Chapter 57: Heavy Casualties

Looking at the people still chattering outside the door as they tried to figure out a countermeasure, Zhang Yi didn't even bother to take careful aim this time.

Since they were after his life, there was no need to show them any courtesy.

Zhang Yi was no saint.

He raised the crossbow in his hands and began firing.

In a matter of moments, several people were struck by the arrows and collapsed.

Only then did the people outside realize the terrifying power of Zhang Yi's crossbow.

"He has a weapon! Watch out!"

The people around screamed in terror and hurriedly tried to scatter.

However, the corridor was only so wide, with over a hundred people crammed together, shoulder to shoulder, making it impossible to run.

Overcome by panic and rushing blindly, they ended up tripping over one another in a chaotic tangle.

Unfazed by the chaos, Zhang Yi simply kept his head down and focused on the task at hand.

The whistling sound of the bolts cutting through the air was as terrifying as a death knell.

This only heightened the terror of the others, who scrambled desperately to squeeze into the stairwell.

Some people fell to the ground and, before they even had a chance to get back up, were trampled underfoot.

Cries of agony echoed everywhere.

Chen Zhenghao stood his ground in front of the stairs, holding a gun and aiming it at the panicked crowd trying to flee.

"What are you afraid of? There's only one of him, get him!"

Chen Zhenghao's cold gaze and the dark, empty barrel of his gun frightened the fleeing crowd back.

Chen Zhenghao's goal was to use them as cannon fodder to exhaust Zhang Yi's defenses; naturally, he had no intention of letting them escape.

Meanwhile, Sun Zhichao and the others, eager to stay alive, had hung back in the distance early on and remained unhit.

Zhang Yi loosed dozens of crossbow bolts. In such a densely packed crowd, almost none of them missed their mark.

This brought unspeakable misery upon the neighbors.

Yet, the survival instincts of the neighbors in a desperate situation were quite formidable.

Immediately, someone spotted the firing port and shouted, "There's a hole in the door! That's where he's shooting from, just plug it up!"

Instantly, people raised the mops and brooms in their hands, jamming them into the shooting port on the door.

Some even tried throwing things directly into Zhang Yi's room.

Unflustered, Zhang Yi quickly closed the steel door behind the shooting port and locked it tight.

This contraption could only be opened from the inside; it was completely impenetrable from the outside.

Even so, in this single exchange, Zhang Yi had wiped out dozens of combatants.

Seeing that Zhang Yi could no longer shoot arrows, the neighbors finally recovered from their panic.

The ground was left in utter disarray, with numerous people struck by arrows, their injuries varying in severity.

A few had been hit in vital spots and died on the spot.

However, when the neighbors got a clear look at those rusty tetanus-laden arrows, their hearts immediately sank.

They knew that anyone hit by those arrows stood little chance of survival.

Some lost loved ones and wept bitterly while loudly cursing Zhang Yi.

"Zhang Yi, you damn scoundrel, you're utterly despicable!"

"Come out! If you have the guts, come out and fight me one-on-one!"

"You demon, I'll fight you to the death!"

"Zhang Yi! I'm going to kill you!"

...

The only response they received was the upbeat, pumping pop music playing from inside the apartment.

*Only after loving do we understand*
*How profound love can be*
*Only after losing do we understand*
*What we ought to cherish*
...

Furious curses echoed outside while high-energy music played continuously inside, perfectly mimicking Zhang Yi's blatant provocation toward everyone.

In truth, that was precisely the case.

Having fired dozens of crossbow bolts in one go, Zhang Yi felt slightly sore in his arms. He walked over to the kitchen, took a bottle of cola from the refrigerator, and chugged it down.

"Ah! Refreshing!"

Zhang Yi looked at the monitor, continuing to monitor every move of the people outside.

Meanwhile, watching the heavy front door of Zhang Yi's home stand as solid as a fortress, completely unbreakable, the neighbors felt a mix of anxiety and despair.

"What are we going to do now?"

At that moment, Sun Zhichao shouted, "Don't panic, everyone! I have a plan!"

The crowd turned toward the voice and saw Sun Zhichao clutching his injured leg as he walked over with difficulty.

He pointed at the wall of Zhang Yi's apartment and smiled, "Their door is made of alloy, so we can't smash it open. But this wall is just bricks and cement, right? I refuse to believe we can't break through it!"

Hearing this, a spark of perceived wisdom lit up in everyone's eyes.

"That's right, why didn't I think of that!"

"If we can't smash the door, we can smash the wall!"

"With so many of us, it won't take long to smash this wall down."

"Heh, Zhang Yi, you dog, you definitely didn't expect us to think of this!"

Inside, Zhang Yi saw the neighbors suddenly cheering and raising their arms in triumph, prompting him to arch an eyebrow.

The music was playing too loudly, so he had no idea what they were saying.

However, Zhang Yi was not in a rush and intended to wait and see how things unfolded.

No matter how many tricks the opposition had, they certainly didn't outnumber his.

He had spent a whole month pouring his heart and soul into building this impregnable bastion.

If they could break through it so easily, then he deserved to die!

These people had come prepared with tools.

Therefore, they quickly lined up in front of the outer wall of Zhang Yi's home, raised the sledgehammers and axes in their hands, and began hammering away furiously!

"Bang!"

A burly man put his entire strength into a heavy swing, slamming his hammer hard against the wall.

Instantly, cracks spider-webbed across the surface as flakes of white plaster cascaded down.

