A Help Seeker with Bad Intentions

Jiang Nian put down his phone and snacks, got up, and carefully walked to the door. Looking through the night-vision peephole installed in the entrance door, he saw that someone or something really was knocking on their outer door.

The banging was loud, and whoever was doing it seemed to be using a lot of force, but the door did not budge. They had spent the bulk of the tens of thousands on reinforcing the entrance, and it showed.

The outer door was some distance from the entrance door. The space between them held plenty of self-defense gear: knives, baseball bats, steel pipes, high-voltage stun batons, and so on.

They also used the space to store household trash. Since he did not go out, Cheng Jing would take it downstairs to throw away when he went out every other day.

The original entrance door had also been reinforced with a steel frame. The outer door was a double-leaf door made from extra-thick stainless steel plates and bars:

The outermost layer consisted of bars as thick as an arm, with thick steel plating beneath. A third of the plated section formed a small door that could be opened from inside to see outside.

The knocking continued with no sign of stopping. After a while, a man and a woman called out:

"Hello, I know you're home. We're your downstairs neighbors..."

"Your boyfriend's on the rescue team. He brought us supplies a couple of days ago..."

Before the apocalypse, Jiang Nian had made a rough effort to remember the neighbors in their building. After joining the rescue team, Cheng Jing had indeed often crossed paths with them while delivering supplies.

So, after a moment's thought, Jiang Nian recognized the man's voice. Though he had said they lived downstairs, they were actually two floors down, on the eighth floor. They were a couple about the same age as Jiang Nian and Cheng Jing.

Making too much noise late at night would bring trouble. Jiang Nian carefully opened the entrance door and gently pulled it shut behind him. He picked up a headlamp and switched it on, but found it too bright and swapped it for a thumb-sized flashlight. Walking forward, he asked coldly:

"Stop knocking! What do you want?"

Banging on a door loudly enough to shake the place in the middle of the dark was either stupid or malicious, or possibly both! He had seen plenty of it in his previous life.

The knocking stopped, and the woman spoke:

"Hey, our door lock is broken. Could you take us in for the night?"

"No. Find another way or ask someone else."

Jiang Nian refused without hesitation.

Then the man spoke:

"Come on, bro, just one night. We'll leave first thing tomorrow morning. We won't bother you for long."

"No. There aren't many zombies around here. The rescue team cleared them out when they delivered supplies a couple of days ago. You can go back and prop something against your door to get through the night. Just don't sleep too soundly."

Jiang Nian did not waver. As far as safety went, their building really was much better off than most places because Cheng Jing was there. In the early days of the apocalypse, the zombies had not yet mutated, so clearing them out was not difficult for Cheng Jing, who had awakened a superpower.

"Hey, you're home alone, aren't you? Let us in. We won't bother you much; we'll just spend the night on the balcony. We'll give you supplies."

The woman's pleading voice carried a note of panic.

Jiang Nian gritted his teeth.

"No need. Go away. I'm not opening the door. It's late, so you'd better hurry back and figure out how to block yours."

With that, he turned to go back inside. If he had not been reborn, had not lived through his previous life, and had not been subjected to the cruelty of human nature, he might have softened and opened the door. But not now. Though he felt sorry for them, he would never let them in.

Unexpectedly, after he refused again, the people outside started pounding on the door with renewed force. No, they were smashing it, clearly using something to strike it. These two had brought tools with them to ask for help. Ha!

The man's voice turned hostile.

"What kind of neighbor acts like this? You're a rescue team member's family, for crying out loud, and you won't even take us in for one night when you've got such a solid safe house! Fuck!"

The woman, no longer speaking softly, chimed in with a shrill voice:

"Yeah! You're a rescue team member's family. What's wrong with looking after us a little? It's not like we're trying to take advantage of you. We're offering supplies in exchange. You're a grown man, so what are you afraid of..."

"Shut up!"

Jiang Nian had never been a pushover, a saint, or a white lotus. His temper flared at once.

"Shout all you fucking want! It's the apocalypse, so quit trying to guilt-trip me. Helping you would be a favor, and I'm under no obligation to do it. Are we even close? Get lost! Keep making noise and you'll be the ones who die when you draw things here!"

Once you played the saint, there was no end to it. If he let these two idiots in today, regardless of what happened afterward, others would come tomorrow and try to guilt-trip him too.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The man smashed something against the door and cursed furiously:

"What the fuck are you so smug about? You're only hogging good resources because of the rescue team. You're just a fucking gay living off a man! What's so great about you?"

Jiang Nian was so angry he laughed.

"Fuck you! My boyfriend gives me things, and I'm happy to take them! You're someone's boyfriend too. If you had any ability at all, you wouldn't be dragging your girlfriend to someone else's home to smash on their door in the middle of the night. What gives a piece of trash like you the fucking nerve to judge me? Go throw yourself into a horde of zombies already!"

Ignoring the curses they hurled outside the door, he went straight back inside and locked it behind him.

If circumstances had not made it a bad time to act impulsively, he would definitely have opened the door, gone out, and smashed that asshole's fucking head in! Who the hell did he think he was, coming here to act up in front of him?

Message notifications sounded one after another on his phone. Cheng Jing had sent several more messages asking what he was doing, how his superpower training was going, what he had eaten for dinner...

He had not replied in time, and just as he picked up his phone to answer, Cheng Jing called.

The melodious ringtone played for a moment. Jiang Nian composed himself, smiled, and answered:

"Hey, Brother Jing. I was busy just now, so I couldn't reply to your messages right away."

"I was wondering what you were up to..."

Cheng Jing suddenly stopped. After a moment, he asked:

"What's that noise over there?"

The couple outside were still banging on the door and spewing filth. Jiang Nian glanced toward the entrance and answered:

"That couple from the eighth floor. They said their lock was broken and came up asking to stay at our place for the night. I refused, and now they're angry and smashing on the door. They said I was a rescue team member's family and tried to guilt-trip me. They also said I lived off a man."

"Don't open the door, and ignore them. Wait until I get back, and I'll deal with them. Idiots like that won't live long. Let's not bother with them."

Cheng Jing's tone was hostile. They had flown into a rage after being turned down late at night and were smashing on the door and cursing. They were definitely no good. Damn them!

Jiang Nian knew he was worried that he would impulsively go out and fight them. He smiled.

"Don't worry, Brother Jing. I won't do anything impulsive. Besides, living off you is pretty sweet, and I'm happy to do it. You and the others be careful out there and stay safe."

"Mm."

Cheng Jing gave a restrained response. Jiang Nian guessed his teammates might be nearby, making it awkward to say too much, so he ended the call himself and went back to eating his snacks.

The noise outside continued, but he could not even be bothered to glance toward the door.

Meanwhile, in a modified van, Cheng Jing had just ended the call as he returned with his squad when he was met with the others' teasing, knowing looks.

He was sitting in the front passenger seat while Huang Qian drove. The woman behind the wheel, always eager to stir things up, was the first to speak:

"Your Hamster ran into trouble?"