Seeing that Xu Haishui insisted, Su Li didn’t press further. He waved at Xu Xuehui, and then Gong Xiao and Ding Longyun followed Xu Haishui down from the rooftop, descending the stairs quickly until they reached the thirty-eighth floor.
“On this thirty-eighth floor, only Tao Bingjun lived before... oh, and Zhang... Zhang Ying lived here too.” Xu Haishui’s heart ached as he spoke, nearly choking on the words.
He had found Zhang Ying here before, overwhelmed with excitement, thinking he had rescued her and that she would see him as her savior. He had even fantasized about their future life together—how he would nurture their love, cherish her, never hold her past humiliation against her, never bring it up, and slowly heal her emotional wounds. They would surely be happy.
But then...
The joke was on me.
Xu Haishui tasted nothing but bitterness.
Ding Longyun seemed to sense the shift in his expression. He reached out and draped an arm over his shoulder. “Kid, don’t overthink it. Didn’t you say there are four girls here? Where are they? I’ll make the call and give you one—that’ll snap you out of it. Of course, I should get one too. Su Li, you want one?”
Xu Haishui was taken aback by the remark.
Gong Xiao shot Ding Longyun a look. “Brother Ding, if you really do that, what’s the difference between you and Tao Bingjun and his lot? Women aren’t objects. I think you should respect their own choices, don’t you?”
“Uh...” Ding Longyun was rarely caught off guard. He gave an awkward laugh. “Gong Xiao, I was just trying to lighten the mood since Xu Haishui here was feeling down. Don’t take it seriously. How could I be like Tao Bingjun? Besides, everyone knows I’m the one who respects women the most, right?”
Gong Xiao smiled meaningfully and said flatly, “Let’s hope so.”
Sensing the awkward atmosphere, Su Li interjected, “Let’s head down and take a look. This thirty-seventh floor should be where supplies are stored. The Zifeng Building has been supporting so many people; they must have gathered quite a bit over the past few days.”
Xu Haishui said, “I didn’t look closely before, so I’m not sure of the details. Now’s a good chance to check.”
They reached the thirty-seventh floor and found several doors slightly ajar. Opening them, they saw, as they had guessed, that the original furniture had been cleared out, turning the rooms into warehouses stacked with various supplies.
In one room, for instance, all the space was filled with clothes, shoes, socks, and bedding. Another room held storage bins, buckets, and basins of all sizes, all filled with water. In the largest living room sat a machine—the magnetic water purifier modified by the engineer Yan Fang, which Xu Haishui had mentioned before. Perhaps due to the night’s sudden incident, everyone had gathered together, leaving this place unattended, and the purifier had temporarily stopped working.
They checked a few rooms casually, and the scale of supplies was far beyond what they had before. After all, the Zifeng Building had eight floors above water, and combined with the materials collected from surrounding buildings over the past few days, everything was piled up here—nothing they could compare to.
“Let’s go. We’ll do a thorough inventory tomorrow. Head down first.” Su Li led the way downstairs, and soon they reached the thirty-sixth floor.
On this floor, they saw four women.
The Zifeng Building had only five women in total. Besides the deceased Zhang Ying, four remained.
These four women lived on the thirty-sixth floor with Wang Zhensheng, Sun Wenbo, and the others, serving them daily. Occasionally, their trusted followers got a taste, but those lower down could barely even catch a glimpse of them.
Now, the four women were still there. They had some inkling of the upheaval in the Zifeng Building that night, but they didn’t know the specifics and dared not wander off, so they stayed put, waiting for the outcome.
They varied in age, all looking haggard. The youngest seemed around seventeen or eighteen, the oldest nearly forty. None were as beautiful as Zhang Ying. Apart from one with fairer skin who had a bit of charm, the other three were quite plain. The slightly attractive one wore a pair of black-rimmed glasses.
When they saw Xu Haishui leading Su Li and the others in, the four women grew nervous. The sight of these strangers hinted at the night’s result.
“Don’t be nervous,” Gong Xiao said, trying to comfort them. Looking at the four, she felt a pang of pity.
These were four pitiful women, completely different from Zhang Ying. Judging by her appearance, Zhang Ying had been living comfortably these past few days, while these four looked worn out, having endured a tough time.
Seeing that Gong Xiao was a beautiful woman accompanied by a little girl, the four women grew curious. Gong Xiao’s gentle demeanor put them mostly at ease, and they sensed that Su Li and his group were different from Wang Zhensheng and Sun Wenbo.
