Soon, Zhang Yi heard Aunt Lin's blood-curdling screams, like the sound of a pig being slaughtered.
After Chen Zhenghao stormed into the house, he slapped Aunt Lin's face hard.
"You old hag! You tricked the neighbors out of their supplies—I'm just doing the right thing here!" he laughed.
The slap knocked Aunt Lin to the ground, her head spinning, unable to speak for a long time.
Chen Zhenghao turned to his subordinates and ordered, "Search the place. Take everything—food, drink, whatever! These supplies were hard-earned by the neighbors. We're not letting her get away with this!"
The subordinates chuckled and winked, eagerly searching the kitchen and bedrooms, going through every hiding spot in Aunt Lin's house.
Soon, they had found a large stash of instant noodles, bread, cookies, bottled water, and more.
Aunt Lin crawled over, crying, and hugged Chen Zhenghao's leg, pleading, "You can't take everything! Some of it's our own stash! If you take all of it, how will my grandson and I survive?"
Chen Zhenghao glared at her coldly, sneering, "Not my problem! Get lost!"
With that, he kicked her in the face with his good leg.
"Ahhh!!" Aunt Lin screamed like a slaughtered pig, falling backward.
At that moment, a shout came from the bedroom: "You bunch of bastards, get the hell out of here!"
It was Xiao Hu, Aunt Lin's grandson, who had discovered his hidden stash of chocolate cookies had been found. His eyes turned red with anger.
In a blind rage, he grabbed a fruit knife from the drawer and stabbed one of the men in the backside.
In such freezing temperatures, even a small wound could be fatal.
The man let out a pained scream.
When he turned and saw that it was a little kid who had stabbed him, his eyes burned with fury!
"Damn it!"
The man, known as Xiao Kalami, was enraged. He kicked Xiao Hu in the stomach with all his might.
An adult's full-strength kick was far more than a six-year-old could handle.
Xiao Hu screamed as he was sent flying through the air, crashing into the wall before sliding to the ground like a ragdoll.
There's a saying: "Beating someone is like hanging a painting." This scene fit that description perfectly.
Chen Zhenghao and the others burst out laughing.
"Haha! Old Five, when did you get such good legs?" one of them laughed.
"Ha, you kicked that little brat flying! Impressive, impressive!" another said.
Xiao Kalami, nicknamed Old Five, pulled the knife out of his butt and said proudly, "Wasn't that cool? You guys should have recorded that!"
Aunt Lin, already injured, had planned to lie on the floor pretending to be dead.
But when she saw her beloved grandson kicked so violently, she cried out in despair, "Xiao Hu, my grandson!"
She tried to crawl toward him.
Chen Zhenghao pointed at her, speaking with righteous indignation. "This is the price of tricking the neighbors. I'm just doing the right thing!"
With that, his group of men laughed loudly as they left, taking their spoils with them.
Zhang Yi, watching the brutal scene unfold, raised his eyebrows in amusement.
Seeing the despicable Aunt Lin and her family getting beaten up made Zhang Yi feel a sense of satisfaction. He didn't feel the slightest bit of sympathy for them.
However, this scene also marked the first crack in the previously stable and civilized society of the building.
From here on, more brutal things would follow.
After all, once the surface of the ice cracks, it will rapidly spread.
"Ah, what a pity it's not my problem," Zhang Yi sighed while lying on his imported couch, smiling.
"Watching them fight to the death over supplies while I can just lie at home, waiting for time to pass—this is so boring."
Zhang Yi then shared the video he had recorded in the building's owners' group chat.
In the group, the neighbors who had been tricked were still venting their anger at Aunt Lin.
That was, until they saw the video Zhang Yi had posted.
The video showed Aunt Lin's house being raided by Chen Zhenghao and his men, with her and her grandson being beaten senseless, and the supplies she had stolen being taken away.
Immediately, the neighbors started celebrating.
"Hahaha! The big liar got what was coming to her!"
"Go, Bro Hao! That's how you deal with people like her!"
"That's the price of being a scammer!"
"Hehe, what a fool, trying to steal from everyone—serves her right!"
Although the neighbors knew that the supplies Chen Zhenghao took wouldn't be returned to them, seeing Aunt Lin get beaten still made them genuinely happy.
For a moment, some even began to see Chen Zhenghao as a hero.
"Bro Hao, you're amazing!"
"Not surprised, you're a real man of justice!"
"If it weren't for Bro Hao, we'd have had no way of dealing with this shameless scum!"
"Be careful, though, Bro Hao. This old hag is ruthless. Watch out, she might call the cops on you."
Some people were even worried about Chen Zhenghao and were offering advice.
Chen Zhenghao had reaped both fame and fortune from this venture. Not only did he not face any collective resistance from the neighbors, but he also walked away with a lot of supplies.
Zhang Yi, reading through the owners' group chat, couldn't help but sneer and shake his head.
These neighbors hadn't realized the obvious problem.
If Chen Zhenghao could break into Aunt Lin's house and loot her, one day, he could do the same to them.
As people lost hope in the outside world, this kind of thing would become more common.
However, looking at how the neighbors were still happily chatting away in the group, it was clear they still had some supplies.
Most of the households were not as miserable as they had claimed.
Many of the residents of Yue Lu community worked in warehouse areas and had a habit of stockpiling supplies.
Even if they didn't work in warehouses, they would buy discounted goods through various channels and store them at home.
A box of near-expiry instant noodles could keep a family of three alive for four to five days if they were careful.
So, even though it was difficult to stay fed and warm right now, with some careful planning, survival was still possible for a while.
In his previous life, Zhang Yi had managed to survive for a month before being devoured by starving neighbors.
It was common knowledge not to flaunt wealth.
Everyone knew that the reason they were all pretending to be poor was to avoid others asking to borrow supplies.
Of course, they were just scraping by. As for quality of life, that was something far out of reach for them now.
Zhang Yi stopped looking at the chat messages.
He pulled an archery target from his dimensional space and set it up on the wall.
Then, he took his crossbow and compound bow, beginning to practice his shooting skills.
Even though his safe house was as solid as a fortress, in the apocalypse, complacency was death.
Only by practicing survival skills every day could he ensure he survived until the end.
Also, shooting practice was a pretty good way for Zhang Yi to pass the time.
As for gun skills, he didn't need to practice those.
He had a membership card for a design association and knew how to use firearms.
While he wasn't a master marksman, just having a gun was a huge deterrent in itself.
With only 100 rounds of ammunition, and unlike arrows that could be recovered, it was better to conserve them.