After Suo Tian and the others went downstairs, I could no longer focus on Shen Feng.
My mind kept drifting, endlessly speculating about what might be happening downstairs and what could have gone wrong.
Did something happen to Zheng Rongrong?
But that didn't make sense—Rongrong had been locked in her room the whole time.
What could have possibly gone wrong?
Then suddenly, I remembered—right before we came upstairs, when we were still on the second floor, Rongrong had been pounding on the door and crying desperately… but then her voice had suddenly gone silent…
Another possibility was that the bearded man, who placed great importance on the safety of the shelter and always acted cautiously, might have discovered something unusual and come to deal with it.
Or perhaps something serious had happened within the shelter itself…
My mind flashed to the young couple we saw this morning, and the small child they held wrapped tightly in a little blanket.
My brain quickly cycled through these possibilities, only to realize that no matter which one it was—none of them sounded good.
Shen Feng was still burying his face against my neck, and as I stayed lost in thought about what might be happening downstairs, I absentmindedly patted his back from time to time.
But just then, Shen Feng suddenly jerked, abruptly lifting his head and staring at the bare mattress.
Shen Feng's sudden movement gave me a huge fright, snapping me out of my daze.
Jun Di and Chen Pu, who had been in a bit of a stupor themselves, also jolted in surprise.
"Where's Xiao Xue?" Shen Feng's bloodshot eyes scanned the bed frame back and forth twice before he suddenly turned his head toward me.
His eyes were wide, and something in his gaze made my heart tighten.
Could it be that he had been completely unaware when the black-clad men carried Xiao Xue's body away?
Not avoiding it out of fear, like I had assumed?
Chen Pu, noticing that I hadn't said anything for a while, stammered out, "She… she was taken out."
The moment Shen Feng heard that, the veins on his temple bulged visibly.
Out of nowhere, he suddenly burst with strength and shoved me aside, grabbing Chen Pu by the collar and shouting, "Taken where?! Who took her? Suo Tian?!"
Startled by Shen Feng's sudden aggression, Chen Pu turned to look at me fearfully.
Shen Feng must have noticed, because before I could even respond, he whipped his head around to me and said stiffly, "Where did they take Xiao Xue?"
I stared at Shen Feng for a couple of seconds, then sighed, deciding not to keep it from him.
"They took her out. Probably to find a place to bury her. Something's going on downstairs… I don't know the exact situation yet."
Shen Feng's expression froze when he heard me.
He stared at me in a daze for a few seconds, then suddenly scrambled to his feet.
Before the three of us could react, he bolted out the door.
I snapped out of it a second later and quickly got up to chase after him.
Chen Pu and Jun Di also rushed out right behind me.
"Shen Feng! Where are you going?!" I shouted after him as he reached the stairwell entrance.
Something was clearly very wrong with Shen Feng's mental state—I was afraid he might do something irrational.
But I couldn't catch up at all.
Yelling after him strained my throat so hard it started burning.
Of course, Shen Feng didn't respond.
We had no choice but to keep chasing.
He was moving fast—recklessly fast.
He practically flew down the stairs, taking whole flights in just two or three bounds.
Watching him run faster and faster, I panicked and instinctively tried to speed up too.
But I overestimated my body's ability to react.
I misjudged the number of steps going down, and my foot suddenly slipped into the air.
I completely lost my balance—but luckily, I had a hand on the railing.
As I fell, I gripped it hard, and my body spun slightly in midair before slamming into the handrail.
A dull pain immediately shot through my back and shoulder, but thankfully, I hadn't fallen all the way down the stairs.
Chen Pu and Jun Di rushed over to pull me up.
I waved to let them know I was okay, then took off again, chasing downstairs.
Following Shen Feng's pace, we quickly descended all three floors.
As we passed the second floor, I glanced inside and saw that there were still two people guarding the door to the room where Rongrong was being kept.
I couldn't help but feel a bit relieved—so it probably wasn't something related to Rongrong after all.
As soon as I reached the first floor and entered the main hall, I immediately spotted the two opposing groups—Fatty's side and the black-clad men—standing tensely at the front entrance, guns drawn and aimed at each other.
