The woman's words were true; this small fishing village had been passed down for thousands of years.
For millennia, it had been self-sufficient, able to survive independently even without contact with the outside world.
Compared to the world outside, plagued by rampaging zombies and natural disasters, it was a small paradise.
It was precisely because this area was rarely trespassed upon that the Lighthouse had dispatched so many people.
They were here to survey the resources and terrain of this place.
"After Sister Chunhua drove you away, your friend came again, and Sister Chunhua pushed your friend away again. You don't know, but Sister Chunhua's man is a beast. That man desired your friend."
"If Sister Chunhua hadn't stopped that man herself that night and gotten beaten up, her man would have already tracked down your friend."
Hearing this, Zhou Haimei recalled Xu An's earlier words about that woman, her face filled with helplessness.
Her heart was filled with mixed emotions.
For a moment, she didn't know how to face this matter.
If that man had indeed tracked Xu An, he certainly wouldn't have had an easy time.
But, in the eyes of outsiders.
They were just two frail girls.
Thinking of this, Zhou Haimei looked at the bound child over there.
No matter what, she was willing to accept this favor and help them.
While the two were talking, Xu An and Qin Chuan on the other side were naturally not idle.
Although they no longer had bombs.
They still had fire.
Xu An remembered that some mutated monsters in her previous life feared fire and decided to try it out.
Exchanging a glance with Qin Chuan, she hid among the dark reefs, quietly waiting for the opportunity.
Qin Chuan seized the moment and ran out from behind the dark reefs.
Almost the instant Qin Chuan appeared.
The octopus monster entered a frenzied state, as if it had locked onto Qin Chuan.
It recognized the familiar scent and figure.
It was this damned human in front of it who had attacked its ink sac, preventing it from spraying toxic fluids.
Instead, it had to rely on moving its bulky body to hunt down these foolish humans one by one.
Before Qin Chuan could even land, a huge, dark brown tentacle appeared before him.
Seeing that he could no longer dodge, Qin Chuan could only go with the flow, shifting his body along with the tentacle's movement.
Only then did he narrowly escape the fatal blow.
Xu An on the other side watched, her heart in her mouth.
She knew better than anyone how many injuries Qin Chuan's body had sustained.
Yet, even with Qin Chuan's impaired mobility, he could still make such an evasion in this life-or-death crisis.
How terrifying must Qin Chuan's combat power be at his peak?
Just as Qin Chuan twisted his body, clinging to the octopus monster.
Xu An seized the opportunity, throwing the gasoline-soaked cotton cloth in her hand directly onto the octopus monster.
At the same time, Zhou Haimei, who had been waiting patiently, with the help of a few women beside her, had already secretly doused the area around the octopus monster's movement range with gasoline.
The moment Xu An's torch hit the ground.
A sky-high blaze rose with the wind, forming a bizarre, colorful circle.
Enveloping the entire monster.
A scent of grilled octopus gradually permeated the air.
The octopus monster was helplessly trapped in the ring of fire.
Xu An had gambled and won.
This monster truly feared fire.
The octopus monster struggled as it burned, emitting sounds like a baby's cry.
Zhou Haimei gathered the women who had bravely rushed out for their children, took off their cotton clothes, soaked them in gasoline, and threw them into the raging flames before them.
The women followed suit.
At this moment, even the falling snow could not hide the soaring flames.
It was as if it were tearing through the dawn and piercing the dark sky!
Many people even rushed back to their homes, carrying out cotton quilts and flammable materials.
To add fuel to this inextinguishable fire.
They stood in the firelight.
Their eyes, once numb, now held a determined glint.
This great fire burned away not only their past timid selves.
But also their rebirth through blood, heralding a new dawn.
More and more women joined this silent yet resounding battle.
They were like awakened warriors, finally deciding to live for themselves on the edge of life and death.
Those men who had fallen to the ground, their legs trembling, some even having lost control of their bodily functions, upon seeing the octopus monster trapped.
Their domineering aura seemed to have instantly returned to them.
It was as if the person who had knelt on the ground, trading his own son for his life, was not him.
When he saw his wife intending to throw their only cotton quilt into the fire.
Anger instantly surged onto his gaunt face. He seemed to have transformed back into the "patriarch" who dominated everything.
He walked forward quickly and kicked the woman to the ground.
He cursed and grumbled, his legs still not completely dry. He once again unashamedly berated his wife.
"You slut, are you crazy? Are you going to burn all the quilts in the house? I'll kill you!"
"You useless good-for-nothing, burning the quilts in such cold weather, are you trying to freeze me to death..."
Zhou Haimei saw the scene and prepared to go help.
But she was stopped by the woman from before.
"You can't help us forever; some things we have to do ourselves."
As the woman spoke, the previously submissive person seemed to suddenly awaken.
Before the man swung his arm again, a pair of hands appeared, blocking the man's violent blow.
Those hands were slender, dry, with skin stretched over bone, looking utterly unthreatening, as if they would break with a mere touch.
Yet, these hands still resisted.
The woman used all her strength to stand up from the ground, her eyes filled with a ferocity the man had never seen.
She shoved the man backward with a sudden force, causing him to stagger and nearly fall.
"From now on, you will never lay a finger on me again. If you dare to hit me again, I will kill you."
The woman tightly hugged her daughter, who had somehow hidden in her arms.
Each word she spoke was like a vengeful spirit reborn from hell.
"If you don't believe me, come and try."