Chapter 135: Chapter 135: The 22nd Circle of Hell

“You’re coming out now acting like some kind of heroes? What the hell were you doing earlier!!

Don’t think we’ll thank you! If my son or daughter dies, I’ll haunt you as a vengeful ghost for the rest of my life!!”

“Right! We’ll never let you off the hook even as ghosts!” the others also shouted.

Upon hearing this, Su Dai’s anger shot up.

These words were plainly illogical and biased:

“Look, Brother Niu, blame rightly if you must. Aren’t you picking on the wrong people?! You ask what we were doing earlier, then what about you all?! A few of you were fooled by a handful of others. Now you’re blaming us; are you making any sense?!”

If they had been united earlier, or had communicated better among themselves, they would not have allowed the bad guys to exploit the situation.

The man knew he was in the wrong, but his words were not the least bit conciliatory:

“I remember you’re called Su Dai, right? Don’t act all high and mighty! I’m telling you, if you don’t rescue our sons and daughters from Ma Longbiao’s clutches, you can forget about living in peace at Shallow Bay!” The man waved his fist and huffed angrily.

“I–” Su Dai nearly broke down in frustration at their unreasonable demands.

“Whether we rescue them or not is up to us to decide, not you,” Ye Qing said, taking a deep breath and speaking coldly.

It would have been easier if the other side was composed of bad guys; she would have dealt with them with a thrashing.

But they were neighbors, and what’s more, neighbors caught in a stranglehold. Even if they won these petty quarrels, what good would it do?

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On this point, her and Sun Jingtao resonated without speaking.

So the two of them chose to show restraint in the face of the crowd’s nonsense, for the time being.

“Xiao Ye, you wet behind the ears–” the man’s words cut off abruptly.

Jiang Yan glanced at him.

Her gaze carried authority and intimidation, and the man choked on his words.

Jiang Yan looked over at Sun Jingtao and said:

“Take Yinping upstairs. Ye Qing and I will handle downstairs.”

Jiang Yan had sensed that these people seemed to be intentionally dragging their feet.

The bickering and cursing were as childish as child’s play.

The words Yinping had mentioned about the ‘living dead’ on the 22nd floor lingered in her mind. She felt she had to check it out or it would haunt her.

Besides, it was obvious that Yinping couldn’t be left alone with those residents upstairs–it would be better for Sun Jingtao and the others to take him up and interrogate him first.

Maybe by the time she and Ye Qing were done checking, they would have gotten some information out of him.

“That works,” Sun Jingtao nodded.

Their inspection of the 29th floor had already caused a delay.

Now, splitting up would increase their efficiency.

Jiang Yan took the lead, and the crowd downstairs naturally made way.

Ye Qing handed the shotgun to Sun Jingtao, took the fire axe from him, and quickly followed her.

“Lady, I–I really can’t walk anymore!” Dao Yinping, his legs trembling, looked desperately at Jiang Yan’s retreating back, on the verge of tears.

It had taken all he had just to stand there; the wound seemed to have clotted, and the pain had lessened significantly.

If he had to climb stairs now and tear the wound open, it would undoubtedly cause a blood gush and unbearable agony.

Asking him to go upstairs now–was that even human?!

But Jiang Yan didn’t look back and had already disappeared around the corner of the 28th floor.

“Let’s go,” Sun Jingtao’s two neighbors glared at him.

Dao Yinping gritted his teeth, lifted his leg to take a step on the stair, and already sweat poured from his face in pain. He stopped Sun Jingtao, pleading:

“Brother, I’ll tell you everything I know, just please–either spare me… or ask Jiang Yan to give me a bullet and let me die swiftly.”

He couldn’t bear the torment for a second longer!

*

Meanwhile, Jiang Yan and Ye Qing proceeded downstairs.

The two were puzzled as they descended from the 29th to the 23rd floor, encountering not a single extra resident aside from those they had seen above.

And the lower they went, the stronger the smell of blood became.

Ye Qing even knocked on a few doors, but no one answered.

However, the rustling and whispered conversations indicated that there were definitely people inside–and not just a few.

Ye Qing tried reassuring and goading them out, but as usual, no one opened the door.

Additionally, unlike the tightly shut fire doors of the 31st and 30th floors, the lower floors had their fire doors wide open.

There was nobody in the hallways.

The place was cluttered with piles of furniture, some bedding and tents, and a few fire pits.

It appeared that some people were living in the hallways.

“Jiang Yan, do you think the people living outside in the hallways could be those who went upstairs a while ago?” Ye Qing furrowed his brow and analyzed.

Jiang Yan nodded, “Very likely.”

According to what Sun Jingtao and Tian Jiliang had said, those who had gone upstairs might have been bought off by Ma Longbiao’s group.

They were said to have the authority to manage the remaining residents and received more food than the ordinary ones, and they weren’t assigned to go out foraging for food and fishing.

As for why they chose to live in the hallways rather than in their rooms, there could be two possibilities:

1. The rooms were too crammed with people.

2. Living outside provided more space for fires and warmth and also served as surveillance.

Jiang Yan estimated that Shallow Bay had five buildings in total, so there should be at least a couple of thousand residents.

The heatwave and the Blood Mosquitoes had taken almost all the elderly.

Some children and young people had disappeared as well.

And a few hundred had gone to the official base.

No matter what, there should still be around one or two thousand people.

The remaining four buildings could accommodate at most seven or eight hundred people.

On this side of Building A, there were about eight or nine hundred.

Divided among six floors, each floor would have to cram in 150 people in the rooms. The overcrowding would be like stuffing chopsticks in a jar.

It was obviously unreasonable.

“Should we break the doors down?” Ye Qing inquired of Jiang Yan.

“No, let’s check the 22nd floor first.” Jiang Yan shone her flashlight down onto the corridor of the 22nd floor and froze.

At this moment, the water level had reached the baseboards of the corridor.

The water wasn’t deep, but at first glance, it looked like red dye had been added–it was a shocking sight, tinged red.

There were also darker streams of blood seeping from several doors on the 22nd floor.

Ye Qing saw it too.

The two exchanged glances, sensing trouble, and hurried down the stairs.

“Jiang Yan, cover your ears.” After Ye Qing spoke, she lifted the fire axe and rapidly hacked at the door lock of Apartment 2203.

Soon, amid the piercing sound of metal striking metal, the lock was broken.

Ye Qing raised her leg and kicked the door open with a “bang.”

A foul stench mixed with the smell of rotting flesh and blood rushed out overpoweringly.

“!!!!!!”

The sight inside made both their pupils shrink and their breath hitch.

Starting from the entrance hall of Apartment 2203, the room was filled with a mass of corpses, like a small mountain.

Above the mound of bodies,

several large Mutated Leeches, engorged with blood, were slowly wriggling their round, shiny black bodies.