48: Jiang Fei: What gun? Don't talk nonsense.

Feng Chenlu: "The Xiao Zhou and his wife invited the officials to investigate. You need to come downstairs with me."

"Okay." Jiang Fei didn't let Lu Yu and the others accompany her. She followed Feng Chenlu to the 21st floor.

The door to room 2101 was wide open.

A man and a woman, both in their early thirties, stood at the entrance.

Opposite them were soldiers in life jackets who had been invited by the Xiao Zhou and his wife to mediate while on patrol.

Old Mrs. Xu stood beside the Xiao Zhou and his wife, her voice rising in agitation: "I've told you two many times, Lili hasn't left her room for over half a month. I was worried about her safety, so I asked Little Jiang to help me cut off the lock on 2101's door."

"Lili starved to death. If you don't believe me, you can look at the trash inside the room. We didn't touch anything, and her body is still on the bed in the bedroom."

Mother Zhou completely ignored Old Mrs. Xu's explanation, crying as she grabbed the soldier's hand: "Comrade, you must do justice for us!"

"We left our daughter a lot of food and money before we left, and now it's all gone! It must be this old woman and that Jiang Fei from the 22nd floor who took it!"

"They broke in, robbed, and killed my poor daughter! And they let insects and rats eat her body! They're practically beasts!"

Father Zhou pulled Mother Zhou into his arms to comfort her: "My dear, don't worry, the Comrade will do justice for us. We'll make Old Mrs. Xu and Jiang Fei return all the food and money to us."

Their eyes were full of calculation.

They had finally managed to rush back from out of town, intending to sell the house amidst the chaos and take the money to their hometown for refuge. Who knew their daughter would starve to death at home, her body already stinking and decaying.

Knowing that Old Mrs. Xu and Jiang Fei had entered, they seized the opportunity to blame their daughter's death on them, hoping to extort money and food.

Anyway, their daughter was a money pit, so her death actually saved them trouble.

Seeing Feng Chenlu approaching with Jiang Fei, Mother Zhou grabbed the soldier's arm again: "Comrade! She's the murderer!"

The soldier: "Before the matter is investigated clearly, please both of you watch your words."

"Comrade Jiang, did you damage the lock on 2101?"

"Yes, because Grandma Xu asked me for help, wanting to check on Zhou Lili's situation. When we went in, she was already dead."

Jiang Fei answered calmly, looking at the Xiao Zhou and his wife: "You said I broke in and robbed. So tell me, what did I rob?"

Mother Zhou blurted out: "Twenty thousand in cash, a box of jewelry and rings, and a bag of rice, and a lot of instant noodles and ham sausages."

Father Zhou: "After all this time, you've probably finished the food and spent most of the money, but I guarantee you've hidden the jewelry."

The Xiao Zhou and his wife deliberately didn't mention the material of the jewelry, only so that when they went to Jiang Fei's house later, they could take whatever they saw.

As expected, Jiang Fei proposed a search.

"Comrade, you can search my house to see if there are any of the things the Xiao Zhou and his wife mentioned. Then, please have someone perform an autopsy to determine Zhou Lili's cause of death."

"If I killed her, then Zhou Lili's body would definitely have external injuries other than those from insects or rats."

"Even with decomposition, useful clues can still be found."

Upon hearing this, the Xiao Zhou and his wife panicked a little. They hadn't figured out how to refuse the autopsy when Xu Qianyao returned.

Old Mrs. Xu seemed to have found her backbone and pulled Xu Qianyao over: "Qian Yao, they are slandering me and Little Jiang."

Xu Qianyao asked the soldier: "What's going on?"

The soldier told him the whole story.

Looking at the Xiao Zhou and his wife's uneasy reaction, as if they had done something wrong, Xu Qianyao understood: "We will not let any bad person go, nor will we wrongly accuse a good person."

"Since you insist they are the murderers, and they say they didn't do it, then let's have an autopsy done."

"However, there's something I need to remind you: Lin City is currently in a special period. Everyone is working together to fight the disaster. Anyone who dares to cause trouble at this time will definitely not be let off by the officials."

With that, Xu Qianyao showed his identification.

The Xiao Zhou and his wife were thoroughly scared.

