Chapter 22 - : The Crowd
Xuanxuan felt a gentle touch on her head, the warm large hand seemed to awaken her.
Her eyes seemed to focus, gradually showing some expression.
Then, her eyes filled with tears.
But she bit her lower lip tightly, preventing the tears from falling.
Since the zombie outbreak and the death of her family, no one had touched her like this.
All she encountered were disdainful glances, only picking up the crumbs left by others.
And later, with the scarcity of food, not even crumbs were available.
She had not eaten for days...
At the age of 7, a little girl's resilience is already low, coupled with not eating for days and standing in the middle for over an hour, she felt like collapsing.
But the village chief behind her told her to stand, she dared not sit down, nor did she dare to speak.
In this apocalyptic world, a little girl without a family surviving this long was already a miracle.
During this time, she learned to be strong, sensible, silent, and to read people's expressions.
Even though she was despised, even nearly killed by people, she still followed the crowd.
Because, on her own in a world overrun with zombies, she wouldn't survive!
Li Yu saw the tears brimming in Xuanxuan's eyes, feeling a mix of emotions.
Holding a submachine gun with one hand, he grabbed Xuanxuan's small hand with the other.
He walked towards the car, cautiously observing the others from the corner of his eye.
He wasn't the kind of person who'd casually turn his back to others.
Beside him, Xuanxuan seemed to remember something, covertly looked back at the village chief, her large eyes filled with fear.
The village chief, seeing Li Yu walking away with Xuanxuan, and noticing that Li Yu was ignoring them.
Glared fiercely back at the peering Xuanxuan, his eyes filled with a murderous look.
Xuanxuan shuddered vigorously, as if recalling something bad.
She quickly turned her head back, as if worried that the hand holding hers would let go any moment.
She then tightly grabbed onto Li Yu's clothes with her other hand, gripping very hard!
Feeling Xuanxuan's action, Li Yu's gaze focused.
An intangible murderous aura burst forth, directed towards the village chief.
The village chief with his fierce look encountered Li Yu's fierce gaze.
His expression changed in an instant, showing an awkward smile.
But deep in his eyes, intense anger was still hidden.
Li Yu spoke, "Xuanxuan can enter, you guys, cannot."
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"Why?" the tattooed young man behind the village chief exclaimed angrily,
Then he added: "Why can she enter? Why can't we? She's just a little kid, a burden consuming food, while we are all able-bodied youths. We can help defend the base! What can she do?"
Li Yu looked at the young man, his face showing a half-smiled expression.
"Why? Because I want to!"
Liu Huamei heard this, her eyes filled with disappointment! Li Yu ignored it.
The crowd, upon hearing this, became intensely indignant, calling Li Yu selfish.
Li Yu didn't want to explain, nor did he feel the need to.
Initially, when he built the base, these were the people who mocked him for being foolish,
Now, they are the ones begging him.
People, indeed are unpredictable.
His experience of rebirth in the post-apocalyptic world told him these people were no good.
A little girl nearly fainting from hunger, dragged out to gain sympathy.
Their faces flush with color, why?
Moreover, the leaders among them had bulging packs on their backs.
Among this group, there were no elders, and the few in the front had a faint murderous aura,
Li Yu knew, this was undoubtedly the look of someone who had killed living people.
Selfish, ruthless.
Just now when he spoke of not saving them, their true colors were immediately evident.
All laying blame on Li Yu.
This group, they are not the simple, honest farmers they once were, but a greedy mob.
Letting them in, especially the village chief and the few leaders, they would surely seize power.
Wouldn't that be asking for trouble?
You can save people, but not them.
Li Yu held the little girl's hand, slowly walking towards the car.
He pointed to the car, telling the little girl to get in first.
The Village Chief behind him had an ashen face, as if constipated.
The development of the event was beyond his expectation, a loss rather than a gain!
He had anticipated that Li Yu might take pity on Xuanxuan and save her.
But he did not expect that Li Yu would risk everyone's criticism and not let them in.
Using the majority's opinions to pressure someone to do something.
This trick had always worked for him, but it failed in front of Li Yu.
The Village Chief pinned his hopes on another police officer, Liu Weimin.
So, he turned to Liu Weimin and said, "Officer, what should we do now? Who will protect us civilians?"
Hearing this, Liu Weimin felt repulsed within, as he had also heard the crowd's comments.
He was aware that some of their words were definitely fabricated.
But driven by a strong sense of justice, he looked at Li Yu angrily and said, "If they won't help you, I will!"
Upon hearing this, Liu Jianwen standing next to Li Yu immediately became anxious.
He said, "Weimin, you shouldn't. Li Yu didn't say you couldn't go in."
After finishing, he suddenly remembered something and looked somewhat embarrassedly at Li Yu.
With insecurity, he said, "Li Yu, Weimin is my longtime partner, you..."
Li Yu remained expressionless, noncommittal.
Meanwhile, as Liu Jianwen and Li Yu were discussing, Liu Weimin, enraged and embarrassed, said, "I don't even want to go in there, I don't want to become selfish and heartless like him!"
"Also, Captain, we took an oath when we enlisted, how could you change like this?"
Faced with Liu Weimin's righteous words, Liu Jianwen fell silent.
He opened his mouth, saying, "Weimin, you..., I..."
But he didn't say anything more and then sighed.
Moreover, he was also somewhat displeased by the outrageous statements of these people.
Confronted with the dilemma of choosing between loved ones and morality, Liu Jianwen was extremely troubled.
Li Yu, after hearing Liu Weimin's words, remained unmoved.
In fact, he admired Liu Weimin for his sense of justice and kindness in these apocalyptic times which are invaluable.
Liu Weimin had a sense of justice, rare indeed, but he sometimes failed to recognize the reality of the situation.
Such people often die the fastest in the apocalypse.
After all, people's hearts are unpredictable!
It's not kindness that is wrong, but those who exploit it, and the times that are to blame.
No longer thinking about it, he waved his hand, signaling Second Uncle and his father to open the gate.
They had already wasted too much time outside the fence,
because of the gunfire, zombies could now be heard approaching from afar.
On the other side, he instructed Xiao Hang, some three uncles, and some other men to guard the gate,
and to kill anyone who dared to force their way through.
Li Yu, holding a Submachine Gun, stood at the gate, scrutinizing the crowd on the other side.
Seeing the gate open, the crowd stirred.
But seeing Li Yu, Li Hang, and others aiming handguns and crossbows at them,
they dared not make a move.
Second Uncle drove the car in, Uncle Liu Jianwen drove another car.
Before entering, Uncle looked complexly at the Liu Family father and daughter and said, "Take good care of yourselves."
Li Yu did not go in immediately but had Second Uncle close the gate first, then he entered through a smaller door.
Bang! The small door also closed.
Those who entered within the walls finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Whereas Li Yu was pondering another issue: what if next time we go out and come back to find outsiders besieging us, trying to force entry.
What if there are more people next time, what then?
After pondering for a while, he thought of two methods: setting up a hanging basket to return to the wall from the basket,
but that poses a problem needing manpower, and if using electric power, it could be trouble if there's an electrical fault, which is also why he didn't use automated gates.
The other method is to put another door behind the main gate, doubling the security.
Fortunately, when the base was initially built, there were plenty of construction materials left, including steel and red bricks.