Chapter 81: Chapter 81: The Rain Has Stopped, Let’s Go!
Over the past few days, Jiang Yan and Sun Jingtao had barely left the upper floors, so they knew little of what was happening below.
However, that didn’t mean the people below weren’t interested in them.
Even items from He Chunmei’s home had dwindled significantly.
They had been quietly taken by those living below, in the dead of night.
Yet those people did it without anyone noticing.
“Actually, I’m a bit curious,” Su Dai couldn’t understand.
“Puzzled, to be honest.”
Ye Qing glanced at her and said pointedly,
“Preying on the weak and fearing the strong is human nature. In their eyes, we are neighbors up for negotiation and moral coercion, but that gang is a methodical and ruthless mob; there’s no comparison.”
Su Dai: “…”
“Doesn’t that mean that people will start moving to the 32nd floor? Should we lock our doors?” She quickly realized the implication, with a glint of doubt and worry in her eyes.
“I think it’s unnecessary for now. In a couple of days, if the rain stops like Xiao Ye said, it wouldn’t be convenient if we lock the door when both our families need to move in and out.”
While speaking, Sun Jingtao glanced at Jiang Yan out of the corner of his eye, only to see her composed, with barely any expression on her face.
Something suddenly occurred to him, and he looked at Jiang Yan, “Right, Jiang Yan, did you just go down to the 15th and 16th floors?”
Jiang Yan nodded.
At this point, there was no point in hiding anything.
“It looks like you and Xiao Ye are on the same page,” Sun Jingtao chuckled, continuing,
“If the rain stops, it’s best if we go down together if we can. Breaking the stairwell windows will be noisy and we don’t know what it might attract. An extra hand means extra safety. How does that sound?”
Sun Jingtao seemed to guess Jiang Yan’s intention and probed.
Actually, he wanted to say that he and Ye Qing, as two able-bodied people, would be stronger than her at breaking the metal frames of the windows, but he never voiced it.
His wife had earlier suggested that Jiang Yan join them in searching for supplies, but she refused, so Sun Jingtao didn’t bring it up again and skirted around the issue.
Jiang Yan glanced through the door of room 3202 at the gloomy sky outside and said, “Okay.”
After a few more exchanges, Jiang Yan shared the discovery of the Mutated Leech and said goodbye, picking up her Fish Shooting Gun and returning home.
Once home, as usual, she activated the intrusion prevention system and set it to a high voltage of 500 volts.
She suddenly realized a problem, which was that the intrusion prevention system could only be deactivated whenever she left home.
What if she had to be out for long in the future and Ma Longbiao’s gang broke into her place?
It’s true that they said they wouldn’t interfere with the 32nd floor.
But that was just a stalling tactic from the other side.
She pondered whether to leave the Cannibal Flower at home to guard the place while she was out.
The downside was that it might expose the Cannibal Flower.
If worst comes to worst, she figured she could just stash the home supplies into the Space when she left.
The walls, fireplace, and such that couldn’t be taken away, she could still reclaim even if others broke in.
She looked at the thermometer in the living room; the outdoor temperature had dropped to 8 degrees, and the water must be even colder.
This wasn’t good news for most people.
After all, going out to search for supplies would likely mean having to wear nothing more than a swim ring.
But this wasn’t what Jiang Yan should be concerned with.
She walked around the house, checking for leaks in the roof and walls, and, finding none, she entered the Space.
No sooner had she stepped in than the warm touch in her palm became an irresistible urge to emerge.
Jiang Yan knew it was Hua Bao eager to come out, and she couldn’t help but raise her palm and softly say,
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“Hua Bao, come out~”
After getting permission, the Cannibal Flower couldn’t wait to “swoosh” out—a green vine sprang from her palm and steadied itself beside her.
It began to grow, stopping only when it reached Jiang Yan’s height.
The Cannibal Flower’s shiny black eyes swiveled, and with some discontent, its scarlet tongue licked its sharp fangs, saying,
“Heh heh heh! Mom, you should have let me out to eat that bully who was mean to you! Hmph!”
As it spoke, the two leaves on the vine even struck a waist-on-hips pose as if mimicking a human.
Looking at the rich black soil behind it, Jiang Yan had a momentary sensation of being in the game Plants vs. Zombies.
She couldn’t help but smile, and said,
“I could handle it just now. Besides, you’re my trump card and can’t be revealed carelessly, you know.”
After all, it could only be used once a month—it had to be saved for a critical moment.
“Heh heh heh?” Mom, what’s a trump card? A spare tire?
Jiang Yan: “…” What has this child been watching all day?
Her smile could hardly contain itself.
These days, while she was drawing the “treasure map”, the Cannibal Flower had been cramming knowledge like crazy.
Its method of learning was a bit like the sci-fi movie “Transcendence” she had watched long ago, where the female protagonist had the ability to instantly acquire knowledge.
And the Cannibal Flower was the same.
Its leaves only needed to touch books or computers to absorb the knowledge within.
And the absorption was quick—faster than 8G internet.
All of the encyclopedias Jiang Yan had pre-downloaded to her computer had been consumed by it.
The books she had bought from the bookstore were also picked apart.
Even the various movies, TV shows, and animations she had downloaded to her computer had been gobbled up in their entirety.
The speed was astonishing.
How much it remembered, Jiang Yan did not know.
She had been busy with the “treasure hunting” and hadn’t checked.
*
The next day.
Jiang Yan woke up naturally at 7:30 am.
The first thing she did after getting out of bed was to leave the Space and check the water level outside.
Indeed, the water level had risen over the 15th floor, almost reaching the edge of the 16th.
But one could visibly see that the rain had lessened.
At this rate, it wouldn’t be long before she could leave.
She felt a little excited—she had been cooped up at home long enough.
If today’s outing proved successful, she would have hope for upgrading her Space and the Cannibal Flower!
She decided to leave earlier to avoid others in the building.
With the lighter rain, residents from other floors were likely to find a way out.
They would be looking for food and drinking water, whereas she was only after gold and jewelry.
With that in mind, Jiang Yan quickly got out of bed, washed up, and ate a renowned beef noodle soup from Taiwan, followed by a large cup of Caramel Macchiato.
The combination might be strange, but the calories and energy were sufficient.
Compass, theodolite, diving equipment, and other essentials had been prepared in advance from the Inventory Area.
After a brief warm-up at home and collecting all the portable items into the Space, she took an inconspicuous rubber dinghy and left her apartment.