"Killing someone?"
Huang Jin arched a gilded eyebrow, his voice laced with mockery.
"You overestimate me. I don't turn eighteen until tomorrow—right now, I'm just a harmless kid. Sure, my Treasure Unboxing skill's decent, but how's that supposed to link to murder?"
Treasure Unboxing: Slang for dumpster diving/scavenging
"No. You've killed before. Long ago. I know."
"You sure you want to slander me like this?"
"I-I'm not joking." Zhang Lei kept his head lowered, digging through memories like a scavenger through trash. "If… if you didn't kill anyone, how did Principal Wang die?"
His eyes flicked up instinctively to meet Huang Jin's—then immediately dropped, as if burned by the contact.
"Oh? So you do know something." Huang Jin's gaze narrowed to slits, his previously neutral expression frosting over.
"Y-yes… The day the principal died, I… I noticed your shirt button was missing. S-Summer Lotus told me—"
The truth unraveled two years prior.
Huang Jin attended an elite academy where students dripped with wealth and connections—except for two in his class: himself, and the scholarship prodigy Zhang Lei.
Huang Jin's real identity? A killer.
Purchased from traffickers at age three by "The Boss," he'd been molded into a weapon, completing age-graded missions. His enrollment? A cover. Soon after, he received orders to eliminate the principal—a loose end in The Boss's dealings.
His method was audacious: daytime execution.
After disabling surveillance, he tailed the principal into a restroom. A gloved hand—coated in fast-acting toxins—clamped over the man's mouth; a blade slit his throat. But the principal fought back, clawing at Huang Jin's collar in his death throes.
One button tore loose.
Huang Jin fled—only to realize his missing button after leaving. Before he could double back, a scream pierced the air: Summer Lotus, the class beauty, had stumbled upon the bloodied scene.
"Summer Lotus gave a police statement… She overheard cops mention a button left at the scene," Zhang Lei stammered. "That day, I was waiting outside for her… I saw you hurrying away. Your shirt—"
"—missing a button. How coincidental." Huang Jin's smile didn't reach his eyes. "No wonder you avoided me afterward. But why stay silent?"
"I couldn't risk it." Zhang Lei's voice was raw. "No family backing. No safety net. If I accused you… my parents would pay the price."
"Smart call. But that doesn't mean I'll help you now."
"Why?!"
"Think." A glacial pause. "We're in the apocalypse. Shelter's scarce. Baldie's this refuge's second-in-command. As a tenant, why would I cross him for a stranger?"
Zhang Lei's hope crumbled. Of course—no one would invite chaos for an outsider.
Then Huang Jin asked, "The body?"
"Buried…"
Huang Jin noted the dirt crammed under Zhang Lei's nails. "Where's this 'supply stash' you mentioned?"
"You said you weren't interested!"
"Humored. How much is there?"
"A tricycle piled with food outside a mini-mart. Some scavenger must've been jumped by zombies before hauling it away."
"Why not take it yourself?"
"Thirteen zombies guard it."
"Hmm." Huang Jin feigned contemplation. Thirteen was manageable.
"You'll help?" Zhang Lei's eyes ignited.
"I'll consider. If we retrieve it, I take ninety percent."
"Deal! Take it all—just get me out of this!"
"Sleep first. I'll decide by dawn."
Huang Jin led him to a basement cot. The exhausted boy collapsed instantly, unaware of the lock clicking shut behind him.
"A miracle you've survived this long," Huang Jin muttered to the sealed door.
Then he left—heading straight to Baldie's gambling den.
Zhang Lei's naivety was laughable. A tricycle of supplies? Unverified, worthless. Every ounce of "interest" had been theater.
Pathetic.
Then again, only fools would waltz up to a fortified shelter with a pretty girlfriend in tow.
Where had they been hiding all this time? A department store? A supermarket?
Who cared.