Seek Help Outside or Hold Ground?

After carrying Li Qiang and Luo Jun back to the table, Zhang Meng began distributing food. This room was rented by Liu Lian, a gaming enthusiast who, in addition to frequently ordering takeout, also stored various kinds of food at home. They were still eating the takeout ordered by Liu Lian two nights ago, which consisted of rice and dishes enough for three people. He had only eaten one portion and intended to save the rest for later, but then he suddenly passed out and shrank, leaving the leftovers.

Apart from the plump rice grains, there were dishes like stir-fried green peppers with meat and braised eggplant. Seven people had been eating since yesterday, and they still hadn't finished everything. Besides, there were untouched biscuits and instant noodles, so their food supply was sufficient.

From yesterday morning until now, Tom had been through several life-threatening struggles, surviving on just some biscuit crumbs and instant noodles. Now he was naturally devouring a big piece of meat since he was small in stature, and in the hot weather, uneaten food would quickly spoil.

As they ate and chatted, Tom finally learned about their situation. Everyone woke up to two problems: they had shrunk, and ants were knocking at their door. Except for the thug Li Qiang, everyone else, faced with unknown fear, chose to escape. Due to the high beds, they all tried various methods to escape through the windows, as most of the beds were positioned under them.

First was Chen Jianbin, slightly shabby-looking, who, after escaping through the window, quickly encountered another person. Both of them, like Tom, chose to escape through the ventilation window of the stairs and then went downstairs for help. However, when they reached the window outside the stairs, they found a large pile of ants inside, so they had to retreat. In the middle of the escape, the other person stumbled and fell, leaving only Chen Jianbin.

Next, Chen Jianbin encountered Xu Dong outside a window. After confirming ants inside, they continued in the opposite direction of the staircase window and met Zhang Meng, who had injured his leg after killing a couple of ants. Tom found intermittent bloodstains along the edge, which were left by Zhang Meng.

At the next window, they found Li Qiang, who had just killed over a dozen small ants and was sitting on the windowsill resting. After some discussion, the three decided to move forward and encountered Luo Jun and Zhang Jiaqi trapped in the second-to-last room through the window.

Since Zhang Meng and Zhang Jiaqi were from the same hometown, they naturally wouldn't stand by. At Zhang Meng's suggestion, the four of them broke the window together to rescue Luo Jun and Zhang Jiaqi. Since there was no food in anyone's house, they decided to try their luck in the last room at the end of the corridor, which happened to be Liu Lian's rented room.

At that moment, Liu Lian, who was chubby, sat at the table looking confused. He was relatively lucky as he had passed out face down on the computer desk, with his weight supported by the desk. After shrinking, he remained on the table. If he had been like the bespectacled guy Tom encountered, sitting on a chair, the ants would probably have eaten him.

It took them a while to move from the bed under the window to the table. Since Liu Lian had stored a lot of food on the table, they finally decided to use the table as a communal activity area and dining room.

During this time, they attempted to make phone calls and use the internet on the computer but found no signal, just like Tom's situation. They couldn't contact the outside world.

Because of the fear of ants on the stairs, they decided to stay here temporarily and wait for rescue, if any.

Once they felt the situation was stable, Li Qiang's thuggish attitude emerged. Taking advantage of his size, he monopolized the food and living quarters, claiming the small desk on the computer as his own private room.

Unable to contact the outside world, the other six had to endure silently. After all, Li Qiang had single-handedly killed over a dozen ants, so at least they would have some support if the ants came.

Although Zhang Jiaqi's appearance was average, in their current situation, everyone was exposed, even with cloth pieces found for covering. Li Qiang naturally had lascivious thoughts. However, he hesitated because of the future legal consequences, so he didn't dare to act forcibly, just teasing verbally and emphasizing his status in the group, as well as the threats they faced.

Zhang Jiaqi endured his harassment silently, and Luo Jun, being cautious, tolerated it, until the afternoon. Due to the anxiety of not receiving any news from the outside world and the pressure of their current situation gradually wearing down Li Qiang's patience, he began to forcibly drag Zhang Jiaqi to his single room for relief.

Although Zhang Meng was from the same hometown as Zhang Jiaqi, he hesitated to intervene. On the way, encountering Xu Dong and Chen Jianbin, who had nothing to do with this couple, they just watched from the sidelines. Luo Jun was extremely distressed and thought about confronting Li Qiang.

Just then, the ants swarmed in, temporarily setting aside their disputes to confront the ants together.

So, it's no wonder that when Tom arrived, Luo Jun was so proactive. He needed a strong person to enforce justice for him. Even if there was no justice, at least Tom could alleviate Li Qiang's harassment.

Therefore, when discussing the next course of action, Luo Jun leaned towards leaving here as soon as possible to seek help from the outside world. Xu Dong, Chen Jianbin, and Liu Lian wanted to stay put and wait for rescue. As for Zhang Meng, he expressed indifference, willing to go along with whatever the others decided, being a fence-sitter.

