Shen Feng and his group traveled swiftly across the plains, and as they passed, many people welcomed Shen Feng's arrival, as if the blockade from headquarters didn't exist, which made Xu Xing admire it.
"City Lord, you are truly renowned throughout the world. No matter where you go, you are welcomed by others. If only I could reach this level, that would be wonderful," Xu Xing said to Shen Feng.
Shen Feng shrugged and replied, "It's the times that create heroes. I became famous too early. If you had killed the Corpse King back then, you would also be recognized. Besides, if you work hard in the future, it's not impossible for you to become more famous than me."
Shen Feng became nationally famous during the support of Rong City when it was broadcast live across the country. If Xu Xing had been the one to kill the Corpse King at that time, Xu Xing would surely have become famous throughout the land. Moreover, Xu Xing's current strength was definitely greater than Shen Feng's when he fought the Corpse King. Therefore, in the end, becoming famous was also related to luck.
After hearing Shen Feng's words, Xu Xing could only force a smile. There were no "ifs" in the world. Moreover, even back then, Xu Xing was only a first-tier evolved human. With such little strength, she couldn't even contend with a speed-type zombie, let alone fight the Corpse King.
Subsequently, Xu Xing could only say helplessly, "If one's strength is insufficient, even if opportunities are presented, one cannot grasp them. However, as long as I can go and kill bandits, my name will surely spread among the people. City Lord, do you agree to let me go kill bandits?"
This was not the first time Shen Feng had heard Xu Xing express her dream. He was now truly at a loss for what to do with Xu Xing's persistence. Originally, Shen Feng had hoped that Xu Xing would become a bodyguard like Luo Qing, someone who could fight at critical moments and wouldn't be looked down upon by others in normal times. However, Xu Xing insisted on going into battle.
Therefore, at this moment, Shen Feng was so exasperated by Xu Xing that he finally nodded in agreement and said, "Alright, alright. We'll discuss this matter when we return to Yuzhou. You can go out and kill bandits during normal times, but you must return to Yuzhou to fight at critical moments. Do you understand?"
Upon receiving this answer, Xu Xing was immediately filled with gratitude towards Shen Feng, as she hadn't expected her request to be in vain. She then said emotionally, "Brother Shen Feng, I knew you could understand my feelings. Don't worry, I will not let you down."
Shen Feng shrugged and said nothing. Xu Xing began to imagine her name spreading among the people she saved. Xu Xing also dreamed of becoming a great hero, not for the sake of all living beings, but simply to enjoy the feeling of being praised.
At this moment, Xu Xing was already fantasizing about her moment of widespread fame, while Shen Feng thought, "Young girls are often enthusiastic for only three minutes. Once they realize the difficulties involved, they will choose to retreat."
Next, Shen Feng left the Shanxi region, passing through the plains between Taihang Mountain and Lüliang Mountain. Shen Feng had originally intended to take a detour to see who the thirteen protectors in Lüliang Mountain were, but his own strength was not sufficient. After careful consideration, Shen Feng decided to give up and planned to visit later when he had time.
However, just as Shen Feng crossed the Henan border and reached the Hubei region, he saw someone attempting to hang themselves.
It was a woman in her thirties or forties, with many wrinkles on her face, indicating a life of hardship. She had found a crooked-necked tree by the roadside, where a rope was tied. Below the rope was a noose. If one put their head into the noose and lifted their feet off the ground, their body would fall downwards, and the noose would tighten.
Beside the woman attempting to hang herself was a child who looked dazed and confused. The child was gnawing on his fingers, looking at his mother with an incomprehensible expression, while the mother was putting her head into the noose.
Upon seeing this scene, Xu Xing immediately became excited and said, "City Lord, look quickly, someone is hanging themselves over there."
Before this, Xu Xing had always thought that hanging oneself was like in television dramas, where one would throw a white silk ribbon over a beam, step off a stool, and that would be it. But at this moment, Xu Xing witnessed the actual process of hanging oneself, which required putting one's head into a noose. She was immediately stunned. Moreover, this woman was about to abandon her child to die. What could have happened to make her so desperate?
At this moment, the woman had already placed her neck into the noose. The next step was to lift her feet off the ground and commit suicide. Fortunately, at this moment, Shen Feng shot out a wind blade, directly cutting the rope, and the woman fell to the ground.
Qi Lingshan immediately stopped the vehicle, and Xu Xing quickly got out and went to ask, "Sister, why do you want to give up on life? You still have your child. What will happen to your child if you die?"
The woman slowly sat up from the ground. Seeing Xu Xing asking, she began to cry and complain, "I don't want to live anymore. This world is too cruel, and I can't live on. I can only die now. As for the child, it's up to whichever kind person can adopt him. I no longer have the ability to raise him."
As the woman cried, the four or five-year-old child seemed to sense something and also began to cry.
Seeing this situation, Xu Xing quickly persuaded her, "Sister, please don't get agitated. Death is not a solution to problems. There are no insurmountable obstacles in the world, so you must pull yourself together and never give up hope of living. What happened?"
