144 Full of Contradictions!

Bai Lu'er is an awakened one!

And a very powerful one at that.

This was the real reason why the others were willing to rally around her.

"I simply did what I could. When I encounter someone in danger, I will certainly help them. You must be that kind of person too, right?" Bai Lu'er looked at Xue Feng with a faint smile.

"Uh... I suppose so," Xue Feng replied with a dry cough.

Since Bai Lu'er had such a misunderstanding, he saw no need to correct her for now.

"My name is Bai Lu'er. What is yours?" she asked again.

"Xue Feng."

"You saved Hu Bo, and I don't know how to thank you. Are you lacking any supplies? Or would you be willing to join our base? There is strength in numbers, and the chances of survival are higher here," Bai Lu'er offered.

Xue Feng muttered to himself internally.

It was true that there were many people.

But whether there was "strength" was another matter entirely.

From Xue Feng's perspective, this base was far too fragile.

Moreover, there were far too many burdens within the base.

Bai Lu'er’s management also left much to be desired.

"Actually, I've come from the suburbs and am not familiar with the current situation in White City. I would like to know what things are like here now," Xue Feng asked.

In reality, he was just looking for intelligence.

"The situation in White City? Many people have died, and very few have survived. Furthermore, they aren't very united," Bai Lu'er sighed heavily.

She seemed to have misunderstood Xue Feng's intent, thinking he was concerned about the welfare of the survivors in White City.

Watching Bai Lu'er’s mournful expression, Xue Feng felt a bit speechless.

He realized that Bai Lu'er was a bit of a "saint."

Not the hypocritical kind, though.

A true saint and a hypocritical saint are different.

To put it simply, a saint is someone who will proactively rush to rescue others when they see them in danger, even to the point of sacrificing everything they have.

But a hypocritical saint is different.

They only demand that others make sacrifices, while their own efforts are merely lip service.

This reminded Xue Feng of a street interview he had once seen.

The reporter asked if people would be willing to give up five years of their own lives for their pet cats or dogs.

Most people would refuse.

But some would earnestly claim that it would be absolutely no problem. They would insist that their pets were part of the family, that they were family members, or that pets were lives too and should be treated equally.

It sounded very saintly, as if they truly valued life above all else.

Faced with such people, the reporter would then pose a second question: Would you be willing to donate five hundred dollars to an animal rescue foundation?

Those same people who had just loudly proclaimed their willingness to give up five years of their lives for their pets would immediately refuse.

They would find all sorts of excuses, such as claiming they had no money, or they would simply turn and walk away.

What a joke!

Asking them to "donate" five years of their life was easy because it wasn't something they could actually give.

But donating five hundred dollars?

That was real money, something that had to be physically taken out of their pockets.

That is the essence of a hypocritical saint.

"I still prefer being on my own, but I don't want to run into other dangerous survivors, so I just want to understand the situation in White City," Xue Feng stated directly.

Hearing that Xue Feng refused to join the base, Bai Lu'er looked a bit disappointed.

In her eyes, someone like Xue Feng, who was willing to save others in the apocalypse, was a rare find. It would have been even better if he could become her companion; they would surely be able to build a better base. But since he had refused, she could not force him.

"There are quite a few survivors in White City, maybe a few hundred, but they are all small factions," Bai Lu'er began to explain.

She took out a map and helped mark some of the factions for Xue Feng.

According to her, more than half of these groups were unwelcoming to strangers. Some of them even had awakened ones among them.

They had had several conflicts with these groups. After all, because Bai Lu'er’s group was large, they inevitably had to search other areas for supplies, which was often viewed as an invasion. Eventually, Bai Lu'er stopped going to those areas.

There were other survivors who were quite friendly, and Bai Lu'er had exchanged supplies with them.

"I have extended invitations to them, but none were willing to come here. Having an awakened one join us would be a great help to the base," Bai Lu'er shook her head, seemingly unable to understand why.

"Perhaps it's because they don't see a future here. There are too many people here, and more people means more problems," Xue Feng said bluntly.

Hearing this, Bai Lu'er gave a bitter smile.

"So that's why! I thought it was for other reasons. I know the base is running under difficult conditions, but I will persevere!" Bai Lu'er’s gaze was resolute.

"Why are you so determined to hold this place? And to help so many people?" Xue Feng found it hard to understand, so he couldn't help but ask.

"Because I cannot stand by and watch people die. Since God has bestowed this ability upon me, it is for me to save the world," Bai Lu'er said.

She then pulled a cross from her pocket, touched it, closed her eyes, and began to pray.

A believer!

Xue Feng understood immediately.

In truth, Xue Feng did not have a good impression of religious believers. In his view, there were few good people among those who claimed to be devout believers or pastors.

The scandals that had emerged from the church over the many years were countless. The number of children tortured to death by the church was beyond measure. There were also pastors who used the name of evangelism to go around pillaging.

European history even saw the Crusades, which were essentially expeditions to the Arab world to loot under the banner of God, killing others in the name of "purifying their souls."

However, there were indeed some truly pious people who genuinely believed that God loved the world and performed acts of kindness everywhere. Many pastors or nuns had saved numerous lives during wartime.

It seemed Bai Lu'er was one of those.

"Is there anyone at the zoo?" Xue Feng asked, pointing to the zoo on the map.

"There's no one there! When the apocalypse broke out, a group of people rushed into the zoo and ate all the animals. We went there too, but there wasn't even a tuft of hair left," Hu Bo said with a helpless, bitter smile.

What Hu Bo was annoyed about was why they had arrived so late. There had been lions, elephants, and all sorts of creatures there—enough to feed them for quite a while.

Xue Feng was puzzled. No survivors?

That was impossible!

This was intelligence provided by his own information system. There were absolutely survivors there.

Hu Bo and Bai Lu'er had already shared so much information with him; it was unlikely they were hiding this.

The only explanation was that they themselves did not know that there were still awakened ones in the zoo—and very powerful ones at that.

So, who exactly was entrenched in the zoo now?