Xu Lai watched the three of them go down the stairs, then took a few steps forward and locked the fire door.
"Xu family girl, are you alright?"
As Xu Lai locked the door and turned around, the three members of the Xiao family, her neighbors, came out of their house, all looking at her with concern.
Before she could answer, Old Master Xiao clenched his fists in anger.
"These bastards, if I wasn't worried about them retaliating if we got separated, I would have rushed out and beaten them up. They couldn't even steal our stuff, and now they're threatening us!"
He heard the noise when those kids went upstairs.
When they heard the girl open the fire door, they also quietly hid behind the outermost door.
If any of those brats dare to bully this girl from the Xu family, he will take his son and rush out.
Seeing the genuine concern on the faces of the three members of the Xiao family, a warm feeling flowed through her heart.
"Grandpa Xiao, don't be angry. It's only a matter of time before we break ties with those people!"
With wave after wave of natural disasters to come, the human living environment will only become more and more deteriorate, while the resources that allow people to survive will become less and less.
Between people, it's a dog-eat-dog world, where the strong prey on the weak and the weak are eliminated.
If the Xu and Xiao families want to continue living in this luxurious mansion, their actions will definitely attract the attention of that group of people.
Take this speedboat, for example!
If they want to live a better life, they must go out in their speedboats to find resources.
These conspicuous speedboats will definitely attract their attention. Those people will also see the resources they brought back from outside and be envious.
For those thugs, the result of being envious was to "rob"!
What could be faster than simply taking action and robbing?
After persuading the three members of the Xiao family to return home, Xu Lai locked the two blast doors and then sent herself and Song Qiu'e into the space.
She told her family what had happened outside.
I also shared with everyone the speculation that this matter might be related to Xu Zhen's family.
Sure enough, when Xu Lai said it might be related to Xu Zhen's family, everyone couldn't help but give Xu Zhen's family of four another good scolding.
"Sigh, from now on, we'll just have to be more careful, whether we're going out or staying at home!"
After finishing his tirade, Xu Jiangming let out a deep sigh.
They haven't offended anyone, they just want to live their lives peacefully and quietly, so why is it so difficult?
Because of this upsetting incident, everyone's mood was affected, and they ate breakfast in a very uninteresting manner.
However, the Xu family were not passive people.
After only half a day, everyone felt relieved again.
As the saying goes, "What is meant to be will be, and what is meant to be will be!"
What's meant to happen will happen. They can't be afraid and worried all day long, can they?
After staying at home for two days, Xu Lai couldn't stand it anymore.
She now desperately wanted more powerful weapons, so she decided to go out and take a look.
My family was worried about me going out this time, and they all wanted to come with me.
But they also need to keep their homes safe. What if those people attack their homes suddenly after they leave?
Xu Jiangming felt he was the most skilled and insisted on going out with his eldest granddaughter.
Xu Haiguo, Song Qiu'e, and Xu Chao had no choice but to stay home and look after the house.
"Let's go ask your Grandpa Xiao and see if they'd like to go out for a stroll!"
After stepping out of the entrance hall, Old Master Xu knocked on the Xiao family's door and asked for their opinion.
The three members of the Xiao family had long wanted to go out for some fresh air, but because of Old Master Xiao's influence as an elder, they had to give him the opportunity to go out.
Before leaving, the three of them carried any handy "weapons" they had at home, such as extendable stun guns and daggers, on their bodies.
After carrying the old man and the young man down to the third floor, Xu Lai sat in the rubber boat and said to the two old men, "Second Uncle, Grandpa Xiao, please wait a moment while I go and bring the assault boat over!"
This time, she wanted to visit the largest shopping mall in their neighborhood again.
I heard there's a newly built trading market in this mall, and business is booming.
It was called a trading market, but in reality, the arcade on the first floor and the children's playground on the second floor of the mall were also flooded.
The mall owner took the opportunity to turn the already sold-out department store on the third floor into a free market.
This free market is open to everyone, and everyone can trade there. However, after a transaction is successful, both the buyer and seller must pay a certain transaction fee to the market.
According to regulations, sellers need to pay slightly more.
Of course, if the buyer is very wealthy and buys a lot of items, the transaction fees will increase accordingly.
Sure enough, as Xu Lai sat in the rubber boat and paddled to a secluded spot on the left side of the first floor, her eyes caught sight of two pairs of eyes staring at her in the corridor of Unit 2 on the other side of the third-floor connecting corridor.
Fortunately, after she glided the rubber boat around the corner, the two men couldn't spy on her anymore.
Xu Lai rowed the rubber boat to the blind spots of the windows and balconies of the residential building. For safety reasons, she still carefully observed the surrounding environment.
Seeing that no one was around, she quickly took the assault boat out of her spatial storage.
With the kayak still securely tied to the stern of the speedboat, Xu Lai picked up the two elderly men and headed straight for the large shopping mall.
To Xu Lai's surprise, even though the flood had submerged the entire city to this extent, the two sides of the shopping mall were still lined with rubber boats and assault boats, and even a few two- or three-story boats.
Xu Lai and his two companions disembarked from the speedboat. At the entrance of the mall, there were still management personnel watching over the vehicles used by customers.
After receiving a number card from the staff, Xu Lai and the two old men went directly to the third floor.
"It's so lively here!"
The two old men looked at the people coming and going and couldn't help but exclaim in amazement.
They arrived at a reasonable time, but clearly others had arrived earlier.
Xu Lai glanced around and noticed that the layout of the place was completely different from when she last came to buy things.
All the shelves in the mall were gone, so the mall looked much larger than before.
"Let's go inside!"
The three of them went inside and first walked around the entire third floor.
The place was a bit chaotic due to the constant flow of people, the shouts of vendors, and the sounds of bargaining.
But Xu Lai and his team discovered that there was actually a pattern to it.
For example, food vendors sell grains in one area, pots and pans in another, daggers, knives, and other weapons for self-defense in another, cigarettes and alcohol in yet another, and even luxury goods such as gold and silver jewelry and designer clothes and bags in yet another.
Each area is equipped with four armed bodyguards to maintain order and one staff member to manage the stalls.
There is a customer service counter on each side at the exit on the third floor of the mall.
Customers who have purchased items, as well as merchants who have sold a total amount of goods, register their purchases and sales here before leaving the mall and pay transaction fees to the front desk staff.
Interestingly, Xu Lai saw a buyer who had purchased two daggers and a bag of food paying a transaction fee at the counter—a small bottle of green medicated oil that could cure colds, mosquito bites, dizziness, and refresh the mind.
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