Chapter 21: The Fear of Public Opinion (Third Update)

Li Yu glanced at him, his emotions fluctuating slightly, but for the sake of his eldest uncle, he remained silent.

At that moment, the village Party Secretary heard Liu Weimin speaking up for them.

His heart leaped with joy. He asked, "Friend, you must be from the county town, right? What's the situation in there? Is the government still coming?"

Looking at the man's expectant eyes, Liu Weimin let out a sigh.

He said, "The county town has fallen. It's crawling with zombies. The government can't be found anywhere now; they've probably..."

Upon hearing this, some in the crowd looked distressed, while a few youths in the front showed flashes of joy, though they quickly masked it with expressions of sorrow.

They sighed one after another.

The eldest uncle whispered to Li Yu beside him, "Are we really not going to save them?"

Hearing this, Li Yu nodded.

The eldest uncle seemed to want to say something, but his thoughts drifted to Xiao Lue and his family back at the base.

He wanted to speak, but all words vanished into sighs.

Liu Weimin took a few steps toward Liu Jianwen and said, "Brother Wen! We should let them in. Tell your nephew to open the gate and let them in. Look at the state of things now."

Liu Jianwen looked at Liu Weimin helplessly, then turned his gaze toward Li Yu.

He was indicating that he was not the one in charge.

Seeing this, Liu Weimin realized that Li Yu was the one making the decisions for the base.

He stepped closer, standing directly in front of Li Yu, and said, "You should let them in. There are so many zombies outside; it's too dangerous. You should uphold the good virtue of saving people. You can't just become cold-blooded because of the current situation!"

Seeing Liu Weimin approach, Li Yu raised his submachine gun slightly higher.

"No," he said.

He was a man of few words, unwilling to bother with explanations.

He still hadn't decided whether to let Liu Weimin in. Although Liu Weimin wasn't his uncle's colleague, he was a friend of his uncle.

However, he couldn't be expected to let people in.

Even before the apocalypse, if you wanted to be a "nice guy" and let people move into your home, you couldn't demand that he do the same.

Li Yu disliked the concept of "borrowing someone else's generosity" to satisfy one's own conscience.

The base he had worked so hard to build—if so many people entered, who would the base belong to? Besides, he didn't trust these people.

In his code of life, he had always believed

Different perspectives lead to different conclusions,

And you don't need to care too much about what others think.

Empathy is indeed a very precious quality.

Li Yu knew, of course, that being kind was the right thing to do.

But in this world, kind people always die fast.

Therefore, for him,

Kindness must be built upon the foundation of one's own safety.

If kindness leads to injury to oneself or one's loved ones,

Then it is the greatest mistake.

Moreover,

Why should you, Liu Weimin, be kind,

And why should I be forced into kindness through moral kidnapping?

Li Yu's stance on not saving them was resolute; he flatly refused Liu Weimin.

Seeing this, Liu Weimin said angrily, "How can you have no conscience at all?!"

"I don't."

Hearing their conversation, Liu Huamei ran over and said, "You are truly too cold-blooded!"

"Correct."

"You aren't kind!"

"Correct."

Seeing that Li Yu was unshakeable, Liu Huamei grew even angrier and snapped, "Why did you save us but not them?"

"I didn't intend to save you; I was saving my uncle."

Fuming with rage, Liu Huamei shouted, "You are a bad person!" Her chest seemed to heave with her anger.

Li Yu raised an eyebrow, momentarily intimidated by her "weapons."

He gave a dry cough to hide his reaction.

Then he said, "You're right!"

Liu Huamei looked at him in shock.

In her impression, she had never met such a shameless person.

He actually accepted being called a bad person with such composure!

Meanwhile, Li Hang, standing behind Li Yu, pulled a small notebook from his pocket.

The cover read: *The Manual of Posturing*.

He flipped to the third page and scribbled

*Rule 3:*

*How to attract a beautiful woman's attention?*

*First, make her angry. Go against her!*

After recording this, Li Hang nodded as if he had reached a profound realization.

