Early in the morning, a crowd gathered downstairs from Building Seven.
Looking from the balcony, a lot of people were crowded around the spot where soone had jumped yesterday.
After eating breakfast and washing up, Qin Ziwen went downstairs.
"Sigh, why would soone suddenly jump? I think this is the first ti it’s happened in our Gated Community."
"Judging by the location, he must be from Building Seven. Does anyone here know him?"
The deceased was a man, lying face up. A pool of brownish-red blood had collected beneath him. His hair was graying; he wasn’t young.
Huang Tao pushed through the crowd and sighed, "I know him. He lived on the top floor."
A neighbor in the crowd said, "I rember now. His wife was dragged away by a crocodile yesterday afternoon when she was fetching water by the river. By the ti he got the news and rushed over, she was already gone."
"God, that’s horrible. Does he have any other family?"
"I think it was just him and his wife. They had a really good relationship, always going for a walk together after dinner."
"We talked once during a walk. I think their son got married a long ti ago. The old couple would sotis go over to help with their grandson."
Exchanging bits and pieces of information, the neighbors pieced together the dead man’s identity.
"What do we do with the body? We can’t just leave it here. It’ll start to stink and breed germs."
"Oh, speaking of which, that reminds of the first basent level. Soone died in the garage, I don’t know who. The last ti I passed by, the stench was overwhelming."
"Hasn’t anyone dealt with it?"
"Who would deal with it? The body’s all bloated and swollen, with pus leaking out from under it. Anyway, I don’t usually use the garage, so the sll doesn’t reach ."
An old man in the crowd stepped forward. "Co on, everyone, let’s lend a hand. We can’t just leave him here. He’s gone, but we still have to live here."
With one person taking the lead, others stepped forward one by one.
Qin Ziwen was silent for a mont before stepping forward. He went to the man’s feet, bent down, and grabbed his ankles.
Seven people worked together to carry the body outside the Gated Community.
"Where do we put it?"
"How about we throw it in the river?"
"Do you ever want to eat fish from the river again?"
"Who cares about that stuff now?"
Huang Tao said, "The pit we dug when we killed that male crocodile leader isn’t completely filled in yet."
They tossed the body into the pit and then covered it with a layer of dirt.
One of them suddenly squatted down and took a blood-stained key from the corpse’s pants.
Seeing the others looking at him, the young man tossed the key in his hand and said with a smile, "We took care of his body. His apartnt is empty anyway, so let’s go have a look. The dead are gone, but the living have to move on, right?"
Qin Ziwen thought about the Xie Jun brothers he had killed. He hadn’t found a key on Xie Jun at the ti.
Wang Xiaoli had said they used a keypad lock, and she didn’t know the code. She also said that the food in Xie Jun’s ho was almost gone, or else they wouldn’t have targeted Qin Ziwen.
’Thinking about it now, he couldn’t help but feel a little ashad. It was his first kill, and he’d forgotten sothing as important as looting the body.’
’I’ll have to find a chance to check out Xie Jun’s place later. Even if there’s no food, there must be other supplies.’
The seven of them went to Building Seven, Unit One, on the tenth floor. After a few tries, they used the key to open the door to 1001.
They opened the door.
The apartnt was very clean and simple.
A faint sll of dicine filled the living room.
A large cabinet was built into the dining room wall, filled with many jars and containers. On the TV stand in the living room were two flower vases, but the flowers had already withered.
Soone found a piece of paper on the table. "There’s a suicide note here."
"I’m sorry, my neighbors, for causing you trouble. Yesterday afternoon, I received word that Gui Lan was gone from the riverbank. When I rushed over, all I saw were her footprints by the water. My dear wife, Gui Lan, was always a timid soul. Back when I was a teacher in the countryside, she’d wake up at night, say it was too dark outside, and need to go with her.
