Chapter 67: Ye Qing

Su Dai hesitated for a second, glancing at her husband out of the corner of her eye, and spoke gently:

“Little one, Auntie doesn’t have any candy.”

Looking at the child’s hungry, thin, and sallow face, she actually felt a bit sorry for him.

But seeing her husband’s tightly furrowed brows, it was clear he was telling her that now was not the time to give anything.

There were too many people around, and if they gave in now, the consequences would be unpredictable.

After all, sometimes you can choose to be kind, but you can’t choose to be brainless.

“Xiao Su, even if you don’t have candy, others do!” an elderly man with white hair spoke up shakily.

As he spoke, he lifted his dragon-headed cane and pointed at the half-bag of sugar peeking out from Tian Jiliang’s hand.

Tian Jiliang hadn’t expected to be called out like that. Without even thinking, he coldly refused:

“Uncle Zhang, sorry, I can’t give you any!”

“Uncle, why not?! You have so much—what’s wrong with giving us a little? We haven’t eaten properly in days!” another little boy said, aggrieved, and then burst into tears.

Two little girls simply stood up and ran toward Su Dai.

She was the only woman in the group.

Her appearance was gentle and delicate, completely non-threatening. She had no bloodstains on her, nor any weapons.

She was the only one the crowd wasn’t afraid of.

Seeing this, Sun Jingtao quickly stepped forward and shielded his wife behind him.

The two little girls caught a whiff of the blood on him and shrank back a little.

But after glancing back at the other elders and children, they turned around, plopped down on the ground, and each grabbed onto Sun Jingtao’s and Tian Jiliang’s calves.

“Uncle, give us candy!”

“Uncle, I want candy!”

Su Dai: “...”

Sun Jingtao was already carrying a pile of supplies, and wasn’t as agile as usual, so he couldn’t dodge in time.

Looking at the group of wailing children, he frowned deeply and took a long breath.

Tian Jiliang wanted to shake them off, but the kid was like a discus glued down with superglue, sitting right on his foot.

“Xiao Sun, Xiao Tian, the children are begging so pitifully—how can you be so heartless?!” the elders sitting on the ground continued to question them, unmoving.

Usually mild-mannered, Tian Jiliang was instantly angered by their words and shot back with a mocking retort:

“We’re heartless? And you’re not?! What about the parents of those kids behind you—are they heartless too?!”

He added angrily, “You’re using kids for this pitiful act—you might as well just come and rob us yourselves!”

If the adults had come up to rob them directly, like Liu Dahong and his gang, they would have already swung their weapons.

After the earlier “bloody battle,” everyone’s courage was not what it used to be.

But now, what they faced were the weak and defenseless—the elderly and children.

And they were all neighbors they’d known for years.

Some of those kids used to greet them with a cheerful “Uncle!” after work.

For a moment, they truly couldn’t bring themselves to act.

So this pitiful act was truly despicable and shameless!

“Xiao Tian, how can you talk like that?!” an old lady, face wrinkled, pushed herself up from the ground, full of bluster.

Maybe she’d sat too long on the cold floor—her legs were numb, and she stood up too quickly, so her head spun and she wobbled unsteadily.

“What do you mean, how can I talk like that? Auntie Ye, you’re practically shitting and pissing on our heads, and you’re blaming us for not handing you toilet paper?!” He cursed.

“Xiao Tian, you—” Auntie Ye was so choked by his words her face turned red and her neck bulged.

“Bang!”

Someone bumped into the fire door, and a metallic clang rang out.

At this sound, one of the elders quickly changed the subject:

“The point is, you can’t just keep all these supplies for yourselves!”

“That’s right! These supplies were sent by the government for all of us—they should be shared equally! What right do you have to keep them?”

Sun Jingtao had wanted to hold back and try to reason with them.

But seeing the situation, it was clearly impossible.

The other side was determined to drag things out, so he clenched his teeth and said in a low voice:

“Uncles, Aunties, we need to go upstairs—please let us through! If you don’t, don’t blame us for being rude!”

“Oh, Xiao Sun, aren’t you a government worker? Don’t talk so harshly. If this disaster passes and someone among us reports you by name, you’ll be in big trouble!”

That threat was worse than saying nothing at all.

“Heh, Sun Jingtao, who are you threatening? Here’s the deal—either you leave half the supplies for everyone, or you step over our corpses! We’re already half in the grave, we’re not afraid to die!” the old man with the dragon-headed cane said, getting up slowly.

Sun Jingtao was nearly driven mad by their unreasonable stance.

“Old Zhang, don’t you dare play the seniority card! You think we won’t do it?!” Tian Jiliang almost jumped up.

The elders’ faces were expressionless, as if they knew exactly where their limits lay.

Sun Jingtao’s frown deepened.

“Tao-ge,” Ye Qing suddenly stepped forward and whispered a few words in his ear.

While the others had been arguing, Ye Qing had quietly discussed something with the rest of the group.

Now it was his turn.

Sun Jingtao listened to his plan, looking troubled. “This... isn’t right, is it?”

“Tao-ge, my parents died because criminals took children and elders hostage. They softened and traded their lives for the hostages—only to find out those ‘hostages’ were the criminals’ own family. What’s the difference between those people and these? They know there’s danger, but still push kids and parents forward as human shields. How are they any different from scum?”

Seeing Sun Jingtao’s hesitation, Ye Qing added,

“Tao-ge, remember: in the apocalypse, your kindness can’t feed the evil in human nature.”

“...” Sun Jingtao stared at his cold, thin, serious face, dazed:

What on earth has this kid been through all these years?!

Ye Qing ignored his complicated gaze, strode forward, and swept a cold glance over the crowd. His voice was icy as he said:

“Grandpas, Grandmas, I’m young and hot-tempered. I’ll count to three—if you still don’t move, don’t blame us for what happens next!”

The elders shrank back at his words and the murderous look in his eyes, but then put on a “dead pigs aren’t afraid of boiling water” attitude.

Ye Qing barked, “One!”

The elders instinctively prepared to count along in their heads, but before they could, Ye Qing waved his hand and the group surged forward.

Before the elders could react, they were grabbed by the collars and dragged to the side.

“What?!”

“Ow, my old bones!”

“He didn’t even count to three! Young people these days have no honor!”

“Murder! Help!”

“...”

Everything happened in a flash.

“Bang!!”

Ye Qing strode up to the tightly closed fire door and kicked it hard.

“Bang!”

“Ow!”

A muffled thud came from behind the fire door—someone’s head had been hit by the iron door."