"Right, right, right, let’s have dinner, and later I’ll show you the entertainment facilities in our community," said a man next to Ling Fang cheerfully, having just taken a big gulp of porridge and trying to ease the atmosphere.
For a moment, the room filled with the sound of spoons clinking against bowls as the people from Sheng Yuan couldn’t help but start eating, while only Lu Chen and Li Chuan’s groups remained seated and unmoving.
The lenses of Li Qian’s glasses fogged up with steam. He took them off, pulled out a corner of his shirt to wipe them, and spoke softly, "Today in the elevator, we smelled something strange."
Aside from the newcomers, everyone else paused their eating, their expressions turning slightly unnatural.
Until a middle-parted woman sitting among the crowd spoke up, "It might be from the basement—some stored vegetables rotting."
Li Qian put on his glasses, his gaze locking onto her as he identified the person who had tangled with him yesterday.
"Damn those vegetables! I brought my son here for you, and you can’t skimp on the oil," Jianxiong lost his temper, stood up, and slammed his palm on the table, his muscles bulging with tension.
Even a fool could see that these people were deliberately stalling to keep them from leaving.
At his table slam, dozens of people around the large table stood up, all gathering superpower in their hands.
The atmosphere instantly became tense.
Ling Fang sighed quietly to herself. She wiped her son’s mouth and, with an apologetic look first at Su Mo, then spoke,
"Stay with us, protect our homeland. I will offer you the highest treatment. Yesterday’s vegetables were just a welcoming gift. As long as you want, I guarantee you’ll have vegetables every day."
Her words first shocked the people from Sheng Yuan; having fresh vegetables every day was too tempting an offer.
Compared to the dangerous streets of B City, this seemed like a better place to settle.
They couldn’t help but start discussing among themselves quietly.
Su Mo couldn’t feel happy about this at all. Lu Chen tapped his fingers lightly on the table and spoke in an unhurried tone, "What if we insist on leaving?"
He released all the oppressive aura around him, which overwhelmed the people confronting Jianxiong.
They were only one level apart, but the fear springing from the depths of their hearts was unstoppable.
They all broke out in a cold sweat to varying degrees.
Indeed, if they were truly prevented from leaving, just the Level 3 superpower users alone would cause them significant trouble.
Ling Fang’s face darkened; she was in a tough position. On one hand, he was her son’s lifesaver; on the other...
She turned her gaze towards the middle-parted long-haired woman, waiting for her response.
"Our place here is a peaceful world, without the strife of the outside, nor the disgusting monsters everywhere," the middle-parted woman said, considering her words carefully and resisting the urge to back down as she met Lu Chen’s gaze with full sincerity.
"Trouble! The elevator in Building Three is broken!"
While they were speaking, the door was pushed open by a woman with a bruised and swollen face who rushed in, her voice filled with fear.
Seeing this, Lu Chen raised an eyebrow and withdrew his oppressive aura completely.
The people around breathed a sigh of relief, but the woman’s words made their hearts tense up again.
"What did you say?" Ling Fang, holding her child, suddenly stood up; not just her, everyone in the room was startled into standing.
Building Three? Su Mo frowned, looking towards Lu Chen—the monster from last night...
The woman, panting heavily, desperately patted her chest and continued in fits and starts, "I... I was waiting for the elevator, it was fine until it reached the second floor, then suddenly it dropped."
"The basement?" Su Mo asked.
As expected, the man nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes, yes! They’ve gone to the basement! I heard screams! There are still people inside!"
"Aunt Yuan, are you sure?" The woman with the center-parted hair frowned, her spiritual power spread out, and a moment later, she retracted it, "Let’s go check it out."
She led the way and walked out with others.
Only Ling Fang and the outsiders remained in the room.
Sheng Yuan and his group had drunk porridge and had no problems until now. Li Chuan finally began to move slowly, savoring the vegetable porridge.
"Don’t you know what kind of monster is kept on the basement floor?"
With everyone gone, Su Mo openly asked her now. She had also realized that Ling Fang wasn’t the leader of this community; final decisions were in that center-parted woman’s hands.
"What?" Ling Fang stared at her incredulously.
Su Mo sighed and glanced at the confused Ling Ye in her arms, "Isn’t Building 3 guarded? What about it, didn’t the people in the security room tell you that someone went missing?"
"You... it really was you last night!" Ling Fang’s eyes widened. Her grip around her son loosened, and Ling Ye obediently crawled down.
Zhao Changsheng propped a foot on a stool, leaning forward with both hands on the table, "Do you think we are fools?"
Li Qian glanced at her and smiled silently; he pushed the porridge towards Su Niang, indicating she could eat.
"The monsters! They are not monsters," Ling Fang shook her head in denial. "Those underground are our relatives."
Su Mo raised an eyebrow. What she had seen was far more than that, but she didn’t want to dwell too much on their attachment to their relatives. She stood up, mimicking Jianxiong as she slammed her palm on the table, revealing her small fangs as she threatened,
"Gasoline, we want it now; take your son and die with them if you must, but don’t drag us into it!"
She straightened up, her gaze icy, "What kind of relatives can pull down an elevator from the second floor, think about it."
Their conversation confused Sheng Yuan, but he also came to understand that these people were harboring zombies.
"Mom, what are they talking about?" Ling Ye stood by Ling Fang, tugging at her sleeve.
Ling Fang looked down into those innocent, clear, and large eyes, her own eyes reddening.
"Jianxiong, tie up her son," Su Mo clapped her hands and stood up, speaking crisply.
"Sister Su. Sister," Ling Ye’s body shook, he looked at her incredulously.
Ling Fang immediately shielded her child behind her like a wild animal protecting its young, "You dare!"
"Why wouldn’t I?" Su Mo wasn’t about to be polite, her smile chilling, "I pulled your son out of a zombie dog’s mouth, and after wasting a day with you, I’m not about to let you lead us to our deaths."
From the beginning, their actions had been purposeful. Now, unpredictable dangers had emerged; how could they just sit by and wait for doom.
Jianxiong made a move to circle the table, the bone spurs on the back of his hand extending towards the mother and son.
"Mom!" Ling Ye shuddered, tears swirling in his eyes.
Jianxiong’s appalling appearance was too much for him, frightening him deeply.
Ling Fang stood up, continuously protecting her son as she retreated until she bumped into Li Chuan, who had appeared behind her at some unknown point.
He leaned close to her ear, his hand open with a palm-sized fireball emitting searing heat appearing before her, he whispered softly, "Do you want your son, or the gasoline?"