The small cargo truck had just driven out of the second-hand car market when Wu Xiaolan’s phone rang.
It was an unfamiliar number.
She answered, and a stammering male voice came from the other end: “H-Hello? Is this Ms. Wu Xiaolan? I-I’m Dr. Li Jianguo from the Taihe District Psychiatric Hospital.”
Wu Xiaolan was startled: “I am. What is it?”
“Th-That… May I ask if you know a patient named Shi Gu? He was just transferred over by the police last night.”
Shi Gu?
Warning bells clanged wildly in Wu Xiaolan’s heart: “I don’t know him.”
Just as she wanted to hang up, Dr. Li hurriedly blurted out: “B-But, Ms. Wu, Shi Gu said you are his sister!”
“According to relevant regulations, close relatives have a duty to support a younger brother with a psychiatric illness. Shi Gu escaped today and caused some property damage to others. As his legal guardian, you have an obligation to compensate for him. Can you please come to the hospital…”
“What?” Wu Xiaolan almost laughed in anger. “My surname is Wu, his is Shi. You believed him just because he said I’m his sister? If he said his dad is the UN Secretary-General, would you also call the other party demanding compensation?”
“B-But he…”
“There are no buts!” Wu Xiaolan hung up directly, her chest heaving with anger.
What a ghost of a situation.
She had clearly made things clear to the police yesterday that she had nothing to do with that alien, so why was a psychiatric hospital still coming after her? And making such an absurd request?
Besides, with how fast Shi Gu ran, and given he was an alien, was he actually dragged back in?
She stared at her phone for a few seconds and decisively blocked the number.
At that moment, another call came in.
Wu Xiaolan glanced at it—it was actually the landlady.
She pressed the answer button, and the moment she said a soft hello, the landlady’s voice came through, laden with a hint of disgust: “Xiaolan, you need to hurry back home right now, pack your things, and move out immediately.”
Wu Xiaolan was stunned, her brow furrowing slightly: “Auntie, why do I suddenly have to move out? I’ve been living here peacefully without causing any trouble. The one who should be moving out is Li Daqiang, right?”
“It’s because I invited a Taoist priest to look at the house, and the master said your destiny is plagued with malevolent energy. The black aura surrounding you is extremely heavy, disrupting the household’s feng shui and aura. I wouldn’t dare rent to you anymore.”
The landlady spoke with absolute righteousness, leaving no room for negotiation at all.
Clutching her phone, Wu Xiaolan spoke in a voice that was calm yet carried a trace of helplessness: “Auntie, the rental contract we signed hasn’t expired yet. How can you just kick someone out like this? Besides, I don’t have anywhere else to move on such short notice.”
On the other end of the line, the landlady arrogantly raised her pitch: “I don’t care about that! Rules don’t count for anything with me. If you don’t move out voluntarily, I’ll throw all your stuff straight out onto the street! Sue me wherever you want!”
“How can you…?”
Before Wu Xiaolan could finish speaking, the busy tone of the call hanging up had already sounded on the other end.
Helplessly, Wu Xiaolan had no choice but to head back home first.
The moment she unlocked and stepped into the living room, she thought she had entered the wrong apartment.
Not only was the whole place covered in talisman papers, but there was also a lingering smell of post-ritual incense that made Wu Xiaolan cough continuously.
The landlady didn’t care in the slightest, sitting on the sofa with her legs crossed and cracking melon seeds.
Spitting melon seed shells all over the floor, the robotic vacuum cleaner Wu Xiaolan had won at her company’s annual meeting was bumping around trying to clean them up.
Seeing Wu Xiaolan return, she didn’t even lift her eyelids, her tone arrogant and aggressive: “Little girl, go out and ask around casually—in this entire building, who dares argue logic with me, Sun Xueqin? I tell you to move, and you move. No negotiations.”
Wu Xiaolan’s face instantly darkened, the anger in the depths of her heart surging upward.
She hurried back to her bedroom, pushed the door open, and sure enough, the door lock had long been pried open from the outside, and her room had clearly been rummaged through.
She immediately turned back to the living room, her gaze cold as ice, and stared at Sun Xueqin as she demanded: “Who gave you permission to walk into my bedroom as you please? Who told you to use my things without authorization?”
“I rented this apartment properly with a signed contract. The lease hasn’t expired, so this is my private living space. Breaking in without my consent and messing with my personal belongings is already trespassing!”
