Chapter 45 Intrusion

Chapter 45: Breaking and Entering. Am I qualified enough now to ask you to leave…

The afternoon heat at the resort was sweltering, hot, coconut-scented air sweeping across the lawn. A few elegant buildings nestled quietly among dense groves of green coconut palms. Their light-gray walls glowed warmly in the sun, and the neatly trimmed lawns below resembled plush carpets. Inside, minimalist furniture cast faint, shifting silhouettes in the dappled light.

Sweat beaded on the teenagers’ temples; their backs were already soaked with dark patches of perspiration. Their footsteps quickened, the sharp tap of heels against the stone path muffled by the oppressive heat.

They deliberately avoided the central building—the small room on the east side of the second floor had heavy blackout curtains drawn, a sliver of unsettling shadow leaking from the window crack. It had been the attacker’s previous hiding place. Though they didn’t know where he was now, that stagnant shadow still carried an uneasy aura.

Bai Suizhi raised his hand in a sharp, decisive gesture—his fingers leaving afterimages in the sunlight. The group instantly scattered, slipping past the ornate iron gates of the villas on either side like gusts of wind. Moments later, they regrouped at the intersection, their faces betraying unmistakable disappointment—they’d searched the kitchens and storage rooms but found no useful supplies or food.

All hope evaporated; it seemed every last supply had been concentrated in the central building.

“To the rooftop,” Bai Suizhi said, wasting no words.

The group rushed back into the building with shattered glass and sprinted up the stairs, their urgent footsteps echoing hollowly through the empty stairwell.

As they pushed open the iron door to the rooftop, a blast of scorching wind hit them. Exchanging glances, they bent down in unison and scooped up scattered stones from the ground. Swinging their arms back, they hurled the stones with force—the rocks sliced through the air with sharp whistles, one after another smashing into the floor-to-ceiling windows on the second floor opposite. A deafening crash exploded across the silent resort.

Playing the part of vandals with gusto, they kept throwing—quickly shattering the opposing windows. Shards of glass tore through the curtains, faintly revealing the interior.

The layout mirrored earlier buildings—but this one was crammed with clutter, chaotic and disordered.

“Aim higher!” Bai Suizhi shouted.

The others followed suit, concentrating their throws on the curtain rod. Soon, the flimsy metal snapped with a sharp *crack*, dragging the entire curtain down and fully exposing the scene behind.

Sunlight surged wildly into the disordered room, splitting it sharply between light and shadow. A man in a black hoodie stood precisely at the dividing line, observing them with detached curiosity.

Backlit, they could only make out his general silhouette—not his features. But the next moment, he stepped out of the darkness, casually leaning against the broken window frame, and asked with malicious amusement, “Did you enjoy the welcome gift?”

Even the most handsome face couldn’t redeem such venomous words.

“Damn, he’s practically begging for a beating,” Chen Yi retorted, unable to hold back. “Your ‘welcome gift’ was so generous, it nearly sent us straight back to our ancestors.”

Oliver sensed something off and turned to Gu Ze. “Is that idiom used correctly here…?”

Gu Ze facepalmed. “If *you* noticed, it’s definitely wrong.”

Oliver protested, “What do you mean ‘even me’?! I’d say ‘go home’ would be more appropriate.”

Chen Yi seized the opening. “Those two are near-synonyms—perfectly interchangeable.”

Oliver nodded thoughtfully. “So we’re both right!”

Gu Ze: “…” Since when were those *near*-synonyms?!

Meanwhile, Kahn eagerly absorbed the new linguistic insight: *hún guī gù lǐ* (“return to one’s ancestral home”—i.e., die) and *dǎ dào huí fǔ* (“return home”) are near-synonyms… Mentally noting it down, he smiled contentedly, feeling he’d deepened his understanding of this planet!

Bai Suizhi—accustomed to such scenes—listened to his teammates’ debate with a faint smile while keeping the man across the way firmly in his peripheral vision.

Ten seconds. Thirty seconds. A full minute passed…

The hoodie-clad youth could take it no longer. “What *are* you talking about?!” His voice brimmed with indignation at being ignored.

Snapped out of their academic digression, Chen Yi slapped his forehead. “Oh right—we forgot you were still here. Where were we…”

Suppressing the urge to commit homicide, the hoodie youth gritted his teeth. “You’ve said *one sentence* the entire time.”

Chen Yi offered a sheepish apology. “My memory’s not great. By the way—what’s your name?”

Unfazed by Chen Yi’s twisted logic, the youth replied indifferently, “Shen Yu.”

Chen Yi returned the courtesy: “Chen Yi. Not pleased to meet you.”

Gu Ze, too embarrassed to watch, shoved the fool aside and stepped forward. “Are you alone over there?”

The previously boisterous youth suddenly lowered his head, fingers idly twisting a silver chain dangling from his wrist. His expression remained hidden beneath the black hood—dark, unreadable. “Yeah… just me left~”

Bai Suizhi frowned. “Why are you the only one? Where are the others?”

