Chapter 62

Having a gun was a double-edged sword.

For instance, Xu Zhen and his crew no longer dared to provoke her and kept a low profile, focusing on their boat rental business. Ironically, his rubber dinghies still numbered four, none missing.

They feared Bai Xiao would settle accounts over the false accusation of stealing the boats, so they kept their heads down and treaded even more carefully.

This day marked the thirteenth day after the end of the second game. The outside world was still pouring rain, with severe urban flooding. The building opposite was already submerged up to the sixth floor. Unlike before, a thick, dark blackness tinged the sky at the horizon, looking from afar like dense, endless black clouds stretching beyond sight.

The weather had turned even worse. Early in the morning, Zhao Fangzhe and Shi Jun came to her door to borrow her two rubber dinghies. They wanted to transport the supplies they had left in the office building the day before.

Over the past month, their two families were the only ones in the building who had consistently stood by her side from beginning to end. They were like comrades-in-arms without a formal pact. Bai Xiao readily lent them the dinghies and even proactively offered them the Compound Bow for self-defense.

She wasn't afraid of betrayal, nor did she mind lending things that weren't critically important to her to people she knew well and who understood boundaries.

Xu Zhen's lackeys were also downstairs. Seeing Zhao and Shi each carrying a dinghy down, they could only watch with envy, not daring to entertain any thoughts of snatching them. They knew these two rubber dinghies belonged to Bai Xiao. They feared her, terrified of retaliation.

However, other people who couldn't get a turn borrowing boats came up, fawningly asking if they could borrow theirs, offering to pay in supplies, not borrowing for free.

Zhao and Shi just shook their heads, saying the rubber dinghies were Bai Xiao's and they couldn't make the decision. With that, the two strode off and quickly disappeared into the curtain of rain.

...

While some were borrowing boats and others going out, the building was in an uproar again due to rising water levels and insufficient empty apartments to live in.

Since yesterday, the water had reached the fourth floor. Naturally, people below the fourth floor could no longer stay. Those on the fifth and sixth floors were also packing up early because of the rising water.

The six lower floors housed over a dozen households. Even if the residential building's occupancy rate wasn't one hundred percent, the remaining empty apartments on the twelve upper floors weren't enough for each of these families to have one. Many ended up with two or three families sharing one apartment.

Only the unlucky occupants of 1301—the family who had previously provoked Bai Xiao and had their door damaged by her—were in a different situation. Their door was broken, making it hard to defend their home. So, they proactively took in two familiar families, having them take turns guarding the place.

Today, the water had already risen to the sixth floor. People on the seventh and eighth floors were also packing their belongings, searching all over the building for a place to stay.

Xu Zhen's family, living in 801, was among those about to be flooded. Barring any surprises, the water would reach the eighth floor by tomorrow night at the latest. He had many followers in the building and easily secured a spot in a higher-floor apartment.

Others weren't so lucky. Now, no one was willing to voluntarily share their living space. Original occupants were unwilling to let outsiders into their homes. Left with no choice, these people could only opt for the unfinished, unoccupied apartments. To their surprise, even those empty apartments were already occupied, and the people inside weren't willing to let them in either.

They wailed, arguing that empty apartments had no property rights and everyone in the building had the right to live there. Unfortunately, each empty apartment housed at least two families. Two families against one gave the smaller group no chance. Such scenes played out every floor or two, and for a while, the entire building was in chaos.

Bai Xiao had keen hearing. The commotion from upstairs and downstairs was endlessly annoying, but she could only pretend not to hear it.

The continuous heavy rain had dropped the temperature to 15°C. Sleeping in the corridors at night was too cold. Those without a place to stay, relying on memory, went door-to-door knocking on the homes of people living alone or with few occupants.

People like Zhao Fangzhe and Bai Xiao were the prime targets, followed by families like Shi Jun's, which had no elderly and few members.

