Chen Zhenghao finally felt fear.
He pulled out his phone and called 120.
But no matter how many times he dialed, the call wouldn't go through. For over two minutes, it only showed a busy tone.
Chen Zhenghao's heart sank. The world outside was frozen, and even the hospitals had shut down.
Even if some hospitals were still operational, with the city sealed off by heavy snow, there was no way an ambulance could come to save him.
Chen Zhenghao was a ruthless man. After hesitating for a while, he decided to perform surgery on himself.
At the very least, he had to pull out the crossbow bolt.
After struggling back home, he pulled out a knife, an alcohol burner, gauze, and hemostatic medicine from a drawer.
He often got into fights, so it was only natural that he kept these supplies at home.
Chen Zhenghao used the knife to cut open his pant leg, and when he saw the wound, his face turned pale with fear.
Under the extreme cold, the wound on his leg had already frozen.
Though this temporarily stopped the bleeding,
The skin around the wound had turned dark purple, and his lower leg had completely lost feeling.
Chen Zhenghao was filled with despair. He knew that in this situation, only self-rescue was possible.
Luckily, he was a hardened street thug. After thinking for a moment, he started operating on himself.
Because the leg was already frostbitten, the cold had numbed the pain quite a bit.
So even without anesthetics, he managed to complete the operation.
However, the pain was so intense that he nearly passed out.
And that leg of his was clearly crippled.
Chen Zhenghao lay on the sofa, gasping for breath, his heart full of hatred toward Zhang Ye, the one who shot him!
"Zhang Ye, you little bastard, I swear I'm going to kill you! I swear it!"
Chen Zhenghao's eyes were filled with murderous intent.
He wasn't joking—he was dead serious about killing Zhang Ye!
Otherwise, how could he continue to run things in Tianhai City?
Chen Zhenghao picked up his phone. Since Zhang Ye had blocked him, he had no choice but to tag him in the neighborhood group chat.
"Zhang Ye, you little son of a bitch! Just you wait! If I don't kill you, I'll write my name backwards!"
The residents didn't know exactly what had happened,
But when they found out Zhang Ye had offended Chen Zhenghao, they all broke into a cold sweat for him.
Chen Zhenghao was a full-blown thug—he always hit hard!
But if they knew Zhang Ye had shot him with a crossbow and crippled his leg, they'd probably be too stunned to speak.
Some people, however, were quite thrilled.
Take Auntie Lin from the neighborhood committee, who had clashed with Zhang Ye earlier. She gleefully said, "Dog bites dog. Hmph, neither of them are any good!"
"Hopefully that thug Chen Zhenghao beats Zhang Ye to death! Serves him right for cursing me!"
And the fake sweetheart Fang Yuqing also saw the message in the group.
She curled her lip and rather hoped Chen Zhenghao would rough Zhang Ye up.
Who told Zhang Ye to treat her so coldly? She was a goddess, and he wouldn't even give her food when she asked!
Still, no one in the group dared say anything, afraid of being dragged into the mess.
Zhang Ye saw the message and burst out laughing.
As long as he didn't leave his safehouse, not even a hundred Chen Zhenghaos would scare him!
Zhang Ye recorded a voice message on his phone.
"What the hell are you? All bark and no bite! If you dare mess with me again, I'll cripple your other leg too!"
The group chat exploded when the residents heard this voice message.
They hadn't expected Zhang Ye to actually go up against Chen Zhenghao!
And from the sound of it, he had already injured one of Chen Zhenghao's legs.
Chen Zhenghao gripped his phone so tightly he nearly broke it.
"Fuck you, Zhang Ye! Just you wait! I'm going to kill you!"
Zhang Ye didn't back down at all. "You piece of shit, come at me if you've got the guts! Let's see who dies first!"
To be honest, ever since the apocalypse began, Zhang Ye had really let go.
With no more social rules or moral restrictions, he didn't have to give face to anyone—pure freedom!
Meanwhile, Chen Zhenghao was absolutely furious.
After returning to his room, he slowly regained feeling thanks to the little heat from the air conditioner.
But the searing pain in his leg made him grimace.