"I sat in the apartnt for a long ti tonight. I picked up a kitchen knife and put it down again. I’m just old bones now, and my hands shake too much. I tried a few tis, but the pain was piercing. I can’t bear to imagine how much pain she must have been in. Jumping is quick. There’s less suffering that way. I’m sorry for the ss this will make for all of you. I know it might affect you.
"I have disinfectant in my bathroom. If soone wouldn’t mind, please take it and use it. There’s nothing of value in our ho, only so blood pressure dication and dicine for diabetes. In the kitchen, there’s half a bag of rice and so wild vegetables Gui Lan picked. If you don’t mind that they belonged to us old folks, please take them.
"I’ve never been a burden to anyone in my life, yet at the very end, I must trouble you all to take care of my body. I feel truly terrible about it. Please, take anything you find useful.
"The pen is running out of ink, and it is ti for to go. Gui Lan must be getting tired of waiting for down there. She’ll surely say I’m dawdling again. With these old, aching legs of mine, it’s hard to walk, yet I still had her go fetch water. It really should have been .
"Written by Zhou Jingwen."
After reading the final letter, soone said lancholically, "If only we hadn’t transmigrated."
Qin Ziwen went to the kitchen.
The kitchen was very tidy.
In the cabinet was half a bag of rice, and next to it, a large plastic bag filled with wild vegetables.
Huang Tao said, "Let’s split it among ourselves."
In the end, Qin Ziwen got a share of the rice.
Perhaps because of the suicide note, the group moved gently as they searched the apartnt.
There wasn’t much of value in the old man’s ho. Before the transmigration, perhaps the large LCD TV in the living room and the microwave in the kitchen would have been worth a little sothing.
Other than that, it was mostly just clothes and quilts in the closets.
Qin Ziwen looked around and, in the end, only took a small pair of scissors from a drawer in addition to his share of the rice.
He didn’t touch anything else; there was nothing else worth taking.
Back ho, he washed his hands with clean water, fed the rabbit, and released the Beaked Eagle from the window.
"Let’s go. We’ll check the spot where we set the traps yesterday," Qin Ziwen said. He shouldered his backpack, fully equipped, holding a Long Spear and the "Mountain-Climbing Knife" he had taken from Xie Jun.
Qin Ziwu carried a backpack and an empty plastic bucket.
Deng Guang had been waiting downstairs for a while.
Seeing the two of them, Deng Guang said, "Let’s go. By the way, can you use this?"
Deng Guang pulled a tangle of "rope" from his pocket. "It’s the clothesline from my balcony. I think the quality is pretty good. It’s quite sturdy."
Qin Ziwen tugged on the rope and praised, "It is sturdy."
"Good, as long as it’s sturdy." Deng Guang smiled happily, seeing that the item he brought was useful.
They arrived at the east gate and had barely taken two steps when—
"Brother Qin!"
Zheng Yuan shouted, hurrying forward.
It had only been a few days, but Zheng Yuan’s cheeks were now covered in a layer of dark stubble.
"Are you guys heading out to explore?"
Five or six people followed behind Zheng Yuan, of whom Qin Ziwen only recognized Zou Sheng.
"Yeah. The riverbank has been too noisy lately, so it’s not great for fishing."
Zheng Yuan said, "Have you heard? Soone found one of those Cards in the wild. It was on an altar."
’Qin Ziwen’s thoughts turned to Wang Yun. Had news of him obtaining a Card leaked out? With so many people on his team, it wouldn’t be surprising if word got out.’
"Where did you hear that, Brother Zheng?"
"Oh, it was so people from Building Four. Yesterday, they went north and found it in a cave at the foot of the mountain."
’A cave? Not a subterranean cavern?’
’And Wang Yun lives in Building One, I think. It seems Zheng Yuan isn’t talking about the sa person.’
’Wang Yun found a Card in a subterranean cavern, and now there’s one in a cave at the foot of the northern mountain. From the looks of it, altars tend to spawn in caves. What about that cave on the mountainside?’
"Oh," Qin Ziwen said, nodding thoughtfully.
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