People who can afford to live in upscale residential areas generally have a decent status, and the upper circles of A City aren’t too large. Everyone is bound to cross paths again, and there will be future opportunities for cooperation.

During the period when the water was cut off, everyone was still concerned about maintaining their image and reputation. Whether there were any underhanded dealings behind the scenes was unknown, but at least on the surface, everything seemed fine. No incidents of throwing objects from high buildings in public had occurred.

With the space cheat tool available, Shuxin and her group didn’t have these worries. Anything thrown into the second layer of the space would be automatically deactivated.

The heavy rain lasted longer, and the water level in the community continued to rise. More and more people’s homes were flooded. Some moved to higher floors to take shelter, while others either paid with money, promises of benefits, or resorted to threats to stay in someone else’s home.

Those who allowed others to stay in their homes during such a time, whether driven by greed, poor judgment, or cowardice, would eventually meet an unfortunate end.

The rain had lasted for a month with no sign of stopping. Under the national and even global disaster, allowing unfamiliar people into your home was no different than inviting danger.

These types of people had little chance of surviving long in such a harsh environment.

The latest round of government relief supplies was vastly different from the first. It was clearly stated that future supplies would need to be exchanged for equivalent cash or gold.

Since news spread that some people had been robbed of their supplies on their way home, everyone now tightly hugged their supplies when they received them, cautiously watching their surroundings as they hurried home, fearing that they might be the next victim.

Shuxin and her group hadn’t gone for the last few rounds of supply distribution. It was inconvenient to go out in the rain, and they weren’t lacking supplies, so there was no need to endure the trouble.

Furthermore, they had already gathered enough information about the situation outside. Going out no longer served much purpose. They thought it was better to stay home and train for a few more hours.

Another half month passed, and the official supply distribution stopped. Social order completely collapsed, and the community also began to become unstable. During this time, there were four or five waves of people knocking on the door of the 24th floor.

The attitude of those people changed from polite to coercive and, eventually, to outright threats.

Their goal was clear: they wanted to move into the 24th and 25th floors to steal the supplies stored there.

The water had already reached the middle of the 9th floor. At the current rate, it would soon reach higher floors. The group led by Zai Xinyuan, who lived on the 16th floor, clearly felt the threat. The 16th floor was no longer entirely safe, so they decided to target the 24th and 25th floors.

They had observed that the people on these two floors had only gone out once to collect supplies, and they hadn’t left their homes for a long time. This meant they likely had a lot of stockpiled goods. If they could break into their homes, they could get a lot of benefits.

Additionally, they had seen the residents using an inflatable boat. During a flood, an inflatable boat was an invaluable tool, a means of survival.

Zai Xinyuan and his four companions were all university roommates. Before the heavy rain started, one of them had celebrated his birthday, and they wanted to find a lively place to celebrate. Zai Xinyuan thought that this building was perfect—spacious, usually unoccupied, with Aunt Guang coming regularly to clean. So he brought his roommates here.

They were all young and strong, adjusting to the chaos of society faster than older generations, and they were quick learners.

The 24th floor was not the first target they chose. Their first attempt had been on a single girl living on the 13th floor. One of their roommates, who wasn’t unattractive, said a few sweet words and managed to get her to open the door without much trouble.

This easy success inflated their confidence, and soon they became more reckless, feeling like the protagonists of a TV drama. The social chaos was an opportunity for them to rise and dominate the world.

After deciding to target the 24th floor, they didn’t hold a serious meeting. They thought it would be no harder than the previous few attempts. They casually agreed to break in early the next morning, not thinking much of it.

It was just past 1 AM when Zai Xinyuan and his group of five sneaked up to the 16th floor. They had secretly studied the door at the 24th-floor stairwell. It was very sturdy, and normal methods wouldn’t work. They had previously found a cutting machine and a battery during a raid, which was just the right tool for the job.

The sound of the cutting machine wasn’t quiet, and when it started up, Mu Qimai, who was sleeping on the living room sofa, immediately heard the noise outside.

He quietly got up, checked the stairwell monitor, and went to knock on the bedroom doors of Yan Mo and Bo Xiangwen to wake them up.

After the community started becoming chaotic, Yan Mo had arranged for someone to sleep on the sofa every night to respond quickly to any movement. The soundproofing in the rooms was too good, and without someone on duty at night, they might not even hear the door being broken into.

Yan Mo and Bo Xiangwen quickly came out. After confirming the number of intruders and the weapons they had—one holding a long knife and the other a gun—they opened the door and stepped outside.

The door to the stairwell was suddenly opened, and Zai Xinyuan and his group were momentarily stunned. When they saw who it was, they quickly recovered and displayed hostile expressions.

“Hey, looks like you’re quite alert. Be smart and open the door now, or we’ll have to force it open, and you won’t like what happens then!” Zai Xinyuan said loudly, threatening them.

“Ugh—” Yan Mo sneered.

To hear such foolish words from someone nearly twenty years old, it was clear that he must have spent too much time watching brainless TV dramas.

Zai Xinyuan’s anger flared at the mockery, and he shouted, “Since you don’t know what’s good for you, don’t blame us for being rude. Hurry up and cut open this iron door, and let’s see if you still have the guts to act tough!”

The person operating the cutting machine accelerated their movements, turning the power up to the maximum. They didn’t care about waking anyone inside anymore.