Chapter 57: They’re Not Worthy!

Jiang Yan watched calmly as the group’s figures disappeared from the surveillance feed on the 20th floor.

Good. She couldn’t even be bothered to go down herself.

Since they’d come, it meant Zhang Qiqi’s time was up.

Earlier, that big mouth He Chunmei had said Zhang Qiqi had found Liu Dahong and Zhang Qiming as her backing, and was planning to rally the lower-floor residents to cause trouble for her.

Although the torrential rain and flooding should have kept residents from other buildings away, the number of people showing up was still beyond her expectations.

But even if they came with twice as many people, she wasn’t afraid.

After all, they weren’t a real army.

Besides, climbing from the 20th floor to the 32nd would take them at least a few minutes.

That gave her plenty of time to prepare.

Luckily, she was already ready.

With that thought, Jiang Yan went straight into the wardrobe inside her spatial Apple Pod.

There, she’d already laid out a selection of guns, ammunition, and bulletproof vests.

She put on a bulletproof vest, changed into a black tactical suit, pulled on fingerless combat gloves, then grabbed a 9mm pistol that held 20 rounds, and finally stuffed two tear gas grenades into her pockets.

She could actually summon these things from her space with a thought, but with so many people around, she didn’t want to risk exposing her ability.

There were still plenty of machine guns and powerful explosives in her [Storage Area].

But those explosives were double-edged—hurting the enemy a thousand, but losing eight hundred herself. Definitely not the time for that.

As for the machine guns, they were intimidating, but using them on this bunch would be like using a cannon to kill mosquitoes.

Simply put, these people weren’t worth it.

And she couldn’t afford to reveal her true strength so easily.

It was daytime, but the stairwell was still dim. There was no real need for tactical sunglasses, but Jiang Yan still picked up a black mask with a skull pattern and put it on.

All geared up, Jiang Yan almost felt like she’d just joined some elite special ops team.

Leaving her space, Jiang Yan checked the anti-intrusion system on her front door, making sure it was set to 500 volts of high voltage.

Her target today was Zhang Qiqi.

And their target was clearly the entire 32nd floor.

So she decided to wait and see what tricks they were planning before making a move.

With a thought, she summoned a coconut latte and sipped it leisurely, then pulled out her tablet and switched the surveillance feed to full screen on the 32nd floor.

Outside, Liu Dahong had just led a group of people, huffing and puffing, up to the 32nd floor.

The women and children from Gao Dazhuang’s group had been left on the 31st floor for now.

With a wave of Liu Dahong’s hand, everyone stopped at the stairwell entrance.

Compared to the mess and chaos of the lower floors, the 32nd floor was noticeably cleaner.

The few residents there had all locked their doors tight.

Outside, the rain thundered down. The group’s footsteps were heavy and disorderly, but it was unlikely anyone inside would notice.

Of course, no one would imagine someone was about to “raid their homes.”

“There are four households. Which one do we hit first?” Gao Dazhuang glanced around.

He wasn’t too familiar with the 32nd floor, but remembered that 3201 was home to that troublemaker Jiang XX who’d pissed everyone off.

And now that his phone was dead, he couldn’t even check the resident group chat for apartment numbers.

Zhang Qiqi glanced at Jiang Yan’s door and said, “Since we have a reason to be here, we should start with 3201. But I don’t know if that little bitch is back from the official shelter yet.”

She sneered viciously, “If she’s back, you guys can have your fun tonight. As for tomorrow—heh, I’ll make her and her lovesick mother wish they were dead!”

“That’s easy—just kick the door and we’ll know,” said Bowl-Cut, stepping forward, only to be stopped by Zhang Qiming. “Wait.”

Bowl-Cut glared at him, confused. “What?”

“There’s electricity on that door, and it’s a thunderstorm. Don’t touch it, or you’ll get electrocuted.” Zhang Qiming shuddered at the thought of Jiang Yan’s door.

Bowl-Cut looked at him like he was an idiot. “Ha! I thought it was something serious. Afraid of electricity? Hell, electricity is the thing I need most! You got electricity? You got electricity? Who the hell still has enough power to electrify their door these days? If someone does, I’ll get on my knees and call them grandpa!”

He pointed at the others as he spoke.

Everyone shook their heads.

Besides food and water, electricity was the scarcest thing now.

Even ten days ago, any electricity would have been long used up.

And this was just an ordinary apartment resident.

Even if they’d had the foresight to get a hand-crank generator, how much power could that provide?

Suddenly, Liu Dahong, who’d been silent, spoke up. “I just remembered—this resident renovated their apartment twice. We should be careful.”

Everyone paused and looked at him.

“I don’t know the details, but her renovation company came to see me.” And gave him a 5,000 yuan red envelope.

Not just him—the security chief, cleaning supervisor, and the heads of electrical, surveillance, and fire safety all got red envelopes too.

Some more, some less.

Once all those fat cats were taken care of, Jiang Yan’s renovations went as smoothly as possible.

Knocking down walls, smashing glass, laying wires across hallways—the property management turned a blind eye, never even checked the blueprints.

Looking back, it was obvious she’d been preparing for something.

“Liu Rui, go check it out.” Liu Dahong glanced at the young man on his left and added, “It’s raining and there’s lightning, so be careful.”

“Got it, boss.” The young man wore insulated shoes and gloves, carrying a large toolbox, and walked straight ahead.

“Wow, Manager Liu, you’re a pro!” Gao Dazhuang gave Liu Dahong a thumbs-up.

Liu Dahong smiled. “This is our trade, and since Qiming mentioned it, I came prepared.”

Liu Rui reached 3201, took out an insulating mat and laid it at the door, then pulled out a high-voltage detector.

With a sharp “beep,” Liu Rui jumped back in shock. “Boss, there’s high voltage on this door! 500 volts!”

“...”

This was unbelievable!

First shock, then delight.

Electricity.

Besides food, water, and medicine, electricity was what they needed most!

Bowl-Cut blurted out, “Holy shit!”—he was about to kneel and call her grandma.

Oh, right.

Jiang Yan was a woman.

So grandma would be more accurate.

Liu Dahong thought for a second and said, “Too bad our current disruptor is out of power, or we could use it. If all else fails, we’ll smash a window from the roof. Property management has spare glass for repairs, so it won’t affect future living.”

Gao Dazhuang looked at him. “Manager Liu, is it worth it? Isn’t this like turning tofu into pork?”

“Gao, you don’t get it. If the door’s electrified, the power source and equipment must be inside. With electricity, we can do a lot. Otherwise, when survivors from other complexes come, our electric batons will just be rubber pipes.” Liu Dahong laughed at himself.

Bowl-Cut, though he saw the point, joked, “But with all this thunder and lightning outside, who knows which unlucky bastard is swearing oaths and bringing the storm? If we go outside, we might get fried by lightning.”

The joke just made everyone feel colder.

Liu Rui packed up his tools and said, “Boss, I don’t recommend going outside. Even if we just lower someone down from the roof, we’d need metal tools to break the glass, and that could easily attract lightning.”

“Oh, come on, guys—can’t you think outside the box?” Zhang Qiqi piped up. “If people used to bore holes for light, we can bore holes for electricity. Look, isn’t there a ready-made entrance?”

She pointed her chin at 3202, Jiang Yan’s neighbor.

Sigh, am I too slow? (o(╥﹏╥)o) I didn’t finish. Let’s let the bad guys run wild for one more day."