Chapter 40: Gunshot

Chapter 40: GunshotZhang Yi lit the stink bomb and quickly threw it through the shooting hole above the door.

As soon as the stink bomb hit the ground, a thick black smoke began to rise.

The acrid smell quickly spread through the corridor.

Fang Yuqing and Lin Cainin, upon smelling it, felt as if they had opened a can of ten-year-old sealed feces, and immediately started vomiting.

“Ugh… What is this, ugh…”

“Zhang Yi, ugh… You’re despicable!”

As the smell intensified in the corridor, the two women hastily fled.

However, Zhang Yi wasn’t worried about the smell returning to his house. After closing the shooting hole, the house became semi-sealed.

Although air could still circulate, the house was specifically built with an air filtration system, preventing odor or harmful air from entering.

Watching the two women staggering and retching through the surveillance cameras, Zhang Yi laughed heartily.

Soon, however, he received a complaint from his neighbor.

“Zhang Yi, what did you throw at your door? It smells awful! Could you please consider your neighbors?”

Zhang Yi’s neighbors were a young couple who had moved in two years ago.

However, Zhang Yi hardly interacted with them, only occasionally nodding when they met in the elevator.

At this point, he didn’t care about maintaining neighborly relations.

In the apocalypse, he did everything solely for his own safety, not caring about others.

He wouldn't hesitate to eliminate others as long as he could live safely and comfortably.

In the apocalypse, any hint of altruism had to be immediately eradicated!

“If you don’t like it, come and fight me!” Zhang Yi said, then blocked the neighbor.

Again, he wasn’t in the mood to argue and waste his breath.

Soon, Zhang Yi noticed the neighbor complaining about him in the group chat.

But unfortunately, no one cared about their trivial matter.

Zhang Yi chuckled. It felt terrific to be shameless.

That afternoon, Zhang Yi was suddenly awakened from his sleep.

“Bang!”

A loud noise echoed through the corridor, quickly spreading throughout the building.

Zhang Yi’s expression turned serious. It sounded like a gunshot.

Could someone in their community have a gun?

Zhang Yi wasn’t sure if it was a gunshot or fireworks. He quickly went to the living room, turned on the TV, and checked the surveillance cameras.

The scene he saw made his pupils contract involuntarily.

In front of the third-floor apartment, Chen Zhenghao, with one leg broken, was holding a black gun.

The cold, dark gleam of the gun was enough to make anyone shiver.

The apartment door was open, and from the surveillance angle, two legs could be vaguely seen inside.

Chen Zhenghao’s subordinates, holding some food and candles, walked out with grins on their faces.

It was clear that the residents of the third-floor apartment were dead. Even if they weren’t, having been shot and losing all their supplies, they wouldn’t last long.

It was 10 AM, usually when every household went out to dig snow for water.

Everyone going out together temporarily raised the temperature in the corridor, preventing it from getting too cold.

No one could survive without water, so this activity happened daily.

Chen Zhenghao seized this opportunity to kill and rob.

“Ding dong!”

Zhang Yi’s phone rang.

He glanced at the phone and saw a message in the group chat.

Chen Zhenghao had sent a voice message.

“Now that we’re snowed in, we can’t rely on anyone but ourselves.”

“I, Chen Zhenghao, will take on the responsibility of being the leader of Building 25th. From now on, everything here will be under my control!”

“If you follow my order, I can ensure your survival. But if anyone dares to challenge me, hehe!”

Chen Zhenghao then sent two pictures.

One was of the gun in his hand, and the other was of the third-floor resident lying in a pool of blood.

The usually noisy group chat fell silent.

Everyone was shocked by the bloody and brutal scene.

Most residents were likely filled with fear.

They had never seen such scenes in peacetime, nor could they even imagine them.

But now, the bloody reality was right in front of them.

In this building sealed off by a snowstorm, others were hell!

No one dared to contradict Chen Zhenghao. Everyone feared death.

Sitting on the sofa, Zhang Yi couldn’t help but say, “Chen Zhenghao is smart! No wonder he thrived in society.”

Chen Zhenghao used both intimidation and incentives, not just scaring the residents.

He only had one gun, and no one knew how many bullets he had.

But Zhang Yi knew the quantity wouldn’t be much, given how tightly controlled guns were in the country.

Zhang Yi had spent a lot of money, and they only sold him 100 bullets.

Moreover, Chen Zhenghao had only about five or six underlings.

With fifty households and over a hundred people in the building, if pushed too far, a cripple like him wouldn’t stand a chance.

So, the best way to keep the residents in line was to use threats and promises, intimidating and enticing them.

Human nature always fears death.

Even though they understood that if Chen Zhenghao could kill the third-floor resident today, it could be their turn tomorrow, they still harbored a fluke mentality.

For instance, those living on higher floors might think Chen Zhenghao would deal with others before reaching them, giving them at least half a month’s reprieve.

Thus, they wouldn’t risk their lives, expecting others below to resist.

And those on other floors might think Chen Zhenghao wouldn’t follow a sequence in his killings.

They might feel that resisting would surely get them killed, so it’s better to stay hidden, hoping someone else would die first.

Zhang Yi shrugged. None of this mattered to him.

While others might fear Chen Zhenghao, Zhang Yi didn’t.

If Chen Zhenghao dared to appear at his door, his fate would be entirely in Zhang Yi’s hands.

Whether the neighbors lived or died had nothing to do with Zhang Yi.

If they chose to be ostriches and not resist, Zhang Yi had no interest in playing the hero to save them.

At that moment, his phone suddenly beeped urgently.

Zhang Yi picked it up and saw hundreds of new messages!

He found himself being added to a new group chat.

Curious, Zhang Yi checked it out.

The residents had created a new group, excluding Chen Zhenghao and his men. Sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ NʘvᴇlFirᴇ.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

Apparently, Chen Zhenghao’s death threats had prompted some to consider banding together for warmth.

Zhang Yi remained silent, confident in his own safety.

He was just interested in seeing what this group could achieve.