Chapter 265: Tang Siluo
Chapter 265: Tang Siluo
He Xiaomei tilts her head slightly, closes her eyes, and her expression twists as if in pain. After a long pause, she finally lowers her head, opens her eyes, and looks at Zhan Lian.
"You want to find Anran now? What's the point? Where were you men when it really mattered? Let me tell you, your Anran suffered horribly after the apocalypse. Do you want to know? I'll tell you everything. The security guards of Yangguang Lake Community tied her to a bed and took turns violating her, one by one. And the leader of the group—the one who started it all—was named Yun Tao, known as Brother Tao. Do you want to hear exactly how they did it?"
She doesn’t finish her story.
"Enough!!!"
Zhan Lian’s face turns as sharp and cold as a blade in the snow. His expression is terrifying. He points toward the stairs leading down from the watchtower and shouts at He Xiaomei,
"That’s a lie. Do you think I haven’t seen the surveillance footage? Get lost!"
He Xiaomei doesn’t move. Her eyes are full of mockery as she stares at Zhan Lian. His anger flares instantly—he reaches out, ready to grab He Xiaomei’s wrist and drag her out of the watchtower.
Luo Feifan and the woman in military uniform misinterpret his actions, thinking he is about to hit He Xiaomei. They rush forward to stop him, with Luo Feifan calling out,
"Ah Lian, calm down! Calm down!"
"Hitting a woman? That’s disgraceful! What does your wife’s situation have to do with He Xiaomei?"
The military woman is annoyed. She shoves He Xiaomei down the stairs and takes her away, though no one knows where she is taken.
When she returns, Zhan Lian has already been talked down by Luo Feifan.
The candle on the table flickers once before extinguishing completely, plunging the surroundings into darkness.
Luo Feifan and Zhan Lian sit across from each other, silent. The weight of He Xiaomei’s words fills the space between them.
Tang Siluo, the woman in military uniform, steps forward, reaching for a lighter to rekindle the candle. Before she can, Luo Feifan raises a hand to stop her.
"Tang Siluo, can you be quiet? Let Ah Lian sit here for a while."
Without the light, Zhan Lian’s expression is hidden in the shadows, making it impossible to tell how much pain he is in. But the silence speaks for itself—it is the kind of grief that only men can understand.
Tang Siluo doesn’t understand. She curls her lips, sits down, and peers at Zhan Lian’s barely visible face in the dimness.
"To be honest, Brother Lian," she says, "your wife was just an ordinary person. What happened to her was… well, normal, given the circumstances."
Zhan Lian suddenly lifts his head and snaps, "Who said He Xiaomei was telling the truth?" His voice is sharp, cutting through the darkness like a blade.
He Xiaomei has an agenda. Every word out of her mouth is a lie.
Zhan Lian has seen the truth with his own eyes—he has copied three years’ worth of surveillance data from Sunshine Lake Community. Every camera feed, every recording, from the first time he and Anran visited the community to look at houses, to the last time she left after the apocalypse began.
Every time Anran enters or exits their home, she is clean and well-dressed. She never brings a man home. Even in community activities, aside from exchanging polite greetings with familiar neighbors, she never has any ambiguous interactions with other men.
The only exception is the footage from the corridor—Wang Xin has entered their home. But not long after, his lifeless body is carried out.
There is also a man who has struck Anran three times in the community square. But watching the footage closely, Zhan Lian realizes something—two of those times aren’t assaults. They are training.
A brutal kind of training.
Then again, what soldier hasn’t endured harsh drills from their instructors?
But that doesn’t make it any easier for Zhan Lian to accept.
If he ever meets that man in the future, he will beat him senseless.
Training or not—couldn’t he have gone easier on his wife? Why did he have to hit her so damn hard?!