The sun sets behind distant mountains, the sky is cold, and the white house is poor.
A dog barks from the firewood gate; a person returns on a snowy night.
In Bai Jie's heart, this was the most difficult moment of her life; even during the zombie outbreak, she had never felt such despair.
When zombies came, she could muster the courage to resist, to pick up weapons and fight back.
But in this extreme weather, the cold constantly drained their physical strength and eroded their willpower.
In the cold, she felt a sense of powerlessness.
And at this moment, Li Yu and the others gave her hope, warmth, and solace.
Inside the medical room, everyone quietly listened as Bai Jie recounted the hardships of their journey.
Of the six people who left Liberation City, none were killed by zombies, but on the way here today, one sister froze to death on the road.
Now, only five of them remained.
"Thank you, truly thank you. We really have nowhere else to go now. Can you take us in?" Bai Jie looked at everyone with her beautiful large eyes.
Everyone instantly fell silent. They all knew very well that saving people was one thing, but taking in more people was a power they did not have.
After all, taking in one more person meant one more mouth to feed.
Although the food in the base was still very abundant, the authority to increase or decrease base personnel was in Li Yu's hands.
Li Yu looked at Bai Jie. Because the medical room also had heating, the temperature of the entire space was over twenty degrees Celsius.
With her coat removed, Bai Jie's figure was fully revealed, with her ample bosom, and a pair of peach blossom eyes that seemed to speak, brimming with water.
Between her glances, there was a hint of charm.
"No, our base already has enough personnel," Li Yu replied directly.
The expressions of the people next to him varied. Xiao Shi's face instantly became somewhat downcast. Even as a relative, she could not force Li Yu to accept them.
Li Yu had already done his utmost by rescuing them. Moreover, Li Yu did not owe them anything, so how could he be asked to compensate them just because he owed them?
"However, unless you can prove your value, our base will not support idlers. We cannot afford to support idlers," Li Yu said seriously.
Everyone in the base had to demonstrate their value, otherwise Li Yu would not take them in.
Unless they were Li Yu's relatives, in which case there was no choice; he could take in his own family members out of kinship.
But that did not mean they could be freeloaders. Fortunately, none of Li Yu's relatives dragged him down or took advantage of being his relatives to act recklessly or be lazy.
"I and Xiao Lan were classmates. We both used to be at the Research Institute, specializing in life sciences. I guess it's not very useful now..." Bai Jie said, her voice trailing off.
And Li Yu, listening from across, although expressionless, felt a stir in his heart.
Immediately after, Bai Jie continued, "However, An Ya might be able to stay. She was a postgraduate student in agronomy at a 211 university. And Meng Yu is a surgeon; she was responsible for the medical section in Liberation City before."
Li Yu's eyes lit up upon hearing this. He hadn't expected these young women, all under 30, to be highly educated talents.
Actually, his psychological age was also close to thirty, from the five years of his rebirth plus the more than one year since his rebirth.
Bai Jie then looked at the little girl who was running a high fever and said, "She is the youngest among us. We don't really know her identity. We met her while scavenging for supplies outside. At that time, it seemed her two bodyguards helped us block the zombies, and then she followed us."
"Bodyguards?" Li Yu frowned. In this day and age, to be able to afford bodyguards, and for them to be so loyal and protective in the apocalypse, that was not common.
"Yes, we don't know her background either. We just call her Xiao Shi."
"Mmm."
After Bai Jie finished speaking, she waited quietly.
From the looks in these people's eyes just now, she had figured out that the man who could decide their fate was this man.
Li Yu pondered for a moment and said, "You can all stay temporarily. As for your abilities, a decision will be made after they have been verified."
Bai Jie was delighted to hear this. Although she hadn't received his direct agreement, being able to stay temporarily was already enough.
For Li Yu, he could not blindly agree to their requests. After all, there were many people in the base now, and many had gone through multiple tests before finally being allowed to stay.
If he agreed to let them stay so easily, how would others view it?
However, in Li Yu's heart, he was already overjoyed.
These people who came this time were all highly educated, much-needed talents.
Agronomy, doctors—these were the most crucial. Li Yuan was, after all, still a third-year medical student and certainly not as experienced as a surgeon like Meng Yu.
As for Bai Jie and Xiao Lan, they were involved in life sciences. Although it wasn't very useful now, in Li Yu's heart, he had always dreamed of being able to completely end this apocalypse.
Perhaps...
That Xiao Shi.
Li Yu looked at the fair-skinned, beautiful girl who, even in sleep, exuded an air of nobility, and felt a headache.
This kind was the most troublesome. If she had a good temper, it would be fine, but if she had a bad temper and dared to act arrogant, he couldn't guarantee he wouldn't throw her to the zombies.
But if he killed this girl, Bai Jie and the others would know, which would be troublesome!
Thinking about it gave him a headache.
Li Yu was an impatient person, so he asked Bai Jie directly, "Xiao Shi, how much do you know about her?"
"We only know that she is 20 years old this year. As for her family situation, she didn't say, and we didn't ask much. We think this little girl is very good, especially resilient. If she hadn't suggested looking for you, we might have frozen to death by now."
"Coming to find us, she suggested it?" Li Yu's entire aura suddenly changed.
Li Yu never allowed himself to feel targeted. Once a potential problem appeared, he would resolve it at its earliest stage.
"Yes, she just made a suggestion for us to try," Bai Jie said honestly, looking at Li Yu's somewhat frightening expression.
Li Yu, who was always cautious, was now contemplating whether to kill someone.
After his rebirth, he did not like to let problems accumulate. This 20-year-old girl, with an unknown identity and unclear background.
Although in this apocalypse, things like money and background were the most useless.
He thought back to the five years of his rebirth and hadn't seen any particularly large forces.
He had also doubted himself, wondering if it was because he had always struggled at the bottom, and his observations were limited.
But everything at hand was the most important.
He slowly exhaled.
This person's identity was not important.
Since they were here, they would make the best of it.
They would talk; if it didn't work out, he would kill!
