Chapter 53: Revenge

A frail, white-haired old woman, looking half-crazed, suddenly charged at them with a kitchen knife in her hand.

Chu Peipei had her back turned and didn’t notice her. Annan’s view was blocked by Chu Peipei, so she hadn’t realized when the old woman had crept upstairs either.

By the time the two of them noticed, the old woman had already rushed to the doorway.

Despite her thin, shriveled frame, the madwoman seemed to have found some hidden strength and shoved Chu Peipei to the ground in one go.

Then she raised the kitchen knife and swung it at Annan.

Annan’s pupils contracted sharply, but her reflexes were lightning-fast. She immediately crouched down, dodging the attack. At the same time, she braced her hands on the floor, shifted her weight to her left leg, and swept her right leg swiftly at the old woman’s ankles.

With a single sweeping kick, the madwoman was knocked to the ground.

As she fell, she lost her grip on the knife, which landed blade-first into her own thigh.

Before she could even cry out in pain, Annan darted forward, yanked the knife out, and brought it down hard again.

Blood spattered instantly, but Annan didn’t hesitate. She pulled the knife out and struck again.

One blow after another—over twenty savage strikes, each one fatal.

The sound of chopping echoed through the room, like someone hacking through ribs.

Only when the woman on the floor had stopped breathing did Annan finally toss aside the battered kitchen knife.

The knife hadn’t been great quality to begin with, and now the blade was completely bent and dulled.

Annan let out a breath, braced herself on her knees, and slowly stood up.

—No need to rush. Her adrenaline had just spiked, and if she stood up too quickly, she was afraid she might faint from lack of oxygen.

Chu Peipei, who had witnessed the whole shocking scene, was so terrified she couldn’t speak.

From the moment she was shoved down to the moment the madwoman stopped breathing, less than a minute had passed. In the blink of an eye, Annan had managed to turn the tables and kill her attacker.

The scene was a mess of blood—gruesome and brutal.

Annan reached down and pulled the still-stunned Chu Peipei to her feet.

“Scared stiff?”

Chu Peipei nodded instinctively, then quickly shook her head.

“N-no, I’m fine…”

Annan looked at her and couldn’t help but tease, “You, the crocodile-fighting warrior, scared by something like this?”

That crazy old woman wasn’t even enough to fill the gap between a crocodile’s teeth.

Chu Peipei hurriedly replied, “That’s totally different! I had the nail gun you gave me when I fought the crocodile. But you just did this barehanded—all on your own.”

Honestly, if the madwoman had ambushed her instead, she’d probably be dead by now.

Annan’s reaction was just too fast—not only did she dodge the attack, she even used the attacker’s own weapon to kill her.

Once she’d calmed down, Chu Peipei asked curiously, “Who was that woman? Why did she attack you?”

Annan shook her head. “No idea. Don’t know her.”

Who cares who she was? Anyone who comes at me gets chopped down, no exceptions.

Chu Peipei stared at the body for a while, then suddenly said, “Wait, isn’t that Old Lady Liu?”

She crouched down, brushed aside the messy white hair, and took a closer look at the woman’s face.

High cheekbones, a flat face—though she was now so thin she was almost unrecognizable, you could still make out Old Lady Liu’s sharp, mean features.

“It’s her! Old Lady Liu.”

Chu Peipei explained to Annan, “She’s the mother of the Liu brothers who used to live on the seventh floor.”

Annan suddenly understood.

She didn’t know Old Lady Liu, but she remembered the Liu brothers—the ones who tried to break into her apartment and ended up as her first kills in this life.

So this was their mother?

No wonder Annan hadn’t recognized her. Back then, the old woman had never dared come near her. After her sons died, she just cried in the hallway with the neighbors, but never once dared confront Annan directly.

Chu Peipei looked at Old Lady Liu and wondered aloud, “Didn’t the people on the fifth and sixth floors kick her out and take her apartment? I can’t believe she survived this long. She didn’t dare come after you before—why would she suddenly show up today and try to kill you?”

The woman was already dead, so Annan just shrugged indifferently. “She probably had nowhere left to go… Figured she’d take me with her before she died?”

People—no matter how cowardly—always seem to find endless courage at the end of their lives.

Billionaires cling to life, but what does a terminal patient have to fear?

Chu Peipei nodded. “It’s a miracle she lasted this long after being kicked out. She must have known she couldn’t hold on any longer, so she came to ambush you.”

“Ambush?” Annan curled her lips in disdain.

Who yells out threats before ambushing someone? What, did she think she was in a TV drama?

She hadn’t even managed to land a blow before she started cursing at the top of her lungs.

No wonder she got killed.

By now, Chu Peipei had recovered from her fright. She spat at the corpse on the floor.

“Those Liu brothers got what they deserved. And honestly, this old woman’s death is no loss either. Good thing she didn’t hurt you!”

She looked at Annan with admiration. “You’re amazing. I was so scared I couldn’t even think.”

Annan smiled. “Give it time—you’ll be able to do it too.”

Chu Peipei froze for a second, then waved her hands quickly. “No, no, I don’t want more time! I just hope this flood dries up soon.”

She clenched her fist, eyes shining. “One day, our lives will go back to normal.”

Annan didn’t comment.

The flood would indeed dry up eventually—because the extreme heat was about to arrive.

But she wouldn’t crush Chu Peipei’s hope.

After all, it’s hope that gives people the courage to keep moving forward.

The two of them lifted Old Lady Liu’s corpse and tossed it out the window into the floodwaters below.

With a splash, a huge wave shot up, and several crocodiles swam over, fighting to get at the body.

In no time, another life vanished quietly from this world.

In the days that followed, Chu Peipei would go up to the fourteenth floor every day to give Annan acupuncture, then head up to the fifteenth to treat Hu Cuilan’s leg.

A week passed, and both patients gradually recovered their health.

Annan did a few quick squats in a row and didn’t feel dizzy anymore.

She exclaimed in delight, “Your acupuncture is amazing—cured me right up!”

After this round of treatment, she had even more faith in traditional Chinese medicine.

“Peipei-jie, keep studying. In a few days, check my pulse again—see if I have any dampness or cold in my system. If I do, use your needles to fix me up. You earn food, I earn an indestructible body—win-win!”

Chu Peipei agreed with a bright smile.

She couldn’t help but think: This little girl really values her life.

What she didn’t know was that, for Annan, since she’d been given a second chance, there was no way she’d settle for just surviving.

She wanted to live more freely, more brilliantly, and—most of all—stronger.

Annan’s dream was simple and unpretentious:

To have both a curvy figure and the strength of an ox!

…

With the arrival of crocodiles, it wasn’t long before other fish appeared in the floodwaters too.

People cheered, relieved that they finally wouldn’t have to starve.

Everyone started thinking up ways to catch aquatic creatures.

And thanks to their shared experiences treating illnesses, Zhao Ping’an, Chu Peipei, Annan, and the others began to work together as a team."