Now, if he wanted to move around, he had to rely on crutches.
After thinking for a while, Chen Zhenghao concluded that killing Zhang Ye wasn't that difficult.
He figured the only reason he got shot was because he was caught off guard.
Now that he was prepared, he could call his lackeys, storm into Zhang Ye's home, and beat him to death!
With the city frozen and hospitals and police out of commission, this was the perfect time to kill someone.
He immediately called his gang members, telling them to bring their weapons and come help him take out Zhang Ye.
Many of his men lived nearby, and upon receiving his order, they grabbed machetes, baseball bats, steel pipes, and headed to Chen Zhenghao's place.
When they saw the injury on his leg, they all shouted about avenging him and killing the bastard who did it.
Chen Zhenghao said coldly, "I'll be fine. Once the snow melts, I'll rest up at the hospital."
"But this bastard dared shoot me—he's disrespecting me on my own turf!"
"If I don't kill him, how can I still be called Chen Zhenghao?"
One of his men said, "Boss, just give us his apartment number, and I'll chop him up right now!"
Chen Zhenghao nodded. "He lives in this building, Unit 2401. But the little bastard is sly—he has a handheld crossbow. That's how he ambushed me."
One guy holding a steel pipe shouted, "This guy doesn't even fight fair! Sneak attacks?! What a coward!"
Chen Zhenghao warned, "Be careful when you go. I know he's alone in there. Just don't get shot. Break down the door, and he's dead meat!"
Chen Zhenghao's men were all desperadoes. Even though they knew Zhang Ye had a weapon, they weren't afraid.
In fact, they were even more excited.
With the snowstorm locking down the city, they could assault people openly and without consequences.
Their vicious nature ran wild in this lawless time.
So they grabbed their weapons and headed for Zhang Ye's apartment, ready to break in and kill him.
But Zhang Ye knew Chen Zhenghao wouldn't give up so easily—revenge was inevitable.
Still, he wasn't even the slightest bit nervous.
He stayed at home, playing games while monitoring the entire building through split-screen surveillance.
He saw every move of Chen Zhenghao's lackeys as they approached.
His table was full of gear, just waiting to give them a warm welcome.
These scum of society deserved to die—Zhang Ye felt no sympathy.
Soon, more than ten of Chen Zhenghao's men arrived at Zhang Ye's door.
Knowing he had a crossbow, they approached cautiously.
Some of them even held wooden boards as makeshift shields.
Once at the door and finding nothing unusual, they started banging on it.
"Open the door!"
"Fuck you! You dared shoot our boss? We're gonna kill you today!"
"Your death anniversary will be this time next year—open up!"
They hurled curses while pounding the door with hammers and steel rods,
Trying to break in, beat up Zhang Ye, and drag him back to Chen Zhenghao.
Zhang Ye kept playing his game, completely unbothered.
He was stuck on the first boss, had already died seven or eight times, and was a little annoyed.
Hearing the shouting and banging from outside, he shouted back, "Can't you hit harder? Didn't you eat?"
The thugs were enraged by Zhang Ye's arrogance and struck the door even harder.
But the door was made of 20-centimeter-thick alloy, hard enough to resist small-scale explosions.
Let alone some primitive smashing—they didn't even dent it.
After a long struggle, they had only left a few paint scratches.
Not a single dent, nothing.
The thugs were dumbfounded.
"Shit, this door is solid metal! And thick as hell—how the fuck are we supposed to break through?"
"Damn, how many enemies does this guy even have?!"
They were at a loss.
But they had promised Chen Zhenghao they'd beat Zhang Ye half to death and bring him back.
With the door intact, they couldn't go back—so they kept pounding and cursing.
Zhang Ye's game character died again.
Listening to the barking outside, he finally got annoyed.
He went into the kitchen, grabbed a water hose, connected it to the faucet, and climbed up to the shooting hatch.
None of the thugs noticed the opening above them—they just kept shouting.
Zhang Ye sneered, turned on the faucet, and sprayed them.
A torrential stream of water gushed out in the narrow hallway, instantly soaking them to the bone.
4o