Shen Feng and the others also got out of the car. The three of them also wanted to know why the woman wanted to die. The mutated birds had mostly gone to the Southern Hemisphere, so there shouldn't be any threat now. So, what difficulties had arisen?
The woman slowly explained, "Young lady, you don't know. The reason I want to die is because I was driven out of this village. I can't live anymore. These people also stole my food. I really don't know what to do in the future! Winter is also coming, and we have no food. We will die sooner or later, so it's better to end my life myself."
Then, the woman explained the reason. It turned out that this year she had planted five fen of land with pumpkins, intending to sell them. However, after hearing the news of mutated birds appearing, the woman covered the pumpkins with many branches. As a result, when the mutated birds descended the mountain later, most of the village's food was eaten by the birds, while her planted pumpkins were unharmed. The villagers, not wanting to starve, set their sights on the pumpkins.
The young people in the village still had some shame and didn't want to steal. However, the elderly completely disregarded shame and directly began to steal pumpkins. The woman discovered this and directly cursed several elderly people who were stealing pumpkins as "undying old people." As a result, one old man died in a fit of anger, and the entire village began to target the woman, driving her out. As for the pumpkins, they were all confiscated.
Thus, after leaving the village, the woman had no means to support herself and her child, and finally chose to hang herself by the roadside. As for the child, she entrusted him to heaven, hoping that a kind person would pass by the roadside and take the child away, perhaps raising him to adulthood.
After hearing this narrative, Xu Xing was furious and immediately cursed, "These are not 'undying old people,' they are completely death-seeking ghosts! They stole pumpkins when they were old, died in a fit of anger after being scolded, and then drove others out. Isn't this blatant blackmail? Such a village should all perish."
When food was scarce, they targeted others' food and stole it. This was clearly premeditated, and the methods were too despicable. Xu Xing was extremely angry. A village of people robbing a widow and her child of their food, and moreover, life-saving food. It seemed that everyone in the village was not a good person.
Shen Feng could only sigh helplessly after hearing the whole story and said, "Nine-headed birds in the sky, Hubei people on the ground. As expected, it's not an undeserved reputation. They gang up to steal pumpkins. It was like this before the apocalypse, and it's like this during the apocalypse."
Shen Feng had also heard that there were frequent looting incidents in this area, but that was before the apocalypse. At that time, a company contracted the village's land to grow crops like peanuts. However, just as the harvest was approaching, looting would occur. The villagers would all loot the planted peanuts. If the police wanted to arrest people, they would have to arrest the entire village. At this time, people would often choose to let bygones be bygones, and the company that contracted the village land could only accept their misfortune. This was a very helpless situation.
Before the apocalypse, the food from dozens of mu of land was not worth much money, at most a little over a million yuan, and no one would care much. But at this moment, they were even robbing a widow and her child of five fen of pumpkins, which was truly shameless. That was food for more than half a year for a family, and it was shamelessly taken away. No matter who heard about this matter, they would go crazy.
Xu Xing then looked at Shen Feng and asked, "City Lord, should we go and teach these people a lesson? We should at least uphold justice."
Hearing this, Shen Feng shook his head helplessly and said, "Uphold justice? They have already been driven out. It's clearly impossible for them to return now. Even if the villagers agree under our military threat, they will still be driven out after we leave."
Xu Xing immediately felt troubled. For bandits and the like, Xu Xing could kill them directly because they were not worthy of pity. However, for villagers, Xu Xing clearly couldn't take action. Moreover, facing a group of stubborn rascals, taking action would be equivalent to fighting the entire village. One couldn't slaughter everyone in a village, could they?
At this moment, the woman who was attempting to hang herself knelt before Xu Xing and pleaded, "Miss, you look like a kind-hearted young lady. Please adopt my child. I will be grateful to you even in the netherworld. Please, please agree to this."
Upon hearing this, Xu Xing immediately became anxious and hurriedly said, "No, no, this is absolutely not possible. I am not married yet, how can I adopt a child? I really cannot do this."
Facing the request of a dying person, Xu Xing was very troubled. She wanted to help but was truly powerless. She was not yet eighteen years old and was still a minor. To adopt someone at this time was completely unreasonable. However, she could not ignore the other party's request, so she found herself in a dilemma.
Fortunately, at this moment, Shen Feng extricated Xu Xing by saying, "Sister, please don't be like this. I can provide you with some food and weapons. Find a more tolerant village and continue to live. We can also give you a ride. You will always have hope of survival in the future."
Since Shen Feng had said this much, the woman could only nod helplessly because she could see that the people in front of her would not adopt her child. Therefore, if she could continue to eke out an existence, she would continue to take care of her child.
Finally, the woman could only nod and agree, saying, "Then I will trouble you gentlemen and ladies."
All Shen Feng could do was take the woman to a village that was willing to accept her. Shen Feng could do nothing else. He couldn't take her back to Yuzhou either, because there were too many people in the world who needed help. If he took away everyone he met, Yuzhou would eventually become overcrowded.