Wen Ruchu had no idea what was happening elsewhere, because at that moment she was surrounded by a group of men—more than twenty of them—who clearly made their living by robbing and looting.
“Hey, little sister,” one of them said with a grin. “Be sensible and hand over your dog and your water. If you do that, we’ll let you go.”
Wen Ruchu looked at the twenty or so men in front of her and knew this situation would be troublesome. It was broad daylight, and using her Dimensional Space here would be inappropriate. Passersby only glanced briefly before hurrying away, not daring to linger, afraid that they might become the next victims.
But giving up the dog was absolutely impossible.
After spending so much time together, Egg Tart was no longer just a pet to her. He was family.
Handing over her family?
Absolutely not.
Wen Ruchu pretended to agree. “Alright.”
She crouched down and quickly untied the leash, then pushed Egg Tart away.
“Egg Tart, go farther away. Wait for me on the side.”
Egg Tart was still young. She was afraid she might accidentally hurt him during the fight.
Fortunately, Egg Tart was obedient. He ran to a distance and stopped beside a utility pole, watching his owner anxiously.
“It seems you refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit,” one of the men sneered. “We originally planned to let you go, but since you don’t know what’s good for you, don’t blame us for being rude.”
“Brothers, get her! Drag this little beauty back with us. We’ll take turns enjoying her, and after that we’ll eat the dog meat.”
Wen Ruchu immediately kicked forward, sending one of the men flying.
After drinking spiritual spring water for so long, her strength was already far beyond that of ordinary people.
Seeing her act so boldly, the group rushed forward together.
More than twenty men attacked at once.
Wen Ruchu was not afraid. She moved nimbly, dealing with them one by one.
Not far away, Egg Tart kept pacing in circles anxiously.
Owner, please don’t get hurt.
He wanted to rush over and help, but he was still too small. If he went over, he would only cause trouble for her.
Even though Wen Ruchu was skilled in combat, some of these men clearly knew martial arts as well. Two fists could not fight against four hands, and under their constant rotation of attacks, she gradually began to lose the upper hand.
Wen Ruchu was starting to feel tired from fighting.
She had already decided to pull out a gun from her Dimensional Space and shoot them all when suddenly she saw a man being kicked away from beside her.
It was them.
The five men had joined the fight.
Very quickly—within less than two minutes—every attacker was dealt with. All of them were knocked to the ground, groaning in pain.
When Egg Tart saw that the bad guys had all been defeated, he immediately ran over and circled around Wen Ruchu.
“Woof! Woof!”
Owner, are you okay? You’re not hurt, are you? Owner, you were amazing! That left hook and right hook just now—I admire you so much! I have to grow up faster so I can protect you!
Wen Ruchu crouched down and picked Egg Tart up into her arms.
This silly dog—holding him felt much safer.
Then she turned to the five men and thanked them.
“Thank you for helping me. When we get back, I’ll send you a gift to express my gratitude.”
“Ah, miss, that’s too polite,” one of them said with a laugh. “No matter what, we’re neighbors. How could neighbors just stand by and watch someone die?”
Wen Ruchu had already noticed that among the five of them, Gu Qirui was the one who talked the most.
“It was just a small effort,” the man from Apartment 2902 said. “But if you insist on thanking us, we’ll accept it.”
He knew that with this girl’s personality, she disliked owing favors to others and didn’t want to become entangled with anyone.
Fine. Things could proceed slowly.
Hearing this, Wen Ruchu’s brows relaxed slightly.
“No matter what, thank you.”
Wen Ruchu looked at the five men again.
During the fight just now, she had clearly seen their moves—clean, precise, and efficient. In fact, if she hadn’t drunk spiritual spring water and improved her senses, she probably wouldn’t even have been able to see how they made their moves.
Once again, she felt the truth of the saying: there was always someone stronger out there.
When she got back, she would have to train even harder.
Otherwise, if she encountered someone like them again, she might not even be able to withstand ten moves.
“Are you heading home now?” the man from 2902 asked.
“Yes.”
Wen Ruchu originally wanted to take the dog for a walk, but now she had completely lost the mood.
Egg Tart attracted too much attention, and he still didn’t have the ability to protect himself.
It would be better to go home and train him more.
Egg Tart lay in Wen Ruchu’s arms, sticking out his tongue foolishly, completely unaware that this woman planned to start training him as soon as they got home.
“Perfect. We’re heading back too. Let’s go together. We can watch out for each other.”
This time Wen Ruchu didn’t refuse. After all, they lived in the same building.
“May I ask your name?” the man asked.
Wen Ruchu glanced at him.
“Wen Ruchu.”
“Yun Yichen.”
“Me! Me! Miss, my name is Gu Qirui!”
Yun Yichen glanced at Gu Qirui but said nothing further.
After returning home, Wen Ruchu began thinking about what kind of gift would be appropriate.
After all, they had solved a huge problem for her.
If she had exposed her Dimensional Space, the consequences would have been terrible. She might have had to slaughter half the residents of the community to keep the secret safe.
She absolutely would not allow her secret to be revealed.
That night, Yun Yichen received Wen Ruchu’s gift.
It was a small medical kit, containing many common medicines—anti-inflammatory drugs, Huoxiang Zhengqi liquid, bandages, and more.
There were also two 50-kilogram bags of rice, two packs of dried noodles, and an ice maker.
The girl was quite generous.
Not to mention the other items—just the medical kit alone was something priceless in the apocalypse.
Or rather, it should be called priceless in terms of food.
The value of medicine in such times went without saying.
And there was also the ice maker.
When they had stockpiled supplies earlier, none of them had thought to store something like that. After all, they were a group of grown men and hadn’t been that meticulous.
Yun Yichen carried the rice, noodles, and ice maker down to the 28th floor.
“Miss Wen is truly an angel!” Gu Qirui exclaimed, staring at the ice maker with shining eyes. “The water we’ve been drinking lately has been almost as hot as boiling water. Now we can finally chew on ice!”
Qi Ze played with his surgical knife and said thoughtfully, “That girl isn’t simple.”
“So what if she isn’t simple?” Mu Yuchuan said casually. “You think she could threaten us? Just look at these muscles of mine. Who would dare target us?”
Ji Hanzhou remained silent, standing aside while deep in thought.
“There’s also a small medical kit,” Yun Yichen said. “I’ll keep it with me for now. If any of you need something, come to me.”
In fact, they had already stockpiled some medicine before, so they weren’t lacking in supplies.
“The extreme heat will continue,” Yun Yichen continued. “In a few days, there will be heavy rain. But the temperature won’t drop. A lot of things will crawl out of the sewers. During this time, seal up all the drains and pipes.”
“Alright.”
Wen Ruchu was also making preparations at home.
From her Dimensional Space, she took out various insecticides and realgar powder. After some time, she planned to sprinkle them around every corner of the house just in case.
She had no desire to share her home with cockroaches the size of a palm or rats as long as an arm.
Wen Ruchu decided to add two more hours of training every morning.
Today’s incident had given her a strong sense of crisis.
She still wasn’t strong enough.
If she encountered a real expert someday, she might be killed before she even had time to dodge.
And naturally—
Egg Tart would be trained along with her.
Together.