Chapter 2: All the Men of the Shi Family Are Dead

Before her transmigration, Shi Yuebai was a formidable Great Shaman. In her world, if she claimed second place, no one dared to claim first.

Now, however, she found herself trapped in this wretched state: a mountain of flesh encasing her fragile bones, making it impossible for her to even stand up.

The voice of her second sister-in-law rang out, thick with terror. "My husband will be back soon! My brother-in-law is a hero who fought the mutated beasts and zombies. You cannot do this to me—ah, no!"

In the early days of the catastrophe, Shi Yi’s mind had been sound, and he had fought on the front lines alongside the garrison. He was a recipient of the Hero’s Medal and had made immense contributions to the survivors. Because of this, the Shi family had been considered a hero’s household.

But now? The men who had lifted the tent flap couldn't help but laugh uproariously. "That was years ago. The world is different now. None of your men are coming back. Let me be blunt: this afternoon, a wave of mutated beasts attacked this survivor settlement. Every man in your family is dead. Not a single one returned. Even your mother-in-law was chased off by the beasts, nowhere to be found."

So that was it. The realization hit her, and the second sister-in-law’s tears flowed like a fountain. It was precisely because they knew the men were gone, leaving only these orphans and widows, that these men dared to bully them.

"I don't believe it!" The second sister-in-law groped around until her hand closed over a stone. She swung it wildly. "My husband and brother-in-law are strong! How could they have died so easily?"

Lying on the ground, Shi Yuebai felt both furious and helpless. She rolled her eyes, wishing this transmigration would just end in death. Perhaps if she opened her eyes again, she could land a better starting hand. But look at this disastrous deck: she was a 750-pound giant, someone who could gain ten pounds of fat just from drinking water; she had a blind, beautiful second sister-in-law; a niece who was intellectually disabled and paralyzed in both legs; her family’s men were all dead, her mother-in-law was missing, and a pack of lecherous men were salivating over her sister-in-law. The chances of a comeback were zero.

"Hey."

Shi Yuebai spoke up anyway. She strained to turn her head, her facial fat wobbling, and addressed the men with arrogance. "Don't touch her."

She had always been cold and selfish, frequently oppressing her own people, but there was one thing about her: she couldn't stand men forcing themselves on women. Despite having no hope of a comeback, she crooked a finger at the men in a gesture of defiance. "Come over here... and deal with me instead."

The men closing in on the second sister-in-law paused, then burst into a chorus of boisterous laughter. One man laughed until he was gasping for air. "Hahaha, what did you say? You giant fatty? Even if you begged us, we’d be too disgusted to touch you. Are you going crazy for a man?"

The little niece sitting beside Shi Yuebai picked up a handful of small stones and threw them at the men. "Stop! Stop! Don't talk to my aunt like that! Don't!"

She was frantic and angry, her head swaying back and forth. Her eyes lacked focus, suggesting a severe vestibular development issue.

A man slapped the little niece across the face, knocking the already frail girl unconscious in a single blow. He raised his foot to stomp on her head. "Damn it, useless things like this should die early. Living just wastes the survivors' resources."

Resources in the wasteland were limited. Scavengers sifted through trash in the ruins every day to find usable goods, trading them for points, which they then used at the management office to exchange for rationed food. Food was extremely scarce; even if survivors had points, they couldn't always get enough to eat. To survive, many survivor teams would abandon the elderly, weak, sick, and pregnant. The Shi family, despite their numbers, had three members who couldn't work—and Mother Shi was heavily pregnant—so they had long been on the list to be discarded. The only reason the team had tolerated them until now was that Shi Yi had been a decorated garrison soldier, and the father and brothers were unusually strong.

"Yaoyao!" Realizing what was happening, the second sister-in-law screamed. She swung her stone to keep the men at bay while turning her head toward her daughter.

Just as that heavy boot descended to crush Shi Yaoyao’s head, a fleshy, thick hand gripped the man’s ankle.

Shi Yuebai, lying on the ground like a mountain of meat, strained to lift her massive face. Her eyes were squeezed into two thin slits by the fat, but a cold light glinted from within them. "I told you to come for me. Don't bully these two weaklings. You don't listen? Hmm?"

Shi Yuebai had ruled the Shaman tribe for thousands of years; no one had ever dared to treat her words like wind. Her fury surged, and she tightened her grip. She felt her back grow hot, as if she were breaking into a sweat.

The man whose ankle she held felt nothing at first, merely thinking to himself that this fat woman was surprisingly strong. Then, his accomplice shouted, "Your foot! Ah, her fingers—they've dug in!"

It was a sight impossible to imagine. Shi Yuebai’s palm, as thick as a large fan, had gripped the man’s ankle, and her five fingertips had pierced into his flesh as if it were cotton.

The man soon felt a piercing, bone-deep pain. He shrieked and collapsed to the ground. "Let go, you fat hag! Let go!" He struggled, shaking his leg to throw her off, but in doing so, he tore his own ankle clean off—much like a loose, worn-out part coming off a machine.

The man stared in horror at the severed foot clutched in Shi Yuebai's hand. Without a glance, she tossed it into the campfire. Her fingertips were stained with blood, and without a second's pause, she reached for the leg of the man now sitting on the ground. With a sharp *rip*, she clawed through his pant leg, leaving five bloody gouges running down his thigh.

It was not a wound a normal person could inflict. Who would grab someone like this?

"Ahhh! Run! It’s a zombie! It’s a zombie!" The man’s accomplices shrieked and fled, tearing through the tent flap.

The second sister-in-law, still panicked, felt her way across the ground until she reached Shi Yaoyao and pulled her unconscious daughter into her arms. She then reached out toward Shi Yuebai. "Yuebai? Yuebai, what’s wrong? Are there zombies here? Speak to me, answer me!"

If zombies were here, how could a blind woman carry her daughter and the heavy, massive Yuebai to safety? The second sister-in-law was frantic.

Shi Yuebai grabbed the struggling man on the ground and, with a few quick, brutal clawing motions, left him gasping his last breath. She said dully, "No zombies. But this one is dying. Someone might come soon. Second sister-in-law, I can't move—you need to drag the body away."