The woman sobbed for a long while, then wiped her tears with her hand.
Ignoring her clothes hanging open, she picked up the knife from the ground and started hacking at the fallen PN Soldier.
She cried while she slashed, and didn't stop until the PN Soldier was chopped into meat paste.
Where there's one, there's more. Out of the dozen or so women, more than half picked up long knives from the ground.
Only a few timid women huddled in the corner, covering their mouths and quietly crying.
Paige looked at them with satisfaction, then went out and came back with a set of cotton clothes and pants for each of them.
Even the timid women in the corner weren't left out.
They were all just ordinary women—some of them couldn't even kill a chicken—so it was normal to be afraid.
"Put on your clothes. I'm taking you to a midnight party," Paige said to them.
The women didn't understand what Paige meant by "midnight party," but after venting their emotions just now, they actually felt a little excited.
Paige led them out to meet up with Winn and Uziel.
The timid women followed too; they didn't dare to stay behind alone.
Even though they didn't know what they were going to do, following the group seemed like the safest choice.
Winn and Uziel had been searching in that direction, but everything was eerily quiet, and they had no idea where Paige had gone.
Soon, the large group of women ran into the two men.
Instinctively, the women raised their long knives.
"Don't panic, they're our people," Paige said from the side.
So, Winn and Uziel stayed far behind the group.
If they got too close, they feared the women might lose control and start killing.
Paige led them toward another hotel.
As they got closer, they could hear the vulgar laughter of PN Soldiers and the crying of women inside.
The women outside turned pale. They knew exactly what was happening in there.
Their hands holding the knives trembled, and their whole bodies began to shake.
"Are you ready? Your party is here.
Don't see them as people—they're just beasts in clothes.
When a mosquito bites you, do you gently shoo it away or slap it to death?
These are just bigger mosquitoes. Hitting them with your hands hurts, so you use a knife instead," Paige coaxed them.
Then, without giving anyone time to react, she kicked the door open and charged in with the others.
Winn and Uziel stood guard at the door to stop any PN Soldier from escaping.
At the same time, several very young girls stayed behind, huddled together, trembling.
Fourteen- and fifteen-year-old girls were filled only with fear and panic. All they wanted was to go home to their mothers. They couldn't even think about fighting back.
Winn and Uziel looked at each other and took out a few compressed biscuits from their backpacks to give to the girls.
Winn's approach scared the girls a lot.
He quickly stepped back.
"I don't mean any harm, I just want to ask if you're hungry," Winn said as he held up the biscuits.
Someone's stomach immediately made a loud growling noise.
The girls looked a bit embarrassed and swallowed hard.
They hadn't felt it before due to the tension, but now that they saw food, their hunger hit them instantly.
"You can sit over there and rest a bit, have something to eat." Winn placed the biscuits on the nearby steps and then returned to the door to keep watch.
As for water, the water bags were their personal items. Winn and Uziel didn't want to share them with other women.
The four girls standing at the door watched Winn go back to his spot and slowly moved to the side.
Each of the four girls took a pack of compressed biscuits. Since there was no water, they had to eat it slowly, in small bites.
Inside the room, after Paige entered, she dislocated the PN Soldier's jaw and arms, then took all his weapons.
The PN Soldiers inside were also driven out by Paige.
When the women saw the room's condition, their eyes turned red.
In that moment, hatred surged up. They picked up knives and charged at the PN Soldiers.
They thought about the humiliation they suffered during this time, the sisters who died, the families who were brutally killed…
And now the ones responsible were right in front of them.
The women, blinded by rage, chased the PN Soldiers and started slashing.
Paige closed the door. The PN Soldiers' arms hung limply, their weapons were gone.
In the main hall, the rest of the women were somehow brought to the side by Paige. Even the tables were moved aside.
Even with dislocated arms, the PN Soldiers were still men.
As they panicked and tried to run, some of them kicked the women, knocking them down.
Paige didn't interfere with these small acts of resistance, as long as no lives were in danger.
At first, only a few women were attacking the PN Soldiers. When they saw that the PN Soldiers still dared to resist, all of them joined in.
If one dared to kick, his leg would be chopped off first.
With arms dislocated and legs injured, they couldn't even crawl.
With their jaws dislocated, they couldn't even shout. They just drooled and whimpered while slowly crawling on the floor.
The women hiding in the corners, seeing this scene, pulled their clothes tighter, picked up nearby guns, and smashed them down on the PN Soldiers.
After collecting the weapons, Paige placed them aside. When it came to revenge, it had to be done by their own hands.
More and more women joined, and the PN soldiers' voices slowly disappeared. In fact, not even a single complete corpse could be found.
Paige went out once more. When she came back, she handed out cotton-padded jackets to everyone according to the number of people.
"Wash your hands and faces. I'll take you to the next place," Paige said to everyone.
"Can you… can you take us home?" someone in the crowd asked quietly.
"My mission tonight is to clear the entire city of PN soldiers. You can come with me if you want.
If you don't want to come, you can stay here or go home on your own," Paige replied directly.
The women stared at Paige with wide eyes, shocked.
"There are so many of us here. Can't you let some people take us home?
We don't know how to shoot. Following you would only slow you down, and you'd have to protect us," someone else asked.
Paige still shook her head. "We don't have many people. We can't spare even a small group to take you back home."
"Aren't you planning to take back the city? How can you not have enough people?" the person looked at Paige in disbelief.
"See? It's me and the two people outside. Just the three of us are going to take back this city tonight.
Sounds impossible, right? Sounds like I'm dreaming?" Paige smiled as she looked at the people staring at her with wide eyes.
"If earlier today, someone had told you that just a few of you could kill over thirty PN soldiers, would you have believed it?
You probably wouldn't even believe it yourselves. But now, look — more than thirty PN soldiers died by your knives, didn't they?"
The women looked at each other. It really was true.
Did they really kill that many PN soldiers? It felt like a dream.
"You think just the three of us can't take back this city?
Well, that's perfect. I like doing things people think are impossible.
This is a historic moment. You're lucky to witness it. Do you want to come with me and witness our victory?"
"If you all stay, then this city is the one we will take down together."
"See this? Guns, ready to use. Bullets, already here. Don't know how to shoot? Once you see the PN Soldiers, you'll figure it out," Paige said casually.
"I'm saying this now: do you believe that just a few of us can take over this city? You don't, right? But don't you want to witness your own miracle?"
The whole room was silent. No one, except Paige, believed her words.
But after hearing what she said, they couldn't help but feel a bit moved.
They had already become like this, even if they went home, it would be a shame.
Now, if they followed this young woman and gave it their all, even if they died, it would be worth it.
"I'll follow you. I'm already like this, going home would only bring shame to my family. Tonight, I killed three PN Soldiers. Even if I die now, it's worth it," one woman stood up and said firmly.
"Go wash your hands and faces first. Whatever you have to say, say it after tonight," Paige didn't comfort them with words.
In this kind of situation, too much comfort is meaningless.
Only by showing them a wider world, letting them see that life can have many meanings, might they come to realize this wasn't their fault, and they didn't need to carry the burden.
The women washed the blood off their hands, faces, and knives. Then they lined up and walked outside.
Paige had already gone out first.
She had parked a large truck nearby and told Winn to drive it over.
The truck was loaded with compressed biscuits and canned meat.
As for water, when Paige had been staying at a hotel, she had boiled several buckets and stored them in her space.
But they were all cold, because Paige hadn't stored them with a crystal core to keep them fresh.