Still hoarding supplies in the apocalypse? I'll just go on a killing spree and looting!

Mu Xue glanced at the command vehicle behind her in the rearview mirror.

The headlights were faintly visible in the gray fog, and there were other headlights following behind.

She picked up the walkie-talkie and switched to the backup channel.

"Tsk tsk, Lin You, I don't quite understand." Her voice was low, filled with doubt and confusion.

There was a two-second silence on the walkie-talkie, and then Mu Xue heard the sound of clothes rubbing together.

Then Lin You's voice came through, carrying a faint static: "About whom? You or them?"

Mu Xue leaned back in her seat, a shotgun resting across her lap.

She looked out at the swirling gray fog, organized her thoughts, and then pressed the call button.

"I was thinking, that Team Leader Song. Before the apocalypse, he was supposed to be the one who arrested you. His mission was to capture you, put you in jail, or just kill you. But you just saved his life, gave him water and medicine, and now you're taking him to our base."

Mu Xue emphasized the word "we" very softly, but with certainty, "I'm wondering why you did this."

There was no immediate response on the walkie-talkie.

Mu Xue waited a few seconds, then added, "I'm not questioning your decision. I just can't understand it."

Lin You replied very quickly this time.

His voice was flat, as if stating a fact that needed no explanation: "His pursuit of me was his duty. My killing was revenge. Both are in the past. Now he has guns, and a dozen or so men who can shoot. The base needs them."

Mu Xue pressed the call button: "That's what I'm wondering about. They're dangerous for you."

"Danger? Little girl, you've misunderstood the word 'danger'."

"No, I'm serious. I admit you're strong... but you can get hurt too."

Mu Xue didn't continue, because being injured could mean death.

Lin You answered without hesitation, as if she had already thought about this question: "Compared to the risks they bring, these dangers are nothing."

"But I don't think it's worth it."

There was a brief silence on Lin You's end, followed by her voice, "This doesn't sound like you. The person I know wouldn't say something like this."

Mu Xue was momentarily dazed; the amount of information conveyed in that sentence was truly overwhelming.

Does Lin You mean she knows him?

But Mu Xue was quite certain that she did not recognize Lin You and that she was a stranger at least two days ago.

Reflecting on the events of the past two days, Mu Xue became certain of one thing: when she met Lin You in Pingdingshan.

She came specifically to find him back then, thinking about how the deceased Boss Qian and Brother Hu seemed to be related to him.

"...What kind of person am I in your eyes?"

"You might not believe it, but in my opinion, you're a complete scoundrel, the really, really bad kind."

Thinking back to the scene when we met in Pingdingshan, the urge to kill someone in one's eyes is impossible to hide.

That's why I was so terrified and even my legs went weak at the time.

Because Mu Xue felt that she really would shoot and kill herself, just like she killed Boss Qian and Brother Hu, cleanly and neatly.

Mu Xue couldn't help but say.

"So, you went to Pingdingshan specifically to kill me?"

After a brief silence, Lin You said, "Yes."

Mu Xue felt relieved. She was able to get into a good university and graduate with excellent grades, so she wasn't stupid.

Thinking about it carefully, I always feel that something is not quite right.

Mu Xue was now even more curious, "Then why did you change your mind again?"

Do you believe in rebirth?

"Like in a novel? Reborn into the past?"

"Pretty much, I'm someone from the future."

"Uh, Sister Lin. Your joke isn't funny at all."

Although Mu Xue said that, she already believed what Lin You said. If there is an apocalypse and superpowers, why can't there be reborn people?

"I'm serious."

There was a brief silence on the walkie-talkie, before Lin You's voice came through, "Would you like to hear another story about you?"

Before Mu Xue could answer, Lin You's voice continued to ring out on the walkie-talkie.

"A story about a post-apocalyptic poison widow, she..."

It was about a rumored psychopath, a sadist, a demon without humanity or any moral compass.

Mu Xue became increasingly alarmed as she listened, convinced that it was someone else entirely, definitely not herself.

After all, those cruel things seem like something only a psychologically twisted psychopath could do.

Mu Xue had never done anything bad from childhood to adulthood; the biggest thing she ever did was to sell her body for money.

But... she did manage to do it, didn't she?

No matter what Mu Xue thinks, she might become that kind of person herself.

The kind of demon who trembles at the mere mention of her story.

Mu Xue stared at the walkie-talkie, her fingers pressing the call button until her knuckles turned white.

She is not stupid; on the contrary, her IQ is higher than that of most ordinary people, and she believes that her willpower is also strong.

So why did I become that kind of person?

Compared to who I am now, what would I experience without Lin You?

In just a short moment, Mu Xue figured out why.

"Sister Lin, I know why I became like that."

There was a moment of silence on the walkie-talkie.

