Karma Cycle

Watching those long insects flying towards him, Tom quickly accelerated in the opposite direction towards the other side of the air conditioner, and in a few moments, he reached the floor-to-ceiling window of the master bedroom 404.

By this time, the insects had already flown closer, and Tom recognized their appearance: dragonflies.

Invertebrates, arthropods, insects, winged suborder, dragonfly order, disparate wing suborder, divided into dragonfly family and damselfly family.

Generally, they have a large body size, long and narrow wings, membranous with extremely clear reticulate wing veins. They have extremely sensitive vision, with three single eyes; one pair of antennae, thin and relatively short; chewing mouthparts. The abdomen is long, slender, flat, or cylindrical, with anal appendages at the tip. Their legs are thin and weak, with hooks and spines on them, which can catch pests while flying in the air.

When it's about to rain, the air humidity is high, and the dragonflies' wings become wet, making it difficult for them to fly high. Therefore, when they appear in groups, it also indicates that heavy rain is coming.

At this time, these dragonflies were about 6-7 centimeters in length. Tom judged that they hadn't mutated, but he still had to be cautious, so he pulled out the steel needle spear and took out the biscuit shield to protect Lin Meiqi in front of his chest.

The little girl was not pleased, "Hey, you're blocking my view!"

"Don't make trouble!" Tom snapped, and she quickly shut her mouth.

Perhaps the dragonflies were also attracted by Lin Meiqi's scent, so they flew over. They circled around 6 centimeters above the top of the Old Street Zero Armor and then flew away one after another. Tom breathed a sigh of relief and hung the shield and spear back on his back.

"Is everything okay? You're making a fuss. Dragonflies are beneficial insects that eat mosquitoes and flies. They may not have any hostility towards us."

Tom couldn't agree, "Cats eat mice, but that doesn't stop them from preferring to eat humans." As soon as he mentioned cats, he remembered Xiao Bao and the pet cat Ah Huang that ate him. Perhaps creatures don't eat humans, but he felt that was only because they couldn't resist or ignore the temptation of human flesh.

Now that the danger was relieved, Tom immediately took off his gloves and pressed his hand on the ground. Following the same method, he deformed the metal air conditioner cover to form a stepped platform, extending all the way to the bay window of the bedroom.

This process also took several minutes. After all, he wasn't as professional as Iron Slag Old Man, but as long as it worked. He walked up, activated the Termite Zero Cannon, and fired at the window. As usual, he pried open the gap and crossed over.

"Ouch, it's so uncomfortable to squeeze my chest. That temporary worker must have done it on purpose." As soon as Lin Meiqi was freed, she immediately complained while holding her chest.

Tom didn't have time to chat with her and ordered, "Follow behind me and don't come out. I'll go check the situation first." Then he walked forward.

Lin Meiqi dusted herself off and stuck her tongue out at his back. But Tom took a few steps and turned back. She quickly changed back to a smiling face. Tom pointed at her and said, "Don't come out without my orders! If you don't obey orders, I won't take you with me next time."

Although they had only been in contact for a little over a day, Lin Meiqi knew that Tom was a man of his word, so she could only nod obediently.

The two walked out of the bedroom, arriving in front of the dining room. Tom walked while calling out, "Is anyone here?" After a few calls, there was no answer. He couldn't help but think that next time, he must equip the armor with a loudspeaker so that his voice could be a little louder and save some saliva.

After walking a few steps, Tom made a discreet gesture, reminding Lin Meiqi behind him not to move.

The air was filled with a bloody smell. Tom, under the dim light, saw many bloodstains, as well as dozens of small ants and a dozen larger ones of medium size. He crouched down to inspect them. Unlike the pile of ant corpses in room 203, these ants had various types of wounds.

Some had their heads cut off by sharp weapons, some were pierced by needles, and some were even flattened by something. Moreover, the time of death seemed different, belonging to different periods. Although they were different, their mouthparts were more or less stained with red blood.

After several days of fighting in the rental building, Tom was very familiar with the ants' behavior patterns. Now it seemed that these dead ants died at the hands of multiple people, and the battle was extremely fierce. If the ants died, the situation on the human side would probably not be much better.

Tom stood up and carefully surveyed the surroundings. He faintly saw a figure. Immediately, he shouted, "Come out, I see you, don't worry, I mean no harm!"

A figure emerged from behind the chair legs, tremblingly asking, "Are you... a living person? So tall! Where did you come in from?"

"I'm Tom! Your room door is locked and you can't get out, right? I came over from the bedroom window. It looks like your situation isn't very good."

Three more people came out from other positions, holding pieces of iron or needles as weapons, still very wary of Tom.

"There's a shelter in the fountain in the neighborhood. It's safer there. If you want to go, I can take you there. And I have a safe camp. We can retreat there later."

"Really?" The man who had come out first quickly ran over, looking at the Old Street Zero Armor, and exclaimed, "My God, you're so tall! Is this made of iron? It's so heavy. How can you move?"

At this moment, another woman came out, "Yu Fei, you're not afraid of death. I haven't even checked yet, and you're presumptuously contacting others. Haven't you learned your lesson from that guy?" As she spoke, she walked over, emitting a yellow light from her body.