Seeing this, the crowd's eyes lit up with excitement, convinced they had found a breakthrough into Zhang Yi's home.

They began striking the wall with even greater fervor.

Yet, when the burly man raised his hammer for a second strike, a sharp clang of metal rang out instead.

Clang!

Simultaneously, the man let out a miserable scream, and the hammer dropped heavily from his hands.

He staggered back and collapsed onto the floor. As the others looked closer, they saw deep, gaping gasps torn across both of his palms, blood welling out and quickly freezing in the bitter cold—a deeply unsettling sight.

"What's going on?"

The crowd was baffled. What kind of wall could withstand the impact of a sledgehammer?

Someone stepped forward, brushing away the loose plaster on the outer layer, and nearly dropped their jaw in shock when they saw what lay beneath.

"Th-this wall is made of solid steel too!"

The crowd gasped in shock and crowded around to take a look.

Sure enough, once the outer layer of white plaster was scraped away, a thick layer of black metal was revealed beneath.

The material was identical to the front door.

Someone couldn't help but look up to the ceiling and roar, "Why is this happening?! Whose house builds walls out of steel plates?!"

"I refuse to believe this whole house is made of iron!"

Some among them, unable to bear the despair, grabbed hammers and began pounding on other spots.

Several people joined in, hoping to find a weak spot on the wall.

Yet, no matter which angle they tried, they ultimately struck nothing but thick, sturdy steel walls!

In the living room, Zhang Yi curled his lip in disdain.

"If that's a problem you can think of, wouldn't I have thought of it beforehand?"

"Pardon me, but even the walls of my house are cast from twenty-centimeter-thick refined steel."

"Not even artillery shells can blast through them, and you expect me to fear your pathetic hammers and axes?"

Zhang Yi's greatest trait was his fear of death, which meant he had anticipated and resolved every imaginable problem.

During the initial inspection, he had checked every single inch himself, hammering every surface to be completely sure before signing off.

After all, the psychological trauma of having his door breached and being cannibalized in his past life ran too deep; no matter what anyone said, he was never going to experience that a second time.

The hammering outside continued, but finding the noise bothersome, Zhang Yi activated the apartment's noise-canceling feature.

This was to prevent anyone outside from using noise as a form of attack.

After about twenty minutes, the sound finally died down completely.

The owners of the entire apartment building stared with hollow eyes at the unbroken expanse of metal wall before them, their hearts colder than the ice and snow outside.

It stood like a cruel city wall, sealing off any hope of acquiring supplies.

"How can this be? Why would anyone build a house like this?"

Someone buried their face in their hands and cried out in a breakdown.

Zhang Yi's neighbor, the young couple, also spoke with sorrow, "I knew they were renovating back then, but I never imagined they'd build it like this."

In this world, there were probably very few normal families who would construct such a house!

Sun Zhichao, Zhou Peng, and Ge Jialiang had eyes bloodshot with desperation.

If the entire apartment block couldn't breach Zhang Yi's home today, they were all doomed to die!

Sun Zhichao bit his lip so hard it bled without even realizing it.

"Zhang Yi! He knew there would be a blizzard all along! Everything he did was to defend against us!"

Sun Zhichao pointed at Zhang Yi's apartment and roared in fury.

The neighbors glanced at him, weeping in agony as they cursed Zhang Yi anew.

"Despicable wretch Zhang Yi! Only caring about your own survival and ignoring the rest of us!"

"If we all die, what is the point of you living alone? If you're the only person left in the whole world, won't you be lonely?"

"One day, you will be consumed by endless regret and self-blame for not warning us and not helping us!"

"Can you sleep at night? Don't you feel any guilt?"

Realizing they could do nothing against Zhang Yi, some individuals resorted to psychological self-soothing.

*Hmph, sooner or later heaven will bring retribution upon you, Zhang Yi!*
*If we die because of you, your conscience will surely torment you for the rest of your life, making you miserable!*

Little did they know how wonderfully comfortable Zhang Yi was living inside his home.

Why would he ever give a second thought to these mere acquaintances masquerading as neighbors?

Chen Zhenghao had been standing back, keeping watch with his gun.

Seeing that all-metal wall now, he too realized the difficulty of the situation.

At this point, he had lost interest in everyone else; his sole obsession was seizing Zhang Yi's apartment!

"What are you panicking for? This is only the beginning!"

"Even if their walls are made of iron, what about the ceiling? What about the floor?"

"I refuse to believe he built himself an iron box!"

Chen Zhenghao said coldly to everyone present.

Hearing Chen Zhenghao's words through the monitor, Zhang Yi nodded in appreciation.

"This guy actually has a decent brain."

Then he sighed, shaking his head. "Too bad I'm not stupid."

Hearing Chen Zhenghao's suggestion, the neighbors scrambled upstairs and downstairs relative to Zhang Yi's apartment.

They struck with hammers, hacked with axes, chipped with chisels, and beat with wooden clubs!

In short, every conceivable method at their disposal was put into action.

They were a mere twenty centimeters away from their hope of survival.

And their goal was to smash through those twenty centimeters!

Yet, within moments, they plunged into an even deeper abyss of despair.

They discovered that Zhang Yi's home truly was nothing less than an iron box!

Above, below, left, right, front, and back—there wasn't a single angle that wasn't sealed off by thick iron plates!

Without electricity, power tools like chainsaws or electric drills were useless; unless they were willing to chisel away tirelessly day and night without food or water for a whole year, they would never stand a chance of breaching those walls!