Chapter 22: A Motley Crowd
Xuan Xuan felt a gentle pat on her head, the warm large hand seemingly awakening her.
Her eyes gradually came into focus, slowly regaining some animation.
Then, her eyes filled with tears.
But she bit her lower lip hard, not letting the tears fall.
Since the zombie outbreak and the death of her family, no one had stroked her like this.
All she got were looks of disgust, and she could only pick up scraps left over by others to eat.
Later, as food became scarce, even scraps were no longer available.
She hadn't eaten anything for several days now...
The 7-year-old girl already had low resistance, and after not eating for several days, she was swaying unsteadily after standing in the middle for over an hour.
But the village secretary behind her told her to stand, so she dared not sit down or speak.
In this apocalyptic world, for a little girl who had lost her family to survive until now was already a miracle.
During this time, she learned to be strong, to be sensible, to be silent, to read people's expressions.
Even when despised, even when almost killed, she still followed the crowd.
Because alone in an environment full of zombies, she wouldn't survive!
Li Yu saw Xuan Xuan's eyes brimming with tears, feeling a mix of emotions.
He held the submachine gun in one hand, and grasped Xuan Xuan's small hand with the other.
He walked towards the car, cautiously watching everyone with his peripheral vision.
He wasn't the type to casually turn his back on others.
Beside him, Xuan Xuan seemed to remember something, secretly looking back at the village secretary, her big eyes full of fear.
Seeing Li Yu walking away holding Xuan Xuan's hand, and seemingly showing no signs of paying attention to them, the village secretary glared fiercely at Xuan Xuan as she looked back, his eyes full of killing intent.
Xuan Xuan shuddered violently, as if recalling something unpleasant.
She quickly turned her head back, seemingly worried that the hand holding hers might let go at any moment.
So she used her other hand to tightly grip Li Yu's clothes, holding on very tightly!
Feeling Xuan Xuan's movement, Li Yu's gaze intensified.
An invisible murderous aura burst forth, directed at the village secretary.
The village secretary's originally fierce gaze, upon meeting Li Yu's murderous eyes,
Instantly changed, his face showing an awkward smile.
But deep in his eyes, there was still a full measure of anger.
Li Yu spoke: "Xuan Xuan can come in. You all cannot enter."
"Why?" The tattooed youth behind the village secretary angrily asked,
Then continued: "Why can she go in but we can't? She's just a kid, a waste of food and a burden. We're all young and strong adults. We can help you guard the base! What can she do?"
Li Yu looked at the youth, his face showing a half-smile.
"Why? Because I feel like it!"
Liu Huamei heard this, her eyes filled with disappointment! Li Yu ignored it.
Hearing this, the crowd became agitated, all saying Li Yu was selfish.
Li Yu didn't want to explain, and couldn't be bothered to explain.
Back when he was building the base, these people mocked him for being foolish,
Now these same people were begging him.
People, truly unpredictable.
His experience of being reborn into the apocalypse told him these people were no good either.
A little girl nearly fainting from hunger, brought out to gain sympathy.
Why were their faces ruddy?
And the few leaders, their bags bulging.
There were no elderly among this group, and the few in front had a faint murderous aura about them,
Li Yu knew clearly, this was definitely the look of those who had killed living people.
Selfish and cruel.
And just now when told they wouldn't be saved, these people immediately showed their true colors.
All throwing mud at Li Yu.
These people were no longer honest farmers, but a greedy motley crowd.
Letting them in, especially the village secretary and the other leaders, would definitely lead to a power grab.
Wouldn't that just be asking for trouble?
He could save people, but not them.
Li Yu held the little girl's hand, slowly walking to the car.
He pointed at the car, telling the little girl to get in first.
Behind them, the village secretary's face was ashen, as if constipated.
Things had developed beyond his expectations, his plan had backfired!
He had thought Li Yu might take pity on Xuan Xuan and save her.
But he hadn't expected Li Yu would brave everyone's criticism and not let them in.
Using majority opinion to pressure someone into doing something.
This trick had never failed him before, but it was ineffective against Li Yu.
The village secretary placed his hope on the other policeman, Liu Weimin.
So, he said to Liu Weimin: "Officer, what are we supposed to do? Who will protect us ordinary civilians?"
Hearing this, although Liu Weimin felt somewhat annoyed, having just heard the crowd's comments,
And understanding that some of what they said definitely had false elements,
But driven by his strong sense of justice, he looked angrily at Li Yu and said: "If they won't help you, I will!"
Hearing this, Liu Jianwen standing next to Li Yu became anxious.
He said: "Weimin, you... Little Yu didn't say you couldn't go in."
Just after speaking, he suddenly remembered something and looked at Li Yu somewhat embarrassedly.
He said uncertainly: "Little Yu, Weimin has been my partner for many years, you..."
Li Yu's face remained expressionless, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
Seeing Liu Jianwen negotiating with Li Yu, Liu Weimin angrily said: "I don't want to go in anyway, I don't want to become selfish and heartless like him!"
"Also, Captain, we took an oath when we joined the force, how could you become like this?"
Faced with Liu Weimin's righteous words, Liu Jianwen fell silent.
He opened his mouth, saying: "Weimin, you... I..."
But he couldn't say anything, and just sighed.
Moreover, some of what these people just said was too outrageous, he was also somewhat upset internally.
Faced with this situation, where on one side was family and on the other was righteousness, Liu Jianwen felt extremely conflicted.
Hearing Liu Weimin's words, Li Yu remained unmoved.
Actually, he admired Liu Weimin, possessing a sense of justice and kindness in this apocalyptic world was extremely precious.
Liu Weimin had a sense of justice, which was rare, but he just couldn't see the reality of the situation clearly.
Such people often died the fastest in the apocalypse.
After all, human hearts are hard to fathom!
What's wrong is not kindness, what's wrong are those who exploit kindness, what's wrong is this era.
Not thinking further, he waved his hand, telling Uncle and Father to open the main gate.
They had already wasted too much time outside the wall,
Because of the gunshots earlier, they could now hear some zombies approaching from afar.
On the other side, he had Little Hang, Little Lue, Fourth Uncle and Uncle Lai guarding the entrance,
Anyone who dared to force their way in would be killed immediately.
Li Yu stood at the main gate holding the submachine gun, scrutinizing the crowd opposite.
Seeing the main gate open, there was some movement among the crowd.
But seeing Li Yu holding the submachine gun, and Li Hang and the others aiming handguns and crossbows at them,
They didn't dare to move rashly.
Uncle drove the car in, and Uncle Liu Jianwen drove another car.
Before entering, Uncle looked at the Liu father and daughter with a complex expression, saying: "Take care of yourselves."
Li Yu didn't enter immediately, having Uncle close the main gate first, finally entering through the small door himself.
Bang! The small door also closed.
Only then did those who had entered the walls breathe a sigh of relief.
But Li Yu was considering another problem: What if next time they went out, they were surrounded and forced to break in when returning.
What if there were even more people next time?
After some thought, he came up with two solutions. Set up a basket lift, then return to the top of the wall via the lift,
But there were also problems with this, it would consume manpower, and if using an electric one, if the circuit failed, that would be troublesome, which was also why he didn't use electric doors.
The other solution was to set up another gate behind the main gate, providing double insurance,
Conveniently, when building the base initially, many construction materials were left over, including steel and red bricks.
(End of Chapter)