Chapter 97: Surrounded

Jiang Yan shot him a cold look, raised an eyebrow, and smirked, “Oh? Feeling soft-hearted? How about you split half the fish you caught with me?”

“Come on, don’t twist my words! How is that the same thing?!” The man was instantly annoyed.

After all, Jiang Yan was just a young girl. In his eyes, she posed no threat whatsoever.

There were a few others nearby, but they were all busy teaming up to catch fish, not interested in butting in.

“Hey, what’s wrong with you guys? Have you all gotten soft from hiding at home lately?! She’s just a lone little girl—why waste so much breath on her?

If she’s being unreasonable, then we don’t need to play nice either! If she won’t lend it, let’s just take it!”

The man wiped rainwater from his face, spat into the water, and spoke viciously.

Someone nearby glanced at Jiang Yan warily and said, “Liu Yang, the official boat came by today. You really dare try to rob her?”

If this had been yesterday, robbing or even killing someone wouldn’t have been up for debate.

But ever since the official boat showed up, the sense of law and morality that everyone had long abandoned started creeping back in.

“Scared of what? You think they have the time to care about this crap now? Hell, even if they do come after us, at least we’ll get fed in jail!”

“Exactly! She’s just a girl, and by the looks of it, nobody cares about her! Otherwise, she’d have a boyfriend or a dad with her. Since she’s alone, what’s there to be afraid of?”

The others exchanged glances for a moment.

Someone sharp-eyed looked at Jiang Yan and quickly put the pieces together.

A young woman, able to paddle a rubber dinghy out in this environment and make it back safely—she clearly wasn’t ordinary.

People like that are good at playing weak to trick others. Obviously, she wasn’t someone to mess with.

But greed flickered in a few eyes, and some men started edging closer to Jiang Yan’s boat, eager to try their luck.

In their minds, in times like these, just taking her boat was already more “moral” than taking both her boat and her body.

They told themselves they were at least giving her some dignity, since they were all neighbors from the same complex.

Jiang Yan swept a cold gaze over the men swimming toward her, her face expressionless as she kept paddling forward.

“Slap!”

“Slap!” Two of the faster swimmers reached out and grabbed the edge of her rubber dinghy.

Jiang Yan turned, took a breath, and said icily, “Let go.”

The two exchanged glances, smirked, and didn’t move an inch.

“Swish!”

“Aaagh!” The sound of a blade being drawn and a scream rang out at the same time.

Red blood mixed with rainwater dripped into the water.

Jiang Yan’s wrist-mounted dart was already aimed at the next man.

“Ah! Don’t kill me!” The man hurriedly pulled his hand back.

The other men who’d been about to close in on her hesitated, their eyes flickering with fear, and froze in place.

Having made her point, Jiang Yan couldn’t be bothered to waste more words. Taking advantage of the path they’d instinctively cleared, she quickly paddled toward the window of Building A, 16th floor.

“Old Zhao, isn’t that the girl from 32nd floor, Building A?” One of the men from Building A, who’d been watching Jiang Yan, suddenly blurted out.

“Who?”

Another man from Building A looked at him like he was an idiot, glanced at Jiang Yan, and then seemed to realize something, unconsciously stepping back.

Jiang Yan was wearing rain goggles and a raincoat, so even people who knew her might not recognize her at first glance.

Besides, some of these people only knew her name, not her face.

To many, Jiang Yan—the one who exposed the truth about the blood mosquitoes and led the charge to wipe out Liu Dahong’s gang—was someone to be respected and admired.

Of course, there was also some fear.

After all, rumor had it she had a gun, and was a crack shot.

Some people were just curious or gossipy.

Even though the internet was down, some still connected this Jiang Yan to the billionaire heiress whose mother had been involved in a real-life “Vanishing Woman” case.

Given her background, it was strange for her to show up in Qianshui Bay.

But whether someone rises to glory or falls from grace, it’s all just gossip for people to chat about over meals.

The rest of the crowd didn’t understand the earlier exchange, and after glancing at each other, fell silent.

They were from other buildings, and didn’t know Jiang Yan or the so-called “32nd floor of Building A.”

But the first troublemaker’s arm had already been pierced by a strange blade.

Scenes like this used to only happen in TV dramas or movies.

Seeing it in real life was truly chilling.

Meanwhile, the group crowded at the 16th floor window of Building A had watched everything unfold.

As Jiang Yan paddled her dinghy toward the window, the people blocking the corridor entrance quickly pressed themselves against the wall to make way.

The dinghy soon reached the window.

The people who’d been shocked moments ago now wore expressions of curiosity, waiting to see how she’d haul the heavy, oversized dinghy inside.

Some even got ready to help if she asked.

The water level was still the same as two days ago, maybe even a bit lower.

Jiang Yan first pressed the dinghy tightly against the wall, then pushed herself up onto the windowsill with both hands, easily flipping herself inside.

She secured the rope, gave it a tug, and hauled the dinghy up after her.

Under the stunned, indifferent gazes of the crowd, Jiang Yan single-handedly dragged the dinghy inside.

She took off her raincoat, stuffed it into a white plastic bag, then hoisted the dinghy onto her shoulder and headed for the fire door.

“Damn, did that girl grow up eating iron?” someone muttered as they watched her walk away.

“No wonder she talks so tough, like she doesn’t care about anyone.”

“Hmph, she won’t be cocky for long.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ll tell you in secret—I heard when the official boat came today…”

Jiang Yan didn’t hear the rest.

Nor did she care.

There weren’t many people in the stairwell.

Maybe it was because so many people had been going up and down the past three days, but most of the “mystery stains” had been wiped away by everyone’s shoes.

Still, the smell was strong.

At the landing on the 17th floor, Jiang Yan wiped the water from her face, pulled a mask from her storage, and put it on. She also took out a flashlight.

Carrying the dinghy, she quickly made her way up to the 31st floor.

From a distance, she could already hear a heated argument upstairs.

“Ye Qing, Sun Jingtao, I’m warning you! If you don’t open the door, when the officials come tomorrow, you’ll be sorry!”"