Chapter 93 – Conscience Not Lost

Tang Xiaoxue and He Pengpeng stared at the package of instant noodles for quite a while, clearly very tempted.

Just as He Pengpeng was about to speak, Tang Xiaoxue stopped him and quickly asked, “How much are you willing to trade for it?”

Ling Mo thought to himself that Tang Xiaoxue was indeed much calmer than his companion. Despite their intense desire for food, he could still suppress his impulse and attempt to negotiate.

“That depends on how much medicine you have and what kinds,” Ling Mo said.

Tang Xiaoxue swallowed hard and hesitated for a long moment before speaking, “We don’t have much prescription medicine since this is just the School Hospital. We have a small amount of painkillers, some cold medicine, fever reducers, stomach medicine, and eye drops…”

As he listed the items, Ling Mo showed little interest. He had several boxes of common medicines like cold medicine in his backpack already. With his gradually improving physical condition, it was unlikely he’d catch a cold even once a year. Having lived a nomadic life, seeking only temporary shelter, his immunity had significantly strengthened, and he rarely got sick. However, painkillers were valuable, unlike stomach medicine, which he didn’t need at all.

At this point, if someone still suffered from stomach pains or diarrhea due to poor diet, they deserved to be eliminated. The world was indeed that cruel, but fortunately, human adaptability was quite strong.

Seeing Ling Mo’s lack of interest, Tang Xiaoxue guessed that these medicines probably wouldn’t impress him.

At this moment, He Pengpeng’s stomach made a timely growling noise: “Grrrr…”

With a pained expression, he tugged at Tang Xiaoxue and said, “I’m starving. Even if we go back, they won’t give us any food. Just give him a little; they won’t notice.”

Tang Xiaoxue’s expression changed instantly, and he glared at He Pengpeng in frustration, clearly annoyed by his inability to keep quiet: “How did I end up with an idiot like you?” But seeing He Pengpeng practically drooling, he sighed and reluctantly said, “We also have some Yunnan Baiyao spray, medical gauze, and bandages…”

As soon as Tang Xiaoxue mentioned these items, he looked at Ling Mo with newfound confidence. For ordinary people who could encounter danger at any moment, first aid supplies were crucial!

After all, ordinary people didn’t have the same powerful regenerative abilities as zombies. Zombies might survive even with missing limbs, as long as they weren’t attacked by other zombies. But for humans, even a slightly deeper wound could have fatal consequences, such as severe blood loss leading to a drastic drop in stamina, making it impossible to escape if zombies appeared.

In the eyes of ordinary survivors, accidental injuries equated to a higher death rate, so having adequate self-rescue capabilities was essential.

Ling Mo was indeed intrigued. His eyes lit up as he asked, “How much do you have?”

“Not much, maybe… two of each,” Tang Xiaoxue hesitated before answering.

Tang Xiaoxue’s uncertain tone did not escape Ling Mo’s notice. Sensing something, Ling Mo asked tentatively, “Did you get these medicines for someone else?”

“Well…” Tang Xiaoxue tensed up slightly but then relaxed, “Yes, we got these for some classmates…”

“Bullshit classmates! If they really saw us as classmates, would they do this to us?” He Pengpeng interrupted angrily, his emotions flaring up.

Tang Xiaoxue frowned and lowered his voice, “Don’t be like that. We can’t blame them; blame that scumbag couple!”

“They’re all scumbags. If they want the medicine, why don’t they come out and get it themselves? Why send us to our deaths…” He Pengpeng continued to grumble resentfully.

A shadow crossed Ling Mo’s mind. Ever since he encountered Xu Cai’s group, he had a low opinion of the survivors at this school. The environment here had left many of them with unhealthy mindsets. The scarcity of food and the hopelessness of being unable to escape were enough to crush these survivors.

These two students in front of him were clearly being oppressed by their fellow survivors.

Although Ling Mo didn’t want to meddle in other people’s business, he really needed those first aid supplies. After some thought, he asked, “How about this: if you give me all the medicines, I’ll not only give you food but also take you to another group of survivors. That way, you won’t be tortured for not bringing back the medicines. What do you think?”

