Chapter 80: Chapter 80: The Well Water Does Not Offend the River Water

“Jiang Yan, your smile is really beautiful!” Su Dai sincerely complemented with starry eyes.

The comment made Jiang Yan a bit embarrassed.

Previously, she had always worn a mask when going out, and neither Ye Qing nor Sun Jingtao had seen her real face.

Moreover, her phone had long since run out of battery, so Su Dai had no way to show them her favorite idol.

Now, everyone had finally met “face to face.”

Although their relationship hadn’t heated up to an explosive degree in seconds, it was obviously much closer than a few days ago.

After giggling and covering her mouth, Jiang Yan glanced at them and said,

“Thank you all for today; I’ll head home first.”

Just now, when the Scarred Man had been threatening her, the Cannibal Flower was itching to jump out and bite him, but she restrained it.

At this moment, she had to go home and soothe her “baby.”

Plus, she was sweaty from head to toe after smoking half a day in a “manure pit,” and she wanted to go home and take a shower.

Listening to her polite words, Su Dai, full of righteousness, almost patted her chest as she said,

“Jiang Yan, you’re being too polite. We actually didn’t help much! Just now, all we did was steady the situation for you, haha!”

Sun Jingtao, looking at his wife who was laughing heartily, also revealed a relieved smile.

After losing their unexpected child, Su Dai had been depressed for a while.

Although she had recovered, her overall state had not been as good as before.

The apocalypse had struck, and although they lived a meager life lacking food and clothing, his wife’s mood and spirit had been getting better lately, evidently thanks to Jiang Yan.

It demonstrated the great power of having a role model to look up to.

Thinking of this, he felt even more grateful to Jiang Yan.

“Jiang Yan, keep these Fish Shooting Guns safe,” Ye Qing, who had been standing quietly by the side, said as he handed over the stack of Fish Shooting Guns they had confiscated when he heard Jiang Yan was going back.

Hearing this, Su Dai playfully slapped his arm and scolded,

“Xiao Ye, show some respect, call her ‘Sister.'”

Ye Qing: “…”

“Shouldn’t he be calling her ‘little sister’ instead of ‘sister’ as it makes one sound old?” influenced by his wife’s playful mood, Sun Jingtao chimed in with a joke.

Ye Qing looked at Jiang Yan, who was younger than him, swallowed hard, but ultimately did not respond.

The remaining three burst into laughter again.

The atmosphere was warm and lively, hardly like they were in the apocalypse.

“Forget it, what we call each other isn’t important; names or titles are just aliases, whatever rolls off the tongue, just use that.” Jiang Yan changed the topic, took two Fish Shooting Guns from Ye Qing, and said:

“I’ll just take these two, the rest you can keep.”

Hearing this, Su Dai panicked, “Jiang Yan, that’s not right, these are your spoils of war!”

“I don’t need that many,” Jiang Yan said with a smile.

She lacked nothing in her Space, least of all Fish Shooting Guns.

The ones the Scarred Man and his group had were mainly for targeting small freshwater fish and had limited range.

The ones she kept in her Space were specially made for targeting large sea fish during sea fishing.

Their size, strength, intensity, range, fish darts, and ropes, etc., were all professionally customized.

They were far more effective for both fishing and fighting.

However, if she declined to take any, it would seem rather odd, so she took two just for the sake of appearance.

Su Dai wanted to argue further, but Sun Jingtao held her back:

“Let’s just accept graciously what Jiang Yan is offering us.” After saying this, he glanced warily at the fire exit door and then continued speaking to Jiang Yan:

“Jiang Yan, there is something else I wanted to mention. The people you encountered earlier are not from our district.” He paused before adding:

“To be precise, they are a gang.”

The word “gang” was usually associated with groups involved in misdeeds or crimes.

“I only found out about them this morning when I went downstairs. They had taken advantage of the slight drizzle to sneak into our district. They initially hid in homes that were empty with Liu Dahong’s help. After Liu Dahong’s group died, they started to be openly arrogant.

Currently, it seems that they have taken control of the residents below the 20th floor. This gang is actually a subcontracted property management team from Golden Shield Security Company local to the Sunshine Symphony District, lead by a man called Ma Longbiao.

I had heard of him before; he has a criminal record and has spent time in jail, he has been involved in the underworld for quite a long time. Somehow, he managed to whitewash his past and joined Golden Shield Security Company, even becoming the property manager of the neighboring district.”

It seemed that Sun Jingtao had more detailed information than she did.

However, she did not care much whether the other party had a criminal record or who they were.

Speaking of criminal records.

After the apocalypse, everyone had more or less blood on their hands.

The difference was, some acted out of aggression, while others out of self-defense.

But the outcome was fundamentally the same.

She was more curious about these people controlling the lower floors.

Thinking of that, she asked: “Controlled everything, what do you mean?”

“They mostly stay indoors during the day playing cards or sleeping, then every evening at eight they go to these floors to collect stuff; anyone who can’t hand over what they want gets off easy with a beating, and at worst–”

The rest of his words went unspoken, but everyone understood the implications.

Jiang Yan was even more puzzled: “But the stuff inside these homes, after being taken a few times, there should be nothing left, right? Surely they can’t just conjure up new things?”

Over here in Shallow Bay, especially Block A, were mostly large apartments.

Although located far from the city center with moderately prices, the total cost was still significant due to the large area.

Those who could afford them generally had better circumstances.

Sure, there were also those who emptied six wallets to buy their homes and had to live frugally.

Yet most people were able to live comfortably.

There might be some valuables or cash at home.

But now, that cash was virtually useless.

Assets stored in stocks, mutual funds, and online banks were even more so.

At most, they could take some useless jewelry or rice and flour.

Other types of food mostly spoiled during the previous heatwave.

Sun Jingtao explained, “They don’t care about that. I only got a rough idea, and this gang is now slowly expanding their influence floor by floor.

However, I heard that Ma Longbiao warned his men not to mess with the people on the 32nd floor; probably he is wary of the guns in your hand.

Because they don’t come out during the day, so when you said you were going down, I didn’t think to warn you.

By the time I remembered, you had already run into them, and that’s why I rushed down immediately.”

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Special note: Some industries and characters are purely fictional, with no intention of implying or disparaging any real entities.