The fat man only responded to Suo Tian's words with a hearty laugh and waved his hand, gesturing to us, "It's not convenient to talk out here. Let's head inside."
Only after hearing that did I finally let out a deep sigh of relief.
Suo Tian politely exchanged a couple more words with him, then wrapped his arm around me and walked toward the middle-aged man and his group.
Uncle Gazi followed behind, holding Tingyun, his face full of confusion as he kept glancing between me and Suo Tian.
I turned back and gave Uncle Gazi an apologetic look.
The old man had always thought Suo Tian and I were just an ordinary young couple trying to survive.
After this whole scene, he was probably starting to question our identities.
Heaven knows, I, Chen Yang, was a proper law-abiding citizen once.
The one who really deserves suspicion is… I glanced sideways at Suo Tian, who was now talking in a low voice with the middle-aged man.
"How's the situation?" Suo Tian asked as he walked up beside the man.
Although his arm was still around me, his attention was clearly no longer on me.
I was happy to be left alone and followed the group as we marched into the dark iron gate.
"Two dead," the middle-aged man replied.
I always felt that the way this man spoke was very similar to Suo Tian—straight to the point, no unnecessary words.
Once we passed through the iron gate, I began surveying the layout of the compound.
Beyond the dark iron gate, there was another door up ahead, which looked like the original entrance to the residential complex—an automatic type.
The problem was, it was far too low.
If a horde of walkers came rushing in, that door would be utterly useless—more like a decoration than a defense.
At that moment, there was an old man sitting in the security booth.
When we arrived, he was wearing a pair of glasses and holding a thick Bible, reading it intently.
The moment I saw that Bible in his hands, I had a favorable first impression of him.
I've mentioned before—I'm a devout Christian.
The fat man and his group walked ahead of us, drawing the attention of the old man in the glasses first.
He set down his book, stood up, and walked out of the booth with a smile.
"Fat Niu, what's going on out there today? It's been lively—quite a few people went out just now."
The fat man pointed toward me, Suo Tian, and Uncle Gazi, saying, "Just brought in a few newcomers, nothing major."
The old man adjusted his reading glasses and followed the fat man's gesture to glance at us.
After a quick two-second scan, his eyes lit up as if he'd discovered something delightful.
"Oh ho! Another grumpy old fella joining us—finally, someone I can talk to."
Uncle Gazi, who was likely lost in thought while holding Tingyun, was caught off guard by the comment.
Once he registered it, he immediately retorted with a scowl, "Who are you calling a grumpy old fella?"
The old man with the glasses chuckled and said, "Who else? You, of course. It's not like I'm talking about those two young kids."
I pressed my lips together, trying not to laugh.
The fat man waved his hand, cutting off their exchange. "Uncle Zhao, these folks just arrived—we still need to show them around and get them settled. We'll catch up later, alright?"
The old man with the glasses kept smiling as he replied, "Go on, go on. I'll go dig up that old chess set later. Now that an old companion's arrived, I've got to enjoy a proper match."
With that, he didn't even wait for the fat man to respond and scurried back into the guard booth—probably really off to look for that chessboard.
I tilted my head with a smile and asked Uncle Gazi, "Do you know how to play chess?"
Uncle Gazi likely still had doubts about our identities, so unlike before, he didn't respond with his usual hearty laugh.
He simply answered flatly, "Us old folks, we all know a bit. Used to pass the time playing with the other old guys in the village."
I nodded but didn't reply further.
It looked like I really needed to find a chance to explain the situation to Uncle Gazi.
Older folks tend to be more thoughtful and cautious than younger ones.
I liked Uncle Gazi a lot, and I didn't want something so trivial to affect how he saw me—or the impression he'd soon have of Yangyang and the others.
Once we passed the guard booth, we fully entered the residential compound.
Probably because it was surrounded by tall outer walls, the little park we saw upon entry didn't give me a feeling of peace or relaxation—just a kind of stifling gloom.
After all, no matter who you are, being completely enclosed by high walls isn't exactly comforting.
This residential complex had a total of six high-rise buildings, all of equal height.
