Chapter 16: Please, Stop Trembling

Su Miao was terrified.

But the two sturdy young men who had come upstairs were even more frightened.

Especially the one in front, cursing under his breath, gripping a steel pipe. He looked up and saw Su Miao huddled, trembling at the second-floor landing, then glanced down at the crossbow bolt embedded in his own chest.

“What the hell—”

The steel pipe slipped from his hand.

Tears of regret rolled down his cheeks.

His lifeless body collapsed, tumbling down the stairs with a thud.

“Don’t do anything rash, don’t do anything rash—it’s all a misunderstanding...” The remaining young man holding a steel pipe began to shake uncontrollably.

How could someone kill without saying a word? And acting so terrified—wasn’t that dangerous? One wrong move, an uncontrolled crossbow bolt, and someone could get hurt.

His pleas only made Su Miao tremble harder, especially the hand gripping the crossbow.

“I beg you, please, don’t shake—steady your aim, I’ll leave right now, just don’t kill me...” The young man dropped his steel pipe. “See? I’ve dropped it.”

He fumbled behind him, pulled out a hatchet, and tossed it aside. “Please, I beg you, don’t shake anymore, I—I—what the hell—”

The more he pleaded, the more violently Su Miao shook.

She was truly terrified.

Two strangers had suddenly broken in, and one of them was actually trying to talk to her. It was too much to bear.

A single careless moment, a shudder—

A flash of cold steel.

The crossbow bolt pierced straight through the young man’s throat.

Xia Xiao’an stared in disbelief, tears streaming down her face as she watched everything unfold before her eyes.

She couldn’t comprehend how, just seconds ago, the utterly petrified Su Miao, cowering and trembling in the corner, had somehow appeared at the landing and, despite shaking all over, managed to shoot and kill two strangers with deadly precision.

Normally, if someone’s hands were trembling that badly, how could they possibly shoot a crossbow with such accuracy?

Yet the first man had taken two bolts to the heart.

The second had been struck right through the throat.

With so many absurdities already, the question of how Su Miao—who had nothing in her hands moments ago—had conjured a crossbow seemed wholly unimportant.

Just as before, once she had confirmed both men were dead, Su Miao no longer seemed afraid.

Xia Xiao’an watched Su Miao descend the stairs, expertly pull the bolts from the corpses, then laboriously drag the bodies to the door and push them out into the rain, letting the gushing water carry them away.

Only when the bodies vanished did Su Miao finally relax.

“Sister, what should we do now?”

Xia Xiao’an came downstairs, her gaze troubled as she looked at the shattered front door.

With the door destroyed, the torrential rain poured inside again and again—the villa was no longer livable.

Su Miao rinsed the bolts, then stored them all in her magical space.

She stared at the ruined door, a chill running down her spine.

Weren’t these tourist villas supposed to be extremely secure? How could the front door be smashed apart after just ten minutes of pounding with a hatchet?

If that was the case, the claims about bulletproof glass throughout the villa district were likely lies as well.

But the tourism company in charge had been buried in the mudslide. Even if Su Miao wanted to file a complaint, there was nowhere to turn.

“We’ll stay in another empty villa,” Su Miao said, producing the administrator’s access card she’d acquired last time. With this card, she could open any villa in the district.

She’d made a point of observing after moving in—none of the nearby villas were occupied.

Just to be sure, when Customer Service Xiao Yan had delivered some supplies, Su Miao had specifically asked about it.

The villas closer to the east were out of the question—they were too close to the sinkhole and mudslide area, where further collapse might occur.

So Su Miao chose a villa at the front row near the west.

“Let’s go,” she said simply, gathering her things. Even though most items were stored in her magical space, she still brought out a suitcase for appearances’ sake.

Xia Xiao’an had no suitcase, so she stuffed her clothes into Su Miao’s. In truth, all these clothes had been given to her by Su Miao.

As she packed, Xia Xiao’an grew more and more confused.

Inside Su Miao’s suitcase were only a laptop, a few essential clothes, and her own clothes—still not a scrap of food.

So where did the beef hotpot, instant noodles, fish congee, fried dough sticks, and savory pancakes she ate every day come from?

Xia Xiao’an was puzzled, but she didn’t ask.

Without Su Miao, she would have been dead long ago.

“Take this,” Su Miao said, picking up a steel pipe from the floor and handing it to Xia Xiao’an. “Use it for support.”

Xia Xiao’an nodded. “Okay.”

And so, the two of them stepped out into the pouring rain.

Thanks to the depression left by the mudslide, the rainwater covering the area was only about twenty centimeters deep.

Su Miao considered opening her umbrella-sword for some shelter from the deluge, but the wind was far too strong.

She worried that if she opened the umbrella, she might be swept into the sky—an alarming thought.

So, braving the storm, the two of them made their way to another empty villa. Its entrance was intact—clearly, whoever had been breaking doors knew this one was unoccupied.

Su Miao led Xia Xiao’an inside. Both were soaked to the bone and looked utterly bedraggled.

Upon entering, Su Miao’s first task was to check the water, electricity, and gas.

Clean tap water flowed, the power was on, and the gas supply was steady.

What luck!

“Xiao’an, there’s water, electricity, and gas here. Let’s shower first and avoid catching cold,” Su Miao said, delighted.

Xia Xiao’an brightened. “Okay!”

...

“Those bastards!”

Fei Chengqiang arrived with his group at the area where the security team had previously hidden.

But only piles of trash remained; there was no sign of the security team.

“Chang Jieming, I’ll see you dead!” Fei Chengqiang was furious.

He’d gathered so many brothers to fight tooth and nail in the villa district, lost several men, and only just managed to stockpile a little food—only for the security team to steal their base right out from under them.

“Fei, all our food’s been taken. If we don’t do something, we’ll all go hungry. What now?” someone asked anxiously.

To stretch supplies, they’d all been rationed to barely enough to survive each day.

Now, with their food gone, things had become dire.

“Assign some men to track down the security team. We must get our provisions back,” Fei Chengqiang said, eyes flashing with malice. “As for food, for now we’ll just have to borrow some from others to get through the next couple of days.”

...

That afternoon, restaurant staff and shopkeepers who hadn’t joined Fei Chengqiang’s group were rooted out one by one. Any food they had was taken—even little girls’ lollipops, low-quality cat food, and dog food weren’t spared.

If anyone dared resist, they were beaten mercilessly.

“We said we’d just borrow a bite to eat—why won’t you share?” Fei Chengqiang asked, reaching out for the machete his lackey handed over, eyeing a merchant who clung to a box of instant noodles.

“You animals! This isn’t borrowing—you’re taking all our food, you’re leaving us to die!” The elderly merchant, even faced with a machete, stood his ground, refusing to let go of the last box of noodles.

Without another word, Fei Chengqiang swung the heavy blade down.

Blood spattered more than a yard up the wall.