Lin You's voice rang out, "Actually, I also want to know, after all, the current you and the you who was called the Poison Widow are completely different people. Even if the apocalypse can distort humanity, it wouldn't produce someone like you."

Mu Xue took a deep breath.

The gray fog outside the car window was churning, but what she saw in her eyes wasn't fog, but the night two days ago.

Warm yellow light shone from under the door of Mr. Qian's villa.

She stood at the door, took a deep breath, and prepared to knock.

The door wasn't closed, and out of curiosity, she entered the villa.

They saw the dead Mr. Qian, and learned from the patrol officers at the Pingdingshan intersection that Brother Hu had been shot and killed.

If the end of the world were to come like it is now, what would happen to me?

Unless a person experiences a major upheaval, their mental world will not be distorted to an inhuman degree.

A simple apocalypse... is impossible.

Just as Lin You said, based on her current mindset, she might die not long after the apocalypse.

So... I've lived for a very long time.

Why am I alive?

"Mr. Qian. Brother Hu." Her voice trembled, but her logic was exceptionally clear, "Only them."

She paused, tears streaming down her cheeks and dripping onto the butt of the shotgun.

She was grieving for herself.

Not the present self, but the self that hasn't appeared yet, the Poison Widow.

She couldn't imagine what she would go through to become that kind of twisted monster.

There was a few seconds of silence on the walkie-talkie. Then Lin You's voice came through again, her tone exactly the same as when she was stating the facts, but her speech was much slower and softer.

"You are not her. And you never will be."

Mu Xue wiped away her tears with her sleeve and said sincerely.

"Sister Lin."

"Um?"

"Thanks."

There was no response on the walkie-talkie.

Mu Xue waited a few seconds, thinking she wouldn't reply.

Then Lin You's voice rang out again, her tone returning to its usual calm, factual tone, "What are your thoughts on Team Leader Song?"

Mu Xue sniffed, trying to make her voice sound normal, "I don't know, but I feel like what you're doing is dangerous."

"From which aspect?"

Mu Xue thought for a moment and said, "His strength is too great. There are more than a dozen people with rich combat experience and strong firepower. I don't think we can control them."

"You mean they'll seize power?"

"Yes. This is something any powerful person would do, like what was it again? Right, a real man cannot be without power for a day."

"Do you know the difference between Team Leader Song and the 'real men' you're talking about?"

Mu Xue paused for a moment before saying, "This...aren't all men supposed to be like this?"

"Those are all ambitious people you're talking about. Mu Xue, the apocalypse is the most likely to distort human nature, and people like Team Leader Song are the most reliable kind of people in the apocalypse."

"Because...he's kind?"

"No, the reason why people like Team Leader Song are less likely to become distorted in the apocalypse is not because they are kinder than others, but because their moral bottom line is higher and stronger than others."

Mu Xue frowned, thought for a moment but still didn't understand, so she asked directly, "I don't quite understand, is it because Team Leader Song is a police officer?"

Lin You explained, "That's about right, because of professional inertia. He should be over thirty, right? The fact that he can participate in major cases means that the team leader must have worked in criminal investigation for many years before the apocalypse. He's seen murderers, perverts, and the darkest side of human nature."

Lin You was still talking on the walkie-talkie.

"An ordinary person might break down when they see a corpse for the first time after the apocalypse, but he had already seen them at the crime scene. It's not that his psychological defenses haven't been challenged before, but that they've been challenged many times, and he's been able to recover each time."

"This experience of 'seeing evil but not being assimilated by it' gave him a psychological defense that ordinary people don't have. After the apocalypse, he would be shocked by scenes of cannibalism, but he wouldn't be directly overwhelmed by fear and undergo a drastic personality change like ordinary people."

Mu Xue wholeheartedly agreed, "That seems to make sense."

After listening to Team Leader Song's analysis, Mu Xue remained silent for a while. "So, you took him in not just because he's useful, but also because you trust he won't turn bad?"

Lin You's voice came through the walkie-talkie, "It's not trust. It's assessment. Trust takes time, assessment only requires observation. I observed him for a long time just now... He was shooting the alien beast's leg with a pistol inside the defensive perimeter, not its head. This method is the most effective in the apocalypse, but he couldn't have known it in advance. This shows that he figured out the most reasonable tactic in a very short time. How precious is someone who can quickly adjust themselves in extreme environments."

Mu Xue responded thoughtfully.

Lin You continued, her tone still calm, but her pace slightly slower. "Furthermore, I need someone in the base who can make independent decisions."

It was as if he was organizing his thoughts while speaking.

"Team Leader Song has the ability. He can be in charge of daily defense and personnel management, so I can focus my energy on more important things."

Mu Xue asked疑惑地问道, "An even more important place?"