Sun Xueqin was a notorious shrew in this neighborhood. Aside from renting out apartments, her family also ran a grocery store downstairs, and she frequently argued with neighbors over short-weighing goods.
Facing a civilized person like Wu Xiaolan who only knew how to talk about laws and contracts, she wasn’t scared in the slightest.
Her routine of making a scene, rolling on the ground, and faking illnesses came out instantly.
“Aiyoyo, my heart hurts, you’re the one who angered me to this point! I’m old, with no sons or daughters, and life isn’t easy. I’m just asking you to move houses, and you young girl are dragging your feet and deliberately bullying me, right?”
Wu Xiaolan was almost laughed into fury by this act.
She knew she had to move out no matter what today; it was simply impossible to communicate with this kind of person.
If not for the apocalypse arriving soon—leaving her with time to waste—spending another second talking to this shrew would be a complete waste of time.
“I’ll move, but you have to refund my deposit and penalty fee. I still have a month left on my lease.”
Seeing Wu Xiaolan back down, Sun Xueqin immediately flashed a smug smile.
Little punk, fighting with me? You’re still a bit too green.
“I remember you moved in a bit early anyway, so the lease isn’t off by many days. Young people shouldn’t be so petty; let’s forget about the penalty fee, parting on good terms is better, isn’t it?”
With that, she stood up and walked toward Wu Xiaolan’s room: “Speaking of the deposit, since you’ve lived here so long, the furniture, walls, and home appliances in the room all need to be inspected one by one. If there’s a single dent or damage, I won’t deduct a penny less of what should be docked.”
Not wanting to say another word, Wu Xiaolan followed right behind her into the room.
As soon as she stepped inside, Sun Xueqin put on a pretense of looking around everywhere, her eyes darting shiftily.
Suddenly, she pointed to the only built-in wardrobe in the room and shrieked in horror.
“Aiyaya, you little girl, how can you trash things like this? Even the wardrobe door fell off.”
Following the sound, Wu Xiaolan looked over: the wardrobe door that had been fine this morning was now lying on the floor, bearing clear traces of intentional damage.
She hadn’t owned much since childhood, so she always cherished her things; even in a rented apartment, she never intentionally damaged anything.
At a glance, it was obvious Sun Xueqin had broken it in advance with the sole purpose of withholding her 5,000-yuan deposit.
Wu Xiaolan watched Sun Xueqin’s performance with a cold gaze.
“Anything else?”
Putting on a magnanimous act after inspecting a few random spots, Sun Xueqin said: “I won’t fuss over the peeling wallpaper, and I won’t calculate the wear and tear in the bathroom either—just compensate for the wardrobe at full price.”
Saying this, she actually pulled a pre-prepared receipt contract straight out of her pants pocket.
“I bought this wardrobe at a big department store for 30,000 yuan. You broke it after using it for less than a year. Minus depreciation and the rent deposit, charging you another 15,000 isn’t too much, right?”
Wu Xiaolan finally understood Sun Xueqin’s goal; after coming full circle, it was just to pocket her rent deposit and pull off a bit of extortion on the side.
If it were in the past, she would definitely have called the police to handle it, but right now, she just wanted to solve it her own way.
“Keep the deposit. I’m moving right now.”
Sun Xueqin stepped closer, wanting to keep tangling, but Wu Xiaolan issued a direct warning.
“Worst case, I’ll call the police. Go pull your old-woman acting tricks on them—you won’t get a single cent, and I’ll report you for extortion. I’m not moving anymore either; we can just drag this out and waste time together. Anyway, since the apartment can’t be rented out, I’m not the one in a rush.”
Hearing Wu Xiaolan say that, and recalling the Taoist priest’s words, Sun Xueqin ultimately stopped yelling about demanding compensation from Wu Xiaolan.
Either way, she had already pocketed a 5,000 deposit; she wasn’t at a loss.
Glaring at Wu Xiaolan with disgust, she warned: “Get the hell out! Take what you’re supposed to take, don’t touch what isn’t yours. I’ll be coming back up to inspect the apartment later.”
With that, she walked away without looking back.
Wu Xiaolan had nothing much to pack. Entering her room, she closed the door and directly swept all her personal belongings into her space.
Looking at the empty, desolate room, she called Sun Xueqin.
“I’ve finished packing. You can come up and inspect it.”