They were arranged in two parallel rows of three buildings each, connected by a main road running through the middle.
The greenery within the complex was impressively maintained—despite it being winter, hardy shrubs still brought touches of green throughout the area.
There was even a fairly large pond in the park.
Our group crossed the park and stepped onto the main road.
The fat man explained that the two outermost buildings were used for storing supplies.
I asked curiously, "Each of these buildings is more than ten stories tall. What kind of supplies require two entire high-rises to store?"
The fat man glanced at me before replying, "Originally, it wasn't necessary. But now, it is. As for the specifics—you'll understand later."
After passing the two front buildings used for storage, the two buildings in the middle were where the survivors lived.
The middle-aged man told Suo Tian that those two buildings housed a total of 23 households—about 50 people altogether.
When we reached the last two buildings in the back, the fat man stopped walking.
With a somewhat strange look on his face, he glanced over us and said, "Building 6 is now your place. You're free to move in. But like we've already made clear—your supplies are your own responsibility. The shelter does not provide provisions for you."
After the fat man finished speaking, the middle-aged man leaned over and quietly explained to Suo Tian, "Boss, when we arrived, we had to use some force to take over Building 6. The previous occupant really wasn't cooperative, so we had to be tough."
Suo Tian asked in return, "Was this place abandoned?"
I didn't understand what he meant by that question at first—but the middle-aged man's response immediately made everything clear to me.
"Yes. According to the survivors here, about two months ago, after the last batch of supplies was delivered by helicopter, this place completely lost contact with the government. Even they don't know what really happened. But based on my own judgment, this place has very likely been abandoned. Given the current situation, the government doesn't have the luxury to worry about small places like this anymore."
After hearing his explanation, I looked up at the fat man in the military coat walking ahead of us.
Suddenly, he didn't seem quite so detestable anymore.
Back when we were at the gate, I couldn't understand why someone like him could still be throwing his weight around in a world like this—acting like a big shot in front of desperate survivors like us.
But now, knowing that even they had been abandoned by the government for two whole months, I suddenly felt a wave of sympathy.
They had lost contact with the authorities, and yet they still stayed here.
Maybe it was because this place felt safer than the outside, maybe not—but at the very least, those fifty or so survivors were still being protected by them, and that meant something.
I suddenly remembered the elderly man with glasses at the gatehouse earlier and quickly turned to ask the middle-aged man, "That old man outside—who is he?"
The middle-aged man clearly hadn't expected me to ask him anything and paused for a moment before replying, "He's just an ordinary survivor. He used to be the gatekeeper of this community. Now that the outside has been surrounded by walls, there's no need to guard that practically useless gate anymore, but for some reason, he insists on staying there. He refuses to leave or move into the residential buildings—he's dead set on guarding that little gatehouse."
I nodded and turned to glance back at the gatehouse in the distance, and a strange feeling rose in my chest.
In this apocalypse, in all this chaos, the terrifying things weren't just the walkers.
The biggest problem lies in us—the living.
Including Suo Tian and myself, it's like we're all just living for the sake of surviving.
We've lost the mindset of pursuing anything beyond that.
All we think about now is how to fight off the walkers, how to fend off other survivors, how to secure a safe haven for ourselves, how to obtain more supplies.
That elderly man with the glasses, insisting on guarding a gate that no longer needed guarding—perhaps that was his own way of self-reassurance.
He wanted to believe that his existence in this world still held value, still had a purpose.
After briefly explaining a few basic rules of the shelter, the fat man didn't enter Building 6.
He simply left in a hurry with the group in camo-clad uniforms.
As soon as he left, Suo Tian immediately let go of me and turned to ask the middle-aged man, "What's the situation?"
Standing beside them, I listened to their conversation.
The middle-aged man understood Suo Tian well and instantly knew exactly what he was asking.
He replied, "Two dead, one vehicle lost, and two guns weren't recovered."
After saying that, the middle-aged man glanced at me—whether intentionally or not—then added, "Miss Chen, two people from your group got separated from us. They still haven't returned."
Hearing that, I was instantly stunned.
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