Chapter 104: Eating Melon, The Situation!
After returning to the shelter and receiving her well-earned share of coal, Su Ning’s life returned to its usual rhythm.
She not only replaced the stove in her dorm with a more practical one but also started experimenting with cooking on it.
Of course, not all her meals were prepared by No. 4. Occasionally, Su Ning liked to cook something herself.
At this moment, Su Ning was skillfully using the stove and a clay pot to carefully prepare a delicious broth.
She used tender meat and eggs, along with flavorful dried shrimp she had brought back from District 13. After simmering it for a while, the fragrant broth was finally ready.
It smelled so good that Su Ning suddenly found herself craving fish.
“I wonder if people would come after me if they found out I’m living like this,” Su Ning chuckled and shook her head.
Because of the extreme cold, most residents of the shelter stayed inside their dorms, avoiding the outdoors as much as possible to prevent freezing.
Su Ning was no exception.
However, on this particular day, a sudden commotion disrupted the peace.
Su Ning’s attention was instantly drawn to the noise.
Listening closely, she realized the argument wasn’t far away.
So, she put on a thick cotton coat, gently pushed open the door, and stepped outside.
When she reached the entrance, she was surprised to see a large crowd already gathered. People were talking over each other, and the scene was somewhat chaotic.
She even heard someone shout: “Give me back my daughter’s life!”
With the freezing weather keeping everyone holed up inside and little entertainment other than browsing the communication channel to see how others were doing, a bit of drama was like a feast.
And now, with something happening right at the shelter’s doorstep, everyone naturally came to watch the spectacle—true to the Da Xia people’s love for gossip.
Su Ning also spotted her neighbors Zhang Li and Zhao Fuqing among the crowd, both bundled up in thick clothing.
“What’s going on?” Su Ning asked Zhang Li directly.
It was true—since moving into this dorm, Su Ning hadn’t interacted much with her neighbors. Apart from her earlier encounter with Jiang Nana, she barely knew anyone.
In fact, even someone like Zhang Li, who had only recently moved in, probably had a better grasp of the neighborhood dynamics than Su Ning did.
Zhang Li had a strange look on her face as she slowly explained, “It all started with Uncle Zhang’s son. They live nearby.”
His son’s name was Zhang He, and he was allowed to live in this shelter because he worked as a botany researcher.
“Zhang He had a girlfriend. A few days ago, for reasons unknown, she went with him outside the shelter to search for fuel materials. But in the end, only Zhang He came back. The people causing a scene now… are the family of that girl.”
Zhang Li’s face grew suspicious. “Is it really that dangerous outside the shelter now?”
Sure, she understood that the outside temperatures were much lower than inside the shelter. But could it really be so dangerous that someone could just die out there from the cold?
Su Ning, listening, recalled her encounter with the Man-Eating Monster.
Meanwhile, Zhang He, visibly distraught, loudly defended himself, “Auntie, I swear to the heavens, I didn’t harm Xiaoxia! A monster suddenly appeared in the snowstorm—Xiaoxia was dragged away by that thing!”
“You liar! Isn’t it because you were lusting after some rich young lady from the shelter’s higher-ups, and wanted to get rid of Xiaoxia? You’re a heartless murderer!”
This sparked waves of angry condemnation from the crowd.
In the blink of an eye, the heated argument turned into a full-on brawl.
Su Ning and Zhang Li stood silently on the sidelines, like two cold statues, watching the situation spiral out of control. Clearly, they had no intention of getting involved.
But soon, someone stepped in to stop the fight.
The leader was none other than Captain Zhang Xing, who shouted sternly with a grim expression, “Fighting is strictly prohibited in the shelter! Do you want to be expelled?”
At his words, the previously noisy crowd immediately fell silent.
Then, Xiaoxia’s grieving parents, faces twisted with sorrow and tears streaming down, pleaded with Captain Zhang, “Sir, please give us justice! This madman killed our daughter and now has the audacity to lie, claiming some ‘monster’ took her away during a snowstorm!”
Zhang He, panicked, turned his hopeful gaze toward Zhang Xing and blurted out, “Captain Zhang, I’m telling the truth! I swear—there really was a monster outside the shelter!”
Zhang Xing raised a hand to silence them both.
He turned to Xiaoxia’s parents and spoke gravely, “I’m sorry to say this, but Zhang He is not lying. There have indeed been sightings of unknown monsters outside Shelter 6.”
After Su Ning and her group had returned from collecting coal, they had reported the incident to the shelter authorities.
But no one expected that the Man-Eating Monster wasn’t a lone beast. There had been multiple attacks on people outside the shelter.
As the crowd heard this revelation, murmurs broke out again:
“Monsters? Why would there be monsters outside the shelter? What would they want with Zhang He’s girlfriend?”
“Do you think the missing women lately have all been taken by those monsters?”
“Now that you mention it… that actually makes a lot of sense.”
Zhang Li muttered, “The freezing cold was already unbearable—and now we’ve got monsters running around? Are they trying to drive us insane?”
Once the Zhang He situation was under control and the crowd began to disperse, Zhang Xing approached Su Ning.
He shared the latest updates with her, “Thanks to the key intel you provided, we were able to organize an investigation at the book city. However, when we arrived, the monster’s corpse was already gone. Apart from bloodstains and countless footprints, we found nothing else.”
Su Ning’s brows furrowed deeply. She asked, “So there’s still no trace of the missing people?”
Zhang Xing shook his head with a gloomy expression. “Nothing at all.”
He paused, then added thoughtfully, “From what I can tell, all the recent mysterious disappearances of women in the shelter are likely connected to this. Someone must be controlling those monsters from behind the scenes.”
Su Ning, standing nearby, was equally puzzled.
What exactly was Yan Liuxing’s true goal?
What kind of secret purpose required so many women?
Returning to her dorm, Su Ning began training her [Medusa] skill.
She wanted to increase her mastery over it.
If she could enhance it further, then without even needing to transform, just making eye contact with an enemy could allow her to petrify them instantly.
