"What are you... Don't... Don't come any closer!" His voice trembled slightly, and he held a small knife defensively in his other hand, positioned across his chest.
The strawberry bear silently raised its right paw and extended a pinky finger. With a single, light hook, it made a downward swipe.
The ordinary knife in his hand, as thin as a cicada's wing, was instantly cut in half from top to bottom, clattering to his feet.
His eyes widened with even greater terror as the strawberry bear's head loomed before him.
*I've done countless evil deeds, and now I'm going to be eaten by a stuffed strawberry bear.*
He thought despairingly.
Suddenly, the strawberry bear spoke, "Who are you people, and why are you doing such dirty, filthy things..."
He froze. *So... it's a person?*
"Spare... spare my life... We're from the Azure Dragon Gang. We live by robbing others." With his hand still stuck to the wall, his survival instinct made him want to spill everything in his stomach.
"Our boss used to be a local tyrant in a village, doing everything from arson and murder to robbery. We followed him just to make a living. Please spare me, I had no choice." The man deliberately lowered his gaze, putting on a pitiful expression.
Luo Xiao Le, watching his act from inside the strawberry bear, scoffed inwardly.
*He was the one who unbuckled his belt first!*
Talking about being forced, talking about not doing evil – it was all just because the person was currently at a disadvantage and wanted to escape.
She felt indignant but remained silent.
Instead, she turned around and walked toward the bed.
With her seemingly fluffy little paws, she gently sliced at the rope binding the girl's hands.
The rope instantly broke into several strands and fell to the floor.
The gag stuffed into the girl's mouth was finally freed.
"Peh! Scum!" The brown-haired girl's teeth were nearly shattered, her eyes bloodshot with intense anger as she glared at the hooligan before her.
These inhuman wretches had almost defiled her!
"How do you want to deal with him?" the strawberry bear Luo Xiao Le asked.
"I know him," the girl said, wiping her tears fiercely.
"The Azure Dragon Gang has been secretly raiding apartments in this building lately. Sometimes they'll try to gain sympathy by sending a subordinate to knock and ask for help. As soon as someone opens the door, the rest of them will swarm in and loot the place."
Then, as if unable to bear continuing, she dabbed at the corners of her eyes. "If they see a girl in the house, they will..."
Luo Xiao Le gestured for her to stop.
Indignation and sadness surged within her. The fate of those girls was all too obvious.
"They're not human!" The girl choked back tears, hugging her arms tightly.
"Not only do they steal all your belongings, but they... never leave any witnesses alive..."
"I accidentally witnessed a family across the hall being raided and then murdered one by one..."
"But I was terrified... The floors were too far apart, and I didn't know how to save them..."
After speaking, the girl started to sob.
Luo Xiao Le, wearing the plush costume, was afraid of scratching her and found it inconvenient to offer comfort.
"It's alright... It's all over now..." Luo Xiao Le, unsure what else to say, could only murmur softly.
"If it weren't for you tonight... I probably would have..." The girl looked up, her eyes filled with gratitude towards Luo Xiao Le.
"Therefore... I absolutely cannot let him leave this place alive tonight." Hatred suddenly flared in the girl's eyes as she looked at the trembling hooligan still trying to pull his hand free from the wall.
She got off the bed and slowly approached him.
She picked up a fruit knife from the bedside table, one she couldn't reach earlier.
Tonight, the person who almost died here was her.
The next second, a surge of overwhelming hatred washed over her. Luo Xiao Le stared, dumbfounded, as the girl decisively plunged the knife into the hooligan's neck!
The blade slid in instantly, then was yanked out. The stab wound was likely in an artery.
In the next moment, a torrent of blood gushed from the hooligan's neck!
Luo Xiao Le even thought that the blood would flood the bedroom floor in mere seconds.
The girl's revenge was complete. She put away the knife and, looking lost, sat back down on the bed.
Luo Xiao Le was not good at comforting others. At that moment, she could only manage to say, "We live next door. You can come over anytime."
The girl nodded gratefully at her and thanked her again.
