Apocalypse: After Being Reborn, I Stocked Up on All Supplies

Chapter 36: Chapter 36: Throwing ‘Shi’ from a High Altitude

Jiang Yan’s brow furrowed ever so slightly.

The visitor was none other than the chairman of the Shallow Bay homeowners’ committee and the admin of the homeowners’ group chat, a forty-year-old divorced bachelor, Zhang Qiming.

She didn’t have much interaction with Zhang Qiming; they had merely added each other on WeChat when she completed the property purchase and moved in.

It was he who had added her to the Shallow Bay homeowners’ group chat.

At this moment, to say he looked greasy was more a visual impression than anything else.

The weather was too hot, and there was a water outage, making all of Zhang Qiming’s hair stick together, slick and plastered to his head.

His face, flushed from the heat, was also greasy, both on his face and neck.

If one were to swipe a hand over it, it might even be possible to fling off a handful of oil and sweat beads.

The man lingered outside her door for a few seconds before picking up his phone to make a voice call to her.

Jiang Yan was quick, directly pressing the button to power off her phone. @@novelbin@@

Outside, Zhang Qiming, upon hearing “The number you have dialed is currently unavailable,” found his previously furrowed brow relax.

It seemed that her phone did have battery; she simply had switched it off.

No wonder she hadn’t answered any of the myriad messages he had sent her.

She hadn’t shown up in the homeowners’ group chat either.

But in his view, this was to be expected.

Many had kept their phones off after last night’s major power outage, to conserve battery and ensure they could use it when it was crucial.

Zhang Qiming didn’t turn to leave; instead, after a second’s hesitation, he lifted his hand to knock on Jiang Yan’s door.

But unexpectedly, the moment his palm hit the iron door, a strong electric current crackled, “zzt”, coursing through his palm and throughout his body.

There was a faint smell of pork lightly scorched emanating from his hand.

“Ow! Ow! Ow!”

The electric shock was sudden and unexpected!

Zhang Qiming trembled violently as if stricken by Parkinson’s, his body reflexively contorting backward like an octopus, leaping several steps away.

The scorching and pain on his palm forced several involuntary expletives before he managed to contain himself.

At this moment, he appeared pale as paper, with beads of sweat falling like rain from his forehead as if a hidden water pipe lay buried in his hair.

Jiang Yan had actually only activated a 110V low-voltage defense.

But Zhang Qiming’s hands were damp with sweat, and his body was wet, which meant the electric shock was significantly worse than He Chunmei’s had been.

Once the trembling in his cheeks had stopped and his heart had settled a bit, he took a cautious glance at the door and didn’t dare touch it again. Instead, he stepped a bit closer and shouted:

“Young President Jiang, are you inside? I have something important to discuss with you, but your phone is off!”

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yan’s brow furrowed even deeper: that title…

She remembered Zhang Qiming lived on either the 27th or 28th floor.

Only three or four floors separated him from the 32nd floor.

But with today’s high temperatures, not to mention climbing stairs, just walking around outside would leave one gasping for air.

Yet he had made his way to her doorstep first thing in the morning…

Obviously, he had come prepared.

Nevertheless, she still didn’t plan to respond, deciding to play dead all the way through.

Zhang Qiming continued to shout: “Young President Jiang, is your phone running out of power? I have several power banks at my place. Do you want to come over and charge your phone?”

Jiang Yan almost couldn’t help laughing upon hearing this line, which sounded like something a sleazy guy would say.

After finishing his words, Zhang Qiming suddenly paused.

Though it was the dry winter season when touching objects like wool could cause static shocks, the effect he just experienced was clearly more than a mere static shock.

Following his intuition as a once engineering-savvy man, he had definitely been electrocuted!

The safe voltage for the human body is 36 volts.

The voltage he had experienced was clearly higher.

So, Jiang Yan’s house must have a backup power source!

Putting this together with what he knew about her having air conditioning installed…

Zhang Qiming felt as if he had discovered a new continent, his heart swelling with glee: “Young President Jiang, open the door! Is your air conditioner working normally!!”

Jiang Yan didn’t want to continue listening to his babble; she turned off the surveillance sound and continued to play dead.

Zhang Qiming called out a few more times at the door.

Imagining that she must be in her bedroom with the door closed, enjoying the air conditioning and not hearing him, and fearing to knock again, he eventually turned around and left, his expression sullen.

He had not made it to the stairwell when the door of 3203 creaked open, and He Chunmei emerged with a smile, calling out to Zhang Qiming:

“Brother Zhang, do you have a power bank at home? Could I borrow it?”

On hearing this, Zhang Qiming turned and gave her a scornful look before replying:

“Chunmei, at your age, shouldn’t you stop eavesdropping around the corners like a child?”

“Look at the way you say it, Brother Zhang! With your voice so loud and strong, who needs to eavesdrop? By the way, what was that you were calling that crazy girl, Xiao Jiang? You know her? Why not share some gossip with me?” He Chunmei batted her eyes at him and leaned in with an expressive face full of curiosity.

Mainly, the weather was just too hot, and with a son and daughter both sick, she would have otherwise planned to inquire about the background of the person in 3201 at the property management office.

She had asked the property manager, but received no response.

Moreover, word of bad deeds spread far, even if good deeds stay unrecognized.

Her involvement in barring Jiang Yan from returning home had spread throughout the community overnight.

Of course, many were also blaming Jiang Yan for not being more cooperative.

“Chunmei, you’re a mother of two; try not to be so nosy, will you? If it’s not meant for you to know, don’t pry into it!”

Zhang Qiming finished speaking, turned around, and left via the stairwell without looking back.

Some secrets are only valuable if kept to oneself.

If this gossiping woman were to overhear it, all the efforts he had made regarding Jiang Yan would be in vain.

He Chunmei’s smile stiffened as she watched his retreating figure; she cursed silently to herself and dejectedly went back inside.

*

Once Jiang Yan saw that Zhang Qiming had walked far enough away, she picked up her phone again.

As soon as it powered on, a barrage of messages and news alerts pop-pop-popped up.

The homeowners’ group chat was filled with quarrels and pleas for help.

It had continued until after three in the morning.

Most likely, it wasn’t that everyone had gone to sleep, but rather that most people’s phones had run out of battery.

The subsequent messages were sporadic.

Jiang Yan’s fingers scrolled swiftly, but her gaze quickly fixed on a slightly eerie photo.

Someone had taken advantage of the dark pre-dawn hours to use the patriotic phone’s moon-shooting mode, capturing a distant photo of a central garden that was shared in the group chat.

In the blue-gray image, the garden’s colorful plastic pathways were littered with several black figures.

Fewer figures were scattered among the flowerbeds, lawns, and woods.

Jiang Yan zoomed in on the photo, and her pupils abruptly contracted, nearly dropping her phone to the ground.

The black figures were bodies, each one shriveled and unrecognizable!

On one of the comparatively “fresh” corpses were densely packed blood mosquitoes, each the size of a face!

Jiang Yan felt her trypophobia about to act up at the sight.