Chapter 20: Trying to Steal Her Belongings

Fang Weiwen returned to continue moving things and saw Qu Zixuan’s severed hand dangling precariously from his arm. The vivid red color and pungent smell sent a jolt through his nerves.

A vein twitched at his temple; the sensation from the moment he swung the axe was something he could not forget even now.

“Just move it and leave!”

As time passed, the cold became unbearable. They puffed out their breath and stomped their feet, jogging all the way back to their floor.

Zhao Weijie carried the few items Fang Weiwen had bestowed upon him. Though filled with complaints, recalling Fang Weiwen’s ruthless axe swing made it somewhat tolerable.

Sun Jia and Song Yujuan hurriedly opened the door when they saw him return.

“How is it?”

Zhao Weijie took out the items. “If we ration carefully, it’ll last a few days. We can figure out the rest later.”

Sun Jia breathed a sigh of relief.

“As long as we got some supplies, it’s good enough. Fang Weiwen isn’t easy to deal with.”

Zhao Weijie agreed, still haunted by the earlier incident.

“If he dares to kill, what wouldn’t he dare do?”

Sun Jia covered her mouth. “Kill?“

Song Yujuan, standing beside her, grabbed Sun Jia’s arm, equally shocked by Zhao Weijie’s words.

“Yep, I saw it with my own eyes. That Qu Zixuan from the property management — his hand was chopped off.”

Sun Jia clutched the bag tightly. “We can’t let others see what we got.”

Right now, many households lacked supplies. In such desperate times, it was inevitable that some would go mad and resort to robbery, just like Fang Weiwen.

Zhao Weijie nodded thoughtfully. “Don’t worry, I made sure no one saw me when I left.”

As long as they locked the door, nothing would happen.

Night deepened, and silence settled outside.

Meng Ran put Nian Nian to sleep, wrapped herself in a blanket, and returned to the living room.

The cabinet was blocking the door when she came back. She wondered if the people trying to break in would return.

She thought the ordeal would end here tonight, but as she prepared to enter her space, noises came from the doorway.

“She seems to be back. Should we keep prying?”

A deep male voice replied, “No one can get out from inside, and no one can get in from outside. What are you worried about?”

“But what if the snow stops and the weather clears up? We’ll be done for then.”

The man sneered, “The surveillance cameras are broken. If we get caught, we’ll just deny everything. Who can do anything to us?”

With water and power cut off for so long and no rescue supplies in sight, even the news stopped updating. Grievances simmered in their hearts.

For survival, imitating Fang Weiwen seemed like a good plan.

They couldn’t take on Fang Weiwen, but they knew exactly who lived on this floor.

The easiest targets were the mother and daughter living ahead and the grandmother and granddaughter next door.

Meng Ran recognized the voices — they were from two households on the same floor, usually unconnected to her, but now she remembered them.

“This security door is really hard to break.”

The pounding echoed again. They didn’t fear waking Meng Ran because they knew the other households wouldn’t intervene and assumed Meng Ran wouldn’t resist.

If they kept hammering, her place would be unlivable.

Meng Ran thought for a moment and moved the cabinet aside.

Hearing the furniture shift inside, the three outside stopped. With a creak, the iron door opened, and Meng Ran met their gaze through the beautifully reinforced security door.

“Who are you?”

Startled, Meng Ran stepped back.

“Dumb enough to open the door?” The middle-aged leader sneered and raised his hammer, striking again. The metal bars twisted, emitting a long, mournful screech.

“Stop breaking it. Just tell us what you want.”

Tears welled in Meng Ran’s eyes as she trembled, holding a flashlight.

“Open the door! Hand over all your food and drink!”

With trembling hands, Meng Ran unlocked the security door. “Take whatever you want, just spare my life.”

She sniffled and watched the bandits enter her home.

With such a commotion, the other households naturally heard it.

Qi Guangyao tugged on Grandma Liu’s arm. “Grandma, shouldn’t we help? Aunt Meng often gives us treats. Now bad people want to steal from her.”

Grandma Liu pinched the soft flesh on his arm and scolded, “Do you want to kill your old grandma with your nonsense? Meng Ran caused this trouble herself. I’m not getting involved.”

It was already difficult enough to survive at times like this. Her son and daughter-in-law couldn’t come back. She was the only one caring for Qi Guangyao. If anything happened to her, what then?

She tucked Qi Guangyao into bed and told him to stop talking.

Meng Ran let those men in and returned to her space, ready to act.

“Split up and search. Take all the food and drink!”

They had come as a father and son, along with another household, seemingly joining forces.

The father and son were surnamed Zhang. Zhang Zhengyu pointed to the bedroom, telling his son Zhang Juncheng to search there while he went to the kitchen.

Song Hui glanced left and right and pushed open another door. Suddenly, he cried out, “Meng Ran’s gone!”

She was crying when they came in, but now vanished without a trace. Was this a ghost?

“The door’s open. Probably ran off.”

Zhang Zhengyu in the kitchen didn’t care and opened the refrigerator.

Song Hui rubbed his arms but heard no footsteps.

After the power outage, the fridge smelled foul when opened, but it was empty — not even a single vegetable leaf.

“So clean!” Zhang Zhengyu slammed the fridge shut in anger.

Zhang Juncheng entered the bedroom and saw a bulge on the bed. Thinking it was Meng Ran’s daughter, he went to check, but suddenly felt a chill behind him.

Meng Ran struck the back of his head with a snow shovel. Before he could react, he collapsed to the floor with a thud.

She bent down and checked his breath — he was alive.

She didn’t want any unexpected complications while dealing with these three men, especially since corpses could mutate.

From the kitchen, Zhang Zhengyu poked his head out. “Juncheng, what’s all that noise?”

Having found nothing in the kitchen, he went to investigate. The flashlight’s beam was limited. Suddenly, slender vines appeared behind him, grabbing both his ankles and pulling him backward.

Losing his balance, Zhang Zhengyu fell face-first. A foot stepped on his back, and something heavy landed on his head. Stars danced before his eyes, and he fainted within seconds.

Meng Ran tied them up tightly before searching for the third man.

Her plants were still somewhat fragile, so she had to rely on surprise attacks against these three grown men.

A cold wind seemed to blow from the hallway, creaking the door behind her. Song Hui turned, gripping a knife, facing the chill.

“No one’s here... just the wind,” he muttered, sweat beading on his forehead and nose, frightened by Meng Ran’s sudden disappearance.

Song Hui belatedly realized how eerily quiet it had become.