Zhang Yi remained silent, mocking the stupidity of these people.
He really wanted to see the expression of shock and panic on their faces when they realized his true strength.
"Should I just take this opportunity to kill them all? And then, clean up the entire 25# building as well?" Zhang Yi muttered to himself, stroking his chin.
With ample firepower and ways to deal with the people hiding in the building, it shouldn't be too difficult for him to wipe out everyone in the entire neighborhood.
Moreover, when the time comes, the useless neighbors in the 25# building could be eliminated as well.
"No, this would still leave some security vulnerabilities. Even if I wanted to wipe them out, I'd have to kill them one building at a time."
"But what if they all throw their lives away and rush at me to fight to the death? With thousands of people, just burying me under their corpses could kill me."
"Although these people are as timid as mice, there's still a small chance of it happening. My life is worth more than theirs, I can't afford to take such a risk."
"I still need to think of a more stable approach."
As Zhang Yi pondered, the building leaders in the chat group started to grow impatient, seeing that Zhang Yi hadn't responded for a while.
They believed they had the upper hand and that Zhang Yi had no choice but to submit to them—there was no other possibility!
After all, in their view, no one in the Yue Lu neighborhood could possibly stand against a thousand people at once.
If there was such a person, they would be a legend.
Wang Qiang began to urge him: "What, mute now? Hurry up and speak! You have to agree, whether you like it or not! Otherwise, we won't be merciful!"
Chen Lingyu said, "Zhang Yi, none of us want to die. We are all trying to survive. I know you might be feeling imbalanced, but sometimes in life, you have to bend and stretch. After all, a wise person knows when to act appropriately!"
Li Jian: "Mr. Zhang, I think you need to seriously consider this issue. We don't want to resolve this with conflict, but we also want to survive."
"If you agree to cooperate with us, we can solve the material problem for the entire neighborhood. Then, we might even be able to restore some semblance of civilized society."
Others began to chime in as well.
Some were playing the "good cop," while others played the "bad cop."
But in the end, the message was clear—Zhang Yi had to agree to their demands, or he would die!
Zhang Yi glanced at the messages in the group. As his eyes skimmed over the names of the building leaders, an idea suddenly popped into his head.
"Catch the leader first!"
If he could kill the leaders of each building, the remaining people would surely descend into chaos.
At that point, they would consume each other, and Zhang Yi might not even have to lift a finger—most of them would be dead or wounded.
He slowly spoke up: "I still need to think this through. You've all discussed this for a long time, but you didn't give me time to consider."
"Also, I hope we can sit down and talk properly. It's too noisy here, and it's not convenient for everyone to speak."
"How about in a few days, we—the leaders of each building—meet and have a proper discussion about cooperation? What do you think?"
As soon as these words left his mouth, Wang Qiang immediately sneered and replied.
"What, you want to gather all of them together and kill them, right?"
"Meeting is fine, but you have to come to our territory. Let's meet in our 21# building!"
Zhang Yi smiled faintly. He knew they wouldn't easily agree.
After all, anyone who had made it this far was no fool.
He wasn't in a hurry. He simply said, "You can send representatives over. But it must be at our 25# for the negotiations!"
Zhang Yi's tone was very firm, with an undeniable air.
Wang Qiang laughed loudly: "Why should you decide? Do you think we're all idiots?"
Huang Tianfang also said, "Zhang Yi, stop being so clever. We're not fools."
Zhang Yi sneered, "You're too scared to send a few representatives, and you still want to talk? What's the point?"
"You guys like to fight, right? Fine, stop talking. Let's just fight!"
Both sides were using very forceful tones, unwilling to give in.
In negotiations, momentum was crucial. You couldn't afford to lose, or you'd just be at the mercy of the other side.
At this moment, the peacemaker, Li Jian, stepped forward.
"Everyone, don't be like this. Let's talk things over calmly."
He turned to Zhang Yi and asked, "Zhang Yi, how do you plan to negotiate with us?"
Zhang Yi replied, "You 29 building leaders send a few representatives, and we can have a proper chat about how to cooperate in the future. I'm not that unreasonable."
"Right now, you're all coveting the resources and snowmobiles I have. How can I even trust you to negotiate with you?"
"Anyway, my terms are here. You can come or not!"
"I believe you've all already investigated me. I'm not afraid to tell you, I knew about this unprecedented cold wave long ago."
"So, our house is built very solidly, and we're not afraid of you attacking us. If it comes to it, we'll just wait it out and see who can outlast who!"
After saying this, Zhang Yi's eyes stayed fixed on the screen.
This was a test to see if anyone in the neighborhood could break into his house.
Although the probability was extremely low, with the imminent war, Zhang Yi might face a siege of thousands of people, and he had to consider all possibilities.
It turned out that math doesn't lie.
The small probability event didn't happen, and after a while, the people in the group began to feel a little demoralized.
They knew that Chen Zhenghao had been killed by Zhang Yi. When Huang Tianfang led people to blow up his house, Zhang Yi's house remained intact.
They were just ordinary people and didn't have the means to bring in explosives to destroy buildings.
So if Zhang Yi decided to stay holed up, there really wasn't much they could do.
After a while, one of the building leaders spoke up: "You can protect yourself, but with so many people in your building, can you protect all of them?"
Zhang Yi rolled his eyes.
Did they think he was some kind of saint?
They were probably running out of ideas and could only bring up this argument.
"At a time like this, of course, I'll prioritize protecting myself. Stop trying to guilt-trip me, it's meaningless."
Chen Lingyu grew anxious.
"Zhang Yi, no matter how solid your house is, the food will eventually run out. Can you guarantee you'll never have to leave?"
"So using this ostrich strategy to avoid reality is pointless."
Zhang Yi's smile widened.
"Well then, we can try it out and see who lasts longer."
Compare consumption with me?
Zhang Yi had one thing to say: "I never care about how much others have. I always have more than anyone else."