Chapter 4Snake skin in the community building

I informed the property management of the situation outside and urged them to check the surveillance to locate the snake. The residents were in an uproar, demanding the property management catch the snake immediately. But the property was powerless.

The situation was unclear, and they couldn't send anyone into our building. We could only wait for professionals to arrive. The property management finally responded, saying the snake that appeared on surveillance had suddenly vanished without a trace. They claimed to have checked all the surveillance footage but found no sign of the snake.

Someone boldly speculated, "Could the snake have gained intelligence and learned to evade the cameras?"

The group chat exploded with discussions. [Is someone keeping this snake? How does it seem so familiar with every floor?]

I also suspected someone was hiding it, preventing anyone from finding it.

The mom from 606 suddenly blamed me: [Is it 908 keeping it? Trying to catch a thief by shouting thief!]

Good intentions were met with malicious speculation, and I chose to stay silent. The property then sent a photo of the snake skin, asking if anyone recognized it as their pet snake that had escaped. Upon enlarging the image, I realized that although it looked similar to the first snake skin I saw, the patterns were completely different.

This confirmed my earlier suspicion; there was more than one snake in this building. And the snake skin shed by this snake was even larger.

I hesitated about whether to inform the property management. Then a message came through the group chat saying the snake had been caught.

I watched the video the property shared of capturing the snake. It was clear that the snake in the video couldn't possibly have shed those two massive snake skins.

Residents started celebrating, sending thumbs-up emojis to praise the property's efficiency. I didn't know how to voice my doubts. After all, I still had to live here. Exposing the property's lie might make me a target.

More importantly, I had decided not to meddle anymore. Reason prevailed over emotion, and I shared my assessment with them.

The property manager was the first to dismiss me, calling my claims nonsense and insisting the snake had been caught. He even called me directly, berating me and resorting to threats.

"You residents only cause trouble for us. I warn you, if you want to keep living here peacefully, you better shut your mouth!"

Just in case, I recorded the entire call. The group chat divided into two factions: one believed I had a point and urged caution, while the other sided with the property and was ready to resume normal activities.

I also warned Emily to head home and stay away from the building. She's the type who loves excitement, and I feared she might get bitten if she's not careful.

But from twenty minutes ago, she hadn't replied to any of my messages after the last emoji she sent. I remembered my balcony overlooked the area downstairs, so I stepped out to check.

She wasn't downstairs, so maybe she went home? Then I looked down and saw a massive snake tail hanging from the balcony of a downstairs apartment. The person inside hadn't closed their floor-to-ceiling windows.