"Bro, are you saying you spent the whole night digging such a huge cellar in your bedroom?"
Qin Ziwu turned his head in shock, rubbing his face.
"Do you believe it?"
"I believe it, of course I believe it. I'd even believe you if you said you awakened memories from your past life." Qin Ziwu looked at his older brother with anticipation. "Bro, have you awakened some kind of..." He kept nodding continuously.
Qin Ziwen said with a smile, "It's not that exaggerated. Alright, I'll stop teasing you. Actually, I just obtained some cards and activated a Home."
Qin Ziwen briefly explained the existence of the Home and summoned the little glowing ball right in front of him.
This Home wasn't unique—other people in the residential complex would activate theirs later too—but for now, it was relatively secret information.
Qin Ziwu understood. "So our transmigration was caused by this Home."
Tap, tap, tap.
A sound came from the balcony.
The two brothers who were talking simultaneously stopped and looked toward the direction of the living room balcony in unison.
Qin Ziwu pointed upward, his eyes full of inquiry.
Qin Ziwen thought for a moment, then nodded. It was highly likely to be someone from upstairs.
The two picked up their self-defense weapons, lowered their footsteps, and slowly approached the balcony.
The moonlight was bright, spreading a layer of silver frost across the balcony.
The glass door leading from the living room to the balcony was tightly locked, and the balcony was empty. The sound was coming from the right side of the balcony, as if something was being tapped.
When they reached the end, they discovered it was a small section of a clothes-drying rod extending from the opposite balcony, tapping against the railing.
After observing for a while, they unlocked the latch and pushed open the glass door.
On the opposite balcony, a woman wearing a spaghetti strap dress was holding the other end of the clothes-drying rod, gently tapping the railing.
Seeing Qin Ziwen come out, the woman visibly became happier.
She took a paper ball from her bosom and threw it over.
He picked up the paper ball, unfolded it, and found it covered in delicate handwriting—"Hello! I'm your neighbor across the way. You must be careful of the family of three upstairs—they're not good people. The young man was sentenced to ten years for robbery and was only released last year.
When they knocked on your door this evening, I saw them hiding someone in the blind spot outside your door. They might be targeting you."
Qin Ziwen thought for a moment, returned to the room to find a pen, and wrote a reply on the paper—"They also hid someone when they knocked on your door."
Then he threw the paper ball back.
After picking up the paper ball, the woman picked it up, and after reading it clearly, her expression showed surprise.
She quickly wrote on the paper, then threw it over.
Qin Ziwen picked up the paper ball—it was still the woman's delicate handwriting. "Thank you. May I come stay at your place temporarily? I'm really scared staying home alone. I think I'd be safer at your place. I can help with anything."
Qin Ziwen was taken aback. How could you be so forward? We're just neighbors who don't know each other, and you want to come to my home?
His home had a cellar and the Home's little glowing ball—bringing in a stranger would expose everything.
Moreover, Qin Ziwen didn't assume she was harmless just because she was a woman.
Human good and evil have never been related to gender.
So Qin Ziwen waved his hand in refusal without hesitation.
Even though the woman on the other side of the balcony pressed her palms together, repeatedly bowing, looking utterly pitiful.
Qin Ziwen directly left the balcony, locking the balcony door as he went.
As Qin Ziwen left, the woman on the opposite balcony's expression turned very unpleasant.
She turned and returned to her room, where two men were sitting.
One man had a scorpion tattoo on the back of his hand, while the other had a shaved head, his cheeks bulging as he chewed on something.
The scorpion tattoo man asked, "How did it go? Did he agree to let you come to his place?"
The woman rolled her eyes. "He refused."
The man sitting on the bed couldn't believe it. His cousin was so beautiful—how could the guy resist? "Is he even a real man?"
The woman in the black spaghetti strap dress gritted her teeth. "How should I know? Does he know about our relationship?"
The scorpion tattoo man said, "Impossible. That guy just moved in—he couldn't possibly know about our relationship."
The woman said, "Why are you making this so complicated? Insisting I infiltrate their home to open the door for you in the middle of the night. Aren't you worried I might get taken advantage of, alone with a man?"
The scorpion tattoo man reached out to hug the woman, comforting her, "I believe you can protect yourself. Besides, it's safer if we make our move while they're sleeping at night.
I've observed them bringing back large bags several times over the past two days, and they were grilling meat at night. They probably found quite a bit of edible food."
The woman mocked, "You're not scared to confront them directly because they look strong, are you?"
The scorpion tattoo man became angry. "How could that be! It's just that everyone's ended up in this damn place now. Even if we're going to take action, we should keep the commotion to a minimum. Otherwise, it'll be hard to get by if we ruin our reputation. I'm doing this for all of us."
The scorpion tattoo man's hand slipped under her dress.
"Smack!"
The woman slapped his hand away, scolding, "There's someone else here."
The scorpion tattoo man chuckled, burying his head in the woman's chest. "Dazhuang is my brother—I trust him."
The bald man stood up. "Bro, sis-in-law, I'll head back to my room to sleep now."
The scorpion tattoo man waved his hand without looking back.
Dazhuang and the woman's gazes met in mid-air. The woman blinked, and Dazhuang guiltily looked away.
After Dazhuang left, intimate, lingering sounds came from the room, lasting about a minute.
The woman lay on the bed, her face flushed with an unnatural redness, her chest rising and falling rapidly. She pinched the arm of the man beside her hard. "Useless thing."
When the woman, still unsatisfied, went to pinch the scorpion tattoo man's waist again, her hand was caught by him. His voice was low, his expression serious. "Enough, stop fooling around."
"Tomorrow, find a way to get familiar with those two young guys. Young men like them have vigorous energy—if you take a slightly more proactive approach, they definitely won't be able to control themselves."
The woman was somewhat angry. "Me take the initiative? What kind of person do you take me for?"
The scorpion tattoo man wrapped his arm around her waist. "Of course, my little treasure. Be good, listen to me."
The woman closed her eyes. After a long time, she let out a soft "Mm" from her nose.
...
Early morning, Qin Ziwu, hiding behind the peephole, rubbed his leg.
"Bro, there doesn't seem to be any sound outside the door, and there's been no movement. The people across don't seem to be planning to go out."
Qin Ziwen shook his head, implying something. "They might be worried about upstairs."
As for upstairs...
He wasn't sure either, since it was all just his speculation.
Qin Ziwu asked, "Should we go out now? I saw people from other building units going downstairs."
Qin Ziwen frowned in thought. "Let's wait. There are still other people upstairs in our unit. Let's wait until someone else goes downstairs, then follow them out."
After all, they had set up snare traps outside the residential complex. If they went too late, the prey in the traps might be taken by others.
But if they went out too early, there might be threats in the unknown stairwell.
They needed to find a permanent solution to deal with the trouble, otherwise it would seriously affect their daily settlement.