Chapter 30: Scum [Ding, today's request to keep reading]
Hershel sat at the bar, a half-empty bottle of whiskey before him.
“Hershel...” Maggie approached.
“Maggie...”
“Dad, you haven’t touched alcohol in years...” She wanted to stop him, but seeing the heavy burden etched on his face, her heart softened. “Let’s take the rest and drink it at home. It’s not safe here. Everyone’s worried about you.”
Hershel answered in a low voice, “Go on. Leave me alone for a while.”
Maggie could do little in the face of his stubbornness, so she turned pleadingly to Li Changseng. Yet Li Changseng was busy searching for a good bottle of wine, seemingly indifferent.
Exasperated, she demanded, “Don’t you have anything to say?”
Li Changseng merely shrugged. “What’s there to say? In one day, Hershel nearly lost his daughter and lost hope of curing his wife. Right now, he’s drowning in despair. Let him drink. Sooner or later, when another walker corners you, that’ll sober him up.”
Hershel froze at those words, staring into his glass, suddenly feeling that the liquor did little to ease his sorrow.
“You—!” Maggie began to rebuke Li Changseng for his coldness, but just then, two unexpected visitors appeared at the door.
Two middle-aged men entered, both armed. One was fat and the other thin; the thin one’s eyes gleamed with greed, the fat one’s with sly malice.
The thin man looked everyone over, then broke into a theatrical grin. “Well, would you look at that! Live people at last!”
The fat man followed, gun slung over his shoulder, leering openly at Maggie. “Damn, a real woman at last!”
Seeing that none in the bar were armed—just old, sick, and weak—both men sneered. “An old man, a yellow-skinned runt, and a pretty lady. Now there’s a rare combination!”
Without a care, the two sat at the bar and poured themselves drinks, their eyes roaming over Maggie with blatant hunger.
As for Li Changseng and Hershel, they were summarily ignored. Unarmed, feeble—if they dared speak up, a bullet would put them down. Men like these had done such things countless times.
The thin one grinned at Maggie. “What’s your name, sweetheart? I’m Dave, and the fat one’s Tony. Don’t mind him, he’s a little... soft.”
Tony’s eyes raked over Maggie with vile intent. “Shut up, Dave. Last time, that woman was trash.”
Their words made Maggie’s fists clench, her shoulders trembling as she glared at them, eyes burning with fury. “You filthy bastards!”
Dave and Tony only laughed.
Dave leaned in, lowering his voice, his eyes glinting with wicked desire. “I like a woman with fire.”
His hand slid to the pistol at his waist.
Suddenly, Hershel stood, trembling. “We don’t want any trouble. Maggie, let’s go.” He grabbed her arm to leave.
Bang!
Tony fired a shot at Maggie’s feet.
“Going somewhere?”
Maggie and Hershel froze, unable to move. Hershel pulled Maggie behind him.
“Old man, stay out of my way. Ruin my fun and I’ll put a bullet in you!” Tony spat, already fumbling with his belt.
Dave watched, unfazed, excitement glittering in his gaze. These men had not a shred of conscience left.
Hershel felt as if he’d plunged into an icy abyss. In his youth, he’d drunk heavily and knew of such men by reputation. Maggie, paralyzed by their predatory stares, wanted to grab a bottle to defend herself, but her limbs were limp, powerless. After all, she was just a girl in her twenties—no matter how tough her words, no matter her resolve, when confronted with such horror, her body betrayed her, ruled by instinct.
Only Li Changseng stood by the bar, spinning a bottle in his hand. He arched an eyebrow coldly, eyes filled with contempt.
“Don’t even need to ask. You two are clearly the lowest breed of scum.”
Maggie’s expression shifted, a flicker of hope rising—only for it to be quickly snuffed out by reality. The two thugs were burly and armed; Li Changseng, though sturdy, clearly lacked their size.
How could he possibly match them...?
Despair swept through Maggie.
