Doomsday Awakening GL - Chapter 20

Since An Yimu fell into the crevasse, the minds and lives of the remaining individuals had undergone drastic changes.

Ling Qiuyu woke up silent, with a blank and dull expression, showing no reaction. Nuan Qianyu’s heart felt like it was being sliced by a knife. An Yimu was their dearest friend. Before the apocalypse, An Yimu was the group’s punching bag, patiently enduring their complaints and violence. Whenever someone was sick, An Yimu was the one who took care of them. It could be said that An Yimu was the harmonizer of the group. After the apocalypse, An Yimu was the one who kept protecting them. If only they had been stronger and discovered the mutated person earlier, An Yimu wouldn’t have fallen into the crevasse.

The crevasse was thousands of meters deep. Looking down, it was pitch black, and they couldn’t see anything. How could anyone survive a fall like that?

In the future, no one would risk their life to protect them anymore. Friends were like a quilt, but the warmth truly came from one’s own body temperature.

The incident was so sudden that Qin Yongsheng didn’t even react in time. He just saw one person and one dog fall, leaving him dumbfounded. He simply couldn’t believe that An Yimu had died just like that.

And the happiest person was undoubtedly Yu Le.

When he woke up, he first looked around in horror because he remembered being suddenly knocked out by Gu Linlin during his guard shift. He had been complaining at the time about why An Yimu hadn’t arranged him and Ling Qiuyu together, never expecting to be ambushed by Gu Linlin. Logically, with his three-times-normal hearing, he should have detected Gu Linlin’s actions, yet he hadn’t noticed anything.

When he learned that Gu Linlin was dead and An Yimu had fallen into the crevasse, he almost laughed out loud.

Heaven was treating him well!

Naturally, since he was the strongest among the four, he should be the leader. Thinking this, he proposed, “Since your friend is gone, you should mourn and move on. We should elect a leader and leave this place. What do you think?”

The other three immediately changed their expressions.

An Yimu’s fate was unknown, and this person’s ambition was already exposed.

Qin Yongsheng was naturally displeased. With An Yimu’s capability, she never spoke about electing a leader, nor did she use her strength to bully the weak. They were all equals. He sincerely respected An Yimu. He couldn’t help but understand the implication of Yu Le’s words. Unfortunately, Yu Le was speaking the truth; he was indeed the strongest among them.

“Some people are just dogs that can’t spit out ivory! You’re the one who died! Your whole family is dead!” Nuan Qianyu shouted in fury. She couldn’t stand this kind of person.

Yu Le’s face turned ashen, and he glared angrily at Nuan Qianyu.

“Xiaoyu, let’s figure out a way to go down and look for Xiaomu,” Ling Qiuyu said softly, rubbing her temples. She disdained arguing with Yu Le. Dealing with petty people was like dealing with unlit coal: if you poke it, it will burn; if you ignore it, it will naturally die out.

Nuan Qianyu looked at the bottomless crevasse again and fell silent. Not to mention how deep the crevasse was, they didn’t even have a meter of rope. How could they go down? What she feared more was finding An Yimu’s body down there…

If they didn’t see a body, they could always hold onto a sliver of hope.

Yu Le gloated, “It’s no use if you don’t listen to me. See for yourselves. It’s so high. Even a stone would shatter if it fell, let alone a person.”

Qin Yongsheng’s brow furrowed, and he looked at Yu Le with displeasure.

“Staying here isn’t a solution. Given the current situation, finding a rope that long is impossible. Besides, zombies might attack us. How about this: we increase our strength while heading to Chongming City. If Miss An is alive, she will definitely return to the city. What do you think?” Qin Yongsheng pondered. He was worried about his wife and children at home and was eager to return. In his heart, he knew that An Yimu couldn’t possibly be alive.

Nuan Qianyu and Ling Qiuyu were silent. Undoubtedly, this was the best solution.

Yu Le also took the opportunity to say, “Exactly, let’s leave here first.” He was already a Second-Tier Awakener. Other than the Spider-Zombified Zombie they encountered that day, he couldn’t possibly have any rivals. As long as he showed his strength, Ling Qiuyu would surely change her attitude.

Ling Qiuyu’s small face was pale, and her expression was gloomy. She handed the spider leg to Nuan Qianyu. “Xiaoyu, you know I’m not strong. This weapon is perfect for you. You can kill more zombies and increase our strength.”

Nuan Qianyu pushed it back without thinking, saying seriously, “Little Yuyu, precisely because you are weak, you need it for self-defense. You can protect yourself when we can’t look after you. If something happens to you, I will truly be alone.” She put on a pathetic look.

Ling Qiuyu knew that Nuan Qianyu wouldn’t change her mind once she decided, so she didn’t bring it up again.

“Then let us all become stronger,” Ling Qiuyu’s eyes reddened, holding back her tears. She still couldn’t believe An Yimu was dead. When An Yimu returned, she wanted to be strong enough not to drag others down.

