Chapter 57: The Organization

Su Li looked closely and saw the four characters: “Purple Wind Building.”

Su Li’s heart leaped. He carefully examined the four characters, the circle in the center, and the scattered circles around it, some of which were marked with an ‘X’. He was starting to understand what it meant.

“What… what is this on here?” Ding Longyun asked with difficulty, using his sleeve to wipe blood from the corner of his mouth.

Su Li handed the paper to him, pulled the two daggers out of Wang Kaikang’s body, then lifted the corpses of Fang You and Wang Kaikang and threw them over the balcony into the water.

“What are these drawings? Purple Wind Building… What does this mean?” Ding Longyun mused.

Su Li looked out at the endless water beyond the balcony and said in a low voice, “I suspect the three of them came from the Purple Wind Building.”

Ding Longyun was shocked.

“Let’s talk about it later. Xuehui, help Brother Ding up. Monsters will be here soon.”

Su Li picked up the steel shovel that was resting in another corner of the balcony and handed it back to Ding Longyun. He then took his iron rod and positioned himself on the balcony.

Ding Longyun was severely injured, so Su Li had thrown the two corpses into the water precisely to attract monsters, using their Spiritual Sources to help Ding Longyun heal his wounds.

The monsters that appeared on the water were low-level Corpse Beasts, with at least five heads popping out of the water. Su Li retreated, allowing them to climb onto the balcony. He would then strike them down and leave the final blow to Ding Longyun.

Although Ding Longyun was gravely wounded, he could still manage to swing the steel shovel. He successfully killed the first Corpse Beast and absorbed the Spiritual Source.

After gaining the Spiritual Source, killing the subsequent Corpse Beasts was much easier. Once Ding Longyun finished off all five Corpse Beasts and absorbed five Spiritual Sources consecutively, his internal energy was completely replenished.

Gently rubbing his chest, he let out a long sigh of relief. He said, “I just took a trip to the gates of hell. The bone spur was just a hair away from hitting my heart, which would have been truly fatal. By the way, Su Li, your reaction was incredibly fast just now. I was completely blindsided by Ni Jianrong’s sneak attack, but you reacted and dodged Fang You’s attack.”

His tone was slightly odd. He clearly suspected that Su Li had anticipated their move. Otherwise, being as unprepared as he was, there was no way Su Li could have dodged the attack.

If Su Li had truly known they were going to attack, he should have warned him, and he wouldn’t have fallen into Ni Jianrong’s trap.

Su Li, who could guess Ding Longyun’s thoughts, gave a wry smile. “It wasn’t a fast reaction. I just felt that Ni Jianrong was being dishonest, and I didn’t think they were trustworthy companions, so I kept my guard up. I was actually planning to quietly warn you to be wary of them later, but I never expected them to move so quickly to kill us. I thought they would at least wait until they saw the supplies and figured out the situation before attacking.”

Su Li explained the reason frankly. Ding Longyun laughed awkwardly, feeling a little ashamed of his own suspicion.

“You’re right, I was too foolish and too quick to trust them. Your mind is sharper; you noticed something was wrong.” Ding Longyun sighed, his expression turning grim. He still couldn’t wrap his head around the three men’s sudden murderous intent and couldn’t let it go.

Su Li said, “Brother Ding, you’re not foolish; you’re too kind. You expected the best from people.”

Ding Longyun said, “It looks like in the future, when we see other survivors, we can’t be too happy too quickly. We won’t know if they’re trustworthy companions or people who want to harm us.”

Su Li acknowledged this. “Yes, keeping your guard up until you fully understand the situation is the right thing to do.” He then waved Xu Xuehui over.

Xu Xuehui obediently walked over, looking up at Su Li with a confused look, as if asking what he wanted.

“Why did you rush over just now? Do you know how dangerous your actions were? If Brother Ding hadn’t tackled you, you would have been sliced by that machete.”

Hearing Su Li’s gentle scolding, Xu Xuehui lowered her head. Then, she softly said, “I… I saw you were in danger… so I rushed over…”

Although Su Li’s tone was one of reproach, he knew she had wanted to help him. Hearing her answer now sent a wave of warmth through him. He reached out and gently patted her head. “Remember not to do that again. Don’t take such risks.”

“Okay.” Xu Xuehui responded. Seeing that Su Li wasn’t angry anymore, a light returned to her beautiful, large eyes.

“Su Li, do you really think they came from the Purple Wind Building?” Ding Longyun squeezed the paper in his hand, looking at the simple drawing with a contemplative expression.

“It’s highly likely. The circle in the center represents the Purple Wind Building, and the surrounding circles should represent the other buildings exposed above the water,” Su Li stated his conjecture.

Ding Longyun asked, “Then what do the circles marked with an ‘X’ mean, and what about the ones that aren’t?”

Su Li speculated, “I guess the circles marked with an ‘X’ mean they have already visited that building, or the supplies have been cleared out, or perhaps any survivors there have been killed by them. The remaining unmarked circles should indicate the buildings they haven’t checked yet.”

Ding Longyun agreed, “That guess is highly probable. If so, our location is one of those circles. It’s just drawn too simply; I can’t figure out which one represents us.”

Su Li’s expression turned serious. “If this is truly a simple map they created, it means they are continuously searching and mapping the surrounding buildings and conditions, using the Purple Wind Building as their center. You can see that the circles closest to the Purple Wind Building are mostly marked with an ‘X,’ indicating they’ve been investigated. The unmarked ones are generally farther from the center.”

“To complete this kind of work, they couldn’t have done it with just three people. Furthermore, the Purple Wind Building has 38 floors, with at least eight floors exposed above the water. We previously speculated that there are many survivors there. Combined with what happened today, it’s highly likely that the survivors in the Purple Wind Building have formed a powerful organization.”

“What’s terrifying is that they either have enough people already, or they are struggling with resource shortages. After all, more people mean more consumption. They may not be able to support or want that many people. That’s why Ni Jianrong and the other two didn’t even consider recruiting us as companions when they saw us. They only wanted to kill us and take the resources here.”

Hearing Su Li’s analysis, Ding Longyun was aghast. His face turned very grim, and he murmured, “Could such a thing really happen? We were suddenly struck by a great flood that submerged our city. The number of people who survived is already small. Are these few remaining survivors not only unwilling to band together to find a way out, but they want to kill each other? That’s utterly incomprehensible.”

(End of Chapter)