Chapter 43: She's Panicking
After Chen Zhenghao killed the resident of 301, the atmosphere in the entire building became extremely tense.
The group chat had fallen silent; no one dared to speak anymore.
Chen Zhenghao seemed to realize that everyone had secretly formed a new resident group without him.
But such things couldn’t be stopped.
All he could do was threaten and coax the residents in the group.
"The situation is tough now; everyone is just trying to survive. No one wants to kill."
"If that kid in 301 hadn’t attacked my men first, I wouldn’t have killed him by mistake. I’m not a devil!"
"I hope we can get along peacefully from now on. If we need some food, please lend us some."
Hearing this, some people indeed let down their guard.
Some even believed that perhaps the resident of 301 died because he made the first move, as Chen Zhenghao said.
This type of behavior is known as Stockholm Syndrome, where victims start to empathize with their abuser when shown any kindness.
Zhang Yi continued to watch from the sidelines, neither commenting nor participating.
However, he became more cautious of Chen Zhenghao.
Although his home was well-fortified and Chen Zhenghao and his few men with a single gun had no chance of breaking in, being extra cautious in an apocalypse was never wrong.
"If he really causes trouble, I’ll find an opportunity to kill him," Zhang Yi said calmly.
This brief peace was shattered the next day.
Despite fearing Chen Zhenghao, residents had to go downstairs to break ice for water to survive.
So, someone quietly opened their door, intending to sneak down and dig for snow, but they were caught by Chen Zhenghao’s men, who were on the lookout.
The hungry thugs had already consumed the supplies they had looted on the first day.
Now, they were seeing all the residents as their prey, ready to rob anyone they caught.
The new group chat was filled with urgent cries for help.
When Zhang Yi opened the chat, he was amused.
The one crying for help was Liu Tiantian, who lived on the seventh floor, right above Chen Zhenghao.
That morning, she had tried to sneak downstairs to dig for snow under the cover of darkness but was caught.
Living alone, she was an easy target for Chen Zhenghao's men, who were also desperate and frustrated after being cooped up for almost half a month. They were eager to find a woman to relieve their frustrations.
Liu Tiantian wasn’t particularly beautiful, but she was young and had a decent figure.
Given the limited choices, they weren’t picky.
So, Chen Zhenghao's men, armed with wrenches and iron rods, came laughing.
Liu Tiantian quickly shut her door and, in desperation, turned to her neighbors for help.
"Sob, someone, please save me! They’re breaking down my door. I’ll be killed!"
"@Uncle You, Uncle You, please save me! Didn’t you serve in the army? They can’t beat you."
"They’re brutal. We need to unite!"
"If something happens to me, you could be next!"
Liu Tiantian, crying, sent voice message after voice message to the group.
But she wasn’t so arrogant when she was berating the male residents in the group chat yesterday.
Uncle You replied, "Miss, this is too sudden. I can’t take on so many of them alone!"
Uncle You, though kind, wasn’t going to throw his life away.
Chen Zhenghao had five or six men and a gun, which even an ex-soldier like him couldn’t handle alone.
If they had formed a security team yesterday, there might have been hope to scare them off.
Liu Tiantian felt a cold chill at Uncle You's words.
She cried, "You can’t do this! Can’t you protect a single woman? What kind of men are you?"
"Sob, if I die, I’ll haunt you!"
Some had initially sympathized with her, but her shameless moral coercion sparked anger.
Combined with the insults she hurled at the male residents yesterday, old and new grudges combined.
"Yeah, we’re all useless. Little princess, you’re so amazing. You don’t need our help!"
"Haha, go and fight them off with your punches!"
"Weren’t you shouting yesterday? Turns out you still need us."
"You might as well die. Your death would bring happiness to many families!"
The group chat was filled with laughter.
There was no sympathy for Liu Tiantian’s plight, only a sense of schadenfreude.
With her home being robbed, at least the others felt safe for now.
Liu Tiantian, seeing these cold responses, fell into despair.
She turned to the female residents for help.
But their replies were equally unhelpful.
"We’re all sisters, but we can’t do anything in this situation."
"Hang in there! We support you spiritually."
"You have to hold on, or they might do something terrible to you if they break in!"
"Yeah, with so many of them, they might really hurt you."
Some offered perfunctory comfort, while others cruelly scared her.
After all, human emotions didn’t connect universally. Long periods of confinement and the threat of death had twisted many minds.
More people joined the chat, but the topic had shifted.
"At least take one of them down with you before you die, as a service to the community!"
"Yeah, if your home is raided, you won’t survive anyway. Might as well take one down with you."
Liu Tiantian, trembling with rage, tried to respond when her door was kicked open with a bang.
In Zhang Yi's home, he watched the surveillance feed as Liu Tiantian screamed and was dragged out by her legs by Chen Zhenghao's thugs.
"Exercising in this freezing weather? These guys have some serious stamina!" Zhang Yi commented.
It made sense, though. In dire times, when people did not know when they might die, biological instincts to reproduce kicked in.
Zhang Yi took a bite of his chocolate bar and said to the surveillance screen, "At this temperature, exposing any skin is life-threatening."