Better to die than fall into the hands of such monsters...
Dave sneered at Li Changseng, “Yellow-skinned runt, you looking for—”
He never finished the sentence.
The bottle in Li Changseng’s hand flew like lightning, smashing squarely into Dave’s face, shards of glass piercing his eyes. Dave howled in agony.
Tony, startled, hastily raised his gun—but a fire axe swung down, chopping clean through his arm.
Bone and flesh parted with a sickening crunch.
Reeling in pain, the two men scrabbled for their weapons, but Li Changseng was already upon them, battering them with a stool, then kicked their guns far away.
In the blink of an eye, it was over. Dave and Tony writhed on the floor, howling.
Li Changseng stood over them, cold and unmoved.
Maggie clapped a hand over her mouth, her emotions whiplashed from despair to hope. For the first time, she saw Li Changseng in a different light...
Hershel, who until now had been consumed by dread, exhaled in relief at his daughter’s safety. He thanked Li Changseng solemnly.
Were it not for this Asian man, Maggie’s fate would have been unspeakable.
He was deeply shaken; he’d thought Li Changseng had saved Beth by luck, never suspecting such skill.
Li Changseng glanced at the still-shaken pair and shook his head.
Let them calm down a bit...
With that, he grabbed Dave and Tony and headed for the door.
Maggie called after him, “Where are you going?”
Without looking back, Li Changseng replied, “Feeding the walkers.”
…
The bar was quiet for a long time after he left, and still Li Changseng did not return.
Just as Maggie and Hershel began to worry, the sharp rattle of gunfire echoed from afar—someone was exchanging shots.
But the noise lasted less than a minute.
Not long after, Li Changseng reappeared at the bar’s entrance, a bloodied fire axe in hand.
Both Maggie and Hershel started, their faces a tangle of conflicting emotions, words snagged in their throats.
Li Changseng shrugged indifferently.
“I have good news and bad news,” he announced.
“The good news: those two pieces of trash and their little friends are all dead by my hand.”
“The bad news: there are over twenty others just like them, holed up at the wind farm a few dozen kilometers away.”
He’d pried this information from Dave and Tony before their demise. At first, the pair had been defiant, but when Li Changseng dragged them to the walkers, terror broke them—they pissed themselves, desperate to spill every secret they knew.
Li Changseng learned their group was a gang of convicts who had, at the onset of the apocalypse, seized weapons and ammunition from the prison guards—some of it heavy firepower. Armed to the teeth, in just two months, they had committed unspeakable atrocities—murder, rape, pillage, and worse. Li Changseng had no wish to recount the details.
He also learned that in half an hour, more of their group would be coming this way.
After feeding Dave and Tony to the walkers, Li Changseng lay in ambush on the street and sent their comrades straight to hell.
Hershel listened in silence, unable to believe the world had fallen so far.
Maggie looked at Li Changseng with mixed feelings—astonishment, gratitude, and a touch of fear.
After a long pause, Hershel spoke. “Li, would you care to join me for a drink at my place?”
Li Changseng smiled. “I’d be honored. In fact, I wanted to discuss something about your farm.”
Hershel was taken aback, but quickly understood. “These old bones can’t manage a farm this size anymore. Perhaps it’s time someone more capable took over...”
“Hershel—!” Maggie gasped. The farm meant everything to her father.
Hershel waved her off. “Maggie, say no more. I know what I’m doing.”
Maggie looked at her father with aching concern, then shot Li Changseng a resentful glare. “I’m grateful you saved me, but you really are a first-class bastard!”
“Thank you for the compliment.”
“You—!”
…
Li Changseng let Hershel and Maggie go to the car first, then quietly slipped the bar’s remaining liquor into his mysterious space.
He started the engine and soon they were back at the farm.
But as soon as they got out, Hershel’s eldest daughter came running up in panic. “Dad, something’s wrong—Beth... she’s trying to kill herself!”