In the dead of night, all was silent except for the mournful howl of the wind sweeping through the city's ruins. Zhao Yuwei had just finished her daily physical training and was preparing to relax with a hot shower. Suddenly, a sharp, urgent electronic alarm shattered the quiet within her apartment.
"Beep, beep, beep, warning! Unauthorized intrusion detected in the top-floor rooftop area! Warning! Unauthorized intrusion detected in the balcony area!"
Zhao Yuwei's heart gave a violent lurch, but not a trace of panic showed on her face. She swiftly grabbed the tactical tablet resting on the sofa, and multiple live surveillance feeds immediately popped up on the screen.
When her eyes focused on one particular feed, her pupils constricted sharply. A bone-chilling hatred surged from the very depths of her soul.
In the surveillance footage, several figures were moving furtively and busily on the rooftop of Building 28. Leading them was a muscular, bare-chested brute—none other than the cannibal leader from the opposing Building 27, "Brother Qiang". His thugs were securing rough climbing ropes to the rooftop guardrail.
And beside them stood two figures etched into Zhao Yuwei's memory with searing clarity.
Wang Xixi, her former best friend, was now clinging to Brother Qiang's side with a fawning expression. Her once-innocent face was caked in exaggerated heavy makeup, her eyes brimming with greed and malice. Dressed in a tattered, barely-there tank dress, she was saying something to Brother Qiang in a sickeningly sweet, cooing voice.
Zhang Hao, Wang Xixi's boyfriend and also an accomplice in the betrayal from her previous life, was currently nodding and bowing like a sycophantic lapdog, helping the thugs check the ropes. His face wore an ingratiating smile, the former aloofness he'd possessed on campus completely gone.
Zhao Yuwei understood instantly. These two scumbags, to survive in Brother Qiang's cannibal tribe, to barter for a mouthful of food, had actually set their sights on her! They had clearly revealed her location to Brother Qiang and incited him to attack her fortress.
"Good... really good..." Zhao Yuwei murmured under her breath, her nails digging deep into her palms. Yet, a strange, cruel smile surfaced on her face. She didn't take immediate action. Instead, she switched to another camera feed, focusing it on her apartment balcony.
A few minutes later, the first rope was thrown down. A scrawny thug began sliding down first, moving like a clumsy spider.
Simultaneously, eight hundred meters away in an unfinished building, T-3 captured this scene through a thermal imager.
"Captain, the target apartment of 'nightingale" is under intrusion. The intruders are a survivor group from Building 27, seven individuals attempting to rappel from the rooftop to the balcony,' T-3 reported calmly.
"Ghost" set down his night-vision goggles and walked over to T-3 to glance at the screen.
"A bunch of cannibal maggots, not even worth as much as the infected. They think they can breach a military-grade safehouse with a few ropes and brute force?" He let out a contemptuous sneer. "No need to intervene. This is a perfect opportunity to see what this 'nightingale" is truly capable of. Continue surveillance. Record all her countermeasures.'
He knew full well that the fortress's defense systems were far beyond what this rabble could overcome. This invasion was nothing but a live performance delivered right to their doorstep.
Inside the apartment, Zhao Yuwei watched quietly as the first thug shivered his way down to her balcony in the cold wind. The moment his feet touched the ground, he excitedly waved up to the rooftop, then pulled out a crowbar and immediately tried to smash the huge floor-to-ceiling bulletproof glass window.
"Clang!"
A sharp metallic clang rang out. The expensive bulletproof glass remained completely unmoved, without even a scratch. The thug froze, then disbelievingly put all his strength into several more strikes. The result was nothing but his own palms going numb from the vibration.
At that moment, Zhao Yuwei pressed a red button on the control console.
"Zzzzap—!"
A blinding blue electric arc instantly erupted from the balcony floor and the metal guardrail, forming an impenetrable web of high-voltage electricity!
Without even time to scream, the thug's body convulsed violently as if struck by lightning. His muscles were instantly charred by the powerful current, emitting a nauseating stench of burnt flesh. Seconds later, he transformed into a smoldering, human-shaped lump of charcoal and slumped to the ground.
On the rooftop, the second thug, ready to descend, was scared out of his wits by this sudden turn of events. His foot slipped, and he plummeted directly from the twenty-first floor, becoming a dark speck in the night before a dull thud echoed from below.
"Ah! What's happening! Brother Qiang! How could this be!" Wang Xixi shrieked in terror, her face deathly pale.
Brother Qiang's face also turned grim. He hadn't expected the apartment's defenses to be this horrifying. Shoving Wang Xixi aside, he roared down, "Damn it! Don't touch the ground or the railing! Go straight through the window!"
The two remaining thugs looked at each other, neither daring to go down to their deaths.
With a furious roar, Brother Qiang snatched a fire axe, tied a rope to himself, and slid down like a clumsy bear. Hanging mid-air, he swung the fire axe with all his might against the bulletproof glass.
"Clang! Clang! Clang!"
Sparks flew, but the glass remained unbreakable.
Zhao Yuwei sneered as she watched Brother Qiang's futile efforts on the monitor. She walked to the floor-to-ceiling window of the balcony and, through the thick glass, locked eyes with Brother Qiang suspended in mid-air.
She slowly raised her hand and made a throat-slitting gesture at Brother Qiang, a sweet yet venomous smile spreading across her face.
This smile completely enraged Brother Qiang. Like a madman, he hacked wildly at the glass with the axe, cursing with every foul word imaginable.
Unmoved, Zhao Yuwei pressed another button on the console.
"Hummm—"
Two inconspicuous devices installed on the exterior top of the balcony suddenly activated, spraying two jets of high-pressure water that drenched Brother Qiang and his rope with pinpoint accuracy.
Brother Qiang was soaked to the bone. Before he could react, Zhao Yuwei reactivated the electric grid!
High-voltage current instantly traveled through the water stream straight to Brother Qiang's body!
"Aaaaaah—!!!"
This time, the scream was piercingly shrill. Brother Qiang convulsed violently in mid-air, his muscles visibly charring and cracking. Blood and bodily fluids boiled and evaporated from the electricity. On the rooftop, Wang Xixi and Zhang Hao watched in horror as the fire axe fell from Brother Qiang's grip, and his entire body was electrocuted into a charred corpse hanging in the air.
On the rooftop, the last two thugs, seeing their boss die so gruesomely, were scared witless. They scrambled on all fours, fleeing toward the stairwell.
Now, only Wang Xixi and Zhang Hao remained on the rooftop.
Faces ashen, bodies trembling, they stared down at the still-smoldering charred corpse below.
Watching the two shivering figures on the monitor, the smile on Zhao Yuwei's lips grew even wider.