Murder at the Neighbors’ House

“Hah.”

Standing at the entrance of the alley, I exhaled.

Even though the snow had stopped, it was still freezing. The snow on the ground showed no signs of melting, and for some reason, there were fewer soldiers patrolling the streets.

“Just go back and get a good sleep.”

I touched my head. Once people are fed and watered, they tend to get sleepy for no reason. Well, even when I was starving, I constantly felt like collapsing.

I wasn’t this lethargic before. My constitution seems to be getting weaker and weaker. Troublesome.

The silent alley was exceptionally quiet. I walked step by step to my front door, looking at the wide-open entrance and the messy footprints outside. I swallowed hard.

“Did a thief break in?”

Frowning slightly, I turned around to look at my neighbors’ houses. Their doors were also wide open, with scattered firewood lying haphazardly in front of their homes.

In the dusk, everything looked dim. This messy scene gave the impression that something was hiding inside.

“Phew…”

Taking a deep breath, I walked into my house, only to find the wardrobe toppled on the floor, the bookshelf overturned, and the quilt on the bed crumpled and thrown to the foot of the bed. The only thing intact was probably that big teddy bear, which would seem childish to ordinary people.

The pile of boxes in the corner hadn’t escaped the evil hand either; most were tipped over, their various contents scattered all over the floor.

Sharp porcelain shards, dismembered figurines, and ivory carvings carelessly tossed on the ground.

“Sigh… what a pain.”

I sighed in a low voice, but I could only accept my bad luck.

It’s the apocalypse, after all. To survive, even murder and robbery are perfectly normal, let alone burglary.

Although the leader nominally forbids such things, she rarely enforces it. In my eyes, she’s no different from a bandit herself, just slightly more civilized.

Snapping back to reality, I realized it was almost dark, yet there was still no movement from my neighbors.

Usually at this time, they would have started preparing food.

With a hint of curiosity, I walked out of my house and arrived at their door—well, the door directly opposite mine.

The blue-painted door was tottering, marked with several boot prints that looked a bit too large to me.

Pushing aside the firewood blocking the way one by one, I walked into the room.

“…”

As soon as I entered, I saw a scrawny, headless corpse. On the ground, blood mixed with white brain matter, skull fragments, and scattered eyeballs created a truly disgusting scene.

The corpse wore bloodstained blue casual clothes. Several bullet holes in the chest had stopped bleeding.

The corpse’s hand tightly gripped a smooth wooden stick, the tip sharpened and stained red with blood.

Inside the room, there was a bullet hole in the glass window, with fine cracks spreading out from it.

A simple bed hung with a curtain missing a patch of fabric. I tentatively pulled it aside with my hand.

“Gag…”

Another corpse, leaning against the wall. Its hands hung limply at its sides. There was a bullet hole in its forehead, blood and brains mixed together.

The owner of this corpse was a woman. Her chest was completely stained red with blood; the white fabric had turned red, pierced in several places by bullets, leaving glaring holes.

Pale-faced, I hadn’t expected to be sickened twice in just a few minutes. I bent down, my throat burning, and nearly vomited all the food I had eaten at Su Yanlan’s place.

This bloody scene was even more shocking to me than the skinless corpse I had seen at Su Yanlan’s house. Maybe it was because these two were my neighbors, so their deaths affected me more.

Life is such a fragile thing. One moment you might be alive and kicking, and a few hours later, you’re gone for one reason or another.

I couldn’t help but wonder: if I hadn’t been taken away by Qin Dai this morning, would I have ended up dead just like my neighbors?

Letting the curtain fall, I continued to scan my neighbors’ home, trying to find something useful.

They were dead, but their deaths had nothing to do with me. I still had to survive, so borrowing their stuff shouldn’t matter, right?

I searched with a pale face for ten minutes, but ultimately found nothing. Anything valuable had basically been looted by the murderers. No food, no water.

The only useful thing was probably a box of bloodstained matches.

I found it in the pocket of one of the corpses. Although the box was wet with blood, the matches inside were still dry.

Yes, in the end, I suppressed my nausea and looted my neighbors’ corpses. No guilt, just pure disgust.

If the corpse looked a bit less gruesome, maybe I could have searched more thoroughly.

I fled my neighbors’ house and returned to my own home. I closed the door and then laboriously pushed the bookshelf against it to barricade it.

Why did I do that? Probably because I was afraid another murderous thief might appear.

“Huff… huff… I definitely need to move to Su Yanlan’s place.”

I wiped the blood off my hands and the matchbox, tucked the matchbox into my pocket, and lay on the bed, hugging the teddy bear, still shaken.

I had gone from being reluctant at first to now somewhat impatient to live at Su Yanlan’s place.

Although Su Yanlan is strange—her attitude towards me fluctuates between good and bad, and she is sometimes gentle, sometimes obsessive.

But at least Su Yanlan’s home is safe. No thief would be bold enough to burglarize a cyborg’s house.

Ordinary people, even with guns, can’t beat a cyborg.

“Tomorrow, oh tomorrow, come sooner.”

Clutching the soft fabric of the teddy bear tightly, I whispered a prayer. I knew it was useless, but I did it anyway.

Ever since turning into a woman, my personality seems to be getting weirder…

The leader will come here tomorrow. I think I’ll rush to Su Yanlan’s place immediately after the leader leaves.

I don’t want to pack anymore. The quilts, furniture, and all those worthless odds and ends can stay here.

I just need to bring the teddy bear and a few changes of clothes. That’s enough. If it weren’t for the fact that I shouldn’t trouble Su Yanlan too much, I wouldn’t even want to bring my own clothes.

It’s not that I’m shy, but wearing too many of Su Yanlan’s clothes might actually cost me my life. She won’t allow me to damage the clothes she gives me, but accidents always happen.

If an accident happens and I ruin the clothes she gave me, I’ll be in deep trouble.

Thinking of this, I hurriedly got up, took off the black coat I was wearing, and carefully placed it at the foot of the bed.

I curled up at the head of the bed wearing that damaged maid outfit, covered myself with the stiff quilt, and hurriedly went to sleep.