The Crowd 02

And right at this moment, the rain stopped.

This rain, which had been falling for a full half-year, finally stopped.

There were no cheers in the building; there was only a deathly silence.

The end of the rain meant that order was about to return, and the evil deeds committed previously would be reckoned with.

Fang Zhiyi once again witnessed a person having their throat slit and being thrown into the water. He understood that to save his own life, he could only leave this place or hide.

He hid on the rooftop, relying on his last bit of dry rations to stay alive. He waited for the water to recede, for those thugs to receive their due judgment, but that day never came.

Because as soon as the floodwaters receded, a virus swept across the world. Many people developed high, persistent fevers and continuous coughs. Some coughed until they spat blood. The world remained in chaos.

It was as if heaven was determined to exterminate humanity. Before the virus issue could be resolved, a massive earthquake struck, leaving many high-rise buildings leaning and collapsing. Fang Zhiyi took advantage of the chaos to leave the place where he had been eking out an existence.

Only then did he realize that the outside world had long since changed its appearance.

Factions of all sizes entrenched themselves, and people began to band together. In this kind of environment, the dark side of human nature was completely exposed. Scavenging for supplies, robbing passersby, and even capturing lone individuals to enslave them—the world had become unimaginably chaotic.

But Fang Zhiyi did not lose hope, because he heard a broadcast on the radio advising that the military had established a shelter in the north and urging all residents to head there.

The corpses along the way made Fang Zhiyi's scalp tingle with fear. During his journey, he also met some companions who similarly wanted to go to the shelter. Fang Zhiyi, who was relatively well-rounded in all aspects, was elected by them as the captain of this temporary team.

Fang Zhiyi did not let them down. He once again felt a long-lost sense of humanity from these people and dedicated himself to leading them toward their destination. Along the way, they were attacked by several groups of people, but they managed to escape without any serious harm.

However, just as they were approaching their destination, Fang Zhiyi encountered a young man. His surname was Bai; Fang Zhiyi didn't know his full name, only that he wanted to join them. After that, Fang Zhiyi began to sense that something was wrong. Some people became very close to this newly arrived young man and simultaneously showed signs of alienation toward Fang Zhiyi.

He didn't pay it much mind. At that moment, his heart was full of hope for the future. He had heard that the northern shelter had already begun cultivating crops; perhaps he could even farm in his lifetime...

He didn't live to see that day. One night, during an attack by bandits, he covered the others' escape as he always did, but they locked him outside.

Fang Zhiyi was dragged along by those bandits with a chain around his neck, and when he died, his body was a mangled mess of flesh and blood.

He never got to see what the shelter looked like.

"No..." Fang Zhiyi wondered, "Is that it?"

"Yes," Little Hei said righteously.

"Speak properly."

"You couldn't have failed to guess, right?" Little Hei said sarcastically.

Fang Zhiyi laughed: "You haven't learned anything else, but I really don't know who you learned to be so petty from."

"You..." Little Hei let out a heavy breath, "See for yourself!"

Just as Fang Zhiyi thought, this guy called Xiao Bai was a reincarnator, and he also had a storage space. Of course, he only possessed all this after his rebirth, and the reason he wanted Fang Zhiyi dead was very simple.

In his first life, to survive, he did odd jobs for a gang of bandits. After he learned of the shelter's existence, he immediately sneaked away. But soon after, he ran into Fang Zhiyi and his group, and he wanted to ask Fang Zhiyi for some supplies.

But Fang Zhiyi refused and even drove him away.

Not long after being driven away, the gang of bandits found him, and so Xiao Bai died tragically.

After his rebirth, his hatred for Fang Zhiyi was maxed out; he wanted Fang Zhiyi to thoroughly experience his own misery.

"Is this guy's brain defective? It's the apocalypse, and just because someone doesn't help you, you have to ruin them? What the hell?"

Little Hei also couldn't stand it: "Do you know why the original host drove him away? Because someone in the team had seen him mixing with the bandits."

"I don't understand this protagonist's brain. Just because people didn't help him, he blames his death on others. Isn't that just idiotic?" Fang Zhiyi frowned deeply. "I've experienced the apocalypse twice anyway. Although the factors causing the disasters were different, I noticed a characteristic..."

"What is it?"

"Humans are indeed quite complex. In the apocalypse, taking care of oneself is already good enough. Choosing not to help others to avoid risks has also become a reason to hold a grudge. Tsk."

"Um," Little Hei said suddenly. "This guy called Xiao Bai is not the protagonist."

"Huh?" Fang Zhiyi was somewhat surprised.

"And since you mentioned this, there's an even more outrageous thing about him." Little Hei seemed to have forgotten being angered by Fang Zhiyi earlier. "This kid took his spatial storage and started frantically scavenging for supplies. The supplies he hoarded were enough to feed him for several lifetimes, but like a locust, he stuffed away whatever supplies he saw, completely disregarding the lives of other survivors."

"Sounds like something a wicked guy like him would do." Fang Zhiyi stood up and looked down through the window. At this time, the water level had already submerged the seventh floor. Even though it was daytime, the visibility outside was very low.

"No electricity, no light, an isolated island... It truly is an environment that easily breeds the dark side of people's hearts."

"Bang bang!" The security door behind him was pounded fiercely.

Fang Zhiyi could only judge the progression of the plot through the height of the water. It wasn't yet the point of home invasions and robberies, so the ones knocking on the door must be...

He walked to the main entrance and opened the door. A man with a face full of stubble appeared at the door. The man was very resentful: "Hey, I knocked for a long time before you opened it."

Fang Zhiyi stared at him without speaking.

"They said you live alone? We are your downstairs neighbors, living on the seventh floor. The seventh floor is flooded, let us squeeze in with you for a while, alright?" As he spoke, he picked up his suitcase and intended to go inside. Behind him followed an old woman and another woman, who was holding a little fat boy by the hand.

Fang Zhiyi remembered that the original host hadn't opened the door out of caution, and the people outside had cursed for a while and then left.

At this time, this family's actions attracted the attention of the neighbors living in the hallway. They all craned their necks, their eyes weird, not knowing what they were calculating.

The man was blocked. He looked up in confusion at Fang Zhiyi. He had seen this young man a few times; he looked like he was easy to talk to, and he didn't even talk back when the sweeper downstairs scolded him.

"What are you doing? We are all neighbors, you wouldn't be so selfish, would you?" The man blurted out, his voice raising quite a bit.

"Exactly, the family next door to you even took in other people to live. How can you live in such a big house all by yourself?" The old woman's mouth wasn't idle either.

Fang Zhiyi smoothed his hair with his hand: "I don't know why, but I just feel a little unhappy in my heart."