Chapter 23 Small-time Thugs
Everyone discussed the unfamiliar toys for a while, then took a break.
The building's supplies had been almost completely searched, and the excess furniture had been chopped into firewood by Gu Yanlin and Zhuang Nanyang, who carried it down from upstairs in bundles and stacked it together.
Gu Yanzhi walked around the 11th floor and chose a window where no one was below. The office building they were in happened to be in a corner. There were quite a few people on the side facing other office buildings, but the side that Gu Yanzhi chose looked like an empty space behind it, with hardly anyone around.
"Uncle Zhang, let's put our things down here. There won't be many people around, and it'll save us the trouble of carrying them down."
"I think it's a good idea," Uncle Zhang nodded, which was also his opinion.
"Xiao Song, Yan Lin, Xiao Gu, Lao Zhuang, Xiao Liu, Sister Li, and Qianqian, shall we go down to meet them?" Uncle Zhang looked around at everyone and selected those who wanted to go down with him.
Although the opening they chose is on the back side, the commotion they've caused is likely to be quite significant, and it's hard to guarantee it won't attract other people. There are quite a few people outside, so the chances of them being robbed are still pretty high.
It must be said that Uncle Zhang's arrangement was quite reasonable. Song Zhao and Gu Yanlin were both very tall, over 1.8 meters and almost 1.9 meters. Just standing there, they were intimidating. Especially when Song Zhao's eyes were quietly looking at you, it would make you want to run away.
After spending so much time together, Uncle Zhang now understands that although Gu Yanzhi appears aloof and indifferent, she is the one with the most authority among the three—ruthless and taciturn. Gu Yanzhi's swift and decisive killing during the last ship hijacking incident left a deep impression on Uncle Zhang. Although Gu Yanzhi didn't intervene in subsequent problems within their building, it's undeniable that having her in the team made him feel secure, and everyone else felt at ease too.
Of the remaining people, Uncle Zhuang and Sister Li were more experienced in dealing with people and had better interpersonal skills. Liu Sisi and Zhang Qian were just there because they seemed tough, and they went down to help out.
These people standing together below are not to be trifled with; just by looking at them, you can tell they're not to be messed with. At the very least, they can scare away a bunch of people who have the desire to steal but don't have the guts, thus avoiding a lot of unnecessary trouble.
"I knew we shouldn't have carried it down from upstairs, it's quite heavy," Gu Yanlin said as he walked downstairs. If he had known they were just going to throw it down, why would he and Zhuang Nanyang have bothered with all that effort? It's just wood, it's not like it's going to break easily.
There were fifteen people in total. Eight went down, and the remaining seven stayed upstairs to organize and throw things down.
While they were downstairs, the people above chiseled open the window at the designated location. Originally, Uncle Zhuang had planned to remove the window before going down, but the weather was too cold and the window was frozen shut, so he decided to just chisel it open.
Once the group reached the bottom, those above used ropes to lower the carts and handcarts. This had become their daily way of life since the flood began, and the cooperation between those above and below was effortless.
Then they threw all the timber down. The timber was all tied up on the ice, but some still scattered when it hit the ice.
The people below pulled the cart and kept watch at a distance. Only when no more things came down from above did they re-bundle the scattered timber and stack it neatly on the cart.
However, they didn't find much usable solid wood furniture this time. After deducting the wood that Uncle Zhuang used to make handcarts and skating sleds, the remaining wood only filled one cart.
The sound of the wood hitting the ground with a crackling sound indeed attracted a lot of attention. People in the distance were already sizing up their group. There were quite a few of them, and they didn't seem like someone to be trifled with.
Everyone was waiting for a brave soul to be the first to try and reap some benefits from Gu Yanzhi and his group, so that the rest could pick up the scraps.
After clearing away the wood and parking the car, they started hanging drinking water down from upstairs. Except for a few small bottles of mineral water which they simply put into their bags, the mineral water they found this time came in large containers—ten 5L bottles in total, and over twenty 20 20L bottles in total.
Although these large buckets of water were completely frozen, throwing them from a height of four or five stories would be enough to shatter them into pieces.
A 20-liter bucket of water was tied tightly with ropes and lowered from upstairs. The combined effect of gravity made Zhong Junfeng and Xiao Lin, who were responsible for pulling the ropes, blush. It was Zhuang Nanyang, who was upstairs with others tidying up, who came down in time to relieve their pressure.
Unlike the ease and speed of throwing down logs, lowering buckets was time-consuming and laborious. After the three men lowered all the buckets, they were exhausted, especially their shoulders, which were sore and painful.
After the last bucket of water was delivered, the three of them sat down on the ground and began to pant heavily.
The people below were in much better condition because of Gu Yanzhi and the other two monsters who exercised every day.
Buckets of water were neatly stacked on the handcarts, filling four carts in total.
The remaining items were some lighter food items, which the women upstairs took over. They threw down whatever they could, and hoisted down fragile items.
After all the supplies were loaded, there was still a small cart that was half empty. The group decided not to miss any gaps and stuffed in a lot of newspapers they found in the rooftop warehouse.
Paper burns too quickly; although it doesn't provide any warmth, it's at least a harmless flammable material.
Just as everyone had finished tying up the supplies, a shady-looking guy suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
Before Gu Yanlin could react, the person who suddenly appeared put his left hand on Gu Yanlin's shoulder.
This man looked like a petty thug, his eyes filled with cunning and greed. As he put his arm around Gu Yanlin's shoulder, he pressed the dagger in his right hand against Gu Yanlin's lower back.
"Your supplies look pretty good, how about sharing some with me? Good brothers should share good fortune," the thug said, his eyes darting over the supplies, his tone laced with threat and greed.
Gu Yanlin's expression turned cold. Looking at his sister and brother-in-law's faces, he felt a chill run down his spine. He had been careless; they had actually been ambushed.
He looked up at the thug with a calm gaze and said in a steady but firm voice, "I'm sorry, friend. These supplies were obtained through our team's hard work; we can't give them to you."
"Heh, your life is in my hands. Do you think you can just refuse to give it to me like that?"
"You guys better think it over quickly, whether you want supplies or your comrades' lives," the thug's face darkened, and he pressed the knife against Gu Yanlin's waist even tighter, threatening him with a cold shout.
"Aww, I was wrong, please have mercy, I was just kidding, I was just kidding!" Gu Yanlin quietly moved his foot, quickly and violently kicking the thug's knee with his heel, while simultaneously grabbing at his eyes with his fingers.
The thug instinctively loosened one hand to defend himself, and taking advantage of this opportunity, Gu Yanlin quickly broke free from the thug's control, turned around and pinned the thug down.
"Get lost!" Gu Yanlin originally intended to deal with this person directly, but when he noticed Song Zhao giving him a wink, he released the thug and coldly whispered.
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