People heard the sound of planes and immediately looked for shelter nearby.
But as one explosion after another was heard, everyone started to feel calm.
No need to panic, the planes couldn't get close.
People just went back to what they were doing, very calm.
As the war was won, life slowly returned to the streets.
The grain store was taken over by the military. They sold food at low prices, with daily limits. If someone was caught buying more than allowed, they would be treated like traitors.
Although they said the prices were low, they were actually the same as before. It just felt cheaper because prices had gone up too much recently.
Other things in the market also became cheaper. Anyone who tried to raise prices would be punished. When the next war started, they would be sent straight to the front line to fight.
After shooting down the latest four planes, Paige stopped. At least for today, they wouldn't dare to send more people.
The whole military camp kept quiet about what had really happened. What PN Soldiers? They didn't know. Weren't they outside the city preparing to attack?
The soldiers were still defending the city. As for why the PN Soldiers suddenly retreated, they claimed they didn't know.
If not for the black smoke still in the city, people might have believed this story.
Lying to their superiors wasn't right, but they couldn't say no to the request of the mysterious person who had saved the entire city.
The higher-ups only ordered them to hold the city, and they did. The rest of the details didn't have to be reported too clearly.
The commander had been giving orders in his room the whole time, and he hadn't seen where the PN Soldiers went.
So if he said he didn't know, it wouldn't be considered lying.
Paige didn't want to expose herself yet. She wanted to stay hidden until she became strong enough.
For now, the 150,000 PN Soldiers became a complete mystery.
People from different groups all had different theories.
One thing was clear: it hurt the confidence of the PN Soldiers, and they became even more brutal.
They didn't expect something they thought would be easy to succeed to be stopped again and again.
Stories about the mysterious powers in Hua Nation started spreading again.
As night fell, Paige said goodbye to Winn and the others and went wandering around the mountain areas.
By evening, large snowflakes began falling from the sky, almost as if trying to cover the smell of blood.
It was so cold. The PN Soldiers who had escaped were running away in a hurry. They couldn't survive long in the mountains.
By night, they would definitely come down, and the people living at the base of the mountains would be in danger.
Paige couldn't be sure all the PN Soldiers were without guns.
Her power had limits. She could only take away weapons within a certain range.
She started searching without a clear path, beginning with the mountain closest to her.
If she found no enemies on one mountain, she would move on to the next.
If she found PN Soldiers, she would kill them and throw their bodies deep into the forest. At least the wild animals would have something to eat during the snowy winter.
She came just in time. Some PN Soldiers were getting ready to come down the mountain, and some had already reached the bottom but hadn't entered any villages yet.
Most of them were still carrying guns.
Still, a few slipped through her search.
Paige found a farmhouse that had already been taken over by PN Soldiers.
The family that lived there had been killed and thrown into the cellar.
Among them was a crying baby.
In the apocalypse, children were the future, the hope. Anyone who hurt children would become the enemy of the entire base.
Those PN Soldiers deserved to die. Even when running away, they didn't know how to stay hidden.
Paige took three steps in two, then suddenly flashed into that household.
Among the four PN Soldiers, two were sitting by the fire eating, while the other two were inside the room. There was also a dead woman lying in the room.
Paige's sudden appearance shocked the PN Soldiers, and they all screamed, quickly reaching for their weapons.
Weapons? Where were they? They had vanished.
The soldiers in the room were alarmed by the shouting and ran out.
When they saw it was just a woman, Paige, they breathed a sigh of relief and even scolded the other two for overreacting.
"Female Decoy, come play with us," one of the PN Soldiers said, rubbing his hands and walking toward Paige.
When he was less than two meters away, his hand suddenly fell to the ground.
Everything happened so fast that the pain hadn't even reached his nerves.
His foot took another unconscious step forward, and his wrist also dropped off.
Finally, the PN Soldier realized something was wrong. Looking at the two bare sticks that were now his arms, he started to scream.
"So noisy." As the words fell, an unknown object was spat out by the PN Soldier.
The room was filled only with sobs and muffled cries.
The other three PN Soldiers looked as if their throats had been grabbed. They didn't dare to make a sound.
"Look at you all. Why couldn't you just stay in your own country instead of wandering around here?
If a soldier's duty is to follow orders, then maybe you could try to argue that you were just following commands.
But robbery, arson, killing, looting—no one forced you to do those things.
It only shows that you're animals to the bone." Paige didn't care if they understood her. With every word she spoke, another part of their bodies went missing.
After all, she had saved the world before. Listening to her lecture should come with a bit of a fee.
Seeing that all they could do was scream in return, Paige lost interest.
She broke all their limbs and threw them deep into the mountains, leaving them to fend for themselves.
There were still many places to go. She couldn't waste too much time here.
She had been too angry just now and didn't want to let them die too easily.
That night, three families were attacked, over a hundred PN Soldiers were wiped out.
Several others were saved because Paige arrived in time.
She had only ever heard stories about the PN Soldiers before.
But seeing more than a hundred of them, deserters from the battlefield, treating the locals like this made it clear how poor their discipline was.
It was unimaginable what would have happened to this city if her side had lost.
Paige felt heavy in her heart.
Then she shook her head.
No, she told herself, in this life she was just a regular citizen. She shouldn't be burdened with such troubling thoughts.
This country had a large population, strong military, and no more zombie threats. Chasing away a few PN Soldiers should be no problem at all.
And she, after a lifetime of hard work in her previous life, deserved to enjoy herself this time around.
Once she sorted it all out in her mind and finished off the remaining PN Soldiers, Paige happily returned to the camp.
She strolled slowly along the road, enjoying the beauty of the peaceful moment.
In the stillness of the night, snow drifted down silently, as if the world had been muted.
Only the faint sound of snowflakes landing broke the silence, adding a trace of life to the cold winter night.
Paige reached out her hand and caught a falling snowflake. It melted quickly at her fingertip, leaving a cool sensation.
Like a kiss from winter, soft and fleeting.