Chapter 56: Killing Sideways or Straight On—It’s All Killing!

Gao Dazhuang stopped in his tracks and turned around when he heard the words.

He looked at Liu Dahong, Zhang Qiqi, and Zhang Qiming approaching him, along with several supervisors and a group of residents behind them, all wielding sticks, knives, spears, and even chainsaws. A hint of wariness flashed in Gao Dazhuang’s eyes.

“What’s this? Got a good place to recommend, Miss Zhang?”

Zhang Qiqi’s lips curled into a sly smile, her eyes glinting with mischief. “But of course!”

Back in the underground shelter, she’d spent every day with Liu Dahong and Zhang Qiming, getting to know all the residents.

At that time, Liu Dahong and Zhang Qiming were the official liaisons, controlling supplies and electricity, flanked by a few tough supervisors—quite the impressive sight.

At first, they did their jobs well enough, distributing resources fairly and making arrangements impartially.

They even prioritized the elderly, sick, disabled, and pregnant—those most in need.

But as the heatwave dragged on, about two-thirds of the way through, their true colors began to show.

They started playing favorites, pressuring and bribing people, acting as if they were the saviors of everyone in Qianshui Bay.

Some residents had their complaints, but no one dared speak up.

After all, in critical times, whoever controlled the resources and connections called the shots.

Then came the torrential rains. When everyone returned home, Liu Dahong and Zhang Qiming’s group vanished.

Now, seeing them again, many couldn’t help but feel a lingering unease.

Even Gao Dazhuang’s crew, who’d strutted around Qianshui Bay Building A like they owned the place before the heatwave, felt it.

Seeing that Liu Dahong’s group wasn’t moving forward, Gao Dazhuang said, “Well then, Miss Zhang, care to enlighten us?”

Zhang Qiqi stepped forward, glanced around at the people nearby, and said,

“Brother Dazhuang, don’t forget—our building has a 32nd floor!”

“I know, but the flood can’t possibly reach the 20th floor, right? Besides—” Gao Dazhuang cut himself off.

He’d wanted to say that moving to the 32nd floor would be easy, but he still had supplies in his lower-floor apartment. Hauling everything up would be a pain, so he’d chosen a mid-level floor as a compromise.

But obviously, he couldn’t tell these people the truth.

With everyone running low on food and medicine, admitting he had supplies but didn’t want to move them would just make him a target.

Thinking this, Gao Dazhuang changed tack:

“Besides, I remember the 32nd floor is already occupied. We can’t just—”

The Zhao brothers had already taken over someone else’s apartment without paying a cent, and Gao Dazhuang felt no guilt about it.

But if it meant kicking out—or even killing—the original residents to move in, he wasn’t quite ready to cross that line.

Still, killing is killing, no matter how you do it.

“Brother Dazhuang, look—the water’s already up to the 10th floor, and it’s only been raining a few days. The rain’s getting heavier, too. I’d say, in a week at most, it’ll reach this level. As for the 32nd floor, you’ll see when you get up there—it’s way better than here!

And if you don’t move fast and grab the opportunity, someone else will, and it won’t be as easy as today to move in!”

Zhang Qiqi added, “Besides, we’re not just barging in and taking over—we have a righteous cause!”

She said this through gritted teeth, eyes full of hatred, her eyes reddening instantly.

Gao Dazhuang: “...”

Zhang Qiqi’s words made sense.

Some of the people camping in the hallway started thinking about moving up immediately.

But Gao Dazhuang wasn’t just brawn—he had brains, too. He wasn’t that easy to fool.

He looked at the group in front of him, all fired up and armed to the teeth—a mirror image of his own crew.

He realized they were here to stir up trouble on the upper floors, maybe even take over someone else’s place.

Thinking back to the bloodsucking mosquito incident and how Zhang Qiqi had rallied the lower-floor residents after losing her son in the underground garage, it was obvious—they were targeting that Jiang girl in 3201.

But why bring him along? He couldn’t figure it out.

After all, they weren’t short on people or supplies.

And 3201 was just a young woman—no need for him to play cannon fodder.

Thinking this, Gao Dazhuang said, “Miss Zhang, you make a good point. But with such a prime spot, why not just take it for yourselves? Manager Liu, you’ve got plenty of people.”

At this, Liu Dahong, who’d been silent, finally spoke up. “Brother Gao, good things are meant to be shared, aren’t they? Besides, with more people, we can look out for each other.”

He gave Gao Dazhuang a meaningful look.

Zhang Qiqi chimed in, “Exactly, Brother Dazhuang. There are four apartments up there—we can’t use them all. We’ll take two, you take the other two. Clean up the hallway and elevator lobby, and you can house even more people.

Once we’re up on the 32nd floor, we’ll be in a fortress—one man holding the pass against ten thousand. That’s way better than staying here, always watching your back. After all, there’s always someone stronger out there.

We may have well-behaved residents in our building, but who’s to say people from other buildings or neighborhoods won’t come eyeing your spot?”

So that’s it.

All this just to rope him in.

Looks like they wanted to use Qianshui Bay’s strategic position to do something big—like becoming the local warlords.

Gao Dazhuang got it instantly. He glanced at his men. “What do you guys think?”

“Big bro, I think we should go up,” said Crew Cut.

The others nodded in agreement.

“Alright, we’ll go up with you,” Gao Dazhuang said to Liu Dahong after confirming with his group.

Hearing this, a few people living in tents nearby unzipped their tents and poked their heads out, asking cautiously,

“Manager Liu, can we come with you? We’re fine with just staying in the hallway, hehe.”

“Ahem, yeah, Manager Liu, we can help out. Ahem!”

Liu Dahong didn’t reply, but a young man beside him, wearing red flame sneakers, shot them a cold look and said,

“Do you have food and water? Medicine?”

“No, we don’t.”

“Me neither.”

“We’ve all been starving for days. Manager Liu, if you have any food left, could you spare a little?” They smiled awkwardly, thinking maybe he’d show some kindness.

“Come back and ask if you’re still alive after ten days!” the young man sneered under his breath.

“With those skinny arms and legs, you might not even make it to tomorrow!”

The glimmer of hope in their eyes instantly faded: “...”

Liu Dahong ignored them and waved his hand with authority. “Let’s go—upstairs!”

A large group, bristling with weapons, marched upstairs in high spirits.

A quick note: The early chapters of this story have a bit of an ensemble cast, focusing on the complexities of human nature and conflict in the early days of the apocalypse. After all, the female lead lacks for nothing, and the early stages are all about cautious development.

P.S. OMG! I actually made it to #1 on the Q-Read New Books chart today! Unbelievable! This little newbie is so grateful for everyone’s support! ヽ(愛‘愛)ノ"