After a few shoves from his wife, Old Liu rubbed his hands together and sidled up to Qin Ziwen with a sheepish grin. "You guys got so much meat, you can't possibly eat it all, right? In this weather, it'll spoil if it sits out for too long. How about you lend me a little?"
Qin Ziwen frowned.
Deng Guang's voice rang out. "Old Liu."
Liu Fude glanced over at the approaching Deng Guang, his expression turning awkward.
Deng Guang said, "These young men risked their lives to get this meat. You're just putting them in a tough spot."
Liu Fude forced a laugh. "Ah, my fault, my fault. My legs went numb at the time, so I didn't dare go up. If I'd known it was so easy, I would've gone too."
Deng Guang pointed to Dou Gu, who was in shock. "It only looked simple. One small misstep, and it becomes very dangerous."
Liu Fude grew annoyed at his words. 'I'm not asking you, so why are you playing the good guy?'
He immediately changed his tune. "Well then, why don't you lend me some?"
Deng Guang hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Sure. I'll cut you off a piece. Come by my place later to pick it up."
Walking behind them, Deng Guang's wife's expression soured. But since there were others around, she just shot Deng Guang a sharp glare.
"Xiaoqin? Xiaoqin! It really is you!" A familiar voice called out from behind.
Wang Juan ran over, her eyes fixed feverishly on the crocodile meat in Qin Ziwen's bag.
Wang Juan tried to cozy up to him with a wide smile. "Hey, Xiaoqin. Look, about the other day... my attitude might have been a little harsh. I apologize."
"Could you spare a little of that meat? I won't ask for it for free, of course. I can pay you for it!"
Wang Juan's husband walked over, gently tugged on his wife's arm, and said in a friendly tone, "Brother Qin, you and my wife used to be colleagues, and it's fate that we've all ended up here together. Our food at home is almost gone. Could we borrow some? We'll pay you back later. Oh, and we could also team up to hunt together in the future. You're familiar faces, after all, so we could all cooperate..."
"Not happening. Save your breath. We're not that close," Qin Ziwen said, waving his hand dismissively and cutting the man off.
After such a blunt rejection, Wang Juan's husband's face darkened. He pushed his glasses up his nose and stared at Qin Ziwen's retreating back.
Wang Juan complained to her husband, "I told you not to come! You just had to make me apologize to him. Now we didn't get any food, and I just ended up embarrassing myself for nothing."
Wang Juan's husband gritted his teeth. "That colleague of yours is too cold-hearted! Can he even eat all that meat? It'll be rotten in two days. I hope he eats it all and bursts!"
The three families entered the apartment building. Old Liu stole a glance at Qin Ziwen. 'Compared to the couple that came after, even though this Xiaoqin hadn't lent him anything, at least his tone wasn't as hostile.'
The comparison suddenly made him feel a little better.
As they were climbing the stairs, footsteps echoed from the floor above.
A woman came down the stairs, dressed in a tracksuit and cooling sleeves, and wearing a sun hat.
The woman looked pleasantly surprised to see Qin Ziwen. "Oh, you're back so early? That thing... from yesterday."
With other neighbors present, the woman seemed hesitant to speak plainly, offering only a cryptic reminder.
Old Deng said to Qin Ziwen, "We're heading back now."
"Alright. You guys go on ahead, Brother Deng."
Once the others were gone, the woman's eyes landed on the big bag of meat in Qin Ziwen's hand, her gaze growing more intense.
She pressed right up against him, grabbing Qin Ziwen's arm and squishing it into her soft bosom.
"Can we go to your place?"
Qin Ziwen smiled faintly. "Of course."
Back in his apartment, the door clicked shut.
The woman was about to speak when Qin Ziwu grabbed her from behind, forced her down onto the sofa, and clamped a hand over her mouth to prevent her from screaming.
Qin Ziwen set down the bag of meat and raised his long spear, its sharp tip pointed directly at the woman's forehead.
"Shhh."
He raised his index finger, making a shushing gesture.
Then he said softly, "In a moment, when my brother lets go, don't make any sudden noises. I'm a timid person, you see. If you raise your voice, I might just start stabbing randomly. Got it?"
The woman nodded frantically, her eyes wide with terror.
"Three."
"Two."
"One."
Qin Ziwu released the hand covering her mouth.
The woman gasped for breath, tears welling in her eyes.
Qin Ziwen glanced toward the security door, then pointed to the inner bedroom. "Let's talk in the bedroom."
Inside the bedroom, the door clicked shut, and the woman's body trembled involuntarily.
Qin Ziwen sat on the bed and looked at the woman, his expression serious. "Have I ever done anything to you?"
The woman hastily shook her head.
Qin Ziwen scratched his head, looking puzzled. His tone was filled with bewilderment. "Then why are you trying to harm me?"
