When Aunt Lin saw that no one was responding to her calls, the neighbors began to realize they had been tricked by her!
In an instant, the neighborhood chat group was filled with "friendly greetings" aimed at Aunt Lin.
However, once Aunt Lin decided to deceive her neighbors, she had already thrown away all pretense of shame, and she didn't care one bit about how they cursed her.
But there was someone who had his eye on the supplies she had swindled—Chen Zhenghao!
Though the apocalypse had already lasted five days, no one really knew what the outside world was like. The situation hadn't yet reached the point where people were fighting for supplies in desperation.
In Zhang Yi's memories, Chen Zhenghao was someone who later gathered a group of henchmen and roamed around looting others' belongings, even resorting to killing.
However, at this moment, he wasn't yet thinking of using violence to grab the neighbors' supplies.
After all, not all "society people" were complete psychopaths. Chen Zhenghao had a bit of brains.
Even Zhang Yi, who had once shot him in the leg, knew that Chen Zhenghao wasn't crazy enough to storm into his house unless he had an absolute advantage.
Now, their own supplies were running low as well.
Society people like him didn't have a habit of hoarding supplies at home.
They had plenty of beer in the fridge, but that stuff had long been frozen solid. It wouldn't fill them up, and if they wanted to drink it, they'd have to break the ice and gnaw on it.
Aunt Lin's actions made his eyes light up.
She had promised to gather supplies and then distribute them evenly.
Though Chen Zhenghao had no respect for Aunt Lin's words, it was now clear that she had swindled some supplies from the neighbors.
And now, he had a legitimate reason to take them from her!
Even if things escalated after the snowstorm and the situation got messy, Aunt Lin wouldn't dare do anything, as she knew she was in the wrong.
So, Chen Zhenghao picked up his phone and called Aunt Lin.
At that moment, Aunt Lin was at home, happily munching on cookies with her grandson, Xiao Hu.
She had to wait for the brief window of time when the phone line was open before she could boil water and prepare instant noodles.
Suddenly, her phone rang.
"Grandma, the phone!" Xiao Hu pointed at the phone.
Aunt Lin snorted coldly, her eyes filled with disdain.
She figured it must be one of the neighbors who had been tricked into giving up their supplies.
She felt no guilt at all for those fools and thought they were all idiots.
But when she picked up the phone and saw the caller's name, a look of fear appeared on her face.
"Chen Zhenghao? What does he want with me?"
Chen Zhenghao was notorious, not only for having many subordinates but also for reportedly having powerful connections.
He was not someone a small community worker like Aunt Lin could afford to mess with.
Aunt Lin reluctantly answered the call.
Chen Zhenghao's voice came through, mocking her.
"Hey, Aunt Lin! You're quite the talent, huh? Got all the supplies from everyone, didn't you?"
The moment Aunt Lin heard the word "supplies," she became tense.
She coughed and said, "Ahem, as a community worker, it's my job to manage and distribute supplies for everyone."
Chen Zhenghao let out a cold laugh. "Heh, well, that works out for me. We're running low on supplies at home. Hurry up and send some over!"
Aunt Lin's face stiffened. She hadn't expected this thug to come after her supplies!
It seemed she had forgotten that she herself had used underhanded means to steal supplies from other neighbors.
Though Aunt Lin was afraid of Chen Zhenghao, she wasn't willing to give up the supplies she had managed to collect for herself and her grandson to survive.
She gritted her teeth and replied, "I still need to manage and distribute these supplies. There are still some people who haven't handed theirs in, so I can't distribute anything yet."
Chen Zhenghao was getting impatient.
This old woman had no idea when to quit, trying to brush him off with such excuses!
He cursed, "You old hag! Don't you dare give me that crap!"
"You've already pocketed all those supplies, haven't you?"
"I'll tell you what. If you hand over the supplies, I'll let it slide. Otherwise, heh, I'll come over and take them myself!"
Aunt Lin's face went white with fear. She trembled, unable to find the words to respond.
She was used to bullying the weaker neighbors, being domineering and unreasonable with them.
But how could she know how to deal with someone like Chen Zhenghao?
She mustered up her courage and said, "What do you think you're doing? I warn you, don't do anything stupid! I'm a community worker!"
Chen Zhenghao laughed even harder. "Pah, what a load of crap! You really think you're something special? If you don't give me the supplies, I'll come take them myself!"
With that, he hung up the phone.
Due to the cold weather, he had called a few of his subordinates over to his place.
One, to stay warm with more people around, and two, many of them had gotten sick after Zhang Yi's cold treatment, so someone had to take care of them.
Thirdly, Chen Zhenghao was somewhat strategic.
He realized the situation was deteriorating and needed to consolidate his manpower.
That way, when push came to shove, he could have the upper hand.
But with so many people, they still needed food.
He hung up the phone and immediately called his subordinates, then they all set off for Aunt Lin's house, marching over in a large group.
Chen Zhenghao, using a mop as a cane and holding a baseball bat in his other hand, led the way to Aunt Lin's door, full of menace.
Zhang Yi was watching all of this through his surveillance cameras.
Sitting on the couch, legs kicked up on the coffee table, he munched on chips and watched TV.
"Oh, looks like a dog-eat-dog show is about to unfold!" Zhang Yi chuckled.
It was only the fifth day of the apocalypse, and yet there was already such a fascinating spectacle, with both sides being people he really disliked.
Zhang Yi was in a very good mood.
Suddenly, he thought of those foolish neighbors who had been swindled by Aunt Lin.
Based on his memories from his previous life and his understanding of these neighbors, even after this incident, more people would continue to be tricked.
There was no way around it—people were always prone to wishful thinking. And due to thousands of years of Confucian influence, Chinese people instinctively chose to obey those who represented the community, like Aunt Lin.
And so, one by one, they would continue to be fleeced by her.
Zhang Yi stroked his chin. "I wonder what would happen if I shared what's happening here in the group?"
A wicked grin spread across his face. "That would be quite the spectacle!"
He then hit the record button.
After Chen Zhenghao and his men arrived at Aunt Lin's house, they began shouting loudly, demanding Aunt Lin open the door.
The Yue Lu residential area was a mid-range neighborhood, and every house had security doors installed.
But as everyone knew, these security doors were good for keeping out thieves, not for withstanding determined intruders.
Aunt Lin's house wasn't like Zhang Yi's.
Although Aunt Lin was doing her best to block the door, the security locks couldn't stop the group of greedy thugs.
They used baseball bats, steel pipes, and crowbars, and soon destroyed the door lock.
It was clear this wasn't their first time doing something like this.
Once the door lock was broken, the table and sofa Aunt Lin had used to block the door were useless against them.
Through the camera, Zhang Yi saw Aunt Lin's pale face, her expression filled with terror.