(Draft chapter, pending update)
After Zhang Yan and his group left, Tang Li finally put down the goose feather saber in her hand.
After a simple wash and breakfast, she continued her daily routine of physical training.
While Tang Li was exercising at home, upstairs, Zhang Yan and the others began interrogating Li Guilan, forcing her to reveal the whereabouts of the supplies.
Li Guilan claimed she didn't know, but someone's question, "Didn't you say you saw someone steal the items with your own eyes?" shut her up.
Li Guilan accused these people of abusing her and breaking the law, but those who had lost their vital supplies cared little for that.
Finally, unable to bear the torture, Li Guilan confessed the truth.
It turned out Li Guilan had run out of water. Because she had offended many people and no one was willing to lend her water, she had been thirsty for a long time.
So, she found another resident on the 17th floor to discuss stealing supplies from other lower-floor residents in the middle of the night and hiding them in that resident's home for future use.
That household was clearly not good people, and their own supplies were also dwindling. They agreed and even suggested finding a scapegoat, instigating others to rob supplies from other homes.
Once they used the excuse of catching a thief to raid the first house and seize the supplies, the attention of those people shifted from catching the thief to seizing supplies.
Coincidentally, the first person Li Guilan targeted was Tang Li, whom they considered easy to deal with.
As a result, she ran straight into trouble.
After extracting the confession, Zhang Yan and the others immediately stormed into the household on the 17th floor and indeed found their supplies.
Enraged, the crowd simply looted all the stored food from that resident's home, taking back what was stolen from them, with interest.
They then locked the door of that household and imprisoned Li Guilan inside, leaving her and that family to fend for themselves.
Afterward, Zhang Yan even sent someone to inform Tang Li of the outcome.
Tang Li was not surprised when she learned of it.
She had long guessed what awaited Li Guilan.
Zhang Yan would surely use her to establish his authority, as she had publicly questioned him today to frame her.
Moreover, considering she had stolen everyone's life-saving supplies, the subsequent severe shortage of water and food, and the fact that Tang Li had never encountered her in her previous life…
Tang Li knew that Li Guilan was likely doomed in the near future.
But Tang Li didn't care about any of this.
For the next three days, Tang Li continued her life in the apocalypse, training her physique in the morning and practicing her swordsmanship at Peng Yue's place in the afternoon.
On the afternoon of August 1st, Tang Li was practicing her swordsmanship at Peng Yue's home.
Suddenly, a figure flashed past the balcony window.
Tang Li and Peng Yixuan were both stunned.
"Someone jumped off the building!"
Suddenly, Peng Yixuan heard someone shout outside and relayed the message to Tang Li.
The two quickly rushed to the windowsill to look down.
They only saw the surging floodwaters below, nothing else.
Peng Yixuan quickly went out to inquire.
Someone recognized the figure flashing by as Li Guilan!
But Tang Li found it strange; she didn't think Li Guilan was the type to commit suicide by jumping.
Just then, shouts of alarm came from upstairs again: "Oh no! There's a fire!"
Tang Li and Peng Yixuan exchanged glances, their eyes filled with terror.
"A fire?"
A fire was no small matter!
Especially in this situation, surrounded by floods on all sides, with lightning and thunder outside, there was nowhere to escape!
Without thinking of anything else, the two, along with Peng Yue, grabbed buckets filled with rainwater from their homes and rushed upstairs.
The fire was in the household on the 17th floor.
Fortunately, the rain was still heavy outside. After a frantic effort, everyone finally managed to extinguish the flames in that household.
However, the entire family of three living there had all perished in the fire.
It was certain that this fire was arson!
Because the traces at the scene indicated that the fire had started simultaneously from different points.
But since only Li Guilan and the family of three were inside at the time of the incident, no one knew what had happened inside, nor who the arsonist was.
It was unknown whether the family of three had thrown Li Guilan off the building and then committed suicide by setting themselves on fire, or if Li Guilan had killed the family of three, set the fire to destroy the scene, and then jumped into the floodwaters in an attempt to escape.
However, after falling into the floodwaters, Li Guilan hadn't even surfaced, suggesting she likely wouldn't survive.
This incident also served as a reminder to everyone: in the current situation, it was best not to push people to their absolute limits.
Otherwise, while living together might be difficult, dying together was far easier!
After the fire was extinguished, Tang Li glanced around. All the residents of the building had gathered on the 17th floor.
Tang Li inwardly thought, "This is not good."
Zhang Yan would certainly not miss such a good opportunity to win people's hearts.
As expected, Zhang Yan stepped forward.