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Life has a way of sweeping the rug out from under your feet when you least expect it.

I mean, I really couldn\'t complain, we had a whole three months of peace (ish) and quiet. Every day a different team went out to gather supplies and train as best as they could and all 311 of us became a really well-functioning machine.

And I will be the first to admit that that was all because of one woman, Ruan Ruo Xi.

She came in like a hurricane and had everyone in order in no time. The guys appointed Ren Ruo Xuan as her second in command and between the two of them, well… they were pretty fantastic together. Plus, they managed to get a whole two years\' worth of supplies for everyone! I mean, I was really happy!

On a personal level, I managed to spend all of my time with the guys or in the kitchen and life was… blissful. I don\'t remember a time that I had been so relaxed.

My connection to Wang Chao, Chen Zi Han, and Liu Yu Zeng was going stronger by the day, their flames inside of me ensuring that. I couldn\'t figure out why I didn\'t have Liu Wei\'s, but it was fine. I mean, he never left my side for the whole time so how could I complain?

However, April came and with it, the weather warmed up enough to start melting the snow. You could feel the tension from the teams that were coming back with supplies. No longer were we the only ones out on the streets. Humans had come out of the woodwork and started to collect their own supplies, something that I thought would have happened long before then, but they were forced to go further and further into the outskirts of the city before they could find anything.

We might have been the cause, but ask me if I cared.

Once the prey started roaming around, the predators quickly followed.

----

"We had over 150 people arrive at the gates today," said Ruan Ruo Xi as she looked down at the clipboard in her hands. Ren Rou Xuan was standing quietly behind her, supporting her how he always did in whatever way she needed. I would fully admit to shipping those two, but even I knew it was not to be.

"And?" I asked, noticing the uneasy tone in her voice. "And some of them were the girls from the cages," she admitted looking up at me.

"And you felt bad?"

She bit her bottom lip as she thought about what she was going to say next. She and I were on the same page about the number of extra people we could take in, but I know that it was harder on her than it was on me to be turning people away. She might have been a princess of a syndicate, but she had a heart of gold.

Nodding her head, she looked between me and the guys. "They felt that they should be able to come in… some of them even made a scene," she continued, not willing to meet my gaze.

"I warned them all that when they chose freedom, they would have to rely on themselves in the future," I reminded her, not at all caring about them making a scene. I was more worried about a bleeding heart taking them in. Ruan Rou Xi nodded her head and started to nibble on the tip of her pen.

Narrowing my eyes, I stared at her. Nibbling her pen was her tell that I was not going to like what came next. "I want to let them come in," she said, taking a deep breath before looking at me.

"No," I said as I leaned back against my chair. We had our daily meetings in our penthouse as it was the most comfortable, but still, Ruan Rou Xi and Ren Rou Xuan refused to sit down.  Hearing my answer, she nodded her head but continued to chew on her pen to the point that I thought the ink would explode all over her mouth.

"But—"

"No buts," I said looking at her.

"We have enough supplies," she pointed out, hoping that that would convince me to be merciful. Unfortunately for everyone around, that was not going to happen.

"How many supplies do we have?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.

"Enough for two years," she said looking at her notes.

"Okay, so what do we do when those supplies run out? Die?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, we are hopefully going to live longer than two years, so what are we going to do once those supplies run out?"I think you should take a look at

"Get more."

"From where? We have already taken everything that was not bolted down in this city, where do we go next?"

She paused and looked at me seriously. "We have enough for two years, maybe four if we really stretch it out. But for every one person that we take in, that is fewer supplies for those that are already here. So, who amongst us are you choosing to die so they can have the supplies?" I wanted her to understand that I wasn\'t doing this because I was a bitch (which I was), but rather I was doing my best to protect our people. I would not let someone loyal to one of my men do without because someone with a sob story came and asked for sanctuary.

"There is a Navy base not that far away, they can find what they are looking for there," I finished with a wave of my hand. I built my fortress, the communication towers were up and running and the men were well-trained. I couldn\'t ask for more from them so I would thank them by doing everything in my power to make sure that they would survive what was to come.

I saw Ruan Rou Xi clench the clipboard in her hand as she nodded her head. I really didn\'t want to cause an argument, but at the same time, I needed her to understand. "You disagree?" I asked.

"Do I dare?" she snipped, looking at me with a brief flash of anger.

"Then what do you propose?" I asked with a tired sigh. Chen Zi Han, who stood behind me, placed one hand on my shoulder offering me comfort and support.

"That we let them in. It\'s only a few of them," she said and for the life of me, I could not figure out why she was pushing this so hard. We had people try to come here for months and she had no problems turning them away, so why now?

I studied her, watching how her fingers moved, her nervous ticks, trying to understand what was going on in her head.

"Ren Rou Xuan," snapped Liu Wei from where he stood just beside Chen Zi Han.

"She let in a total of 25 people today, including 12 girls from the cages," said the man staring forward. Ruan Rou Xi spun around with a gasp, completely not expecting him to turn on her like that. But what she had failed to understand was that his loyalty would always be to Liu Yu Zeng. To him, he did nothing wrong.

Me, on the other hand, was a bit crushed. She let people into my home that I didn\'t know, that I didn\'t approve of, and she didn\'t even have the guts to tell me. She expected me to give in and I would be none the wiser.

"Has she done this before?" Liu Yu Zeng asked Ren Rou Xuan, knowing what was going on in my head.

"No," the other man answered. "This was the first."

I turned to look at the woman in front of me, I couldn\'t call her a friend, but she was one of my closest employees. "Then who have you decided needs to die?" I asked, my eyes never leaving hers,

"What are you talking about?" she snapped, her princess personality coming to the front full force.

"25 in, 25 out. The numbers need to remain the same at the end of the day. So please inform those that you have sentenced to die that they need to leave before nightfall so that the newcomers can have their stuff."

There was only silence in the room as Ruan Rou Xi stared at me. "You can\'t ask me to do that. Nightfall is in less than 30 minutes."

"I am not asking you to do anything. This was your choice, and you need to accept the consequences of that decision. The numbers cannot change."

"You know, you really are a stone-cold bitch, aren\'t you?" she asked, lowering the clipboard to her side, her shoulders hunched.

"I am. But I am also not the one that allowed them entry. If I really wanted to be a \'stone-cold bitch\' I would send you out with the 24 other people. As it stands, I am just asking you to decide who needs to go."

"Are you really okay with this?" she asked, turning to look at Wang Chao and Liu Yu Zeng where they sat on the couches on either side of me. My men simply looked at her, not bothering to say anything.

"She did warn you when you first came here that it was a sink or swim environment and that everything was done by numbers," pointed out Liu Wei. "So choose."

"I refuse," she said, raising her chin and staring down at me. "And there is nothing you can do about it."