Shen Yu jerked his head up sharply—his gaze locking onto the speaker like a venomous snake—then grinned. “They’re all dead~”

A jolt ran through everyone. The situation was utterly unexpected. Oliver’s voice trembled as he asked, “How… how did they die?”

Tired of the Q&A, the man abruptly withdrew cooperation. With a weary sigh, he tossed out, “I suggest you leave this place—fast—or I’ll personally escort you out.” Then he turned and walked away.

“Damn, leaving us hanging mid-sentence! What’s *wrong* with him?” Chen Yi complained loudly.

“That’s terrifying! ‘They’re all dead, only he’s left’—sounds like *he* killed them himself, wuwuwu…” Oliver whimpered, shrinking back in fear.

Gu Ze brushed off Oliver’s clutching hand and stated bluntly, “It’s 1v5. What’s there to fear?”

Kahn agreed. “We can take him. Just need to watch out for those explosive pebbles again.”

Chen Yi declared, “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go teach him a lesson.”

Bai Suizhi genuinely wondered whether trusting a man who’d just ambushed them was naïve beyond reason. What if he was deliberately misleading them—setting a trap?

Clearly, his teammates hadn’t considered that. Combined, their collective shrewdness registered somewhere in the negatives—and such sense wasn’t cultivated overnight. In the brief instant Bai Suizhi looked away, the group had already grabbed their gear and charged toward battle.

“Sui-ge, why aren’t you coming?” Number One tactless wonder Chen Yi turned back, puzzled.

Bai Suizhi wiped his face and replied, “Coming.” Whatever—he didn’t seem to be lying, and given the circumstances, they might not lose. Numerically and experientially, they even held the advantage.

…

Though their plan was audacious, their approach was cautious. First, they confirmed the yard was empty—then slipped in one by one through the ornate wrought-iron gate, moving as silently as a string of candied hawthorns.

They skirted the perimeter wall for a long stretch before identifying a relatively weak spot in the otherwise tightly secured safe house. Once located, they immediately set to work with their tools.

Midway through, Oliver posed a philosophical question: “Won’t the person inside hear us breaking in? We’re making quite a racket.”

Chen Yi wiped sweat from his brow. “Probably. The house is soundproof—but we’re making *way* too much noise, and we *did* break that second-floor window.”

Oliver: “Then why did we sneak in so carefully earlier?”

Chen Yi: “….”

Bai Suizhi, Kahn, and Gu Ze remained silent—focused solely on digging.

After a pause, Chen Yi blurted, “Wow—you used *two* idioms in one sentence. Impressive.”

Oblivious to the subject shift, Oliver modestly smiled. “Not really.” Yet his swings with the tool grew noticeably more vigorous.

Thanks to their (especially Oliver’s) relentless efforts, they finally breached a small opening in the fortress-like structure—and filed inside one by one.

As they queued to enter, countless questions flashed through Bai Suizhi’s mind: The defenses here were extraordinarily thorough—impossible for one person to have set up alone. But if a group had built them, where had they gone? Moreover, from his observation, zombies would struggle to breach this level of protection. If not zombies, the missing people were most likely evacuated by helicopter—yet that strange man Shen Yu claimed *everyone else was dead*…

What the hell happened here? What's going on with this house, or the whole resort?

Kahn, who entered the room first, wore an odd expression, his gaze fixed intently on a tightly shut door not far away—frantic sounds were coming from inside: the clattering of objects falling to the floor, the thud of bodies slamming together, interspersed with a few raspy, wheezing breaths, like a busted bellows.

Was someone fighting inside?

Those who had already entered the room exchanged silent glances, afraid to do anything.

By the time Bai Suizhi entered last, the sounds had already vanished. Having heard the strange noises from outside just moments earlier, he was even more confused: Had something gone down in such a short time?

Before they could ponder for long, the kid in the hoodie showed up, looking slightly more disheveled than when they had last met, with a few smudges of blood on his pale skin. Seemingly surprised that Bai Suizhi and the others had actually come, Shen Yu’s expression went blank for a moment before he quickly shut the door behind him.

The move might as well have been a giant sign saying: there’s something strange behind this room.

Chen Yi dropped a bombshell, "Are you hiding someone?"

The kid scowled. "Get out."

Oliver said, sounding sincere, "We mean no harm. We just came looking for some food."

Shen Yu suddenly asked a completely unrelated question, "How long have you been here?"

Oliver answered obediently, "About half a month."

Shen Yu, "Did you come from the villa in the southeast?"

Oliver, "Yes."

Shen Yu sneered, "You finished your food and now you're coming to the owner for more? Have you got no shame?"

Bai Suizhi keenly picked up on the key phrase, "You’re the... owner of this resort?"

Shen Yu crossed his arms and leaned back against the door behind him, his tone arrogant. "Yeah, this resort belongs to my family."

The expressions on Chen Yi and Oliver's faces twisted abruptly—the lifesaver they had repeatedly vowed to thank turned out to be none other than the very person in front of them.

"So? Now do I have the right to ask you to leave?" Shen Yu’s gaze swept over the group, each wearing a different expression, as he waited, a mocking look on his face, for their answer.