MTLNOVEL Chapter 186: Chaos
A scene of chaos.
Screams, pleas for mercy, scolding, roaring, shouting...
Blending into a noisy cacophony.
Running people, people killing each other with knives, people snatching food, people getting tripped and trampled...
Blending into a terrifying scene.
In the air, a strong smell of blood permeates, along with some foul odors.
Zhou Wulu is among the crowd, as if in a dream.
He seems to have seen a similar scene in a dream before.
It feels like a dream, but these sounds and images are so vivid.
He stares blankly at the people around him, unable to find his brothers.
Suddenly, a stone hits his head.
Bang!
A piercing pain, blood begins to flow from his head.
Only then does he fully awaken.
This is not a dream.
At the same time, a burly man spots him and quickly runs towards him.
"Squad leader, our people have scattered. Those guarding the food in the warehouse have been killed! And the crops we had planted... they've been pulled up and eaten. Now, we have nothing," his voice filled with despair and sorrow.
Zhou Wulu snaps out of his daze upon hearing this.
"What about Liuzi? Did you see him? Losing food doesn't matter, as long as the brothers are still alive. Where there are people, there is a world," Zhou Wulu says.
"Liuzi, Liuzi, he tried to save the food for us, but...those people chased him, and beat him to death! Dead! Dead! Xiao San, I haven't seen him at all; only Xiao Si, he was upstairs just now, I told him to come down and meet up," the burly man says sorrowfully.
"What!?" Zhou Wulu's face shows disbelief.
Followed by a face of anguish: "It's all my fault for putting them in danger. If I hadn't saved that mother and daughter, so many Survivors wouldn't have come here, they wouldn't have died."
His body hunches, completely drained of spirit.
The robust man crouches down, whispering, "Squad leader, our priority now is to find our other people."
"Okay!" Zhou Wulu, eyes bloodshot, looks around with hatred.
"We'll go find Xiao Si, right now," Zhou Wulu states.
The two rush toward the house.
While running, they still see some people who had joined their base before, all of them looking bewildered.
Zhou Wulu thinks, and decides to find Xiao Si first; after all, his brothers are the ones truly worth trusting.
On the way,
They see Liuzi, beaten to death, his head covered in blood, with a 5-centimeter hole in his skull.
His eyes wide open, staring at the sky, unblinking.
Passing by, Zhou Wulu lifts Liuzi's body without a word.
In silence, they walk to the house, where 5 or 6 early joiners gradually gather around Zhou Wulu without waiting for him to call them.
Zhou Wulu nods at them, and the group finally reaches the house.
Down at the house, Xiao Si is in a dispute with a group of people. But alone and outnumbered, he is unable to defeat the seven or eight people.
Next to them lies a body.
These thousand refugees, having no leader or commander, only form small groups, banding together for warmth, but none among them can direct the others.
Their sole purpose is to find food and survive.
They act only for themselves, driven solely by where they can find food.
They swarm like locusts, a disorganized mob.
At this moment, Xiao Si is fighting with a few people. Though at a disadvantage, he has no fatal injuries.
It seems these people don't really want to fight; they just want to leave, holding some items in their arms.
But Xiao Si doesn't plan to let them go, blocking their way.
Upon seeing this scene.
Zhou Wulu and the athletically built man, without any hesitation, took their Long Knife and charged forward, followed by several others who hesitated for a few seconds before ultimately rushing forward as well.
When Xiao Si saw Zhou Wulu and the others approaching from behind, a flash of joy crossed his face, but it quickly turned to sorrow: "Third brother was pushed down the stairs and trampled to death alive. He had already given them the food, yet they still wouldn't spare him."
On hearing this, Zhou Wulu and the muscular man felt a surge of magma erupting in their hearts—rage, grief, despair, hatred!
Hatred!
"Motherfucker!"
"Shit! Shit!" Zhou Wulu swung his knife while charging forward, leading the charge.
Holding the knife with both hands, he struck from behind, splitting someone's head in two from the top.
The force was immense!
That person's head was directly chopped into two halves.
The knife stuck in the neck, but Zhou Wulu quickly pulled it out.
Another slash went towards the person next to him, who hadn't even reacted before half of his body was chopped off.
He was dead beyond dead.
Two people dead.
This immediately caught the attention of others.
The seven or eight men opposite saw the fury in Zhou Wulu's eyes and moved backward in fear, trying to shift their positions secretly.
Old Second charged forward too, they had to avenge Old Third!
After killing these two, the hatred in Zhou Wulu's heart had not subsided at all.
Instead, with his face smeared with human blood, he felt a strange joy.
Killing. Killing. Cleansing everything.
He hadn't failed to consider that one must guard against others.
He hadn't failed to consider that in this post-apocalyptic world, one should trust no one.
But, right before his eyes, was a living mother and daughter.
It couldn't be fake, it had to be real.
The starving mother and daughter were real, their skeletal appearances were real, their pleading eyes were real.
The gratitude in their eyes after receiving food was real.
But, the fact that they brought more Survivor refugees was also real, they brought immense trouble, and the deaths of Lizi and Third at their hands were also real.
And other people from the base who followed him also died, that too was real.
Nothing was fake. Everything was real.
No right or wrong, only pros and cons.
Could it be, the so-called right things in value systems are also wrong?
At this moment, Zhou Wulu completely turned dark.
He wanted to kill all the refugees here.
Perhaps killing would cleanse it all.
He trembled, human hearts, can indeed be so vile.
They were clearly such pitiful mother and daughter.
Leading the few beside him, they charged towards the several people opposite.
Zhou Wulu, Old Second, Xiao Si, and a few others, charged towards those seven people.
With a surge of hatred, with a resolution to kill.
These seven people, fearful, moved back.
But, other surrounding refugees were unmoved, these refugees didn't know the seven well either, they had only met while drifting. No one knew anyone.
They were just together looking for food, that's all.
For them, finding food was more important.
Indifferently observing from the side.
The seven were caught up by Zhou Wulu and the others.
All killed!