“The nightmare is over. We’re here to rescue you. Tao Bingjun, Wang Zhensheng, and the others are dead. From now on, you’re free—no more kowtowing to anyone.”
Xu Haishui spoke solemnly as he looked at them. Seeing the surprise and joy in their eyes, he felt a bit like a hero, a savior—at least in their eyes, that must be how it seemed.
He relished the feeling of being admired and thanked.
Ding Longyun glanced sideways at Xu Haishui, thinking the guy was putting on a show. He wasn’t being cowardly now; instead, he was talking with some flair.
Su Li said, “Come down with us. Let’s join the others first.” He had already activated his Peeping Rune to observe the four women and found they were all ordinary people, not even Level 1 Spirit Source users. Tao Bingjun and his crew must have kept them confined here from the start to control them and prevent any resistance, forbidding them from hunting monsters to evolve.
Xu Haishui nodded. “Alright, the four of you, come with us.”
The women dared not defy them and followed downstairs.
Gong Xiao asked for their names, and they answered one by one. The oldest was Zhong Rongrong, the youngest Zhou Li, the one with glasses and some charm was Qi Mengyu, and the last, slightly plump, was Tao Yuezhi.
The thirty-fifth floor housed Tao Bingjun’s trusted followers, but they had all fled, leaving it empty. The group didn’t linger there and went straight down to the thirty-fourth floor.
The thirty-fourth floor was where meals and activities took place in the Zifeng Building, with the kitchen also set up there.
They arrived around dinner time, and almost everyone else had gathered on the thirty-fourth floor—some to eat, others to await further orders.
Earlier, Tao Bingjun had ordered them to stay put on the thirty-fourth floor and not cause trouble, expecting to quickly deal with Su Li’s group and capture Gong Xiao and Xu Xuehui without wasting much time. He didn’t want them running around and causing chaos, but the situation spiraled far beyond his control.
The people gathered on the thirty-fourth floor dared not defy Tao Bingjun’s orders. Though they had finished eating long ago, they remained there.
They could hear various noises—explosions, sounds from the rooftop—and knew there was an external attack that night, with Tao Bingjun and his men fighting. But the outcome was unknown.
In truth, they didn’t dare leave. For now, staying put on the thirty-fourth floor seemed safe enough.
When Su Li and his group reached the corridor of the thirty-fourth floor, they saw a faint light coming from one of the rooms. Approaching, they found a candle lit.
The living room furniture had been cleared out, replaced by several tables pushed together with chairs on either side. The bedrooms also held tables and chairs, serving as the Zifeng Building’s dining hall.
At that moment, the dining hall was crowded. Some sat on chairs, chatting quietly; others stood by the windows, looking out; a few paced back and forth, looking uneasy.
As Su Li’s group appeared at the doorway, the murmuring stopped, the pacing halted, and those by the windows hurried out of the bedrooms.
The buzzing noise suddenly vanished, leaving a silence so profound you could hear a pin drop.
Both sides sized each other up.
To these people, Su Li and his companions were strangers—except for Xu Haishui.
Su Li, in turn, observed the crowd gathered in the converted dining hall, using his Peeping Rune to scan them.
The group included people of all ages, from the youngest at fifteen or sixteen to the oldest around fifty, with most in their twenties or thirties—the prime of life.
There were Level 3s and Level 4s, and he spotted one person sitting in a corner with his head down, already at Level 5—the only Level 5 Spirit Source user among them.
They stared at Su Li, Ding Longyun, the beautiful Gong Xiao, and Xu Xuehui with extreme surprise. Were these the invaders tonight? And there was such a beautiful woman among them?
Then they noticed Zhong Rongrong, Qi Mengyu, and the other two women following behind.
Those women had been monopolized by Tao Bingjun and his crew and never came downstairs. Their presence now could only mean one thing: these strangers had truly defeated Tao Bingjun and won.
“Xu Haishui?” Someone emerged from the inner bedroom, spotting Xu Haishui, and called out in astonishment.
“Bai Wenwei.” Xu Haishui smiled when he saw him.
Bai Wenwei was about his age, a man with fair skin and a side-part haircut, giving him a soft, boyish look. Like Xu Haishui, he was often looked down on and bullied.
Sharing the same plight, he and Xu Haishui had a decent relationship. Now, seeing Xu Haishui leading strangers at the door, he was taken aback.