Reset of The Apocalypse - Chapter 44
Lin Chao gave a slight nod and did not say much. He was just a passerby who would leave at daybreak.
Ye Fei was worried that Lin Chao was still on guard, seeing that he did not introduce himself and sort to comfort him. “Take a break first. You must be tired. Are these two your family?”
Lin Chao nodded.
There was no notable reaction from Lin Shiyu, but Fan Xiangyu’s heart thumped seeing him nod because she was included in the ‘family’ mentioned by Ye Fei.
‘Hmph. Who wants to be this devil’s family? I’ll torture him one hundred times every day after I evolve! Hmph!’ Fan Xiangyu thought ruthlessly.
Noticing the thin clothes the trio wore, Ye Fei immediately took off her scarf and wrapped it around Lin Shiyu’s neck, asking fretfully, “Are you still cold?”
Lin Shiyu shook her head.
“Come over, sit down and warm yourself up.” Ye Fei led the trio to the fire-pit and told a girl in her school uniform, “Xiao Li, move a little to that side. We’ll huddle together.”
Reluctance thoroughly painted the student’s face but still, she stood up making a little nudge.
“Officer Ye, didn’t you find any food today?” A middle-aged woman looked at Ye Fei in worry. A girl about eleven or twelve years old sat beside the woman, warming herself up whilst snuggling her head on the woman’s shoulder. Clear to see, they were probably mother and daughter.
Ye Fei shook her head and said apologetically, “Sorry. There were a little too many monsters on the opposite street today. It was difficult to go into that supermarket. I’ll try again tomorrow.”
Hearing her news, the group nestled by the fire looked glummer.
“Mommy, I’m hungry…” The eleven or twelve year old girl said weakly with a sob.
The middle-aged woman patted her back and comforted her before looking up leadingly at Ye Fei. “Officer Ye, do you still have food? Just a tiny bit will do.”
Empathizing, Ye Fei retrieved a milk candy. “This is the last one left. Let the child have it.”
The woman received it while thanking her profusely.
Lin Shiyu was dumbstruck from the scene. She had not expected these ordinary survivors to live such a hard life while she had rice for every meal, sweets as snacks, drinking water, access to showers and a comfortable bed.
All that she enjoyed was brought to her by Lin Chao. If it were not her younger brother, she too would probably be living a worm-like lifestyle.
Watching the girl stuff the milk candy that she barely took the wrapper off into her mouth, Lin Shiyu felt a little sorry and subconsciously slipped her hand into her pocket, intending to give the girl her chocolate snacks.
Her hand was suddenly held.
Lin Chao looked at her and shook his head gently.
Lin Shiyu was lost. Obedient to Lin Chao but she could not comprehend why. It was easy for them to find food; the zombies that occupied the supermarkets and houses were a nightmare to these ordinary survivors but they were nothing to them.
Right now, she could save these people as long as she gave them a bit of her food, with a simple act of convenience.
She could not understand why Lin Chao disallowed her. Still, she chose to believe and listen to him.
The rest of the group could not help swallowing when they saw the little girl ate the candy.
Sighing, Ye Fei sat by the fire for some warmth.
The sound of the little girl chewing the milk candy was distinctively loud in the spacious basement. The woman seemed to notice any small movement, even something as gentle as a nudge to the girl indicating to finish up the candy faster.
The girl gobbled it up instantly.
Everyone who sat by the fire was so famished that they had no energy to speak, dazing away as they watched the flickering flames. Each of them was thinking of their future, or if they still had a future.
The silence was quickly dissipated when an ordinary young man sitting beside Ye Fei stood up all of a sudden. The rest of the group had not noticed him, as they were still in a trance staring at the fire, until they heard Ye Fei’s surprised yelp that was laced with anger. Everyone looked up in shock.
All they saw was the young man holding a pistol, Ye Fei’s pistol!
“What are you doing!” Ye Fei looked at him furiously while breathing heavily.
The young man pointed the gun at her, looking quite a menace, as he said, “Don’t come close, all of you!”
Other than Lin Chao, the rest of the people were baffled, no idea what overcame the man’s sanity.
Ye Fei was afraid that there would be an accidental discharge of the pistol, saying quickly, “Put the gun down first. Let’s talk through this without getting emotional.”
The young man panted and said fiercely, “I’ve figured it out. We’ll only starve to death if we stay here longer. Now that I have a pistol, I can go look for food outside. I will not die a slow hungry death and rot with all of you here!”
“Don’t be impulsive. Give me the pistol. I’ll bring food back tomorrow,” Ye Fei quietly approached him as she persuaded.
The young man was quick to realize it and pointed at her with more force, bellowing, “Don’t come over! I’ll shoot!”
“Alright, alright.” Ye Fei stopped at once and spoke gently using her persuasion skills from police academy training, “Relax, there’ll be a solution. You’re alone now, even if you have a gun, it’ll still be a challenge to survive…”
“I don’t care. I’ll die sooner or later, I’ll risk it! Even if you bring food back tomorrow, how much could there be? How many people could it feed? Everyone will still starve. You’re a kind person, I don’t want to hurt you. Don’t come over, or I’ll really shoot you!” The young man shouted angrily.
Helpless, Ye Fei did not know what else to say.
The other survivors were already cowering to one side but the neater middle-aged man among them spoke up, “Xiao Liu, don’t be reckless. We can solve this together. If you think that the food portion isn’t enough, we can chase these three people away if we really can’t think of anything else. Calm down. Even if you have the gun, survival alone is difficult. Besides, there aren’t many bullets left in there now.”
Xiao Liu was stumped. He did not want to listen to the conversation but the last line struck him. Based on the size of the pistol, the cartridge would not be able to contain too many a bullet; it was really ineffective. For a moment, he regretted his actions but there was no way back since he already caused such a commotion.
He breathed in deeply and spoke with a low tone, “We can do that but these three people and the mother and daughter will need to go. Otherwise, we still won’t have enough food for everyone in the future.”
The middle-aged man was secretly joyful when he heard the young man. He had wanted to shoo the mother and daughter pair away for a long time but he was scared of ridicule to mention it; experience told him that Ye Fei would not agree to this suggestion and he would even offend the pair, thus he always kept it to himself.
“No way,” Ye Fei rejected without hesitation, “You’re basically killing them by asking them to leave. How could you do something so cruel?”
Xiao Liu did not expect her rejection so resolutely. Rage rose within him as he spat, “Could being kind do anything? Could kindness feed you? Could kindness end starvation? Do you not have to die just by being kind? Yes, I want to kill them, so what? Huh? You’re the police officer, catch me!”
Ye Fei was visibly angered. The middle-aged man quickly persuaded her. “Officer Ye, just agree to what he said. We’ll all die of hunger if he leaves with the gun.”
“Huang, you’ll die insufferably!” The mother of the pair was agitated, scared that Ye Fei would actually agree to them. She once pondered leaving this place to face the man-eating monsters, the terror prickled her brain and her expression grew twisted from her emotions.
The other four survivors kept silent.
Lin Shiyu glowered as she looked at Xiao Liu and the middle-aged man with the surname Huang. She did not say a word but fury flickered in her eyes. She would have acted long ago if she had not lacked the confidence to stop Xiao Liu before he pulled the trigger.
Fan Xiangyu, similar to Lin Chao, sat by the fire looking nonchalant as if the conflict beside them didn’t exist at all.