Jing An had been frowning, thinking of a way to help his daughter regain her dignity, but he was startled by her domineering approach.
After piercing the peephole, Jing Shu smoothly inserted the hooked iron wire inside. With a slight pull, she unlatched the door from within. Ten years into the apocalypse, if you didn't max out skills like lockpicking and window climbing, you couldn't survive.
Next year, when the sea level would rise and the central area of Wu City would be submerged, anyone who hadn't mastered this skill wouldn't even be able to scavenge submerged supplies. The fast ones would snatch goods and trade them for food. The slow ones would be left with nothing but red nematodes to eat.
In her past life, Jing Shu was always one step behind, reduced to eating red nematodes. There's a saying that "eating poop is not as good as hot poop". That was how her past life felt. Fortunately, driven by hunger, she had learned many skills to secure good food. When a former slacker gains motivation, the results can be terrifying.
With a single kick, Jing Shu slammed the door open and was the first to enter, Jing An following close behind.
Wang Qiqi was a step behind and got smacked on the forehead by the rebounding door. "Ow!" Wang Qiqi held back a scream, then yelled out, "Gou Yitian, let's see if you dare to run your mouth now!"
The dark apartment hit them with a wave of scorching air and a stench of urine and feces. Jing Shu nearly gagged from the smell.
Jing An shone his flashlight onto Gou Yitian, who was lying on the sofa in nothing but underwear, clutching his phone, wide-eyed in shock.
After months without vitamins or proper nutrition, and having his food wiped out by carrion scavengers, Gou Yitian's bulging, lifeless eyes, sunken cheeks, messy beard, and foul stench reflected the miserable state most people lived in now.
"H-how did you get in here?" Gou Yitian couldn't believe these people had barged right in. Were they demons? That loud bang earlier—had they actually broken the door? But so what? Their group, "Bì Rì," was planning a big operation today. With his guidance, they'd take over the community in no time.
What could this group do, kill him? If they couldn't, they were doomed anyway. Gou Yitian seethed inwardly.
Jing An rolled up his sleeves, ready to teach the boy a lesson. Wang Qiqi opened his mouth to speak, but froze.
Because Jing Shu had already launched a kick. Without aiming carefully, she went for his head. When he covered his head, she kicked his stomach. When he covered his stomach, she went lower. Gou Yitian didn't even understand what was happening before being ruthlessly beaten.
How strong was Jing Shu? Nobody knew.
Gou Yitian only knew that the first kick felt like being stomped by an elephant. The pain was so intense he couldn't speak, only scream.
Then Jing Shu's foot landed on two soft spots.
He thought he heard a crunching sound. Agonizing pain shot from his lower body to his kidneys, stealing his breath, and he passed out.
"Still want to play tough? Still pretending?" Jing Shu kicked him a few more times to make sure he was out cold, then stopped, feeling satisfied.
Wang Qiqi's jaw dropped and stayed that way. He shuddered, especially recalling Gou Yitian's twisted expression at that last kick. His teeth chattered. "D-did you... kill him?" This wasn't at all how he pictured this going!
Even Jing An flinched. Only men could truly understand that kind of pain.
"He's fine. He's alive." Jing Shu quickly tied Gou Yitian's wrists and ankles together with the hooked wire, securing a deadly knot that tightened with every struggle. Without pliers, even a knife couldn't cut through it.
"Alright. Call that lady here. We'll deal with this together."
Wang Xuemei arrived and, through tears, pounded Gou Yitian awake again. To Wang Qiqi and Jing An, this felt like how a woman should vent her anger. Jing Shu's method was... well... cough.
Jing Shu and Wang Xuemei agreed: this scum couldn't be left alive. Jing An felt the same but thought it wasn't worth going to prison for. Wang Qiqi's biggest worry was, "If we let him go, he'll get revenge. But we don't dare kill him either."
Jing Shu smashed every piece of tech—computer, TV, phone, chargers, power banks—into scraps. She then wound the wire securing Gou Yitian's limbs through the wooden frame of the sofa, stuffing his socks in his mouth and taping them in place.
"This way, he can't call for help or escape. Unless he carries the sofa with him, he's not going anywhere."
Gou Yitian glared at Jing Shu with hatred, muffled grunts of rage escaping his gag. He hunched over, legs spread, hands and feet tied together. He couldn't even twitch. In his heart, he cursed this group a thousand times.
With his limbs bound and tied to the sofa, Gou Yitian couldn't even stand up, much less leave the apartment.
"He won't be able to run, and he won't be able to eat or drink." Wang Qiqi silently gave him three seconds of mourning.
He was going to starve, dehydrate, or overheat to death. In the early days of the apocalypse, few people could bring themselves to kill outright.
Jing Shu planned to sneak out later that night and kill him with the "Paper Mask" method.
That meant soaking sheets of paper in water and layering them over someone's face until they suffocated. Most people died after five sheets. This method left no visible wounds, and when Wang Qiqi came back later, he'd just assume Gou Yitian had died of heat or thirst. No one would suspect her.
On the way back, Jing An looked uneasy. "Are you sure this is okay? Won't the police come after us? Murder is still illegal. Isn't there a way to handle this without killing?"
"Dad, if he lives, he'll come back with reinforcements. And the police? They don't have time for us. There are so many robberies and murders in the city they can't even keep up."
"Half the armed police are stationed at the artificial sun site, the rest guarding granaries and government facilities, and vegetable distribution centers." Jing Shu thought again of Wu You'ai's predictions. Wu City had a police force of 200,000, yet even if this was a planned riot, how had they vanished?
"Forget it. This isn't something I can figure out." Jing Shu shook her head. The truth was beyond what an ordinary citizen like her could comprehend. Back home, she went about her daily routine of walking Xiao Dou and cleaning the Cube Space.
The ten black pigs were nearly grown. She needed to make arrangements soon.
After an unscrupulous farm had secretly released poultry, causing the carrion scavenger outbreak that nearly wiped out all birds, only a few survived in rural homes or climate-controlled facilities.
A live pig was more precious than grain or water, and money couldn't guarantee one.
Thinking of how to handle the pigs, Jing Shu brought Xiao Dou to the site where six people had died days earlier. The soil there was soft, caving in at the slightest touch. Countless carrion scavenger larvae squirmed through the corpses, hollowing them out.
Xiao Dou enjoyed a hearty meal, and Jing Shu collected some larvae to feed the frogs. She estimated the supply would keep Xiao Dou fed for days.
That evening, while the family was enjoying dinner, Jing Shu's phone buzzed again. She glanced at it casually, as usual.
[Wang Xuemei No. 2]: "@Xiaoshu from the Villa District, you're next. Are you ready?"