Where are all the bad people in the world

The sound of soft sobbing came intermittently as Xia Muzhu sat curled up on the sofa, hugging her knees, crying uncontrollably.

"Knock, knock, knock."

The sudden rapping at the door startled her, making her body jerk. The tissue she had just pulled from the box slipped from her fingers and fluttered to the floor.

She turned her head toward the door—unlike most people, her first reaction wasn’t curiosity about who was knocking, but fear.

It had to be said, after a month and a half of careful conditioning (morning, noon, and night, she was shown short horror videos of women being assaulted in criminal cases), Xia Muzhu had completely become the person Lin Yu wanted her to be.

"Knock, knock, knock."

Swallowing hard, Xia Muzhu stared at the reinforced door as the knocking sounded again. Mustering her courage, she called out, "Who—who is it?"

"Is this Xia Muzhu’s home?"

The male voice outside didn’t answer her question but instead asked directly.

"Yes, it’s me. Who are you? What do you want?" Xia Muzhu replied warily.

"It’s me," the voice outside suddenly turned warm, tinged with a hint of delight. "I’m the guy who collects recyclables downstairs. You used to save up drink bottles for me—remember?"

The recyclables collector?

Xia Muzhu blinked, quickly recalling the man. He was a pitiful figure, living in an old neighborhood near Xinyue Residential Area. His family was poor, and his mother suffered from an illness that required expensive medication to sustain her life. Because of this, he had to drop out of school early and work at construction sites to make ends meet.

After his shifts, he would scavenge for empty bottles and other recyclables in the trash bins around nearby neighborhoods to earn extra money for his mother’s medicine.

Ever since the property management had absconded with the funds this spring, leaving the residential gate unguarded, he had started frequenting Xinyue Residential Area to collect sellable scraps.

Back then, feeling sorry for him, Xia Muzhu had made a habit of saving empty bottles at home and giving them to him whenever she saw him.

Come to think of it…

They had even made an arrangement.

Every Saturday at 6:30 p.m., she would leave the week’s collected bottles behind a specific trash bin not far from the building, so he could pick them up on his way home from work at six.

But now that she thought about it, she hadn’t seen him in a while.

Xia Muzhu quietly reflected on recent events.

Ever since Xia Yueshan had started behaving, he had taken over almost all the chores, including taking out the trash. The bottles she collected were now left at the designated spot by him.

She wondered if the man had still been picking them up.

Once she remembered who was outside, Xia Muzhu let out a small sigh of relief and asked, "What brings you here?"

"I found a wallet. There’s an ID inside with your name on it," the man outside said. "Come out and see if it’s yours."

A wallet!

Xia Muzhu’s eyes lit up. She had been searching for her missing wallet all last night. Quickly standing up, she hurried toward the door.

But as she reached it, influenced by the countless horror videos of women being victimized, she didn’t recklessly open it. Instead, she peered through the peephole.

Through the tiny lens, she saw the man—always disheveled and unkempt—wearing a slightly foolish smile. In his hand was a rectangular, porcelain-blue wallet.

"Yes! That’s mine!" Xia Muzhu exclaimed excitedly.

She raised her arm, placing her fair, delicate hand on the doorknob. But just as she was about to press down and open the door, she froze.

Like a flood, the countless horror cases she had watched surged through her mind:

The case of a woman walking alone at night, raped and murdered.

The case of a woman whose sympathy was exploited by a group of scammers disguised as elderly people, leading to her abduction and sale into the mountains.

And the case of a woman living alone, tricked into opening her door by a man posing as a maintenance worker, only to be brutally killed.

One terrifying scenario after another flashed through Xia Muzhu’s mind like a macabre slideshow. The thought of a lone woman being deceived into opening her door, only to be assaulted and murdered inside, filled her with such dread that she momentarily lost the courage to turn the knob.

But soon, her fear was overtaken by resentment.

Xia Muzhu thought of the person who had sent her those videos.

Hah!

He was always warning her to be careful of bad people.

But he was the worst one of all!

Yet…

It was so strange.

What was the point of all this elaborate scheming?

Xia Muzhu couldn’t figure it out.

For money?

Aside from the initial 3,000 yuan, he had never taken another cent from her—even refusing when she offered.

Was it for her body?

Her brows lowered slightly. That seemed even less likely.

In the past month and a half, he hadn’t even touched her hand…

Then why go to such lengths to get close to her?

It made no sense.

"Open the door so I can give you your wallet," the man outside urged again, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Oh—oh, right."

Xia Muzhu snapped back to reality. Staring at the thick, imposing door, she still felt a twinge of hesitation. Glancing at the leather bag on the coffee table, she briefly considered taking out the stun baton inside for self-defense.

But…

He was just trying to return her wallet. Pointing a stun baton at him would be incredibly rude.

Besides!

How many bad people could there really be in the world?

Hadn’t all the "dangerous" situations she’d encountered before been orchestrated by him?

With that thought, Xia Muzhu pressed down on the doorknob with a resentful force and pushed the door open.

The final barrier between them disappeared.

The disheveled man outside seemed to transform in an instant. The simple, foolish smile vanished from his face, replaced by an expression so terrifying it could freeze blood. His eyes were dark with fury as he glared at Xia Muzhu, like a betrayed husband confronting an unfaithful wife.

One hand still on the doorknob, Xia Muzhu froze in place, paralyzed by his menacing gaze. A wave of overwhelming danger surged through her.

For a moment, neither moved.

Then, the ringing of a phone inside the apartment shattered the silence.

Xia Muzhu instinctively turned her head toward the sound—

In that split second, the man outside lunged forward, clamping a hand over her mouth and pulling her into a reverse embrace—one arm locking around her waist, the other muffling her screams—as he forced his way inside.

At the same time, a pair of eyes that had been hiding behind the stairwell door for who knows how long widened sharply.

In those dark, gleaming pupils, beyond the boundless rage, there was something else—

A flicker of excitement.

The thrill of finally getting to act after waiting so long.

After carrying the violently struggling Xia Muzhu into the room, the filthy man’s first instinct was to slam the door shut again.

He released his grip around Xia Muzhu’s waist, reached back, and gave the security door a forceful shove, sending it flying toward the frame.

Just as the door was about to close, a thunderous crash erupted—the security door rebounded with even greater speed and force.

Accompanying the deafening noise was a furious, youthful roar.

"Let go of my sister, you bastard!!!"