Chapter 25: Open the Door! We're the Rescue Team!

The news that Chang Jieming had set up checkpoints to collect food quickly reached Fei Chengqiang. Fei Chengqiang was not an ordinary person; he immediately dispatched his men to take action. Anyone seeking shelter here would have to pay rent. The rent was not high, ensuring that those coming to find refuge could afford it. In this way, they could gather enough food to weather this crisis.

The various groups seeking shelter wanted to argue, pointing out that they had already surrendered food upon entry—why were they being asked to give more? “We don't concern ourselves with the security team's affairs, but these houses are ours. If you want to stay, you have to pay rent,” said Fei Chengqiang's men. Paying rent for a place to stay was reasonable—there was no way to refute it. Seeing the determination on Fei Chengqiang's side, the refugees reconsidered and handed over some food as rent. The negotiations went smoothly, without conflict. Fei Chengqiang's group successfully collected a large amount of grain. For a long while, they would not have to worry about food, so long as they could guard their stores.

The only trouble came from the construction site workers. “We have only two bags of water-soaked rice left. We can't afford your rent,” the foreman said, pointing to the bags. Bringing even those two bags here had been no easy feat.

“If you can't pay rent, then we can't rent to you—we want to survive too,” Fei Chengqiang replied. The foreman's expression shifted, and the workers behind him, who had looked numb and indifferent, now stared eagerly at the food Fei Chengqiang had collected, their eyes glowing with a hungry green light.

Fei Chengqiang continued, “But there’s a place with better conditions than ours, and you don’t need to pay rent there.” The foreman silently fixed his gaze on Fei Chengqiang. “It’s the villa district,” Fei Chengqiang explained. “The people managing those villas are dead. If you pry open the doors, you can move in. Some of the villas had deaths inside—you can avoid those.” The foreman looked toward the villas and said, “Thank you.”

Watching the workers leave, Fei Chengqiang wiped the sweat from his brow. When he was starving, he would have fought heaven and earth, but now that he had food, he wanted no more battles. With teammates who would abandon those fighting by their side for a single meal, he couldn't help it. Many in his group were injured; he had no strength for a second conflict.

Sending the construction workers to the villa district was a calculated decision. That morning, someone had reported seeing the supposedly dead Song Sandao, carrying a corpse around the villas—it was terrifying. Fei Chengqiang never believed in ghosts, but this incident was far too strange.

He was convinced there were no ghosts in this world. So, whatever his men had seen, it must have been a living person. He couldn't be sure of the details, but one thing was certain: Old Song was alive. Everyone had thought Old Song was an honest man—who could have guessed how ruthless he’d be when it came to blows? Once he recovered, he was sure to seek revenge here. If the construction workers clashed with Old Song and both sides suffered, that would be ideal.

Soon, the workers arrived in the villa district. At first, they worried that Chang Jieming and Fei Chengqiang were passing the buck and setting them up. But after choosing a few vacant villas, they found the conditions genuinely good. After days of trekking through torrential rain, they finally had a safe place to sleep. The foreman noticed that not only his group but also some new villagers, students, and city residents were searching for empty villas.

At noon, a piercing scream echoed from one of the villas. Inside, someone had discovered several cleaned human skeletons, with congealed blood all over the living room and kitchen. There were also many strips of smoked meat and four socialites who had completely lost their minds. No one who entered failed to vomit.

Outside, there was movement. Su Miao stood on the second floor, looking toward the landslide zone. She saw a team of eight, dragging two inflatable assault boats, climbing up. These were truly fierce people—braving a torrential downpour and the rushing waters of the landslide area, where a single misstep could sweep them away. How could they risk such danger?

Su Miao watched them closely. They glanced around, then headed to the nearest villa. About ten minutes later, they left, moving to the next villa. Were they planning to search every villa? Su Miao grew nervous. She went downstairs, looked at the half-missing front door, and devised a plan. Entering a ground-floor room, she activated her magical space, stowed several large cabinets and beds, then brought them out again at the entrance. In the blink of an eye, the doorway was blocked—perfect! If these newcomers saw the blocked entrance and still tried to force it open, they were up to no good. She wouldn’t hesitate to shoot them with her crossbow.

Having finished, Su Miao returned to the second floor and peered through the curtains downstairs. About half an hour later, someone arrived outside her villa.

“Bro, there’s someone inside—the door’s blocked,” one of them said.

“We’re here to search for supplies. If someone’s in there, let’s not go in,” another replied.

“Look, isn’t that blood at the entrance? Maybe someone inside is in danger,” someone else suggested.

“If there’s trouble, we have to help. Guys, let’s figure out how to break this door open.” Noticing the bloodstains near the door, they discussed and quickly made their decision.

Not long after entering the scenic area, they had already scoped out the situation. There were mainly two factions: the security team led by Chang Jieming and the group at the ruins led by Fei Chengqiang, with Brother Long in charge of the villa district. But after entering the villa area, aside from the horrific crime scenes left by Brother Long’s people, they found no trace of them. Given the complicated situation, it was likely those people were gone. In other words, apart from a few scattered tourists in hiding, the villa district was empty. They could do as they pleased.

“Is anyone inside? We’re the rescue team. Is anyone hurt? Please move what’s blocking the door and let us in!” they shouted. When no one responded, they began to bash the door and the barricading cabinet. The door was tough, but smashing the cabinet wasn’t too hard—just a matter of time.

“We have food and medicine!” they called as they worked. Su Miao was terrified and wanted to hide in the upstairs living room.

At that moment, Xia Xiaoan, who had been resting, came out of her room, shivering with fear. “Sister Su, there are bad people downstairs.”

Su Miao glanced at Xia Xiaoan, blinked, and gave up on hiding in a box. “Xiaoan, it’s alright. You go back to rest,” she reassured her. Then, crossbow in hand, Su Miao mustered her courage for nearly a minute before speaking: “We don’t need your help here. Please leave…”

The banging stopped. “Miss, please open the door! We’re the rescue team! We have food and medicine!” someone called from outside. But this time, Su Miao gave no reply.

After a dozen seconds of silence, they resumed their efforts, banging on the door with even more excitement. Before long, they smashed a hole through the barricading cabinet and saw Su Miao standing inside, trembling with her crossbow raised, ready to shoot at any moment.