Chapter 104: New Neighbors

The man looked to be around forty, with thick eyebrows, large eyes, and a square-shaped face.

His features were fairly regular, but his face was covered in deep wrinkles and sagged in an exaggerated way, making him look a lot like a Shar Pei dog.

After entering the 32nd floor, his eyes darted around warily before he made a “hold” gesture toward someone outside the fire escape door.

Seeing this, Jiang Yan frowned.

It seemed like he wasn’t alone—he had accomplices.

Still, she decided to stay calm and keep observing for now.

Meanwhile, things were quiet in Sun Jingtao and the others’ room.

Outside, the storm was raging, and the noise was probably enough to wake anyone up. Most likely, they were standing behind the door, peering out through the peephole.

Even though the hallway was pitch black and, unlike herself, they didn’t have infrared surveillance cameras to see clearly, they could at least make out the shapes of people.

The square-faced man was now creeping toward the door of apartment 3203.

3203 had originally belonged to He Chunmei’s family. After their whole family was gone, the door had been left open ever since.

Because Jiang Yan and Sun Jingtao’s group were feared, the place had basically become a “haunted house,” and no one else dared move onto the 32nd floor for the time being.

But in reality, everything inside had already been cleared out in the middle of the night by people from downstairs, like ants moving house.

At first, people only took food, water, tissues, bedsheets, blankets, clothes, pots, pans, and so on.

But as more and more people started living in the hallways, even things like bed frames, tables, chairs, and stools—anything that could be burned—were hauled away.

Now, the apartment was completely empty; you could see everything at a glance.

In less than half a minute, the man came out again.

As usual, he glanced around, then waved to the people waiting outside the fire escape.

Soon, three middle-aged adults—one man and two women—and a little girl of about six or seven followed him in, one after another.

The little girl was holding a duck-shaped and a swan-shaped swim ring in her hands, and had a backpack stuffed with odds and ends on her back. She looked half-awake, her tired little face full of confusion.

The other man was bald as well, but his skin wasn’t as wrinkled, and he was thinner and shorter.

The two women both had uneven, chin-length haircuts, their heads bowed slightly, looking exhausted.

Each of the three adults carried a large bundle tied up in bedsheets on their backs, and their hands were full of other belongings.

They quickly filed into 3203.

But within seconds, the four adults came back out.

They tiptoed down the stairs in a hurry.

Jiang Yan guessed they were going to fetch the rest of their supplies.

She didn’t really care about other people moving in.

It was something she’d expected anyway.

To put it bluntly, as long as they didn’t pose a threat to her, what other people did had nothing to do with her.

Besides, the apartment wasn’t hers to begin with.

Jiang Yan glanced at the time—it was exactly 4 a.m.

About twenty minutes later, the four adults reappeared at the fire escape, arms loaded with stuff.

Their faces were flushed and they were panting heavily.

As before, they quickly headed for 3203.

Just then, with a creak, the door to 3204 opened.

Sun Jingtao and Ye Qing stepped out.

Su Dai followed behind, holding an alcohol lamp like the kind used in labs for heating.

There was a draft in the hallway, and the flame flickered wildly. She quickly raised a hand to shield it.

The four people about to enter 3203 paused, exchanging glances.

“Fatty…” the thinner, younger man looked at the square-faced man, wanting to say something but stopping himself.

The square-faced man gestured for the other three to go inside first, then set down his supplies and took a step toward Sun Jingtao’s group. He said,

“Sorry to bother you all in the middle of the night.” He paused, and when he saw Sun Jingtao looking at the broken chain on the floor, he quickly added,

“I broke that chain. I happened to have one in my supplies. I’ll put it back on as soon as I can.”

Hearing this, the other three didn’t go inside, but put their things down on the floor.

They were clearly less composed than the square-faced man, but still stood behind him, their eyes wary as they stared at Sun Jingtao’s group.

Only now did Jiang Yan notice that the younger of the two women had a slightly rounded belly.

Normally, you might think she was just a bit chubby.

But in times like these, with food and clothing scarce and her body so thin her bones showed, it was obvious she was pregnant.

The other woman’s eyes were red and swollen, her face streaked with tears—she must have been crying hard earlier.

Both women looked terrible: haggard, weak, and utterly dejected.

Sun Jingtao didn’t respond to the man’s words. Instead, he swept a cautious gaze over the group and said coolly, “Who are you?”

They’d locked the door earlier to guard against Ma Longbiao’s gang trying to pull something in the middle of the night.

But these people, with their whole families in tow, were clearly just ordinary folks.

None of the three were the unreasonable type, and it wasn’t like they planned to take over the whole 32nd floor.

As he spoke, Sun Jingtao used the faint light to observe them.

The light was dim, barely enough to see by.

Still, he could make out their faces well enough to know he didn’t recognize them.

He glanced at Ye Qing and Su Dai, who both shook their heads.

Sun Jingtao quickly ran through the possibilities in his mind and came to two conclusions:

First, these people weren’t long-time residents of Shanshui Bay Building A.

Second, they were either short-term renters or had moved here temporarily from another building or area.

But since their clothes weren’t wet, they were most likely renters.

“We’re two families who share apartment 1803 on the 18th floor,” the man explained. “Tonight, my wife got up and noticed the water level was about to reach the 17th floor. It was dangerous, so we had no choice but to pack up our things and move up here in the middle of the night.”

As he finished, he instinctively rubbed his nose.

Jiang Yan frowned.

The water level from this second wave of storms was rising so fast… and the night wasn’t even over yet.

But now wasn’t the time to shine a light and check.

It was pitch black all around, and turning on a flashlight would be too conspicuous.

The man gave an awkward smile and went on,

“If I’m not mistaken, you must be Sun Jingtao, right? We’ve all heard about you downstairs, and we know that the person in 3201 and you three are all very capable.

We’re just migrant workers from the countryside, honest folks. Now that we’ve moved up here, we promise we won’t cause you any trouble.”

He paused, and seeing the three across from him still silent, continued,

“Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. My name’s Zhou Wei, but you can call me Fatty or Zhou Fatty.

I’ve lost weight lately, but I used to be really fat, so I’m used to the nickname.

That’s my wife, Wang Jiamei. That’s my old friend, Wang Jin, and that’s his wife, Wen Wanli.”

“It’s understandable you want to move up here,” Su Dai suddenly spoke up from behind, “but if you could have just knocked, why did you have to break the lock?”"