As for Li Qiang? At this moment, he sat far aside, eating his diced meat, occasionally casting fearful glances at the biscuit gnawing on meat, showing no intention of expressing any opinions.

Tom explained his observations over the past two days to them but kept the issue of his ability to communicate with Biscuit using the emerald hidden. Until he figured out where each of these people stood, he didn't want to reveal his trump card. Just now, the gems left by the dead ants were excitedly collected by Zhang Jiaqi. Among them were three yellow ones, but the biscuits didn't arouse much appetite for the moment.

They knew that besides the big ants, there were more formidable soldier ants and cockroaches. Then they understood why Tom immediately went back to find kerosene after discovering the effectiveness of fire against ants. It was impossible to resist the numerous ants with brute force alone, let alone the soldier ants, which were individually powerful in combat.

So, Xu Dong and Chen Jianbin also changed their stance, supporting Luo Jun's idea and suggesting leaving here as soon as possible to seek help from the outside world.

"Otherwise, Tom, you can ride the biscuit to seek help outside while we hold ground here waiting for rescue," Zhang Meng, who had been silent, suddenly spoke up. "You have a mount, and we can't keep up with your pace together."

"Yeah, yeah!" Xu Dong and Chen Jianbin immediately echoed.

Luo Jun tilted his head, scrutinizing Zhang Meng for a long time before speaking, "Aren't you afraid that An Ge won't come back if he goes out?"

Zhang Meng chuckled, "Why would he? I previously misjudged him, but now I understand that An Ge won't abandon us."

Tom thought it was a good suggestion, but they needed to figure out how to proceed. "The second and first floors are probably occupied by ants, so we can't go down from there."

Zhang Meng was delighted. "That's easy. An Ge, you can ride the gecko and climb down the wall. It's simple and direct."

Tom shook his head. He had previously asked Biscuit about it. "After the biscuit grows larger, the wind outside the wall is too strong, and it can't hold on for too long in the vertical plane."

Liu Lian, who had been eating meat all along, said nonchalantly, "Do you know how many stray cats and dogs we have downstairs? I've spotted eight stray cats alone, lingering around our building every day. Those creatures are professionals in hunting birds or small animals. Your gecko might not be enough for them to swallow."

"What should we do then? Stay here and wait for death?" Chen Jianbin became anxious.

Liu Lian chuckled, stood up leisurely, walked to his computer, and tapped the keyboard a few times, opening a folder and then a picture.

Everyone gathered around the monitor. When he enlarged the picture, they realized it was a map.

"We are here, and the police station is just two streets away, remember?" Liu Lian said proudly.

"Cut," Chen Jianbin rolled his eyes at him. "Everyone knows where the police station is. The problem is how to pass through the domain of the stray cats."

"Flying!" Liu Lian laughed triumphantly. "We are so small now that even jumping off the bed wouldn't kill us. It's like a ten-meter fall for us now, and we might even bounce back alive. We can use cloth pieces to make a makeshift parachute. As long as we control it properly, we can float to the police station in no time. Once we find the police, we'll be safe."

Tom nodded. He hadn't thought about it before, but then he voiced his concern, "There's a condition for that. What if it's not just us in this building who have shrunk? If that's the case, I believe the police will definitely take action once they discover the situation, and the country will take it seriously. But... what if it's not just us who have shrunk?"

With Tom's words, everyone's faces turned pale. Liu Lian laughed heartily and clapped his hands. "Right! I won't talk about the unreasonable scenario where everyone in the world shrinks. But if everyone in our city shrinks, imagine going outside with joyful expectations of being rescued and protected by giants, only to find ourselves facing giant stray cats and dogs and more despairing tiny people's corpses. What a beautiful sight!"

The discussion returned to the starting point. In the absence of a surefire safety guarantee, staying here or going out was a problem.

However, Zhang Meng's eyes lit up. "We still need to try. We need An Ge to lead the way even more now. He has the gecko, which is more agile than us. Whether or not everyone outside has shrunk, we have to try. Waiting here, who can guarantee that ants won't find other ways in besides the door crack? The answer is nobody. The ants' habitat could be all over the building. Any corner might have ants crawling out. Although it's relatively safe for now, we can't guarantee the entrances and exits."

Tom wasn't a coward. He had considered this issue before, but they had to witness it with their own eyes if everyone had shrunk. But after realizing the first floor was too dangerous, he temporarily put aside this option. Now, Liu Lian's parachute proposal gave him hope.

"Okay, let me and the gecko parachute to find rescue. If we encounter people, I'll ask them to come to rescue you!"

Luo Jun's face didn't look too good. He hesitated for a while and said, "Jiaqi and I hope to go out with An Ge."