"Open the door! Open the door!"
"I'm Chen Zhenghao. I want to exchange rooms with you. Quickly open the door, or I'll start shooting!"
Inside the room, the young couple huddled together in fear.
"What should we do? They're here to take our house. I'm afraid we won't even be able to keep the little food we have left."
The wife looked at her young husband with despair.
The husband, a bespectacled clerk, held his wife and comforted her, "Don't be afraid, everything will be fine. If they want the house, we'll give it to them."
"By the way, quickly hide the remaining food in our clothes."
The couple hid what little food they had left in their clothes, then tremblingly opened the door.
Seeing the menacing Chen Zhenghao and his men outside, the man swallowed hard and bowed, saying, "Boss Hao, this house is now yours. We'll leave immediately!"
As they were about to take a few steps away, one of Chen Zhenghao's lackeys sneered and raised a steel pipe in his hand.
"Bang!"
With a muffled sound, the man's eyes rolled back as he collapsed to the ground.
After falling unconscious, his eyes still bore an expression of disbelief.
He couldn't comprehend why, even though he had obediently complied and given up the house, they still resorted to violence.
The woman looked in horror at her husband lying on the ground, blood rapidly turning black on the floor.
"Ah!!!"
She covered her mouth and let out a piercing scream.
The other stick also landed on her head.
Two of Chen Zhenghao's lackeys walked over, not bothering with idle chatter, and proceeded to strike their heads again and again with their sticks.
Zhou Ke'er tightly covered her mouth, completely stunned by the sight.
This was the first time she had witnessed a murder, and no matter how strong her mental fortitude was, she couldn't remain composed.
Chen Zhenghao glanced at her and coldly remarked, "It's too cold out, we have to store some food in advance to make sure we don't go hungry later!"
After committing numerous murders, he had completely lost his reverence for life.
Furthermore, there was one thing Chen Zhenghao refused to acknowledge: he had felt fear due to being targeted by Zhang Yi's bounty and subsequent attacks.
This compelled him to brutally suppress the building's residents in order to establish their submission.
Zhou Ke'er endured the nausea and refrained from speaking.
Chen Zhenghao nonchalantly entered the house and had his henchmen take care of the two victims.
...
In the following days, Zhang Yi frequently heard clanging and clattering noises from the neighboring apartment.
The sounds originated from next door, and Zhang Yi knew that Chen Zhenghao and his group were searching for vulnerabilities in his apartment.
Additionally, they rotated shifts to monitor the front door and back window of his apartment.
Chen Zhenghao assumed that Zhang Yi would at least come out occasionally to dispose of garbage or fetch melted snow.
As long as they could seize an opportunity and eliminate Zhang Yi, they could claim everything as their own.
However, he didn't realize that Zhang Yi possessed a vast otherworldly space, making water supply a non-issue.
Nonetheless, Zhang Yi wasn't able to open his windows freely anymore. With Chen Zhenghao armed with a gun, he couldn't take the risk.
For a homebody like him, having a little extra garbage around wasn't a big issue.
When bored, he played games or watched the movies and TV shows he had downloaded in advance.
Within the residents' group chat, pleas and entreaties for Zhang Yi persisted daily.
Accompanying these pleas were bursts of furious curses.
"Zhang Yi, you're heartless scum!"
"You could have let us all live a little longer. Why are you so selfish!"
"You're destined to be alone forever!"
"Don't you have a heart? By not helping us, you'll live the rest of your life in guilt and regret!"
Faced with the furious residents' curses, Zhang Yi's response was simple.
He began live-streaming his meals in the group chat, recording his daily life and sharing it with them.
"Hello everyone, today I'm making a braised pork dish!"
As he spoke, a piece of pork belly weighing at least twenty pounds landed on the cutting board.
The neighbors in the group chat were red-eyed.
"Why waste so much pork for one dish! Don't waste it, give it to me, give it to me!"
"Zhang Yi, you're not human, you're a beast! You don't deserve to eat that pork belly!"
"Zhang Yi, I haven't had anything oily for a week. Please let me have a piece of pig skin!"
"Let me have a sip of oil at least. You're not going to eat that, right? Give it to me, please!"
Starving people had no resistance to high-fat foods like this.
Zhang Yi chuckled and operated the camera. Through the screen, the neighbors seemed to be able to smell the aroma of the braised pork.
However, after a while, Zhang Yi furrowed his brows.
He took a piece of pork belly with his chopsticks, tasted it, and promptly spat it into the trash can.
"Too much soy sauce! Damn it, this dish is ruined."
While Zhang Yi cooked occasionally, he hadn't made large dishes often.
Unintentionally, he had used too much soy sauce, resulting in the entire dish tasting strongly of it.
Moreover, he had also failed to properly caramelize the sugar, leaving the dish tasting bitter.
"How can this be eaten? Ah, what a waste. Such a waste!"
Zhang Yi shook his head helplessly.
He had intended to showcase his cooking skills, but things didn't go as planned. Unfortunately, he didn't have any pet dogs to share the food with; otherwise, the waste wouldn't have been so significant.
Having no other choice, he poured the entire pot of pork belly into the trash can.
The group chat exploded with messages, and the neighbors were driven nearly insane!
"Don't throw it away, please don't! My mouth is a trash can, the trash can is here!"
"This is a tragedy! Why did you have to throw it away? Why, why, why? Ahhh!!"
"Your household trash, please throw it away quickly, I'll go pick it up!"
"Master, your humble servant is late. Do you still require a dog? One that helps you deal with trash."
Some people were nearly driven to the point of fainting by Zhang Yi's actions.
They were bleeding inside! In freezing weather, the gas supply had been cut off, making it impossible to cook.
Eating something hot had become a massive luxury.
Not to mention braised pork, they couldn't even bear to dream of eating such a dish.
And yet, Zhang Yi had wasted a whole pot of it!
It was simply maddening!
"I'll just eat something ready-made!"
Zhang Yi turned the camera to the neatly arranged table, which was now filled with more than a dozen dishes.
Warm yellow light illuminated the table, making the food look even more delicious.
Pointing at each dish, Zhang Yi energetically introduced them, "Ladies and gentlemen, for dinner tonight, I have stir-f
ried prawns in soybean oil, scallion-braised sea cucumber, premium tofu, sweet and sour Yellow River carp, nine-fold large intestine, fish fillets in wine lees, sweet and sour pork tenderloin, wuchang fish egg soup, as well as candied mountain yam."
"Friends, the dishes are ready. Let's eat!"
Zhang Yi propped up his phone, becoming like a gourmet live-streamer. He picked up his chopsticks and began to enjoy the meal.
The neighbors in the group chat were practically losing their minds.
"Zhang Yi, give me a bite! I'll kowtow to you!"
"Zhang Yi, let my child have a bite of fish, even if it's just the tail!"
"Zhang Yi, you're my father, and I'm your child. Let me have a sip of the soup!"
Various pleas and requests filled the chat, with some even calling Zhang Yi repeatedly.
Zhang Yi paid them no attention and enjoyed his meal contentedly.
Watching the neighbors' exasperated reactions, he felt even more satisfied with his meal.