Chapter Thirty: A Burst Tire

Hello Miss Jiang, I heard from others that you’ve hired residents from the community as assistants. I have a few friends who also wish to live in the neighborhood. Their health isn’t the best, but their minds are sharp; they’re leaders in fields like computer science, archaeology, and education. If you’re in need, please contact me.

If they’re so talented, why not recommend them to Wu Gang? Jiang Huan didn’t give this message much thought and left it unanswered.

A few steps later, she reached the fifteenth floor. Wu Gang and his crew hadn’t arrived yet.

She placed the rice in front of Liu Ling for inventory, then walked around the room.

Now, her exchange room resembled a village convenience store: a mere ten square meters, crammed with an assortment of goods, some missing parts or broken limbs.

Once, these would’ve looked like junk, castoffs from a storage closet. Now, they were treasures.

“Fruit, frozen products, instant meals, pre-made dishes, toilet paper…” These items should be replenished next time she ventured out, perhaps bringing a few back under a legitimate pretext.

“Miss Jiang, Captain Wu is here.” Just as she was pondering, Wu Gang arrived with two young men.

Jiang Huan approached them, and Wu Gang wasted no words, pulling out a box half-full with tangled gold and silver jewelry.

“Mind if I sort these?” Jiang Huan pointed at the box.

Wu Gang gestured for her to proceed. Liu Ling immediately stood up, joining Jiang Huan to categorize the items.

Rose gold and synthetic gems went into one pile, solid gold and silver into another.

“These are worth five hundred contribution points here. Those, at most one hundred,” Jiang Huan named her price.

Wu Gang glanced at the conversion values Liu Ling had tallied. Six hundred points were sufficient to move out a fair amount of useful supplies; after all, in this room, a single serving of celery beef pre-made meal cost only two points.

“That’s very fair, thank you, Miss Jiang. Shall we begin choosing now? Is that convenient, or would you prefer to package for us?”

“Go ahead and choose,” Jiang Huan stepped aside, allowing Wu Gang’s trio to browse the shelves. Six hundred points could purchase quite a lot—rice, flour, oil, pre-made dishes, and instant meals were their main picks.

After they left, the warehouse was half-empty.

Liu Ling worried that just one transaction had depleted so much.

Jiang Huan, however, felt no concern. She carried the majority of the jewelry upstairs, immediately feeding them into the exchange slot.

The high-content gold and silver pile brought in seven hundred points; the rest totaled just over one hundred thirty.

Along with the previous unused points—more than a thousand—the sum was an even two thousand.

At the moment, there was nothing urgently needed, so Jiang Huan refrained from opening any new boxes, focusing instead on archery.

Twang.

Twang—

Each shot hit dead center. Jiang Huan put away the crossbow; now, she needed to practice with moving targets.

Humans move; unless she struck a fatal blow, once the opponent was alert or facing several adversaries who split up, the crossbow became limited.

Besides archery, Jiang Huan maintained her strength training, though those exercises were more suited to fitness. In real combat, her skills were still lacking.

After some thought, she decided to visit the underground market behind the hospital.

Earlier, hitching a ride with Wu Gang’s group to the hospital, a girl in the queue ahead had given her a tip about the underground market in exchange for a few candies.

In just a few sentences, she learned that several factions operated there, balancing each other, and that it wasn’t just a place for goods—some people took on shady jobs as well.

She considered that if she could find someone skilled in combat or weapons—especially firearms—it would be worth any price to recruit them.

The next day, Jiang Huan was fully equipped. Before heading downstairs, she restocked her brother’s snack box and reminded him to avoid going out.

She didn’t treat her brother like a criminal, nor did she smother him like a precious child. Despite her abundance of supplies and the box opener, she couldn’t escape the limits of flesh and blood. To be blunt, if her luck failed and she died suddenly, the brother sheltered in a greenhouse would be in real danger.

Jiang Xi wanted to accompany his sister—he hadn’t gone out with her last time.

He wished to help.

But since Jiang Huan was headed to the underground market, and didn’t yet know its workings, she had to leave him behind.

Watching his sister go downstairs, get in a car, and be driven out the gate, Jiang Xi stood by the door, his gaze lingering long after.

Before long, he summoned his courage and entered his sister’s practice room. None of the bows, crossbows, or batons interested him; instead, he was drawn to the darts and slingshot.

Emulating scenes from movies he’d watched, Jiang Xi squinted with one eye, aimed, and sent a dart flying.

…

“Aaaaah—pain!”

In a narrow alley, two men curled into balls, endlessly begging for mercy, while the woman meting out violence showed no signs of stopping.

Crunch. One man’s leg was broken outright, his scream sharp and piercing until he fainted from pain.

The other, watching in horror, thought: Brother, you’re lucky to be unconscious; I’m still awake.

Slap.

The woman suddenly pulled from her pocket a lighter with an unusual design.

“What—what are you going to do? We know we were wrong, we really won’t dare again, this is really our first time, aaah—” The man’s voice trailed off, dodging desperately.

The woman before them wore a cold, indifferent expression.

Look closely, and you could spot a hint of regret.

It was Jiang Huan, who had just left home.

She’d been driving smoothly, planning to find a spot to park and then walk to the underground market. But suddenly, two loud bangs—two tires flattened. Her driving skills were average, but she managed to stop the car safely, though her nerves were rattled.

She hadn’t been distracted while driving, so there was only one explanation.

Sabotage.

She didn’t get out, but peered through the one-way glass, scanning outside.

The street looked deserted, calm and quiet. A few meters behind the car was a camouflaged tire-burst device, now scuffed by the car’s weight, revealing its presence.

No wonder she hadn’t noticed it earlier—the disguise used the same paint as the ground. In this frozen world, everything was pale; if it snowed, snow-blindness would make it even harder to spot. This time, it was bad luck.

Jiang Huan noticed that one side of the car faced outward, the other was next to a storefront. She carefully crawled from the driver’s seat to the other side, got out, then saw people approaching her vehicle.

The three men seemed confident, thinking Jiang Huan was scared senseless. She vaguely heard remarks about getting “intimate.”

She waited until they were close. A swift knife sliced the nearest man’s chin, but he dodged quickly, so it only cut from below the neck to above the collarbone—blood gushed out instantly.

Clutching his collarbone, he fell and rolled away. The other two tried to flank her, but Jiang Huan disabled one’s arm with a crossbow bolt, then shot another bolt straight into the knee. When she turned to deal with the third, he had already disappeared.

Thus began the interrogation—beating two, forcing answers.

“Speak,” Jiang Huan commanded coldly.