They just wanted to extort money, not cause a big fuss and get arrested.

Mother Zhou forced a smile: "I think we might have misunderstood. My daughter suffered so much in her life, let her rest in peace. Let's drop this matter here. Thank you, Comrades. We'll go bury our daughter..."

"Wait."

Jiang Fei stopped the Xiao Zhou and his wife who were trying to leave: "Can a simple 'misunderstanding' erase the trauma you've caused me and Grandma Xu?"

"This incident has ruined our reputation and left us with a huge shadow. Grandma Xu almost got sick from your anger."

Old Mrs. Xu immediately clutched her chest: "Oh, my heart..."

Mother Zhou gritted her teeth: "Then what do you want?"

"An apology and compensation. The compensation doesn't need to be much, just the things you mentioned earlier will do."

Father Zhou refused: "You're extorting us!"

Jiang Fei immediately stood behind Xu Qianyao, feigning weakness: "He's going to hit me!"

"I didn't!" Father Zhou quickly lowered the hand he was pointing at Jiang Fei.

In the end, the Xiao Zhou and his wife bowed and apologized to Jiang Fei and Old Mrs. Xu, and compensated them based on their existing supplies.

With the officials present, Jiang Fei couldn't ask for too much. She only asked for 10 packs of instant noodles and 6 bags of bread, sharing them equally with Old Mrs. Xu.

The supplies the Xiao Zhou and his wife had painstakingly brought back were thus reduced by one-third.

The two, trying to steal a chicken but losing the rice, retreated back to 2101 after handing over the items, tightly closing the door, fearing that Jiang Fei, this 'bandit,' would be endless.

"Captain Xu, I'll be leaving now."

"Wait." Feng Chenlu suddenly stopped the soldier:

"I suspect 2202 is hiding firearms and flamethrowers. Please, Comrade, help me deal with it."

She had heard it from other survivors.

Regardless of whether it was true or not, she had to consider the safety of the building.

Involving firearms, the soldier became serious: "Comrade Jiang, can you take me to 2202?"

Xu Qianyao frowned, just about to take on the search mission.

Jiang Fei nodded generously: "Yes."

Xu Qianyao was stunned.

Is Miss Jiang tired of living???

Worried about Jiang Fei, Xu Qianyao followed them to the 22nd floor.

Lu Yu and the others also came out of 2203 and stood in the hallway.

Jiang Fei opened the door to 2202 and let the soldier in to search.

All her supplies and dangerous goods were in the Supermarket warehouse; there was only a short knife in the bedroom, so she wasn't afraid of a search.

If the soldier went to her teammates' houses, she also had a way to get in ahead of time and hide the weapons.

However, Lu Yu didn't know Jiang Fei's plan and quietly clenched his hands.

His house was full of dangerous goods, with nowhere to hide them.

Fortunately, the soldier only checked 2202.

Although surprised by the warm air in 2202, no dangerous goods were found. The soldier bid farewell to Xu Qianyao.

Feng Chenlu looked at Jiang Fei apologetically: "I'm sorry, I misunderstood you."

"I thought what the people downstairs said about you having a gun was true."

"It's fine." Jiang Fei accepted Feng Chenlu's apology with an unchanging expression and said seriously:

"We often go out to find supplies, so it's inevitable that we'll attract envious people."

No matter what, they're just jealous and spreading rumors about me.

Feng Chenlu became even more embarrassed: "The officials delivered cotton clothes today for the community to distribute, and they will deliver cotton quilts in a few days."

"Don't come downstairs, I'll bring them up to you."

Jiang Fei refused Feng Chenlu's kind offer: "We all have cotton clothes. Please give them to those who need them."

"When the cotton quilts arrive, we'll come down to get them then."

Hearing this, Feng Chenlu had no choice but to give up and went downstairs.

With no outsiders present, Xu Qianyao asked curiously: "Where did you hide the guns?"

Jiang Fei looked as if she didn't understand: "What guns?"

"Captain Xu, don't talk nonsense."

Who knew if he was trying to entrap her?

Xu Qianyao didn't believe Jiang Fei at all, but he didn't press the issue, changing the subject: "Is Lin Bo's matter related to you?"

Jiang Fei: ?

Lu Yu, who was standing at the back, silently turned his head away.