Rather than retreat, Si Beichen advanced. With his professional training in close-quarters combat, he easily disarmed both men.
He kicked Zhang Shuai to the floor and pinned him beneath his foot, then twisted Zhang Qiang's arms behind his back with both hands and pressed him against the wall.
Jiang Ci wanted to applaud and cheer for Si Beichen, but she held back.
She simply took out her gun and shot Zhang Qiang and Zhang Shuai with two bangs. Then came another bang. Without giving Li Weiwei a chance to cry and beg for mercy, she sent her to join Zhang Shuai with a single bullet.
The sound of Li Weiwei's father, Li Wei, coughing came from the bedroom. He asked weakly, "Weiwei, what happened?"
Neither Jiang Ci nor Si Beichen answered. Before Li Wei could get out of bed, they swiftly dragged the three of them outside, then took out a rag and wiped up the blood.
They shut the door without hesitation.
Together, they threw these three bodies in with the other seven, confiscated all their tools used in the crime, and disposed of the bloodstained rag along with them. Only then did they go home.
Both of them were drenched in sweat. Jiang Ci let Si Beichen shower first, then went into her space for a hot shower after he finished.
By the time they had cleaned up, it was almost dawn.
Si Jianhua and Wen Qianyue had spent half the night worrying and had been unable to sleep at all. They were already sitting at the table, waiting to talk to the two of them.
For the first time, the family of four sat around the dining table not to eat, but to hold a family meeting.
After a moment of silence, Si Jianhua spoke first.
"Your mother and I talked it over. We don't think we can leave it to you two kids to protect us. We need to be able to defend ourselves too. We absolutely can't hold you two back."
"Beichen, teach us some fighting skills whenever you have time from now on. We need to exercise more too. We don't have to be that good, just good enough to defend ourselves."
"If something like today happens again, give your mother and me something we can manage too."
Si Beichen nodded. "All right. We can do that."
Avoiding her mother's piercing gaze, Jiang Ci said quietly, "I have guns. If something like this happens again, I'll give you one each and have Si Beichen teach you how to use them."
Although Wen Qianyue knew her daughter was fierce in a fight, she had never imagined she would actually dare to kill anyone. She did not even know when her daughter had acquired guns.
But more than anything, her heart ached, and she blamed herself. It was her fault for being such a useless mother that her daughter had to do these things.
"Were you scared?"
Jiang Ci did not catch on at first. Scared of what? Only after turning it over in her head did she realize her mother was asking whether she was scared of killing people.
Of course she had been scared. The first time she killed someone, she had trembled all over with fear and had nightmares every night.
But she had no choice. If she did not kill others, they would kill her. Who wanted to kill anyone? She had been forced into it too.
Now, she truly was no longer afraid.
So she gave an ambiguous answer. "It wasn't too bad."
Wen Qianyue thought she was frightened but did not dare tell the truth for fear of worrying her, and her heart ached even more.
Still, she urged her on. "You need to practice more with your brother from now on too. You're still a long way behind him."
Jiang Ci nodded obediently.
On that point, Jiang Ci had to agree. For one thing, Si Beichen really was a professional with extensive combat experience. For another, men were stronger and had a natural advantage over women.
Just like last night, she had felt there was no chance to put her abilities to use. Si Beichen had not even given her an opportunity to show what she could do.
Damn it, Si Beichen got to do all the showing off!
At that thought, she could not resist shooting Si Beichen a secretly resentful glare. Who knew he would catch her red-handed? Si Beichen was looking at her too.
That was careless...
"Neither of you slept last night, and it's almost dawn now. Go get some rest."
With Wen Qianyue's final word, the family meeting ended.
Si Jianhua and Wen Qianyue had not slept well either, so everyone went back to their respective rooms to sleep.
Jiang Ci lay in bed with the air cooler on, but suddenly found herself unable to sleep. She stared blankly at the ceiling.
What had she ever done to deserve such a wonderful family?
Dad Si and Mom Wen clearly knew she had killed people, and they also knew she had guns, yet they showed no intention of blaming her or thinking she was frightening.
Instead, they kept reflecting on themselves, feeling they were useless and had failed to protect her. They were even going to learn self-defense from Si Beichen, afraid they would hold their children back.
From beginning to end, they had not voiced a single doubt or word of reproach. They had not demanded to know why she had killed anyone, nor accused her of being vicious.
Her mother had even asked whether she was scared.
This family was so warm. She loved it.
In her previous life, she must have been blinded to keep fighting with her mother and deliberately ignoring Dad Si, who had always been kind to her even though she never reciprocated.
So in this life, she would definitely protect this family well.
And then there was Si Beichen. Although he was not much of a talker, his kindness to her showed in all the little details.
He was her type in looks too. Why did he have to be her brother? It would be perfect if he were her boyfriend.
As she thought about all this, Jiang Ci fell asleep.
Meanwhile, Si Beichen, out in the living room, still felt no trace of sleepiness. He too lay in bed, staring into space.
He had noticed that Jiang Ci particularly liked calling him by his name and rarely called him her brother.
More importantly, he liked hearing Jiang Ci call him by his name too, rather than calling him her brother.
He wondered whether Jiang Ci had left him traumatized the last time, when she had warmly addressed that couple as brother and sister-in-law, only to kill them moments later, making him dislike the word "brother."
Somehow, his name sounded especially nice when Jiang Ci said it.
Also, he felt a particular desire to be close to Jiang Ci. He simply could not control his urge to draw near her.
He also could not help wanting to keep an eye on her all the time. His gaze always drifted to Jiang Ci of its own accord. Otherwise, he would never have noticed her secretly glaring at him.
Why was Jiang Ci so cute even when she glared at him...?
Were all older brothers like this?
Unable to figure it out, he decided to observe a little longer before drawing any conclusions.
The family slept until after lunchtime, when Wen Qianyue called them to get up and eat.
Peeking downstairs through the window, they saw that, sure enough, all the bodies below had already been collected.
It had actually happened without a sound, and no one had come out to make trouble.
Jiang Ci had not expected that. She had thought the dead people's families would come out and cause a scene.
In fact, when the bodies were first discovered that morning, some people had indeed wanted to wail and make a scene. Then they happened to discover that the victims had been shot.
They instantly choked back their cries and no longer dared to cause trouble. They all thought their family members had crossed the underworld and feared being implicated and facing retaliation themselves.
The families of several men knew what their men had gone out to do the night before.
But now they did not dare utter a word. They did not even dare breathe loudly when passing the eleventh floor.
This time, they were thoroughly terrified. They had heard their men say before that the people on the eleventh floor were in the underworld. Now it was confirmed. They definitely were.
Their men must have been shot dead by the people on the eleventh floor, but they had no evidence. Law and order had broken down now, too, and their men had been the ones to try robbing someone else's home first. Now that the intended victims had killed them instead, they could only accept their losses.
But without the food their men had stolen, life would only become harder.
Oh heavens, how were they supposed to survive from now on...?