I scanned the crowd quickly but couldn't see Suo Tian anywhere.
I searched the crowd again, one face at a time—still no sign of him.
Xu Shu was standing near the entrance to the hall, a little distance away from the standoff.
When Shen Feng ran up to her, she reached out to stop him.
As we caught up to them, we heard Shen Feng roar at Xu Shu, "Where's Xiao Xue?! Where is she?!"
The moment he shouted, I caught a glimpse of something white lying on the ground behind the black-clad men outside.
I squinted to get a better look—and my heart dropped.
Did they carry Xiao Xue out there?
Just as Shen Feng finished yelling, Jun Di pointed outside and said, "Is… is that Xiao Xue?"
When Shen Feng heard that, he whipped his head around and looked outside.
His gaze swept the area until it landed on the white object behind the black-clad men—and in that instant, all the color drained from his face, which had only just regained a hint of warmth from running.
"I'm telling you, Fatty, don't push your luck," the bearded man shouted at the heavyset man outside, his rough voice filled with seriousness.
"We're just staying here for a few days, and this is already how many times you've come here with people surrounding us? What, you think we're half-dead rats for you to mess around with?"
"Hmph, save your damn whining," Fatty snapped back, full of irritation.
"I got played like a fool by that so-called lady of yours. You just let two half-dead freaks in, right under my nose. Hand them over and get the hell out."
Hearing Fatty's words, I couldn't help but feel a tiny bit of relief.
So, one of the things I had guessed was right—he had heard the gunshot and come in response to the commotion.
Out of all the possibilities, this was relatively the least bad.
As for how he found out about Rongrong and Shen Xue...
When we were bringing Shen Xue and Rongrong upstairs earlier, plenty of residents had been watching from their windows—he probably got the information from one of them.
The bearded man let out a loud laugh at Fatty's words, but his face quickly darkened.
"What did you just call them—'freaks'? You better watch your damn mouth when you talk to me. We've taken this place, and that's that. When we feel like leaving, we'll hand it back to you. If not, then all you can do is stand there and stare. If you want to go hard on us, you better make sure you're hard enough to pull it off."
"You ungrateful bastard!" shouted a man with a birthmark on his face.
Fatty waved his hand to signal the man to shut up, cleared his throat, and then looked at the bearded man.
"This time, you're leaving whether you want to or not. Pulling a stunt like this and still thinking you can stay? Dream on! I, Old Niu, gave you some respect because no one benefits from a fight—but you brought infected people in here. I'm not going to risk the shelter for that. Get the hell out!"
Probably because he had served under the government for years, Fatty's way of speaking and handling things always came off a bit stiff and harsh—his caution bordered on paranoia.
Now that we had brought Xiao Xue and Rongrong back, he likely saw it as an unpardonable offense in principle.
Shen Feng stood frozen for a moment, ignoring the shouting between the two sides, and then walked straight outside.
The bearded man noticed what was happening and turned to glance over.
His brows immediately furrowed, and he called out, "What are you all coming out for?"
Then he spotted Shen Feng and paused, awkwardly clearing his throat before turning back to shout at Fatty, "We'll talk about the rest later—let us bury the girl first."
Fatty glanced at Shen Feng, then followed his gaze—and only then seemed to notice Shen Xue's body lying on the ground behind the black-clad men.
His chubby face twitched slightly before he waved his hand at the bearded man and said, "Get a couple of people to carry her out, quick."
After pausing for a moment, Fatty seemed to think of something else and asked, "Wasn't there supposed to be another one? Where's that one? Dead yet?"
Hearing that, my heart suddenly tightened…
The "other one" he was referring to was probably Rongrong.
I couldn't help but glance back at the stairwell.
If Fatty were to see her in her crazed state—and find out that Xiao Xue had been bitten to death by her—he'd likely go berserk and wouldn't hesitate to fight us to the death to force us out.
"What do you mean 'another one'? There's only this one," the bearded man said bluntly.
Before Fatty could respond, he turned to two of the black-clad men and gestured toward Shen Feng.
"You two, take the girl out and bury her."
The two men acknowledged the order, put away their guns, and turned to lift Xiao Xue, who was tightly wrapped in blankets and a bedsheet.
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