The typhoon grew stronger and stronger. Listening to the howling winds outside the door, which sounded like the cries of ghosts and wolves, Ye Xin put on her earphones and exercised while listening to music.
As for what happened in apartment 1302, everyone sympathized with the elderly couple, but no one was willing to risk offending the people in 1302 by taking them in.
Together with two other families, the elderly couple wrapped themselves in quilts and moved into the hallway.
The property management office posted pictures in the residents’ group chat, announcing that several households had taken in residents from the first floor and had been rewarded with a one-year waiver of property management fees.
They encouraged other residents to follow their example.
However, the results were minimal.
Some people broke into unoccupied apartments and forcibly moved in. The more honest residents had no choice but to stay properly in the hallways.
Eating, drinking, sleeping, and even relieving themselves all had to be done in the cramped stairwells. Before long, the entire building was filled with an unpleasant stench.
Ye Xin couldn’t help wanting to isolate her floor from them.
Early the next morning, Ye Xin heard some horrifying news.
The couple in 1302 were both dead! Even their barely two-year-old child had been thrown out of the window.
Ye Xin’s heart jolted.
No wonder she had heard a loud thud the previous night. Could that have been the sound of someone being thrown downstairs?
The electricity hadn’t even gone out yet. The water was still running, and even the internet was still working. Yet people had already become this utterly ruthless?
Su Jing knocked on Ye Xin’s door with trembling hands.
“Xinxin, make sure you barricade the door when you sleep tonight!”
“I heard the people in 1302 were eating meat yesterday, and someone became jealous of them. They broke into their apartment during the night. Not only did they steal all their food, they beat the couple to death! They didn’t even spare the child.”
Su Jing held up her phone.
“Look, someone took pictures. It’s terrifying!”
Ye Xin took the phone.
Sure enough, everyone in the residents’ group was discussing the incident.
Some were trying to guess who had done it.
Others said that the couple from 1302 had been heartless people, so it didn’t matter that they were dead. They only felt sorry for the child.
Suddenly, someone shouted:
“Oh no! Someone jumped into the floodwater!”
Everyone stuck their heads out to look.
It was the elderly couple.
Their son, daughter-in-law, and grandson were all dead. Perhaps they had lost all hope of living and had climbed to the thirteenth floor before jumping from the window.
Several brave men who knew how to swim immediately jumped into the water after them, attempting to rescue the couple.
However, the wind and rain were simply too fierce!
If they hadn’t been wearing life jackets, they might have drowned in the torrential rain themselves.
After witnessing this scene, everyone lost the desire to venture outside in search of food.
Staying alive was what mattered most.
The atmosphere in the group chat became extremely gloomy.
A woman suddenly appeared:
“The dead are gone. Let’s not dwell on it anymore. I’ll send you something interesting. I guarantee it’ll make you laugh.”
She then sent a one-minute-long video.
Ye Xin clicked on it and immediately froze.
It was Gu Nan!
It appeared to have been filmed on the day she had just been reborn and caught him cheating at the hotel.
Because she had taken away the cheating couple’s clothes, as well as their phones and the room telephone, Gu Nan had been left with no choice. He had wrapped himself in a bedsheet and gone to the front desk for help.
Unexpectedly, the bedsheet hadn’t been secured properly.
As he was writing something on a piece of paper, the bedsheet slipped off at the worst possible moment!
Right there in the hotel lobby, in front of several guests checking in, he was left completely naked!
Although Gu Nan quickly picked up the bedsheet and wrapped it around himself again, the scene had already been witnessed by numerous people—and soon began spreading wildly across the internet.
The woman added:
“I saw this in another group. Apparently, this man was caught cheating by his wife, who took away his clothes and phone. He had no choice but to come out like this to ask for help.”
The group chat immediately exploded.
Someone said:
“I know this guy! I also know the woman he was cheating with. Let me quietly tell you guys something—the woman he’s cheating with currently lives in our residential complex. I won’t say which building, though.”
Everyone was stuck at home with nothing to do, so those words immediately sparked even more curiosity.
“Bro, tell us! Which building does she live in? Maybe we can get to know her sometime.”
Someone else said:
“Oh my God! Who’s so shameless? They posted this without even censoring it. Definitely not suitable for children! Definitely not suitable for children!”
Ye Xin: “……”
She quickly shut off her phone, lest her parents see it and become upset again.
She had nothing to do with Gu Nan anymore.
Who cared whether he became famous or not?
Not long after Ye Xin turned off her phone, the room suddenly became silent.
The sound of the air conditioner and television disappeared completely!
The temperature inside the room began rising rapidly.
Ye Xin picked up the remote and pressed the buttons several times.
The power was out!
She quickly switched to the solar power system, allowing the air conditioner and television to continue running.
The residents’ group chat erupted into complaints again:
“Oh my God! The power is out! How are we supposed to survive in this heat?”
Someone offered a terrible suggestion:
“The wind is so strong right now. Just open the windows and it’ll be cooler.”
The property management office quickly appeared to reassure everyone:
“Due to the extreme strength of the typhoon, there has been a fault in the power lines. The power company has already dispatched personnel to repair the problem. Please remain patient and wait.”
Listening to the typhoon howling outside like ghosts and wolves, while the torrential rain pounded violently against the windows, Ye Xin wouldn’t believe for a second that anyone would actually go out to repair the power lines in weather like this!
Someone couldn’t stand the humid heat inside and opened the window a crack.
In an instant, the fierce wind swept in with torrential rain. By the time they tried to close the window again, it was already too late!
The window slammed against the wall and shattered, allowing the typhoon and heavy rain to pour inside even more violently.
A resident posted several pictures in the group chat and angrily cursed:
“Damn it! Who came up with that stupid idea?! Whatever you do, don’t open the windows in this weather—not even a crack! This is what happens! My entire house is already flooded!”
Ye Xin: “……”
There really were idiots who actually opened their windows!
An unfamiliar number called her.
Ye Xin answered, only to hear her mother-in-law’s heartbroken cries and curses:
“You heartless woman! You caught your husband cheating and even took his clothes!”
“Now his videos are everywhere! Even his company supervisor has contacted him and said they’re going to fire him! Are you satisfied now? Are you happy?!”
Before she could finish, Ye Xin hung up.
She had no time to listen to her complaints.
Her mother-in-law had known about Gu Nan’s affair from the very beginning. The entire family had kept it hidden from Ye Xin.
If anyone could be called the culprit behind this situation, it wasn’t Ye Xin—it was her mother-in-law!
If she had possessed the right values and stopped her son from cheating sooner…
If she had treated Ye Xin a little better, considering that Ye Xin had taken care of her for four or five years…
Ye Xin would never have been so ruthless toward them.
Unfortunately, her mother-in-law believed that her son was the one earning money to support Ye Xin, and that even her recovery was entirely thanks to her son. In her eyes, Ye Xin was nothing more than a housewife who sat around and lived off others!
Her heart had been completely broken by this family.
Their reputation? What did it have to do with her?
You’ll soon stop seeing that video, Ye Xin thought to herself.
And she was right.
After this power outage, the electricity would never be restored again.
“Woof! Woof!”
Xiaolang barked twice at Ye Xin.
Ye Xin affectionately ruffled the dog’s head.
“Xiaolang, what’s wrong?”
Xiaolang turned toward the door.
“Woof! Woof! Woof!”
Ye Xin froze.
Was there someone outside?
She stood up and quietly walked over to the door.
She looked through the peephole—and immediately froze.
How could they be here?