Nuan Qianyu held Ling Qiuyu’s hand, her expression also firm. When Ling Qiuyu looked into her eyes, she lowered her head, hiding the despondency in her own eyes.

Yu Le’s gaze lingered on the spider leg. Seeing the two of them remain silent, he didn’t say anything. He had some sense and wouldn’t do anything thankless at this moment.

After lingering at the crevasse for a day, the four decided to walk to the left to bypass it.

Chongming City was right in front of them, but they had to take an unknown detour to get back. Everyone felt helpless.

A small earthquake even occurred during this time.

Many people were trying to rush back to Chongming City, so they hadn’t walked far before encountering a small team.

Yu Le automatically considered himself the leader of their four. His eyes lit up when he saw the team of over ten people.

The leader of the team was a middle-aged man wearing a white T-shirt, looking quite steady. When the man saw Yu Le approaching, he smiled politely, “My name is Tian Wenliang. Welcome to my team.”

The group consisted of elderly people, women, and children, and they looked at Tian Wenliang with great trust.

Yu Le smiled, “My name is Yu Le, and I am a Second-Tier Awakener. Our previous team was attacked, and only four of us remain.” He immediately stated his Second-Tier Awakener status, intending to demonstrate his strength.

Tian Wenliang’s eyes flickered, and a hint of delight flashed across his face. “That’s great! I’m the only Second-Tier Awakener in our team. With you joining us, the team will be much stronger.” It was difficult for him to protect these people alone. Firstly, they were mostly elderly and children, and secondly, some of the younger people in the group were too cowardly to risk killing zombies. Their food reserves were running low.

Yu Le’s smile stiffened. Someone else had reached the same level as him.

He awkwardly asked, “Then, the leader of this team…?”

Tian Wenliang smiled, “Of course, it should be the most capable person. I think it should be you, Brother Yu.”

Yu Le was relieved and accepted the position.

The two groups introduced themselves to each other.

Nuan Qianyu’s face was dark, and she avoided the small talk. She genuinely despised Yu Le, and her displeasure was obvious on her face.

Qin Yongsheng knew Yu Le’s nature but wasn’t too bothered. They were all just temporarily gathered together; when disaster struck, they would go their separate ways. So, he chatted with Tian Wenliang for a while.

Ling Qiuyu stood beside Nuan Qianyu, hooking her arm through Nuan Qianyu’s, silently watching the crowd, her expression neither happy nor sad.

It was time for dinner. A woman carrying a large pot cooked a pot of plain noodles. Everyone ate with relish. At this moment, they weren’t picky. Anything without flavor was a delicacy to them.

After the meal, as everyone was resting, Tian Wenliang approached Yu Le and explained the team’s situation. “We’re out of food. We need to find a way to get supplies. But as you can see, most of the team are elderly, and the rest aren’t willing to take risks. Seven or eight people died the last time we went looking for food.”

Yu Le got a headache when he heard this. He only liked the feeling of being superior and admired by others. Was he supposed to risk his life to find food for these people who were unrelated to him?

Yu Le thought for a moment and said, “You know that there are zombies everywhere now, and one wrong move can lead to death. How can we afford to protect these people? Are we supposed to protect them for life? What a joke! I think we should abandon them and take the capable people back to Chongming City quickly.”

He certainly didn’t want to return to the county. Changping County was the closest, and to find food, they would definitely have to go back there. He still remembered the acid that corroded the flesh off his leg from that Spider-Zombified Zombie. How could he return to such a dangerous place?

Tian Wenliang fell silent. This course of action was clearly unsustainable, and he knew it, but he had saved these people one by one. To ask him to abandon their lives was simply…

Yu Le smiled, “How about this: from today on, only those who go out to find food will eat. No one else will.”

Tian Wenliang knew this was an indirect way of abandoning them, but he couldn’t help it. It was no longer a civilized society.

When Tian Wenliang announced this decision, everyone protested. Complaints and curses erupted into chaos.

“How can you treat us like this after saving us!”

“You want to hoard the food and starve us to death!”

“Damn it! You talk so nicely. Food is everywhere. It’s not as hard to find as you make it sound!”

“You’re a Second-Tier Awakener! You can’t be so inhumane!”

Ling Qiuyu leaned on Nuan Qianyu and sighed. It was inevitable that things would come to this someday. Human nature was selfish, and it was not wrong that they all wanted to survive. However, it was survival of the fittest now. To survive, one needed the courage to confront zombies head-on.

“Little Yuyu, if Little An’an is alive, but there’s no food down in the crevasse, what should we do?” Nuan Qianyu suddenly thought of this as she watched the crowd arguing over food.

Ling Qiuyu hadn’t considered this. Now that it was mentioned, it was a real concern. But they had already walked far away. Even if they threw food down, An Yimu wouldn’t necessarily get it.

“Xiaomu will find a way. We have to believe in her.”

Nuan Qianyu nodded, her gaze falling on Ling Qiuyu’s arm wrapped around hers.