the others in that meeting room!"

"Looks to me like not a single one of you is innocent," Song You’ai spat furiously. "Move! All of you, get down there with us. Get to the front and clear the way! Help us get that meeting room door open."

Her mother shifted her heavy frame, grabbing Xu Yu’s arm and pressing a Metal Knife to the woman’s throat. "Move!!"

"What are you doing, you psycho?!" Xu Yu shrieked, flustered and exasperated. "I didn’t do anything! Let me go! You can’t do this!"

Xie Ning mentally gave her mother a thumbs-up, then flung out several Metal Spikes that landed in front of a few people trying to flee. "Do as you’re told if you want to live."

The would-be escapees all froze, staring at Xie Ning and Song You’ai in terror.

Wincing, the vice-principal struggled to his feet. His injured foot made him grimace. "Can’t we discuss this calmly? We’re all fellow human beings. Why must we be at each other’s throats?"

Song You’ai was livid. "It’s easy for you to be calm when it’s not your neck on the line! All of you, cut the crap and clear the way! Get moving!"

A middle-aged woman clutching her daughter was about to sneak away when a small lead pellet whizzed past, making her jump in fright.

"Anyone else who wants to die can go ahead and run," Wang Zongxuan said with a smile.

The dozen or so people present shifted fearfully. "W-we... we don’t know how to kill... kill zombies."

A faint smile played on Xie Ning’s lips, but her tone was light and cold. "Then I guess you can just go and die."

"You know how to lock doors? You know how to run for your lives? But you don’t know how to kill zombies?!" Song You’ai, both frantic and furious, pressed the knife harder against Xu Yu’s neck, drawing a thin line of blood.

"I’m telling you, if anything happens to my nephew, not a single one of you is getting away with it!"

Xu Yu was scared half to death. "AHHHH!" she shrieked. "Go easy!"

"Grab your weapons and move."

"Where are we supposed to get weapons?" the middle-aged woman wailed, clutching her daughter.

"Then grab a stool! I don’t care what you use."

Herded by Xie Ning and her group, the survivors made their way to the second-floor hallway. They shuffled to a halt, trembling, none of them daring to be the first to approach the great, chain-locked meeting room door.

Song You’ai and Xie Ning exchanged a look, both giving a slight nod.