"She lives on the sixteenth floor, there's no way she couldn't hear us. We're shouting through such a loudspeaker, she probably just doesn't want to come out."

Mingxuan, I never expected Jian Ning to suddenly become so cold-hearted. She used to be so good to you.

If it were before, she would have come down with food to find us long ago! It's all my fault for giving you bad advice, which made her misunderstand you!

Miao Xin sobbed softly, then looked up at Li Mingxuan with teary eyes, appearing so pitiful that it would arouse any man's protective instincts.

"It's not your fault, don't blame yourself too much. I'll go upstairs to check on you in a bit."

Li Mingxuan's words weren't very confident. Jian Ning had already stopped answering his calls when her phone still had a signal. This time, he had to shamelessly beg to come over.

I wonder how she will react.

“I’ll go with you,” Zhang Xiaoqiang, who had regained much of his strength, said in a hoarse voice, wiping his sweaty hair.

“Okay, let’s go now. Brother, is the elevator still working?” Li Mingxuan looked up at the tattooed man and asked.

"No, there's no electricity. You can only climb the stairs. Girl, you're not strong enough, so let your classmate go up. There's a sofa over here, come and rest for a bit."

The tattooed man was clearly interested in Miao Xin, and warmly invited her to sit on his sofa. Liu Xinyi, who had come with her, followed suit, and the two squeezed together.

At this point, I don't care about the heat anymore. Having a place to sit is already a heavenly privilege.

Cao Xue silently tightened her backpack and followed Li Mingxuan and the others upstairs.

The tattooed man glanced at her slender and beautiful back without saying a word.

"Aren't you tired? Why don't you wait for us downstairs?" Zhang Xiaoqiang had received help from Cao Xue when he was so hungry he was about to faint, so he took good care of her.

"No need, I want to see Jian Ning." Cao Xue bit her lip and insisted on following upstairs. After climbing only two floors, she was too tired to walk any further and gasped for breath while holding onto the handrail.

"Don't wait for me, go up first, I'll walk slowly." She didn't want to slow Li Mingxuan and the others down, so she gritted her teeth and persevered.

"Okay, be careful. Call us if you're in danger. We can hear you." Li Mingxuan said, leading the way upstairs.

The stairs seemed particularly long at this moment, largely due to their exhaustion. It took the two of them more than twenty minutes to reach the fifteenth floor, where they were stunned to see the electric fence gate wrapped around the stairwell.

"Who did this? Jian Ning?" Zhang Xiaoqiang asked in disbelief.

"Impossible. How could a girl like her know how to do these things? I guess the upstairs residents didn't want the people downstairs to go up, so they installed it."

"It's okay, I've got the megaphone. We'll call Jian Ning out. Be careful not to touch that door; didn't you see the note saying it's electrified?"

Li Mingxuan was quite observant; he immediately noticed the small sign on the gate that read "Electricity Available." He had his suspicions, too, that the entire building was without power.

"How could this gate be electrified? It's probably just a sign to scare people, but I wouldn't dare try it."

"Jian Ning, this is Li Mingxuan. I'm in the stairwell on the 15th floor. Could you come out for a moment?" Li Mingxuan picked up the megaphone and started shouting again.

Jian Ning originally didn't want to come out, but then she thought about it and wondered who else had come with Li Mingxuan. There were several people there, and since they were classmates, she couldn't be so heartless, especially since none of the other classmates had offended her.

So he opened the door and came out. Just as he reached the hallway, Jian Anping came out of his room.

"Xiao Ning, are your classmates here? Shall we go and see them together?"

"No need, I can handle it. Brother, you can go back inside and wait. Turn off the electric fence first. Don't worry, I won't let them come up." Jian Ning said, opening the stairwell door and striding downstairs.

Li Mingxuan called several times before he saw Jian Ning walking down in a light beige dress, her clothes fluttering in the wind. She was incredibly beautiful, and seemed even more beautiful than before.

Looking at my disheveled appearance, I felt inexplicably inferior. I had never felt this way before.

Forgetting about the electric fence around the gate, she grabbed the gate and said, "Jian Ning, we're really at our wits' end now."

"These are the only classmates we've contacted in Jiang City. Please open the door and let us in. Don't worry, we're just staying temporarily. We'll leave as soon as the weather gets better."

"Yes, Jian Ning, we can pay you rent, how about 2000 a month?"

"If there's food, I can pay more. But I can't transfer money via phone right now, so I can only give it to you after the flood recedes," Zhang Xiaoqiang chimed in.

"I'm sorry, this floor isn't just for me, there are other people living here too. I can't agree to you moving in. There are plenty of empty spaces in the hallway, so you'll have somewhere to stay."

However, I can give you some food. It's not free; you'll have to write me an IOU, and I'll pay you back later. You know, I don't have much food myself, and this is only out of consideration for our friendship.”

Jian Ning felt she wasn't cold-blooded enough. Looking at Zhang Xiaoqiang's usually round face, which had become much thinner and looked completely different from before, she still felt a little sorry for him.

If we can help, we should. We've already begged her.

"Jian Ning, how can you be so selfish? We're classmates, shouldn't we help each other out? Don't you know when you'll ever need my help?"

When Li Mingxuan heard that Jian Ning had no intention of letting them go upstairs, he became furious and shouted loudly.

"What happened?"

A clear and pleasant voice sounded behind Jian Ning. She turned around and saw Xiao Lingfeng standing behind her in a white tracksuit. The afterglow of the setting sun shone through the glass onto him, as if he were inlaid with a golden halo.

He was so handsome, like a celestial being, that she was completely mesmerized. She didn't even hear what he said next.

"Who are you? Jian Ning's boyfriend?" When Li Mingxuan saw Xiao Lingfeng, he felt like his lungs were about to explode with anger, and he had a strange feeling that something of his had been stolen.

His voice trembled slightly as he spoke.

“You’d better not try to rush up here. See the bloodstains on the ground? The last one who didn’t listen got a finger cut off here. If you want to be crippled too, I don’t mind granting your wish.”

Xiao Lingfeng said coldly, and then a flash of light appeared in his hand. The cold light dazzled Li Mingxuan's eyes, and he was startled. He let go of the gate and took two steps back.