Chapter 44: Why Should I Play the Patron?

Liu Tiantian’s ultimate fate was something everyone could easily guess, even if they hadn’t witnessed it with their own eyes.
What kind of end awaited a young woman who fell into a pack of wolves?
Even if Chen Zhenghao and his men spared her life, losing all resources essential for survival meant she was left with nothing to do but wait for death.

Yet, instead of feeling excessive sorrow, a collective sense of relief washed over the residents' hearts.
At the very least, Liu Tiantian would be able to feed Chen Zhenghao and his thugs for a while.
Even so, this incident served as a wake-up call to the other property owners.
If things continued this way, none of them would likely survive much longer.

That afternoon, Zhang Yi suddenly found himself added to a new group chat.
He chuckled inwardly. Trapped in such an unstable environment, people's paranoia grew heavier day by day, and small cliques multiplied rapidly.
It was as if huddling together could somehow make them strong.

Zhang Yi glanced at the group members and saw there were only six or seven people inside.
Zhou Peng, Fang Yuqing, Lin Caining were all there, along with a few other neighbors.
Zhang Yi frowned slightly, wondering what they were up to.

Before long, someone took the initiative to reach out to him.

Fang Yuqing: "@Zhang Yi Zhang Yi, it's too dangerous outside now. Chen Zhenghao and his group will come after us sooner or later. We must unite as one."

Zhang Yi replied indifferently: "It's fine, I'm quite comfortable living on my own right now."

Lin Caining: "You can't look at it that way. You're all by yourself, but Chen Zhenghao has five or six people on his side, and guns! That makes you extremely unsafe too."

Zhang Yi curled the corner of his mouth in a sneer. Why didn't they ask Chen Zhenghao who broke his leg?
To this day, Chen Zhenghao hadn't dared to come looking for revenge because he knew Zhang Yi was a tough nut to crack.

Zhang Yi asked: "What is it that you want, then?"

Fang Yuqing quickly chimed in: "Living scattered apart like this is simply too dangerous. That's why we've decided to move in together. That way, we'll at least have the strength to fight back even if we face Chen Zhenghao."

Zhang Yi immediately chuckled. "What? Do you think that by huddling together, you won't be afraid of the gun in Chen Zhenghao's hands anymore?"

How ridiculous. If numbers alone were useful, the fifty-odd households and over a hundred people in the entire building could have rushed him together, crushing Chen Zhenghao to death with just one kick each.
They were all cowards; grouping together was merely a way to seek psychological comfort.

Another person in the group spoke up. His name was Sun Zhichao, whom Zhang Yi remembered as a white-collar worker in the finance sector.
"With a few more people, they will at least be wary of us. Besides, we can band together and seal off the doors so we won't be afraid of them breaking in."
"It's just that right now, what we lack is a good stronghold."

Fang Yuqing quickly picked up the thread: "Zhang Yi, your place has a balcony, and your security door is especially sturdy, making it perfect for holding off Chen Zhenghao."
"That's why we hope you can join our team and stand together against Chen Zhenghao!"

At this point, Zhang Yi finally understood the whole picture.
Fang Yuqing had undoubtedly told these people about how great his apartment was.
It was highly likely that all of them already knew Zhang Yi possessed a flawless temperature-control system and a massive stockpile of food.

Zhang Yi let out a cold laugh.
Their scheming was so loud he could hear it from over a dozen floors away!

Without a trace of politeness, Zhang Yi said: "I don't need it, thanks. I'm living very comfortably by myself right now. If you want to room together, find a place of your own!"

Are they out of their minds? Cramming seven or eight people into his own home?
At a time like this, when you couldn't tell who was human and who was a demon, wouldn't that simply be inviting mortal danger upon himself?
Besides, Zhang Yi didn't owe them anything. Why on earth should he?

Having been rejected by Zhang Yi, the people in the chat were clearly displeased.

Sun Zhichao: "Zhang Yi, everyone's lives are in danger right now. You can't be so shortsighted! Only by sticking together can we survive!"

Another group member, Wang Min, chimed in: "We only chose your place because your floor has a balcony, making it convenient to harvest melted snow water."
"You might think we're taking advantage of you, but in reality, everyone will be protecting you too!"

Zhang Yi laughed so hard his face contorted.
He sent a message to the group: "Protecting me???????"

A string of question marks followed, reflecting his profound mockery.
Do you have any idea what kind of life I am living right now?
Protecting me—they really had the nerve to say that out loud!

Hiding under her quilt, Fang Yuqing bit her lip and began unleashing a barrage of arguments.
She knew Zhang Yi despised her and would never let her inside.
Therefore, she was now manipulating the others to subject Zhang Yi to moral blackmail.
She reasoned that since human lives were at stake, Zhang Yi ought to be magnanimous, even if she, Lin Caining, Zhou Peng, and the others had treated him poorly in the past.

Lin Caining: "Zhang Yi, fine, I admit we are asking for your help. But think about it—just by letting us into your home to take refuge, you'll be saving seven or eight lives!"
"How can you bear to sit by and watch us get killed by Chen Zhenghao? We've been friends and neighbors for so many years!"

Indeed, Zhang Yi knew all seven or eight of them. A few were on decent terms with him on ordinary days, and one was even a colleague from the same workplace.

They all chimed in one after another, begging Zhang Yi to take past relations into account and let them through the door.

Unfortunately, having experienced being persecuted to death in his past life, Zhang Yi was no longer the soft-hearted fool he used to be.
Most of the people in this group chat were the very same ones who had once carved up his share of supplies.

In the apocalypse, what was the point of talking about human decency?
Staying alive oneself was the absolute truth!

So he stated: "At a time like this, whether anyone survives depends entirely on their own abilities. You hold zero value to me, so what gives you the right to demand that I protect you?"

With that, Zhang Yi directly chose to leave the group.

Trying to fleece him was nothing short of a daydream!
As long as he had no morals, no one could morally blackmail him.

After finishing the chat, Zhang Yi retrieved a box of potato chips from his spatial dimension.
He walked over to the window and settled into a soft, imported recliner, eating chips while enjoying the scenery outside.

Putting aside the extreme cold outside, the snowy landscape was genuinely breathtaking.
The earth was draped in a pure, unbroken blanket of white without a single speck of color, a truly pleasing sight to the eyes.

At that very moment, he suddenly noticed a flailing black dot appear on the 18th floor ahead, accompanied by a scream filled with utter despair.
Looking closer, Zhang Yi realized it was a human body falling through the air.
A split second later, the figure plunged deep into a snowdrift six or seven meters deep.

With external temperatures plummeting below minus seventy degrees Celsius, anyone trapped deep within a thick snowdrift was bound to die without a doubt.
It seemed the situation in the other apartment buildings was much the same as here.
Faced with depleted supplies, people everywhere had begun fighting over resources, even resorting to violent murders for plunder!

Wherever there were people, things were rapidly devolving into a living hell.

As Zhang Yi munched on his potato chips, he calculated his future plans in his mind.
It appeared that aside from guarding against the neighbors in his own building, he would also need to exercise greater caution toward survivors from the outside.
In the apocalypse, any disaster could happen at any moment.