Dealing with survivors who oppressed their companions, this seemed like the most peaceful and straightforward solution. If they couldn’t coexist, they could simply leave. However, this required enough courage and the ability to survive alone. These two looked like ordinary survivors, and expecting them to survive on their own might be too much. So Ling Mo proposed to take them to another group of survivors. After all, there were about three thousand survivors in this university, finding another group wouldn’t be too hard.

Judging by their attitude, they seemed to resent their companions, so Ling Mo thought they would eagerly accept his suggestion.

“No, we can’t leave,” Tang Xiaoxue’s response surprised Ling Mo.

Even He Pengpeng shook his head firmly, “Thanks, dude, but it’s not that we don’t trust you. We really can’t leave.”

“Why?” Ling Mo asked, puzzled. Were these two naturally masochistic?

Tang Xiaoxue’s expression became complicated. He scratched his head and said, “Actually, it’s not just me and He Pengpeng. Some other classmates were also forced out. Our task is to collect medicines. Some are responsible for collecting food, and others for gathering essentials like toilet paper… I don’t know if others would run away, but He Pengpeng and I won’t. Because…”

“What are you afraid of? I’ll say it!” He Pengpeng interrupted angrily, “Those two scumbags locked up more than ten girls, including a pregnant female teacher! They told us that if we don’t bring back supplies within three days, and if anyone is missing, they’ll kill one girl! Although none of these girls are my girlfriend and I have nothing to do with them, both Tang Xiaoxue and I have decided we can’t let them die.”

He was so emotional that his whole body trembled. If he wasn’t telling the truth, it would mean his acting skills were extraordinary.

If Tang Xiaoxue had said this, Ling Mo might not have believed it. But He Pengpeng seemed like a straightforward person who wouldn’t lie in a moment of passion. So Ling Mo’s view of them changed immediately.

“Didn’t expect it… you two really have guts.” Ling Mo’s words were sincere. After dealing with Xu Cai and his group, and now meeting people like Tang Xiaoxue and He Pengpeng, the contrast made him genuinely admire these two.

They were clearly the lowest tier of survivors—lacking strength and brains—but they still had a conscience and a kind heart.

In these times, such qualities were incredibly rare. Although Ling Mo wasn’t a selfless person, he always believed that even if he wouldn’t act the same way, at least he shouldn’t look down on those who did.

After his opinion of them changed, Ling Mo’s tone softened, and he lowered the short knife in his hand.

“We can really only give you one portion because these supplies are scarce. If we bring back too little, we won’t have an easy time either. If we weren’t too hungry to have any strength left, we wouldn’t have taken them out to trade for food.” Tang Xiaoxue sighed.

He Pengpeng, however, was much more direct: “But don’t think about robbing us! You see, the blood on us is real zombie blood, and we’ve smeared ourselves with rotting zombie flesh. If you try to rob us, I’ll cut myself open and turn into a real zombie. No matter how strong you are, you’ll die for sure!”

“I really want to say I don’t know you…” Tang Xiaoxue couldn’t hold back anymore and kicked He Pengpeng on the shin.

Though it was indeed a good mutual destruction tactic, saying it out loud just made it ineffective.

While finding it amusing, Ling Mo also felt a bit disgusted. These two had really gone to extremes to survive. Smearing themselves with rotting flesh…

However, thinking about it, if he didn’t have his superpowers and had to survive with just his bare hands, he might not have done any better.

As ordinary people, what they had achieved was already quite impressive. And from what they said, it seemed they had also killed zombies before. Although Ling Mo could imagine it must have been quite a messy process.

Out of curiosity, he couldn’t help but ask, “Where did you get the zombie blood?”

He Pengpeng, the loudmouth, replied immediately, “You won’t believe it! We were really lucky. As soon as we stepped out, not far from the door, we saw a dumb zombie stuck in a wall crack! Tang Xiaoxue and I discussed it and then killed it with stones.”

Excited and proud, He Pengpeng began to vividly describe how they used not-so-big stones to smash the dumb zombie into a bloody mess…

Ling Mo, after listening, had only one thought: These two are really freak!