"Human light bulb." Tom recognized her, another woman.

It seemed that the person called Yu Fei still had some obedience to this woman. Being reprimanded by her, he quickly retreated, and the others around also slowly approached Tom, holding their "weapons."

"I mean no harm," Tom said, raising his hands. "Your weapons pose no threat to my armor. If I wanted to harm you, I wouldn't bother talking."

The woman glared at him with a dark expression, stopping about ten steps away from him, and after sizing him up, she spoke, "Didn't your mother tell you it's impolite to speak to a lady while wearing such rude attire? Take it off first, to show your sincerity."

Rude attire? Tom looked down at his heavily scarred Old Street Armor. He could faintly hear Lin Meiqi's trademark bell-like laughter behind him.

The woman's demeanor reminded him of some arguments he had heard on social media. It seemed like they all wanted respect but had no intention of showing it to others.

Tom took off his helmet and flashed a smile under the bright light. "There, respected lady, is that better?"

The woman, displeased, said, "Not enough. Standing there so tall in that thing is disrespectful to me. Take it off quickly. We'll talk when we're on equal footing."

Tom looked at the other men holding weapons and asked, "Does her attitude represent all of you?"

The others hesitated, especially Yu Fei, who seemed to be struggling with his words.

The situation seemed similar to Feng Hanyun's, but this woman was more dominant and capable. So Tom shrugged, "Well, since you don't need my help, I'll just leave. Goodbye." With that, he turned to leave.

This alarmed the people. The woman shouted, "Do you think you can come and go as you please on our turf? Surround him!"

The men looked at each other, hesitant to approach.

Tom found it amusing to see these four men so submissive. "Clearly, they are rational enough to know when not to act, but they're still a bit clueless, unable to read the situation."

"What do you mean? Do you think wearing that heavy thing can intimidate us?" The woman was not pleased with the men's behavior. "You useless bunch of men, scared of someone taller than yourselves. If it were foreign men, even if they were facing a powerful demon, they would charge without hesitation."

Indeed! In this day and age, holding onto the belief that only Western men are heroes and gentlemen, while Chinese men are cowards, was outdated.

Tom shook his head and pulled out his broadsword, slamming it onto the table leg. The piled-up ant corpses scattered everywhere. "Are you sure you want to fight me? Do you think killing a few ants is impressive? I bet you have wounded comrades."

Seeing Tom brandishing the heavy sword, the woman became somewhat intimidated. "You... don't think being strong is everything... I... I'm a... I'm a superhero. See, I can illuminate the sky. Watch out, or I'll dismantle your... that tin can of yours."

"Oh? Welcome to try," Tom beckoned to her with his index finger, showing disdain.

For such ignorant people, heavy-handed measures were necessary to deter them.

"Are you even a man? You don't respect your female compatriots at all," the woman said.

Tom's patience had worn thin. He swung his sword with six times his strength, cutting off a large chunk of wood from the table and chairs. "Let me ask again, I can take you to the shelter in the neighborhood. If you want to come with me, drop your weapons and come forward!"

This shout startled the men. They looked at each other, hesitated for a moment, and then Yu Fei stepped forward first. "Sir, please help us. Take us away from this dreadful place. The shelter isn't safe, and there's a time limit. Take us to the safe camp."

With Yu Fei taking the lead, the others also dropped their weapons and pleaded together.

"Aren't you... afraid he'll be like that lecherous bastard?"

"I've had enough!" Yu Fei shouted, "Deng Xinlai is indeed a lecher, but you should also look at yourself in the mirror. He doesn't even look at you. You claim to want respect for women, but in reality, you just want to use your female identity to dominate. But he's capable, and you're not even in his league."

"You!" The woman couldn't believe Yu Fei dared to speak to her like this. "How could you... say such things..."

"That's right!" another man chimed in. "You resent that he doesn't care about you, so you deliberately create conflicts. You want to use that 'respect for women' argument to morally pressure others, but you don't see what time it is now. Morality... hahaha... morality... Where was morality and legality when Xiao Hui was bitten to death by ants? Gossipy woman, you've already offended a savior, and now another one. Don't think you're so great just because you have glowing superpowers."

"Yeah, don't think having superpowers makes you superior."

"Exactly!"

The four men were all impassioned, each expressing their grievances against her.

This gave Tom a rough idea of ​​what was going on. So he interrupted, "Wait, did you say someone named Deng Xinlai? Is he the man who came named Deng Xinlai? Um... according to you, does he have superpowers?"

"Yes!" Yu Fei replied. "Deng Xinlai, the owner of 501. His superpower is to increase his strength. When he punches, his arms glow red."

"Oh, glowing arms," Tom nodded in understanding. "Does he have any other abilities?"

Another man said, "When he runs, his legs also glow. It's all because of this stupid woman. She offended him. He took Asong and the other women with him when he left. Before he left, he also removed Carmen's box and locked us in here."

Tom chuckled. Deng Xinlai had locked them in here. And he had just locked Deng Xinlai's door. It seemed like karma had come full circle.