Chapter 384 - 181: Moving Forward

Chapter 384: Chapter 181: Moving Forward

"We... we were just passing by..." he stammered. "We just wanted... wanted to grab some things... We didn’t mean to kill anyone..."

"Passing by?" Xu Mo sneered. "Didn’t mean to kill anyone? That bullet a moment ago wasn’t fired just to wound me!"

The man lowered his head, not daring to speak.

Xu Mo looked at him, feeling a surge of disgust.

Xu Mo had encountered people like him on the road more than once.

"Any more of you?" Xu Mo asked.

"No, it’s just the two of us..." the man said hurriedly.

"Where are you from?"

"From a camp to the north..."

"What camp? How many people?"

The man hesitated, so Xu Mo jabbed the gun barrel forward.

"I’ll talk! I’ll talk!" The man yelped in terror. "It’s a small camp at an abandoned gas station. There are over twenty people there. The two of us were out looking for supplies..."

Xu Mo stared into the man’s eyes. He had been scared witless; he probably wouldn’t dare lie.

"How far is your camp from here?"

"About thirty kilometers north of here..."

Xu Mo fell silent for a few seconds, then asked the most crucial question.

"Are there any people from Ming Pearl Port in your camp?"

The man froze for a moment.

"We’re all from Ming Pearl Port. Originally, we were..."

After listening to the man’s account, Xu Mo finally understood the origin of their camp.

The two of them had originally evacuated from Ming Pearl Port with a large organization. Their leader, a man with a good head on his shoulders, had led several thousand people on an arduous journey before they finally settled down in a place called Bluestone Town.

Bluestone Town was small, but its buildings were mostly intact. It was surrounded by farmland, and with a small river running through it, they had no shortage of water. At first, everything was fine.

"Back then, we were all united." The man’s gaze grew distant, as if lost in memory. "We all escaped from Ming Pearl Port. So many people died along the way; it wasn’t easy for any of us who survived. When we first settled down, no one kept score of who did more or less. We worked together, we ate together... we were like one big family."

Xu Mo waited for him to continue.

"But as time went on, things changed." The man’s voice turned bitter. "Those of us in charge of scavenging for supplies and clearing out zombies were doing the most dangerous jobs. Every time we left, we didn’t know if we’d make it back alive. But when we returned, the supplies were divided equally between us and the people who just stayed in town."

"At first, no one thought much of it. We were all one community, right? But then people discovered that some of those who stayed behind were getting even more supplies than us. When we asked why, we found out they were friends or relatives of the people in charge. Later, one of the scavengers died on a run. Not only was his family completely ignored, but what little they had left was stolen by others."

Xu Mo frowned.

’In the apocalypse, this kind of thing happens wherever there are people. It’s not that people have become evil, but the pressure to survive is so immense that moral boundaries start to blur, one by one. Today, you think it’s unfair when you see someone take an extra cracker. Tomorrow, you’ll do the same if you get the chance. The day after that, you’ll do whatever it takes to stay alive.’

"Didn’t the leadership do anything?" Xu Mo asked.

"They tried," the man said. "The leader is a reasonable man; he knew it couldn’t go on like that. He gave orders forbidding anyone from taking the belongings of those who died and even assigned people to stand guard. But that only stopped the obvious stuff. What about the things done in secret? Today, a bag of rice goes missing from your house; tomorrow, a bottle of water disappears from theirs. It was impossible to prove anything, so eventually, it was all just dropped."

As the man spoke, his voice filled with resentment.

"What’s even more infuriating is that for those of us who go out, if we die, we’re just dead. Nobody remembers us. But the people who stay in town are in the leader’s face every day. After a while, he couldn’t even recognize all of us, but he was all buddy-buddy with them. When supplies were handed out, they could get an extra share just by saying a few flattering words. And us? We worked our asses off, risked our lives out there, and came back only to have to put up with their condescending looks."

Xu Mo understood. ’It was a classic case of contribution not matching reward. The scavengers shouldered the greatest risk but received the same share as those who stayed behind. After a while, who would be willing to go out? But if no one went out, where would the supplies come from? It was a vicious cycle.’

"And then what happened?"

"So we split off," the man said. "Those of us who were responsible for scavenging got together a few times to talk it over. In the end, we decided to strike out on our own. One night, the twenty-odd of us grabbed our gear and secretly left Bluestone Town..."

He paused before continuing, "There are advantages to a smaller group. With just over twenty of us, it was perfectly clear who did what, and splitting up supplies was simple. We’ve been living like that for more than two months. It’s been tough, but it’s still better than it was back in Bluestone Town."

Xu Mo looked at him. "So what happened today?"

The man lowered his head, his voice dropping.

"We were out looking for supplies but hadn’t found anything worthwhile for two days. We were almost out of food and water. We were starting to get desperate, and that’s when we saw your truck..."

He looked up, a placating smile on his face. "We’re not the kind of people who go around robbing and killing. We just... we just weren’t thinking straight..."

Xu Mo said nothing.

The man quickly added, "That guy, Bald Zhang, he’s always been a hothead. He saw your truck and said it must be loaded with supplies. I told him not to do it, but he wouldn’t listen. He was the one who insisted on opening fire. I was just acting as lookout. I really didn’t want to kill you..."

Xu Mo looked at him and asked, "How many people are at your camp, the one at the gas station?"

"Twenty-three," the man said quickly. "No, wait. Twenty-two now."