However, the fact that Bai Xiao had a gun was widely known, so most people now didn't dare to cross her. Zhao Fangzhe and Shi Jun were different. These people weren't afraid of them. Once the two men left, one household was left with only Cheng Ru, and the other with only He Yuping and a six-year-old child.

Already, two or three families had crowded onto the 12th floor, knocking on their doors. These people had their own ulterior motives. They figured Bai Xiao had guns and rubber dinghies. If they could successfully move into the 12th floor, maybe their own families could also benefit from the association. This was the so-called downside of having a gun: people might not dare to provoke you, but they all wanted to mooch off your advantages.

This time, Zhao Fangzhe and Shi Jun didn't need to sweep the building; they only had to move the hidden supplies onto the rubber dinghies. So, the trip didn't take much time. They left in the morning and returned by noon.

Shi Jun came up first alone, carrying supplies, while Zhao Fangzhe stayed downstairs to watch the rest. As soon as Shi Jun reached the 12th floor, he ran into three families crowded in the corridor. One family was a couple with a child—three people. The other two families included children and elderly. A dozen or so people with large and small bags of luggage filled the corridors on both sides of the connecting hallway.

"What are you all doing?" Shi Jun, holding supplies, froze at the stairwell entrance. He didn't understand why so many people had suddenly shown up. Had something happened at home?

The thought startled him. He hurriedly dropped his things and ran toward his apartment door.

Hearing Shi Jun's voice, Bai Xiao, Cheng Ru, and He Yuping opened their doors simultaneously.

Seeing the three doors open at once, the people crowded in the corridor excitedly surged forward. The three women immediately slammed their doors shut by reflex.

The families stopped sheepishly. Seeing Bai Xiao leaning against her doorway with her sword in her arms, they were somewhat afraid to approach. They only pointed at their children and elderly, wailing their pleas to the other two women.

"Our children are still young, and my mother's rheumatism has flared up. It's so cold outside at night; they really can't endure it. Please, have mercy and let us in."

"Yes, yes, have pity on us. Or just let the elderly and children stay inside; we can manage in the hallway. They're weak and can't hold out."

Several women and children wept pitifully, their pleas heart-wrenching. He Yuping and Cheng Ru couldn't withstand such an onslaught, their hands gripping the edges of their clothes tightly.

They were well aware of these people's hardships. But it was easier to invite gods in than to send them away. Once they moved in, who knew what might happen? For the safety of themselves and their families, the two women held their ground and remained silent.

Seeing their indifference, theHelper realized they weren't yet at their absolute wit's end and couldn't bring themselves to completely abandon their dignity by kneeling and begging desperately. The scene froze, leaving only the sobs of children and the elderly in the corridor.

Seeing this, Bai Xiao said to Shi Jun and the others, "You three go bring the things from downstairs up first. I'll keep an eye on them for you."

The three of them quickly went down and brought everything up in no more than two trips. On the final trip, Zhao Fangzhe also came up. He had already heard about the situation upstairs from the others while downstairs.

On the way back, he and Shi Jun had already discussed it. They decided to give one-third of the supplies they brought back to Bai Xiao. After all, without her rubber dinghies, they couldn't have retrieved so much. Giving her a share was only right. Too much or too little wouldn't be good, so they decided to stick to the old rule.

Therefore, as soon as they arrived, they placed the supplies they had pre-divided on the journey at Bai Xiao's doorstep. They gestured for her not to refuse, saying, "Let's stick to the old rule of splitting equally. Otherwise, we really won't feel comfortable borrowing your things in the future."

They spoke sincerely. Bai Xiao didn't continue to decline.

After distributing the supplies, looking at the corridor packed with people, the residents of the 12th floor felt quite helpless. These people hadn't done anything outright bad, so they couldn't just violentlyExpulsion them. Moreover, even if they didExpulsion them by force, if those people held a grudge and started deliberately causing trouble at night, peaceful sleep would be impossible. Yet, they also couldn't let the wolf in through the door out of sympathy. It was truly a dilemma.