Dominion's End

Dominion's End V2C4: The Jin Family

Dominion's End Volume 2: Aberrant City

Original novel in Chinese by: 御 我 (Yu Wo)

Chapter 4: The Jin Family—translated by Elkin (proofread by Arcedemius & Trespasserby; C/E edited by lucathia)

Bang!

My eyes flew open and I sucked in a deep, sharp breath. The air surging into my lungs triggered a coughing fit, and I started coughing like I was hacking up my lungs. It was only when I finally caught my breath that I had the energy to look around to figure out what had happened.

Every part of me was in absolute agony, proof that I wasn't dead yet. However, the darkness threatening to swallow my vision was a sign that I was injured very, very seriously. The pain had been bad enough before I had passed out, but the dial was now cranked up a few more notches. My chest had even lost all sensation.

I blinked quickly, clearing the blood that had trickled into my eye. It didn't help much. I was still looking at a sea of red, but I could just about make out my surroundings.

The first things that came into sight were high-rise buildings. I was surrounded by abandoned cars, and the majority of shops lining either side of the road had broken windows. Garbage littered the road. The city was a picture of desolation.

This is the city? A chill crept into my heart as I realized that I was lying by the roadside, drenched in blood. If I just lay out in the open, a tasty tier one morsel in this city where aberrants roamed freely, wasn't I just asking to be eaten? Move!

Rolling over took all the energy I could muster. The moment my chest hit the pavement, agony ripped through me, almost sending me back to unconsciousness. Something didn't feel right. Then, the memory of being crushed by the bird and the sound of something shattering rushed back to me. I touched my chest. The ice shard had been smashed to smithereens, leaving behind fragmented bits stuck to my skin. When I also remembered that my new ice spear had snapped, I wanted to cry. Why is making a weapon so hard?

But right now, survival was my top priority. Where's that bird? I looked around. There were a few crimson feathers and scales on the ground, but luckily for me, there was no sign of the bird.

No, this isn't lucky. In my current condition, I'd probably die even at the claws of normal aberrants, so the presence or absence of the bird hardly makes a difference...

"Who's there?!"

The voice sent a shock of adrenaline rushing through me. I looked up to see a woman walking out from behind a car, her gaze on me full of astonishment. She had a gun in one hand and the other... was on fire.

She was way cooler than Cain.

We had Lily, Yunqian, Shujun and now, a few months into the apocalypse, a woman so hot that she literally caught fire. Don't tell me that all the people in this world are so powerful? What happened to the tragic fates of women in the apocalypse?

A million thoughts flashed to my mind that boiled down to one word:

"Help."

The woman watched me in silence, showing no reaction whatsoever.

"P-please, help me..." I begged in the most pitiful way possible, thinking back to the various poses and expressions I had made in front of the mirror and trying to adopt the most handsome look that would best garner people's sympathy. I could only hope that my face wasn't too hopelessly disfigured, and that the waves of pain running through my body weren't causing my face to twitch in time.