Chapter 195 - 187: Heading Southward
One day later.
The base that had existed for over half a year was completely ransacked.
On the ground, not even remnants of food were left.
Many Survivors would not hide food away, instead, they would eat it the moment they got it.
They stuffed their bellies even when they could eat no more.
There were one or two who choked to death, alive.
Most didn’t dare to hide food, because it would be found sooner or later, only what was eaten was truly theirs.
In the scramble for food, big fish ate the small fish, and the small fish ate the shrimps.
There were some children originally, but children often had a hard time surviving, and now, most in this group of refugees were adults.
Zhou Wulu had found six others who had joined the base before.
Now, excluding number two and number four, there were 12 people. Including Zhou Wulu, there were 15 people on their side.
They did not leave these people.
Because Zhou Wulu wanted revenge, among these thousands of people, hid the one who killed Six.
After burying Six and number three, Zhou Wulu gathered the rest of the people.
"We have no food now, and it’s difficult to find food. We have searched the vicinity and there is hardly any new food source. It means that if we don’t find food, we will starve," said Zhou Wulu.
"Squad leader, what do we do?" asked number two.
"Squad leader, we’ll still follow you," said number four.
"Zhou brother, we believe you. Even if you hadn’t given that mother and daughter food, the other Survivors would’ve come for it. You don’t have to bear the responsibility alone."
"Yeah, Zhou brother, we trust you!"
....
Zhou Wulu’s eyes welled up, almost shedding tears. But in the end, they did not fall.
His eyes blazed with hatred, speaking viciously: "Since they robbed us, we’ll join them. We’ll follow this crowd, they’re headless anyway; if we unite, we can rob them."
"I must find the person who caused the death of little four. I want revenge, I need to follow them and keep killing them," Zhou Wulu said with hatred in his eyes.
Those few who had joined the base showed hatred in their eyes as well; this sudden attack had robbed them of some family and friends. There were too many people and in the end, they didn’t know who initiated the attack – perhaps all had taken part.
It’s a choice when the law does not punish the many.
But.
One can also choose, to kill the many!
This too is a choice.
Follow them, join them, kill them.
Kill slowly!
No one objected.
No one thought it was wrong.
No one thought it immoral.
In this end-times, morality only makes one die faster.
Morality can enlighten one person, maybe even a group of people.
But it can’t enlighten a group on the verge of starvation.
Because, the will to survive, is human nature.
Most people cannot escape their nature.
That is to say, for starving people, having morality is a luxury.
After the agreement was made, they began to search among these nearly 2000 people for anyone who still had food.
Among these nearly 2000 refugees, there was chaos and disorganization.
No one trusted anyone.
This was not like ancient times with refugees, most of whom were Tenant Farmers. They were either people without their own land or landlords who were overthrown by farmers, though the latter were fewer.
Most of these refugees had been through nine years of compulsory education, and many had received higher education; their wisdom had been awakened.
They had their own thoughts; they wouldn’t easily trust anyone, especially against the backdrop of an apocalyptic world.
They believed in only one thing - food.
Wherever there was food, that’s where they would run to, it was the only thing driving their actions.
In such an atmosphere, human nature was brought down to its lowest level.
Occasionally, among these refugees, the struggle for a piece of biscuit...
Puff!
The man had his back to the woman and saw his abdomen pierced by a knife.
He seemed to want to struggle but was quickly stabbed twice more by the woman.
Throughout the process, the woman had no expression at all—numb, rigid.
She took out the half-pack of biscuits from the man’s pocket, shook the crumbs into her mouth from the pocket.
The woman wiped the dagger on the man’s pants, thought for a moment, then stripped the upper garment off his body.
This was the first time the woman had killed a person. She had killed Zombies before, but never a human.
Yet, she did it very cleanly and decisively, without trembling or fear.
Calmly, as if she had done it countless times before.
Ever since her parents died, her husband who protected her and her son died.
Her son was bitten to death by a Zombie.
She lost her purpose to live.
But the deep-seated will to live prevented her from dying too easily.
So she continued to survive amidst various complex situations.
After the drought, she had exchanged her body for food, sometimes with success, other times with failure.
Those who took advantage without paying—she had wanted to kill them more than once!
She had planned it countless times in the depths of her heart.
Which knife to use, when to strike, from which angle, how she would feel afterward...
She had imagined it countless times in her mind.
Even fantasized about whether she’d be nervous after killing someone, whether her hands would shake.
Whether she would be afraid.
She even imagined that after killing someone, she would feel calm, her hands steady, and perhaps even manage a smile on her lips.
Until this moment, when she truly killed someone.
It seemed, killing a person was no big deal.
Because the trembling after killing comes from fear, fear of being punished.
From external punishment by others, from inner moral condemnation, and the worry that the ghost of the slain might come after her.
But if she wasn’t even afraid of dying, if moral values and ghosts no longer mattered—if there were ghosts, she’d fight them when she’s dead!
Then, what’s there to fear?
...
Scenes like this woman’s were numerous, and not just due to sexual acts. There could be other reasons.
Fathers killing sons. Brothers slaying each other. Sisters killing each other.
It all happened.
Rites collapsed, music corrupted. Morality completely lost.
Those without morals could live, but didn’t live like humans.
Those with morals couldn’t live, but died like humans.
As time went on, the number of immoral people increased.
In this apocalyptic world, there was an abundance of murderous intent, spite.
An abundance of malice.
...
Zhou Wulu and others followed the main force heading south.
On several nights, they had robbed a few smaller groups, killed them, and seized the well-hidden food.
After grabbing the food, they killed them. After killing, Zhou Wulu and the others no longer felt any guilt.
Because this was their counter-attack; sometimes they would feel inner torment and fall into confusion.
But they were good at convincing themselves not to feel guilty.
To survive was not disgraceful.
Humanity’s baseline kept sinking lower.
They, pressing on towards the south.