Her debt of gratitude repaid, Luo Xiao Le turned to leave, intending to climb back home from the balcony.
Before she could take two steps, she noticed something on the floor – a mobile phone, perhaps dropped by the hooligan in his hasty escape?
Luo Xiao Le pulled off half of the strawberry bear's sleeve and curiously picked up the phone.
"Do you still need their phone?" Luo Xiao Le asked.
The girl shook her head, still looking dazed.
So, Luo Xiao Le took the phone and returned to her own home via the balcony.
...
Wang Hao had returned at some point, and was now lying with his eyes closed, either pretending to sleep or truly resting.
Luo Shu and Zhu Hui showed no signs of waking up.
Luo Xiao Le picked up the phone she had just found, wanting to see if there were any clues about the Azure Dragon Gang.
The man's phone was surprisingly unlocked.
She opened his messages and was immediately struck by a sentence that made her gasp!
"Find the person who made the weapons." It was a screenshot of a conversation with the Azure Dragon leader.
Luo Xiao Le inhaled sharply.
It seemed someone had commissioned the Azure Dragon leader to find her exact location.
Were they planning to make a move against her?
Luo Xiao Le flipped through the phone again. Apart from this, there was no other useful information.
Luo Xiao Le looked at her watch. She had already missed the active period for the wall-climbing zombies, as outlined in the group chat.
Those wall-climbing zombies likely wouldn't come tonight.
The immediate crisis was averted.
Having endured a series of blows, Luo Xiao Le was exhausted. She leaned back on the sofa and fell asleep.
...
The next morning, Luo Xiao Le opened her eyes to find Zhu Hui looking rather peculiar.
Zhu Hui was staring blankly in a certain direction, as if longing for someone through the glass.
Luo Xiao Le had never seen Zhu Hui like this before.
Before she could ask.
"Good morning, Xiao Le! You worked hard on the last watch last night. You can sleep in a bit longer," Luo Shu's energetic voice called out.
Luo Xiao Le turned around and saw that Wang Hao had also woken up and was munching on a pack of compressed biscuits as if nothing had happened.
She felt a surge of inexplicable anger but didn't know where to direct it.
She stood up and paced a few times, thinking about the events of the past few days, and a plan to deal with the wall-climbing zombies suddenly came to her.
She grabbed her phone.
"Does anyone at home have any spare pushpins?" Luo Xiao Le posted in the group chat.
Seeing that the "weapon expert" had spoken, everyone instinctively knew she was up to something and responded enthusiastically.
"Expert! I have some! What do you need pushpins for?"
"I have some too! My family used to own a stationery store, so we still have over a dozen boxes of pushpins left!"
"If you want to deal with the wall-climbing zombies, send the pushpins down to me." As soon as Luo Xiao Le finished speaking.
She heard the sound of ropes sliding from above.
Several baskets of pushpins, in paper boxes or baskets, were lowered down.
Luo Xiao Le clapped her hands and gathered all these pushpins.
【Activate Skill: Blade of Sharpness!】
...
A whole day passed, and Luo Xiao Le felt like a soulless reinforcement machine.
Perhaps due to the increase in her mental strength, her daily reinforcement limit had now reached 50 weapons.
Since everyone had sent down mostly large boxes of pushpins, the reinforcement density had increased slightly, costing her an extra 50 shop coins per box for reinforcement.
The people in the group chat were fidgeting and anxiously waiting, wondering what Luo Xiao Le intended to do with the pushpins.
Soon, the window frame vibrated with the sound of ropes being pulled.
They understood this was a signal for them to collect their orders.
They quickly pulled back their respective baskets or boxes.
Upon a quick glance, their eyes lit up, and they expressed disbelief.
All the pins lying quietly inside had been reinforced by the "weapon expert"!
Those who had bought her weapons recognized the distinctive luster of the expert's reinforced weapons!
After everyone had inspected their goods, the mechanical voice in Luo Xiao Le's mind chimed.
【Your account has received 33,750. Balance: 79,700 shop coins】