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

Xiao Zhou shrank back, feeling the intense gazes directed at him.

But he still continued speaking, his voice not loud, but it reached everyone's ears clearly.

"I was on the truck. The woman was clinging to the safety bar. Miss Lin got out of the truck and walked over. She didn't try to stop her, didn't pull her away, and didn't fire a shot into the air. She just shot her in the head. Then she turned around, walked back to the armored vehicle, and said, 'Drive.'"

Chen Mei's voice trembled with fear: "She just shot him like that? She's not a police officer, what right did she have to shoot and kill someone? That was a human life!"

Of course, the police cannot easily take someone's life.

Old Qian sneered.

He stubbed out his cigarette, stood up, dusted off the cement dust on his backside, looked at Chen Mei, then at Lao Zhao and Xiao Zhou.

He sneered and said, "Why? Because she has a gun, because she knows how to kill, because she built this base. Don't you understand? Old Sun stole a few pills and was punished by moving stones and having his rations reduced—that was for show. Old Zhang helped someone get a few pills and had his rations reduced and was punished by working the night shift—that was also for show. That woman stopped the car, and she shot her—that was also for show."

Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment, and for a moment all their movements came to a halt.

Chen Mei, her face pale, asked, "Why is that?"

Old Qian, with a knowing look on his face, said, "She's telling everyone: I set the rules, and this is what happens if you break them."

He threw his cigarette butt on the ground and stomped on it. "You tell me, isn't she bad? Of course she's bad. Utterly bad. But what can you do about her? Do you have a gun? Can you kill a monster? Can you? You can't. So she's the boss."

Old Qian asked a series of questions, but no one responded.

Chen Mei picked up the iron sieve again, lowered her head and sifted the sand with great effort, as if she was using the action to suppress the unspeakable fear in her heart.

Old Zhao stood beside the sand pile, leaning on his shovel, no longer mixing concrete, his gaze somewhat blank.

Xiao Zhou lowered his head and stared at the sand and gravel that was half-mixed with cement at his feet.

In the distance, Old Sun picked up another stone, moving even more slowly than before.

He paused as he carried the stones past the work shed and glanced in this direction.

He didn't say anything, he just kept walking.

A hunched back.

Old Qian lit another cigarette, squatted back down next to the cement bag, and continued working with his head down.

No one spoke again; only the sounds of shovels breaking sand and gravel and the distant footsteps of people moving stones echoed in the gray fog.

That's all they knew—Old Sun was punished, Old Zhang was punished, and the woman was shot dead.

They didn't know that Old Sun had moved into the visitor center, that his granddaughter had received proper treatment, or that Old Zhang's punishment carried a certain silent trust.

They only saw the punishment.

Therefore, to them, Lin You is neither a savior nor a just leader.

She was just a murderer, a cold-blooded ruthless person, someone they dared not disobey but also did not want to get close to.

Mu Xue watched this scene from afar, her brows furrowed.

It was originally thought that the people who were rescued and brought back to the base were all grateful to Sister Lin, after all, Sister Lin had brought them from the dangerous city to the relatively safe scenic area.

But judging from everything that's happening right now, Sister Lin doesn't have a very good reputation among these survivors.

It was even quite appalling.

Mu Xue left the almost completed wall directly.

Although there are no mechanical engineering vehicles here, a hundred or so people are only responsible for a section of the wall, and they can finish about 70-80% of it in a morning.

All that was left was to use some cement and sand to plaster a thick layer of plaster on the wall.

Find a sturdy gate and install it, then build some resting houses behind the wall.

Because the work that follows isn't that difficult.

So some experienced elderly people stayed behind and kept busy here.

Besides them, there were also police officers standing guard in the distance.

Mu Xue nodded to the police officer on duty, then turned and left the nearly completed wall.

At the foot of the distant mountains, a large group of young or middle-aged men were logging.

They dragged the heavy logs down the mountain to the lake using ropes, leaving drag marks along the way.

One by one, mounds of earth have been erected along the lake.

That was an earthen kiln used to make charcoal.

Lin You, who had returned from the foot of the nearby mountain, came to the wishing tree in the square.

The wishing tree swayed in the wind, looking the same as before and seemingly not having mutated into a man-eating plant.

This made Lin You frown.

This is somewhat different from the news he heard after the apocalypse. Could it be that the time hasn't come yet?

The leaves of the wishing tree rustled in the breeze.

Lin You stood under the tree, frowning in deep thought.

This wishing tree later became a mutated plant, which, according to Lin You, used its branches and vines to hunt.

Normally, it would be easier to just scald it to death with a basin of boiling water.

There will be no danger in this way.

However, the most difficult creatures to defend against in the apocalypse are not the monsters that run on the ground, but those that come from the sky.

Those birds that can fly over high walls and hunt directly from the sky.

If you've ever seen an eagle with a wingspan of more than ten meters, or a flock of carrion crows as numerous as locusts, or a swarm of blood-sucking, flesh-eating bats.

You can see how ridiculous ordinary bird-catching nets are.

Even fishing nets made of steel wire cannot withstand the sharp claws of birds.

When a massive flock of birds attacked the base.

All weapons were rendered useless; there were simply too many of them.

Unless you hide in a house or a cave.

But... how long can a person hide?

Of course, these flocks of birds are not invincible; long-range flamethrowers can stop them.

But where could Lin You find such a weapon?

Compared to firearms, there is a simpler and more effective method.

That's a mutant plant.

Especially the mutated trees, whose branches and vines can form a huge net in mid-air.

No matter how many mutated birds or birds of prey there are, once they enter their hunting range, they will find it difficult to escape.

This is also why Lin You did not delay in dealing with the tree.

If we can find a plant-type ability user in Z City, we can solve the problem of this tree and also put an anti-aircraft shield on the base.

This is much more reliable than searching the world for a large number of long-range flamethrowers.

At least plant-based ability users are not a rare type of ability.

"Sister Lin, what are you thinking about?"

Hearing Mu Xue's voice from behind, Lin You turned her head and frowned, "What? Is something wrong?"

Mu Xue didn't speak directly, but instead looked up at the tall and sturdy wishing tree.

The old wishing tree stands in the center of the square, its canopy stretching silently in the gray mist, its branches adorned with wooden plaques and faded red ribbons.

Some of those strips of cloth were half-rotted from the passage of time, but they still stubbornly hung on the branches, swaying gently in the wind.

Lin You sat on a bench under a tree, her right hand resting on her knee, holding a wooden plaque in her hand, the person who hung it there was unknown.

The words "got into university" were written on it, but the ink had become blurred.

I don't know when it was posted, but nobody cares about those expectations for the future anymore.

Mu Xue walked over with very light footsteps, but Lin You did not turn around.

She simply flipped the wooden sign over, looking at the blank space on the other side, as if waiting for someone to write something on it.

"Sister Lin, what are you thinking about?" Mu Xue sat down next to her.

Lin You turned her head and frowned as she glanced at her.

The snowfall today seems strange; it looks like I'm in a really bad mood.

Lin You didn't speak, but quietly rubbed the wooden plaque.

With her mind preoccupied, Mu Xue stared blankly at the bandage wrapped around Lin You's head.

She had a lot to say when she came from the construction site, but when she saw the bandage on Lin You's head, those words suddenly got stuck in her throat.

Lin You met Mu Xue's gaze.

His tone was so flat, as if he were just saying whether the weather was nice or not.

"What's wrong? Something on your mind?"