Chapter 135: Layers of Hell

“What are you all pretending to be heroes and saviors for now?!! Where the hell were you earlier?!

Don’t think we’ll be grateful to you! If my son or daughter dies, I’ll haunt you as a vengeful ghost for the rest of my life!!”

“That’s right! Even as a ghost, we won’t let you off!!” others shouted in agreement.

Su Dai felt a surge of anger shoot through her at their words.

These accusations were clearly unreasonable and completely distorted:

“Come on, Niu-ge, every debt has its debtor—are you sure you’re blaming the right people?! You ask where we were earlier, but where were you all?! Hundreds of you got fooled by a few dozen people, and now you’re blaming us? Does that make any sense?!”

If they’d just stuck together a bit, or communicated with each other, things wouldn’t have turned out like this, with the bad guys taking advantage.

The man knew he was in the wrong, but still refused to back down:

“I remember your name is Su Dai, right? Don’t act all high and mighty! I’m telling you, if you don’t get our sons and daughters back from Ma Longbiao, don’t even think about living in peace at Qianshui Bay!” The man raised his fist, threatening.

“I—” Su Dai was nearly brought to tears by their unreasonable outburst.

“Whether we save them or not is up to us, not you,” Ye Qing took a breath and said coldly.

If these people were the bad guys, it’d be easy—just beat them up.

But they were neighbors, neighbors with their backs against the wall. Even if you won a war of words with them, what good would it do?

On this point, he and Sun Jingtao were of the same mind.

So, faced with the crowd’s unreasonable demands, the two decided to endure for now.

“Ye, you little brat—” the man started, but stopped abruptly.

Jiang Yan’s gaze swept over him.

Her eyes were full of authority and intimidation, making the man choke up and fall silent.

Jiang Yan glanced sideways at Sun Jingtao and said,

“You take Dao Yinping upstairs. Ye Qing and I will go down.”

Jiang Yan had already realized these people were deliberately stalling for time.

Their bickering was as childish as kids playing house.

The phrase “living dead on the 22nd floor” that Dao Yinping had mentioned kept echoing in her mind. She had to go down and see for herself.

Besides, Dao Yinping couldn’t be left to the residents upstairs to guard alone—it’d be better for Sun Jingtao and the others to take him up for questioning.

Maybe by the time she and Ye Qing finished checking below, they’d have gotten something out of him.

“Alright,” Sun Jingtao nodded.

They’d already wasted some time checking the 29th floor.

Splitting up now would be more efficient.

Jiang Yan strode forward, and the people downstairs instinctively made way for her.

Ye Qing handed his shotgun to Sun Jingtao, swapped it for a fire axe, and quickly followed.

“Miss Jiang, I—I really can’t go!” Dao Yinping’s legs trembled as he looked at Jiang Yan’s back, nearly in tears.

He’d finally managed to stand still for a while, and his wound had started to clot, the pain easing a bit.

But if he had to climb the stairs, the wound would tear open again, and he’d be in agony, bleeding all over.

Now they wanted him to go upstairs—how could anyone be so cruel?!

But Jiang Yan didn’t even look back, disappearing around the corner on the 28th floor.

“Move it,” one of the residents beside Sun Jingtao glared at him.

Dao Yinping gritted his teeth, managed to step up one stair, and immediately broke out in a sweat from the pain. He called out to Sun Jingtao, pleading:

“Big brother, I’ll tell you everything I know—can’t you just let me go… or at least ask Jiang Yan to put a bullet in me and end it quick?”

He couldn’t take another second of this living hell!

*

Meanwhile, Jiang Yan and Ye Qing made their way downstairs.

They were both puzzled—between the 29th and 23rd floors, aside from the people they’d met earlier, they hadn’t seen a single extra resident.

And the further down they went, the stronger the smell of blood became.

Ye Qing knocked on a few random doors, but no one answered.

But from the rustling and whispering inside, it was clear there were people in there—a lot of them.

Ye Qing tried comforting and goading them, but as expected, no one opened up.

Also, unlike the tightly shut fire doors on the 31st and 30th floors, the fire doors below were all wide open.

The hallways were empty.

But they were packed with furniture, makeshift beds, tents, and even some campfires.

It looked like some people were living out in the corridors.

“Jiang Yan, do you think the people living out here are the same ones who went upstairs earlier?” Ye Qing frowned, analyzing.

Jiang Yan nodded. “Very likely.”

According to what Sun Jingtao and Tian Jiliang had said, those who’d gone upstairs were probably working with Ma Longbiao’s gang.

Supposedly, they had the right to manage the remaining residents, got more food than the others, and didn’t have to go out to hunt or fish.

As for why they weren’t living in the apartments but in the corridors, there were only two possibilities: