One day later.
This base, which had existed for more than half a year, was completely cleared out.
On the ground, there wasn't even a trace of food scraps left.
Many survivors wouldn't hide food at all; instead, the moment they got it, they would immediately eat it.
Even when they couldn't eat anymore, they would still force it down their stomachs.
There were one or two people who actually choked to death.
Most people didn't dare to hide food because if it was hidden, it would eventually be discovered; only what was eaten and in their stomach was truly theirs.
In the process of snatching food, it was a case of the big fish eating the small fish, and the small fish eating the shrimp.
Originally, there were some children, but children often found it difficult to survive, so by now, most of this refugee group consisted of adults.
Zhou Wu Lu successively found 6 more people who had previously joined the base.
Now, besides Second Brother and Fourth Brother, there were 12 other people. Including Zhou Wu Lu, they had a total of 15 people on their side.
They did not leave this group of people.
Because Zhou Wu Lu wanted revenge; among these thousands of people, the person who killed Sixth Brother was hidden.
After burying Sixth Brother and Third Brother, Zhou Wu Lu gathered the remaining people.
“We have no food now, and it’s very difficult to obtain food. We’ve searched the surrounding areas, and there’s basically no new food left. This means that if we don’t go find food, we will starve to death,” Zhou Wu Lu said.
“Squad Leader, what do you suggest we do?” Second Brother asked.
“Squad Leader, we still listen to you,” Fourth Brother said.
“Brother Zhou, whatever you say, we still believe you. Even if we hadn't given food to that mother and daughter at the time, other survivors would have come looking for it. You don't have to shoulder the responsibility yourself.”
“That’s right, Brother Zhou, we believe you!”
Zhou Wu Lu’s eyes welled up, almost shedding tears. But in the end, he didn't cry.
Hatred burst forth in his eyes, and he said fiercely, “Since they robbed us, we will join them. We’ll follow this group of people; anyway, they don’t have a leader, and if we unite, we can rob them.”
“I must find the person who killed Little Four. I want revenge. I will follow them and continuously kill them,” Zhou Wu Lu said, his eyes filled with hatred.
The eyes of the few people who had joined the base also held hatred. This raid had caused some of their family members and friends to perish. There were too many people, and in the end, they didn't know who exactly laid hands on them; perhaps everyone did.
The law does not punish the masses. That is one option.
But.
One can also kill the masses! This is also an option.
Follow them, join them, kill them.
Kill them slowly!
No one raised an objection.
No one thought this was a bad thing.
Nor did anyone think it was immoral.
Morality, in this apocalypse, would only make a person die faster.
Morality can enlighten one person, and perhaps even a group of people.
But it cannot enlighten a group of people who are about to starve to death.
Because the will to survive is human nature.
Most people cannot escape their nature.
In other words, for hungry people to possess morality is a luxury.
After their discussion, everyone began to search among the nearly 2,000 people to see who still had food.
Among these nearly 2,000 refugees, there was chaos and no order.
No one trusted anyone.
These were not like ancient disaster victims. Most ancient disaster victims were tenant farmers, or people with no farmland, or landlords who had been overthrown by peasants, but these were relatively few.
Most of these refugees had received nine years of compulsory education, and many had even received university education, having their minds enlightened.
They had their own ideas, they wouldn't easily trust anyone, especially with the backdrop of the apocalypse.
They only believed in one thing: food.
Wherever there was food, they would run there; this was the only driving force behind their actions.
In this atmosphere, human nature was reduced to its lowest limit.
From time to time, among these refugees, a scene involving a single biscuit would play out.
Pfft!
The man had his back to the woman and saw his abdomen pierced by a knife.
He seemed to want to struggle, but was stabbed twice more by the woman, very quickly.
Throughout the entire process, the woman showed no expression, numb and rigid.
She pulled out the half-pack of biscuits from the man's pants pocket, shook the pocket, and licked the biscuit crumbs inside.
The woman wiped the dagger in her hand on the man's pants, then thought for a moment and took off the man's shirt.
It was the woman's first time killing a person. She had killed zombies before, but never a human.
But she killed very decisively and cleanly, without trembling or fear.
Calmly, as if she had killed countless times.
Ever since her parents died, and her husband died protecting her and her son.
Her son was bitten to death by zombies.
She lost her reason for living.
But the deep-seated obsession with living made her feel that she shouldn't die easily.
So, in various complex situations, she still survived.
After the drought, she had also, at times, traded her body for food, sometimes successfully, sometimes failing.
She had wanted to kill those who took advantage of her more than once!
In her deepest heart, she had planned it countless times.
What knife to use, when to kill, from what angle to kill, and how she would feel after killing.
She had fantasized about it countless times in her mind.
She even fantasized about whether she would be nervous or tremble after killing someone.
Would she be afraid?
She also fantasized about feeling calm after killing someone, her hands not trembling, and even a smile on her lips.
Until this time, she actually killed someone.
It seemed that killing a person was no big deal.
Because the reason for trembling after killing someone comes from fear, fear of being punished.
It comes from external punishment from others, and internal moral condemnation, and also worrying whether the ghost of the person killed will find her in the netherworld.
But if she wasn't afraid of death anymore. If morality no longer mattered, and ghosts no longer mattered—even if there were ghosts, then she would kill the ghosts after she died!
Then, what else was there to be afraid of?
Similar scenes to this woman's were numerous, but not only because of sex. Perhaps for other reasons.
Father killing son. Brother killing brother. Sister killing sister.
All of them happened.
Ritual and music collapsed. Morality completely degenerated.
People without morals could live, but they didn't live like humans.
People with morals couldn't live, but they died like humans.
The further it went, the more immoral people there were.
In this apocalyptic world, it was filled with killing intent, filled with belligerence.
Filled with malice.
Zhou Wu Lu and the others followed the main group, heading south.
On several nights, they also robbed a few smaller groups, killed them, and then plundered their deeply hidden food.
After taking the food, they killed them. Zhou Wu Lu and the others no longer felt any guilt after killing people.
Because this was their counterattack, sometimes there would be inner torment, falling into confusion.
But they were good at convincing themselves not to feel guilty.
To be alive is not shameful.
Humanity's bottom line continued to drop.
They, continued south.
