Safe Base

Ye Zhao was going to the Safe Zone. That was not good news for Feng Chao.

The hotel had long been in a state of panic. Half the reason Feng Chao had been able to keep everyone under control was Ye Zhao, and most of those who had voluntarily come to join them had done so because of Ye Zhao as well.

Although Ye Zhao did not involve herself in affairs or show her face, all she had to do was stand on the rooftop. Hearing her gunfire was enough to make them feel safe.

The reputation of "the sniper on the rooftop of xx Hotel who shot down injustice" had long spread throughout the surrounding area.

For example, whenever they went out to search for supplies now, ordinary gangs did not dare make a move against them easily, because they knew there was a sniper backing them up.

Though this sniper's skill level fluctuated wildly.

Now that Ye Zhao was leaving, people would surely become unsettled, and the hard-won stability would be broken.

But the Military had sent people. Even if Ye Zhao did not want to leave, she probably had no choice.

Feng Chao could not help sighing. It really was hard to survive in these chaotic times. He had finally found someone powerful to rely on, only for that support to disappear again.

Xiao Min's thoughts were much simpler. She did not care about anything else. She just did not want to leave Ye Zhao.

Feng Chao saw through her immediately. "You want to leave with Ye Zhao?"

Xiao Min shook her head. She knew her own limits. "I'm too weak. I'd only hold Miss Ye back."

She had already decided that she would go find her once she became stronger.

Besides, she did not even know what those people truly thought of Ye Zhao. Were they really as friendly as they appeared? If she rashly followed them, then if anything happened, she would only be throwing her life away alongside them.

For now, the best solution was for her and Miss Ye to work together from the inside and outside.

It had to be said that after seeing so much of the ugliness of the world lately, she had learned to judge others from the most malicious angle possible, to assume the worst with the least trust, and to play along without sincerity.

She smiled faintly. Her shaved head did not make her look as though she had absorbed any of Buddha's compassion. Instead, it sent a shiver down Feng Chao's spine. This Xiao Min felt unfamiliar to him.

The old Xiao Min had been gentle and kind. The current Xiao Min was impossible to read.

"Xiao Min, you..."

Xiao Min looked at him, confusion in her eyes. "What?"

Feng Chao paused, then shook his head. "You've changed a lot lately."

Xiao Min gave an indifferent smile. "Wouldn't it be stranger if I didn't change in this world?"

At that, Feng Chao smiled too. Xiao Min had changed, but then again, so had he.

Ye Zhao first returned to her hotel room to pack. She did not have much. She put the odds and ends of her daily necessities into her backpack, while keeping the important things in her Personal Space. As for these four sniper rifles that had been revealed to everyone, she planned to give them to Xiao Min. She could give Xiao Min this machine gun too, as well as the pistols.

Xiao Min hugged the guns in her arms, and her eyes grew brighter and brighter.

She handed Ye Zhao a lunchbox containing the prettiest carrots she had picked out. She had even specifically sought out Fu Lie and handed him a copy of Miss Ye's Dietary List, which recorded everything Ye Zhao liked and disliked eating, along with the need to ensure balanced nutrition.

Of course, there were also the carrots Ye Zhao gnawed on every day, as well as milk candies. She hoped he would prepare them every day and not forget.

She had prepared a whole box of carrots and milk candies, which she had placed in the trunk of Fu Lie's vehicle.

Fu Lie: ...

Seeing Fu Lie's speechless expression, Xiao Min thought, Men really are all unreliable. I need to get stronger quickly so I can protect Zhao Zhao!

Fu Lie said, "Once the chaos at the base settles down, we'll begin clearing out the zombies and rescuing civilians. This area has also been designated part of the Safe Zone. You can continue guarding this place. As long as you don't run wild and murder innocent people, the government will not force you to leave."

This news surprised and delighted Feng Chao. He thanked him repeatedly, then asked a crucial question. "Is the Safe Zone in chaos too?"

Fu Lie thought of his mutated comrades. His resolute, stern face could not help softening for an instant. He sighed faintly. Though they had been prepared and had plans in place for every possible contingency, one-tenth of their comrades at the base had still turned into zombies.

