Chapter 36: Aerial "Bombardment"

Jiang Yan's brow furrowed slightly.

The visitor was none other than Zhang Qiming, the forty-year-old divorced bachelor who served as both the chairman of the homeowners' committee and the admin of their Repulse Bay homeowners group chat.

She hadn't interacted much with Zhang Qiming—only exchanging routine WeChat adds after completing her home purchase and moving in.

It was he who had added her to the Repulse Bay homeowners group chat.

Calling him "greasy" now was more of a visual impression.

The weather was scorching hot, and with the water cut off, Zhang Qiming's hair clung to his scalp in sticky clumps.

His flushed face and oily neck glistened under the heat.

If someone wiped a hand across his skin, they'd probably come away with a handful of greasy beads mixed with sweat.

He paced back and forth outside her door for a few seconds before finally picking up his phone to call her via voice message.

Jiang Yan reacted swiftly, pressing the power button to shut her phone off completely.

Outside, Zhang Qiming heard the automated "The number you have dialed cannot be reached" message, and instead of scowling further, his expression relaxed.

So her phone wasn't dead—she had simply turned it off.

No wonder she hadn't responded to any of his messages.

She hadn't made a peep in the homeowners group chat either.

But to him, this wasn't surprising.

After last night's blackout, many people had powered off their phones to conserve battery for emergencies.

Instead of leaving, Zhang Qiming hesitated for a second before raising his hand to knock on Jiang Yan's door.

But the moment his palm touched the metal surface, a powerful electric current surged through his body with a sharp zap.

The faint scent of slightly charred pork wafted from his hand.

"Ah! Ah! Ah!"

The shock came without warning!

Zhang Qiming convulsed violently, his body instinctively jerking backward like an octopus as he stumbled several steps away.

The scorched yellow mark on his palm and the lingering pain forced several involuntary curses out of him before he managed to regain control.

His face was now as pale as paper, beads of sweat pouring from his forehead as if a hidden pipe had burst beneath his scalp.

Jiang Yan had only activated a low-voltage defense of 110V.

But Zhang Qiming's hands were slick with sweat, his entire body drenched—making the shock far more severe than He Chunmei's earlier encounter.

Once the trembling in his cheeks subsided, he eyed the door warily, not daring to touch it again.

Instead, he took a cautious step closer and shouted:

"General Jiang, are you home? I have something urgent to discuss, but your phone's off!"

Jiang Yan's frown deepened at the address—General Jiang?

She remembered Zhang Qiming lived on either the 27th or 28th floor—just three or four levels below her 32nd-floor unit.

But in today's blistering heat, climbing even a few flights of stairs was exhausting, let alone walking outside.

Yet here he was, at her doorstep first thing in the morning...

Clearly, he had come prepared.

Still, she had no intention of engaging—she would play dead to the end.

Zhang Qiming continued shouting: "General Jiang, is your phone running low on battery? I have several power banks at home—why don't you bring your phone over to charge?"

Jiang Yan nearly laughed aloud at the pickup-artist-worthy line.

Zhang Qiming suddenly froze after speaking.

Although it was the dry winter season, and he often got static shocks from touching woolen items, the effect just now was clearly beyond an ordinary static shock.

With the intuition of a former engineering student, he was certain he had been electrocuted!

The safe voltage for the human body is 36 volts.

The voltage just now was clearly much higher.

So, Jiang Yan's home must have a backup power source!

Combined with what he knew—that her home had an air conditioner installed—

Zhang Qiming felt like he had discovered a new continent, his heart surging with excitement again: "Little General Jiang, open the door! Is your air conditioner working normally?!"

Jiang Yan didn't want to listen to his noise any longer and directly muted the surveillance feed, continuing to play dead.

Zhang Qiming shouted a few more times at the door.

Guessing she must be in her bedroom with the door closed, enjoying the air conditioner and unable to hear him, he didn't dare pound on the door again. With a sullen expression, he turned and left.

Before he even reached the walking staircase, the door of Unit 3203 creaked open, and He Chunmei stepped out with a bright smile, calling out to him:

"Brother Zhang, do you still have a power bank at home? Could I borrow it?"

Zhang Qiming glanced at her sideways, his tone slightly mocking:

"Chunmei, how come at your age, you're still eavesdropping like a kid?"

"Brother Zhang, how can you say that? You were so loud and full of energy—no need to eavesdrop! By the way, what did you call that crazy girl just now? Little General Jiang? Do you know her? Tell me about it!" He Chunmei blinked, throwing him a suggestive look as she leaned in with a gossipy expression.

The weather was too hot, and her son and daughter were both sick, otherwise she would have gone to the property office long ago to dig up information on Unit 3201.

She had even asked the property manager, but he ignored her completely.

Besides, bad news travels fast.

Her leading the blockade at Unit 3201's door to prevent Jiang Yan from returning home had spread throughout the neighborhood overnight.

Of course, there were also plenty of people criticizing Jiang Yan.

"Chunmei, you're a mother of two. Can't you be less nosy? Don't ask about things that aren't your business!"

With that, Zhang Qiming turned and strode into the walking staircase without looking back.

Some secrets only held value if he alone knew them.

If this big-mouthed gossip got wind of it, all his previous efforts toward Jiang Yan would be wasted.

He Chunmei's smile stiffened. Watching his retreating figure, she silently cursed under her breath before slinking back inside, feeling snubbed.

-

Only after Zhang Qiming had left did Jiang Yan pick up her phone again.

As soon as she turned it on, a flood of messages and news notifications popped up in rapid succession.

The homeowners group chat was packed with arguments and pleas for help.

The chatter had only died down around 3 a.m.

Probably not because people had gone to sleep, but because most phones had run out of battery.

After that, only sporadic messages remained.

Jiang Yan's fingers swiped quickly, but her gaze soon paused on a slightly eerie photo.

Someone had used the moon-shot mode on a Patriotic Phone before dawn to take a long-range photo of the central garden and posted it in the group.

In the bluish-gray image, several dark figures lay scattered across the garden's colorful rubber walkway.

There were more in the flower beds, lawns, and woods, though fewer in number.

Jiang Yan swiped her fingers to zoom in on the photo, and her pupils suddenly constricted. She nearly dropped her phone in shock.

The dark shadows turned out to be rows of long-dried, unrecognizable corpses!

On one relatively "fresh" corpse, enormous Blood Mosquitoes the size of faces were densely clustered!

Jiang Yan felt her trypophobia kicking in just from looking at it.

(End of Chapter)