“So fast?”
Sun Xueqin looked shocked; she had just returned to her grocery store and hadn’t even warmed her seat yet.
Without wasting words, Wu Xiaolan stated flatly: “If you don’t come, I’m leaving. I left the key on the coffee table—don’t blame me if anything goes missing.”
“Who says I’m not coming? Wait right there.”
As mean-spirited as ever, Sun Xueqin only allowed herself to take advantage of others and couldn’t bear to suffer the slightest loss herself.
Terrified that Wu Xiaolan might have taken something she shouldn’t have, she immediately headed back upstairs.
After arriving, she inspected everywhere meticulously for a long time, and confirming there were no issues, she waved her hand dismissively at Wu Xiaolan.
“Go on, get lost, you bad-luck jinx. Consider yourself knowing what’s good for you.”
Wu Xiaolan didn’t bother engaging in meaningless verbal warfare. Turning around, she walked straight downstairs; she felt disgusted even laying eyes on such a person for a second longer.
She walked up to the storefront of the grocery store, and just as she expected, the door wasn’t locked.
Everyone on this street were regular acquaintances, keeping their doors wide open for business out of habit. Even if the door was left open with no one inside, nobody would steal anything.
Furthermore, Sun Xueqin was no simple character; she knew plenty of street thugs and belonged to the well-known local underworld—no one dared target her grocery store.
Wu Xiaolan had precisely counted on this point.
Faking the action of walking past the storefront, she quietly triggered a single thought in her mind, sucking every single grain, bag of flour, and drum of cooking oil inside the grocery store straight into her space.
This was worth far more than 5,000 yuan.
Buying this much rice, flour, and oil would cost at least 20,000 to 30,000 yuan anyway.
Who told Sun Xueqin to be so unreasonable? Not only did she shield Li Daqiang, but she also kicked her out.
All this food, after deducting the withheld deposit, would just serve as compensation.
Climbing into her small cargo truck, Wu Xiaolan drove off with full satisfaction.
She could completely picture the look of absolute shock and exasperation on Sun Xueqin’s face when she returned to find her entire grocery store empty, down to a single grain of rice.
Though that had nothing to do with her anymore.
Even if Sun Xueqin called the police, with an event this bizarre, the police would never trace it back to her.
Driving the small cargo truck around aimlessly, Wu Xiaolan finally found a clean-looking small motel near the agricultural products market and settled down temporarily.
While eating, she started scrolling through short videos.
One piece of news regarding the Taihe District Psychiatric Hospital caught her attention.
If she remembered correctly, Shi Gu was in that exact psychiatric hospital.
A few hours ago, a doctor from that place had still been calling her.
The video footage was slightly blurry.
It only showed medical personnel in protective suits rushing in and out, alongside military armored vehicles and live-ammunition soldiers guarding the perimeter.
The uploader wrote in the caption: “The Taihe Psychiatric Hospital seems to have an outbreak, or maybe a terrorist attack. Anyway, this lineup is terrifying.”
Someone in the comment section seemed to know the truth and replied below: “My aunt has bipolar disorder and is hospitalized there. Word is that a doctor surnamed Li came down with a weird illness, his eyes turned red, and he started biting people everywhere.”
This single video and its comments were enough to spark public panic.
Hundreds of netizen comments flooded underneath, each holding different views: some calling to hoard supplies immediately, some asking for the truth, some taking the opportunity to spread rumors, while others just watched the chaos and made cynical remarks.
Only Wu Xiaolan knew that the arrival of the apocalypse was drawing closer and closer.
She needed to rush and finish her missions.
Yet a doubt had lingered in her mind: was Dr. Li’s sudden madness related to Shi Gu at all?
She always felt that the doctor who called her today had a weird tone—like someone terrified, acting as if under threat and frightened.
Just as Wu Xiaolan was about to switch back to the video to take a closer look, the screen suddenly went black, displaying a notice that “the video is no longer available.”
In its place was another trending search video: “A sixty-year-old woman’s grocery store mysteriously burgled, the truth will drop your jaw.”
In the footage, Sun Xueqin sat on the ground crying hysterically, while the neighbors she had bullied in normal times stood nearby watching with cold indifference.
Watching the comment section speculate that Sun Xueqin might have developed Alzheimer’s and forgotten that her store had no grain left, Wu Xiaolan couldn’t help laughing out loud.