Chapter 40: The Twelve Flower Girls

At this moment, Ma Shangting was trembling atop a tree.

Below her, her brother Ma Shangfei was surrounded by several women dressed in ancient-style clothing.

“Brother, is there some secret you can’t share with us sisters?”

Ma Shangfei groaned inwardly. All he wanted was to consume a bit more blood to strengthen his bloodline and protect his sister. But a few days ago, these women had set their sights on his defenseless sister, trying to recruit her into their team.

If it were a normal team, Ma Shangfei would have happily sent his sister over. As long as she was safe, even offering some money would be acceptable. But these women were notorious in the apartment complex for being unscrupulous—seducing high-level men, stirring conflicts among couples, and disrupting team harmony. Every immoral act they attempted, they did with great success.

Rumor even had it that these women were prostitutes before the apocalypse, and it was only natural they continued afterward.

So even if he were beaten to death, Ma Shangfei would never send his sister into such a team. Though she had made some small mistakes in the past, she was nowhere near being that corrupt. As long as he lived, he would never allow anyone to harm his sister.

Sigh… Ma Shangfei couldn’t decide if he was merely doting on his sister or spoiling her. Even when she nearly endangered someone else, in his eyes, it was just a moment of carelessness—not a grave mistake.

Previously, Ma Shangfei had kept an eye on these women. They all appeared to be in their twenties, with impressive appearances and bearing. The leader, code-named Peony, had mature and poised manners. While not breathtakingly beautiful, her every movement drew attention.

When he first heard about them, Ma Shangfei had even fantasized about being their target—imagine a group of girls surrounding him, hugging from both sides. How thrilling that would be!

But today, they were clearly not after his sister. The moment they appeared, they immediately surrounded him. He didn’t even have time to get his sister away. As darkness fell, if they continued to harass him, he didn’t know what might happen—but his sister in the tree would surely die.

This was exactly what Ma Shangting realized. When the women first appeared, she thought they were after her. After all, their team had just lost a member code-named Lily, who supposedly resembled her in looks and temperament. They probably wanted to groom her as the next Lily.

Indeed, this team had twelve women, each codenamed after a flower. With Lily dead, a type of beauty was missing, and the rest of the team naturally needed to find someone to fill that role.

Young Ma Shangting, though still inexperienced, was confident in her beauty. Protected by her brother, her greatest challenge was likely only failing to manipulate Qiao Duoduo. She firmly believed that if she had met Huoyang at the same time as Duoduo, Huoyang would have chosen her.

Therefore, the ambitious little beauty Ma Shangting would never willingly join a notorious team. She believed she should remain pure and ascend through the ranks until meeting her prince, starting a happy princess-and-prince life.

However, after listening from the tree for a while, she realized something was off. The women were surrounding her brother, but they hadn’t mentioned her at all—they only wanted to know his secret.

Her brother’s secret was about bloodline enhancement, which had already given him a minor power boost. As long as he continued to improve and became a top expert, any man would surely be hers to choose.

But the women had discovered the secret now. If her brother revealed it, they were many, and he might be killed to keep them quiet. She and her brother would die today. If he stayed silent, darkness would fall, and continued harassment would still mean certain death. Forced by the situation, she urgently sent a distress signal to Su Ning.

Ma Shangting felt that Su Ning, knowing the secret, would at least not kill the siblings. That gave her some reassurance. She hadn’t expected Su Ning’s refusal to be so decisive, forcing her to reveal the secret to tempt them—Su Ning didn’t refuse.

When Su Ning and the others arrived, they saw Ma Shangfei half-sitting beneath the tree, with five or six women circling him constantly to prevent escape. Ma Shangting, who had sent the signal, was nowhere in sight.

“Su-ge, she’s up in the tree?” Qiao Duoduo whispered to Su Ning.

Su Ning looked and confirmed she was. Trusting Ma Shangting’s promise, she turned back to Duoduo.

“There are too many women. Huoyang, watch Ma Shangting. If she tries to run, restrain her—injure her if necessary. If we can’t return tonight, we’ll stay outside. Let’s go see these pretty ladies.”

Duoduo had no objection. She threatened Huoyang to prevent him from interacting too much with the Ma siblings—this visit was for a transaction.

Huoyang promised thoroughly, and Duoduo followed Su Ning into the crowd.

“What a coincidence!”

Duoduo took the initiative to greet Ma Shangfei. Su Ning preferred to stay as far away from him as possible.

“Duoduo, Su Ning, what brings you here?”

Ma Shangfei was pleasantly surprised. Alone, he couldn’t handle five people, but with long-range attacks and a healer’s support, he felt he could fight back.

Su Ning had no time for small talk. It was late, and if they didn’t act quickly, Duoduo’s follow-up task would be delayed.

“Pretty ladies, we’ll accept payment, set a condition, and let him go this once. Just once—how about it?”

Su Ning directly began negotiating with the women.

“That’s sweet of your sister. Why don’t you tell us what benefits we’ll get?” Peony covered her lips and smiled, making Su Ning’s heart skip a beat.

“Here’s the deal.”

Su Ning didn’t finish speaking, instead immediately restoring all five women’s health to full.

“Your health isn’t full, so you probably don’t have a priest in your team. Consider this a greeting gift. In the future, when your health is low, you can come to me—I’ll fully restore it five times. How about that?”

Peony’s heart stirred. “Everyone?”

“It depends on how many of you there are. Too many and it won’t work; my mana bar is limited.”

“Twelve.”

Twelve. Su Ning quickly calculated: one heal restores 190 HP, usually two heals per person. Each heal costs 5 mana, so 12 people would cost 120 mana—easy.

“Agreed.”

“Ten times.”

“Sister, you can’t just raise the price.”

“Eight times.”

“Six times.”

“Seven times. We’ll leave now, but next time don’t block us.”

“No problem. Add me as a friend. Who knows, we might cooperate again.”

Peony smiled brightly at Su Ning. “Then remember this—our sisterhood is called The Twelve Flower Girls.”