On the 17th day of the third month of the zombie outbreak, after yesterday's thrilling escape, Ji Lin'an and I decided that from now on, we would use drones to scout out zombies before using the Anywhere Door to go and kill them. Originally, we planned to save up our Anywhere Door usages in case of special circumstances, but now it seems that driving is no longer a safe option. In addition to the world outside us, there is a group of desperate people who have survived until now. The only way to ensure safety is to stay home as much as possible and not be discovered by others.
On the 29th day of the third month of the zombie outbreak, we didn't encounter that group of people again and spent more than ten days in peace. On this day, as usual, we watched images of the future.
A zombie outbreak occurred, and the scene sped up to four months and nine days. I got up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, and in my groggy state, I sensed a burning smell in the air. I immediately became alert and wanted to go out and check. Suddenly, I heard a noise downstairs, and somewhat frightened, I called Ji Lin'an. After seven or eight rings, Ji Lin'an, his voice still sleepy, asked me what was wrong.
I frowned: "I smell something burning downstairs, and there's some other noise."
Ji Lin'an immediately snapped out of it and said seriously, "I'll go out and take a look."
I got up and prepared to walk towards the door: "No, I want to go with you."
I only opened the door when I heard Ji Lin'an approaching it. He handed me a pistol, and we slowly walked downstairs with the guns in hand. As soon as we reached the top of the stairs, we saw faint flames flickering below. Ji Lin'an and I rushed downstairs, and in the darkness, we saw small flames everywhere on the first floor. Many places had already been burned, but there were no open flames. I was choked by the smell in the air and couldn't breathe. My eyes were also watering uncontrollably. Ji Lin'an pulled me and ran towards the door, but we couldn't open it no matter what we did. It was as if the outside was sealed off. Ji Lin'an then ran to the window, but the window wouldn't open either. Helpless, we had no choice but to go upstairs. Thick smoke had already spread to the second floor. Ji Lin'an and I quickly went back to our room, grabbed our laptops, put on our clothes, and went to the fourth-floor balcony. Looking down, the grass that had been there was completely burned, with flames everywhere. We used the portal again to take refuge in room number 5. We went to the kitchen, our usual spot, and looked towards home. There was a figure at the garden gate; he looked familiar, but he was dressed in all black and wearing a hoodie. He paced back and forth outside the garden, occasionally glancing behind him. After a while, a familiar car pulled up in front of the gate—it was the group from the gray SUV. Three men got out; they were the ones we had encountered that day. It seemed the man in the black hoodie had started the fire. They lingered at the gate, whispering something, but we couldn't hear anything.
I stared intently at the people at the door: "Could the treasure chest transform into some kind of telepathic ability so I can hear what they're saying?"
Ji Lin'an laughed and said, "If you could become a thousand-mile ear, wouldn't the lucky ones with a thousand-mile ear be at a huge disadvantage?"
Undeterred, I continued, "How will you know if you don't try?"
Ji Lin'an looked at me helplessly: "How would I know if I don't try?"
Me: ...Speechless.
After observing for another ten minutes or so, they walked back and forth around the garden, seemingly figuring out how to get in. A moment later, one of the men took out a retractable ladder, several foam mats, and four fire suits from the trunk. The foam mats looked like the ones used for sit-ups in school. The four men put on the fire suits, each with a baseball bat strapped to their waist. The man who took the items got back into the car and drove it very close to the wall. He placed the ladder on the wall and climbed to the top. Another man handed a wet foam mat to the man on the ladder. The man took the mat and threw it over the garden wall. He gave an "OK" sign to the three men below and jumped into the garden. The garden gate opened, and the men entered. Suddenly, Ji Lin'an's phone alarm went off. Ji Lin'an quickly turned it off: "They're trying to break in. The security system is on alert."
I looked at the location of Ji Lin's family garden: "How did they know about your family? The man leading the way was so careful when he entered the garden, he must have known that we installed a protective electric fence inside. The tools they prepared were so complete."
"It looks like they prepared this in advance, and they probably set the fire."
I was a little confused: "If they were fully prepared to break in, why did they set a fire? And those few grown men could have easily taken care of the two of us in no time."
After thinking for a moment, Ji Linan said, "One possibility is that they knew we had guns, and they were afraid that if they barged in directly, they would alert us, so they set fire to the place and killed us before going in."
I said, "They broke in for supplies, aren't they afraid of burning them all if they set a fire?"
Ji Lin'an turned to look at me: "Did you see clearly who the man waiting outside the door was at the beginning?"
I shook my head: "I couldn't see clearly. I have some night blindness and can't distinguish between some animals and people at night."
Ji Lin'an frowned: "I couldn't see the face clearly, but the height and back view look a bit like the same person."
I asked curiously, "Who is it? Stop keeping me in suspense."
Ji Lin'an slowed down her speech: "Your ex-boyfriend."
I exclaimed in horror, "What? My ex-boyfriend? Shouldn't he have been arrested and taken to the police station by now? Judging by the timeline, he probably wouldn't have even reached the police station before he encountered the zombie outbreak."
"I'm just speculating. They must have been able to ensure that the supplies wouldn't be damaged before they dared to set the fire. But how would they know where the supplies were if they'd never been inside? Based on that person's familiar back, I guessed that person was your ex-boyfriend. Only people who live in our community know that the storage room in our villa is on the second basement level. The second basement level is inherently gloomy, and with the first basement level in between, even if the fire was big, it might not be able to reach the second basement level."
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