Chapter 168: Chapter 168: The Thief was Fooled Chapter 168: Chapter 168: The Thief was Fooled The hallway on the second day was very quiet; everyone was afraid of encountering soone who would ask to borrow supplies, so no one ca out at all. The harmony of yesterday in the hallway had vanished without a trace.
In fact, during the apocalypse, people’s minds beco more sensitive and more alert to crisis. If it’s not a matter of life and death, everyone seems fairly easygoing, but once it is a matter of life and death, not a single person remains a Holy Mother.
Gu Pan and Lu Ruisheng, however, felt that this was fine. Since no one else was coming out, they could take a stroll without any issue, treating the trips up and down the stairs as exercise.
The two of them got dressed, donned hats and masks, and went out. With so many residents in this building, most of whom were strangers, and with everyone staying in, they really wouldn’t draw any attention. Still, they had no desire to show their faces.
They didn’t go floor by floor but instead walked to the stairs and went up and down several tis. Then, from different angles, they looked at the acid rain-soaked world through the glass in the stairwell and the windows near the ground floor’s entrance door.
The acid rain looked no different from regular rain, but its destructive power was considerable. Such rainwater would alter the soil and cause many plants to die off completely. It would also be a long ti before any vegetation could grow on the ground again. So trees, barely surviving the extre cold or heat, might now finally perish.
Late at night the day after, Gu Pan heard the sound of a lock being picked. She and Lu Ruisheng both sat up, ready with weapons, and approached the door, hiding behind the wall to observe the entrance.
After a while, their door was pried open. The security of these base-issued door locks was truly lacking. Many of the peepholes were broken and had been covered with tal plates; theirs was no exception, which was why Lu Ruisheng had planned to fix the peephole in the next few days.
These doors were all scavenged from deserted neighborhoods. It was a feat to have them unified in size, but beyond that uniformity was difficult to achieve. The door locks were old, and although there were people in the base who could craft keys, as they were not factory-made, one could not expect too much.
The better doors and windows had been allocated to the villa area; they would have to make do with what they had.
After the thief opened the door and saw the iron door and the two big chains, he stopped in his tracks. What was this? How was he supposed to deal with it?
The thief cursed under his breath, closed the door, and perhaps fearing he would startle the quarry, he left the floor.
Gu Pan and Lu Ruisheng exchanged smiles. They could guess how thrilled the thief must have been when he opened the door, and just how frustrated he was upon seeing the chains.
Indeed, the thief’s feelings were exactly as they had inferred; upon seeing the chains, he really felt like killing soone…
The next morning, they were awakened by noisy disturbances outside. They didn’t go out; instead, they just listened at the door.
As they had expected, soone’s belongings had been stolen, and there was talk of calling the police, though no one could go out.
Gu Pan and Lu Ruisheng were indifferent to the number of thefts in their unit. They listened until the noise in the hallway faded.
Gu Pan knocked on their neighbor, Yang Jia’s door. The hallway was once again very quiet. Because of the theft, everyone had co out earlier, but considering that speaking too much might lead soone to ask for supplies, they quickly went back to their hos.
Everyone had experienced the apocalypse; so, simply barricading one’s door with a table and chairs would keep people out today.
Having initially thought the base was secure, people had been unguarded. Today, preparedness was not an issue.
Yang Jia didn’t respond to the knocking initially.
Only when she heard Gu Pan say who she was, did Yang Jia open the door.
Gu Pan presented a chain lock: “I’ll help you install this inside, extra protection.”
Yang Jia looked at Gu Pan with gratitude: “You’re so kind, thank you.”
Gu Pan entered her apartnt, observing the clean and tidy space, which was honestly rather stark.
Gu Pan helped Yang Jia install the lock and, not feeling entirely reassured, took out another one from her tool bag for double protection.
Tears welled up in Yang Jia’s eyes with gratitude: “I really don’t know how to thank you. I’ve been hearing noises in the middle of the night, I blocked the door with a table, but I still couldn’t sleep peacefully.”
Gu Pan understood: “With this installed, you can sleep soundly. No one’s going to get past this easily without professional tools.”
“Thank you,” said Yang Jia, who then laughed at herself: “It seems like all I can say is thanks.”
Gu Pan also smiled and said, “Then don’t say it. I’m going back now; you lock the door.”
Yang Jia pulled out a piece of White Rabbit candy from her pocket: “For you.”
Gu Pan accepted it without hesitation; after all, accepting it would make the other party feel more at ease: “Thanks, then I’ll be on my way.”
Her fondness for Yang Jia might have been because Yang Jia was a good person, but perhaps more so because she resembled Tian Zhenzhen. That’s why, at a critical mont, she was also willing to lend a hand.
Yang Jia saw Gu Pan out and then quickly closed the door.
Upon returning ho, Gu Pan ntioned Yang Jia’s situation to Lu Ruisheng and then moved on to other topics.
The morning was very quiet. After lunch, the couple watched the world outside their window again.
Gu Pan took out her diary, sothing she had recently begun. She wanted to record the scenes of the apocalypse.
Her days, docunted with photos, clearly captured every mont of the apocalypse.
While she was writing, a woman’s voice echoed in the corridor: “Is there a doctor? Soone in my family is injured.” The sound traveled from far to close, quickly becoming very clear.
Gu Pan and Lu Ruisheng were not doctors and naturally would not go out. No one on their floor made a sound of opening doors either.
Soon, the asking faded; the woman must have gone downstairs.
Not long after, the woman began another round of pleading: “Does anyone have dicine? My husband’s hand was cut with a knife, and if we can’t stop the bleeding or disinfect it, he’ll die. If anyone has dicine, I can trade supplies for it. You can take anything from our ho. Just give so dicine.”
Gu Pan and Lu Ruisheng looked at each other. At a ti like this, a knife cut on the hand—were they fighting?
They had dicine at ho, and they did consider offering so antibacterial and anti-bleeding drugs without getting involved. After all, it’s the act of providing tily help that mattered. But hearing about the knife wound, they decided not to go out; who knows whether the other party might have violent tendencies?
After the woman’s cries subsided, Gu Pan asked Lu Ruisheng: “What do you think it ans to be cut at a ti like this?”
Lu Ruisheng also frowned: “The action of a mindless fool.”
“Exactly, at this ti, everyone is afraid of getting hurt or sick, and yet so are fighting.”
While they were talking, the woman’s wails reached them again: “Please, whoever has dicine, give us so. We’re not troublemakers who fight and brawl without cause. It’s that my son, who suffers from ntal illness, had an episode and injured my husband. Please, if you have dicine, show so compassion. Our family really can’t afford any more misfortune.”
Gu Pan and Lu Ruisheng exchanged looks again, both wishing they could take back their earlier words. As it turned out, there was more to the story. They had been too quick to judge.
Many people during the apocalypse suffered from ntal issues. So who appeared normal could be triggered by the sight of red, or by knives, or just by being in a sealed room without windows. They might experience a nervous breakdown, breaking out in cold sweats or losing control of their limbs, which was more common. However, it was rare for cases to be severe enough to lead to violent acts like cutting another person.
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