That voice.
Jiang Ye shuddered, his heart skipping a beat!
Almost instinctively, he gripped the Poison Blade Blood Dagger in his hand.
A warm current seemed to surge from his palm into his body, filling him with an inexplicable sense of power.
It was this feeling of strength that quickly steadied his emotions.
But once he came back to his senses, Jiang Ye was surprised—not just because someone had spoken in the stairwell.
More importantly...
He recognized that voice!
Sure enough!
It was Yang Wenchao from his class!
Yang Wenchao was thin and wore a black tactical jacket. As soon as he saw Jiang Ye, he called out his name:
"It’s actually you! Jiang Ye!"
It wasn't surprising that they knew each other, being classmates.
But in reality, Jiang Ye, who wasn't very social, had only a slight acquaintance with Yang Wenchao.
Jiang Ye's lack of sociability mainly stemmed from his low presence—he had few friends and was the kind of person that teachers and classmates alike tended to overlook.
Yang Wenchao was also an outsider, but in his case, he was actively disliked and ostracized by many classmates.
The reason? Apparently, back in their first year of high school, rumors spread that Yang Wenchao had stolen money.
However, back then, Jiang Ye and Yang Wenchao weren’t in the same class.
Jiang Ye wasn’t one for gossip, so he had only vaguely heard about it and didn’t know the details.
Their only interaction happened in their third year when they ended up in the same class.
It was a Friday, Jiang Ye recalled, when Cai Daming’s tablet—one he had secretly brought to school—went missing.
Instead of searching for it, Cai Daming immediately accused Yang Wenchao of stealing it.
As a result, the entire class started pointing fingers at Yang Wenchao, even bringing up his past accusation of theft.
Yang Wenchao adamantly denied it.
But no one believed him. They insisted on searching his backpack.
Jiang Ye normally didn’t involve himself in these matters.
But at that moment, he was solving an electromagnetic conversion physics problem, and the nonstop chatter was irritating him.
So he intervened—and with just one glance, he found Cai Daming’s tablet.
It turned out that Cai Daming had disguised his tablet with a textbook-like cover so he could play with it during class.
Somehow, he had forgotten about it, and the tablet had ended up wedged between a stack of books.
A complete misunderstanding.
Cai Daming just laughed it off, praising his new tablet cover for being "super cool," without even thinking of apologizing to Yang Wenchao.
None of the other classmates thought an apology was necessary, either.
Yang Wenchao, being reserved, didn’t demand one.
But at that time, he had specifically turned to Jiang Ye and said, "Thanks."
That was it—just a small, insignificant moment.
It was practically the only conversation the two social outsiders had during their entire third year.
Jiang Ye never expected to run into Yang Wenchao here in the stairwell!
And even more unexpected—
This guy was completely different from how he was at school!
Back at school, he always kept his head down, eyes averted, avoiding everyone.
But now, he stood tall, shoulders squared, eyes sharp with determination.
Even his presence carried a subtle sense of oppression!
And his tone just now—it had a commanding arrogance.
He was like a completely different person!
Jiang Ye couldn’t help but wonder—
Did this guy get possessed or something?
Or maybe... was he reborn??
Of course, there was another possibility—
Maybe the apocalypse itself had changed Yang Wenchao’s mentality and aura in such a short time.
No matter the reason, Jiang Ye had every reason to suspect—
Yang Wenchao was probably really strong now!
And...
Cai Daming, who was just reported dead in the chat group not long ago...
Could he have been killed by Yang Wenchao?
And another thing—
Earlier, when Jiang Ye was in the stairwell, he hadn’t encountered any classmates.
Other students in the chat group had also mentioned that they hadn’t run into anyone while running errands upstairs.
So why was Yang Wenchao here now?
Jiang Ye’s mind filled with doubts as he instinctively tightened his grip on the Poison Blade Blood Dagger.
By now, Yang Wenchao had already descended the stairs and was standing just a meter away by the railing.
He let out a strange chuckle.
"Didn’t think you’d have the guts to steal packages."
As he spoke, his eyes flicked to the dagger in Jiang Ye’s hand. "Judging by the look of that knife, the compensation fee must be in the tens of thousands, right?"
Then he glanced at the Personal Assistant robot beside Jiang Ye and mused, "And with this little gadget too..."
"You’ve opened two packages. That’s about thirty thousand in compensation, huh?"
Jiang Ye gripped the dagger tightly, his expression wary, remaining silent.
Yang Wenchao wasn’t surprised by his reaction.
He casually ran a hand over the wristbands on both his wrists.
Jiang Ye noticed—they looked like powerful combat gear.
Possibly even on par with his Poison Blade Blood Dagger.
After touching the wristbands, Yang Wenchao continued speaking.
"Actually, I also realized how valuable these packages are."
"But unlike you—"
"I don’t take orders and open them myself. I prefer robbing others of their packages."
At this, Jiang Ye grew even more tense.
His mind raced—could Xiao Bing’s self-destruct ability combined with his Poison Blade Blood Dagger be enough to take down Yang Wenchao?
Or should he try playing the emotional card and ask to join his robbery crew?
Or maybe send an SOS in the chat group?
One thing was clear—
Yang Wenchao was here to rob packages.
Even though Jiang Ye had already opened them, they could still be stolen.
And then... he’d have to be silenced.
Cai Daming had probably died this way!
Jiang Ye’s heart pounded wildly, tension building to the point where it felt like his blood was rushing to his scalp.
But then—
Yang Wenchao’s next words took him by surprise.
He let out another eerie chuckle and slowly said—
"If I had run into anyone else, the next part of the story would have been simple—kill them, take their loot, and snatch their packages."
"But of all people, I ran into you, Jiang Ye!"
"I've never believed in that 'good people get rewarded' crap."
"Besides, Jiang Ye, it’s not like you're some saint."
"But, my friend, you should be grateful for one thing—"
"Good people don’t always get rewarded, but anyone who’s helped me, Yang Wenchao, will definitely be repaid!"
As he said this last line, Yang Wenchao’s smile faded, and his tone became especially firm.
Jiang Ye was the type to instinctively doubt whatever people said.
But strangely enough, he believed this.
He felt a little more at ease, though he still didn’t let his guard down completely.
Yang Wenchao continued,
"So, I’m not going to kill you, and I’m not going to rob you."
"In fact, I even have some good news for you—"
"You owe at least 30,000 in package compensation fees, right?"
"Well, there’s a much easier way to deal with that."
"When you reported the package loss, you must’ve received a notification—"
"If you don’t pay the compensation by midnight, you’ll lose 1 Survival Point."
"When your Survival Points go negative, that’s when you get erased."
"And I happen to know a very simple way to earn Survival Points."