Faced with the terror of impending death, the homeowners began to reminisce about Zhang Yi's kindness.
Someone started the conversation, and in these chaotic times, it didn't take much to stir others up. Especially now that everyone was hungry, they easily recalled how delicious the food Zhang Yi had provided was.
"Thinking about it carefully, have we been too demanding of Zhang Yi?"
"He went out into that heavy snow alone to find food. It couldn't have been easy, and he had to bring back enough for dozens of people."
"Yeah, it's just that he didn't find anything today, but no one is going to starve. We can endure for a bit!"
"The ones who got beaten to death were really asking for it. They brought it upon themselves!"
"Exactly! Who do they think they are, trying to mess with the guy who owns the snowmobile? They deserved to die!"
"Hey, speaking of which, I remember that Luan Qiang, what a terrible person. He let his dog roam without a leash and almost bit me!"
"Really? Oh, that's even worse! He deserved to die, and before dying, he dragged us into this mess."
"Let's not talk about that. The most important thing is that we need to convince Zhang Yi to help us find food again!"
"Right, that's the only way we can survive."
"That's reasonable. Their house is made of alloy, and we can't break in. Our only option is to beg him for help!"
...
Just as Zhang Yi had predicted, the neighbors started to remember his kindness as soon as they were facing death. When you treat them a little better, they demand more, but when you treat them like animals, they come crawling back.
Confucius once said, "Of all difficult things to manage, only women and petty men are the hardest—if you get close, they show no respect; if you stay distant, they resent you."
Not long after Zhang Yi returned home, someone from the 25# group @'d him and apologized.
"Zhang Yi, we were wrong today, and we sincerely apologize."
"We hope, considering our many years as neighbors, that you won't hold it against us."
"It was all Luan Qiang's fault! He was the one stirring things up! None of us had those thoughts. Please understand!"
"We will definitely listen to you from now on. Whatever you say goes."
"By the way, could you please go out tomorrow and find some food for us? We're really starving."
Zhang Yi read these messages, a cold smile curling at his lips. He couldn't be bothered to reply.
Let them stew in their own guilt and restless thoughts.
"Should I let them work a bit more, maybe form a suicide squad?" Zhang Yi thought to himself.
"If I toss them a couple of moldy loaves of bread, they'll probably fight over it, right?"
Just then, a series of "ding dong!" "ding dong!" message notifications came through.
Zhang Yi was curious—most of his group chats had their notifications muted, so why were these still coming through?
He checked and realized what was happening.
It turned out that Chen Lingyu, the head of building 9#, had added him to a new group.
When he took a closer look, Zhang Yi noticed something intriguing about this group.
There were exactly 30 people, including himself.
In the group, he recognized several familiar names.
Li Jian from 18#, Huang Tianfang from 26#, Wang Qiang from 21#, and Zhang Yinian from 5#...
These people were all the leaders of their respective buildings in the neighborhood.
A sharp glint flashed in Zhang Yi's eyes as he murmured, "Looks like they're finally going to confront me."
Zhang Yi had known this day would come sooner or later, and he wasn't surprised.
After all, not everyone had an endless supply of resources like him.
The residents of the other buildings were living day by day, unable to wait any longer.
When Zhang Yi entered the group, Chen Lingyu spoke up, "I've added Zhang Yi. Let's discuss the matter."
Zhang Yi remained silent, curious to see how they would approach this.
As his enemy, Wang Qiang, the leader of the Wolf Gang in 21#, was the first to speak, his tone laced with hostility.
"Zhang Yi, I heard you've been living well in building 25# these past few days, eating well every day. You're comfortable, but have you thought about us poor neighbors?"
Zhang Yi sneered, uninterested in getting into a verbal battle with them.
It's impossible to argue with 29 voices, especially online.
"If you're just bringing me in here to hear you guys complain, I'll leave now," Zhang Yi said flatly.
Huang Tianfang hurriedly replied, "Zhang Yi, don't be in such a rush. If you leave now, we can't guarantee what will happen!"
Zhang Yi's cold laugh filled the air. "Are you threatening me? Huang Tianfang, your men from the Tianhe Gang have had so many killed by me—how dare you threaten me?"
"Believe it or not, I could come over tomorrow and slaughter all of you!"
Huang Tianfang's spine immediately went cold as he hurriedly sent a voice message, "Don't scare me! Right now, the leaders of the other 29 buildings have formed a united front. If you attack any one of us, it means you're attacking the others as well!"
"You may be strong, but do you think you can defeat so many of us?"
Zhang Yi's eyes flickered.
As expected, these people had already formed an alliance, and now they were speaking as one.
Li Jian, the so-called "nice guy," stepped forward. "Alright, alright, let's all calm down. We created this group to try and negotiate, not to start a fight."
Wang Qiang snorted, lazily saying, "Old Li, your mouth's so smooth. Tell him what we're discussing!"
Li Jian spoke, "Alright, Zhang Yi, let me explain the situation clearly to you."
Li Jian was skilled in speech, and soon he explained that the 29 buildings had come to an agreement.
First, they had united against the residents of 25#, and any attack on one of them would be supported by the others.
Second, they demanded that Zhang Yi provide them with supplies to guarantee their basic survival, and in return, they promised not to attack 25#.
Third, to ensure Zhang Yi kept his word, they required that his snowmobile be shared among everyone, and couldn't be controlled by just one person.
Fourth, they demanded Zhang Yi reveal the resource points he had found.
After all, with the snowstorm blocking the city, even with transportation, not everyone could find supplies.
Li Jian concluded, "Zhang Yi, that's the situation. Did you hear all of it?"
Zhang Yi's lips curled into a disdainful smile.
These people were really bold, trying to take his snowmobile, force him to help guide them to resources, and guarantee the survival of the whole neighborhood. All they were offering in return was "not attacking 25#"?
Did they think they were worthy of such demands?
Zhang Yi didn't get angry.
Although their terms were laughable and even ridiculous to him, from their perspective, they made some sense.
Negotiation is always about gaining something little by little, and they were just setting high demands to leave room for better bargaining.
However, Zhang Yi couldn't help but mock them.
Because the foundation of their demands was a serious miscalculation about 25#'s fighting power.
They thought that as long as they united, it would be easy to destroy 25#.
But what they didn't realize was that Zhang Yi had already amassed a large arsenal of weapons and ammunition.
If a real fight broke out, the gap between the two sides would be on completely different levels.
It's not always the number of people that wins a fight.
One drop of water from the Trisolarans could wipe out the entire human fleet.