29: The community was protected

"There are so many of us; if we fight them, we might have a chance to live. Charge!"

Having said that, he gripped his golf club and rushed forward with a yell. Through the gate, he swung wildly; two thugs couldn't dodge in time and had their arms broken, screaming in pain.

Even more people were infected by his passion, their eyes turning bloodshot as they rushed forward as well.

For a moment, a chaotic battle broke out at the main entrance.

Fang Zhongguan and his men had killed hundreds since the beginning of the Apocalypse; they were naturally not comparable to these people who had never seen blood.

After a brief period of panic, the thugs gradually gained the upper hand. Through the durable gate, they injured many owners. Fortunately, the gate acted as a barrier, otherwise, it wouldn't have been as simple as just getting injured.

Suddenly, in the middle of the melee, the young man from Villa No. 29 had his arm grabbed by someone when he wasn't paying attention. Without any defense, his whole body was pulled tight against the gate.

Seeing a machete swinging toward his head, he immediately closed his eyes in terror.

But the sensation of pain did not come. At the same time, the hand gripping his arm let go. He opened his eyes tremulously, only to see a kitchen knife embedded in the opponent's forehead; the man was falling backward, eyes wide in disbelief.

He was stunned for a moment. Just then, a nearby thug saw his companion fall and immediately raised his blade to hack at the dazed man.

At that moment, the young man was yanked back, falling flat on his face and getting a mouthful of dirt. But he didn't care; he scrambled up and saw a slightly youthful young girl with a cold, round face. Her slender arm reached through the gate, and the military knife in her hand was plunged deep into the thug's chest. She nimbly withdrew the military knife and swung it at the next person.

The young man watched, completely dumbfounded.

The newcomers were Ai Yue's family of three. They arrived just in time, saving many who were about to lose their lives and killing seven or eight thugs in succession. Seeing how powerful they were, the other thugs retreated one after another.

Even though it was the first time the old couple had killed anyone, their hands didn't shake, and their strikes were not at all hesitant. Ai Yue couldn't help but give her parents a thumbs-up in her heart; her parents' awareness was truly high. In this dog-eat-dog era, being kind to the enemy was being cruel to oneself.

Seeing that a tough opponent had arrived, Fang Zhongguan's expression changed. He was tempted to pull out his pistol and shoot them, but thinking that each pistol only had one magazine of bullets, he was reluctant. After all, he still needed to keep them to intimidate those within his gang.

He wasn't unaware that many in the gang were dissatisfied with him; they were merely deterred by the gun in his hand.

As for food, the city was so big with so many residential areas; it wasn't strictly necessary to take down Lushui Villa.

Thinking of this, he completely gave up the idea of using the gun.

"Yo, Little Girl, you're quite fierce. You've killed several of my brothers in just a few minutes; you've got quite the nerve."

Fang Zhongguan paced from the back of the crowd, step by step, to a safe position near the gate. He stopped and spoke with a gloomy face.

"Don't set your sights on Lushui Villa. With us here, you won't get any advantage. It's better if you leave," Ai Yue said coldly, her body radiating a murderous aura.

"Heh... Leave? Fine. As long as you give me thirty bags of rice and ten pretty girls, we'll leave right now and never look back. How about it?" Fang Zhongguan said with a playful expression.

Some owners behind them, who were already trembling and huddling together in fear, heard this and immediately screamed in terror: "Fine, fine, we'll give them, we'll give them! Tell us which girls you've taken a fancy to, and we'll send them out right now..."

"Take them, as long as you don't attack us anymore, we'll give you whatever you want."

..."Shut up!" Ai Yue's anger flared, and she barked out sharply.

Ai Yue looked at the owners who had spoken with bloodthirsty eyes. If looks could kill, they would have already been executed by a thousand cuts.

Frightened by Ai Yue's murderous gaze, they buried their heads and continued to tremble.

Seeing their cowardly behavior, Ai Yue withdrew her gaze and stared fixedly at Fang Zhongguan and the other thugs. Radiating a murderous aura, she said word by word, "In your dreams! Anyone who isn't afraid to die, come forward."

The other thugs looked at each other. Intimidated by her display just now, no one dared to step forward for a moment.

"With this little courage, you still dare to kill and rob supplies? A bunch of cowards."

Ai Yue was hoping they would come at them in another wave so she could kill enough of them to make their legs weak, making them never dare to target Lushui Villa again.

But things didn't go as planned. Fang Zhongguan didn't fall for the bait, nor did he pay any attention to Ai Yue's words. Instead, he ordered the others to set up camp outside the villa area, intending to fight a war of attrition with them.

Seeing that they had no intention of continuing the fight, Ai Yue called her parents to leave.

"Heroine, heroine, the three of you please stay!" Fang Guofeng saw the three of them about to leave and hurried forward to stop them. He bowed and scraped before Ai Guosheng, then said with a mouth full of complaints, "Hehe, Old Brother! I didn't expect your family's combat strength to be so formidable. Look at you, you didn't say anything earlier, leaving us trembling in fear these past two days..."

Ai Yue didn't like hearing that and interrupted him: "What? Are you blaming us for saving you?"

"Oh, how would I dare? That's not what I meant. Little Girl, why are you so blunt? Since you have the ability, you should have stepped forward earlier."

Ai Yue looked at his ugly face; this kind of person would take an ell if you gave him an inch. She didn't want to waste words with him, so she drew the military knife from her waist, weighed it in her hand, and said with a face of innocence, "Baldy, do you want to practice a bit?"

Looking at the glinting military knife in Ai Yue's hand, Fang Guofeng couldn't help but swallow hard. His face stiffened as he said, "Heh... Hehe, niece, you really know how to joke. My old limbs don't need that. Oh! Old Brother, the three of you have helped our residential area so much; you must be exhausted. Hurry back and get some rest. The future safety of our area will depend on the three of you..."

"That's not right. Our abilities are limited; we can't guarantee the safety of the residential area. Whether the entire area is safe or not depends on all the owners."

Ai Yue raised her hand to stop him from continuing.

"Ah? Ah! Right, right, my niece is absolutely right. Everyone in our residential area has an obligation to protect it, right?"

Ai Yue ignored the hidden meaning in Fang Guofeng's words and walked toward home with her parents' arms in hers.

Fang Guofeng watched the three of them walk away with a smile on his face, which then instantly turned cold.

He let out a "humph" from his nose and walked toward the entrance of the residential area with a gloomy face.

In this way, three days passed in peace.

Suddenly, that night, a blood-curdling scream echoed through the silent sky.

Ai Yue and the two others were already sensitive to sound. When the scream came from afar, they were instantly jolted awake from their sleep.

Ai Yue quickly dressed and went up to the third floor, running to the telescope set up by the window in the sunroom.

Looking out, she found many small dots holding torches driving straight in from the entrance of the residential area. Several nearby villas had already suffered.

Ai Yue was shocked. What happened? How did the gate open?

Ai Yue didn't have time to think. She tucked her pistol into her waist and ran out. Ai Guosheng and his wife followed just as quickly.

Ai Yue and the two others soon arrived at the entrance, only to hear heart-wrenching cries and the cruel laughter of men from the nearby villas.

Ai Yue pursed her lips, her eyes filled with a murderous intent. These beasts!

She gripped the gun in her hand but didn't dare to move.