The woman quickly tried to defend herself. "I wasn't trying to harm you!"
Qin Ziwen sighed, and his expression suddenly turned sinister. 'Still not telling the fucking truth.'
He suddenly shot up, grabbed the woman by the neck, and slammed her against the wall. "If you won't talk, then you can just stay quiet forever. There are no cops here. After all this, you're still playing tough? You think I won't kill you just because you're a woman?"
Veins popped out on the back of his hand as he squeezed, and the woman's face flushed a deep red.
Just as her eyes were about to roll back into her head, Qin Ziwen finally released his grip.
The woman clutched her throat, bent over, and coughed repeatedly.
Qin Ziwen's voice was calm. "Keep the coughing down."
The woman's body shuddered. She forced herself to stifle her coughs, reducing them to quiet hacks. Now she was truly terrified. 'This man... he'll actually kill me.'
"I'll ask one more time. Who put you up to this?"
The words came tumbling out of her like spilled beans. "I... I'll talk! It was Xie Jun! He made me do it! It was all him, he forced me! How would a woman living all alone dare to plot against you... SOB... SOB..."
After hearing the woman's story, Qin Ziwu felt a lingering fear.
'If their plan had actually succeeded,' he thought, 'two strange men sneaking into our home in the middle of the night while we slept soundly... the consequences would have been dire.'
He looked at his older brother with admiration.
He remembered how, just as they entered the apartment, his older brother had whispered in his ear, telling him to cover the woman's mouth and restrain her.
'But if the woman had remained defiant, would his brother have actually killed her?'
Even though it was their third day in the Otherworld, Qin Ziwu's mindset hadn't fully adapted.
Qin Ziwen said, "So, you're saying he had you get inside our apartment, then told you to secretly unlock the door in the middle of the night to let them in."
The woman looked utterly pitiful. "That's right. But they made me do it. I didn't want to at first, really, but how could a weak woman like me fight back against two grown men?"
"My name is Wang Xiaoli. The one with the scorpion tattoo is named Xie Jun, and the other one who's a bit slow is Xie Guang, Xie Jun's cousin. Before this, Xie Jun was a loan shark, and he and Xie Guang were his enforcers. They'd splash chicken blood and excrement on people's doors, they even broke someone's legs once. That Xie Guang is no good either. His nickname is Da Zhuang, and he was always in and out of jail for fighting. One time, when his cousin wasn't around, he even... forced himself on me..."
'So, a whole nest of scumbags,' Qin Ziwen thought.
But Qin Ziwen wasn't interested in her sob story. He cut her off. "Alright, that's enough. Get to the point. What kind of weapons do they have? Any guns?"
Wang Xiaoli bit her lip, thinking hard. "They don't have a gun. At least, I've never heard them mention one. But they both have Mountain-Climbing Knives, the really long kind."
She even gestured to indicate the length, which was about half a meter.
Qin Ziwen gave a humorless smile. "Did they happen to mention what they planned to do with me and my brother once they got inside?"
Wang Xiaoli fell silent, too scared to answer.
But when she saw Qin Ziwen's brow furrow, she quickly blurted out, "They didn't say specifically, but it would probably be... probably..."
Qin Ziwen finished her sentence for her. "Kill me and my brother. Since they've already made an enemy of us, they'd want to pull the problem out by the roots, right? Especially in a place like this, where there's no law."
Wang Xiaoli lowered her head.
Qin Ziwen stared at her. "Do you have any secret signal?"
Wang Xiaoli quickly shook her head. "No. To avoid drawing attention, he just told me to secretly open the door in the middle of the night."
Qin Ziwen sighed and said quietly, "I'm still too kind. In an environment like this, I'm just thinking about hunting for my own food instead of robbing others. This Brother Jun'Er, now he's the one who knows how to make things happen."
Qin Ziwu nodded in solemn agreement. "I think you're right, big brother. You're too kind. It's always good people like us who get bullied."
The corner of Wang Xiaoli's mouth twitched.
'Kind?'
'If I hadn't confessed a minute ago, I'd probably be dead right now.'
Qin Ziwen patted Wang Xiaoli on the head. "Tonight, you'll proceed with the original plan. Get both of them over here. I hope you won't do anything foolish, like secretly tipping them off. If you do, they might live, but you will definitely die. If you do as you're told, I'll let you walk away from this."
Wang Xiaoli nodded her head up and down like a chicken pecking at grain, her fingers twisting the hem of her shirt.
「10:00 PM」
Qin Ziwen set up a rope snare trap inside the bedroom door, with the other end tied to the leg of the bed.
The night was heavy and dark. Thick clouds obscured the moon, making it the perfect time to strike.
He gestured to Wang Xiaoli.
Wang Xiaoli quietly opened her door, crossed to the apartment opposite hers, and knocked softly four times.
KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK.
...
...