Satisfied, he tucked the notebook back into his pocket and patted it, wearing a "chunibyo" expression.

Facing Liu Huamei's questioning, Li Yu maintained a calm mindset. Moral kidnapping, huh?

Haven't you heard of "lying flat"?

Haven't you heard of "social lying flat"?

He figured Liu Huamei had likely never encountered it, but today, she had.

She was furious, yet utterly powerless.

Liu Weimin was also extremely angry.

On the other side, the village Party Secretary and his group seemed to have lost all patience.

Unable to restrain himself, the Secretary said, "Li Yu, if you don't let us in and we get bitten by zombies, you will face retribution!"

The Party Secretary dropped his facade and resorted to threats.

Li Yu remained indifferent, his expression blank.

Liu Weimin glared at Li Yu in fury, preparing to say something more.

The people behind the Party Secretary began to murmur

"See, I told you! They don't want to let us in! So selfish!"

"They even tried to shoot us with crossbows just now!"

"Yes, yes, they almost hit me just now. Ow, my leg!"

"That's right, they're the ones who killed Er Gouzi next door because he wouldn't let them in!"

"The tourist park belongs to everyone. This land isn't theirs; it belongs to the collective. They have no right to keep us out."

"The zombie outbreak seems like it was caused by them!"

Various rumors began to pour out.

Hearing this, Li Hongyuan and the others grew grim. How could people smear them so shamelessly?

"Li Yu took advantage of me, and now he won't admit it!" Suddenly, a voice rang out.

The scene fell into an abrupt silence after that sentence.

The speaker was none other than the Party Secretary's wife, Zhou Shuihua!

Her face was covered in pockmarks, and her features were unsightly.

No one present would have guessed that Zhou Shuihua would say such a thing.

Li Yu was 183cm tall and quite handsome.

Would he ever take an interest in her?

The Party Secretary's face turned ashen.

Even Liu Huamei looked at Li Yu with suspicion.

Seeing that suspicious look, Li Yu felt speechless.

*Please don't look at me like that, okay?*

*Damn it.*

The power of rumors was on full display.

But was this the time for jokes?

*Bang! Bang! Bang!* Li Yu fired his gun toward the right side of the crowd.

He nearly hit several people.

Li Yu said, "Get lost."

The crowd scrambled backward, feeling as if they had escaped death.

Beside them, Liu Weimin's expression turned grim. He temporarily handed his weapon to Liu Jianwen and raised his nearly empty gun slightly, attempting to intimidate Li Yu.

Li Yu's eyes narrowed. He adjusted his aim; he could guarantee he was faster on the trigger than Liu Weimin.

Seeing this, Liu Jianwen shouted, "Weimin!"

Seeing Liu Weimin raise his gun, the second uncle on the balcony immediately raised his crossbow, aiming it at Liu Weimin.

Li Hang, beside Li Yu, pulled out a pistol, while Fourth Uncle and Uncle Lai gripped their knives.

Tension was at a breaking point!

Hearing Liu Jianwen's shout, Liu Weimin lowered his gun.

"I wasn't going to shoot; I just wanted to persuade him," he said gloomily, his voice laced with the grievance of being misunderstood.

He then glared at Li Yu with fury.

Although he didn't believe the villagers' accusations, the facts remained: Li Yu wouldn't let them in, the little girl was pitiful, and Li Yu had fired his gun.

The scene fell into an eerie silence.

Holding his gun, Li Yu walked unhurriedly toward the little girl, though his peripheral vision remained alert to the movements of the crowd.

He said softly, "You're Xiao Xuanxuan, right? We've met before."

Li Yu had visited Da Zhuang's house several times. This cute little girl was very polite; when he visited before, she would even bring him fruit to eat.

In the center of the crowd, Xuanxuan seemed not to hear him, staring blankly ahead.

Li Yu knelt down and patted her head.