After the virus outbreak, they had been reorganizing the base the entire time. That was why they had been unable to spare manpower to rescue civilians, and why they had not dared take in civilians in large numbers.

They had to ensure the base's safety to the greatest possible extent.

If even the Safe Zone was overrun by zombies, then humanity would truly be finished.

After they spoke for a little longer, Fu Lie had his people begin preparations to leave. There were so many zombies outside, so they first needed to use drones to suspend blood plasma and loudspeakers in the air to lure the zombies away.

When the hotel survivors saw that Fu Lie's group was actually leaving and did not intend to take them along, they immediately kicked up a fuss. "We want to go to the Safe Zone too! You have to take us with you!"

"You eat and use things bought with us taxpayers' money, but now that something has happened, you're abandoning us? Spit back out everything you've eaten!"

Some even lay down at the entrance and threw tantrums. "No! You have to take us to the base with you, or we won't let you leave!"

"Murder! The soldiers are murdering people—"

"Someone, help!"

"..."

Fu Lie repeated what he had previously told Feng Chao and the others. "As long as you hold the hotel, you'll be safe. The base will also send people over as soon as possible to clear out the zombies."

Unfortunately, those words did nothing to soothe the people desperate to leave the hotel. Instead, they made the uproar even worse.

The education Fu Lie and the others had received did not permit them to use force against ordinary civilians either, and the scene descended into utter chaos. Feng Chao had dearly hoped Fu Lie would teach those troublemakers, who did nothing but cause problems, a lesson, but it seemed that would not happen.

Then he saw Ye Zhao coming downstairs and shouted, "Miss Ye, you're here!"

The crowd automatically parted to make way for her.

The few who had been rolling around and making the biggest scene immediately stopped wailing. They looked toward the girl dressed in black. Her delicate features were hidden beneath a baseball cap, her eyes calm, and her overly pale complexion gave her a cold, distant air.

She approached from afar, her cool eyes sweeping over the crowd. The thin man rolling on the ground almost sprang up, scrambling away on all fours.

Who was he kidding? Those soldiers definitely would not shoot people, but this infamous "rooftop rookie sniper" from the hotel was a female demon who actually killed people. While hiding in his hotel room, he had seen several people get shot in the ass by her for robbery.

It was terrifying. Such bizarrely twisted taste could only belong to a complete psychopath.

Of course, he had also heard the horrifying story of her mowing down dozens of people with a machine gun!

She really killed without batting an eye.

"That woman is a murderer! Hurry up and arrest her!"

"That's right! She killed so many people with her sniper rifle on the rooftop. We all saw it!"

Ye Zhao: ?

She had not offended them, had she?

Xiao Min walked behind Ye Zhao and looked toward the man shouting from the corner.

"No, Miss Ye isn't a murderer!" A girl was the first to step forward and promptly explained, "Someone tried to rob me and even wanted to kill me. Miss Ye only hurt him because she had no choice if she wanted to save me."

"That's right. I went out to buy something too, but not only did I fail to buy anything, I was nearly dragged away by two men. Miss Ye saved me too, and even took me in." Heaven knew he was just a man!

"Wang, do you have any conscience at all? When bandits came to the hotel, you hid in your room without daring to make a sound. If it weren't for Miss Ye, you would've died long ago."

"Heh, Wang, when we went out to clear zombies, I remember you pushed me out and ran off by yourself. Doesn't that count as attempted murder?"

"Do you have any proof? Heh." Wang glanced at the people's soldiers, feeling completely secure. "Anyway, she killed people. I'm not wrong. Everyone here saw it with their own eyes! Ah—"

He felt a sharp pain in his stomach. Looking down blankly, he saw a knife piercing through his belly, stabbing clean through him.

He turned around in disbelief and saw that a bald woman had appeared behind him at some point. After stabbing him, she even smiled at him expressionlessly. Xiao Min said without changing her expression, "An ungrateful thing like you is just wasting food by staying alive."

The blood-red knife was pulled from his stomach. His throat gurgled twice, then his eyes rolled back as he collapsed to the ground. Before long, he stopped breathing.

Everyone present: ...

Xiao Min looked at the few troublemakers. "The hotel is peaceful now only because of Miss Ye. I hope you remember that well. If you can't, I can explain it to you again personally."