"No, are you hungry? There's still some porridge from yesterday. I heated it up this morning, it's in the thermos in the back seat. Have a little."
"Okay!" Zhou Haimei's eyes lit up, no longer dwelling on the matter, and she reached for the thermos in the back seat.
Xu An knew this tactic would work, deliberately changing the subject to prevent the other person from dwelling on it.
"But, An'an, do you remember what the proprietress said before she died?"
Hearing this, Xu An's expression also turned serious.
She had indeed heard it. The woman had stared at her with eyes full of venom.
Those eyes seemed to mock Xu An, and also question her.
"You think only my place is like this? This world has long been rotten. It's a world that devours people. If I don't eat, others will eat me."
"You think you are such noble figures? Countless people devour others in this world..."
"Can you kill them all!"
The woman's every word was a piercing truth!
It struck the hearts of Xu An and everyone present.
Looking at the woman's eyes, Xu An responded word for word: "You can't kill them all, but I'll kill one if I meet one!"
It was precisely that sentence that completely won Wang Mang over.
"I remember."
Zhou Haimei withdrew her gaze. The thermos cup in her hand emitted wisps of heat, warming her skin.
But Zhou Haimei's heart felt cold.
It couldn't be warmed.
"I never knew these things before," Zhou Haimei said with a distant tone, as if recalling something or negating something.
"I've been to the Lighthouse before, and I only encountered bandits and robbers. They burned, killed, and looted, forcing innocent girls into submission, killing each other for a mouthful of food."
"At that time, I felt that the people on the ground were more terrifying than zombies..."
"I've never been a soft-hearted person. I even thought they were deserved to be abandoned on the ground..."
Zhou Haimei's expression was conflicted. She couldn't finish her words. Her previously firm beliefs were being questioned.
"You think they deserved it."
Zhou Haimei murmured softly, "Not exactly."
Xu An's eyes, as calm as ancient wells, seemed to carry the long memories of an elder on the verge of death, showing no emotion.
Yet, she was still just a young woman in her early twenties.
"There's no need to feel ashamed of your thoughts."
Xu An took a deep breath, her voice rising with the slowly dissipating white mist.
"Our standpoints are just different."
Yes, their standpoints were different. In her previous life, Xu An was on the ground and had never witnessed the prosperity of the Lighthouse.
Because of their different standpoints, even when she saved a lost child who had come down from the Lighthouse, she still harbored animosity towards everything on the Lighthouse.
It wasn't until this life, when she personally experienced life on the Lighthouse.
It was like a freeze-frame, bringing the beautiful scenery of the pre-apocalypse world to the sky.
There, people's faces were filled with smiles, and children didn't have to worry about being eaten.
There were beautiful gardens and bright schools.
Whether old or young, or in their prime, although the quality of life varied.
But people didn't live in constant fear of countless natural disasters or zombies that appeared out of nowhere.
She suddenly remembered her previous life.
The unwavering resolve of the Lighthouse soldiers when they were cornered by the people on the ground.
Xu An had always thought it was because everyone on the Lighthouse was in cahoots.
They were all accomplices, which was why they were so unyielding.
Not a single person betrayed the Lighthouse.
But after truly living on the Lighthouse, Xu An understood.
That wasn't about being accomplices.
It was about protecting that peace, protecting the smiles of children.
Protecting the beauty of their wives.
That's why every soldier who chose to defend the Lighthouse was ready to die without regret.
This was a closed loop from the beginning.
A dead end, unsolvable.
Zhou Haimei pondered Xu An's words and gradually fell silent. She looked at the map in her hand, continuing to search for the shortest route to the South China Sea.
"I wonder where Qin Chuan and the others are."
Xu An's mind briefly went blank upon hearing the name. She hadn't heard it in a long time.
Although it had only been a day since they came down, it felt like a lifetime.
"I don't know, they should have reached the South China Sea by now."
Qin Chuan's execution was not to be underestimated. This time, he was leading a team, not acting alone, and was subject to various constraints. He definitely couldn't move as freely as they could.
Speaking of Qin Chuan, Xu An couldn't help but think of Chu Yu.
She always felt there was something strange about him.
"An'an, I've looked around. The shortest route for us to go to the South China Sea Base has to pass through the Southern Base."
"Can't we go around?" Xu An frowned. She really didn't want to go to the Southern Base.
Whether it was the proprietress's words or her memories from her previous life.
Her sixth sense told her not to go to the Southern Base.
"No, the Southern Base is built against a cliff, and it's the only place on the ground with a hydroelectric power station. Next to the Southern Base is the former national wild forest."
"There are countless ferocious beasts inside, and we don't know if they've mutated. Moreover, there's thick fog spreading everywhere now. Choosing that path is too risky."
Without Zhou Haimei needing to say it, Xu An knew that although they now carried weapons capable of eliminating various birds of prey.
If those weapons were used, it would inevitably cause unrest on the ground.
This was clearly not the result she wanted.
"It seems we have no choice but to check out this Southern Base."
Zhou Haimei, unlike Xu An, didn't have such a strong aversion to the Southern Base.
"Is this Southern Base an official base?"
Xu An fell silent for a moment upon hearing the word "official."
Seeing Xu An's silence, Zhou Haimei realized she might have said the wrong thing.
The Lighthouse Project back then.
Almost all "officials" had evacuated.
On the ground, where could there be an official base?
But conversely, Xu An was actually organizing her words. She hadn't denied it.
For some reason back then, a very large armed force remained on the ground. This force quickly divided into four parts, establishing bases in the East, South, West, and North, corresponding to the Lighthouses floating in the sky.
This was also why, in the early stages of the apocalypse in both her previous and current lives, people didn't discover the Lighthouses, nor did widespread riots occur.
"Probably." Xu An's answer was vague.
"It's likely that some soldiers didn't go to the Lighthouse but chose to stay." Zhou Haimei flipped through the map, chatting with Xu An as if it were a casual conversation.
Xu An's eyes widened.
She knew that some armed forces had stayed, but she didn't know why.
"Why? Is there some inside story?" Xu An asked nonchalantly.
"I know a little bit, but not much."