Chapter 27: It’s Not That You Didn’t Steal — You Just Couldn’t

This street originally had no shops, but after the Chenyang Community was built, seven or eight home improvement and construction material stores opened up.

Someone saw a business opportunity and opened a small supermarket and breakfast shop here.

Next to the supermarket was a small restaurant serving brunch. Zhou Qiuyang had picked up takeout here before, so he was relatively familiar with the area.

Compared to previous runs, the underwater supplies were much fewer this time, so Xia Xiaoman didn’t even feel like going in.

Wen Jianfeng took Su Ran into the water, while she and Xiao Zheyu stayed on the inflatable kayak to keep watch.

The small supermarket had been hit hard by the flood. The entrance was smashed open, and everything inside was in chaos, with a thick layer of sludge at the bottom.

Luckily, the supermarket had a loft where quite a bit of inventory had been stored.

The supermarket sold a wide variety of goods, ranging from sewing kits and bubble gum to water buckets, bathtubs, and luggage.

Following a “waste nothing” principle, Wen Jianfeng and Su Ran grabbed whatever they could—filling the fishing nets they brought to the brim.

The nets were packed with everything imaginable: buckets of all sizes, vegetable baskets, basins, hangers, stacks of plastic stools, various toothpaste brands, body wash, shampoo…

There was also a good amount of food—2-pound bags of cake mix, bread flour mixed with yeast, vacuum-packed white rice, black rice, purple rice, dried noodles, egg noodles, buckwheat noodles…

As for condiments like oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and seasoning packets, they were packed up first and would be checked later for flood contamination.

Instant noodles, spicy Korean noodles, snail noodles, hot and sour noodles, dry noodles, self-heating hotpot, and self-heating rice—anything they saw went straight into the net.

There were countless snacks: spicy sticks, spicy chips, hot dogs, sausages, marinated duck necks, dried small fish, chicken wings, drumsticks, salted eggs, candies, cookies, beef jerky…

Wen Jianfeng and Su Ran had a very different looting style compared to Xia Xiaoman.

Xia Xiaoman only took the big-ticket items. She wouldn’t even glance at scraps in corners or on the floor.

But Wen Jianfeng and Su Ran wasted nothing. If something was edible or usable, even if it was stuck under a collapsed shelf, they’d move the shelf to retrieve it.

In that tiny supermarket, they somehow managed to gather two entire fishing nets full of supplies.

On their last dive, they even found three gas tanks and a stove inside the fast-food shop next door.

Not many people knew about this place. Even those who did had no diving gear to recover anything.

While they were looting, several groups came by to watch. Some even tried diving, but they all came up empty-handed.

Some people even considered staying behind to rob them afterward. Xia Xiaoman raised her speargun, and within minutes, those would-be looters had scattered.

They returned smoothly to the community. The water level had just receded to align with the fifth floor.

They started moving the supplies into the building. Xia Xiaoman stayed behind to guard them, while the other three carried loads upstairs.

Right after they left, a wooden raft drifted over. A family of three climbed over the rail and into the building.

The moment the little boy saw the bags of chips on the ground, he shook off his mother’s hand, grabbed a few packs, and ran off.

Xia Xiaoman caught him by the collar. Before she could say a word, the kid’s mom shrieked, “Ah! What are you doing? Let go of my son!”

The woman came at her claws out. Xia Xiaoman reflexively kicked her away.

“What the hell are you doing? Who gave you the right to hit people?” The man helped his wife up and glared angrily at Xia Xiaoman.

Xia Xiaoman looked innocent. “Your wife tried to hit me. Should I just stand there and take it?”

“You grabbed my son first! If you hadn’t touched him, she wouldn’t have attacked you. Let him go right now!” the man shouted righteously.

“Your son stole my stuff. Who else should I grab?”

The man shrugged it off. “It’s just a few bags of chips. You’re an adult. You’re really going to argue with a kid? Leilei, come here.”

Feeling emboldened with his parents behind him, the boy thrashed around wildly, trying to escape, and even kicked Xia Xiaoman several times.

She’d had enough.

Xia Xiaoman slapped him hard. A red handprint appeared instantly on his cheek, and the boy burst into tears.

“You bitch! You hit my son?! I’ll kill you!” the man roared. His son was his reverse scale—untouchable. He raised his fist and rushed toward Xia Xiaoman, with the woman following close behind.

Xia Xiaoman pulled out her axe and pressed it to the boy’s neck. “Go ahead. Come at me if you dare!”

With a hostage in hand, the couple froze.

“Killing someone means going to jail! Let my son go!” the woman cried, tears welling in her eyes.

Xia Xiaoman sneered, “Then go report me! Let’s see who goes first—your son or the cops.”

“You…” The woman trembled with rage. Just for a few damn bags of chips, this psycho would threaten a kid? When the floodwaters recede, she’s definitely calling the police to have this lunatic arrested.

At that moment, four more people came down from upstairs.

The couple saw them as their salvation and immediately pointed at Xia Xiaoman, spouting nonsense. “Brothers, help us out! This crazy woman stole our supplies and took our son hostage!”

“If you help us take her down, I’ll split half the supplies with you!”

Xia Xiaoman glanced at the four men. They instantly waved their hands and shook their heads frantically. “We don’t know them! We’re just passing by—leaving now! You do you, miss!”

No way were they getting involved. Just yesterday, they’d watched this girl split a guy’s head open with an axe. Who the hell would dare mess with her?

They were already regretting even coming downstairs at this moment. If she decided they were in her way and chopped them on the spot, they’d be done for.

The couple was dumbfounded. Who was this girl that these guys were so terrified of?

Just then, Wen Jianfeng and the others returned.

Seeing the little crowd, Xiao Zheyu rushed to Xia Xiaoman’s side, pulled a drying rack rod from the pile of supplies, and shouted, “What’s going on? You trying to rob us?”

The four “innocent bystanders” immediately backed into the corner. “We’re not trying to rob anyone—just passing through. Swear!”

“What’s happening?” Wen Jianfeng asked Xia Xiaoman.

She pointed her axe at the couple. “These two bastards tried to steal our supplies.”

Seeing she had backup now, the couple softened their tone and tried to explain: “It’s all a misunderstanding. Our son hasn’t eaten in days. When we saw the chips, he just grabbed a few bags.”

“We weren’t trying to rob her or anything. We’ll give the chips back. We won’t press charges for her hitting my wife and kid either.”

Xia Xiaoman spat on the ground. “Didn’t you just try to bribe those four into helping you rob me? Why the sudden change in tone?”

The man chuckled nervously. “Little sister, we were just joking. It’s not like we actually robbed you…”

No, they didn’t rob her.

Because they simply didn’t have the ability to.