Girl, There's Something Wrong With You - Chapter 16

“Luling, be careful!”

At her sister’s warning, Luling executed an extremely risky maneuver in mid-air, narrowly avoiding the beam shot at her.

Nankang took the opportunity to eject the weapon pod, launching four missiles simultaneously. In mid-air, the missiles split into nearly a hundred sub-missiles, turning the distant area into a sea of flames.

“It’s useless,” Luling scanned for life signs within the sea of fire, unable to hold back her anger, “Damn it, what is that beam of hers? Why is there a demon god here?!”

“Your Highnesses, you can take your time guessing~” A large screen of light shot out from the fire, accompanied by the mocking laughter of demons. “We have plenty of time to play until my companions finish their task.”

The beams seemed like tangible blades, cutting off the upper part of the flames and then furiously rolling back towards the two princesses.

The sisters simultaneously rushed into the sky, but the beams appeared to track them, slanting upwards and continuing their assault.

Luling was about to switch weapons again when her sister suddenly said:

“Withdraw!”

The two of them disappeared from their spot.

The next moment, an endless sea of light engulfed their previous location.

In the hospital behind them, the medical staff had long since evacuated.

Footsteps echoed in the empty corridors.

After a while, a door was violently smashed open.

“Over here, Sister Xiang,” a voice called out.

The great demon known as Sister Xiang entered the isolation ward, carefully examining the comatose girl wrapped in layers of restraining bands, her gaze as if she was observing a new life.

If Miss Qingqing were here, she would recognize this as her cousin Chu Debiao’s younger sister, the girl who was bitten by a puppet and subsequently infected.

“Is this her?” A voice asked from the side. “An… innate demon? She looks quite ordinary.”

“To resist the innate erosion of the demon body is not something an ordinary soul can achieve,” Sister Xiang said coldly. “Given the current situation, she should make it through the final phase without any problems.”

“It seems we will have another demon god,” her companion licked her lips enviously. “Born a demon god, I truly envy that.”

“No, it’s a great demon,” Sister Xiang extended her previously drooping right hand, blue flames flickering in her palm.

“What is this…” Her companion asked in disbelief.

“The Fire of the Tianfu Star Official,” Sister Xiang replied. “This is Her Majesty’s will.”

“Her Majesty wants her… to be our eldest sister?”

“From the looks of it, yes.”

Sister Xiang flicked her hand forward, sending the flames into the girl’s body.

Almost immediately, the restraining bands around her began to break apart.

The comatose girl awoke, looking around in confusion.

Her gaze fell on the two demons in front of her, with a flash of vague hostility in her eyes, which was quickly suppressed by a throbbing headache.

“I…” she mumbled.

“What is your name?” Sister Xiang asked gently.

The girl was silent for a moment before answering, “Lin Hu.”

Before merging with the Yangdi Chu clan, Chu Debiao originally had the surname Lin. Although the girl was not blood-related, she had been dependent on her brother since childhood and thus kept the surname Lin.

Looking around, Lin Hu asked again, “Where is my brother?”

“I don’t know where your brother is,” Sister Xiang said in a warm tone. “Let me introduce myself. I am Liu Xiang.”

“I’m Liang Ruoruo,” the girl beside her stuck out her tongue and joked. “Though it’s not really appropriate to say this now, we want to remind you: you’re no longer human.”

Lin Hu stared at her, her face gradually turning to extreme fear.

“And also,” Liang Ruoruo took pleasure in watching her reaction, “your brother…”

“Seems like he’s already dead~”

….

Jiankang City, Yangtze River ferry port.

A large crowd of aristocrats and commoners are crowding at the dock, anxiously waiting for the passenger ships to arrive. Whenever a ship docks, people rush up to the deck in a frenzy, with many being pushed off the dock and falling into the river, only to climb back up or swim back.

At the ticket counter nearby, tickets have long been sold out, but some desperate people still linger at the window hoping for a chance.

Among the crowd, scalpers are secretly selling tickets, both real and fake, with prices skyrocketing to six or seven thousand. Some even sell tickets for the underground network, claiming it passes through the riverbed tunnels in cargo trucks, with prices starting from over ten thousand.

“Freedom in competition means the stronger are freer,” Cheng Jinyang sighed from the top of a nearby high building. “The five great families use the underground network, the fourth-grade families charter ships, the fifth-grade families can only rely on connections to send their promising members away, and the remaining ordinary families and commoners are left queuing at the dock. Is this the imperial class pyramid?”

“At this point, those who can afford the tickets aren’t ordinary asset-rich common families,” Xing Yuanzhi corrected him. “The truly common people mostly have to escape Jiankang by land.”

“Traveling by land from Jiankang to Lin’an is at least over 200 kilometers. Not only is the distance long, but it also takes time and there’s the risk of attacks from demons roaming the ruins of Songjiang. But they have no other choice.”

“Is there any excess capacity in the underground network?” Cheng Jinyang asked.

“Certainly not,” Xing Yuanzhi said, frowning slightly. “Jinyang, are you planning something?”

“To reduce some of the material transport to Jingkou and see if we can increase the number of passenger trips,” Cheng Jinyang said.

Xing Yuanzhi was silent for a moment before cautiously asking, “Only sending aristocrats and needed talents?”

Cheng Jinyang was momentarily taken aback, then shook his head. “No. This is purely from a humanitarian perspective… Fairness for all.”

“If it’s fairness for all, the capacity will be absolutely insufficient,” Xing Yuanzhi said seriously. “With so few trips and so many people, there will be intense competition. So how do you plan to distribute transportation quotas fairly? And how do you prevent quotas from being fraudulently obtained and resold by scalpers?”

“Those who can’t get a quota will likely gather in large numbers at our underground network entrance waiting for the next batch of allocation. From a more malicious perspective, some who can’t secure a quota will inevitably resort to inciting others to storm the underground network, which could be problematic.”

“They can’t swim across the Yangtze River, but they could walk through the underground network. However, the network has no supply points or lighting, and stretches for hundreds of kilometers. Even if they carry enough food, how long could they sustain themselves?”

“If they run out of food, they’ll start preying on others in the same situation, and most will end up dying in the underground network, blocking our transport routes… This is not humanitarian aid but a humanitarian disaster.”

“Yuanzhi,” Cheng Jinyang said with a bitter smile, “Do you think my idea is naive?”

“It’s not about being naive,” Xing Yuanzhi said, carefully choosing her words. “I understand, and I also want to save more people.”

“But the resources we currently have don’t support saving these common people. If we push it, the allocation and maintaining order… We simply can’t handle such a large scale; it would definitely lead to chaos.”

“Alright, I understand,” Cheng Jinyang sighed. “Then, only send the aristocrats and high-quality talents needed by the Northern Army, such as engineers and teachers. The Ground Network will handle filtering and notifying the targeted individuals, with strict prohibition of any leaks to the outside.”

“Moreover, if any unrelated common families find out and come over, let them board the transport directly.”

Xing Yuanzhi understood this was his “final concession” and did not say more, turning away to handle her work.

—————

A/N:

As for the relationship between Lin Hu and Chu Debiao, they are siblings but not biological siblings. Chu Debiao, before his integration, did not originally have the surname Chu. Bloodline abilities can be inherited maternally. These details, however, are not the main focus.