Chapter 29: The Mysterious Note

Qian Ying’er shouted, “Do you guys remember the last time we saw An Nan from the 14th floor? She looked so healthy—her family must have plenty of food, maybe even some meat!”

Meat?

Hearing this, Bai Wenbin suddenly recalled the day before the torrential rain began. He had been waiting for An Nan at the building entrance and saw her holding a white dog in her arms.

His eyes lit up. “That’s right, An Nan has a dog at home!”

The crowd immediately grew restless.

A dog?

Dog meat?!

Their eyes gleamed with hunger, mouths watering as if they could already taste steaming hot dog stew.

Although everyone had been wary of An Nan before, seeing her as something out of a horror movie, now they were desperate with hunger.

What, were they supposed to just sit around and starve to death?

At this point, even if there was a terrifying gang on the other side, they’d have to take their chances—let alone the fact that the 14th floor only had a single woman living alone.

“They’re right, let’s go to the 14th floor!”

“To the 14th floor! For dog meat!”

The crowd was in an uproar.

But the few people who’d gotten injured on the top floor earlier kept quiet.

They understood that, while it looked like a big group, people’s hearts weren’t united—when it came to a fight, only they would actually step up.

The others would all sneakily hide in the back.

Against the mother and son on the top floor, who were just trying to survive, it hadn’t been life-threatening. But this woman on the 14th floor—she really would kill if you crossed her!

Already injured, if they faced the “she-devil” on the 14th floor and slipped up, they could lose their lives.

They weren’t stupid. This time, they’d learned their lesson and hung back.

For a while, no one wanted to take the lead or step forward. The group shouted slogans for ages, but no one actually left Sun Peng’s apartment.

Seeing this, Sun Peng stepped out and said, “We still have to go to the 14th floor. If we don’t find more food, we’ll all starve to death.”

“But everyone’s had a tough day, and many are injured. Let’s go home and rest for now, recharge our energy. I’ll come up with a proper plan so no one gets shortchanged. Tomorrow morning, we’ll all go to the 14th floor together and split the food.”

Everyone agreed and went back to their own homes. Some bandaged their wounds, some sharpened their knives, some practiced their punches—everyone was preparing, determined to get as much food as possible from An Nan.

That night.

An Nan was curled up on the sofa with her dog, watching a downloaded comedy and gnawing on duck necks. Suddenly, Fugui stood up, tail stiff, staring warily at the door.

Following its gaze, An Nan walked to the entryway. Pressing her ear to the door, she could hear faint rustling outside.

Someone was trying to pick her lock again?

It didn’t sound like many people. An Nan quietly took a triangular bayonet from her storage space, gently opened her door, and stepped outside.

She couldn’t hear clearly through the stairwell door, so she quickly opened it and stabbed with the knife.

But she hit nothing.

There was no one outside—just a note stuck to the wall.

[Everyone’s coming tomorrow morning to steal your food.]

She tore the note down and brought it inside.

Back on the sofa, Fugui sniffed around her, wagging his tail. An Nan patted his head and examined the note carefully.

Uh...

The handwriting was a mess, lines flying everywhere, like chicken scratch!

Was it possible for someone’s writing to be this ugly?

Looking at the note, she suddenly felt a strange sense of familiarity.

She thought for a moment, and her eyes lit up. This was the same person who had sent her a message in her previous life!

It had been four years—she’d almost forgotten.

Back then, she’d received a similar note, with the same distinctive handwriting, though the message had been different.

That time, the note had said: [Beware the brother and sister.]

At the time, Bai Wenbin and Qian Ying’er had just moved in with her. She’d found the note slipped into her bag at some point, and it did make her a bit wary.

But after careful observation, she hadn’t noticed anything strange.

They never tried to hurt her. In fact, whenever they found supplies, Bai Wenbin would always take less and give the extra to the two girls. Even in the apocalypse, he maintained his gentlemanly manners.

And Qian Ying’er had always acted like a loving little sister toward her.

So she soon trusted them completely, assuming the note was just someone’s prank.

Looking back now, it was probably someone who’d overheard the siblings plotting and tried to warn her out of kindness.

She still didn’t know who that person was, but in this life, they’d come to warn her again.

“Note Ninja! You’re actually pretty nice.”

With her previous experience, she took it seriously this time.

Everyone’s coming tomorrow morning to steal your food?

After what happened with Zhao Ping’an and her son upstairs today, she’d already guessed that sooner or later, these people would set their sights on her. She just hadn’t expected it to happen so soon.

Clearly, her neighbors were truly starving.

She checked her weapons and felt no fear.

This day was bound to come. As the saying goes, “An innocent man gets into trouble by holding onto treasure.” Living comfortably in the apocalypse was sure to attract envy.

But she was not the same person she’d been in her last life.

This time, she was prepared—not only had she stockpiled weapons early on, she’d even managed to get her hands on a submachine gun.

Since the apocalypse began, she’d never slacked off. She’d worked hard to improve her skills, practicing her old martial arts and learning new fighting techniques from online tutorials.

Combining the strengths of various styles, plus her wealth of combat experience from her previous life, she could easily take down a few desperate thugs barehanded.

Against these starving, skin-and-bones neighbors, she wouldn’t even need a gun.

An Nan locked all four doors, set an alarm so she wouldn’t be caught off guard in the morning, then cuddled Fugui and finished her movie.

Before bed, she even put on a face mask and did a full skincare routine, then drifted off to sleep feeling wonderful.

The next morning, everyone in the building gathered early in apartment 1302.

“Neighbors, I came up with a plan last night for everyone to consider,” Sun Peng said, clearing his throat seriously. “After what happened yesterday, I know no one wants to be the first to charge in. But if we all hold back, we’ll just starve to death.”

“What we need most right now is unity. We’re neighbors, which means we’re fated to be together. We need to trust each other!”

“1402 definitely has plenty of food. I suggest we split the food according to how much effort each person puts in!”

He pulled out a chart.

“We can divide the supplies by priority. Men go first, and those who take the lead get double rations. If you make an outstanding contribution, you get triple. If you get injured, there’s extra compensation.”

“What does everyone think?”

With great rewards come brave volunteers. The crowd quickly agreed.

“Captain Sun’s plan is fair—I’ll take the lead!”

“I’ll go too! Damn it, we’ve got so many men—are we really afraid of a girl in her early twenties?”

“Charge into 1402! Take down that selfish she-devil!”"